Chapter 10

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_ CHAPTER TEN. A LETTER FROM MARGARET.--JANET'S ILLNESS.--ANXIETY ABOUT ALEC'S RETURN.--A DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE.--ARRIVAL OF ALEC AND MARGARET WITH JANET.--MARGARET HAS BECOME ALEC'S WIFE. CONDUCTED BY THE BROTHERS TO THEIR NEW HOUSE.--ARRIVAL OF MR. SKINNER'S SISTER, MRS. RAMSDEN AND HER DAUGHTERS, WHO, AS MIGHT POSSIBLY BE EXPECTED, BECOME THE WIVES OF DONALD AND DAVID JANET CONTINUING TO LIVE WITH MARGARET, PAYS FREQUENT VISITS TO HER OTHER BAIRNS, AND IS EVER WELCOMED BY THEM, AND THE NUMEROUS WEE BAIRNS WHO SPRING UP IN THEIR MIDST.--CONCLUSION.

In those days, when no magnificent ocean steamers, with rapid speed, crossed weekly the Atlantic, the settlers in Canada, whose friends had returned to the old country, had often to wait three or four months before they could hear of their safe arrival.

Some time after Alec had gone a letter was received from Margaret, written in a less happy strain than was usual to her. Janet had been suffering from rheumatism, and found it impossible to spin as much as she had been accustomed to do. The state of her health made her feel an unwonted anxiety about the future prospects of her beloved charge. "I know, however, that all will be well," wrote Margaret, "so I do my best to keep up her spirits, by reminding her of God's loving kindness, in which she has hitherto so firmly confided. Were it not, however, for the assistance you have given us, my dear brothers, I confess that we should have a great difficulty in supporting ourselves. I do all I can to repay our kind and loving friend for the years of tender care she has bestowed on us. What would have become of us all had it not been for her?"

Donald and David had a short time before this sent home a larger sum than usual, which they hoped would have been received soon after the letter was written, and they trusted that it would assist to restore Janet's spirits, and convince her that as long as they lived Margaret would not be left destitute.

Weeks and weeks passed by, and no acknowledgment of the sum was received, and no other letter came to hand.

As they hoped that Alec Galbraith would not be long absent, wishing to give him a pleasant surprise, they had gone on with the erection of his house, and completed it, declaring that as their reward they would sell their property, for which they had had several advantageous offers, and go and live with him till they should fix on another location further off in the wilderness, to bring under cultivation.

"He must have been at home several weeks, and had plenty of time to arrange his affairs with his brothers," observed David.

"I wonder he has not written to us. Perhaps the letter, or the vessel herself bringing it, may have been lost," observed Donald. "That has been the fate of several of Margaret's letters. Depend upon it we shall hear from him or our sister before long, and he is sure to pay her a visit before he comes back, that he may bring us news of her and Janet."

They were seated together one evening in their log-house, their meal just placed on the table. "I fancy I heard footsteps," said David. "Yes, some one hails."

It was Alec Galbraith's voice. Donald and David rushed out. There stood Margaret and Alec Galbraith, while dear old Janet followed with eager looks close behind them. Donald, seizing his sister's hands, drew her to him, while David grasped those of Alec, till his brother could relinquish Margaret to him, and then land Janet, rushing forward, threw her arms around both the brother's necks, and sobbed out, "My bairns, my bairns, though I feared the salt sea I would have gone over more than twice the distance to hold ye thus agen!"

The new arrivals were soon seated at the already spread board. As Margaret happened to place her hand on the table Donald observed a plain gold ring on her finger.

"What!" he exclaimed, turning quickly to Alec. "Is it really so?"

"I thought we should surprise you," he answered, laughing. "But I would not come away without her, and as she knew that you would mourn my absence, she at last consented to return with me as my wife, provided Janet would come also. It was a hard matter, however, I can assure you, to persuade her to venture across the ocean."

"Indeed, my dear Donald," said Margaret, when she and her brother were shortly afterwards together, and her husband was absent, "much as I found I loved him, and had loved him since I was a girl, I would not have consented to be his wife had I not been convinced that he had abandoned those infidel principles which had caused his poor mother so much grief, and had also become a faithful follower of the Lord. I was at first delighted to see him, and then my heart sank within me for fear that he was unchanged. He did not leave me long in doubt on the subject. I knew by his gentle and subdued manners, by the unmistakable expressions he used, and then by the deep sorrow that he expressed, that the opinions he once held had grieved his poor mother, that he no longer adhered to the vain philosophy in which he had formerly gloried. I soon discovered that he loved me, and then I had no hesitation in giving him my heart in return."

"You acted wisely and rightly, dear Margaret and David and I are truly glad to welcome him as a brother, whom we have long looked upon as the most intimate of our friends."

The next day, Alec and Margaret, accompanied by Janet, were conducted in due form by Donald and David to the house which they had but lately finished on Alec's property. The surprise was indeed a great and delightful one. As it did not take long to get in as much furniture as was required at that season of the year, Margaret and her husband, with her faithful nurse, in a few days took up their abode there.

Alec's worldly circumstances had greatly improved, for much more of his father's property had been recovered than he expected, so that his share was considerable, and with the experience he had gained, he was able to employ his capital in farming, with great advantage.

"What will you two poor bachelors do by yourselves," said Margaret. "Could you not manage to come and live with us in this house as you purposed doing had Alec returned alone?"

"We have work enough in drawing our plans, and other business of our office to employ nearly every hour of the day," answered Donald. "And besides, we are anxious to assist Mr Skinner, who wishes to enlarge his house as soon as possible, as he expects a widowed sister and her family to join him shortly, and he does not consider the accommodation he can now offer them, sufficient."

"Oh, I suppose he wishes to have a nursery built where the children may be out of hearing," said Margaret, laughing.

"He has not mentioned the ages of his nieces, or how many there are of them," said David, "but I should think, from a remark he made, that they cannot be little children."

The young men made no inquiry of their friend about the more juvenile portion of the family of his expected relatives. As he had himself now been some time absent from England, he might have been able to give them very little information. David, however, confessed to Margaret that he felt somewhat curious on the subject. This was increased when the new part of the house having been finished, Mr Skinner fitted up one chamber which he said was for his sister, and two other pretty little rooms for his elder nieces, and certainly the furniture, which he put in to them, was scarcely such as he would have chosen for young children.

Just at the time Mr Skinner was expecting the arrival of his sister, Mrs Ramsden and her family, Donald and David had to leave home to visit some distant township on business. Mr Skinner had, before this asked the assistance of Margaret and Janet in fitting up his house. Janet, with her usual kindness of heart, offered to remain for a day or two to receive the new comers, whom she understood had no servant with them.

"The poor lady may be tired, and the bairns will ha' na one to gie them their supper, and put them to bed, and it will be just like old times coming back, and be a muckle pleasure to me," she observed, to Margaret. Mr Skinner was very glad to accept her services, feeling sure that she would be of much assistance, although he might not have supposed that his nieces would require the attendance of a nurse.

Janet was to bring word to Margaret when Mrs Ramsden would be able to see her, and she proposed then walking over with Alec to visit her.

She had numberless occupations which kept her and Janet fully employed; for though her husband had engaged a sturdy Scotch girl to milk the cows, and perform some of the rougher work of the farm, the damsel herself required her constant superintendence. There were poultry of several varieties, as well as pigs, to be fed; the flower and kitchen garden to be cultivated, and numerous household duties to be attended to, Alec himself being constantly engaged in clearing fresh ground, and in the more laborious work about the farm.

Margaret had greatly missed Janet the days she had been absent, and with much satisfaction, therefore, she saw her with her knitting in hand-- without which, even in Canada, she never moved abroad--approaching the house.

"Oh yes, they are come, my bairn," she said, to Margaret's inquiry. "Mistress Ramsden herself is a brave lady, and seldom have my eyes rested on twa mair bonny lassies than her daughters, na pride, na nonsense about the young leddies, Mistress Mary and Emily Ramsden, and just as gentle, and loving, and kind as lambs to the younger children. They thanked me for my help; but they put their hands to everything themselves, and would nae let me do half as much as I wished. I'll tell you what, Margaret, I have set my heart on having them for my twa bairns. They would make them bonny wives, indeed, but don't ye gang and tell your brothers, for there is that obstinacy in human nature that they might back, and kick, and run off into the woods rather than do what, if left alone, they would be eager after."

Margaret promised to be discreet, and allow her brothers to judge for themselves, without praising the Misses Ramsden, should her opinion of them, as she had little doubt it would agree with that formed by Janet. Next morning she and Alec paid their promised visit, and she was fully as much disposed as Janet to admire the Misses Ramsden and their mother. The more she saw of them the more pleased she was, not only with their appearance, but with their earnest piety, their simple unassuming manners, and their apparent energy and determination, and their evident readiness to submit to all the inconveniences to which settlers in a new country must, of necessity, be subjected.

A few days after this Donald and David returned, and called on Margaret on their way home. They naturally inquired whether Mrs Ramsden and her family had arrived. She wisely said but little about the young ladies, and Janet was equally discreet. They, however, managed to find their way that evening to Mr Skinner's.

They were always glad to pay their kind friend a visit; but from their sister's and Janet's discreet silence, they suspected that the change in the character of his establishment would be a drawback to the pleasure of their previous intercourse. Not, however, till a much later hour than usual on the evening in question did they discover that it was high time to take up their hats and wish Mr Skinner and his sister and her daughters good-bye.

As they walked homewards, Donald, after a long silence, burst out laughing, exclaiming, "Weel, I expected to see a number of bairns in pinafores, but eh! she's a braw lassie."

"She is the sweetest young creature I have ever had the happiness of meeting," said David.

"But I am talking of the elder sister," exclaimed Donald.

"And I speak of the younger," observed David. "But they are both very nice girls--there is no doubt as to that--no nonsense about them--so full of spirits and fun, and yet so lady-like and quite, and I heard Emily's voice, when joining in the prayer, it was so true and earnest."

"I was nearest Mary, and was struck by the genuine tone of her's," observed Donald.

"Do you know, David, that I had made up my mind to follow the example of Mr Skinner, and to live a bachelor for ten years to come at least, and then, perhaps, to go back to the old country to look out for a wife. But eh! that looking out for a wife must be unsatisfactory work at best. How can a man possibly discover the real character and disposition of a lady when the object he has in view is suspected, if not well known."

"We may be sure we shall be guided aright if we seek guidance in that as in all other matters," answered David. "But I cannot help hoping that neither you nor I need be compelled to make the expedition you suggest. I have sought guidance, and I am sure that in God's good time we shall be directed aright."

Day after day, when their work was over, they had some cogent reason for calling at their friend's house; and when Margaret next met them, Donald confessed that if he ever could venture to marry he should be thankful to make Mary Ramsden his wife, while David made the same acknowledgment with regard to her younger sister.

Happily, in a prosperous country like Canada, to steady and industrious men like the young Morrisons, the impediments were not insuperable, nor, indeed, did they take long to overcome.

Faithful Janet was overjoyed when she heard that the lassies she so much admired had promised to become the wives of her twa bairns, with a full approval of their mother and uncle. As they agreed that their old house might not always be sufficiently large to hold them both, they moved further off to the west, where they were enabled to purchase, by the sale of their already well cultivated farm, two good sized allotments of land, on each of which they reared a comfortable log-house, where, shortly afterwards, they and their brides took up their abode.

"My work is among my fellow-creatures," observed Mr Skinner, "or I should be much inclined, my dear nephews, to follow your example, and move nearer you."

He therefore remained at the now well advanced township, though before long, to their great satisfaction, the Galbraiths became their near neighbours, Alec having purchased a property a little beyond theirs.

The Morrisons gratefully remembered the kindness they had received from Mr McTavish and other friends in the old country. To many young men who came out with introductions from them they gave a hearty welcome, extending a helping hand to those who required assistance, while they rendered a still greater service to not a few whom they saw falling into evil ways, by perseveringly, though gently and lovingly, warning and exhorting them--not leaving them in spite of ingratitude and opposition, till they had been the means of bringing them back into the right path.

In the latter respect especially, Alec followed their example. He remembered into what a depth of sin he had sunk, and that it was through the love of Jesus, and by no merit of his own, he was drawn out of it. His sin he knew was washed away. Gratitude to that loving Saviour urged him to try and call those sheep who were wandering away along the thorny paths he had followed into the true fold, where they might rest secure under charge of the faithful Shepherd who never forsakes those who seek Him.

Janet, though continuing to live with Margaret, paid frequent visits to the other houses of the family, at which her coming was always hailed with delight by the numerous wee bairns, who, in the course of time, made their appearance among them, as she was also warmly welcomed by Donald and David, who, though they felt that to Mr Skinner they were, humanly speaking, indebted for the spiritual life they enjoyed, could never forget how devotedly she had watched over their infancy and youth, and that it was mainly to her training and instruction their present prosperity was owing.

[THE END]
William H. G. Kingston's Book: Janet McLaren: The Faithful Nurse

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