Tibbie

“ This horrible travesty of motherly tenderness had frightened Tibbie Clapham as nothing else had frightened her in life, turning her, even in its recital, into a bitter, white-faced woman whom her mother hardly knew. Evil is never so sinister as when it touches the beautiful natural things and makes them strange. The story of those nights had impressed Tibbie with such cruel force that there was a time when she was almost afraid to approach her own children as they lay and slept....
The nights had been hardest to bear, so Stephen had said, but Emma had watched him everywhere else as well. ”

“ Tibbie was a strength-giver, just as Emma was a strength-stealer, but she did a great deal more for Stephen than that. She drew out of him by degrees the courage that was in himself, as well as the graces and charm which make a man loved wherever he goes. The long-latent strength, crushed and shrivelled in youth, had gathered itself at last into that splendid battle-deed; but when the time came for her to lose him, as she had known it would have to come, it was the fact that he had been loved by his fellows that Tibbie had valued most. ”

“ Tibbie moaned a little, and then lay silent for a long time, drawing slow and feeble breaths. Annie was almost dead with cold.
Suddenly in the midst of the darkness Tibbie cried out,
"I see licht! I see licht!"
A strange sound in her throat followed, after which she was quite still. Annie's mind began to wander. Something struck her gently on the arm, and kept bobbing against her. She put out her hand to feel what it was. It was round and soft. She said to herself:
"It's only somebody's heid that the water's torn aff," and put her hand under Tibbie again. ”

“ Clapham,” Mrs. Wrench had said, “and Marigold writes that she’s quite delighted with it. Tibbie was always so dainty in everything she did, and Marigold wanted a frock from her for the sake of old times. It’s the sort of frock that would have suited Tibbie herself, from the description. I remember she always looked pretty in pale blue.”
Mrs. Clapham had remembered it, too, throwing a glance at the photograph of the young widow, framed on a shelf near. The sober colours of life were Tibbie’s wear now; not the delicate shades of youth making ready to be a bride. ”

“ They rose, and went, hand in hand, over the bridge, and round the end of its parapet, and down the steep descent to the cottage at its foot, Tibbie's cloak shining all the way, but, now that the sun was down, with a chastened radiance. When she had laid it aside, and was seated on her low wooden chair within reach of her spinning-wheel,
"Noo," said Tibbie, "ye'll jist read a chapter till me, lassie, afore ye gang hame, and syne I s' gang to my bed. Blin'ness is a sair savin' o' can'les." ”

“ Tibbie, of course, knew nothing of my patient watchfulness. I never went near my chambers, therefore Ellice and Parham certainly believed me dead, while as to Domville’s hiding in Paris, I confess I doubted the truth of the statement of Tibbie’s friend. If the poor fellow still lived he would most certainly have written to me. No! He was dead—without a doubt. He had fallen a victim in that grim house of doom. ”

“ Her frock is made of a piece of one of my own, and that blue is my favorite color. There, Tibbie, now you have two whole dollies and part of another. You must run right home to bed. A Merry Christmas to you, dear child. I am very happy to have made your acquaintance."
The exuberant Sally talked like a clock gone mad all the way home through the clear wintry night; and since she felt inclined to conversation, it was well she could keep one up alone, for Tibbie, who trotted beside her, holding fast her dolls, did not utter a single word. ”

“ The great child and the little, full of a [23] sense of play, went up the stairs hand in hand. Tibbie could scarcely take account of what was happening to her, such was the pure delight of the adventure.
"This is the dining-room; this is the sitting-room; this is the receiving-room; this, now prepare—this is Mrs. Darling's own room!"
Up went the light; the rose-paper walls, the rose-chintz dumpy chairs, the silver-laden dressing-table, the pink and white draped bed, leaped into sight. Tibbie stood still, open-lipped. ”

“ Smart London knew Tibbie well. Some day she would many, people said, but the wiseacres shook their heads and secretly pitied the man who became her husband.
As a friend Tibbie was perfect. She was a man’s woman. She could shoot or fish, she would play bridge and pay up honourably, she rode well, and she drove her 60 h.p. “Mercedes” better even than her own chauffeur. Old Lady Scarcliff—a delightful old person—had long ago given her up as hopeless. ”

“ A stinging box on the ear suddenly announced the imprudence of such a proceeding.
"Take your airm away," exclaimed Tibbie. " I'm no a silly lassie that thinks every callant who comes her way is daft aboot her. I ken men too weel to trust them, and gin ye come here I wad hae ye mind that."
"Yer hands are nae saft, nor your speech either, Tibbie," murmured the swain ruefully. "Maybe ye'll think better o't, in time. I'm no ane to speak what is na true to ony woman, and I ken ye're weel favored eno' to please me, and a farmer's wife is aye better off than a serving-maid." ”

“ Tibbie’s account you were much more ill than you told me.”
“Only ill enough to convince me that the need of avoiding a northern winter was not a fallacy, and likewise to make Tibbie insist on coming here for fear Maister Colin should not be looked after. It is rather a responsibility to have let her come, for she has never been farther south than Edinburgh, but she would not be denied. So she has been to see you! I told her you would help her to find her underlings. I thought it might be an opening for that nice little girl who was so oppressed with lace-making.” ”

“ Come, let's look at 'em one by one, taking all our time. Come to Sally, darling, and don't feel bad. We'll have lots of fun. [Takes Tibbie's hand and draws her nearer the dolls, then sits on the floor and pulls Tibbie down into her lap.]
Tibbie. I had almost guessed it, you know, when you said like angels with hats on. But I couldn't think there would be a hundred unless it was a store. What has the lady so many for?
Sally. Bless your heart! They ain't for herself! They're for orphans in a school that a minister cousin of hers is superintendent of. ”

“ It was not long, therefore, before Tibbie's meditations were interrupted by the entrance of the inquisitors. They saluted her but briefly, and seated themselves on such chairs and stools as appeared, without waiting for much invitation, and disregarding Tibbie's enquiry of 'What's yer wull?' Mr. Geddie opened his book, lifted up his voice and held forth. It was a discourse on the vanity of concealment in the matter of sin, and an exhortation to confession as some measure of atonement, and the first step to repentance. ”

“ I doobt the fau't's nae sae muckle i' my temper as i' my hert. It's mair love that I want, Tibbie. Gin I lo'ed my neebor as mysel', I cudna be sae ill-natert till him; though 'deed, whiles, I'm angry eneuch at mysel'—a hantle waur nor at him."
"Verra true, Thamas," answered Tibbie. "Perfect love casteth oot fear, 'cause there's nae room for the twa o' them; and I daursay it wad be the same wi' the temper." ”

“ This is worth as much as a dollar, every individual one of them. Tibbie, it's just the grandest sight you ever seen—pink and blue and yellow and striped—"
Tibbie, who was looking Sally fixedly in the face, as if to see if her secret anywhere transpired, now almost shouted, "It's marbles!"
"Aw, but you're downright stupid, Tibbie. I don't mind telling you I'm disap [20] pointed. You're just a common, every-day sort of young one, with no idear of grandness in your idears at all. And you don't seem to keep a hold on more than one notion at a time. First it's a dollar. Is that pink and blue? ”

“ CHAPTER LXIV. Tibbie's moaning grew gentler and less frequent, and both fell into a troubled slumber. From this Annie awoke at the sound of Tibbie's voice. She was talking in her dream.
"Dinna wauk him," she said; "dinna wauk him; he's fell (Germ. viel) tired and sleepy. Lat the win' blaw, lads. Do ye think He canna see whan his een are steekit. Gin the watter meddle wi' you, He'll sune lat it ken it's i' the wrang. Ye'll see 't cowerin' at 's feet like a colley-dog. I'll jist dight the weet aff o' my Lord's face.—Weel, wauk him gin ye will. I wad raither gang to the boddom mysel'." ”

“ She was determined the old man should be got up-stairs and out of the way before the hour when callers might be expected.
She therefore attended to the laying of breakfast and dinner herself, being afraid lest Tibbie Minch should call attention to the vagaries of the timepiece. The plan succeeded. James Macpherson partook of his whisky toddy, and retired to his room unsuspectingly; and Tibbie, grumbling audibly, was hustled off to put on her afternoon gown, while the fair Catherine was getting herself into the new strange garment she had deemed suitable for the occasion. ”

“ She was from Devonshire, and the way she spoke of her own village showed her to be a true lover of the country.
“My husband, Mr Morton, is a compositor on a newspaper in Fleet Street and is always away at nights,” Tibbie explained. “We’ve been married nearly a year. I, too, was in service—a lady’s-maid.”
“Ah! I thought you ’ad been,” replied the landlady, whose name was Williams. “You speak so refined.”
So after re-examining the rooms Tibbie seated herself in the wicker armchair of the little parlour, and leaning back suggested that we should engage the apartments. ”

“ But Tibbie had a will of her own, and while her husband brought in some shrewd and knowledgeable men to his taste, she beckoned to Gabriel. “Me and my husband can give you shelter for the night, sir, and a good supper, if you’ll step in. ’Tis hard if those who are fighting for us can’t get food and lodging on a cold night like this,” she said. ”

“ They were that fierce they’d have set t’ house afire if I’d shaped to put ’em in t’ grate!” ... Tibbie’s mother gave her jolly laugh for the first time since the solemn interval, and the rhythmic rubbing began again. “Ay, well, she’s well enough where she is,” she went on placidly. “She’s a good business and a sight o’ friends. The folks next door—Rawlinson’s what they’re called—think the world an’ all o’ my Tibbie.... Nay, she wouldn’t come agen whatever I did, though I axed her ever so often. ”

“ It was a man's voice I heard, and all that scuffling about the kitchen is most unseemly at your time o' life."
"Ye may leave my time o' life alane," said Tibbie. "I'm no half the age o' yoursel' . . . and as for scuffling, I dinna ken what ye mean. The young man is a quiet decent body, and comes of as gude a stock as ony in Galloway. And neither he nor I hae ony freends in London, so it's no sae wonderfu' if he calls now and then to have a crack wi' ane o' his ain folk."
Catherine gave a contemptuous sniff, and signified that Tibbie might retire. ”

“ It was with some trepidation that she tackled her astute handmaiden.
"Tibbie," she said, "I intend to fix one day a week — Wednesday, I think — in order to be at home to my friends. Every one does it, and it is really a very excel- lent plan. It prevents pur being unpre- pared for callers (as is too often the case with us, Tibbie) , and one can offer a cup of tea, as is usually done, without waiting for the kettle to boil first."
Tibbie had listened in silence. She had just brought up the tray with Catherine's frugal supper, and she stood contemplat- ing it with a grim expression. ”

“ This had its good effect at last; all the dolls were fast asleep, and the mother, her duty done, composed herself to take a well-earned rest too. This thought was no doubt suggested to Tibbie by the fact that she was really getting sleepy. It was long past her bedtime.
She was not far from napping when she became aware of Sally saying: "Lively, Tibbie! Miss Catherine has got back. We must be packing off home. I declare I lost sight of the time. There's just no one like a fireman to be entertaining, I declare. Mrs. Bonnet won't be long coming now." ”

“ Sangster. Oh! If Tibbie had only been there to hear it too! Some idea might have struck her, that would have induced her to loosen her hold on him, and try for higher game. We can but judge others by ourselves, and he knew that with himself an arithmetical consideration was the weightiest that could be presented, and that a pretext by which pounds might be extorted unjustly, would seem more attractive than an honest claim which could only be realized in shillings and pence. ”

“ She drank the soup gratefully, glad that she had no need to set about any cooking for herself, and ate a piece of her own excellent currant bread. Her currant loaves, indeed, were quite famous in the district, so much so that there were people who ordered them from her every week. Miss Marigold was fond of them, too, and so was Tibbie—Tibbie, who wrote that even the children said she could not make them like Granny! Miss Marigold was to have a loaf as a wedding-gift when next she came home; in the excitement of moving she must not forget that. ”

“ But he was a shelter to Annie—and to Tibbie also, although she and he were too much of a sort to appear to the best advantage in their intercourse.
"Hoo's Tibbie the day?" said Thomas.
"She's a wee bit better the day," answered Annie.
"It's a great preevileege, lassie, and ane that ye'll hae to answer for, to be sae muckle wi' ane o' the Lord's elec' as ye are wi' Tibbie Dyster. She's some thrawn (twisted) whiles, but she's a good honest woman, wha has the glory o' God sair at her hert. ”