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The Little Minister, a novel by James Matthew Barrie |
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Chapter XVIII - Caddam--Love Leading to a Rupture |
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_ Gavin told himself not to go near the mud house on the following Monday; but he went. The distance is half a mile, and the time he took was two hours. This was owing to his setting out due west to reach a point due north; yet with the intention of deceiving none save himself. His reason had warned him to avoid the Egyptian, and his desires had consented to be dragged westward because they knew he had started too soon. When the proper time came they knocked reason on the head and carried him straight to Caddam. Here reason came to, and again began to state its case. Desires permitted him to halt, as if to argue the matter out, but were thus tolerant merely because from where he stood he could see Nanny's doorway. When Babbie emerged from it reason seems to have made one final effort, for Gavin quickly took that side of a tree which is loved of squirrels at the approach of an enemy. He looked round the tree-trunk at her, and then reason discarded him. The gypsy had two empty pans in her hands, For a second she gazed in the minister's direction, then demurely leaped the ditch of leaves that separated Nanny's yard from Caddam, and strolled into the wood. Discovering with indignation that he had been skulking behind the tree, Gavin came into the open. How good of the Egyptian, he reflected, to go to the well for water, and thus save the old woman's arms! Reason shouted from near the manse (he only heard the echo) that he could still make up on it. "Come along." said his desires, and marched him prisoner to the well. The path which Babbie took that day is lost in blaeberry leaves Gavin arrived at the well in time to offer Babbie the loan of his "How strong you are!" Babbie said with open admiration. I am sure no words of mine could tell how pleased the minister "How curious that we should have met here," Babbie said, in her "No," answered truthful Gavin, "I was looking for you. I thought "Did you? I only saw a man hiding behind a tree, and of course I Gavin looked at her sharply, but she was not laughing at him. "It was I," he admitted; "but I was not exactly hiding behind the "You had only stepped behind it for a moment," suggested the Her gravity gave way to laughter under Gavin's suspicious looks, "What does it feel like to be afraid?" she asked, eyeing him. "I am afraid of nothing," Gavin answered, offended in turn. "Yes, you are. When you saw me come out of Nanny's you crept "Fear," said Gavin, "is one thing, and prudence is another." "Another name for it," Babbie interposed. "Not at all; but I owe it to my position to be careful. Unhappily, "To know what?" "Let us avoid the subject." "No," the Egyptian said, petulantly. "I hate not to be told "You should see," Gavin replied, awkwardly, "that there is a--a "But if I am willing to overlook it?" asked Babbie, impertinently. Gavin beat the brushwood mournfully with his staff. "I cannot allow you," he said, "to talk disrespectfully of my He checked himself; but he was wishing she could see him in his "I suppose," said the gypsy, reflectively, "one must be very "As for that--" answered Gavin, waving his hand grandly. "And it must be nice, too," continued Babbie, "to be able to speak "I must leave you if you talk in that way." "I only wanted to know." "Oh, Babbie, I am afraid you have little acquaintance with the "Do I sit under anybody?" repeated Babbie, blankly. Is it any wonder that the minister sighed? "Whom do you sit "I mean, where do you belong?" he said. "Wanderers," Babbie answered, still misunderstanding him, "belong "I am only asking you if you ever go to church?" "Oh, that is what you mean. Yes, I go often." "What church?" "You promised not to ask questions." "I only mean what denomination do you belong to?" "Oh, the--the--Is there an English church denomination?" Gavin groaned. "Well, that is my denomination," said Babbie, cheerfully. "Some "We don't wear gowns." "What a shame! But I am coming, nevertheless. I used to like going "You have lived in Edinburgh?" "We gypsies have lived everywhere," Babbie said, lightly, though "But all gypsies don't speak as you do," said Gavin, puzzled "Of course you dinna," replied Babbie, in broad Scotch. "Maybe, if "Then why do it?" "Because--Oh, because prudence and I always take different roads." "Tell me who you are, Babbie," the minister entreated; "at least, "You have warned me against imprudence," she said. "I want," Gavin continued, earnestly, "to know your people, your "Why?" "Because," he answered, stoutly, "I like their daughter." At that Babbie's fingers played on one of the pans, and, for the "You are a good man," she said, abruptly; "but you will never know "Are they dead?" "They may be; I cannot tell." "This is all incomprehensible to me." "I suppose it is. I never asked any one to understand me." "Perhaps not," said Gavin, excitedly; "but the time has come when Babbie receded from him in quick fear. "You must never speak to me in that way again," she said, in a "In what way?" Gavin knew what way very well, but he thirsted to hear in her "You never will understand me," she said. "I daresay I might be Her vehemence alarmed Gavin, who hastened to reply-- "My life is not humdrum. It is full of excitement, anxieties, "Why, what can you know of luxuries?" "I have eighty pounds a year." Babble laughed. "Are ministers so poor?" she asked, calling back "It is a considerable sum," said Gavin, a little hurt, for it was The Egyptian looked down at her ring, and smiled. "I shall always remember your saying that," she told him, "after "We shall not quarrel," said Gavin, decidedly. "Oh, yes, we shall." "We might have done so once, but we know each other too well now." "That is why we are to quarrel." "About what?" said the minister. "I have not blamed you for "Who can afford," broke in Babbie, "to give Nanny seven shillings "True," Gavin said, uncomfortably, while the Egyptian again toyed "Where did you get it?" demanded Gavin, fiercely. "I am sorry I told you that," the gypsy said, regretfully. "Tell me how you got it," Gavin insisted, his face now hard. "Now, you see, we are quarrelling." "I must know." "Must know! You forget yourself," she said haughtily. "No, but I have forgotten myself too long. Where did you get that "Good afternoon to you," said the Egyptian, lifting her pans. "It is not good afternoon," he cried, detaining her. "It is good- "As you please," she said. "I will not tell you where I got my "Yes, Babbie, it is." She was not, perhaps, greatly grieved to hear him say so, for she "You are no gypsy," he continued, suspiciously. "Perhaps not," she answered, again taking the pans. "This dress is but a disguise." "It may be. Why don't you go away and leave me?" "I am going," he replied, wildly. "I will have no more to do with He could not have used a word more calculated to rouse the "This is prudence--now." _ |