The Argosy — page 339: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

320 The Man from C——. “The fury watched him as he put together his clothes and tied them in a bundle, sneering at him all the time. When he had his bundle safe in one hand, he picked up the four months’ old baby in the other, and marched forth. Then was Bet’s turn to quake! She could not get the child, for the big man held it high, and went away to his mother, a mile of. Bet burst into her mother’s cottage, in scream- ing grief. ‘¢ “ He’s gane, mither, he’s gane, and I maun Just get awa to Margaret Dewar’s and bide the nicht.’ “Now Margaret Dewar was the scandal-lover and mischief-maker of the place, and old Granny was wiser than some mothers. ¢ ¢Ve’ll do nothing of the kind, Bet ! Ye’ll just bide in yer ain house, and keep still.’ “¢ But my bairn, my bairn! I canna live without my bairn.’ “¢<« Bide ye still, Bet ‘Tulloch! Ye’ll sune hae yer bairn again !’ said her mother, with the shrewdest wisdom and contempt. ‘Next morning Bob’s mother arrived humbly at Granny’s door carry- ing the baby, who had screamed unmercifully all night, and reduced its father to ashes in his humiliating ignorance of how to manage it! Bob loafed about for a day or two, and then came home to be jeered at the more. Now they fight equally, and his blows to Bet make Granny think him a brute.” ‘“‘'That’s why she has settled his ‘appointed place’ for him,” said I “Yes, and that is how so many romantic marriages end,” observec Christie, with a solemn nod. ‘Upon my word, it seems a pity that some wise and astute agent like the ‘Man from C , who knows people’s wants better than they do themselves, should not be appointed in every parish in Scot- land,” remarked I. ‘‘ He’s a valuable fellow, and I should like to make his acquaintance.” ‘“‘'There’s one other thing better,” said Jack Christie, shrewdly : ‘S¢ and that is not to marry at all.” MINNIE DOUGLAS. COMICOOOKS .: