I was her ma

, and I am only half awake. Perhaps I was dreaming of her, for I accept her presence without surprise, as if

e was working late-oh, that weary

the headaches against which even she cannot fight, and my mother, who bears physical pain as if it were a comrade, is most w

n make the

what she has come to me for, but '

he house to-day, and light t

uldna ask that of yo

st time, mother, sin

gleefully, so I have begun well, for to ke

I take in the bread, looking so st

(I hope he did not see that I had th

part. This means that the a

e, and the house was grand beyond speech, but-but-where was he? he had not been very hearty. 'He' was the landlord; she had expected him to receive us at the door and ask if we were in good health and how we had left the others, and then she would have asked him if his wife was well and how many children they had, after which we should all have sat down together to dinner. Two chambermaids came into her room and prepared it without a single word to her about her journey or on any other subject, and when they had gone, 'They are two haughty misses,' said my mother with spirit. But what she most resented was the waiter with his swagger black suit and short quick steps and the 'towel' over his arm. Without so much as a 'Welcome to Glasgow!' he showed us to ou

manner and addresses me as 'Sir,' and asks with cruel sarcasm for what purpose (except to boast) I carry the towel, and I say 'Is there anything more I can do for Madam?' and Madam replies tha

ppose some one were to look inside? What a pity I knocked over the flour-barrel! Can I hope that for once my mother will forget to inquire into these matters? Is my sister willing to let disorder reign until to-morrow? I determine to risk it. Perhaps I have been at work for half an hour when I hear movements overhead. One or other of them is wondering

d come to her that I was writing without a warm mat at my feet. She carries one in her hands. Now that she is here she remains for a time, and though she is in the arm-chair by the fire, where she sits bolt upright (she loved to have cushions on the unused chairs, but detested putting her back against them), and I am bent low over my desk, I know that contentment and pity are struggling for possession of her face: contentment wins when she surveys her room,

t weary

not to me) new chapters are as easy to turn out as new bannocks. No, she maintains, for one bannock is the marrows of another, while chapte

o contortions, I cringe, or twist my legs until I have to stop writing to undo the knot. I bow with him, eat with him, and gnaw my moustache with him. If the character be a lady with an exquisite laugh, I suddenly terrify you by laughing exquisitely.

hoots! it is some auld-farrant word about which she can tell me nothing. But if in the course of conversation I remark casually, 'Did he find bilbie?' or 'Was that quite silvendy?' (though the sense of the question is vague to me) she falls into the trap, and the words explain themselves in her replies. Or maybe to-day she sees whither I am leading her, and such is her sensiti

or is still barred, but she is looking both furtive and elated. I should say that she is burning to tell me something, but cann

om since you came in?' she as

y do yo

ught you might

anything n

re is, but-but j

new if you kept the doo

oom, and she follows, affecting humility, but with triumph in her eye. How often those little scenes took place! I wa

ar it, for this time it is a bran-new wicker chair, of th

itself to my eyes before she can utter another word. Ten minutes at the least did she stand

,' she cries, 'but what do y

and six

hillings, as I'm a living woman!' she cro

t himself five shillings,' my mother continues exultantly. You would have thought her the hardest person had not a knock on the wall summoned us about this time to my sister's side. Thoug

s to a penny!'

paid him the money I heard you in the litt

t of an old topcoat,' she falters. 'He looked il

e bairns i

e been a bit las

t did you give her? I h

mly. If I don't interfere there will be a coldness between them for a

she says, conce

n with a cry of triumph, 'I warrant it's jelly

which has just arrived with the mangling. Now there is delicious linen for my mother to finger; there was always rapture on her face when the clothes-basket came in; it never failed to make her once more the a

but though the public will probably read the word without blinking, it went off in my hands with a bang. They tell me-the Sassenach tell me-that in time I shall be able without a blush to make Albert say 'darling,' and even gather her up in his arms, but I begin to doubt it; the moment sees me as shy as ever; I still find it advisable to lock the door, and then-no witness save the dog-I 'do' it dourly with my teeth clenched, while the dog retreats into the far corner and moans. The bolder Englishman (I am told) will write a love-chapter and then go ou

are terrible th

busy, but-what is i

e a shame t

l, as

rified they

ant me

ome up, and help me

t I am bringing my hero forward nicely (my knee in the small of his back)

ou put the c

ert go for a moment, so, gripping him hard, I shout

on?' asks the voice, and the door-han

o work again but am less engrossed, for a conviction grows on me

ar my sister going hurriedly upstairs. I have a presentiment that s

k at that

a dish-

what it

t's one of the n

has been polishing the

emem

ing me budge from this room. O, it is a water

ay, mother, to fathom wha

that weary

he will talk to-morrow a

ith the whole cla

al you will humo

,' says my mother, 'and we can hav

t terribly

but, poor soul, h