And the old lady shook the white trimmings of her cap, which was daintily and fairly goffered at the edges. "Na, na," she said, "yince bitten, twice shy. I hae had eneuch o' men—nesty, saucy2, ill-favoured characters. Wi' half a nose on ye, ye can tell as easy gin yin o' them be in the hoose, as gin he hed been a tod!"
"And am I not a man, Aunty Jean?" I asked, for indeed she had been very kind to me.
"Hoot3, a laddie like you is no a man. Nae beard like bristles4, nae luntin' stinkin' pipes an' a skin like my lady's—that's no a man. By my silk hose and shoe strings5, gin I get as muckle as the wind o' a man body atween me and the Bogue road, I steek baith the inner and the outer doors to keep awa' the waff o' the brock. Foul6 fa' them every yin!"
This made me laugh, indeed; but after all it did not please me greatly to hear that I was taken for less than a man.
"Now there's Sandy," she went on, for she ever loved to talk, "he's a great senseless sturdy o' a craitur. Yet he could get a' the wives he wants, by just coming doon like a tod aff the hill, and takin' yin below his oxter. An' the puir bit bleatin' hizzie wad think she likit it. Lord! some folk tak' a man as they tak' a farm, by the acre. But no me—no me. Na! Gin I was thinkin' o' men, the bonny ticht lad is the lad for me; the lad wi' the cockade set in his bonnet7 an' a leg weel shapit; neither bowed out frae the knees like haystack props8, nor yet bent9 in like a cooper ridin' on the riggin' o' a barrel."
"But what for did ye no tak' yin then?" I said, speaking through the door of the spence as she moved about the house, ordering the porridge-making and keeping an eye on the hen's meat as well.
It eased my heavy thought, to hear the heartsome clip of her tongue—for all the world like a tailor's shears10, brisker when it comes to the selvage. So when Jean Gordon got in sight of the end of her sentence, she snipped11 out her words with a glibness12 beyond any Gordon that ever I heard of. For the Gordons are, according to proverb, slow people with their tongues, save as they say by two and two at the canny13 hour of e'en.
But never slow at morn or mirk was our Aunt Jean of Wa's by the Garpel burn.
"It's a strange thing," she said, looking through the hall door at me, "that you an' me can crack like twa wives that hae gotten their men out o' the hearin'. My lad, I fear ye will creep into women's hearts because ye make them vexed14 for ye. Ye hae sic innocent ways. Oh, I doot na but it's the guile15 o' ye; but it was ever sae.
"Mony a mewlin', peuterin' body has great success wi' the weemen folk. They think it's a peety that he should be so innocent, an' they tak' haud o' the craitur, juist to keep off the ither designin' weeman. Oh, I'm far frae denyin' that we are a pack o' silly craiturs. A'thing that wears willy-coats; no yin muckle to better anither!"
"But aboot yoursel', Aunty Jean?" I ventured, in order to stir her to reckless speech, which was like fox-hunting to me.
"Wha? Me? Certes, no! I gat the stoor oot o' my e'en braw an' early. I took the cure-all betimes, as the lairds tak' their mornin' o' French brandy. When Tam Lindsay gaed aff wi' his fleein' flagarie o' a muckle-tochered Crawford lass, I vowed16 that I wad hae dune17 wi' men. An' so I had!
"Whenever a loon18 cam' here in his best breeks, and a hingin' look in the e'e o' the craitur that meant courtin', faith, I juist set the dowgs on the scullion. I keepit a fearsome tyke on purpose, wi' a jaw19 ontill him like Jonah's whale. Aye, aye, mony's the braw lad that has gane doon that brae, wi' Auld20 Noll ruggin' an' reevin' at the hinderlands o' him—bonny it was to see!"
"Did ye think, as ye watched them gang, that it was your Lindsay, Aunty Jean?" I asked; for, indeed, her well-going talk eased my heart in the midst of so many troubles. For I declare that during these thirty years in Scotland, and especially in the Glenkens, folk had almost forgotten the way to laugh.
"Na, na, callant," so she would say to me in return, "I ne'er blamed him sair ava'. Tam Lindsay was never sair fashed wi' sense a' the days o' his life—at least no to hurt him, ony mair nor yersel', as yin micht say. It was the Crawford woman and her weel-feathered nest that led him awa', like a bit silly cuddie wi' a carrot afore his nose. But I'll never deny the randy that she was clever; for she took the craitur's size at the first look, as neat as if she had been measurin' him for a suit o' claes. But she did what I never did, or my name had been Jean Lindsay this day. The Lord in His mercy be thankit continually that it is as it is, and that I hae nae auld dotard, grumphin' an' snortin' at the chimley lug21. She cuitled Tam Lindsay an' flairdied him an' spak' him fair, till the poor fathom22 o' pump water thocht himsel' the brawest lad in braid Scotland. Faith, I wadna sae bemean mysel' to get the king oot o' Whitehall—wha they tell me is no that ill to get, gin yin had the chance—and in muckle the same way as Tam Lindsay. Oh, what a set o' blind, brainless, handless, guid-for-naethings are men!"
"It was with that ye began, Aunty Jean," I said.
"Aye, an' I shall end wi' it too," she answered. "I'm no theology learned, but it looks terribly like as if the rib23 story were gye near the truth. For the poorest o' weemen can mak' a great muckle oot o' a very little, an' the best o' men are sadly troubled wi' a sair want. I misdoot that Aydam maun hae missed mair nor the rib when he waukened."
My pleasant time in the cottage by the Garpel came all too soon to an end. It is, indeed, a rare and heartsome place to bide24 in on a summer's day. There is the sound of the birds singing, the plash of the water into the pool beneath the Holy Linn, where the ministers held the great baptizing of bairns, when the bonny burn water dropped of its own accord on their brows as their fathers held them up. There are the leaves rubbing against one another with a pleasant soughing noise. These kept my heart stirring and content as long as I abode25 in the Glen of the Garpel.
There is in particular one little hill with a flat top, from which one may spy both up and down the Glen, yet be hidden under the leaves. Here I often frequented to go, though Sandy warned me that this would be my death. Yet I liked it best of all places in the daytime, and lay there prone26 on my belly27 for many hours together, very content, chewing sorrel, clacking my heels together, and letting on that I was meditating28. But, indeed, I never could look at water slipping away beneath me, without letting it bear my thoughts with it and leave me to the dreaming. And the Garpel is an especially pleasant burn to watch thus running from you. I have had the same feelings in church when the sermon ran rippleless and even over my head.
The only thing that annoyed me was that on the Sabbath days the Garpel became a great place for lovers to convene29. And above all, at one angle behind Jean Gordon's cot, there is a bower30 planted with wild flowers—pleasant and retired31 doubtless, for them that are equipped with a lass. But as for me, I pleased myself by thinking that one day I should shape to bring Maisie Lennox there to see my hiding-place, for, as a little maid, she ever loved woods that rustle32 and waters that flow softly. So chiefly on the Sabbath I kept close in my covert33 with a book; but whether from motives34 of safety or envy, it misliketh me to tell.
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1
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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2
saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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3
hoot
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| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
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4
bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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5
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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6
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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7
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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8
props
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| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
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9
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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10
shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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11
snipped
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| v.剪( snip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
glibness
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| n.花言巧语；口若悬河 | |
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13
canny
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| adj.谨慎的，节俭的 | |
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14
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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15
guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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16
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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dune
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| n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘 | |
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18
loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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19
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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20
auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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lug
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| n.柄，突出部，螺帽；(英）耳朵；（俚）笨蛋；vt.拖，拉，用力拖动 | |
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22
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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24
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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28
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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29
convene
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| v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合 | |
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30
bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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31
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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32
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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33
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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34
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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