human
And what does your aunt say to all this?
gpt
Oh, I have said nothing to her yet. It would only trouble her; and if I can get nothing else to do, I must keep the children till the `harvest-play' comes. That won't be so very long now.
human
But, dear me, lassie! it must be that you have awful little to live on, if the few pence you could earn would make a difference, said Nancy, forgetting, in her excitement, her resolution to say nothing rashly.
gpt
Surely it's not needful that you should slave yourself that way.
human
My aunt would not like me to speak about it. But I ought to do all I can; and I would like herding best.
gpt
Well, lass, you've sought advice from me, and you shall get it. You're just as fit for herding as you are for breaking stones. Now, just be quiet, my dear. What do you ken about herding, but what you have learnt beneath Elsie Ray's plaid on a summer's afternoon? And what good could you do your aunt,--away before four in the morning, and not home till dark at night, as you would need to be?
human
I could do little, indeed,
gpt
As for light field-labour, if such a thing was to be found in the countryside, which is not my thought, your aunt would never hear of such a thing. Field-labourers canna choose their company; and they are but a rough set at best. Weeding might do better. If you could have got into the Pentlands gardens, now. But, dear me! It just shows that there's none exempt from trouble, be they high or be they low. Folk say the Laird o' Pentlands is in sore trouble, and the sins of the father are to be visited on the children. The Lady of Pentlands and her bairns are going to foreign parts, where they needn't think shame to be kenned as puir folk. There will be little done in the Pentlands gardens this while, I doubt. There's Broyra, but that is a good five miles away: you could never go there and come back at night.
human
But surely there's something that I can do?
gpt
Yes, there's just one thing you can do. You can have patience, and sit still, and see what will come out of this. If I were you, and you were me, you could, I don't doubt, give me many a fine precept and promise from the Scriptures to that effect. So just take them to yourself, and bide still a while, till you see.
human
I'll have to go on with the school yet,
gpt
No, no, my lass: you'll do no such thing as that, unless you're tired of your life. You have been at that work over-long already, or I'm mistaken. Go into the house and look in the glass. Your face will never be paler than it is at this moment, Lilias Elder, my dear.
human
I'm tired,
gpt
Tired! I'll warrant you're tired; and me, like an old fool, talking away here, when the tea should have been ready long since.