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KAMBkES NORTHWARD. 251
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
•*— The Road From Melvich To Tongue Skir...
ibr their own cosy tea , a way-worn elderly man , presented himself at the inn-door for a night's lodging and shelter . So shabby and
unprepossessing was Ms appearance , that the lassie who had followed her mistress to the door at the traveller ' s ring " , pulled her vehemently
by the skirt , and implored her not to risk their lives by giving the . suspicious looking stranger entrance . Mrs . Ross herself hesitated
for a moment , but a second glance at the thinly-clad and sad , patient figure before her , touched her woman ' s heart and judgment , and
she not only admitted the traveller to the refuge he sought , but seated him in the warmest nook of her cheery bar , and gave him of
her own tea and barley-scons which stood ready to be eaten . Sadly troubled and fearsome was the poor lassie all that evening
and night , for the bright glow of the fire had revealed more distinctly the poverty-stricken appearance of the visitor , and visions of
throatcutting and burglary haunted her mind . Nor was the hostess altogether free from anxiety . The appearance of any stranger in
Durness during the dark winter months was almost an unprecedented event ; and that one from the south , foot-sore and
travelstained , a pedestrian with a knapsack at his back , should arrive at this remote spot unh . erald . ed and unknown , was in truth a startling
event . Nor did the manners of the man tend to re-assure them . Taciturn and gloomy he took his seat , eat and drank what was
placed before him , and seemingly oblivious of external circumstances sat silent and absorbed , till , suddenly unfastening the knapsack , he
took from it a Bible , and assiduously applied himself to its perusal . ! Late into the night did he thus sit reading ; the fears of the lassie ever
on the increase , Mrs . Boss herself half perplexed and half amused , but , as she said , " something in the countenance of the man more and
more re-assuring her ; " till , at last , he took the bed-room candle » prepared for Mm and retired to rest . Not much sleep did the lassie
get that night , but it passed over without adventure ; and the next day , and the next , and the next after thatthe silent guest took his
place by the fireside and board , unquestioned _^ . The lassie's fears of robbery and murder haying subsided , others
arose day , referring in their p neither lace , and to as his the coming stranger nor abode his going with , them conforming day after to
their ways and habits while following his own pursuits , which consisted in long rambles and long readings , she endeavored to instil
Into the mind of her mistress the belief which had gained ground in lier own , that the man liad no money , and that she would find she
liad been keeping him for nothing . Thus a week passed on , the stranger ' s innocent helpless ways had
thoroughly enlisted Mrs- Ross ' s sympathies , and she had come to the conclusion in her own mind , that , money or no money , the stranger
was a gentleman ! However , the lassie ' s repeated warnings produced some effect , and in a short time the bill was made out and quietly
placed before him . Whereupon the stranger as quietly took out his purse , and produced the requisite sum , adding thereto a present for
tlie lassie !
TOI / . IV . 12
Kambkes Northward. 251
_KAMBkES NORTHWARD . 251
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1859, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121859/page/35/
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