Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 4, October 1852Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 4, October 1852
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
“I did na’ think that the man was in earnest, an’ I remonstrated with
him on his folly an’ injustice. This ended in a sharp quarrel atween us,
and I left him to gang his ain gate, an’ went to live with my uncle, who
kept a blacksmith’s forge in the village.
“After a while, we heard that Willie Robertson was married to a Canadian
woman—neither young nor good-looking, and very much his inferior in
every way, but she had a good lot of land in the rear of his farm. Of
course I thought that it was all broken off with puir Jeanie, and I
wondered what she would spier at the marriage.
“It was early in June, and our Canadian woods were in their first flush
o’ green—an’ how green and lightsome they be in their spring
dress—when Jeanie Burns landed in Canada. She traveled her lane up the
country, wondering why Willie was not at Montreal to meet her as he had
promised in the last letter he sent her. It was late in the afternoon
when the steamboat brought her to C——, and, without waiting to ask any
questions respecting him, she hired a man and cart to take her and her
luggage to M——. The road through the bush was very heavy, and it was
night before they reached Robertson’s clearing, and with some difficulty
the driver found his way among the logs to the cabin-door.
“Hearing the sound of wheels, the wife, a coarse, ill-dressed slattern,
came out to see what could bring strangers to such an out-o’-the-way
place at that late hour. ‘Puir Jeanie! I can weel imagine the fluttering
o’ her heart when she spier’d of the woman for ane Willie Robertson, and
asked if he was at hame?’
“‘Yes,’ answered the wife gruffly; ‘but he is not in from the fallow
yet—you may see him up yonder, tending the blazing logs.’
“While Jeanie was striving to look in the direction which the woman
pointed out, and could na’ see through the tears that blinded her e’e,
the driver jumped down from the cart, and asked the puir girl where he
should leave her trunks, as it was getting late, and he must be off.
“‘You need not bring these big chests in here,’ said Mrs. Robertson; ‘I
have no room in my house for strangers and their luggage.’
“‘Your house!’ gasped Jeanie, catching her arm. ‘Did you na’ tell me
that he lived here?—and whereever Willie Robertson bides Jeanie Burns
sud be a welcome guest. Tell him,’ she continued, trembling all ower,
for she told me afterward that there was something in the woman’s look
and tone that made the cold chills run to her heart, ‘that an auld
friend from Scotland has jist came off a lang, wearisome journey to see
him.’
“‘You may speak for yourself!’ cried the woman angrily, ‘for my husband
is now coming down the clearing.’
“The word husband was scarcely out o’ her mouth than puir Jeanie fell as
ane dead across the doorstep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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