The Guinea Stamp: A Tale of Modern GlasgowSwan, Annie S.
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The Guinea Stamp: A Tale of Modern Glasgow
Swan, Annie S.
Glasgow (Scotland) -- Fiction
'Ay, I kent him,' said Teen, looking away over the landscape as if she
suddenly found it of new and absorbing interest.
'And have you seen him since?'
'Ay.'
'Did you speak to him, or ask him if he knew anything about her?'
'No' me; it's nane o' my business to meddle; but maybe I wad ask him if
I had a chance,' said Teen, with a peculiar pressure of the lips.
'Who is he, Teen? Do you know his name?'
'Ay, fine that; but it wad dae nae guid to say,' replied Teen guardedly.
'I dinna think he had onything to dae wi' her gaun away, onyway.'
Gladys perceived that Teen was determined to be utterly loyal to her
friend, and admired her for it.
That very afternoon, however, Teen saw occasion to change her mind on
the subject. After lunch, while Gladys was busy with letter-writing,
Teen went out to pay a visit to Mrs. Macintyre at the lodge. She was
walking very leisurely down the avenue, admiring the brilliant glossy
green of the laurels and hollies, when the tall figure of a man in a
long ulster came swinging round the curve which hid the gates from view.
Teen gave a great start, and the dusky colour leaped in her face when
she recognised him. His cheek flushed too with distinct annoyance, and
surprise was also visible on his face.
'What are you doing here?' he asked, without the shadow of other
greeting.
Teen looked up at him with a kind of quiet insolence in her heavy dark
eyes.
'That's my business,' she said calmly, and picked to pieces the leaf she
had in her hand.
'Are you staying here?' he asked then, with undisguised uneasiness,
which secretly delighted Teen. If there was a human being she mortally
disliked and distrusted, it was Mr. George Fordyce.
'Yes, I'm stayin' at the big hoose.'
'With Miss Graham?'
Teen nodded, and a faint, melancholy smile, half of scorn, half of
amusement, touched her thin lips.
'How the deuce did you manage that?' he inquired angrily. 'I can't
understand it.'
'Nor I; ye can ask her, if ye like,' responded Teen calmly; then quite
suddenly she dropped her mask of indifference, and, laying her thin,
worn fingers on his arm, lifted her penetrating eyes swiftly to his
uneasy face. 'I say, where's Liz?'
'How should I know? How dare you question me?' he asked passionately. 'I
shall warn Miss Graham against you, that you are not a proper person to
have in her house. You are not fit to breathe the same air with her.'
'Maybe no'; but as fit as you,' she answered scornfully. 'I see through
it a'; but if ye have harmed Liz, my gentleman, ye'll no' get off wi'
it. Ye'll answer for it to me.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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