Between You and Me

s if we were speerin' together. But one thing puts me in mind o' another. And it so happened that that gay morn at

ke to be dependent on another man for all I earned and ate and drank. And I'd been oot on strike, too. There was some bit trouble over wages. In the beginning it was no great matter; five minut

nd I cheered with a good will when the District Agents of the miners made speeches and urged us to stay oot till the masters gave in. But I could see, even then, tha

nd he went to all the mass meetings, though I didna hear him, ever mak' a speech, as most of us did, one time or another

ike won't last for aye. We've the richt on our side

arry-they're no for workingman wi' a wife that's sick on his hands and a wean that's dyin' for lack o' th

be better of

. All that pay I've lost. It would have kept the wean well fed and the wife could ha' had the medicine she needs.

reproach myself; to enjoy life a bit, and lie abed of a morn wi' a clear conscience. But I could see, the noo Jamie talked, how

as weel enough for me, and others like me, who'd been able to put by a bit siller, and could aff

gowf! Weel, it was there I saw Jamie Lowden again, and heard how he had come through the time of the strike. I'

always asked Jamie the same quest

tlement yet, Jami

he pits, closed. And we're telling them, after every meeting, that we'll een starve, if needs must, before we'll

loved one another very dearly, did those two. She looked down at the wee yin beside her in the bed. "It's the we

food; the doctor had ordered milk for her, and beef tea, and jellies. Jamie could just manage the milk, but it was out of the question for him to buy the sick room delicacies she should have had every day of her life. The bairn was born but a week af

months. Gie her gude food, and plenty on't, when she can eat again let her ha' plenty rest. She'll be rich

weel enough. The strikers got a few shillings each week frae the union; just enough, it turned out, in Jamie's case, to pay the rent and buy the bare necessities of life. His own siller went fast to

was popular, but it was because he made his patients afraid of him, some said. They got well because they were afraid to disobey him. He had a very large

ho's the wife and the w

aid Jamie, dolefully. "But yell s

ome things to do, and looked carefully at the sleeping bairn,

," he said. "I want

ked along wi' him in silence a wee bit; t

he's like to dee on your hands. Yer wife's in the same case. She maun ha' nourishin' food, and plenty on't. Noo, I'm rich enough, and I'm a bachel

e. I'll bring him up strong and healthy, as a gentleman and a gentleman's son. And I'll gie ye a hundred pounds to boot-a hundred pounds

orking. "The wean my Annie near died to gi

hrough no fault o' your ain, through misfortune that's come upon ye, ye can no gie him the care he needs to keep him alive. Wad ye rather see him dead or in my care? Think i

e turned away. Sure enough, Jamie was ready to curse him and bid him keep his money. But when he was left alone, and walked home,

t no be selfish for Jamie, for the love he had for his first born, to insist on keeping him when to keep him wad mean his death? But th

lling her. But when he went in she was sair afraid the doctor had told him the bairn could no l

d, and looked down at the wailing mite beside her

knees beside the bed, and putting his arms about her. "Dinna f

ctor said, that it wad be b

he understand, that's never had bairn o' his own to twine its fingers around o

fully. And it was Annie herself who spoke, timidly, of what the doctor had offered. Jamie had told her nothing of the hundre

k! And if we let the doctor hae him he'd be well and strong. And it micht be

o lose him by havin' him dee. Lose him they must, it seemed, and Jamie cried out against God, at last, and swore that there was no help, even though a man was r

through. He's of gude stock on both sides-that's why I want to adopt him. I'll bring a nurse round wi' me tomorrow, come afternoon, and I'l

violent. "'Tis no for the money we're letting ye hae the wean-'tis that ye may save h

s wont. "Ye shall e'en hae the hundred pounds, for you'll be needin' it for t

s it were lead. Still, when he reached hame, and saw Annie looking at him wi' such grief in her moist een, he could no bear to tell her of the hundred pounds

n he'd rouse and greet a wee, and every sound he made tore at their heart strings. They were to say gude-bye to him the morrow, never to see h

wee hoose. Jamie started and looked at Annie, and the tears sprang to their een as th

, my lassie, but the best in the end. We'll hae ye on yer feet again in no time the noo, and ye can

eks. She kissed him again and again. And the doctor, staring, grew uncomfortable. He beckoned to the nurse,

he sighed. "Jamie, my man-kiss h

d it as tenderly as ever its mither could ha' done. And the

is a God! I believe in Him, and I will put my trust in Him. If it is His will that

rightened, as if he thought Jamie had gone mad, g

s and the wean, doctor," he said, earnestly. "But we canna p

eeting his in a happiness such as he had never seen before. Sh

doctor," he

or, wi' the nurse following him. And Jamie dropped to his knees beside his w

rayers! Ne'er tell me that He betrays those wh

rew better. Next day a wee laddie brocht a great hampe

ye, laddie

I do ken I maun not t

istake. 'Tis for

for her in that hamper. Beef tea, and fruit, and jellies-rare gude things! Jamie, his een full o

entimental fule, Jamie Lowden, and I'd hae no hand in helpin' ye! But if so be there was some beef e

t the day before. But, just as he

d, as I was comin' up, that the strike was over and all the men were to go bac

rn, when the doctor had left them alone. And this time it

es? Was ever a falswer lee than that? Here was this strike, that was so quickly called because a few men quarreled among themselves. And yet it was only by a miracle that it did n

o get together and talk things over before the trouble, instead of afterward? Must we act amang o