Be that as it may, the money brought back by
Mr. Drever--which was greatly in excess of our expectations, and
allowed to each of us a share much larger than Tom Kinlay had
received from old Isaac--came as a great help not only to my
mother, but also to the widow of Tom Hercus, to say nothing of Mrs.
Rosson, whose rent had fallen so far in arrear that she had been
threatened with an eviction from her cottage, and was only saved by
this timely assistance.
Chapter XXVI. A Subterranean Adventure.
It was little that I saw of my old school companions now that I had
become a farm worker and spent my days in the fields. Sometimes,
indeed, when I was tending my nibbling flock on the hillside, or
driving them over to the distant pasture land by the margin of the
loch of Harray, where the grass grew sweetest, I would chance to
see Thora Kinlay on her way from Crua Breck to Stromness, and
occasionally she would come to Lyndardy to see my sister Jessie.
These were the summer days; but when the harvest season came round,
and our crop of oats had to be gathered in, and, later still, our
turnips stored away for the winter, I was then always busy with my
work, and very seldom had opportunity of speaking with Thora, or of
even seeing her from a distance.
And yet I had often a wish to be near her, and to show her what
kindness or sympathy a lad can show to a girl whom he believes to
have but little happiness in life.
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