"I wonder what Black Jock really has against me," he had said over and
over again, unable to understand his persistent hostility, but his wife
had never dared tell him.
One night, however, after he had been out of work a week, because, as
Black Jock had said, "there was nae places," she decided to tell him the
real reason of Walker's antipathy.
"Man, it's no' you, Geordie, that Black Jock has the ill will at," she
ventured to say, "it's me, an' he hits me an' the bairns through you."
"You," said Geordie in some surprise, "hoo' can that be?"
Bit by bit, though with great reluctance, she told her husband how and
when Black Jock had attempted to degrade her. When she had ended, he sat
in grim silence, while the ticking of the clock seemed to have gained in
loudness, and so, too, the purring of the cat, as it rubbed itself
against his leg, first on one side and then the other, drawing its
sleek, furry side along his ankle, turning back again, and occasionally
looking up into his face for the recognition which it vainly tried to
win.
The fire burned low in the grate as Nellie busied herself with washing
the dishes; while outside the loud cries of the children, playing on the
green, mingled occasionally with a clink, as the steel quoits fell upon
each other, telling of some enthusiastic players, who were practicing
for the local games.
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