Rosy looked the future then, as Mrs. Sinclair, on the day on which young
Robert went down the pit, showed off her room "grandeur" to an admiring
neighbor.
"My, what braw paper ye hae, Nellie. Wha put it on for ye? Was it
yirsel'?" asked the visitor with breath bated in admiration.
"Ay, it was that. I just got the chance o' the bargain, an' I thocht I'd
tak' it," she replied, with subdued pride.
"Oh, my! it's awful braw, an' sae weel matched too! I never saw anything
sae well done. You're rale weel-off, do ye ken."
"My God! What's wrang?" cried Nellie suddenly, gazing from the window
with blanched cheeks.
"I doot there's been an accident. I heard the bell gang for men three
tows a' rinnin', an' I see a lot o' men comin' up the brae. I doot the
pit's lowsed."
Both of them hurried to the door, and found that already a crowd of
women had flocked to the end of the row, and were standing waiting
anxiously on the men, in order to learn what had happened. They did not
talk, but gazed down the hill, each heart anxious to know if the
unfortunate one belonged to her. The sickening fear which grips the
heart of every miner's wife, when she sees that procession from the pit
before the proper quitting hour, lay heavy upon each one.
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