"The minister was owre last nicht," said Jenny after a little, "but I
dinna think she ever spoke to him. He cam' in just when I was comin'
oot, an' I dinna like to leave her. He talked away a wee while an' then
put up a prayer; but there was nae consolation in't for onybody. I think
the sicht o' her face maun hae been too muckle for him. He didna stay
very lang, and gaed awa' saying he'd come back again. Nellie has
everything ready--the bed a' made, wi' clean sheets an' blankets on
them--an' there she stan's always at that window, lookin' doon the brae.
It would break yer heart to see her, Leezie, she's that vexed lookin'."
So they wept and sorrowed together.
* * * * *
Down in the pit, Andrew Marshall, Matthew Maitland, Peter Pegg, and a
number of others toiled like giants possessed. Their naked bodies
streamed with sweat and glistened in the light of their lamps. Timber
was placed in position, and driven tight with desperation in every blow
from their hammers; blocks of rock were tossed aside, and smashed into
fragments, ere being filled into the tubs which were ever waiting ready
to convey the debris to the pit-head.
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