A Highland Bride by Fiona Monroe

Author:Fiona Monroe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781627509077
Publisher: Fiona Monroe
Published: 2015-06-16T07:00:00+00:00

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Flora had no opportunity to speak to Phemie alone until the next day. She knew that the girl was avoiding her eye as she served in the dining room that evening, and immediately after dinner, if they did not have guests, Mr Farquhar liked Flora to sit with him by the hearth and listen while he read from an inspiring book. It would have seemed very singular had she excused herself from this and gone into a private conference with the maidservant at this hour of the day. So she sat in a state of suppressed agitation, frequently pricking her finger with her needle and listening to not a word of Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, knowing that she was every moment keeping the knowledge of Phemie's sinful conduct from her husband.

The next morning, as soon as Mr Farquhar had set out to visit someone, Flora rang the bell and said that she wished Phemie to help her sort through the clothes that she had brought with her from Edinburgh, with a view to altering and donating some garments to the poor. As soon as the door of her bedchamber was closed on the pair of them, Phemie burst out, "Oh, Mrs Farquhar, ma'am! Please don't tell!"

Flora anxiously checked behind the door again, but the upper hallway was quite empty. Mrs MacDonald was far away down in the kitchen, preparing lunch and presumably supervising old Peggy's floor-scrubbing. She closed the door firmly once more and sat on the chair by the fire, where she had too often been put across Mr Farquhar's knee. Now it was she sitting in judgement of Phemie, who stood before her, hands twisting.

"I've been so afraid since yesterday," she said. "I thought every moment that the Minister was going to send for me. I was sure you would have told him as soon as you got home."

"Phemie, I have not told him, but I ought to have done so!"

"Oh please, ma'am, don't, I beg you."

"But Phemie, what is the meaning of it? Did that man - did he force you?"

"Oh no, ma'am. No, indeed Calum wouldn't do that. He's gentle and kind and oh, wonderful in every way, ma'am. I love him."

"But you are not married?"

"We're engaged to be married, ma'am. Only - well, it's like this, ma'am. Calum is an under-gardener at Lochlannan, and the head gardener, Mr MacDonald, he doesn't allow his under-gardeners to marry. Calum would lose his job. We have to wait until Calum can find a position as gardener in his own right elsewhere, or at least get a place as under-gardener somewhere they'd take on a married man, but it's hard, ma'am. He asks where he can, but he has to be careful. Mr MacDonald is a hard master and doesn't take kindly to disloyalty. Calum's worked for him since he was twelve years old."

"But Phemie, I understand about that, and it's bad luck on you - but if you must wait to marry, you must wait before engaging in intimate relations, too.

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