Brow of the Gallowgate

by Doris Davidson

  When it was over, Robbie whispered, ‘Oh, Jeannie, I was goin’ to say I was sorry, but I canna. I’ve been wantin’ to do that for weeks, an’ what’s mair, I want you to say you’ll wed me, as soon as I’ve saved up enough. That is, if your mother winna be against it.’

  ‘Ma likes you, Robbie, an’ I’ll wed you whenever you like.’

  ‘It’ll nae be for a while yet, of course,’ he murmured, somewhat shy now. ‘I was thinkin’ we could go to New Zealand, for my cousin’s been there for over a year, an’ he says there’s a lot o’ good jobs. What do you think?’

  ‘Oh.’ Jeannie’s happiness ebbed rapidly. ‘New Zealand? Oh, Robbie, that’s awa’ at the other side o’ the world.’

  He smiled. ‘Aye, it’ll be a great adventure.’

  ‘I’d like to go,’ she said, rather uncertainly, ‘but it’s a terrible distance, an’ I dinna want to leave Ma.’

  His arm tightened round her. ‘Your Ma’ll aye have Mary an’ Bella, an’ you needna be feared, Jeannie, for I’ll look after you. Do you nae want to be wi’ me?’

  She could feel love for him surging up in her again, and it would be a great adventure. ‘Aye,’ she said, family ties forgotten, ‘I want to be wi’ you, Robbie, for ever an’ ever.’

  Although Mrs Wyness was rather sad at the thought of her middle daughter going so far away, she wasn’t against the wedding. It wouldn’t happen for a long time yet, Mary would always be near, and young Bella was still at home.

  Albert was very pleased when his assistant informed him that Jeannie had promised to marry him. ‘That’s great news. She’ll make you a fine wife. When’s the happy day to be?’

  Robbie shrugged. ‘Nae for a good while. I’m wantin’ to go to New Zealand, an’ I’ll have to save up enough money for oor fares, so it’ll be a year or so afore we can tie the knot.’

  The romance in Albert’s soul was aroused now, so, after a moment’s thought, he said, ‘Find a house, and I’ll lend you enough to buy some second-hand furniture, then you could be married as soon as you like.’

  ‘Oh, no, Mr Ogilvie, I couldna let you do that.’ Robbie looked quite embarrassed at the very thought of it.

  ‘I was thinking about giving you your wages up,’ Albert went on, recognizing in Robbie the same streak of independence that he’d had himself when he wanted to marry Bathie. ‘So that would help you to save for your fares all the quicker.’

  ‘We’re quite prepared to wait,’ Robbie said doggedly. ‘I only tell’t you for I couldna keep it to mysel’ ony langer.’

  ‘You’re getting a rise, in any case.’ Albert was just as determined as the younger man. ‘Starting this Saturday.’

  ‘Well, thank you very much.’ Robbie’s eyes grew wistful. ‘Maybe New Zealand’s just a dream, though.’

  ‘If you want it badly enough, it’ll come true one day, as my wife used to say.’ Albert recalled how his own dream had been fulfilled by his mother-in-law’s persistence.

  Her loan was almost two thirds repaid, and would soon all be squared, at the rate his profits were rising. Of course, Bathie had come into her own money almost a year ago and had offered to pay it, but it was up to him to settle his debt to Mrs Johnstone. He also wanted to do something to help Jeannie and Robbie, and he didn’t intend to let his wife use any of her inheritance for that, either.

  A few weeks later, however, Jeannie had a very disquieting piece of news to give her young man. ‘We’ll nae be able to wait to get wed,’ she told him, keeping her eyes on his face. ‘I’m goin’ to ha’e your bairn. I’m two months gone.’

  He looked at her in disbelief for a moment, then said, ‘I’ll wed you as soon as I can, for I’ve saved a wee bit since Mr Ogilvie gi’ed me my wages up. I’m sorry this has happened, though, for I wanted to gi’e you a better life in New Zealand.’

  ‘I’ll be happy wi’ you, wherever we are.’

  When they told their respective families, Robbie’s father, a fish market porter, gave them a few pounds to help them out, and Mrs Wyness, although disappointed that Jeannie had been just as sinful as Mary, gave them as much as she could spare. Jeannie, of course, still had the five pounds that Bathie had given her for her hard work after the two confinements.

  Robbie hadn’t intended letting his employer know about this latest development, but Mary told Bathie, and Bathie told her husband, as the young man might have guessed.

  ‘Poor Jeannie,’ Albert said. ‘Robbie wanted them to go to New Zealand, where there’s better opportunities, but once the bairn comes, he’ll not have the same chance to save.’

  Bathie didn’t take time to consider, and it was little enough to ask. ‘They got some money from Robbie’s father, and from Mrs Wyness, but they still haven’t enough to pay their passage. Albert, will you let me give them the rest of their fares as a wedding present?’

  Seeing his slight frown, she added, ‘Please, Albert? For my sake, as much as for theirs?’

  He laughed softly. ‘Bathie, when you look at me like that, how can I refuse you? But you’re not to use your own money. For your sake, my love, I’ll give them half their fares . . . ’

  ‘Oh, thank you, Albert dear. I knew you’d understand, but will that be enough?’

  ‘ . . . and for my own sake, I’ll give them the other half. Will that satisfy you?’ His eyes twinkled mischievously.

  Her radiant smile answered him, before she moved to kiss his cheek. ‘Oh, Albert, I’m glad I married you.’

  ‘I’ve never been anything else but glad I married you. That’s the main reason I wanted to help Jeannie and Robbie, like your mother helped me.’

  ‘I want to see their faces when you tell them.’ Bathie was almost jumping with excitement. ‘Invite Robbie to tea on Sunday. Oh, Albert, I can hardly wait, can you?’

  He grinned. ‘You’re still a bairn at heart, Bathie lass, and I hope you never change.’

  ‘I’m nearly twenty-two,’ she protested, then burst out laughing along with him.

  On Saturday night, when the Johnstones visited, Henrietta went straight upstairs to see her four grandchildren before they went to bed, and came back shaking her head. ‘That Ellie is a bright one,’ she said. ‘She refused to kiss me until I gave her the sweets she knew I had.’

  ‘She knows what she wants, right enough,’ Albert agreed.

  ‘The same as her mother.’ Arthur glanced fondly at his daughter. ‘Bathia was always determined to have her own way.’

  Henrietta sat down on the long couch. ‘I am glad she had her own way over Albert,’ she remarked, ‘otherwise we would never have had Charlie, nor Donnie, nor Ellie, nor little Flo, and think what we would have missed.’

  Making a wry face, Arthur said, ‘C, D, E, F, and A and B to start with? Are you going down the alphabet, Albert?’

  ‘Aye, that’s right.’ Albert laughed self-consciously. ‘As many Ogilvies as we can, though I doubt if we’ll ever reach Z.’

  ‘I should hope not!’ Henrietta looked scandalized.

  ‘He’s teasing, Mother.’ Bathie felt uncomfortable about it, however, so she changed the subject. ‘Mrs Wyness is going to have another wedding on her hands, soon. Jeannie’s going to be married to the boy who works for Albert.’

  As she’d hoped, the conversation turned to discussing the match, and then to the opportunities which the young couple would have in New Zealand, and nothing more was said about Albert’s procreative intentions.

  On Sunday afternoon, Jeannie’s eyes almost fell out of her head when Robbie Park arrived with his best suit on and said he’d been invited to tea. She was even more taken aback when Bathie told her to take her place at the table with them, and sat on heckle pins while she watched her mistress dishing up.

  As soon as the meal was over, Albert stopped Jeannie from rising to clear the table. ‘Stay where you are, lass, I’ve something to tell you both.’

  ‘I canna let you do that,’ Robbie declared when he learned of Albert’s plan.

  A smile played on his employer�
�s lips. ‘I knew you’d say that, for I was the same myself once. But, Robbie, it’s Jeannie and your bairn you have to think of, as well as your own pride. I was nearly in the same position myself, a few years back, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t backed down. Take the money as a wedding present, along with my wish for a better future for you. I’ll be offended if you don’t.’

  Looking at Jeannie, who nodded with tears in her eyes, Robbie said, after a very slight pause, ‘Well, I don’t know how to thank you, Mr Ogilvie, for I thought my dream was lost for ever, but I’ll never forget you for this.’

  ‘You could name the bairn after me, if you like,’ Albert joked, as he stood up and slapped Robbie on the back.

  ‘I’m glad it’s all settled,’ Bathie said, with a catch in her throat. ‘You’d better see about booking your passage quickly, so you can be in New Zealand before the baby comes. I’m going to miss Jeannie, and I’m sure Albert’s going to miss Robbie, but we want you to be happy – as happy as we’ve been.’

  Jeannie could hold back her tears no longer, and rushed upstairs to tell Mary about her good fortune, while Albert looked sheepishly at his wife, who was beaming happily. In another few minutes, however, when the sisters entered the kitchen, with their long aprons held to their streaming eyes, Bathie couldn’t keep from weeping with happiness, too, and stood up to place her arms round the two overcome girls.

  Albert burst out laughing. ‘Robbie, lad, it’s time we left. Come through to the parlour with me, and I’ll give you a wee dram to celebrate. We’ll get Willie Dunbar down, as well, for us men have to stick together.’

  When the women recovered, their tongues went twenty to the dozen as they cleared the table and washed the dishes. The other two smiled to each other as Jeannie prattled on about what she would do once she had her own house in New Zealand, until Mary realized that her sister would shortly be going to live at the other side of the world, and the tears began to flow again.

  When the kitchen door burst open, they all jumped round in surprise, wondering who had come in so unceremoniously, and both Bathie and Mary took an anxious step forward when they saw Ellie standing there in her long white nightgown.

  ‘Mozzer,’ the little figure announced, loudly, and not in the least ashamed about it, ‘Ellie pee’da bed.’

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘Ellie’s pulling Spanny’s tail again, Mother.’ Seven-year-old Donnie’s outraged expression made Bathie want to laugh, but she maintained a straight face as she followed him upstairs.

  She could hear the chaos in the nursery now, but wasn’t prepared for what met her eyes when she went in. Ellie, her red curls streaming out, was whooping as she whirled round and round like a dervish, while the dog she held by the tail howled like a banshee.

  Flo and Will, Mary’s son, both three years old now, were crouched together on the floor holding hands, their blue eyes wide with terror, and Gracie, only two, was bawling loudly. Charlie, who was oldest, and should have known better, was adding to the din by screaming at Ellie to stop.

  Bathie’s first thought was, where on earth was Mary? This wouldn’t be happening if the nursemaid had been doing her duty. Then she took a deep breath and roared, as loudly as she could, ‘Stop this noise! At once!’

  Her voice floated away in the merciless cacophony, and Donnie picked his drum up off the floor and held it out to her, but the hollow booming she produced on it had no better result. Striding across the room, she grabbed her eldest daughter by the shoulders, and at last the spinning girl came to a halt.

  When Ellie saw who was holding her, she dropped Spanny, who shot out like a streak of greased lightning, and all the noise ceased abruptly as the other children held their breaths to see what would happen next.

  Bathie’s temper had risen. She couldn’t remember ever having been so angry before, and without being aware of what she was doing, she swung her hand against Ellie’s cheek with full force. She had never hit any of her children before, and, immediately she felt her palm stinging, she was horrified and repentant. She wanted to gather the shocked little girl into her arms, and assure her that Mother didn’t mean it, but knew that any advantage she’d gained would be lost if she did.

  The stricken blue eyes stared into hers, then the five-year-old lowered her eyelids and a tear trickled slowly down from one corner, although she remained stubbornly silent.

  Bathie steeled her heart. ‘Ellie, this is to be the end of you tormenting that dog! And I want to hear no more about you misbehaving. Do you understand?’

  Waiting until the girl acknowledged this, she walked to the door, then turned. ‘The rest of you – tidy up!’

  She leaned against the wall of the landing, then sighed and bent down to pick up the poor spaniel, which was cowering on the landing, its mournful eyes fixed on her in dumb appeal.

  ‘Poor Spanny,’ she crooned, ruffling his long silky ears. ‘You’ve been missing Belle, haven’t you?’

  The other dog had died four weeks previously, a fat old lady, at the age of fourteen, and Wattie Ogilvie, in a vain effort to comfort his grieving grandchildren, had been all for giving them another dog, a puppy to grow up with them, but Bathie had refused.

  ‘There’s a big enough menagerie in our house with Spanny and Ellie,’ she’d told him. That girl’s worse than any puppy.’

  ‘But they need two dogs,’ he’d protested. ‘They’ve aye had two dogs, an’ . . .’

  Nell had interrupted him. ‘Bathie’s right, Wattie. It’s you that should ha’e a dog, to mak’ you walk a bit more. You’ve put on that much weight since you gi’ed up your work, you’ll soon be ower fat to sit doon.’

  ‘Maybe I will, then. I’d ha’e somebody that loved me, instead o’ a woman that moans at me from morn to night.’ He dug his wife in the ribs with his elbow, and winked to Bathie.

  Bathie had known he was only joking, anyway, because there were not a more loving husband and wife in the world than Wattie and Nell Ogilvie . . . except for Albert and herself.

  Setting Spanny on the floor again, she went downstairs to the kitchen, where Bella Wyness, Mary’s youngest sister, was peeling potatoes. Bathie regarded her silently for a moment, fervently wishing that Jeannie hadn’t gone off to New Zealand, because she felt, somehow, though she didn’t know why, that this girl was going to cause trouble. It was something about the way she looked at you.

  ‘Bella, have you any idea where Mary might be? I can’t find her anywhere, and Ellie’s been misbehaving again.’

  ‘Aye, Mrs Ogilvie. She’d to run down to Littlejohn Street wi’ her man’s dinner piece, for he forgot to tak’ it wi’ him when he went oot in the mornin’.’

  Anger rose up in Bathie again at the insolence in her maid’s face, but she said, in a controlled voice, ‘She didn’t mean the children to be left on their own, surely?’

  Bella’s eyes slid away. ‘She tell’t me to keep an eye on them, but I havena had time, for I’d my ain work. She said she wouldna be long, so she should be back in a minute, ony road.’

  Fortunately for Bella, Mary came running in breathlessly but she looked apprehensive when she saw Bathie’s grim face. ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Ogilvie, but Willie went awa’ withoot . . . ’

  ‘Bella told me.’

  The cold voice was like a death knell to Mary. ‘Did Bella nae go up? Did something terrible happen? Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs Ogilvie . . . ’

  Bathie’s anger evaporated. It wasn’t Mary’s fault that her sister hadn’t done what she was told. ‘Yes, something did happen, but nothing terrible. Just let me know in future if you have to go out. Bella can’t be depended on.’

  ‘Yes, Mrs Ogilvie.’ Mary shot a venomous glance at her sister before she disappeared up the stairs to read the riot act to her charges.

  Bathie kept watching Bella – who was fully aware of the scrutiny, but kept wielding the vegetable knife – then she went through to the parlour, still quite shaken. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about this siste
r of Mary’s that made her flesh creep.

  When Mrs Wyness had suggested her youngest daughter as a replacement for Jeannie, Bella hadn’t been quite thirteen, and had seemed to be a quiet, hard-working girl like her sisters. As time went on, however, there had been signs of something odd smouldering under her subservient manner, and her deep brown eyes, unusual in one so fair, now looked out between dark lashes in a most disturbing manner.

  Her figure had changed, too, and from being a skinny, scraggy child, she had developed into a voluptuous fifteen-year-old, who quite clearly wore no restricting undergarments. Her breasts were like balloons, swinging when she moved, and Bathie had caught Albert, and even young Charlie, staring at them sometimes with fascination.

  It would be a blessing if Bella would give cause for her to be dismissed, Bathie reflected, but today’s episode wasn’t enough, and there was nothing else about the girl’s work that could be faulted – only her insolent manner and the way she looked at Albert. But a sense of some impending calamity, a foreboding of evil, made Bathie pray that her husband wouldn’t succumb to Bella’s obvious charms.

  At dinnertime, when she told him how she had dealt with Ellie’s escapade, she was rather peeved when he laughed.

  ‘Our little Ellie’s turning out to be a bit of a problem, and she deserved that smack, so don’t worry your bonnie head about it, my love.’

  ‘But if Bella had done what Mary told her, it wouldn’t have happened at all.’

  He frowned. ‘Bella’s a bit of a problem, as well. She bothers me sometimes, with that look of hers. It’s like she was looking right down inside you.’ If only she’d been sure that was all that bothered him, his wife would have felt easier in her mind, but she shrugged off her fears in the belief that, being a bit under the weather, she was imagining them. She hadn’t felt really well since her second miscarriage, ten months previously.

  That afternoon, when the younger children were having a nap, and Charlie and Donnie were outside playing with a ball in the quadrangle at the back, Mary knocked on the parlour door and went in looking rather worried.