Violet Jacob > Flemington

126
FLEMINGTON
had laid his pipes on it while he sat with folded
arms and considered the situation. He had just
been begging at a farm, and he had heard a rumour
there that Archie Flemington was gone from
Balnillo, and had been seen in Brechin, riding
westwards, on the preceding morning. The
beggar had got a letter for him behind his sliding
boards which had to be delivered without delay.
“ Doag,” said he again, “ we’ll awa’ to auld
Davie’s.”
Skirling Wattie distrusted rumour, for the
inexactitudes of human observation and human
tongues are better known to a man who lives by
his wits than to anybody else. He was not going
to accept this news without sifting it. To Bal¬
nillo he would go to find out whether the report
was true. The only drawback was that “ auld
Davie,” as he called the judge, abhorred and dis¬
approved of beggars, and he did not know how
he might stay in the place long enough to find out
what he wanted. He was a privileged person at
most houses, from the sea on the east to Forfar
on the west, but Lord Balnillo would none of
him. Nevertheless, he turned the wheels of his
chariot in his direction.
He wondered, as he went along, why he had
not seen Archie by the way; but Archie had not
left Balnillo by the Brechin road, being anxious
to avoid him. What was the use of receiving
instructions that he could not bring himself to
carry out ? The last person he wished to meet
was the beggar.