An old gown of yours makes as good a
frock for me as I can ever want to have."
But Mrs Forbes would not even take charge of the money-???partly from the
pride of beneficence, partly from the fear of involving it in her own
straits. So that Annie, having provided herself with a few necessaries,
felt free to spend the rest as she would. How she longed for Tibbie
Dyster! But not having her, she went to Thomas Crann, and offered the
money to him.
"'Deed no, lassie! I winna lay a finger upo' 't. Lay't by till ye want
it yersel'."
"Dinna ye ken somebody that wants't mair nor me, Thomas?"
Now Thomas had just been reading a few words spoken, according to
Matthew, the tax-gatherer, by the King of Men, declaring the perfection
of God to consist in his giving good things to all alike, whether they
love him or not. And when Annie asked the question, he remembered the
passage and Peter Peterson together. But he could not trust her to
follow her own instincts, and therefore went with her to see the poor
fellow, who was in a consumption, and would never drink any more. When
he saw his worn face, and the bones with hands at the ends of them, his
heart smote him that he had ever been harsh to him; and although he had
gone with the intention of rousing him to a sense of his danger beyond
the grave, he found that for very pity he could not open the prophetic
mouth.
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