Mary Johnston

Foes Mary Johnston

Said Mother Binning: "Whiles I spin and whiles I dream. A bonny day like this I look." English Strickland, tutor at Glenfernie House, looked, too, at the feathery glen, vivid in June sunshine. The ash-tree before Mother Binning's cot overhung a pool of the little river. Below, the water brawled and leaped from ledge to ledge, but here at the head of the glen it ran smooth and still. A rose-bush grew by the door and a hen and her chicks crossed in the sun. English Strickland, who had been fishing, sat on the door-stone and talked to Mother Binning, sitting within with her wheel beside her. "What is it, Mother, to have the second sight?" "It's to see behind the here and now. Why're ye asking?" "I wish I could buy it or slave for it!" said Strickland. "Over and over again I really need to see behind the here and now!" "Aye. It's needed mair really than folk think. It's no' to be had by buying nor slaving. How are the laird and the leddy?"