He asked
Katie to give him a kiss, and he would give her some raspberries he
had gathered in the bush.
"I don't want them. Go away; I don't like you, you little stumpy man!"
His rage knew no bounds. He pushed the child from him, and vowed
that he would leave the house that moment - that she could not have
thought of such an expression herself; she must have been taught it
by us. This was an entire misconception on his part; but he would
not be convinced that he was wrong. Off he went, and Moodie called
after him, "Malcolm, as I am sending to Peterborough to-morrow, the
man shall take in your trunk." He was too angry even to turn and bid
us good-bye; but we had not seen the last of him yet.
Two months after, we were taking tea with a neighbour, who lived a
mile below us on the small lake. Who should walk in but Mr. Malcolm?
He greeted us with great warmth for him, and when we rose to take
leave, he rose and walked home by our side. "Surely the little
stumpy man is not returning to his old quarters?" I am still a babe
in the affairs of men. Human nature has more strange varieties than
any one menagerie can contain, and Malcolm was one of the oddest of
her odd species.
That night he slept in his old bed below the parlour window, and for
three months afterwards he stuck to us like a beaver.
He seemed to have grown more kindly, or we had got more used to his
eccentricities, and let him have his own way; certainly he behaved
himself much better.
He neither scolded the children nor interfered with the maid, nor
quarrelled with me. He had greatly discontinued his bad habit of
swearing, and he talked of himself and his future prospects with
more hope and self-respect. His father had promised to send him a
fresh supply of money, and he proposed to buy of Moodie the clergy
reserve, and that they should farm the two places on shares. This
offer was received with great joy, as an unlooked-for means of
paying our debts, and extricating ourselves from present and
overwhelming difficulties, and we looked upon the little stumpy
man in the light of a benefactor.
So matters continued until Christmas Eve, when our visitor proposed
walking into Peterborough, in order to give the children a treat of
raisins to make a Christmas pudding.
"We will be quite merry to-morrow," he said. "I hope we shall eat
many Christmas dinners together, and continue good friends."
He started, after breakfast, with the promise of coming back at
night; but night came, the Christmas passed away, months and years
fled away, but we never saw the little stumpy man again!
