The Interloper by Violet Jacob

WHILE Granny had shaken the curtains in Gilbert's bedroom her mind had / worked as hard as her hands; there was no doubt in it of one thing; / namely, that, by hook or by crook, he must be brought home. It was a / large idea for her to have conceived, because she scarcely knew where / he was and had no idea how he might be reached. She understood that / Barclay had means of communication with him, but, since the visit he / had paid her, ostensibly to examine her mended roof, and, really to pry / into Speid's affairs, she had distrusted him fundamentally. The matter / was intimate and needed the intervention of someone upon whom she could / depend. As the Laird of Fullarton was uncle to the person she wished to / circumvent, he also was an impossible adviser. The Miss Robertsons, / under any aspect but that of being Gilbert's relations, she looked upon / as futile. ‘Twa doited auld bodies wha's lives is nae object to them,' / as she had described them, were not worth consideration in such a case. / In her strait she suddenly bethought herself of Captain Somerville. He / had three special advantages; he was her idol's friend, he was / exceedingly civil to herself, and she had once seen him in uniform. / This last qualification gave him something of the weight and security / of a public character. Also, a person who had fought the French -- all / foreigners were French to her -- in every quarter of the world, must / surely be able to put his hand on any part of it at a moment's notice.

As a matter of fact, she could hardly have made a better choice. The / sailor, who bore a most human love to his kind, had appraised many men / and women in his time, and he had a vast admiration for Granny. Gallant / himself, to the core of his simple soul, he loved the quality in / others, and the story of her fight with circumstances and final mastery / of them had struck him in a sensitive place. On that memorable day on / which she had seen him in uniform he was returning from Aberdeen, where / he had gone to meet an official person, and his chaise passed her / cottage. As he drove by, he saw the little upright figure standing on / the doorstep, and, remembering her history, with a sudden impulse, he / raised his hand and saluted her.