Read Online Friend & Foe by Shirley McKay - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Shirley McKay
Ads: Link
leave this in your hands. Our visitors have left, and the others have retreated, to the dinner board. We should follow, I suppose. Yet I find I have no appetite for dining in the hall. May I ask instead that you come back to my house? I can offer bannocks and a decent bit of cheese.’
Hew had forgotten, for the while, that Melville had a purpose in requesting him to stay. In the safety of his house, the principal returned to it. ‘First, though, we maun eat, for we are not so sparing here that we are not aware that all strong hearts need sustenance.’ Andrew looked around him, somewhat at a loss. There was an air of helplessness about his hospitality. ‘Somewhere, there is wine. Make yourself at home, and I will see what I can find.’
Hew was left alone, in a pleasant first floor room that overlooked the square. From the window of the chamber he could see thetower, and under it the hawthorn blossoms, darkly tinged with blood. The room inside was plain and clean, its rows of neatness overruled by straggling piles of books, which spilled out from the bookshelves onto wooden boards. There were several low-backed chairs, a lettrin and a pair of stools, in a circle round the hearth. The fireplace was unlit, swept clean of any ash, and though it looked south, the room remained cool, and harboured a faint smell of damp. On the desk were writing things, and a pile of books. As Andrew closed the door behind him a single sheet of paper blew down to the floor. Hew bent to pick it up, and saw that it was written in the Hebrew script. He took it to the light, to while away the time in waiting, trying to decipher it. It did not take him long to identify the text as one of the most difficult and troubling of the psalms. He supposed it was intended as the substance of a sermon, in which case, it was not one he would like to hear.
‘How apposite that ye should light on that.’
Melville had returned, with a banquet on a tray, cobbled from the remnants he had gathered from the hall. He swept a pile of books from the board on the flour, and set out bread and collops and a lump of yellow cheese, pewter plates and cups, and white wine in a jug.
‘The malmsey is quite good, though we are not one of those colleges that squanders funds on wine’ – he alluded to St Leonard’s – ‘I had a flagon brought, to drink to James’ health.’ He poured a cup for Hew, and took a sip himself. ‘I rarely take strong drink, but sometimes, it is called for.’
Hew took up the cup and set the paper down. In retrospect, he could not tell which proved the sourer draught.
‘Forgive me, I should not have looked. The wind had blown it to the floor.’
Melville insisted, ‘I have no secrets here. Yet it is of interest that you chance on that, for it has seemed to me a salutary exercise. It is not, you may see, the original, but the psalm in Greek, rendered into Hebrew. There are some small mistakes in it; that said, itis a fair attempt, and one which any student might be pleased to own. You read Hebrew, do you not? You have been reading it with James.’
‘A little,’ Hew confessed. He had the faint sense, still, that he was found at fault, having been discovered with the paper in his hand.
‘Then read it to me now. Read those parts in Hebrew that are underscored, and turn them into Scots.
‘Had I expected an examination,’ Hew protested mildly, ‘then I should have come prepared.’
‘Your patience, sir. Allow me this.’
‘Ah, very well.’ Hew sighed. The imposition, he supposed, he had brought upon himself.
‘It is a copy of the 109th psalm of David. I have sometimes thought,’ he ventured, ‘that the tone of that psalm, so bitter, harsh and vengeful, does not chime so sweet with what we ken of Christ. It is a hard thing to stomach, choked with so much bile.’
‘I did not ask you,’ Andrew said, ‘what you have sometimes thought , but to translate the words before you on the page.’ He seemed to have forgotten that they
Hew had forgotten, for the while, that Melville had a purpose in requesting him to stay. In the safety of his house, the principal returned to it. ‘First, though, we maun eat, for we are not so sparing here that we are not aware that all strong hearts need sustenance.’ Andrew looked around him, somewhat at a loss. There was an air of helplessness about his hospitality. ‘Somewhere, there is wine. Make yourself at home, and I will see what I can find.’
Hew was left alone, in a pleasant first floor room that overlooked the square. From the window of the chamber he could see thetower, and under it the hawthorn blossoms, darkly tinged with blood. The room inside was plain and clean, its rows of neatness overruled by straggling piles of books, which spilled out from the bookshelves onto wooden boards. There were several low-backed chairs, a lettrin and a pair of stools, in a circle round the hearth. The fireplace was unlit, swept clean of any ash, and though it looked south, the room remained cool, and harboured a faint smell of damp. On the desk were writing things, and a pile of books. As Andrew closed the door behind him a single sheet of paper blew down to the floor. Hew bent to pick it up, and saw that it was written in the Hebrew script. He took it to the light, to while away the time in waiting, trying to decipher it. It did not take him long to identify the text as one of the most difficult and troubling of the psalms. He supposed it was intended as the substance of a sermon, in which case, it was not one he would like to hear.
‘How apposite that ye should light on that.’
Melville had returned, with a banquet on a tray, cobbled from the remnants he had gathered from the hall. He swept a pile of books from the board on the flour, and set out bread and collops and a lump of yellow cheese, pewter plates and cups, and white wine in a jug.
‘The malmsey is quite good, though we are not one of those colleges that squanders funds on wine’ – he alluded to St Leonard’s – ‘I had a flagon brought, to drink to James’ health.’ He poured a cup for Hew, and took a sip himself. ‘I rarely take strong drink, but sometimes, it is called for.’
Hew took up the cup and set the paper down. In retrospect, he could not tell which proved the sourer draught.
‘Forgive me, I should not have looked. The wind had blown it to the floor.’
Melville insisted, ‘I have no secrets here. Yet it is of interest that you chance on that, for it has seemed to me a salutary exercise. It is not, you may see, the original, but the psalm in Greek, rendered into Hebrew. There are some small mistakes in it; that said, itis a fair attempt, and one which any student might be pleased to own. You read Hebrew, do you not? You have been reading it with James.’
‘A little,’ Hew confessed. He had the faint sense, still, that he was found at fault, having been discovered with the paper in his hand.
‘Then read it to me now. Read those parts in Hebrew that are underscored, and turn them into Scots.
‘Had I expected an examination,’ Hew protested mildly, ‘then I should have come prepared.’
‘Your patience, sir. Allow me this.’
‘Ah, very well.’ Hew sighed. The imposition, he supposed, he had brought upon himself.
‘It is a copy of the 109th psalm of David. I have sometimes thought,’ he ventured, ‘that the tone of that psalm, so bitter, harsh and vengeful, does not chime so sweet with what we ken of Christ. It is a hard thing to stomach, choked with so much bile.’
‘I did not ask you,’ Andrew said, ‘what you have sometimes thought , but to translate the words before you on the page.’ He seemed to have forgotten that they
Similar Books
