And this, too, with so little "clash and claver" that her
father only knew that somehow things were more comfortable about the
place, and that there were fewer calls than formerly upon his purse
for the upkeep of the House and home. Indeed, the less appeared Moira's
management, both in the routine of the House and in the care of the
farm, the more peacefully flowed the current of their life. It seriously
annoyed the Captain at intervals when he came upon his daughter
directing operations in barnyard or byre. That her directing meant
anything more than a girlish meddling in matters that were his entire
concern and about which he had already given or was about to give
orders, the Captain never dreamed. That things about the House were
somehow prospering in late years he set down to his own skill and
management and his own knowledge of scientific farming; a knowledge
which, moreover, he delighted to display at the annual dinners of the
Society for the Improvement of Agriculture in the Glen, of which he was
honourary secretary; a knowledge which he aired in lengthy articles in
local agricultural and other periodicals; a knowledge which, however,
at times became the occasion of dismay to his thrifty daughter and her
Highland farmer, and not seldom the occasion of much useless expenditure
of guineas hard won from pigs and poultry.
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