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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
+
+Author: Ian Maclaren
+
+Posting Date: September 3, 2012 [EBook #7179]
+Release Date: December, 2004
+First Posted: March 22, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH
+
+By IAN MACLAREN
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+  'There grows a bonnie brier bush in our kail-yard,
+   And white are the blossoms on't in our kail-yard.'
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. DOMSIE.
+
+1. A LAD O' PAIRTS,
+
+2. HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+3. IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+4. A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+
+II. A HIGHLAND MYSTIC.
+
+1. WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN,
+
+2. AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS,
+
+
+III. HIS MOTHER'S SERMON,
+
+
+IV. THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL.
+
+1. A GRAND INQUISITOR,
+
+2. HIS BITTER SHAME,
+
+3. LIKE AS A FATHER,
+
+4. AS A LITTLE CHILD,
+
+
+V. THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+VI. A WISE WOMAN.
+
+1. OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+2. THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+
+VII. A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+1. A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+2. THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+3. A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+4. THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+5. THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+
+
+
+DOMSIE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A LAD O' PAIRTS
+
+The Revolution reached our parish years ago, and Drumtochty has a
+School Board, with a chairman and a clerk, besides a treasurer and
+an officer. Young Hillocks, who had two years in a lawyer's office,
+is clerk, and summons meetings by post, although he sees every
+member at the market or the kirk. Minutes are read with much
+solemnity, and motions to expend ten shillings upon a coal-cellar
+door passed, on the motion of Hillocks, seconded by Drumsheugh, who
+are both severely prompted for the occasion, and move uneasily
+before speaking.
+
+Drumsheugh was at first greatly exalted by his poll, and referred
+freely on market days to his "plumpers," but as time went on the
+irony of the situation laid hold upon him.
+
+"Think o' you and me, Hillocks, veesitin' the schule and sittin' wi'
+bukes in oor hands watchin' the Inspector. Keep's a', it's eneuch to
+mak' the auld Dominie turn in his grave. Twa meenisters cam' in his
+time, and Domsie put Geordie Hoo or some ither gleg laddie, that was
+makin' for college, thro' his facin's, and maybe some bit lassie
+brocht her copybuke. Syne they had their dinner, and Domsie tae, wi'
+the Doctor. Man, a've often thocht it was the prospeck o' the Schule
+Board and its weary bit rules that feenished Domsie. He wasna maybe
+sae shairp at the elements as this pirjinct body we hae noo, but
+a'body kent he was a terrible scholar and a credit tae the parish.
+Drumtochty was a name in thae days wi' the lads he sent tae college.
+It was maybe juist as weel he slippit awa' when he did, for he wud
+hae taen ill with thae new fikes, and nae college lad to warm his
+hert."
+
+The present school-house stands in an open place beside the main
+road to Muirtown, treeless and comfortless, built of red, staring
+stone, with a playground for the boys and another for the girls, and
+a trim, smug-looking teacher's house, all very neat and symmetrical,
+and well regulated. The local paper had a paragraph headed
+"Drumtochty," written by the Muirtown architect, describing the
+whole premises in technical language that seemed to compensate the
+ratepayers for the cost, mentioning the contractor's name, and
+concluding that "this handsome building of the Scoto-Grecian style
+was one of the finest works that had ever come from the accomplished
+architect's hands." It has pitch-pine benches and map-cases, and a
+thermometer to be kept at not less than 58° and not more than 62°,
+and ventilators which the Inspector is careful to examine. When I
+stumbled in last week the teacher was drilling the children in Tonic
+Sol-fa with a little harmonium, and I left on tiptoe.
+
+It is difficult to live up to this kind of thing, and my thoughts
+drift to the auld schule-house and Domsie. Some one with the love of
+God in his heart had built it long ago, and chose a site for the
+bairns in the sweet pine-woods at the foot of the cart road to
+Whinnie Knowe and the upland farms. It stood in a clearing with the
+tall Scotch firs round three sides, and on the fourth a brake of
+gorse and bramble bushes, through which there was an opening to the
+road. The clearing was the playground, and in summer the bairns
+annexed as much wood as they liked, playing tig among the trees, or
+sitting down at dinner-time on the soft, dry spines that made an
+elastic carpet everywhere. Domsie used to say there were two
+pleasant sights for his old eyes every day. One was to stand in the
+open at dinner-time and see the flitting forms of the healthy, rosy
+sonsie bairns in the wood, and from the door in the afternoon to
+watch the schule skail till each group was lost in the kindly shadow,
+and the merry shouts died away in this quiet place. Then the Dominie
+took a pinch of snuff and locked the door, and went to his house
+beside the school. One evening I came on him listening bare-headed
+to the voices, and he showed so kindly that I shall take him as he
+stands. A man of middle height, but stooping below it, with sandy
+hair turning to grey, and bushy eye-brow covering keen, shrewd
+grey eyes. You will notice that his linen is coarse but spotless,
+and that, though his clothes are worn almost threadbare, they are
+well brushed and orderly. But you will be chiefly arrested by the
+Dominie's coat, for the like of it was not in the parish. It was a
+black dress coat, and no man knew when it had begun its history; in
+its origin and its continuance it resembled Melchisedek. Many were
+the myths that gathered round that coat, but on this all were agreed,
+that without it we could not have realised the Dominie, and it
+became to us the sign and trappings of learning. He had taken a
+high place at the University, and won a good degree, and I've heard
+the Doctor say that he had a career before him. But something
+happened in his life, and Domsie buried himself among the woods with
+the bairns of Drumtochty. No one knew the story, but after he died I
+found a locket on his breast, with a proud, beautiful face within,
+and I have fancied it was a tragedy. It may have been in substitution
+that he gave all his love to the children, and nearly all his money
+too, helping lads to college, and affording an inexhaustible store
+of peppermints for the little ones.
+
+Perhaps one ought to have been ashamed of that school-house, but yet
+it had its own distinction, for scholars were born there, and now
+and then to this day some famous man will come and stand in the
+deserted playground for a space. The door was at one end, and stood
+open in summer, so that the boys saw the rabbits come out from their
+holes on the edge of the wood, and birds sometimes flew in unheeded.
+The fireplace was at the other end, and was fed in winter with the
+sticks and peats brought by the scholars. On one side Domsie sat
+with the half-dozen lads he hoped to send to college, to whom he
+grudged no labour, and on the other gathered the very little ones,
+who used to warm their bare feet at the fire, while down the sides
+of the room the other scholars sat at their rough old desks, working
+sums and copying. Now and then a class came up and did some task,
+and at times a boy got the tawse for his negligence, but never a
+girl. He kept the girls in as their punishment, with a brother to
+take them home, and both had tea in Domsie's house, with a bit of
+his best honey, departing much torn between an honest wish to please
+Domsie and a pardonable longing for another tea.
+
+"Domsie," as we called the schoolmaster, behind his back in
+Drumtochty, because we loved him, was true to the tradition of his
+kind, and had an unerring scent for "pairts" in his laddies. He
+could detect a scholar in the egg, and prophesied Latinity from a
+boy that seemed fit only to be a cowherd. It was believed that he
+had never made a mistake in judgment, and it was not his blame if
+the embryo scholar did not come to birth. "Five and thirty years
+have I been minister at Drumtochty," the Doctor used to say at
+school examinations, "and we have never wanted a student at the
+University, and while Dominie Jamieson lives we never shall."
+Whereupon Domsie took snuff, and assigned his share of credit to the
+Doctor, "who gave the finish in Greek to every lad of them, without
+money and without price, to make no mention of the higher mathematics."
+Seven ministers, four schoolmasters, four doctors, one professor,
+and three civil service men had been sent out by the auld schule
+in Domsie's time, besides many that "had given themselves to
+mercantile pursuits."
+
+He had a leaning to classics and the professions, but Domsie was
+catholic in his recognition of "pairts," and when the son of
+Hillocks' foreman made a collection of the insects of Drumtochty,
+there was a council at the manse. "Bumbee Willie," as he had been
+pleasantly called by his companions, was rescued from ridicule and
+encouraged to fulfil his bent. Once a year a long letter came to Mr.
+Patrick Jamieson, M.A., Schoolmaster, Drumtochty, N.B., and the
+address within was the British Museum. When Domsie read this letter
+to the school, he was always careful to explain that "Dr. Graham is
+the greatest living authority on beetles," and, generally speaking,
+if any clever lad did not care for Latin, he had the alternative of
+beetles.
+
+But it was Latin Domsie hunted for as for fine gold, and when he
+found the smack of it in a lad he rejoiced openly. He counted it a
+day in his life when he knew certainly that he had hit on another
+scholar, and the whole school saw the identification of George Howe.
+For a winter Domsie had been "at point," racing George through
+Caesar, stalking him behind irregular verbs, baiting traps with
+tit-bits of Virgil. During these exercises Domsie surveyed George
+from above his spectacles with a hope that grew every day in assurance,
+and came to its height over a bit of Latin prose. Domsie tasted it
+visibly, and read it again in the shadow of the firs at meal-time,
+slapping his leg twice.
+
+"He'll dae! he'll dae!" cried Domsie aloud, ladling in the snuff.
+"George, ma mannie, tell yir father that I am comin' up to Whinnie
+Knowe the nicht on a bit o' business."
+
+Then the "schule" knew that Geordie Hoo was marked for college, and
+pelted him with fir cones in great gladness of heart.
+
+"Whinnie" was full of curiosity over the Dominie's visit, and vexed
+Marget sorely, to whom Geordie had told wondrous things in the
+milk-house. "It canna be coals 'at he's wantin' frae the station,
+for there's a fell puckle left."
+
+"And it'll no be seed taties," she said, pursuing the principle of
+exhaustion, "for he hes some Perthshire reds himsel'. I doot it's
+somethin' wrang with Geordie," and Whinnie started on a new track.
+
+"He's been playin' truant maybe. A' mind gettin' ma paiks for
+birdnestin' masel. I'll wager that's the verra thing."
+
+"Weel, yir wrang, Weelum," broke in Marget, Whinnie's wife, a tall,
+silent woman, with a speaking face; "it's naither the ae thing nor
+the ither, but something I've been prayin' for since Geordie was a
+wee bairn. Clean yirsel and meet Domsie on the road, for nae man
+deserves more honour in Drumtochty, naither laird nor farmer."
+
+Conversation with us was a leisurely game, with slow movements and
+many pauses, and it was our custom to handle all the pawns before we
+brought the queen into action.
+
+Domsie and Whinnie discussed the weather with much detail before
+they came in sight of George, but it was clear that Domsie was
+charged with something weighty, and even Whinnie felt that his own
+treatment of the turnip crop was wanting in repose.
+
+At last Domsie cleared his throat and looked at Marget, who had been
+in and out, but ever within hearing.
+
+"George is a fine laddie, Mrs. Howe."
+
+An ordinary Drumtochty mother, although bursting with pride, would
+have responded, "He's weel eneuch, if he hed grace in his heart," in
+a tone that implied it was extremely unlikely, and that her laddie
+led the reprobates of the parish. As it was, Marget's face
+lightened, and she waited.
+
+"What do you think of making him?" and the Dominie dropped the words
+slowly, for this was a moment in Drumtochty.
+
+There was just a single ambition in those humble homes, to have one
+of its members at college, and if Domsie approved a lad, then his
+brothers and sisters would give their wages, and the family would
+live on skim milk and oat cake, to let him have his chance.
+
+Whinnie glanced at his wife and turned to Domsie.
+
+"Marget's set on seein' Geordie a minister, Dominie."
+
+"If he's worthy o't, no otherwise. We haena the means though; the
+farm is highly rented, and there's barely a penny over at the end o'
+the year."
+
+"But you are willing George should go and see what he can do. If he
+disappoint you, then I dinna know a lad o' pairts when I see him,
+and the Doctor is with me."
+
+"Maister Jamieson," said Marget, with great solemnity, "ma hert's
+desire is to see George a minister, and if the Almichty spared me to
+hear ma only bairn open his mooth in the Evangel, I wud hae naething
+mair to ask ... but I doot sair it canna be managed."
+
+Domsie had got all he asked, and he rose in his strength.
+
+"If George Howe disna get to college, then he's the first scholar
+I've lost in Drumtochty ... ye 'ill manage his keep and sic like?"
+
+"Nae fear o' that," for Whinnie was warming, "tho' I haena a steek
+(stitch) o' new claithes for four years. But what aboot his fees and
+ither ootgaeins?"
+
+"There's ae man in the parish can pay George's fees without missing
+a penny, and I'll warrant he 'ill dae it."
+
+"Are ye meanin' Drumsheugh?" said Whinnie, "for ye 'ill never get a
+penny piece oot o' him. Did ye no hear hoo the Frees wiled him intae
+their kirk, Sabbath past a week, when Netherton's sister's son frae
+Edinboro' wes preaching the missionary sermon, expectin' a note, and
+if he didna change a shillin' at the public-hoose and pit in a
+penny. Sall, he's a lad Drumsheugh; a'm thinking ye may save yir
+journey, Dominie."
+
+But Marget looked away from her into the past, and her eyes had a
+tender light. "He hed the best hert in the pairish aince."
+
+Domsie found Drumsheugh inclined for company, and assisted at an
+exhaustive and caustic treatment of local affairs. When the conduct
+of Piggie Walker, who bought Drumsheugh's potatoes and went into
+bankruptcy without paying for a single tuber, had been characterized
+in language that left nothing to be desired, Drumsheugh began to
+soften and show signs of reciprocity.
+
+"Hoo's yir laddies, Dominie?" whom the farmers regarded as a risky
+turnip crop in a stiff clay that Domsie had "to fecht awa in." "Are
+ony o' them shaping weel?"
+
+Drumsheugh had given himself away, and Domsie laid his first
+parallel with a glowing account of George Howe's Latinity, which was
+well received.
+
+"Weel, I'm gled tae hear sic accoonts o' Marget Hoo's son; there's
+naething in Whinnie but what the spune puts in."
+
+But at the next move Drumsheugh scented danger and stood at guard.
+"Na, na, Dominie, I see what yir aifter fine; ye mind hoo ye got
+three notes oot o' me at Perth market Martinmas a year past for ane
+o' yir college laddies. Five punds for four years; my word, yir no
+blate (modest). And what for sud I educat Marget Hoo's bairn? If ye
+kent a' ye wudna ask me; it's no reasonable, Dominie. So there's an
+end o't."
+
+Domsie was only a pedantic old parish schoolmaster, and he knew
+little beyond his craft, but the spirit of the Humanists awoke
+within him, and he smote with all his might, bidding goodbye to his
+English as one flings away the scabbard of a sword.
+
+"Ye think that a'm asking a great thing when I plead for a pickle
+notes to give a puir laddie a college education. I tell ye, man, a'm
+honourin' ye and givin' ye the fairest chance ye'll ever hae o'
+winning wealth. Gin ye store the money ye hae scrapit by mony a hard
+bargain, some heir ye never saw 'ill gar it flee in chambering and
+wantonness. Gin ye hed the heart to spend it on a lad o' pairts like
+Geordie Hoo, ye wud hae twa rewards nae man could tak fra ye. Ane
+wud be the honest gratitude o' a laddie whose desire for knowledge
+ye hed sateesfied, and the second wud be this--anither scholar in
+the land; and a'm thinking with auld John Knox that ilka scholar is
+something added to the riches of the commonwealth. And what 'ill it
+cost ye? Little mair than the price o' a cattle beast. Man, Drumsheugh,
+ye poverty-stricken cratur, I've naethin' in this world but a handfu'
+o' books and a ten-pund note for my funeral, and yet, if it wasna I
+have all my brither's bairns tae keep, I wud pay every penny mysel'.
+But I'll no see Geordie sent to the plough, tho' I gang frae door
+to door. Na, na, the grass 'ill no grow on the road atween the
+college and the schule-hoose o' Drumtochty till they lay me in the
+auld kirkyard."
+
+"Sall, Domsie was roosed," Drumsheugh explained in the Muirtown inn
+next market. "'Miserly wratch' was the ceevilest word on his tongue.
+He wud naither sit nor taste, and was half way doon the yaird afore
+I cud quiet him. An' a'm no sayin' he hed na reason if I'd been
+meanin' a' I said. It wud be a scan'al to the pairish if a likely
+lad cudna win tae college for the want o' siller. Na, na, neeburs,
+we hae oor faults, but we're no sae dune mean as that in
+Drumtochty."
+
+As it was, when Domsie did depart he could only grip Drumsheugh's
+hand, and say Maecenas, and was so intoxicated, but not with strong
+drink, that he explained to Hillocks on the way home that Drumsheugh
+would be a credit to Drumtochty, and that his Latin style reminded
+him of Cicero. He added as an afterthought that Whinnie Knowe had
+promised to pay Drumsheugh's fees for four years at the University
+of Edinburgh.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+Domsie was an artist, and prepared the way for George's University
+achievement with much cunning. Once every Sabbath in the kirk-yard,
+where he laid down the law beneath an old elm tree, and twice
+between Sabbaths, at the post-office and by the wayside, he adjured
+us not to expect beyond measure, and gave us reasons.
+
+"Ye see, he has a natural talent for learning, and took to Latin
+like a duck to water. What could be done in Drumtochty was done for
+him, and he's working night and day, but he'll have a sore fight
+with the lads from the town schools. Na, na, neighbours," said the
+Dominie, lapsing into dialect, "we daurna luik for a prize. No the
+first year, at ony rate."
+
+"Man, Dominie. A'm clean astonished at ye," Drumsheugh used to break
+in, who, since he had given to George's support, outran us all in
+his faith, and had no patience with Domsie's devices, "a' tell ye if
+Geordie disna get a first in every class he's entered for, the
+judges 'ill be a puir lot," with a fine confusion of circumstances.
+
+"Losh, Drumsheugh, be quiet, or ye'll dae the laddie an injury,"
+said Domsie, with genuine alarm. "We maunna mention prizes, and
+first is fair madness, A certificate of honour now, that will be
+aboot it, may be next to the prizemen."
+
+Coming home from market he might open his heart. "George 'ill be
+amang the first sax, or my name is no Jamieson," but generally he
+prophesied a moderate success. There were times when he affected
+indifference, and talked cattle. We then regarded him with awe,
+because this was more than mortal.
+
+It was my luck to carry the bulletin to Domsie, and I learned what
+he had been enduring. It was good manners in Drumtochty to feign
+amazement at the sight of a letter, and to insist that it must be
+intended for some other person. When it was finally forced upon one,
+you examined the handwriting at various angles and speculated about
+the writer. Some felt emboldened, after these precautions, to open
+the letter, but this haste was considered indecent. When Posty
+handed Drumsheugh the factor's letter, with the answer to his offer
+for the farm, he only remarked, "It'll be frae the factor," and
+harked back to a polled Angus bull he had seen at the show. "Sall,"
+said Posty in the kirkyard with keen relish, "ye'll never flurry
+Drumsheugh." Ordinary letters were read in leisurely retirement,
+and, in case of urgency, answered within the week.
+
+Domsie clutched the letter, and would have torn off the envelope.
+But he could not; his hand was shaking like an aspen. He could only
+look, and I read:
+
+"Dear Mr. Jamieson,--The class honour lists are just out, and you
+will be pleased to know that I have got the medal both in the
+Humanity and the Greek."
+
+There was something about telling his mother, and his gratitude to
+his schoolmaster, but Domsie heard no more. He tried to speak and
+could not, for a rain of tears was on his hard old face. Domsie was
+far more a pagan than a saint, but somehow he seemed to me that day
+as Simeon, who had at last seen his heart's desire, and was
+satisfied.
+
+When the school had dispersed with a joyful shout, and disappeared
+in the pine woods, he said, "Ye'll come too," and I knew he was
+going to Whinnie Knowe. He did not speak one word upon the way, but
+twice he stood and read the letter which he held fast in his hand.
+His face was set as he climbed the cart track. I saw it set again as
+we came down that road one day, but it was well that we could not
+pierce beyond the present.
+
+Whinnie left his plough in the furrow, and came to meet us, taking
+two drills at a stride, and shouting remarks on the weather yards
+off.
+
+Domsie only lifted the letter. "Frae George."
+
+"Ay, ay, and what's he gotten noo?"
+
+Domsie solemnly unfolded the letter, and brought down his spectacles.
+"Edinburgh, April 7th." Then he looked at Whinnie, and closed his
+mouth.
+
+"We'll tell it first to his mither."
+
+"Yer richt, Dominie. She weel deserves it. A'm thinking she's seen
+us by this time." So we fell into a procession, Dominie leading by
+two yards; and then a strange thing happened. For the first and last
+time in his life Domsie whistled, and the tune was "A hundred pipers
+and a' and a'," and as he whistled he seemed to dilate before our
+eyes, and he struck down thistles with his stick--a thistle at every
+stroke.
+
+"Domsie's fair carried," whispered Whinnie, "it cowes a'."
+
+Marget met us at the end of the house beside the brier bush, where
+George was to sit on summer afternoons before he died, and a flash
+passed between Domsie and the lad's mother. Then she knew that it
+was well, and fixed her eyes on the letter, but Whinnie, his thumbs
+in his armholes, watched the wife.
+
+Domsie now essayed to read the news, but between the shaking of his
+hands and his voice he could not.
+
+"It's nae use," he cried, "he's first in the Humanity oot o' a
+hundred and seeventy lads, first o' them a', and he's first in the
+Greek too; the like o' this is hardly known, and it has na been seen
+in Drumtochty since there was a schule. That's the word he's sent,
+and he bade me tell his mother without delay, and I am here as fast
+as my old feet could carry me."
+
+I glanced round, although I did not myself see very clearly.
+
+Marget was silent for the space of five seconds; she was a good
+woman, and I knew that better afterwards. She took the Dominie's
+hand, and said to him, "Under God this was your doing, Maister
+Jamieson, and for your reward ye'ill get naither silver nor gold,
+but ye hae a mither's gratitude."
+
+Whinnie gave a hoarse chuckle and said to his wife, "It was frae
+you, Marget, he got it a'."
+
+When we settled in the parlour Domsie's tongue was loosed, and he
+lifted up his voice and sang the victory of Geordie Hoo.
+
+"It's ten years ago at the brak up o' the winter ye brought him down
+to me, Mrs. Hoo, and ye said at the schule-hoose door, 'Dinna be
+hard on him, Maister Jamieson, he's my only bairn, and a wee thingie
+quiet.' Div ye mind what I said, 'There's something ahint that
+face,' and my heart warmed to George that hour. Two years after the
+Doctor examined the schule, and he looks at George. 'That's a likely
+lad, Dominie. What think ye?' And he was only eight years auld, and
+no big for his size. 'Doctor, I daurna prophesy till we turn him
+into the Latin, but a've my thoughts.' So I had a' the time, but I
+never boasted, na, na, that's dangerous. Didna I say, 'Ye hev a
+promisin' laddie, Whinnie,' ae day in the market?"
+
+"It's a fac'," said Whinnie, "it wes the day I bocht the white coo."
+But Domsie swept on.
+
+"The first year o' Latin was enough for me. He juist nippet up his
+verbs. Cæsar could na keep him going; he wes into Virgil afore he
+wes eleven, and the Latin prose, man, as sure as a'm living, it
+tasted o' Cicero frae the beginning."
+
+Whinnie wagged his head in amazement.
+
+"It was the verra nicht o' the Latin prose I cam up to speak aboot
+the college, and ye thocht Geordie hed been playing truant."
+
+Whinnie laughed uproariously, but Domsie heeded not.
+
+"It was awfu' work the next twa years, but the Doctor stood in weel
+wi' the Greek. Ye mind hoo Geordie tramped ower the muir to the
+manse thro' the weet an' the snaw, and there wes aye dry stockings
+for him in the kitchen afore he had his Greek in the Doctor's
+study."
+
+"And a warm drink tae," put in Marget, "and that's the window I pit the
+licht in to guide him hame in the dark winter nichts, and mony a time
+when the sleet played swish on the glass I wes near wishin'--" Domsie
+waved his hand.
+
+"But that's dune wi' noo, and he was worth a' the toil and trouble.
+First in the Humanity and first in the Greek, sweepit the field,
+Lord preserve us. A' can hardly believe it. Eh, I was feared o' thae
+High School lads. They had terrible advantages. Maisters frae
+England, and tutors, and whatna', but Drumtochty carried aff the
+croon. It'll be fine reading in the papers--
+
+_Humanity_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire.
+
+_Greek_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire."
+
+"It'll be michty," cried Whinnie, now fairly on fire.
+
+"And Philosophy and Mathematics to come. Geordie's no bad at Euclid,
+I'll wager he'll be first there too. When he gets his hand in
+there's naething he's no fit for wi' time. My ain laddie--and the
+Doctor's--we maunna forget him--it's his classics he hes, every book
+o' them. The Doctor 'ill be lifted when he comes back on Saturday.
+A'm thinkin' we'll hear o't on Sabbath. And Drumsheugh, he'll be
+naither to had nor bind in the kirk-yard. As for me, I wad na change
+places wi' the Duke o' Athole," and Domsie shook the table to its
+foundation.
+
+Then he awoke, as from a dream, and the shame of boasting that shuts
+the mouths of self-respecting Scots descended upon him.
+
+"But this is fair nonsense. Ye'll no mind the havers o' an auld
+dominie."
+
+He fell back on a recent roup, and would not again break away,
+although sorely tempted by certain of Whinnie's speculations.
+
+When I saw him last, his coat-tails were waving victoriously as he
+leaped a dyke on his way to tell our Drumtochty Maecenas that the
+judges knew their business.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+The cart track to Whinnie Knowe was commanded by a gable window, and
+Whinnie boasted that Marget had never been taken unawares. Tramps,
+finding every door locked, and no sign of life anywhere, used to
+express their mind in the "close," and return by the way they came,
+while ladies from Kildrummie, fearful lest they should put Mrs. Howe
+out, were met at the garden gate by Marget in her Sabbath dress, and
+brought into a set tea as if they had been invited weeks before.
+
+Whinnie gloried most in the discomfiture of the Tory agent, who had
+vainly hoped to coerce him in the stack yard without Marget's
+presence, as her intellectual contempt for the Conservative party
+knew no bounds.
+
+"Sall she saw him slip aff the road afore the last stile, and wheep
+roond the fit o' the gairden wa' like a tod (fox) aifter the
+chickens.
+
+"'It's a het day, Maister Anderson,' says Marget frae the gairden,
+lookin' doon on him as calm as ye like. 'Yir surely no gaein' to
+pass oor hoose without a gless o' milk?'
+
+"Wud ye believe it, he wes that upset he left withoot sayin' 'vote,'
+and Drumsheugh telt me next market that his langidge aifterwards
+cudna be printed."
+
+When George came home for the last time, Marget went back and
+forward all afternoon from his bedroom to the window, and hid
+herself beneath the laburnum to see his face as the cart stood
+before the stile. It told her plain what she had feared, and Marget
+passed through her Gethsemane with the gold blossoms falling on her
+face. When their eyes met, and before she helped him down, mother
+and son understood.
+
+"Ye mind what I told ye, o' the Greek mothers, the day I left. Weel,
+I wud hae liked to have carried my shield, but it wasna to be, so
+I've come home on it." As they went slowly up the garden walk, "I've
+got my degree, a double first, mathematics and classics."
+
+"Ye've been a gude soldier, George, and faithfu'."
+
+"Unto death, a'm dootin, mother."
+
+"Na," said Marget, "unto life."
+
+Drumtochty was not a heartening place in sickness, and Marget, who
+did not think our thoughts, endured much consolation at her
+neighbour's hands. It is said that in cities visitors congratulate a
+patient on his good looks, and deluge his family with instances of
+recovery. This would have seemed to us shallow and unfeeling,
+besides being a "temptin' o' Providence," which might not have
+intended to go to extremities, but on a challenge of this kind had
+no alternative. Sickness was regarded as a distinction tempered with
+judgment, and favoured people found it difficult to be humble. I
+always thought more of Peter MacIntosh when the mysterious "tribble"
+that needed the Perth doctor made no difference in his manner, and
+he passed his snuff box across the seat before the long prayer as
+usual, but in this indifference to privileges Peter was exceptional.
+
+You could never meet Kirsty Stewart on equal terms, although she was
+quite affable to any one who knew his place.
+
+"Ay," she said, on my respectful allusion to her experience, "a've
+seen mair than most. It doesna become me to boast, but tho' I say it
+as sudna, I hae buried a' my ain fouk."
+
+Kirsty had a "way" in sick visiting, consisting in a certain cadence
+of the voice and arrangement of the face, which was felt to be
+soothing and complimentary.
+
+"Yir aboot again, a'm glad to see," to me after my accident, "but
+yir no dune wi' that leg; na, na, Jeems, that was ma second son,
+scrapit his shin aince, tho' no so bad as ye've dune a'm hearing
+(for I had denied Kirsty the courtesy of an inspection). It's sax
+year syne noo, and he got up and wes traivellin' fell hearty like
+yersel. But he begood to dwam (sicken) in the end of the year, and
+soughed awa' in the spring. Ay, ay, when tribble comes ye never ken
+hoo it 'ill end. A' thocht I wud come up and speir for ye. A body
+needs comfort gin he's sober (ill)."
+
+When I found George wrapped in his plaid beside the brier bush whose
+roses were no whiter than his cheeks, Kirsty was already installed
+as comforter in the parlour, and her drone came through the open
+window.
+
+"Ay, ay, Marget, sae it's come to this. Weel, we daurna complain, ye
+ken. Be thankfu' ye haena lost your man and five sons, besides twa
+sisters and a brither, no to mention cousins. That wud be something
+to speak aboot, and Losh keep's, there's nae saying but he micht
+hang on a whilie. Ay, ay, it's a sair blow aifter a' that wes in the
+papers. I wes feared when I heard o' the papers; 'Lat weel alane,'
+says I to the Dominie; 'ye 'ill bring a judgment on the laddie wi'
+yir blawing.' But ye micht as weel hae spoken to the hills. Domsie's
+a thraun body at the best, and he was clean infatuat' wi' George.
+Ay, ay, it's an awfu' lesson, Marget, no to mak' idols o' our
+bairns, for that's naethin' else than provokin' the Almichty."
+
+It was at this point that Marget gave way and scandalized
+Drumtochty, which held that obtrusive prosperity was an irresistible
+provocation to the higher powers, and that a skilful depreciation of
+our children was a policy of safety.
+
+"Did ye say the Almichty? I'm thinkin' that's ower grand a name for
+your God, Kirsty. What wud ye think o' a faither that brocht hame
+some bonnie thing frae the fair for ane o' his bairns, and when the
+puir bairn wes pleased wi' it tore it oot o' his hand and flung it
+into the fire? Eh, woman, he wud be a meeserable cankered jealous
+body. Kirsty, wumman, when the Almichty sees a mither bound up in
+her laddie, I tell ye He is sair pleased in His heaven, for mind ye
+hoo He loved His ain Son. Besides, a'm judgin' that nane o' us can
+love anither withoot lovin' Him, or hurt anither withoot hurtin'
+Him.
+
+"Oh, I ken weel that George is gaein' to leave us; but it's no
+because the Almichty is jealous o' him or me, no likely. It cam' to
+me last nicht that He needs my laddie for some grand wark in the
+ither world, and that's hoo George has his bukes brocht oot tae the
+garden and studies a' the day. He wants to be ready for his kingdom,
+just as he trachled in the bit schule o' Drumtochty for Edinboro'. I
+hoped he wud hae been a minister o' Christ's Gospel here, but he
+'ill be judge over many cities yonder. A'm no denyin', Kirsty, that
+it's a trial, but I hae licht on it, and naethin' but gude thochts
+o' the Almichty."
+
+Drumtochty understood that Kirsty had dealt faithfully with Marget
+for pride and presumption, but all we heard was, "Losh keep us a'."
+
+When Marget came out and sat down beside her son, her face was
+shining. Then she saw the open window.
+
+"I didna ken."
+
+"Never mind, mither, there's nae secrets atween us, and it gar'd my
+heart leap to hear ye speak up like yon for God, and to know yir
+content. Div ye mind the nicht I called for ye, mother, and ye gave
+me the Gospel aboot God?"
+
+Marget slipped her hand into George's, and he let his head rest on
+her shoulder. The likeness flashed upon me in that moment, the
+earnest deep-set grey eyes, the clean-cut firm jaw, and the tender
+mobile lips, that blend of apparent austerity and underlying romance
+that make the pathos of a Scottish face.
+
+"There had been a Revival man, here," George explained to me, "and
+he was preaching on hell. As it grew dark a candle was lighted, and
+I can still see his face as in a picture, a hard-visaged man. He
+looked down at us laddies in the front, and asked us if we knew what
+like hell was. By this time we were that terrified none of us could
+speak, but I whispered 'No.'
+
+"Then he rolled up a piece of paper and held it in the flame, and we
+saw it burn and glow and shrivel up and fall in black dust.
+
+"'Think,' said he, and he leaned over the desk, and spoke in a
+gruesome whisper which made the cold run down our backs, 'that yon
+paper was your finger, one finger only of your hand, and it burned
+like that for ever and ever, and think of your hand and your arm and
+your whole body all on fire, never to go out.' We shuddered that you
+might have heard the form creak. 'That is hell, and that is where
+ony laddie will go who does not repent and believe.'
+
+"It was like Dante's Inferno, and I dared not take my eyes off his
+face. He blew out the candle, and we crept to the door trembling,
+not able to say one word.
+
+"That night I could not sleep, for I thought I might be in the fire
+before morning. It was harvest time, and the moon was filling the
+room with cold clear light. From my bed I could see the stooks
+standing in rows upon the field, and it seemed like the judgment
+day.
+
+"I was only a wee laddie, and I did what we all do in trouble, I
+cried for my mother.
+
+"Ye hae na forgotten, mither, the fricht that was on me that nicht."
+
+"Never," said Marget, "and never can; it's hard wark for me to keep
+frae hating that man, dead or alive. Geordie gripped me wi' baith
+his wee airms round my neck, and he cries over and over and over
+again, 'Is yon God?'"
+
+"Ay, and ye kissed me, mither, and ye said (it's like yesterday),
+'Yir safe with me,' and ye telt me that God micht punish me to mak
+me better if I was bad, but that he wud never torture ony puir soul,
+for that cud dae nae guid, and was the Devil's wark. Ye asked me:
+
+"'Am I a guid mother tae ye?' and when I could dae naethin' but
+hold, ye said, 'Be sure God maun be a hantle kinder.'
+
+"The truth came to me as with a flicker, and I cuddled down into my
+bed, and fell asleep in His love as in my mother's arms.
+
+"Mither," and George lifted up his head, "that was my conversion,
+and, mither dear, I hae longed a' thro' thae college studies for the
+day when ma mooth wud be opened wi' this evangel."
+
+Marget's was an old-fashioned garden, with pinks and daisies and
+forget-me-nots, with sweet-scented wall-flower and thyme and moss
+roses, where nature had her way, and gracious thoughts could visit
+one without any jarring note. As George's voice softened to the
+close, I caught her saying, "His servants shall see His face," and
+the peace of Paradise fell upon us in the shadow of death.
+
+The night before the end George was carried out to his corner, and
+Domsie, whose heart was nigh unto the breaking, sat with him the
+afternoon. They used to fight the College battles over again, with
+their favourite classics beside them, but this time none of them
+spoke of books. Marget was moving about the garden, and she told me
+that George looked at Domsie wistfully, as if he had something to
+say and knew not how to do it.
+
+After a while he took a book from below his pillow, and began, like
+one thinking over his words:
+
+"Maister Jamieson, ye hae been a gude freend tae me, the best I ever
+hed aifter my mither and faither. Wull ye tak this buik for a
+keepsake o' yir grateful scholar? It's a Latin 'Imitation' Dominie,
+and it's bonnie printin'. Ye mind hoo ye gave me yir ain Virgil, and
+said he was a kind o' Pagan sanct. Noo here is my sanct, and div ye
+ken I've often thocht Virgil saw His day afar off, and was glad.
+Wull ye read it, Dominie, for my sake, and maybe ye 'ill come to
+see--" and George could not find words for more.
+
+But Domsie understood. "Ma laddie, ma laddie, that I luve better
+than onythin' on earth, I'll read it till I die, and, George, I'll
+tell ye what livin' man does na ken. When I was your verra age I had
+a cruel trial, and ma heart was turned frae faith. The classics hae
+been my bible, though I said naethin' to ony man against Christ. He
+aye seemed beyond man, and noo the veesion o' Him has come to me in
+this gairden. Laddie, ye hae dune far mair for me than I ever did
+for you. Wull ye mak a prayer for yir auld dominie afore we pairt?"
+
+There was a thrush singing in the birches and a sound of bees in the
+air, when George prayed in a low, soft voice, with a little break in
+it.
+
+"Lord Jesus, remember my dear maister, for he's been a kind freend
+to me and mony a puir laddie in Drumtochty. Bind up his sair heart
+and give him licht at eventide, and may the maister and his scholars
+meet some mornin' where the schule never skails, in the kingdom o'
+oor Father."
+
+Twice Domsie said Amen, and it seemed as the voice of another man,
+and then he kissed George upon the forehead; but what they said
+Marget did not wish to hear.
+
+When he passed out at the garden gate, the westering sun was shining
+golden, and the face of Domsie was like unto that of a little child.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+Drumtochty never acquitted itself with credit at a marriage, having
+no natural aptitude for gaiety, and being haunted with anxiety lest
+any "hicht" should end in a "howe," but the parish had a genius for
+funerals. It was long mentioned with a just sense of merit that an
+English undertaker, chancing on a "beerial" with us, had no limits
+to his admiration. He had been disheartened to despair all his life
+by the ghastly efforts of chirpy little Southerners to look solemn
+on occasion, but his dreams were satisfied at the sight of men like
+Drumsheugh and Hillocks in their Sabbath blacks. Nature lent an
+initial advantage in face, but it was an instinct in the blood that
+brought our manner to perfection, and nothing could be more awful
+than a group of those austere figures, each man gazing into vacancy
+without a trace of expression, and refusing to recognise his nearest
+neighbour by word or look. Drumtochty gave itself to a "beerial"
+with chastened satisfaction, partly because it lay near to the
+sorrow of things, and partly because there was nothing of speculation
+in it. "Ye can hae little rael pleesure in a merrige," explained our
+gravedigger, in whom the serious side had been perhaps abnormally
+developed, "for ye never ken hoo it will end; but there's nae risk
+about a 'beerial.'"
+
+It came with a shock upon townsmen that the ceremony began with a
+"service o' speerits," and that an attempt of the Free Kirk minister
+to replace this by the reading of Scripture was resisted as an
+"innovation." Yet every one admitted that the seriousness of
+Drumtochty pervaded and sanctified this function. A tray of glasses
+was placed on a table with great solemnity by the "wricht," who made
+no sign and invited none. You might have supposed that the
+circumstance had escaped the notice of the company, so abstracted
+and unconscious was their manner, had it not been that two graven
+images a minute later are standing at the table.
+
+"Ye 'ill taste, Tammas," with settled melancholy.
+
+"Na, na; I've nae incleenation the day; it's an awfu' dispensation
+this, Jeems. She wud be barely saxty."
+
+"Ay, ay, but we maun keep up the body sae lang as we're here,
+Tammas."
+
+"Weel, puttin' it that way, a'm not sayin' but yir richt," yielding
+unwillingly to the force of circumstance.
+
+"We're here the day and there the morn, Tammas. She wes a fine
+wumman--Mistress Stirton--a weel-livin' wumman; this 'ill be a
+blend, a'm thinkin'."
+
+"She slippit aff sudden in the end; a'm judgin' it's frae the
+Muirtown grocer; but a body canna discreeminate on a day like this."
+
+Before the glasses are empty all idea of drinking is dissipated, and
+one has a vague impression that he is at church.
+
+It was George Howe's funeral that broke the custom and closed the
+"service." When I came into the garden where the neighbours were
+gathered, the "wricht" was removing his tray, and not a glass had
+been touched. Then I knew that Drumtochty had a sense of the fitness
+of things, and was stirred to its depths.
+
+"Ye saw the wricht carry in his tray," said Drumsheugh, as we went
+home from the kirkyard. "Weel, yon's the last sicht o't ye 'ill get,
+or a'm no Drumsheugh. I've nae objection ma'sel to a nee'bur tastin'
+at a funeral, a' the mair if he's come frae the upper end o' the
+pairish, and ye ken I dinna hold wi' thae teetotal fouk. A'm ower
+auld in the horn to change noo. But there's times and seasons, as
+the gude Buik says, and it wud hae been an awfu' like business tae
+luik at a gless in Marget's gairden, and puir Domsie standing in
+ahent the brier bush as if he cud never lift his heid again. Ye may
+get shairper fouk in the uptak', but ye 'ill no get a pairish with
+better feelin's. It 'ill be a kind o' sateesfaction tae Marget when
+she hears o't. She was aye against tastin', and a'm judgin' her
+tribble has ended it at beerials."
+
+"Man, it was hard on some o' yon lads the day, but there wesna ane
+o' them made a mudge. I keepit my eye on Posty, but he never lookit
+the way it wes. He's a drouthy body, but he hes his feelin's, hes
+Posty."
+
+Before the Doctor began the prayer, Whinnie took me up to the room.
+
+"There's twa o' Geordie's College freends with Marget, grand
+scholars a'm telt, and there's anither I canna weel mak oot. He's
+terrible cast doon, and Marget speaks as if she kent him."
+
+It was a low-roofed room, with a box bed and some pieces of humble
+furniture, fit only for a labouring man. But the choice treasures of
+Greece and Rome lay on the table, and on a shelf beside the bed
+College prizes and medals, while everywhere were the roses he loved.
+His peasant mother stood beside the body of her scholar son, whose
+hopes and thoughts she had shared, and through the window came the
+bleating of distant sheep. It was the idyll of Scottish University
+life.
+
+George's friends were characteristic men, each of his own type, and
+could only have met in the commonwealth of letters. One was of an
+ancient Scottish house which had fought for Mary against the Lords
+of the Congregation, followed Prince Charlie to Culloden, and were
+High Church and Tory to the last drop of their blood. Ludovic Gordon
+left Harrow with the reputation of a classic, and had expected to be
+first at Edinboro'. It was Gordon, in fact, that Domsie feared in
+the great war, but he proved second to Marget's son, and being of
+the breed of Prince Jonathan, which is the same the world over, he
+came to love our David as his own soul. The other, a dark little
+man, with a quick, fiery eye, was a Western Celt, who had worried
+his way from a fishing croft in Barra to be an easy first in
+Philosophy at Edinboro', and George and Ronald Maclean were as
+brothers because there is nothing so different as Scottish and
+Highland blood.
+
+"Maister Gordon," said Marget, "this is George's Homer, and he bade
+me tell you that he coonted yir freendship ain o' the gifts o' God."
+
+For a brief space Gordon was silent, and, when he spoke, his voice
+sounded strange in that room.
+
+"Your son was the finest scholar of my time, and a very perfect
+gentleman. He was also my true friend, and I pray God to console his
+mother." And Ludovic Gordon bowed low over Marget's worn hand as if
+she had been a queen.
+
+Marget lifted Plato, and it seemed to me that day as if the dignity
+of our Lady of Sorrows had fallen upon her.
+
+"This is the buik George chose for you, Maister Maclean, for he aye
+said to me ye hed been a prophet and shown him mony deep things."
+
+The tears sprang to the Celt's eyes.
+
+"It wass like him to make all other men better than himself," with
+the soft, sad Highland accent; "and a proud woman you are to hef
+been his mother."
+
+The third man waited at the window till the scholars left, and then
+I saw he was none of that kind, but one who had been a slave of sin
+and now was free.
+
+"Andra Chaumers, George wished ye tae hev his Bible, and he expecks
+ye tae keep the tryst."
+
+"God helping me, I will," said Chalmers, hoarsely; and from the
+garden ascended a voice, "O God, who art a very present help in
+trouble."
+
+The Doctor's funeral prayer was one of the glories of the parish,
+compelling even the Free Kirk to reluctant admiration, although they
+hinted that its excellence was rather of the letter than the spirit,
+and regarded its indiscriminate charity with suspicion. It opened
+with a series of extracts from the Psalms, relieved by two excursions
+into the minor prophets, and led up to a sonorous recitation of the
+problem of immortality from Job, with its triumphant solution in the
+peroration of the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians. Drumtochty men
+held their breath till the Doctor reached the crest of the hill
+(Hillocks disgraced himself once by dropping his staff at the very
+moment when the Doctor was passing from Job to Paul), and then we
+relaxed while the Doctor descended to local detail. It was understood
+that it took twenty years to bring the body of this prayer to perfection,
+and any change would have been detected and resented.
+
+The Doctor made a good start, and had already sighted Job, when he
+was carried out of his course by a sudden current, and began to
+speak to God about Marget and her son, after a very simple fashion
+that brought a lump to the throat, till at last, as I imagine, the
+sight of the laddie working at his Greek in the study of a winter
+night came up before him, and the remnants of the great prayer
+melted like an iceberg in the Gulf Stream.
+
+"Lord, hae peety upon us, for we a' luved him, and we were a' prood
+o' him."
+
+After the Doctor said "Amen" with majesty, one used to look at his
+neighbour, and the other would shut his eyes and shake his head,
+meaning, "There's no use asking me, for it simply can't be better
+done by living man." This time no one remembered his neighbour,
+because every eye was fixed on the Doctor. Drumtochty was
+identifying its new minister.
+
+"It may be that I hef judged him hardly," said Lachlan Campbell, one
+of the Free Kirk Highlanders, and our St. Dominic. "I shall never
+again deny that the root of the matter is in the man, although much
+choked with the tares of worldliness and Arminianism."
+
+"He is a goot man, Lachlan," replied Donald Menzies, another Celt,
+and he was our St. Francis, for "every one that loveth is born of
+God."
+
+There was no hearse in Drumtochty, and we carried our dead by relays
+of four, who waded every stream unless more than knee deep, the rest
+following in straggling, picturesque procession over the moor and
+across the stepping stones. Before we started, Marget came out and
+arranged George's white silken hood upon the coffin with roses in
+its folds.
+
+She swept us into one brief flush of gratitude, from Domsie to
+Posty.
+
+"Neeburs, ye were a' his freends, and he wanted ye tae ken hoo yir
+trust wes mickle help tae him in his battle."
+
+There was a stir within us, and it came to birth in Drumsheugh of
+all men:
+
+"Marget Hoo, this is no the day for mony words, but there's juist ae
+heart in Drumtochty, and it's sair."
+
+No one spoke to Domsie as we went down the cart track, with the ripe
+corn standing on either side, but he beckoned Chalmers to walk with
+him.
+
+"Ye hae heard him speak o' me, then, Maister Jamieson?"
+
+"Ay, oftentimes, and he said once that ye were hard driven, but that
+ye had trampled Satan under yir feet."
+
+"He didna tell ye all, for if it hadna been for George Howe I wudna
+been worth callin' a man this day. One night when he was workin'
+hard for his honours examination and his disease was heavy upon him,
+puir fellow, he sought me oot where I was, and wouldna leave till I
+cam' wi him.
+
+"'Go home,' I said, 'Howe; it's death for ye to be oot in this sleet
+and cold. Why not leave me to lie in the bed I hae made?'
+
+"He took me by the arm into a passage. I see the gaslicht on his
+white face, and the shining o' his eyes.
+
+"'Because I have a mother...'
+
+"Dominie, he pulled me oot o' hell."
+
+"Me tae, Andra, but no your hell. Ye mind the Roman Triumph, when a
+general cam' hame wi' his spoils. Laddie, we're the captives that go
+with his chariot up the Capitol."
+
+Donald Menzies was a man of moods, and the Doctor's prayer had
+loosed his imagination so that he saw visions.
+
+"Look," said he, as we stood on a ridge, "I hef seen it before in
+the book of Joshua."
+
+Below the bearers had crossed a burn on foot, and were ascending the
+slope where an open space of deep green was fringed with purple
+heather.
+
+"The ark hass gone over Jordan, and George will have come into the
+Land of Promise."
+
+The September sunshine glinted on the white silk George won with his
+blood, and fell like a benediction on the two figures that climbed
+the hard ascent close after the man they loved.
+
+Strangers do not touch our dead in Drumtochty, but the eight of
+nearest blood lower the body into the grave. The order of precedence
+is keenly calculated, and the loss of a merited cord can never be
+forgiven. Marget had arranged everything with Whinnie, and all saw
+the fitness. His father took the head, and the feet (next in honour)
+he gave to Domsie.
+
+"Ye maun dae it. Marget said ye were o' his ain bluid."
+
+On the right side the cords were handed to the Doctor, Gordon, and
+myself; and on the left to Drumsheugh, Maclean, and Chalmers. Domsie
+lifted the hood for Marget, but the roses he gently placed on
+George's name. Then with bent, uncovered heads, and in unbroken
+silence, we buried all that remained of our scholar.
+
+We always waited till the grave was filled and the turf laid down, a
+trying quarter of an hour. Ah me! the thud of the spade on your
+mother's grave! None gave any sign of what he felt save Drumsheugh,
+whose sordid slough had slipped off from a tender heart, and
+Chalmers, who went behind a tombstone and sobbed aloud. Not even
+Posty asked the reason so much as by a look, and Drumtochty, as it
+passed, made as though it did not see. But I marked that the Dominie
+took Chalmers home, and walked all the way with him to Kildrummie
+station next morning. His friends erected a granite cross over
+George's grave, and it was left to Domsie to choose the inscription.
+There was a day when it would have been "Whom the gods love die
+young." Since then Domsie had seen the kingdom of God, and this is
+graven where the roses bloomed fresh every summer for twenty years
+till Marget was laid with her son:
+
+  GEORGE HOWE, M.A., Died September 22nd, 1869, Aged 21.
+
+  "They shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it."
+
+It was a late November day when I went to see George's memorial, and
+the immortal hope was burning low in my heart; but as I stood before
+that cross, the sun struggled from behind a black watery bank of
+cloud, and picked out every letter of the Apocalypse in gold.
+
+
+
+
+A HIGHLAND MYSTIC
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN
+
+Strange ministers who came to assist at the Free Kirk Sacrament were
+much impressed with the elders, and never forgot the transfiguration
+of Donald Menzies, which used to begin about the middle of the
+"action" sermon, and was completed at the singing of the last Psalm.
+Once there was no glory, because the minister, being still young,
+expounded a new theory of the atonement of German manufacture, and
+Donald's face was piteous to behold. It haunted the minister for
+months, and brought to confusion a promising course of sermons on
+the contribution of Hegel to Christian thought. Donald never laid
+the blame of such calamities on the preacher, but accepted them as a
+just judgment on his blindness of heart.
+
+"We hef had the open vision," Donald explained to his friend Lachlan
+Campbell, who distributed the responsibility in another fashion,
+"and we would not see--so the veil hass fallen."
+
+Donald sat before the pulpit and filled the hearts of nervous
+probationers with dismay, not because his face was critical, but
+because it seemed non-conducting, upon which their best passages
+would break like spray against a rock. It was by nature the dullest
+you ever saw, with hair descending low upon the forehead, and
+preposterous whiskers dominating everything that remained, except a
+heavy mouth and brown, lack-lustre eyes. For a while Donald crouched
+in the corner of the pew, his head sunk on his breast, a very
+picture of utter hopelessness. But as the Evangel began to play
+round his heart, he would fix the preacher with rapid, wistful
+glances, as of one who had awaked but hardly dared believe such
+things could be true. Suddenly a sigh pervaded six pews, a kind of
+gentle breath of penitence, faith, love, and hope mingled together
+like the incense of the sanctuary, and Donald lifted up his head.
+His eyes are now aflame, and those sullen lips are refining into
+curves of tenderness. From the manse pew I watched keenly, for at
+any moment a wonderful sight may be seen. A radiant smile will pass
+from his lips to his eyes and spread over his face, as when the sun
+shines on a fallow field and the rough furrows melt into warmth and
+beauty. Donald's gaze is now fixed on a window above the preacher's
+head, for on these great days that window is to him as the gate of
+heaven. All I could see would be a bit of blue, and the fretted
+sunlight through the swaying branches of an old plane tree. But
+Donald has seen his Lord hanging upon the Cross for him, and the New
+Jerusalem descending like a bride adorned for her husband more
+plainly than if Perugino's great Crucifixion, with the kneeling
+saints, and Angelico's Outer Court of Heaven, with the dancing
+angels, had been hung in our little Free Kirk. When he went down the
+aisle with the flagon in the Sacrament, he walked as one in a dream,
+and wist not that his face shone.
+
+There was an interval after the Sacrament, when the stranger was
+sent to his room with light refreshments, to prepare himself for the
+evening, and the elders dined with the minister. Before the
+introduction of the Highlanders conversation had an easy play within
+recognized limits, and was always opened by Burnbrae, who had come
+out in '43, and was understood to have read the Confession of Faith.
+
+"Ye gave us a grawnd discoorse this mornin', sir, baith instructive
+and edifyin'; we were juist sayin' comin' up the gairden that ye
+were never heard to mair advantage."
+
+The minister was much relieved, because he had not been hopeful
+during the week, and was still dissatisfied, as he explained at
+length, with the passage on the Colossian heresy.
+
+When these doubts had been cleared up, Burnbrae did his best by the
+minister up stairs, who had submitted himself to the severe test of
+table addresses.
+
+"Yon were verra suitable words at the second table; he's a
+speeritually minded man, Maister Cosh, and has the richt sough."
+
+Or at the worst, when Burnbrae's courage had failed:
+
+"Maister McKittrick had a fine text afore the table. I aye like tae
+see a man gang tae the Song o' Solomon on the Sacrament Sabbath. A'
+mind Dr. Guthrie on that verra subject twenty years syne."
+
+Having paid its religious dues, conversation was now allowed some
+freedom, and it was wonderful how many things could be touched on,
+always from a sacramental standpoint.
+
+"We've been awfu' favoured wi' weather the day, and ought to be
+thankfu'. Gin it hads on like this I wudna say but th'ill be a gude
+hairst. That's a fine pucklie aits ye hae in the laigh park,
+Burnbrae."
+
+"A've seen waur; they're fillin' no that bad. I wes juist thinkin'
+as I cam to the Kirk that there wes aits in that field the Sacrament
+after the Disruption."
+
+"Did ye notice that Rachel Skene sat in her seat through the tables?
+Says I, 'Are ye no gain forrit, Mistress Skene, or hae ye lost yir
+token?' 'Na, na,' says she, 'ma token's safe in ma handkerchief; but
+I cudna get to Kirk yesterday, and I never went forrit withoot ma
+Saiturday yet, and I'm no to begin noo.'"
+
+"She was aye a richt-thinkin' woman, Rachel, there's nae mistake o'
+that; a' wonder hoo her son is gettin' on wi' that fairm he's
+takin'; a' doot it's rack-rented."
+
+It was an honest, satisfying conversation, and reminded one of the
+parish of Drumtochty, being both _quoad sacra_ and _quoad
+civilia_.
+
+When the Highlanders came in, Burnbrae was deposed after one
+encounter, and the minister was reduced to a state of timid
+suggestion. There were days when they would not speak one word, and
+were understood to be lost in meditation; on others they broke in on
+any conversation that was going from levels beyond the imagination
+of Drumtochty. Had this happened in the Auld Manse, Drumsheugh would
+have taken for granted that Donald was "feeling sober" (ill), and
+recommended the bottle which cured him of "a hoast" (cough) in the
+fifties. But the Free Kirk had been taught that the Highlanders were
+unapproachable in spiritual attainments, and even Burnbrae took his
+discipline meekly.
+
+"It wes a mercy the mune changed last week, Maister Menzies, or a'm
+thinkin' it hed been a weet sacrament."
+
+Donald came out of a maze, where he had been wandering in great
+peace.
+
+"I wass not hearing that the moon had anything to do in the matter.
+Oh no, but he wass bound hand and foot by a mighty man."
+
+"Wha was bund? A'm no juist followin' ye, Maister Menzies."
+
+"The Prince of the power of the air. Oh yes, and he shall not be
+loosed till the occasion be over. I hef had a sign." After which
+conversation on the weather languished.
+
+Perhaps the minister fared worse in an attempt to extract a
+certificate of efficiency from Lachlan Campbell in favour of a
+rhetorical young preacher.
+
+"A fery nice speaker, and well pleased with himself. But I would be
+thinking, when he wass giving his images. Oh yes, I would be
+thinking. There was a laddie feeshing in the burn before my house,
+and a fery pretty laddie he wass. He had a rod and a string, and he
+threw his line peautiful. It wass a great peety he had no hook, for
+it iss a want, and you do not catch many fish without a hook. But I
+shall be glad that you are pleased, sir, and all the elders."
+
+These were only passing incidents, and left no trace, but the rebuke
+Donald gave to Burnbrae will be told while an elder lives. One of
+the last of the old mystical school, which trace their descent from
+Samuel Rutherford, had described the great mystery of our Faith with
+such insight and pathos, that Donald had stood by the table weeping
+gently, and found himself afterwards in the manse, he knew not how.
+
+The silence was more than could be borne, and his former
+responsibility fell on Burnbrae.
+
+"It wes wonnerful, and I canna mind hearing the like o' yon at the
+tables; but I wes sorry to see the Doctor sae failed. He wes bent
+twa fad; a' doot it's a titch o' rheumatism, or maybe lumbago."
+
+Johannine men are subject to sudden flashes of anger, and Donald
+blazed.
+
+"Bent down with rheumatism, iss that what you say? Oh yes, it will
+be rheumatism. Hass the sight of your eyes left you, and hef you no
+discernment? Did ye not see that he was bowed to the very table with
+the power of the Word? for it was a fire in his bones, and he was
+baptised with the Holy Ghost."
+
+When the elders gathered in the vestry, the minister asked what time
+the preacher might have for his evening sermon, and Donald again
+burst forth:
+
+"I am told that in towns the Gospel goes by minutes, like the trains
+at the stations; but there iss no time-table here, for we shall wait
+till the sun goes down to hear all things God will be sending by His
+servant."
+
+Good memories differ about the text that Sacrament evening, and the
+length of the sermon, but all hold as a treasure for ever what
+happened when the book was closed. The people were hushed into a
+quiet that might be felt, and the old man, swayed by the spirit of
+the Prophets, began to repeat the blessings and curses in the Bible
+between Genesis and Revelation, and after each pair he cried with
+heart-piercing voice, "Choose this day which ye will take," till
+Donald could contain himself no longer.
+
+"Here iss the man who hass deserved all the curses, and here iss the
+man who chooses all the blessings."
+
+Our fathers had no turn for sensation, but they had an unerring
+sense of a spiritual situation. The preacher paused for five
+seconds, while no man could breathe, and then lifting up his hand to
+Heaven he said, with an indescribable authority and tenderness, "The
+Lord fulfil the desire of your heart both in this world and in that
+which is to come."
+
+Then the congregation sang, after the ancient custom of our parts,
+
+  "Now blessed be the Lord our God,
+   The God of Israel,"
+
+and Donald's face was one glory, because he saw in the soft evening
+light of the upper window the angels of God ascending and descending
+upon the Son of man.
+
+It was after this that the Free Kirk minister occupied six months in
+proving that Moses did not write Deuteronomy, and Lachlan was trying
+for the same period to have the minister removed from Drumtochty.
+Donald, deprived by one stroke of both his friends, fell back on me,
+and told me many things I loved to hear, although they were beyond
+my comprehension.
+
+"It wass not always so with me as it iss this day, for I once had no
+ear for God's voice, and my eyes were holden that I saw not the
+spiritual world. But sore sickness came upon me, and I wass nigh
+unto death, and my soul awoke within me and began to cry like a
+child for its mother. All my days I had lived on Loch Tay, and now I
+thought of the other country into which I would hef to be going,
+where I had no nest, and my soul would be driven to and fro in the
+darkness as a bird on the moor of Rannoch.
+
+"Janet sent for the minister, and he wass fery kind, and he spoke
+about my sickness and my farm, and I said nothing. For I wass hoping
+he would tell me what I wass to do for my soul. But he began upon
+the sheep market at Amulree, and I knew he wass also in the dark.
+After he left I turned my face to the wall and wept.
+
+"Next morning wass the Sabbath, and I said to Janet:
+
+"'Wrap me in my plaid, and put me in a cart, and take me to
+Aberfeldy.' 'And what will ye be doing at Aberfeldy? and you will
+die on the road.' 'There iss,' said I, 'a man there who knows the
+way of the soul, and it iss better to die with my face to the
+light.'
+
+"They set me in a corner of the church where I wass thinking no man
+could see me, and I cried in my heart without ceasing, 'Lord, send
+me--send me a word from Thy mouth.'
+
+"When the minister came into the pulpit he gave me a strange look,
+and this wass his text, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"As he preached I knew I wass Lazurus, with the darkness of the
+grave around me, and my soul straitly bound. I could do nothing, but
+I wass longing with all my strength.
+
+"Then the minister stopped, and he said:
+
+"There iss a man in this church, and he will know himself who it
+iss. When I came in this morning I saw a shadow on his face, and I
+knew not whether it was the wing of the Angel of Life or the Angel
+of Death passing over him, but the Lord has made it plain to me, and
+I see the silver feathers of the Angel of the Covenant, and this
+shall be a sign unto that man, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+"While he wass still speaking I felt my soul carried out into the
+light of God's face, and my grave clothes were taken off one by one
+as Janet would unwind my plaid, and I stood a living man before
+Christ.
+
+"It wass a sweet June day as we drove home, and I lay in sunshine,
+and every bird that sang, and the burnies by the roadside, and the
+rustling of the birch leaves in the wind--oh yes, and the sound of
+the horse's feet were saying, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"Loch Tay looked black angry as we came by its side in the morning,
+and I said to Janet:
+
+"'It iss the Dead Sea, and I shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah;' but in
+the evening it wass as a sea of glass mingled with fire, and I heard
+the song of Moses and the Lamb sweeping over the Loch, but this wass
+still the sweetest word to me, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
+
+The powers of darkness had been making a dead set upon Donald all
+winter, and towards spring he began to lose hope. He came to the
+Cottage once a week with news from the seat of war, and I could
+distinguish three zones of depression. Within the first he bewailed
+his inveterate attachment to this world, and his absolute
+indifference to spiritual things, and was content to describe
+himself as Achan. The sign that he had entered the second was a
+recurring reference to apostacy, and then you had the melancholy
+satisfaction of meeting the living representative of Simon Peter.
+When he passed into the last zone of the Purgatorio, Donald was
+beyond speech, and simply allowed one to gather from allusions to
+thirty pieces of silver that he was Judas Iscariot.
+
+So long as it was only Achan or Simon Peter that came to sit with
+me, one was not gravely concerned, but Judas Iscariot meant that
+Donald had entered the Valley of the Shadow.
+
+He made a spirited rally at the Winter Sacrament, and distinguished
+himself greatly on the evening of the Fast day. Being asked to pray,
+as a recognition of comparative cheerfulness, Donald continued for
+five and twenty minutes, and unfolded the works of the Devil in such
+minute and vivid detail that Burnbrae talks about it to this day,
+and Lachlan Campbell, although an expert in this department,
+confessed astonishment. It was a mighty wrestle, and it was perhaps
+natural that Donald should groan heavily at regular intervals, and
+acquaint the meeting how the conflict went, but the younger people
+were much shaken, and the edification even of the serious was not
+without reserve.
+
+While Donald still lingered on the field of battle to gather the
+spoils and guard against any sudden return of the enemy, the elders
+had a hurried consultation in the vestry, and Burnbrae put the
+position with admirable force.
+
+"Naebody can deny that it wes a maist extraordinary prayer, and it
+passes me hoo he kens sae muckle aboot the Deevil. In fac' it's a
+preevilege tae hae sic an experienced hand among us, and I wudna
+offend Donald Menzies for onything. But yon groanin' wes a wee
+thingie discomposin', and when he said, kind o' confidential, 'He's
+losing his grup,' ma ain fouk cudna keep their coontenance. Weel, I
+wes thinkin' that the best plan wud be for Maister Campbell juist
+tae give a bit advice and tell Donald that we're thankfu' to hear
+him at the meeting, and michty lifted wi' his peteetions, but it wud
+be an obleegation gin he wud leave oot the groans and tell us
+aifterwards what wes gaein' on, maybe in the Session."
+
+Lachlan accepted his commission with quite unusual diffidence, and
+offered a very free translation on the way home.
+
+"It wass a mercy to hef you at the meeting this night, Donald
+Menzies, for I saw that Satan had come in great strength, and it iss
+not every man that can withstand him. But you will not be ignorant
+of his devices; oh no, you will be knowing them fery well. Satan had
+not much to say before the prayer wass done, and I will not be
+expecting to see him again at this occasion. It wass the elders
+said, 'Donald Menzies hass trampled Satan under foot.' Oh yes, and
+fery glad men they were, for it iss not given to them. But I would
+be thinking iss it good to let the Devil hear you groaning in the
+battle, and I would be wishing that you had kept all your groans and
+given them to me on the road."
+
+"Iss it the groans you are not liking?" retorted Donald, stung by
+this unexpected criticism. "And what iss wrong with groaning? But I
+hef the Scripture, and I will not be caring what you say, Lachlan
+Campbell."
+
+"If you hef a warrant for groaning, it iss this man that will be
+glad to hear it, for I am not remembering that passage."
+
+"Maybe you hef not read 'Maketh intercession with groanings,' but it
+iss a fery good Scripture, and it iss in my Bible."
+
+"All Scripture iss good, Donald Menzies, but it iss not lawful to
+divide Scripture, and it will read in my Bible, 'groanings which
+cannot be uttered,' and I wass saying this would be the best way
+with your groans."
+
+Donald came in to tell me how his companion in arms had treated him,
+and was still sore.
+
+"He iss in the bondage of the letter these days, for he will be
+always talking about Moses with the minister, and I am not hearing
+that iss good for the soul."
+
+If even Lachlan could not attain to Donald, it was perhaps no
+discredit that the Drumtochty mind was at times hopelessly
+perplexed.
+
+ "He's a gude cratur and terrible gifted in prayer," Netherton
+explained to Burnbrae after a prayer-meeting, when Donald had
+temporarily abandoned Satan and given himself to autobiography, "but
+yon wesna a verra ceevil way to speak aboot his faither and mither."
+
+"A' doot yir imaginin', Netherton. Donald never mentioned his fouk
+the nicht, and it's no likely he wud in the prayer-meeting."
+
+"There's nae imaginin' aboot it; a' heard him wi' ma ain ears say
+twice, 'My father was an Amorite, and my mother a Hittite.' I'll
+take my aith on it. Noo, a' dinna ken Donald's forbears masel, for
+he's frae Tayside, but supposin' they were as bad as bad cud be,
+it's no for him to blacken his ain blood, and him an Elder."
+
+"Toots, Netherton, yir aff it a' thegither. Div ye no see yon's
+Bible langidge oot o' a Prophet, or maybe Kings, and Donald wes
+usin't in a feegurative capaucity?"
+
+"Feegurative or no feegurative, Burnbrae, it disna maitter; it's a
+peetifu' job howking (digging) thro' the Bible for ill words tae
+misca yir fouk wi' afore the public."
+
+Burnbrae gave up the contest in despair, feeling himself that Old
+Testament allusions were risky, and that Donald's quotation was less
+than felicitous.
+
+Donald's prayers were not known outside the Free Kirk circle, but
+his encounters with the evil one were public property, and caused a
+general shudder. Drumtochty was never sure who might not be
+listening, and considered that it was safer not to meddle with
+certain nameless people. But Donald waged an open warfare in every
+corner of the parish, in the Kirk, by the wayside, in his house, on
+the road to market, and was ready to give any one the benefit of his
+experiences.
+
+"Donald Menzies is in yonder," said Hillocks, pointing to the
+smithy, whose fire sent fitful gleams across the dark road, "and
+he's carryin' on maist fearsome. Ye wud think tae hear him speak
+that auld Hornie wes gaein' louse in the parish; it sent a grue
+(shiver) doon ma back. Faigs, it's no cannie to be muckle wi' the
+body, for the Deil and Donald seem never separate. Hear him noo,
+hear him."
+
+"Oh yes," said Donald, addressing the smith and two horror-stricken
+ploughmen, "I hef seen him, and he hass withstood me on the road. It
+wass late, and I wass thinking on the shepherd and the sheep, and
+Satan will come out from the wood below Hillocks' farm-house ('Gude
+preserve us,' from Hillocks) and say, 'That word is not for you,
+Donald Menzies,' But I wass strong that night, and I said, 'Neither
+shall any pluck them out of my hand,' and he will not wait long
+after that, oh no, and I did not follow him into the wood."
+
+The smith, released by the conclusion of the tale, blew a mighty
+blast, and the fire burst into a red blaze, throwing into relief the
+black figure of the smith and the white faces of the ploughmen;
+glancing from the teeth of harrows, and the blades of scythes, and
+the cruel knives of reaping machines, and from instruments with
+triple prongs; and lighting up with a hideous glare the black sooty
+recesses of the smithy.
+
+"Keep's a'," whispered Hillocks, clutching my arm, "it's little
+better than the ill place. I wish to gudeness I wes safe in ma ain
+hoose."
+
+These were only indecisive skirmishes, for one evening Donald came
+to my den with despair written on every feature, and I knew that
+fighting had begun at the centre, and that he was worsted.
+
+It was half an hour before he became articulate, during which time
+he sighed as if the end of all things had come, and I caught the
+word scapegoat twice, but at last he told me that he had resigned
+his eldership, and would absent himself in future from the Free
+Kirk.
+
+"It hass been a weary winter when minister and people hef gone into
+captivity, and on Sabbath the word wass taken altogether from the
+minister's mouth, and he spake a language which we understood not
+[it was the first of three sermons on the Hexateuch, and had treated
+of the Jehovistic and Elohistic documents with much learning], and I
+will be asking all the way back, 'Iss it I?' 'Iss it I?'
+
+"Oh yes, and when I opened my Bible this iss the word I will see,
+'That thou doest do quickly,' and I knew it wass my sins that had
+brought great judgments on the people, and turned the minister into
+a man of stammering lips and another tongue.
+
+"It wass a mercy that the roof did not fall and bury all the people
+with me; but we will not be tempting the Almighty, for I hef gone
+outside, and now there will be peace and blessing."
+
+When we left the lighted room and stood on the doorstep, Donald
+pointed to the darkness. "There iss no star, and you will be
+remembering what John saw when the door opened and Judas went out.
+'It wass night'--oh yes, it iss night for me, but it will be light
+for them."
+
+As weeks went past, and Donald was seen neither at Kirk nor market,
+my heart went out to the lonely man in his soul conflict, and,
+although there was no help in me, I went to ask how it fared with
+him. After the footpath disentangled itself from the pine woods and
+crossed the burn by two fir trees nailed together, it climbed a
+steep ascent to Donald's house, but I had barely touched the foot,
+when I saw him descending, his head in the air, and his face
+shining. Before any words passed, I knew that the battle had been
+fought and won.
+
+"It wass last night, and I will be coming to tell you. Satan hass
+gone like darkness when the sun ariseth, and I hef been delivered."
+
+There are stories one cannot hear sitting, and so we paced the
+meadow below, rich in primroses, with a sloping bank of gorse behind
+us, and the pines before us, and the water breaking over the stones
+at our feet.
+
+"It is three weeks since I saw you, and all that time I hef been
+wandering on the hill by day, and lying in the barn at night, for it
+wass not good to be with people, and Satan wass always saying to me,
+Judas went to 'his own place.' My dog will lay his head on my knee,
+and be sorry for me, and the dumb animals will be looking at me out
+of their great eyes, and be moaning.
+
+"The lads are good singers, and there wass always a sound of Psalms
+on the farm, oh yes, and it was pleasant to come from the market and
+hear the Psalms at the foot of the hill. It wass like going up to
+Jerusalem. But there would be no Psalms these days, for the lads
+could not sing when their father's soul wass going down into the
+pit.
+
+"Oh no, and there wass no prayer last night, but I told the lads to
+go to bed, and I lay down before the fire to wrestle once more
+before I perished.
+
+"Janet will offer this word and the other, and I will be trying them
+all, but Satan wass tearing them away as quick as I could speak, and
+he always said, 'his own place.'
+
+"'There iss no hope for me,' I cried, 'but it iss a mercy that you
+and the lads will be safe in the City, and maybe the Lord will let
+me see you all through the gate.' And that wass lifting me, but then
+I will hear 'his own place,' 'his own place,' and my heart began to
+fail, and I wass nigh to despair.
+
+"Then I heard a voice, oh yes, as plain as you are hearing me, 'The
+blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' It wass
+like a gleam from the Mercy-seat, but I would be waiting to see
+whether Satan had any answer, and my heart was standing still. But
+there wass no word from him, not one word. Then I leaped to my feet
+and cried, 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' and I will look round, and
+there wass no one to be seen but Janet in her chair, with the tears
+on her cheeks, and she wass saying, 'Thanks be to God, which giveth
+us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'
+
+"The lads were not sleeping fery sound when their father was
+fighting for his life, oh no, and I am not saying but maybe they
+would be praying. It wass not fery long before they came down, and
+Hamish will be looking at my face, and then he will get the books,
+and this is the Psalm we sang?
+
+  "I love the Lord, because my voice
+     And prayers He did hear.
+   I, while I live, will call on Him,
+     Who bowed to me His ear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+   God merciful and righteous is,
+     Yea, gracious is our Lord;
+   God saves the meek; I was brought low,
+     He did me help afford."
+
+This was the victory of Donald Menzies, and on reaching home I
+marked that the early roses were beginning to bloom over the door
+through which Donald had gone out into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+He was an ingenuous lad, with the callow simplicity of a theological
+college still untouched, and had arrived on the preceding Monday at
+the Free Kirk manse with four cartloads of furniture and a maiden
+aunt. For three days he roamed from room to room in the excitement
+of householding, and made suggestions which were received with
+hilarious contempt; then he shut himself up in his study to prepare
+the great sermon, and his aunt went about on tiptoe. During meals on
+Friday he explained casually that his own wish was to preach a
+simple sermon, and that he would have done so had he been a private
+individual, but as he had held the MacWhammel scholarship a
+deliverance was expected by the country. He would be careful and say
+nothing rash, but it was due to himself to state the present
+position of theological thought, and he might have to quote once or
+twice from Ewald.
+
+His aunt was a saint, with that firm grasp of truth, and tender
+mysticism, whose combination is the charm of Scottish piety, and her
+face was troubled. While the minister was speaking in his boyish
+complacency, her thoughts were in a room where they had both stood,
+five years before, by the death-bed of his mother.
+
+He was broken that day, and his sobs shook the bed, for he was his
+mother's only son and fatherless, and his mother, brave and faithful
+to the last, was bidding him farewell.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, John, nor break yir hert, for it's the will
+o' God, and that's aye best."
+
+"Here's my watch and chain," placing them beside her son, who could
+not touch them, nor would lift his head, "and when ye feel the chain
+about yir neck it will mind ye o' yir mother's arms."
+
+"Ye 'ill no forget me, John, I ken that weel, and I'll never forget
+you. I've loved ye here and I'll love ye yonder. Th'ill no be an
+'oor when I'll no pray for ye, and I'll ken better what to ask than
+I did here, sae dinna be comfortless."
+
+Then she felt for his head and stroked it once more, but he could
+not look nor speak.
+
+"Ye 'ill follow Christ, and gin He offers ye His cross, ye 'ill no
+refuse it, for He aye carries the heavy end Himsel'. He's guided yir
+mother a' thae years, and been as gude as a husband since yir
+father's death, and He 'ill hold me fast tae the end. He 'ill keep
+ye too, and, John, I'll be watchin' for ye. Ye 'ill no fail me," and
+her poor cold hand that had tended him all his days tightened on his
+head.
+
+But he could not speak, and her voice was failing fast.
+
+"I canna see ye noo, John, but I know yir there, and I've just one
+other wish. If God calls ye to the ministry, ye 'ill no refuse, an'
+the first day ye preach in yir ain kirk, speak a gude word for Jesus
+Christ, an,' John, I'll hear ye that day, though ye 'ill no see me,
+and I'll be satisfied."
+
+A minute after she whispered, "Pray for me," and he cried, "My
+mother, my mother."
+
+It was a full prayer, and left nothing unasked of Mary's Son.
+
+"John," said his aunt, "your mother is with the Lord," and he saw
+death for the first time, but it was beautiful with the peace that
+passeth all understanding.
+
+Five years had passed, crowded with thought and work, and his aunt
+wondered whether he remembered that last request, or indeed had
+heard it in his sorrow.
+
+"What are you thinking about, aunt? Are you afraid of my theology?"
+
+"No, John, it's no that, laddie, for I ken ye 'ill say what ye
+believe to be true withoot fear o' man," and she hesitated.
+
+"Come, out with it, auntie: you're my only mother now, you know,"
+and the minister put his arm round her, "as well as the kindest,
+bonniest, goodest auntie ever man had."
+
+Below his student self-conceit he was a good lad, and sound of
+heart.
+
+"Shame on you, John, to make a fule o' an auld dune body, but ye'll
+no come round me with yir flattery. I ken ye ower weel," and as she
+caught the likeness in his face, her eyes filled suddenly.
+
+"What's the matter, auntie? Will ye no tell me?"
+
+"Dinna be angry wi' me, John, but a'm concerned aboot Sabbath, for
+a've been praying ever syne ye were called to Drumtochty that it
+micht be a great day, and that I micht see ye comin' tae yir people,
+laddie, wi' the beauty o' the Lord upon ye, according tae the auld
+prophecy: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
+bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace,'" and again she
+stopped.
+
+"Go on, auntie, go on," he whispered; "say all that's in yir mind."
+
+"It's no for me tae advise ye, who am only a simple auld woman, who
+ken's naethin' but her Bible and the Catechism, and it's no that a'm
+feared for the new views, or aboot yir faith, for I aye mind that
+there's mony things the Speerit hes still tae teach us, and I ken
+weel the man that follows Christ will never lose his way in ony
+thicket. But it's the fouk, John, a'm anxious aboot, the flock o'
+sheep the Lord hes given ye tae feed for Him."
+
+She could not see his face, but she felt him gently press her hand,
+and took courage.
+
+"Ye maun mind, laddie, that they're no clever and learned like what
+ye are, but juist plain country fouk, ilka ane wi' his ain
+temptation, an' a' sair trachled wi' mony cares o' this world. They
+'ill need a clear word tae comfort their herts and show them the way
+everlasting. Ye 'ill say what's richt, nae doot o' that, and a'body
+'ill be pleased wi' ye, but, oh, laddie, be sure ye say a gude word
+for Jesus Christ."
+
+The minister's face whitened, and his arm relaxed. He rose hastily
+and went to the door, but in going out he gave his aunt an
+understanding look, such as passes between people who have stood
+together in a sorrow. The son had not forgotten his mother's
+request.
+
+The manse garden lies toward the west, and as the minister paced its
+little square of turf, sheltered by fir hedges, the sun was going
+down behind the Grampians. Black massy clouds had begun to gather in
+the evening, and threatened to obscure the sunset, which was the
+finest sight a Drumtochty man was ever likely to see, and a means of
+grace to every sensible heart in the glen. But the sun had beat back
+the clouds on either side, and shot them through with glory and now
+between piled billows of light he went along a shining pathway into
+the Gates of the West. The minister stood still before that
+spectacle, his face bathed in the golden glory, and then before his
+eyes the gold deepened into an awful red, and the red passed into
+shades of violet and green, beyond painter's hand or the imagination
+of man. It seemed to him as if a victorious saint had entered
+through the gates into the city, washed in the blood of the Lamb,
+and the after glow of his mother's life fell solemnly on his soul.
+The last trace of sunset had faded from the hills when the minister
+came in, and his face was of one who had seen a vision. He asked his
+aunt to have worship with the servant, for he must be alone in his
+study.
+
+It was a cheerful room in the daytime, with its southern window,
+through which the minister saw the roses touching the very glass and
+dwarf apple trees lining the garden walks; there was also a western
+window that he might watch each day close. It was a pleasant room
+now, when the curtains were drawn, and the light of the lamp fell on
+the books he loved, and which bade him welcome. One by one he had
+arranged the hard-bought treasures of student days in the little
+book-case, and had planned for himself that sweetest of pleasures,
+an evening of desultory reading. But his books went out of mind as
+he looked at the sermon shining beneath the glare of the lamp, and
+demanding judgment. He had finished its last page with honest pride
+that afternoon, and had declaimed it, facing the southern window,
+with a success that amazed himself. His hope was that he might be
+kept humble, and not called to Edinburgh for at least two years; and
+now he lifted the sheets with fear. The brilliant opening, with its
+historical parallel, this review of modern thought reinforced by
+telling quotations, that trenchant criticism of old-fashioned views,
+would not deliver. For the audience had vanished, and left one
+careworn, but ever beautiful face, whose gentle eyes were waiting
+with a yearning look. Twice he crushed the sermon in his hands, and
+turned to the fire his aunt's care had kindled, and twice he
+repented and smoothed it out. What else could he say now to the
+people? and then in the stillness of the room he heard a voice,
+"Speak a gude word for Jesus Christ."
+
+Next minute he was kneeling on the hearth, and pressing the
+_magnum opus_, that was to shake Drumtochty, into the heart of
+the red fire, and he saw, half-smiling and half-weeping, the
+impressive words, "Semitic environment," shrivel up and disappear.
+As the last black flake fluttered out of sight, the face looked at
+him again, but this time the sweet brown eyes were full of peace.
+
+It was no masterpiece, but only the crude production of a lad who
+knew little of letters and nothing of the world. Very likely it
+would have done neither harm nor good, but it was his best, and he
+gave it for love's sake, and I suppose that there is nothing in a
+human life so precious to God, neither clever words nor famous
+deeds, as the sacrifices of love.
+
+The moon flooded his bedroom with silver light, and he felt the
+presence of his mother. His bed stood ghostly with its white
+curtains, and he remembered how every night his mother knelt by its
+side in prayer for him. He is a boy once more, and repeats the
+Lord's Prayer, then he cries again, "My mother! my mother!" and an
+indescribable contentment fills his heart.
+
+His prayer next morning was very short, but afterwards he stood at
+the window for a space, and when he turned, his aunt said:
+
+"Ye will get yir sermon, and it will be worth hearing."
+
+"How did ye know?"
+
+But she only smiled, "I heard you pray."
+
+When he shut himself into the study that Saturday morning, his aunt
+went into her room above, and he knew she had gone to intercede for
+him.
+
+An hour afterwards he was pacing the garden in such anxious thought
+that he crushed with his foot a rose lying on the path, and then she
+saw his face suddenly lighten, and he hurried to the house, but
+first he plucked a bunch of forget-me-nots. In the evening she found
+them on his sermon.
+
+Two hours later--for still she prayed and watched in faithfulness to
+mother and son--she observed him come out and wander round the
+garden in great joy. He lifted up the soiled rose and put it in his
+coat; he released a butterfly caught in some mesh; he buried his
+face in fragrant honeysuckle. Then she understood that his heart was
+full of love, and was sure that it would be well on the morrow.
+
+When the bell began to ring, the minister rose from his knees and
+went to his aunt's room to be robed, for this was a covenant between
+them.
+
+His gown was spread out in its black silken glory, but he sat down
+in despair.
+
+"Auntie, whatever shall we do, for I've forgotten the bands?"
+
+"But I've not forgot them, John, and here are six pair wrought with
+my own hands, and now sit still and I'll tie them round my laddie's
+neck."
+
+When she had given the last touch, and he was ready to go, a sudden
+seriousness fell upon them.
+
+"Kiss me, auntie."
+
+"For your mother, and her God be with you," and then he went through
+the garden and underneath the honeysuckle and into the kirk, where
+every Free Churchman in Drumtochty that could get out of bed, and
+half the Established Kirk, were waiting in expectation.
+
+I sat with his aunt in the minister's pew, and shall always be glad
+that I was at that service. When winter lies heavy upon the glen I
+go upon my travels, and in my time have seen many religious
+functions. I have been in Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle, where the
+people wept one minute and laughed the next; have heard Canon Liddon
+in St. Paul's, and the sound of that high, clear voice is still with
+me, "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion;" have seen High Mass
+in St. Peter's, and stood in the dusk of the Duomo at Florence when
+Padre Agostino thundered against the evils of the day. But I never
+realised the unseen world as I did that day in the Free Kirk of
+Drumtochty.
+
+It is impossible to analyse a spiritual effect, because it is largely
+an atmosphere, but certain circumstances assisted. One was instantly
+prepossessed in favour of a young minister who gave out the second
+paraphrase at his first service, for it declared his filial reverence
+and won for him the blessing of a cloud of witnesses. No Scottish man
+can ever sing,
+
+  "God of our fathers, be the God
+   Of their succeeding race."
+
+with a dry heart. It satisfied me at once that the minister was of a
+fine temper when, after a brave attempt to join, he hid his face and
+was silent. We thought none the worse of him that he was nervous, and
+two or three old people who had suspected self-sufficiency took him to
+their hearts when the minister concluded the Lord's prayer hurriedly,
+having omitted two petitions. But we knew it was not nervousness which
+made him pause for ten seconds after praying for widows and orphans,
+and in the silence which fell upon us the Divine Spirit had free access.
+His youth commended him, since he was also modest, for every mother had
+come with an inarticulate prayer that the "puir laddie wud dae weel on
+his first day, and him only twenty-four." Texts I can never remember,
+nor, for that matter, the words of sermons; but the subject was Jesus
+Christ, and before he had spoken five minutes I was convinced, who am
+outside dogmas and churches, that Christ was present. The preacher
+faded from before one's eyes, and there rose the figure of the Nazarene,
+best lover of every human soul, with a face of tender patience such as
+Sarto gave the Master in the Church of the Annunziata, and stretching
+out His hands to old folk and little children as He did, before His
+death, in Galilee. His voice might be heard any moment, as I have
+imagined it in my lonely hours by the winter fire or on the solitary
+hills--soft, low, and sweet, penetrating like music to the secret of
+the heart, "Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest."
+
+During a pause in the sermon I glanced up the church, and saw the
+same spell held the people. Donald Menzies had long ago been caught
+into the third heaven, and was now hearing words which it is not
+lawful to utter. Campbell in his watch-tower at the back had closed
+his eyes, and was praying. The women were weeping quietly, and the
+rugged faces of our men were subdued and softened, as when the
+evening sun plays on the granite stone.
+
+But what will stand out for ever before my mind was the sight of
+Marget Howe. Her face was as white as death, and her wonderful grey
+eyes were shining through a mist of tears, so that I caught the
+light in the manse pew. She was thinking of George, and had taken
+the minister to her heart.
+
+The elders, one by one, gripped the minister's hand in the vestry,
+and, though plain, homely men, they were the godliest in the glen;
+but no man spoke save Burnbrae.
+
+"I a' but lost ae fairm for the Free Kirk, and I wud hae lost ten
+tae be in the Kirk this day."
+
+Donald walked with me homewards, but would only say:
+
+"There was a man sent from God whose name was John." At the cottage
+he added, "The friend of the bridegroom rejoiced greatly because of
+the bridegroom's voice,"
+
+Beneath the honeysuckle at his garden gate a woman was waiting.
+
+"My name is Marget Howe, and I'm the wife of William Howe of Whinnie
+Knowe. My only son wes preparin' for the ministry, but God wanted
+him nearly a year syne. When ye preached the Evangel o' Jesus the
+day I heard his voice, and I loved you. Ye hev nae mither on earth,
+I hear, and I hae nae son, and I wantit tae say that if ye ever wish
+tae speak to ony woman as ye wud tae yir mither, come tae Whinnie
+Knowe, an' I'll coont it ane of the Lord's consolations."
+
+His aunt could only meet him in the study, and when he looked on her
+his lip quivered, for his heart was wrung with one wistful regret.
+
+"Oh, auntie, if she had only been spared to see this day, and her
+prayers answered."
+
+But his aunt flung her arms round his neck.
+
+"Dinna be cast doon, laddie, nor be unbelievin'. Yir mither has
+heard every word, and is satisfied, for ye did it in remembrance o'
+her, and yon was yir mither's sermon."
+
+
+
+
+THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GRAND INQUISITOR
+
+The Free Kirk of Drumtochty had no gallery, but a section of seats
+at the back was raised two feet, and any one in the first pew might
+be said to sit in the "briest o' the laft." When Lachlan Campbell
+arrived from the privileged parish of Auchindarroch, where the "Men"
+ruled with iron hand and no one shaved on Sabbath, he examined the
+lie of country with the eye of a strategist, and seized at once a
+corner seat on the crest of the hill. From this vantage ground, with
+his back to the wall and a clear space left between himself and his
+daughter Flora, he had an easy command of the pulpit, and within six
+months had been constituted a court of review neither minister nor
+people could lightly disregard. It was not that Lachlan spoke hastily
+or at length, for his policy was generally a silence pregnant with
+judgment, and his deliverances were for the most part in parables,
+none the less awful because hard of interpretation. Like every true
+Celt, he had the power of reserve, and knew the value of mystery.
+His voice must not be heard in irresponsible gossip at the Kirk door,
+and he never condescended to the level of Mrs. MacFadyen, our recognised
+sermon taster, who criticised everything in the technique of the pulpit,
+from the number of heads in a sermon to the air with which a probationer
+used his pocket-handkerchief. She lived in the eye of the public, and
+gave her opinions with the light heart of a newspaper writer; but
+Lachlan kept himself in the shadow and wore a manner of studied humility
+as became the administrator of the Holy Office in Drumtochty.
+
+Lachlan was a little man, with a spare, wiry body, iron grey hair
+and whiskers carefully arranged, a keen, old-fashioned face
+sharpened by much spiritual thinking, and eyes that looked at you
+from beneath shaggy eyebrows as from some other world. His face had
+an irresistible suggestion of a Skye terrier, the most serious of
+animals, with the hair reduced, and Drumsheugh carried us all with
+him when, in a moment of inspiration, he declared that "the body
+looks as if he hed juist come oot o' the Ark." He was a shepherd to
+trade, and very faithful in all his work, but his life business was
+theology, from Supralapsarianism in Election to the marks of faith
+in a believer's heart. His library consisted of some fifty volumes
+of ancient divinity, and lay on an old oak kist close to his hand,
+where he sat beside the fire of a winter night. When the sheep were
+safe and his day's labour was over, he read by the light of the fire
+and the "crusie" (oil-lamp) overhead, Witsius on the Covenants, or
+Rutherford's "Christ Dying," or Bunyan's "Grace Abounding," or
+Owen's "130th Psalm," while the collies slept at his feet, and Flora
+put the finishing stroke to some bit of rustic finery. Worship was
+always coloured by the evening's reading, but the old man never
+forgot to pray that they both might have a place in the everlasting
+covenant, and that the backslidings of Scotland might be healed.
+
+As our inquisitor, Lachlan searched anxiously for sound doctrine and
+deep experience, but he was not concerned about learning, and
+fluency he regarded with disgust. When a young minister from
+Muirtown stamped twice in his prayer at the Drumtochty Fast, and
+preached with great eloquence from the words, "And there was no more
+sea," repeating the text at the end of each paragraph, and
+concluding the sermon with "Lord Ullin's Daughter," the atmosphere
+round Lachlan became electric, and no one dared to speak to him
+outside. He never expressed his mind on this melancholy exhibition,
+but the following Sabbath he explained the principle on which they
+elected ministers at Auchindarroch, which was his standard of
+perfection.
+
+"Six young men came, and they did not sing songs in the pulpit. Oh
+no, they preached fery well, and I said to Angus Bain, 'They are all
+goot lads, and there is nothing wrong with their doctrine.'
+
+"Angus wass one of the 'Men,' and saw what wass hidden from me, and
+he will be saying, 'Oh yes, they said their lesson fery pretty, but
+I did not see them tremble, Lachlan Campbell. Another iss coming,
+and seven is a goot number.'
+
+"It wass next Sabbath that he came, and he wass a white man, giving
+out his text, 'Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
+supper of the Lamb,' and I wass thinking that the Lord had laid too
+great a burden on the lad, and that he could not be fit for such a
+work. It wass not more than ten minutes before he will be trying to
+tell us what he wass seeing, and will not hef the words. He had to
+go down from the pulpit as a man that had been in the heavenly
+places and wass stricken dumb.
+
+"'It iss the Lord that has put me to shame this day,' he said to the
+elders, 'and I will nefer show my face again in Auchindarroch, for I
+ought not to have meddled with things too high for me.'
+
+"'You will show your face here every Sabbath,' answered Angus Bain,
+'for the Lord said unto me, "Wait for the man that trembles at the
+Word, and iss not able to speak, and it will be a sign unto you,"'
+and a fery goot minister he wass, and made the hypocrites in Zion to
+be afraid."
+
+Lachlan dealt tenderly with our young Free Kirk minister, for the
+sake of his first day, and passed over some very shallow experience
+without remark, but an autumn sermon roused him to a sense of duty.
+For some days a storm of wind and rain had been stripping the leaves
+from the trees and gathering them in sodden heaps upon the ground.
+The minister looked out on the garden where many holy thoughts had
+visited him, and his heart sank like lead, for it was desolate, and
+of all its beauty there remained but one rose clinging to its stalk,
+drenched and faded. It seemed as if youth, with its flower of
+promise and hope, had been beaten down, and a sense of loneliness
+fell on his soul. He had no heart for work, and crept to bed broken
+and dispirited. During the night the rain ceased, and the north wind
+began to blow, which cleanses nature in every pore, and braces each
+true man for his battle. The morrow was one of those glorious days
+which herald winter, and as the minister tramped along the road,
+where the dry leaves crackled beneath his feet, and climbed to the
+moor with head on high, the despair of yesterday vanished. The wind
+had ceased, and the glen lay at his feet, distinct in the cold,
+clear air, from the dark mass of pines that closed its upper end to
+the swelling woods of oak and beech that cut it off from the great
+Strath. He had received a warm welcome from all kinds of people, and
+now he marked with human sympathy each little homestead with its
+belt of firs against the winter's storms, and its stackyard where
+the corn had been gathered safe; the ploughman and his horses
+cutting brown ribbons in the bare stubble; dark squares where the
+potato stalks have withered to the ground, and women are raising the
+roots, and here and there a few cattle still out in the fields. His
+eye fell on the great wood through which he had rambled in August,
+now one blaze of colour, rich green and light yellow, with patches
+of fiery red and dark purple. God seemed to have given him a sermon,
+and he wrote that evening, like one inspired, on the same parable of
+nature Jesus loved, with its subtle interpretation of our sorrows,
+joys, trust, and hope. People told me that it was a "rael bonnie
+sermon," and that Netherton had forgotten his after-sermon snuff,
+although it was his turn to pass the box to Burnbrae.
+
+The minister returned to his study in a fine glow of body and soul,
+to find a severe figure standing motionless in the middle of the
+room.
+
+"Wass that what you call a sermon?" said Lachlan Campbell, without
+other greeting.
+
+John Carmichael was still so full of joy that he did not catch the
+tone, and explained with college pedantry that it was hardly a
+sermon, nor yet a lecture.
+
+"You may call it a meditation."
+
+"I will be calling it an essay without one bite of grass for
+starving sheep."
+
+Then the minister awoke from a pleasant dream, as if one had flung
+cold water on his naked body.
+
+"What was wrong?" with an anxious look at the stern little man who
+of a sudden had become his judge.
+
+"There wass nothing right, for I am not thinking that trees and
+leaves and stubble fields will save our souls, and I did not hear
+about sin and repentance and the work of Christ. It iss sound
+doctrine that we need, and a great peety you are not giving it."
+
+The minister had been made much of in college circles, and had a
+fair idea of himself. He was a kindly lad, but he did not see why he
+should be lectured by an old Highlandman who read nothing except
+Puritans, and was blind with prejudice. When they parted that
+Sabbath afternoon it was the younger man that had lost his temper,
+and the other did not offer to shake hands.
+
+Perhaps the minister would have understood Lachlan better if he had
+known that the old man could not touch food when he got home, and
+spent the evening in a fir wood praying for the lad he had begun to
+love. And Lachlan would have had a lighter heart if he had heard the
+minister questioning himself whether he had denied the Evangel or
+sinned against one of Christ's disciples. They argued together; they
+prayed apart.
+
+Lachlan was careful to say nothing, but the congregation felt that
+his hand was against the minister, and Burnbrae took him to task.
+
+"Ye maunna be ower hard on him, Maister Campbell, for he's but
+young, and comin' on fine. He hes a hearty word for ilka body on the
+road, and the sicht o' his fresh young face in the poopit is a
+sermon itsel'."
+
+"You are wrong, Burnbrae, if you will be thinking that my heart iss
+not warm to the minister, for it went out unto him from the day he
+preached his first sermon. But the Lord regardeth not the
+countenance of man."
+
+"Nae doot, nae doot, but I canna see onything wrang in his doctrine;
+it wudna be reasonable tae expect auld-fashioned sermons frae a
+young man, and I wud coont them barely honest. A'm no denying that
+he gaes far afield, and taks us tae strange lands when he's on his
+travels, but ye 'ill acknowledge that he gaithers mony treasures,
+and he aye comes back tae Christ."
+
+"No, I will not be saying that John Carmichael does not love Christ,
+for I hef seen the Lord in his sermons like a face through a
+lattice. Oh yes, and I hef felt the fragrance of the myrrh. But I am
+not liking his doctrine, and I wass thinking that some day there
+will be no original sin left in the parish of Drumtochty."
+
+It was about this time that the minister made a great mistake,
+although he was trying to do his best for the people, and always
+obeyed his conscience. He used to come over to the Cottage for a
+ramble through my books, and one evening he told me that he had
+prepared what he called a "course" on Biblical criticism, and was
+going to place Drumtochty on a level with Germany. It was certainly
+a strange part for me to advise a minister, but I had grown to like
+the lad, because he was full of enthusiasm and too honest for this
+world, and I implored him to be cautious. Drumtochty was not anxious
+to be enlightened about the authors of the Pentateuch, being quite
+satisfied with Moses, and it was possible that certain good men in
+Drumtochty might resent any interference with their herditary
+notions. Why could he not read this subject for his own pleasure,
+and teach it quietly in classes? Why give himself away in the
+pulpit? This worldly counsel brought the minister to a white heat,
+and he rose to his feet. Had he not been ordained to feed his people
+with truth, and was he not bound to tell them all he knew? We were
+living in an age of transition, and he must prepare Christ's folk
+that they be not taken unawares. If he failed in his duty through
+any fear of consequences, men would arise afterwards to condemn him
+for cowardice, and lay their unbelief at his door. When he ceased I
+was ashamed of my cynical advice, and resolved never again to
+interfere with "courses" or other matters above the lay mind. But
+greater knowledge of the world had made me a wise prophet.
+
+Within a month the Free Kirk was in an uproar, and when I dropped in
+one Sabbath morning the situation seemed to me a very pathetic
+tragedy. The minister was offering to the honest country folk a mass
+of immature and undigested details about the Bible, and they were
+listening with wearied, perplexed faces. Lachlan Campbell sat grim
+and watchful, without a sign of flinching, but even from the Manse
+pew I could detect the suffering of his heart. When the minister
+blazed into polemic against the bigotry of the old school, the iron
+face quivered as if a father had been struck by his son. Carmichael
+looked thin and nervous in the pulpit, and it came to me that if new
+views are to be preached to old-fashioned people it ought not to be
+by lads who are always heady and intolerant, but by a stout man of
+middle age, with a rich voice and a good-natured manner. Had
+Carmichael rasped and girded much longer, one would have believed in
+the inspiration of the vowel points, and I left the church with a
+low heart, for this was a woeful change from his first sermon.
+
+Lachlan would not be pacified, not even by the plea of the
+minister's health.
+
+"Oh yes, I am seeing that he is ill, and I will be as sorry as any
+man in Drumtochty. But it iss not too much work, as they are saying;
+it iss the judgment of God. It iss not goot to meddle with Moses,
+and John Carmichael will be knowing that. His own sister wass not
+respectful to Moses, and she will not be feeling fery well next
+day."
+
+But Burnbrae added that the "auld man cudna be mair cast doon if he
+hed lost his dochter."
+
+The peace of the Free Kirk had been broken, and the minister was
+eating out his heart, when he remembered the invitation of Marget
+Howe, and went one sweet spring day to Whinnie Knowe.
+
+Marget met him with her quiet welcome at the garden gate.
+
+"Ye hae dune me a great kindness in comin', Maister Carmichael, and
+if ye please we 'ill sit in this sunny corner which is dear tae me,
+and ye 'ill tell me yir troubles."
+
+So they sat down together beside the brier bush, and after one
+glance at Marget's face the minister opened his heart, and told her
+the great controversy with Lachlan.
+
+Marget lifted her head as one who had heard of some brave deed, and
+there was a ring in her voice.
+
+"It maks me prood before God that there are twa men in Drumtochty
+who follow their conscience as king, and coont truth dearer than
+their ain freends. It's peetifu' when God's bairns fecht through
+greed and envy, but it's hertsome when they are wullin' tae wrestle
+aboot the Evangel, for surely the end o' it a' maun be peace.
+
+"A've often thocht that in the auld days baith the man on the rack
+and the inqueesitor himself micht be gude men and accepted o' God,
+and maybe the inqueesitor suffered mair than the martyr. A'm
+thinkin', Maister Carmichael, that it's been hardest on Lachlan."
+
+The minister's head was buried in his hands, but his heart was with
+Marget.
+
+"It's a strange buik the Bible, and no the buik we wud hae made, tae
+judge by oor bit creeds and confessions. It's like a head o' aits in
+the harvest time. There's the ear that hauds the grain and keeps it
+safe, and that's the history, and there's often no mickle nutriment
+in it; then there's the corn lying in the ear, which is the Evangel
+frae Eden tae Revelation, and that is the bread o' the soul. But the
+corn maun be threshed first and the cauf (chaff) cleaned aff. It's a
+bonnie sicht tae see the pure grain fallin' like a rinnin' burn on
+the corn-room floor, and a glint o' the sun through the window
+turning it intae gold. But the stour (dust) o' the cauf room is mair
+than onybody can abide, and the cauf's worth naethin' when the
+corn's awa."
+
+"Ye mean," said the minister, "that my study is the threshin' mill,
+and that some of the chaff has got into the pulpit."
+
+"Yir no offended," and Marget's voice trembled.
+
+Then the minister lifted his head and laughed aloud with joy, while
+a swift flash of humour lit up Marget's face.
+
+"You've been the voice of God to me this day, Mrs. Howe, but if I
+give up my 'course,' the people will misunderstand, for I know
+everything I gave was true, and I would give it all again if it were
+expedient."
+
+"Nae fear, Maister Carmichael, naebody misunderstands that luves,
+and the fouk all luve ye, and the man that hauds ye dearest is
+Lachlan Campbell. I saw the look in his een that canna be mista'en."
+
+"I'll go to him this very day," and the minister leaped to his feet.
+
+"Ye 'ill no regret it," said Marget, "for God will give ye peace."
+
+Lachlan did not see the minister coming, for he was busy with a lamb
+that had lost its way and hurt itself. Carmichael marked with a
+growing tenderness at his heart how gently the old man washed and
+bound up the wounded leg, all the time crooning to the frightened
+creature in the sweet Gaelic speech, and also how he must needs give
+the lamb a drink of warm milk before he set it free.
+
+When he rose from his work of mercy, he faced the minister.
+
+For an instant Lachlan hesitated, and then at the look on
+Carmichael's face he held out both his hands.
+
+"This iss a goot day for me, and I bid you ten thousand welcomes."
+
+But the minister took the first word.
+
+"You and I, Lachlan, have not seen eye to eye about some things
+lately, and I am not here to argue which is nearer the truth,
+because perhaps we may always differ on some lesser matters. But
+once I spoke rudely to you, and often I have spoken unwisely in my
+sermons. You are an old man and I am a young, and I ask you to
+forgive me and to pray that both of us may be kept near the heart of
+our Lord, whom we love, and who loves us."
+
+No man can be so courteous as a Celt, and Lachlan was of the pure
+Highland breed, kindest of friends, fiercest of foes.
+
+"You hef done a beautiful deed this day, Maister Carmichael; and the
+grace of God must hef been exceeding abundant in your heart. It iss
+this man that asks your forgiveness, for I wass full of pride, and
+did not speak to you as an old man should; but God iss my witness
+that I would hef plucked out my right eye for your sake. You will
+say every word God gives you, and I will take as much as God gives
+me, and there will be a covenant between us as long as we live."
+
+They knelt together on the earthen floor of that Highland cottage,
+the old school and the new, before one Lord, and the only difference
+in their prayers was that the young man prayed they might keep the
+faith once delivered unto the saints, while the burden of the old
+man's prayer was that they might be led into all truth.
+
+Lachlan's portion that evening ought to have been the slaying of
+Sisera from the Book of Judges, but instead he read, to Flora's
+amazement--it was the night before she left her home--the thirteenth
+chapter of I Corinthians, and twice he repeated to himself, "Now we
+see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HIS BITTER SHAME
+
+The Free Kirk people were very proud of their vestry because the
+Established Church had none, and because it was reasonably supposed
+to be the smallest in Scotland. When the minister, who touched five
+feet eleven, and the beadle, who was three inches taller, assembled
+for the procession, with the precentor, a man of fair proportions,
+there was no waste ground in that room, and any messenger from the
+church door had to be selected with judgment. "Step up, Airchie man,
+tae the vestry," Burnbrae would say to the one under-sized man in
+Drumtochty, "and tell the minister no tae forget the Jews. Ye can
+birse (push) in fine, but it wud beat me to get by the door. It's a
+bonnie bit room, but three fouk stannin' maks it contrakit for
+another man,"
+
+It was eight feet by eight, and consisted largely of two doors and a
+fireplace, and its chief glory was a portrait of Dr. Chalmers, whose
+face, dimly seen in the light of the lamp, was a charter of
+authority, and raised the proceedings to the level of history.
+Lockers on either side of the mantelpiece contained the church
+library, which abounded in the lives of Scottish worthies, and was
+never lightly disturbed. Where there was neither grate nor door, a
+narrow board ran along the wall, on which it was simply a point of
+honour to seat the twelve deacons, who met once a month to raise the
+Sustentation Fund by modest, heroic sacrifices of hard-working
+people, and to keep the slates on the church roof in winter. When
+they had nothing else to do, they talked about the stove which "came
+out in '43," and, when it was in good humour, would raise the
+temperature in winter one degree above freezing. Seating the court
+was a work of art, and could only be achieved by the repression of
+the smaller men, who looked out from the loopholes of retreat, the
+projection of bigger men on to their neighbours' knees, and the
+absolute elimination of Archie Moncur, whose voice made motions on
+temperance from the lowest depths. Netherton was always the twelfth
+man to arrive, and nothing could be done till he was safely settled.
+Only some six inches were reserved at the end of the bench, and he
+was a full sitter, but he had discovered a trick of sitting sideways
+and screwing his leg against the opposite wall, that secured the
+court as well as himself in their places on the principle of a
+compressed spring. When this operation was completed, Burnbrae used
+to say to the minister, who sat in the middle on a cane chair before
+the tiniest of tables--the living was small, and the ministers never
+grew fat till they left--
+
+"We're fine and comfortable noo, Moderator, and ye can begin
+business as sune as ye like."
+
+As there were only six elders they could sit in state, besides
+leaving a vacant space for any penitents who came to confess their
+sins and receive absolution, or some catechumen who wished to be
+admitted to the sacrament. Carmichael used to say that a meeting of
+Session affected his imagination, and would have made an interior
+for Rembrandt. On one side of the table sat the men who represented
+the piety of the district, and were supposed to be "far ben" in the
+Divine fellowship, and on the other some young girl in her
+loneliness, who wrung her handkerchief in terror of this dreaded
+spiritual court, and hoped within her heart that no elder would ask
+her "effectual calling" from the Shorter Catechism; while the little
+lamp, hanging from the ceiling, and swinging gently in the wind that
+had free access from every airt, cast a fitful light on the fresh,
+tearful face of the girl and the hard, weather-beaten countenances
+of the elders, composed into a serious gravity not untouched by
+tenderness. They were little else than labouring men, but no one was
+elected to that court unless he had given pledges of godliness, and
+they bore themselves as men who had the charge of souls.
+
+The little Sanhedrim had within it the school of Hillel, which was
+swayed by mercy, and its Rabbi was Burnbrae; and the school of
+Shammai, whose rule was inflexible justice, and its Rabbi was
+Lachlan Campbell. Burnbrae was a big-hearted man, with a fatherly
+manner, and had a genius for dealing with "young communicants."
+
+"Weel, Jessie, we're awfu pleased tae think yer gaein' forrit, and
+the Dominie wes tellin' me juist last week that ye did yir work at
+schule graund, and knew yir Bible frae end tae end.
+
+"It'll no be easy to speir (ask) the like o' you questions, but ye
+mind Abraham, Jessie."
+
+"Ou ay," and Jessie is all alert, although she is afraid to look up.
+
+"What was the name o' his wife, noo?"
+
+"Sarah, an' their son was Isaac."
+
+"That's richt, and what aboot Isaac's wife?"
+
+"Isaac mairrit Rebecca, and they hed twa sons, Jacob and Esau," and
+the girl takes a shy glance at the honest elder, and begins to feel
+at home.
+
+"Domsie wesna far wrang, a' see, but it's no possible ye cud tell us
+the names o' Jacob's sons; it's maybe no fair tae ask sic a teuch
+question," knowing all the while that this was a test case of
+Domsie's.
+
+When Jessie reached Benjamin, Burnbrae could not contain himself.
+
+"It's nae use trying to stick Jessie wi' the Bible, neeburs; we 'ill
+see what she can dae wi' the Carritches (Catechism). Yir no the
+lassie that said the questions frae beginning tae end wi' twa
+mistaks, are ye?"
+
+Yes, she was, and dared him to come on, for Jessie has forgotten the
+minister and all the Session.
+
+"The elders wud like tae hear 'What is the Lord's Supper?'"
+
+"That's it; and, Jessie, ma woman, gie's the 'worthy receiving.'"
+
+Jessie achieves another triumph, and is now ready for anything.
+
+"Ye hae the Word weel stored in yir mind, lassie, and ye maun keep
+it in yir life, and dinna forget that Christ's a gude Maister."
+
+"A'll dae ma best," and Jessie declared that Burnbrae had been as
+kind as if she had been "his ain bairn," and that she "wasna feared
+ava." But her trial is not over; the worst is to come.
+
+Lachlan began where Burnbrae ended, and very soon had Jessie on the
+rack.
+
+"How old will you be?"
+
+"Auchteen next Martinmas."
+
+"And why will you be coming to the sacrament?"
+
+"Ma mither thocht it was time," with a threatening of tears as she
+looked at the face in the corner.
+
+"Ye will maybe tell the Session what hass been your 'lawwork' and
+how long ye hef been at Sinai."
+
+"A' dinna ken what yir askin'. I was never oot o' Drumtochty," and
+Jessie breaks down utterly.
+
+"A' dinna think, Moderator, we ocht tae ask sic questions," broke in
+Burnbrae, who could not see a little one put to confusion; "an' I
+canna mind them in the Gospels. There's ae commandment Jessie keeps
+weel, as a' can testeefy, and that's the fifth, for there's no a
+better dochter in Drumtochty. A' move, Moderator, she get her token;
+dinna greet, puir woman, for ye've dune weel, and the Session's rael
+satisfeed."
+
+"It wass Dr. John's mark I wass trying the girl by," explained
+Lachlan after Jessie had gone away comforted. "And it iss a goot
+mark, oh yes, and very searching.
+
+"Ye will maybe not know what it iss, Moderator," and Lachlan
+regarded the minister with austere superiority, for it was the
+winter of the feud.
+
+No, he did not, nor any of the Session, being all douce Scotchmen,
+except Donald Menzies who was at home fighting the devil.
+
+"It iss broken bones, and Dr. John did preach three hours upon it at
+Auchindarroch Fast, and there wass not many went to the Sacrament on
+that occasion.
+
+"Broken bones iss a fine mark to begin with, and the next will be
+doubts. But there iss a deeper," continued Lachlan, warming to his
+subject, "oh yes, far deeper, and I heard of it when I wass North
+for the sheep, and I will not be forgetting that day with Janet
+Macfarlane.
+
+"I knew she wass a professor, and I wass looking for her marks. But
+it wass not for me to hef been searching her; it wass that woman
+that should hef been trying me."
+
+A profound silence wrapt the Session.
+
+"'Janet,' I said, 'hef ye had many doubts?'
+
+"'Doubts, Lachlan? was that what you asked? I hef had desertions,
+and one will be for six months.'
+
+"So I saw she wass far beyond me, for I dare not be speaking about
+desertions."
+
+Two minutes after the minister pronounced the benediction, and no
+one had offered any remark in the interval.
+
+It seemed to the elders that Lachlan dealt hardly with young people
+and those that had gone astray, but they learned one evening that
+his justice had at least no partiality. Burnbrae said afterwards
+that Lachlan "looked like a ghaist comin' in at the door," but he
+sat in silence in the shadow, and no one marked the agony on his
+face till the end.
+
+"If that iss all the business, Moderator, I hef to bring a case of
+discipline before the Session, and ask them to do their duty. It iss
+known to me that a young woman who hass been a member of this church
+hass left her home and gone into the far country. There will be no
+use in summoning her to appear before the Session, for she will
+never be seen again in this parish. I move that she be cut off from
+the roll, and her name iss "--and Lachlan's voice broke, but in an
+instant he recovered himself--"her name iss Flora Campbell."
+
+Carmichael confessed to me that he was stricken dumb, and that
+Lachlan's ashen face held him with an awful fascination.
+
+It was Burnbrae that first found a voice, and showed that night the
+fine delicacy of heart that may be hidden behind a plain exterior.
+
+"Moderator, this is a terrible calamity that hes befaen oor brither,
+and a'm feelin' as if a' hed lost a bairn o' my ane, for a sweeter
+lassie didna cross oor kirk door. Nane o' us want tae know what hes
+happened or where she hes gane, and no a word o' this wull cross oor
+lips. Her faither's dune mair than cud be expeckit o' mortal man,
+and noo we have oor duty. It's no the way o' this Session tae cut
+aff ony member o' the flock at a stroke, and we 'ill no begin with
+Flora Campbell. A' move, Moderator, that her case be left tae her
+faither and yersel, and oor neebur may depend on it that Flora's
+name and his ain will be mentioned in oor prayers, ilka mornin' an'
+nicht till the gude Shepherd o' the sheep brings her hame."
+
+Burnbrae paused, and then, with tears in his voice--men do not weep
+in Drumtochty--"With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is
+plenteous redemption."
+
+The minister took the old man's arm and led him into the manse, and
+set him in the big chair by the study fire. "Thank God, Lachlan, we
+are friends now; tell me about it as if I were your son and Flora's
+brother."
+
+The father took a letter out of an inner pocket with a trembling
+hand, and this is what Carmichael read by the light of the lamp:--
+
+"DEAR FATHER,--When this reaches you I will be in London, and not
+worthy to cross your door. Do not be always angry with me, and try
+to forgive me, for you will not be troubled any more by my dancing
+or dressing. Do not think that I will be blaming you, for you have
+been a good father to me, and said what you would be considering
+right, but it is not easy for a man to understand a girl. Oh, if I
+had had my mother, then she would have understood me, and I would
+not have crossed you. Forget poor Flora's foolishness, but you will
+not forget her, and maybe you will still pray for me. Take care of
+the geraniums for my sake, and give milk to the lamb that you called
+after me. I will never see you again, in this world or the next nor
+my mother ... (here the letter was much blotted). When I think that
+there will be no one to look after you, and have the fire burning
+for you on winter nights, I will be rising to come back. But it is
+too late, too late. Oh, the disgrace I will be bringing on you in
+the glen.--Your unworthy daughter,
+
+FLORA CAMPBELL."
+
+"This is a fiery trial, Lachlan, and I cannot even imagine what you
+are suffering. But do not despair, for that is not the letter of a
+bad girl. Perhaps she was impatient, and has been led astray. But
+Flora is good at heart, and you must not think she is gone forever."
+
+Lachlan groaned, the first moan he had made, and then he tottered to
+his feet.
+
+"You are fery kind, Maister Carmichael, and so wass Burnbrae, and I
+will be thankful you all, but you do not understand. Oh no, you do
+not understand." Lachlan caught hold of a chair and looked the
+minister in the face.
+
+"She hass gone, and there will be no coming back. You would not take
+her name from the roll of the church, and I will not be meddling
+with that book. But I hef blotted out her name from my Bible, where
+her mother's name iss written and mine. She has wrought confusion in
+Israel and in an elder's house, and I ... I hef no danghter. But I
+loved her; she nefer knew how I loved her, for her mother would be
+looking at me from her eyes."
+
+The minister walked with Lachlan to the foot of the hill on which
+his cottage stood, and after they had shaken hands in silence, he
+watched the old man's figure in the cold moonlight till he
+disappeared into the forsaken home, where the fire had gone out on
+the hearth, and neither love nor hope were waiting for a broken
+heart.
+
+The railway did not think it worth while to come to Drumtochty, and
+we, were cut off from the lowlands by miles of forest, so our
+manners retained the fashion of the former age. Six elders, besides
+the minister, knew the tragedy of Flora Campbell, and never opened
+their lips. Mrs. Macfadyen, who was our newspaper, and understood
+her duty, refused to pry into this secret. The pity of the glen went
+out to Lachlan, but no one even looked a question as he sat alone in
+his pew or came down on a Saturday afternoon to the village shop for
+his week's provisions. London friends thought me foolish about my
+adopted home, but I asked them whether they could find such perfect
+good manners in Belgravia, and they were silent. My Drumtochty
+neighbours would have played an awkward part in a drawing-room, but
+never have I seen in all my wanderings men and women of truer
+courtesy or tenderer heart.
+
+"It gars ma hert greet tae see him," Mrs. Macfadyen said to me one
+day, "sae booed an' disjackit, him that wes that snod (tidy) and
+firm. His hair's turned white in a month, and he's awa' tae naething
+in his claithes. But least said is sunest mended. It's no richt tae
+interfere wi' another's sorrow, an' it wad be an awfu' sin tae
+misca' a young lassie. We maun juist houp that Flora 'll sune come
+back, for if she disna Lachlan 'ill no be lang wi's. He's sayin'
+naethin', and a' respeck him for't; but onybody can see that his
+hert is breakin'."
+
+We were helpless till Marget Howe met Lachlan in the shop and read
+his sorrow at a glance. She went home to Whinnie Knowe in great
+distress.
+
+"It wes waesome tae see the auld man githerin' his bit things wi' a
+shakin' hand, and speakin' tae me aboot the weather, and a' the time
+his eyes were sayin', 'Flora, Flora.'"
+
+"Whar div ye think the young hizzie is, Marget?"
+
+"Naebody needs tae know, Weelum, an' ye maunna speak that way, for
+whatever's come ower her, she's dear to Lachlan and tae God.
+
+"It's laid on me tae veesit Lachlan, for a'm thinking oor Father
+didna comfort us withoot expeckin' that we wud comfort other fouk."
+
+When Marget came round the corner of Lachlan's cottage, she found
+Flora's plants laid out in the sun, and her father watering them on
+his knees. One was ready to die, and for it he had made a shelter
+with his plaid.
+
+He was taken unawares, but in a minute he was leading Marget in with
+hospitable words.
+
+"It iss kind of you to come to an old man's house, Mistress Howe,
+and it iss a fery warm day. You will not care for speerits, but I am
+fery goot at making tea."
+
+Marget was not as other women, and she spoke at once.
+
+"Maister Campbell, ye will believe that I hev come in the love of
+God, and because we hev baith been afflickit. I had ae son, and he
+is gone; ye had a dochter, and she is gone. A' ken where George is,
+and am sateesfied. A' doot sairly yir sorrow is deeper than mine."
+
+"Would to God that she wass lying in the kirkyard; but I will not
+speak of her. She iss not anything to me this day. See, I will show
+you what I hef done, for she hass been a black shame to her name."
+
+He opened the Bible, and there was Flora's name scored with wavering
+strokes, but the ink had run as if it had been mingled with tears.
+
+Marget's heart burned within her at the sight, and perhaps she could
+hardly make allowance for Lachlan's blood and theology.
+
+"This is what ye hev dune, and ye let a woman see yir wark. Ye are
+an auld man, and in sore travail, but a' tell ye before God ye hae
+the greater shame. Juist twenty years o' age this spring, and her
+mither dead. Nae woman to watch over her, and she wandered frae the
+fold, and a' ye can dae is to tak her oot o' yir Bible. Waes me if
+oor Father had blotted out oor names frae the Book o' Life when we
+left His hoose. But He sent His ain Son to seek us, an' a weary road
+He cam. A' tell ye, a man wudna leave a sheep tae perish as ye hae
+cast aff yir ain bairn. Yir worse than Simon the Pharisee, for Mary
+was nae kin tae him. Puir Flora, tae hae sic a father."
+
+"Who will be telling you that I wass a Pharisee?" cried Lachlan,
+quivering in every limb, and grasping Marget's arm.
+
+"Forgie me, Lachlan, forgie me. It was the thocht o' the misguided
+lassie carried me, for a' didna come tae upbraid ye."
+
+But Lachlan had sunk into a chair and had forgotten her.
+
+"She hass the word, and God will hef smitten the pride of my heart,
+for it iss Simon that I am. I wass hard on my child, and I wass hard
+on the minister, and there wass none like me. The Lord has laid my
+name in the dust, and I will be angry with her. But she iss the
+scapegoat for my sins, and hass gone into the desert. God be
+merciful to me a sinner." And then Marget understood no more, for
+the rest was in Gaelic, but she heard Flora's name with another she
+took to be her mother's twined together.
+
+So Marget knew it would be well with Lachlan yet, and she wrote this
+letter:
+
+"MY DEAR LASSIE,--Ye ken that I wes aye yir freend, and I am writing
+this tae say that yir father luves ye mair than ever, and is wearing
+oot his hert for the sicht o' yir face. Come back, or he'll dee
+thro' want o' his bairn. The glen is bright and bonny noo, for the
+purple heather is on the hills, and doon below the gowden corn, wi'
+bluebell and poppy flowers between. Naebody 'ill ask ye where ye've
+been, or onything else; there's no a bairn in the place that's no
+wearying tae see ye; and, Flora, lassie, if there will be sic
+gledness in oor wee glen when ye come hame, what think ye o' the joy
+in the Father's Hoose? Start the verra meenute that ye get this
+letter; yir father bids ye come, and I'm writing this in place o'
+yir mother.
+
+MARGET HOWE."
+
+Marget went out to tend the flowers while Lachlan read the letter,
+and when he gave it back the address was written in his own hand.
+
+He went as far as the crest of the hill with Marget, and watched her
+on the way to the post office till she was only a speck upon the
+road.
+
+When he entered his cottage the shadows were beginning to fall, and
+he remembered it would soon be night.
+
+"It iss in the dark that Flora will be coming, and she must know
+that her father iss waiting for her."
+
+He cleaned and trimmed with anxious hand a lamp that was kept for
+show, and had never been used. Then he selected from his books
+Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an angry God," and "Coles on the
+Divine Sovereignty," and on them he laid the large family Bible out
+of which Flora's name had been blotted. This was the stand on which
+he set the lamp in the window, and every night till Flora returned
+its light shone down the steep path that ascended to her home, like
+the Divine Love from the open door of our Father's House.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+LIKE AS A FATHER
+
+It was only by physical force and a free use of personalities that
+the Kildrummie passengers could be entrained at the Junction, and
+the Drumtochty men were always the last to capitulate.
+
+They watched the main line train that had brought them from Muirtown
+disappear in the distance, and then broke into groups to discuss the
+cattle sale at leisure, while Peter, the factotum of the little
+Kildrummie branch, drove his way through their midst with offensive
+pieces of luggage, and abused them by name without respect of
+persons.
+
+"It's maist aggravatin', Drumsheugh, 'at ye 'ill stand there girnin'
+at the prices, as if ye were a puir cottar body that hed selt her ae
+coo, and us twal meenutes late. Man, get intae yer kerridge; he 'ill
+no be fat that buys frae you, a'll wager."
+
+"Peter's in an awfu' feery-farry (excitement) the nicht, neeburs,"
+Drumsheugh would respond, after a long pause; "ye wud think he wes a
+mail gaird tae hear him speak. Mind ye, a'm no gain' tae shove ahint
+if the engine sticks, for I hae na time. He needs a bit nip," and
+Drumsheugh settles himself in his seat, "or else there wud be nae
+leevin' wi' him."
+
+Peter escaped this winged shaft, for he had detected a woman in the
+remote darkness.
+
+"Keep's a', wumman, what are ye stravagin' about there for out o' a
+body's sicht? a' near set aff withoot ye."
+
+Then Peter recognised her face, and his manner softened of a sudden.
+
+"Come awa', lassie, come awa'; a' didna ken ye at the moment, but a'
+heard ye hed been veesitin' in the sooth.
+
+"The third is terrible full wi' thae Drumtochty lads, and ye 'ill
+hear naething but Drumsheugh's stirks; ye 'ill maybe be as handy in
+oor second." And Flora Campbell stepped in unseen.
+
+Between the Junction and Kildrummie Peter was accustomed to wander
+along the footboard, collecting tickets and identifying passengers.
+He was generally in fine trim on the way up, and took ample revenge
+for the insults of the departure. But it was supposed that Peter had
+taken Drumsheugh's withering sarcasm to heart, for he attached
+himself to the second that night, and was invisible to the expectant
+third till the last moment.
+
+"Ye've hed a lang journey, Miss Cammil, and ye maun be nearly dune
+wi' tire; juist ye sit still till the fouk get awa', and the guid
+wife and me wud be prood if ye took a cup o' tea wi's afore ye
+stairted hame. A'll come for ye as sune as a' get the van emptied
+and ma little trokes feenished."
+
+Peter hurried up to his cottage in such hot haste that his wife came
+out in great alarm.
+
+"Na, their's naethin' wrang; it's the opposite way this nicht. Ye
+mind o' Flora Cammil that left her father, and name o' the
+Drumtochty fouk wud say onything aboot her. Weel, she's in the
+train, and a've asked her up tae rest, and she was gled tae come,
+puir thing. Sae gie her a couthy welcome, wumman, and the best in
+the hoose, for oors 'ill be the first roof she 'ill be under on her
+way hame."
+
+Our women do not kiss one another like the city ladies; but the
+motherly grip of Mary Bruce's hand sent a thrill to Flora's heart.
+
+"Noo a' ca' this rael kind o' ye, Miss Cammil, tae come in withoot
+ceremony, and a'd be terrible pleased if ye would dae it ony time
+yer traivellin'. The rail is by ordinar' fateegin', and a cup o' tea
+'ill set ye up," and Mary had Flora in the best chair, and was
+loading her plate with homely dainties.
+
+Peter would speak of nothing but the new engine that was coming, and
+was to place the Kildrummie branch beyond ridicule for ever, and on
+this great event he continued without intermission till he parted
+with Flora on the edge of the pine woods that divided Drumtochty
+from Kildrummie.
+
+"Gude nicht tae ye, Miss Cammil, and thank ye again for yir veesit.
+Bring the auld man wi' ye next time ye're passing, though a'm feared
+ye've been deived (deafened) wi' the engine."
+
+Flora took Peter's hand, that was callous and rough with the turning
+of brakes and the coupling of chains.
+
+"It wass not your new engine you wass thinking about this night,
+Peter Bruce, but a poor girl that iss in trouble. I hef not the
+words, but I will be remembering your house, oh yes, as long as I
+live."
+
+Twice Peter stood on his way home; the first time he slapped his leg
+and chuckled:
+
+"Sall, it was gey clever o' me; a hale kerridge o' Drumtochty lads,
+and no ane o' them ever hed a glint o' her."
+
+At the second stoppage he drew his hand across his eyes.
+
+"Puir lassie, a' houp her father 'ill be kind tae her, for she's
+sair broken, and looks liker deith than life."
+
+No one can desire a sweeter walk than through a Scottish pine wood
+in late September, where you breathe the healing resinous air, and
+the ground is crisp and springy beneath your feet, and gentle
+animals dart away on every side, and here and there you come on an
+open space with a pool, and a brake of gorse. Many a time on market
+days Flora had gone singing through these woods, plucking a posy of
+wild flowers and finding a mirror in every pool, as young girls
+will; but now she trembled and was afraid. The rustling of the trees
+in the darkness, the hooting of an owl, the awful purity of the
+moonlight in the glades, the cold sheen of the water, were to her
+troubled conscience omens of judgment. Had it not been for the
+kindness of Peter Bruce, which was a pledge of human forgiveness,
+there would have been no heart in her to dare that wood, and it was
+with a sob of relief she escaped from the shadow and looked upon the
+old glen once more, bathed from end to end in the light of the
+harvest moon. Beneath her ran our little river, spanned by its
+quaint old bridge; away on the right the Parish Kirk peeped out from
+a clump of trees; half way up the glen the clachan lay surrounded by
+patches of corn; and beyond were the moors, with a shepherd's
+cottage that held her heart. Two hours ago squares of light told of
+warmth and welcome within; but now, as Flora passed one house after
+another, it seemed as if every one she knew was dead, and she was
+forgotten in her misery. Her heart grew cold, and she longed to lie
+down and die, when she caught the gleam of a lighted window. Some
+one was living still to know she had repented, and she knelt down
+among the flowers with her ear to the glass to hear the sound of a
+human voice. Archie Moncur had come home late from a far-away job,
+but he must needs have worship with his sister before they went to
+bed, and well did he choose the psalm that night. Flora's tears
+rained upon the mignonette as the two old people sang:
+
+  "When Sion's bondage God turned back,
+     As men that dreamed were we,
+   Then filled with laughter was our mouth,
+     Our tongue with melody;"
+
+while the fragrance of the flowers went up as incense unto God.
+
+All the way along the glen the last words of the psalm still rang in
+her ears, "Rejoicing shall return," but as she touched the footpath
+to her home, courage failed her. Marget had written for her dead
+mother, but no one could speak with authority for her father. She
+knew the pride of his religion and his iron principles. If he
+refused her entrance, then it had been better for her to have died
+in London. A turn of the path brought her within sight of the
+cottage, and her heart came into her mouth, for the kitchen window
+was a blaze of light. One moment she feared Lachlan might be ill,
+but in the next she understood, and in the greatness of her joy she
+ran the rest of the way. When she reached the door, her strength had
+departed, and she was not able to knock. But there was no need, for
+the dogs, who never forget nor cast off, were bidding her welcome
+with short joyous yelps of delight, and she could hear her father
+feeling for the latch, which for once could not be found, and saying
+nothing but "Flora, Flora."
+
+She had made up some kind of speech, but the only word she ever said
+was "Father," for Lachlan, who had never even kissed her all the
+days of her youth, clasped her in his arms and sobbed out blessings
+over her head, while the dogs licked her hands with their soft,
+kindly tongues.
+
+"It iss a peety you hef not the Gaelic," Flora said to Marget
+afterwards; "it iss the best of all languages for loving. There are
+fifty words for darling, and my father would be calling me every one
+that night I came home."
+
+Lachlan was so carried with joy, and firelight is so hopeful, that
+he had not seen the signs of sore sickness on Flora's face, but the
+morning light undeceived him, and he was sadly dashed.
+
+"You will be fery tired after your long journey, Flora, and it iss
+good for you to rest. There iss a man in the clachan I am wanting to
+see, and he will maybe be comin' back with me."
+
+When Lachlan reached his place of prayer, he lay on the ground and
+cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, and spare her for Thy servant's
+sake, and let me not lose her after Thou hast brought her back and
+hast opened my heart.... Take her not till she hass seen that I love
+her.... Give me time to do her kindness for the past wherein I
+oppressed her.... O, turn away Thy judgment on my hardness, and let
+not the child suffer for her father's sins." Then he arose and
+hastened for the doctor.
+
+It was afternoon before Dr. MacLure could come, but the very sight
+of his face, which was as the sun in its strength, let light into
+the room where Lachlan sat at the bedside holding Flora's hand, and
+making woful pretence that she was not ill.
+
+"Weel, Flora, yeve got back frae yir veesits, and a' tell ye we've
+a' missed ye maist terrible. A' doot thae sooth country fouk haena
+been feeding ye ower weel, or maybe it was the toon air. It never
+agrees wi' me. A'm half chokit a' the time a'm in Glesgie, and as
+for London, there's ower mony fouk tae the square yaird for health."
+
+All the time he was busy at his work, and no man could do it better
+or quicker, although the outside of him was not encouraging.
+
+"Lachlan, what are ye traivellin' in and oot there for with a face
+that wud sour milk? What ails ye, man? ye're surely no imaginin'
+Flora's gaein' to leave ye?
+
+"Lord's sake, it's maist provokin' that if a body hes a bit whup o'
+illness in Drumtochty, their freends tak tae propheseein' deith."
+
+Lachlan had crept over to Flora's side, and both were waiting.
+
+"Na, na; ye ken a' never tell lees like the graund ceety doctors,
+and a'll warrant Flora 'ill be in kirk afore Martinmas, an' kiltin'
+up the braes as hardy as a hielan' sheltie by the new year."
+
+Flora puts an arm round her father's neck, and draws down his face
+to hers, but the doctor is looking another way.
+
+"Dinna fash wi' medicine; gie her plenty o' fresh milk and plenty o'
+air. There's nae leevin' for a doctor wi' that Drumtochty air; it
+hasna a marra in Scotland. It starts frae the Moray Firth and sweeps
+doon Badenoch, and comes ower the moor o' Rannoch and across the
+Grampians. There's the salt o' the sea, and the caller air o' the
+hills, and the smell o' the heather, and the bloom o'mony a flower
+in't. If there's nae disease in the organs o' the body, a puff o'
+Drumtochty air wud bring back a man frae the gates o' deith."
+
+"You hef made two hearts glad this day, Doctor McLure," said
+Lachlan, outside the door, "and I am calling you Barnabas."
+
+"Ye've ca'd me waur names than that in yir time," and the doctor
+mounted his horse. "It's dune me a warld o' guid tae see Flora in
+her hame again, and I'll gie Marget Howe a cry in passin' and send
+her up tae hae a crack, for there's no a wiser wumman in the glen."
+
+When Marget came, Flora told her the history of her letter.
+
+"It wass a beautiful night in London, but I will be thinking that
+there iss no living person caring whether I die or live, and I wass
+considering how I could die, for there iss nothing so hopeless as to
+hef no friend in a great city. It iss often that I hef been alone on
+the moor, and no man within miles, but I wass never lonely, oh no, I
+had plenty of good company. I would sit down beside a burn, and the
+trout will swim out from below a stone, and the cattle will come to
+drink, and the muirfowl will be crying to each other, and the sheep
+will be bleating, oh yes, and there are the bees all round, and a
+string of wild ducks above your head. It iss a busy place a moor,
+and a safe place too, for there iss not one of the animals will hurt
+you. No, the big highlanders will only look at you and go away to
+their pasture. But it iss weary to be in London and no one to speak
+a kind word to you, and I will be looking at the crowd that iss
+always passing, and I will not see one kent face, and when I looked
+in at the lighted windows the people were all sitting round the
+table, but there wass no place for me. Millions and millions of
+people, and not one to say 'Flora,' and not one sore heart if I died
+that night. Then a strange thing happened, as you will be
+considering, but it iss good to be a Highlander, for we see visions.
+You maybe know that a wounded deer will try to hide herself, and I
+crept into the shadow of a church, and wept. Then the people and the
+noise and the houses passed away like the mist on the hill, and I
+wass walking to the kirk with my father, oh yes, and I saw you all
+in your places, and I heard the Psalms, and I could see through the
+window the green fields and the trees on the edge of the moor. And I
+saw my home, with the dogs before the door, and the flowers that I
+planted, and the lamb coming for her mik, and I heard myself singing,
+and I awoke. But there wass singing, oh yes, and beautiful too, for
+the dark church wass open, and the light wass falling over my head
+from the face of the Virgin Mary. When I arose she wass looking down
+at me in the darkness, and then I knew that there wass service in
+the church, and this wass the hymn--
+
+  "'There is a fountain filled with blood.'
+
+"So I went in and sat down at the door. The sermon wass on the
+Prodigal Son, but there iss only one word I remember. 'You are not
+forgotten or cast off,' the preacher said; 'you are missed,' and
+then he will come back to it again, and it wass always 'missed,
+missed, missed.' Sometimes he will say, 'If you had a plant, and you
+had taken great care of it, and it was stolen, would you not miss
+it?' And I will be thinking of my geraniums, and saying 'yes' in my
+heart. And then he will go on, 'If a shepherd wass counting his
+sheep, and there wass one short, does he not go out to the hill and
+seek for it?' and I will see my father coming back with that lamb
+that lost its mother. My heart wass melting within me, but he will
+still be pleading, 'If a father had a child, and she left her home
+and lost herself in the wicked city, she will still be remembered in
+the old house, and her chair will be there,' and I will be seeing my
+father all alone with the Bible before him, and the dogs will lay
+their heads on his knee, but there iss no Flora. So I slipped out
+into the darkness and cried 'Father,' but I could not go back, and I
+knew not what to do. But this wass ever in my ear, 'missed,' and I
+wass wondering if God will be thinking of me. 'Perhaps there may be
+a sign,' I said, and I went to my room, and I saw the letter. It
+wass not long before I will be in the train, and all the night I
+held your letter in my hand, and when I wass afraid I will read
+'Your father loves you more than efer,' and I will say, 'This is my
+warrant.' Oh yes, and God wass very good to me, and I did not want
+for friends all the way home.
+
+"The English guard noticed me cry, and he will take care of me all
+the night, and see me off at Muirtown, and this iss what he will say
+as the train wass leaving, in his cheery English way, 'Keep up your
+heart, lass, there's a good time coming,' and Peter Bruce will be
+waiting for me at the Junction, and a gentle man iss Peter Bruce,
+and Maister Moncur will be singing a psalm to keep up my heart, and
+I will see the light, and then I will know that the Lord hass had
+mercy upon me. That iss all I have to tell you, Marget, for the rest
+I will be saying to God."
+
+"But there iss something I must be telling," said Lachlan, coming
+in, "and it iss not easy."
+
+He brought over the Bible and opened it at the family register where
+his daughter's name had been erased; then he laid it down before
+Flora, and bowed his head on the bed.
+
+"Will you ever be able to forgive your father?"
+
+"Give me the pen, Marget;" and Flora wrote for a minute, but Lachlan
+never moved.
+
+When he lifted his head, this was what he read in a vacant space:--
+
+  FLORA CAMPBELL.
+  Missed April 1873.
+  Found September 1873.
+ "Her father fell on her neck and kissed her."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+AS A LITTLE CHILD
+
+Drumtochty made up its mind slowly upon any new-comer, and for some
+time looked into the far distance when his name was mentioned. He
+himself was struck with the studied indifference of the parish, and
+lived under the delusion that he had escaped notice. Perhaps he
+might have felt uncomfortable if he had suspected that he was under
+a microscope, and the keenest eyes in the country were watching
+every movement at kirk and market. His knowledge of theology, his
+preference in artificial manures, his wife's Sabbath dress, his
+skill in cattle, and his manner in the Kildrummie train, went as
+evidence in the case, and were duly weighed. Some morning the
+floating opinion suddenly crystallized in the kirkyard, and there is
+only one historical instance in which judgment was reversed. It was
+a strong proof of Lachlan Campbell's individuality that he impressed
+himself twice on the parish, and each time with a marked adjective.
+
+Lachlan had been superintending the theology of the glen and
+correcting our ignorance from an unapproachable height for two years
+before the word went forth, but the glen had been thinking.
+
+"Lachlan is a carefu' shepherd and fine wi' the ewes at the lambing
+time, there's nae doot o' that, but a' canna thole (bear) himsel'.
+Ye wud think there was nae releegion in the parish till he came frae
+Auchindarroch. What say ye, Domsie?"
+
+"Campbell's a censorious body, Drumsheugh," and Domsie shut his
+snuff-box lid with a snap.
+
+Drumsheugh nodded to the fathers of our commonwealth, and they went
+into kirk with silent satisfaction. Lachlan had been classified, and
+Peter Bruce, who prided himself on keeping in touch with Drumtochty,
+passed the word round the Kildrummie train next market night.
+
+"Ye haena that censorious body, Lachlan Campbell, wi' ye the nicht,"
+thrusting his head in on the thirds.
+
+"There's naething Peter disna ken," Hillocks remarked with
+admiration afterwards; "he's as gude as the _Advertiser_."
+
+When Flora had come home, and Drumtochty resumed freedom of
+criticism, I noticed for the first time a certain vacillation in its
+treatment of Lachlan.
+
+"He's pluckit up his speerit maist extraordinar," Hillocks
+explained, "and he whuppit by me like a three year auld laist
+Sabbath.
+
+"'I'm glad tae hear the Miss is comin' roond fine,' says I.
+
+"'It's the fouk o' Drumtochty hes made her weel. God bless you, for
+you hev done good for evil,' and wi' that he was aff afore I cud
+fin' a word.
+
+"He's changed, the body, some wy or ither, and there's a kind o'
+warmth aboot him ye canna get ower."
+
+Next day I turned into Mrs. Macfadyen's cottage for a cup of tea and
+the smack of that wise woman's conversation, but was not able to
+pass the inner door for the sight which met my eyes.
+
+Lachlan was sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with
+Elsie, Mrs. Macfadyen's pet child, on his knee, and their heads so
+close together that his white hair was mingling with her burnished
+gold. An odour of peppermint floated out at the door, and Elsie was
+explaining to Lachlan, for his guidance at the shop, that the round
+drops were a better bargain than the black and white rock.
+
+When Lachlan had departed, with gracious words on his lips and a
+very sticky imprint on his right cheek, I settled down in the big
+chair, beyond the power of speech, and Mrs. Macfadyen opened the
+mystery.
+
+"Ye may weel look, for twa month syne I wudna hae believed this day,
+though a' hed seen him wi' ma ain een.
+
+"It was juist this time laist year that he cam here on his elder's
+veesitation, and he catches the bairn in this verra kitchen.
+
+"'Elspeth,' says he--it was Elsie the day, ye mind--'div ye ken that
+ye're an oreeginal sinner?'
+
+"It was nichtfa' afore she got over the fricht, and when she saw him
+on the road next Sabbath, she cooried in ahint ma goon, and cried
+till I thocht her hert wud break.
+
+"'It's meeserable wark for Christ's Elder,' says Jeems, 'tae put the
+fear o' death on a bairn, and a'm thinkin' he wudna get muckle
+thanks frae his Maister if He wes here,' and Jeems wasna far wrong,
+though, of course, a' told him tae keep a quiet sough, and no conter
+the elder.
+
+"Weel, I sees Lachlan comin' up the road the day, and a' ran oot to
+catch Elsie and hide her in the byre. But a' micht hae saved mysel'
+the trouble: afore I got tae the gairden gate they were comin' up as
+chief (friendly) as ye like, and Lachlan wes callin' Elsie his
+bonnie dawtie.
+
+"If he hadna a pock o' peppermints--but it wesna that wiled Elsie's
+hert. Na, na, dogs and bairns can read fouks' faces, and mak nae
+mistakes. As sune as a' saw Lachlan's een a' kent he wes a new man.
+
+"Hoo has it come about? That's easy tae guess. Sax months syne
+Lachlan didna ken what father meant, and the heart wes wizened in
+the breist o' him wi' pride an' diveenity.
+
+"He kens noo, and a'm jalousing that nae man can be a richt father
+tae his ain without being sib (akin) tae every bairn he sees. It wes
+Flora he was dawting (petting) ye see the day, and he's learned his
+trade weel, though it cost him a sair lesson."
+
+Wonderful stories circulated through the glen, and were told in the
+kirkyard of a Sabbath morning, concerning the transformation of
+Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Ane o' ma wee lassies," expatiated Domsie, "fell comin' doon the
+near road frae Whinnie Knowe, and cuttit her cheek on the stones,
+and if Lachlan didna wash her face and comfort her; an' mair, he
+carried her a' the road tae the schule, and says he in his Hieland
+way, 'Here iss a brave little woman that hass hurt herself, but she
+will not be crying,' and he gave her a kiss and a penny tae buy some
+sweeties at the shop. It minded me o' the Gude Samaritan, fouks,"
+and everybody understood that Lachlan had captured Domsie for life.
+
+"It beats a' things," said Whinnie; "a' canna mak' oot what's come
+ower the cratur. There's a puckle o' the upland bairns pass oor wy
+frae schule, and whiles Lachlan 'ill meet them when he's aifter his
+sheep, and as sure as a'm stannin' here, he 'ill lay aff stories
+aboot battles and fairies, till the laddies 'ill hardly gae hame. I
+wes tellin' Marget this verra mornin', and she says, 'Lachlan's
+become as a little child.' I dinna haud wi' her there, but a
+quieter, mair cautious body ye never saw."
+
+Drumtochty was doing its best to focus Lachlan afresh, and felt the
+responsibility lay on Domsie, who accepted it cheerfully.
+
+"Marget's aye richt, neebours, and she's put the word on it noo. His
+tribble hes melted Lachlan's heart, an'--it's in the Evangel, ye
+ken--he's become as a little child."
+
+This language was too figurative and imposing for the parish, but it
+ran henceforward in our modest speech, "He's a cautious body."
+Cautious, with us, meant unassuming, kindly obliging, as well as
+much more; and I still hear Drumsheugh pronouncing this final
+judgment of the glen on Lachlan as we parted at his grave ten years
+later, and adding, "He 'ill be sair missed by the bairns."
+
+While the glen was readjusting itself to Lachlan, I came down from a
+long tramp on the moor, and intended to inquire for Flora. But I was
+arrested on the step by the sound of Lachlan's voice in family
+worship.
+
+"This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
+found. And they began to be merry."
+
+Lachlan's voice trembled as he read, but he went on with much
+firmness:
+
+"Now his elder son was in the field."
+
+"You will not be reading more of that chapter, father," interrupted
+Flora, with a new note of authority.
+
+"And why not?" said Lachlan, quite humbly.
+
+"Because you will be calling yourself the elder son and many more
+bad names, and I will be angry with you."
+
+"But they are true names, and it iss good for me to know myself."
+
+"You hef just one true name, and that iss father.... And now you
+will be singing a psalm."
+
+"There iss a book of himes (hymns) here, and maybe you will be
+liking one of them."
+
+And Lachlan produced the little book Flora got in that London church
+when the preacher told her she was missed.
+
+"We will not sing hymns, father, for I am remembering that you hef a
+conscience against hymns, and I did not know that you had that
+book."
+
+"My conscience wass sometimes better than the Bible, Flora, and if
+God will be sending a hime to bind up your heart when it wass
+broken, it iss your father that will be wanting to sing that hime.
+
+"It iss here," continued Lachlan in triumph, "for I hef often been
+reading that hime, and I am not seeing much wrong in it."
+
+"But each hymn hass got its own tune, father, and you will not know
+the way that it goes, and the doctor will not be wishing me to
+sing."
+
+"You are a good girl, Flora, but you are not so clever as your
+father, oh no, for I hef been trying that hime on the hill, and it
+will sing beautiful to a Psalm tune. You will lie still and hear."
+
+Then Lachlan lifted up his voice in "French,"
+
+  "There is a fountain filled with blood,
+     Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
+   And sinners plunged beneath that flood
+     Lose all their guilty stains."
+
+The singing was fairly good, with a whisper from Flora, till they
+came to that verse:
+
+  "Then in a nobler, sweeter song
+     I'll sing Thy power to save,
+   When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
+     Lies silent in the grave,"
+
+when Lachlan seemed to lose the tune, and be falling into a
+coronach.
+
+"We must not be singing that to-day, father, for God iss fery good
+to us, and I will be stronger every week, and maybe you will be
+saying that we are thankful in your prayer."
+
+Then I realised my baseness, and went off on tiptoe (had the dogs
+been at home it had not been so easy to escape); but first I heard,
+"Our Father." It was a new word for Lachlan; he used to say Jehovah.
+
+The doctor paid his last visit one frosty winter day, and was
+merciless on Lachlan.
+
+"What for are ye cockering up this lassie, and no getting her doon
+tae the kirk? it's clean disgracefu' in an Elder, and if I were yir
+minister a' wud hae ye sessioned. Sall, ye're hard enough on ither
+fouk that are no kirk greedy."
+
+"You will not be speaking that way next Sabbath, for it iss in her
+pew Flora will be sitting with her father," said Lachlan, in great
+spirits.
+
+Flora caught him studying her closely for some days, as if he were
+taking her measure, and he announced that he had business in
+Muirtown on Friday.
+
+When he came up in the market train he was carrying a large paper
+parcel, and attempted a joke with Peter at a window of the third.
+From a critical point of view it was beneath notice, but as
+Lachlan's first effort it was much tasted.
+
+"Ye 'ill believe me noo, Peter, since ye've heard him. Did ye ever
+see sic a change? it's maist astonishin'."
+
+"Man, Hillocks, div ye no see he's gotten back his dochter, and it's
+made him anither man?"
+
+Lachlan showed Flora a new pair of shears he had bought in Muirtown,
+and a bottle of sheep embrocation, but she did not know he had
+hidden his parcel in the byre, and that he opened it four separate
+times on Saturday.
+
+From daybreak on Sabbath Lachlan went in and out till he returned
+with Marget Howe.
+
+"Mrs. Howe iss very kind, and she will be coming to help you with
+your dresses, Flora, for we will be wanting you to look well this
+day, and here iss some small thing to keep you warm," and Lachlan
+produced with unspeakable pride a jacket lined with flannel and
+trimmed with fur.
+
+So her father and Marget dressed Flora for the kirk, and they went
+together down the path on which the light had shone that night of
+her return.
+
+There were only two dog-carts in the Free Kirk Session, and Burnbrae
+was waiting with his for Flora at the foot of the hill.
+
+"I bid ye welcome, Flora, in the name o' oor kirk. It's a gled day
+for your father, and for us a' tae see you back again and strong.
+And noo ye 'ill just get up aside me in the front, and Mistress Hoo
+'ill hap ye round, for we maunna let ye come tae ony ill the first
+day yir oot, or we 'ill never hear the end o't." And so the honest
+man went on, for he was as near the breaking as Drumtochty nature
+allowed.
+
+"A' body's pleased," said Marget to Lachlan as they sat on the back
+seat and caught the faces of the people. "This is the first time I
+have seen the fifteenth of Luke in Drumtochty. It's a bonnie sicht,
+and a'm thinkin' it's still bonnier in the presence o' the angels."
+
+"Flora Cammil's in the kirk the day," and the precentor looked at
+Carmichael with expectation. "The fouk are terrible taen up wi'
+Lachlan and her."
+
+"What do you think of the hundred and third Psalm, Robert? It would
+go well this morning."
+
+"The verra word that was on my lips, and Lachlan 'ill be lookin' for
+Coleshill."
+
+Lachlan had put Flora in his old place next the wall (he would not
+need it again, having retired from the office of inquisitor), and
+sat close beside her, with great contentment on his face. The
+manners of Drumtochty were perfect, and no one turned his head by
+one inch; but Marget Howe, sitting behind in Burnbrae's pew, saw
+Flora's hand go out to Lachlan's as the people sang:
+
+  "All thine iniquities who doth
+     Most graciously forgive,
+   Who thy diseases all and pains
+     Doth heal and thee relieve."
+
+The Session met that week, and a young girl broke down utterly in
+her examination for the Sacrament, so that not even Burnbrae could
+get a correct answer.
+
+She rose in great confusion and sorrow.
+
+"A' see it wudna be fit for the like o' me tae gae forrit, but a'
+had set ma hert on't; it wes the last thing He askit o' His
+freends," and she left before any one could bid her stay.
+
+"Moderator," said Lachlan, "it iss a great joy for me to move that
+Mary Macfarlane get her token, and I will be wishing that we all had
+her warrant, oh yes, for there iss no warrant like love. And there
+iss something that I must be asking of the elders, and it iss to
+forgive me for my pride in this Session. I wass thinking that I knew
+more than any man in Drumtochty, and wass judging God's people. But
+He hass had mercy upon Simon the Pharisee, and you hef all been been
+very good to me and Flora.... The Scripture hass been fulfilled, 'So
+the last shall be first, and the first last.'"
+
+Then the minister asked Burnbrae to pray, and the Spirit descended
+on that good man, of simple heart:
+
+"Almichty Father, we are a' Thy puir and sinfu' bairns, wha wearied
+o' hame and gaed awa' intae the far country. Forgive us, for we
+didna ken what we were leavin' or the sair hert we gied oor Father.
+It wes weary wark tae live wi' oor sins, but we wud never hev come
+back had it no been for oor Elder Brither. He cam' a long road tae
+find us, and a sore travail He had afore He set us free. He's been a
+gude Brither tae us, and we've been a heavy chairge tae Him. May He
+keep a firm haud o' us, and guide us in the richt road, and bring us
+back gin we wander, and tell us a' we need tae know till the
+gloamin' come. Gither us in then, we pray Thee, and a' we luve, no a
+bairn missin', and may we sit doon for ever in oor ain Father's
+House. Amen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Burnbrae said Amen, Carmichael opened his eyes, and had a vision
+which will remain with him until the day break and the shadows flee
+away.
+
+The six elders--three small farmers, a tailor, a stonemason, and a
+shepherd--were standing beneath the lamp, and the light fell like a
+halo on their bent heads. That poor little vestry had disappeared,
+and this present world was forgotten. The sons of God had come into
+their heritage, "for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
+things which are not seen are eternal."
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+Speech in Drumtochty distilled slowly, drop by drop, and the faces
+of our men were carved in stone. Visitors, without discernment, used
+to pity our dulness and lay themselves out for missionary work.
+Before their month was over they spoke bitterly of us, as if we had
+deceived them, and departed with a grudge in their hearts. When
+Hillocks scandalised the Glen by letting his house and living in the
+bothie--through sheer greed of money--it was taken by a fussy little
+man from the South, whose control over the letter "h" was uncertain,
+but whose self-confidence bordered on the miraculous. As a deacon of
+the Social Religionists,--a new denomination, which had made an 'it
+with Sunday Entertainments,--and Chairman of the Amalgamated Sons of
+Rest,--a society of persons with conscientious objections to work
+between meals--he was horrified at the primeval simplicity of the
+Glen, where no meeting of protest had been held in the memory of
+living man, and the ministers preached from the Bible. It was
+understood that he was to do his best for us, and there was
+curiosity in the kirkyard.
+
+"Whatna like man is that English veesitor ye've got, Hillocks? a'
+hear he's fleein' ower the Glen, yammerin' and haverin' like a
+starlin'."
+
+"He's a gabby (talkative) body, Drumsheugh, there's nae doot o'
+that, but terrible ignorant.
+
+"Says he tae me nae later than yesterday, 'That's a fine field o'
+barley ye've there, Maister Harris,' an' as sure as deith a' didna
+ken whaur tae luik, for it was a puckle aits."
+
+"Keep's a'," said Whinnie; "he's been awfu' negleckit when he wes a
+bairn, or maybe there's a want in the puir cratur."
+
+Next Sabbath Mr. Urijah Hopps appeared in person among the fathers--who
+looked at each other over his head--and enlightened them on supply and
+demand, the Game Laws, the production of cabbages for towns, the
+iniquity of an Established Church, and the bad metre of the Psalms of
+David.
+
+"You must 'ave henterprise, or it's hall hup with you farmers."
+
+"Ay, ay," responded Drumsheugh, after a long pause, and then every
+man concentrated his attention on the belfry of the kirk.
+
+"Is there onything ava' in the body, think ye, Domsie," as Mr. Hopps
+bustled into kirk, "or is't a' wind?"
+
+"Three wechtfu's o' naething, Drumsheugh; a' peety the puir man if
+Jamie Soutar gets a haud o' him."
+
+Jamie was the cynic of the Glen--who had pricked many a wind bag--and
+there was a general feeling that his meeting with Mr. Hopps would not
+be devoid of interest. When he showed himself anxious to learn next
+Sabbath, any man outside Drumtochty might have been deceived, for
+Jamie could withdraw every sign of intelligence from his face, as
+when shutters close upon a shop window. Our visitor fell at once
+into the trap, and made things plain to the meanest capacity, until
+Jamie elicited from the guileless Southron that he had never heard
+of the Act of Union; that Adam Smith was a new book he hoped to buy;
+that he did not know the difference between an Arminian and a Calvinist,
+and that he supposed the Confession of Faith was invented in Edinburgh.
+This in the briefest space of time, and by way of information to
+Drumtochty. James was making for general literature, and had still
+agriculture in reserve, when Drumsheugh intervened in the humanity of
+his heart.
+
+"A' dinna like tae interrupt yir conversation, Maister Hopps, but
+it's no verra safe for ye tae be stannin' here sae lang. Oor air hes
+a bit nip in't, and is mair searchin' than doon Sooth. Jamie 'ill be
+speirin' a' mornin' gin ye 'ill answer him, but a'm thinkin' ye'ill
+be warmer in the kirk."
+
+And Drumsheugh escorted Mr. Hopps to cover, who began to suspect
+that he had been turned inside out, and found wanting.
+
+Drumtochty had listened with huge delight, but without a trace of
+expression, and, on Mr. Hopps reaching shelter, three boxes were
+offered Jamie.
+
+The group was still lost in admiration when Drumsheugh returned from
+his errand of mercy.
+
+"Sall, ye've dune the job this time. Jamie. Ye're an awfu' creetic.
+Yon man 'ill keep a quiet cheep till he gets Sooth. It passes me hoo
+a body wi' sae little in him hes the face tae open his mooth."
+
+"Ye did it weel, Jamie," Domsie added, "a clean furrow frae end tae
+end."
+
+"Toots, fouk, yir makin' ower muckle o' it. It wes licht grund, no
+worth puttin' in a ploo."
+
+Mr. Hopps explained to me, before leaving, that he had been much
+pleased with the scenery of our Glen, but disappointed in the
+people.
+
+"They may not be hignorant," said the little man doubtfully, "but no
+man could call them haffable."
+
+It flashed on me for the first time that perhaps there may have been
+the faintest want of geniality in the Drumtochty manner, but it was
+simply the reticence of a subtle and conscientious people. Intellect
+with us had been brought to so fine an edge by the Shorter Catechism
+that it could detect endless distinctions, and was ever on the watch
+against inaccuracy. Farmers who could state the esoteric doctrine of
+"spiritual independence" between the stilts of the plough, and talked
+familiarly of "co-ordinate jurisdiction with mutual subordination,"
+were not likely to fall into the vice of generalisation. When James
+Soutar was in good fettle, he could trace the whole history of Scottish
+secession from the beginning, winding his way through the maze of
+Original Seceders and Cameronians, Burghers and Anti-Burghers--there
+were days when he would include the Glassites,--with unfaltering step;
+but this was considered a feat even in Drumtochty, and it was admitted
+that Jamie had "a gift o' discreemination." We all had the gift in
+measure, and dared not therefore allow ourselves the expansive language
+of the South. What right had any human being to fling about superlative
+adjectives, seeing what a big place the world is, and how little we
+know? Purple adjectives would have been as much out of place in our
+conversation as a bird of paradise among our muirfowl.
+
+Mr. Hopps was so inspired by one of our sunsets--to his credit let
+that be told--that he tried to drive Jamie into extravagance.
+
+"No bad! I call it glorious, and if it hisn't, then I'd like to know
+what his."
+
+"Man," replied Soutar austerely, "ye 'ill surely keep ae word for
+the twenty-first o' Reevelation."
+
+Had any native used "magnificent," there would have been an uneasy
+feeling in the Glen; the man must be suffering from wind in the
+head, and might upset the rotation of crops, sowing his young grass
+after potatoes, or replacing turnip with beetroot. But nothing of
+that sort happened in my time; we kept ourselves well in hand. It
+rained in torrents elsewhere, with us it only "threatened tae be
+weet"--some provision had to be made for the deluge. Strangers, in
+the pride of health, described themselves as "fit for anything," but
+Hillocks, who died at ninety-two, and never had an hour's illness,
+did not venture, in his prime, beyond "Gaein' aboot, a'm thankfu' to
+say, gaein' aboot."
+
+When one was seriously ill, he was said to be "gey an' sober," and
+no one died in Drumtochty--"he slippit awa."
+
+Hell and heaven were pulpit words; in private life we spoke of "the
+ill place" and "oor lang hame."
+
+When the corn sprouted in the stooks one late wet harvest, and
+Burnbrae lost half his capital, he only said, "It's no lichtsome,"
+and no congratulations on a good harvest ever extracted more from
+Drumsheugh than "A' daurna complain."
+
+Drumsheugh might be led beyond bounds in reviewing a certain potato
+transaction, but, as a rule, he was a master of measured speech. After
+the privilege of much intercourse with that excellent man, I was able
+to draw up his table of equivalents for the three degrees of wickedness.
+When there was just a suspicion of trickiness--neglecting the paling
+between your cattle and your neighbour's clover field--"He's no juist
+the man for an elder." If it deepened into deceit--running a "greasy"
+horse for an hour before selling--"He wud be the better o' anither
+dip." And in the case of downright fraud--finding out what a man had
+offered for his farm and taking it over his head--the offender was "an
+ill gettit wratch." The two latter phrases were dark with theology,
+and even the positive degree of condemnation had an ecclesiastical
+flavour.
+
+When Drumsheugh approved any one, he was content to say, "He micht
+be waur," a position beyond argument. On occasion he ventured upon
+bolder assertions: "There's nae mischief in Domsie;" and once I
+heard him in a white heat of enthusiasm pronounce Dr. Davidson, our
+parish minister, "A graund man ony wy ye tak him." But he seemed
+ashamed after this outburst, and "shooed" the crows off the corn
+with needless vigour.
+
+No Drumtochty man would commit himself to a positive statement on
+any subject if he could find a way of escape, not because his mind
+was confused, but because he was usually in despair for an accurate
+expression. It was told for years in the Glen, with much relish and
+almost funereal solemnity, how a Drumtochty witness had held his own
+in an ecclesiastical court.
+
+"You are beadle in the parish of Pitscouric," began the advocate
+with a light heart, not knowing the witness's birthplace.
+
+"It's a fac'," after a long pause and a careful review of the whole
+situation.
+
+"You remember that Sabbath when the minister of Netheraird
+preached."
+
+"Weel, a'll admit that," making a concession to justice.
+
+"Did ye see him in the vestry?"
+
+"A' canna deny it."
+
+"Was he intoxicated?"
+
+The crudeness of this question took away Drumtochty's breath, and
+suggested that something must have been left out in the creation of
+that advocate. Our men were not bigoted abstainers, but I never
+heard any word so coarse and elementary as intoxicated used in
+Drumtochty. Conversation touched this kind of circumstance with
+delicacy and caution, for we keenly realised the limitations of
+human knowledge.
+
+"He hed his mornin'," served all ordinary purposes, and in cases of
+emergency, such as Muirtown market:
+
+"Ye cud see he hed been tastin'."
+
+When an advocate forgot himself so far as to say intoxicated, a
+Drumtochty man might be excused for being upset.
+
+"Losh, man," when he had recovered, "hoo cud ony richt-thinkin' man
+sweer tae sic an awfu' word? Na, na, a' daurna use that kin' o'
+langidge; it's no cannie."
+
+The advocate tried again, a humbler, wiser man.
+
+"Was there a smell of drink on him?"
+
+"Noo, since ye press me, a'll juist tell ye the hale truth; it wes
+doonricht stupid o' me, but, as sure as a'm livin', a' clean forgot
+tae try him."
+
+Then the chastened counsel gathered himself up for his last effort.
+
+"Will you answer one question, sir? you are on your oath. Did you
+see anything unusual in Mr. MacOmish's walk? Did he stagger?"
+
+"Na," when he had spent two minutes in recalling the scene. "Na, I
+cudna say stagger, but he micht gie a bit trimmil."
+
+"We are coming to the truth now; what did you consider the cause of
+the trimmiling, as you call it?" and the innocent young advocate
+looked round in triumph.
+
+"Weel," replied Drumtochty, making a clean breast of it, "since ye
+maun hae it, a' heard that he wes a very learned man, and it cam
+intae ma mind that the Hebrew, which, a'm telt, is a very contrairy
+langidge, hed gaen doon and settled in his legs."
+
+The parish of Netheraird was declared vacant, but it was understood
+that the beadle of Pitscourie had not contributed to this decision.
+
+His own parish followed the trial with intense interest, and were
+much pleased with Andra's appearance.
+
+"Sall," said Hillocks, "Andra has mair gumption than ye wud think,
+and yon advocat didna mak muckle o' him. Na, na, Andra wesna brocht
+up in the Glen for naethin'. Maister MacOmish may hae taen his gless
+atween the Hebrew and the Greek, and it's no verra suitable for a
+minister, but that's anither thing frae bein' intoxicat."
+
+"Keep's a', if ye were tae pit me in the box this meenut, a' cudna
+sweer a hed ever seen a man intoxicat in ma life, except a puir body
+o' an English bag-man at Muirtown Station. A' doot he hed bin
+meddlin' wi' speerits, and they were wheelin' him tae his kerridge
+in a luggage barrow. It wes a fearsome sicht, and eneugh tae keep
+ony man frae speakin' aboot intoxicat in yon louse wy."
+
+Archie Moncur fought the drinking customs of the Glen night and day
+with moderate success, and one winter's night he gave me a study in
+his subject which, after the lapse of years, I still think admirable
+for its reserve power and Dantesque conclusion.
+
+"They a' begin in a sma' wy," explained Archie, almost hidden in the
+depths of my reading chair, and emphasising his points with a gentle
+motion of his right hand; "naethin' tae mention at first, juist a gless
+at an orra time--a beerial or a merridge--and maybe New Year. That's
+the first stage; they ca' that moderation. Aifter a whilie they tak a
+mornin' wi' a freend, and syne a gless at the public-hoose in the
+evenin', and they treat ane anither on market days. That's the second
+stage; that's 'tastin'.' Then they need it reg'lar every day, nicht an'
+mornin', and they'll sit on at nicht till they're turned oot. They
+'ill fecht ower the Confession noo, and laist Sabbath's sermon, in
+the Kildrummie train, till it's clean reediklus. That's drammin', and
+when they've hed a year or twa at that they hae their first spatie
+(spate is a river flood), and that gies them a bit fricht. But aff
+they set again, and then comes anither spatie, and the doctor hes tae
+bring them roond. They ca' (drive) cannie for a year or sae, but the
+feein' market puts the feenishin' titch. They slip aff sudden in the
+end, and then they juist gang plunk--ay," said Archie in a tone of
+gentle meditation, looking, as it were, over the edge, "juist plunk."
+
+Nothing ever affected my imagination more powerfully than the swift
+surprise and gruesome suggestion of that "plunk."
+
+But the literary credit of Drumtochty rested on a broad basis, and
+no one could live with us without having his speech braced for life.
+You felt equal to any emergency, and were always able to express
+your mind with some degree of accuracy, which is one of the luxuries
+of life. There is, for instance, a type of idler who exasperates one
+to the point of assault, and whom one hungers to describe after a
+becoming manner. He was rare in the cold air of the North, but we
+had produced one specimen, and it was my luck to be present when he
+came back from a distant colony, and Jamie Soutar welcomed him in
+the kirkyard.
+
+"Weel, Chairlie," and Jamie examined the well-dressed prodigal from
+top to toe, "this is a prood moment for Drumtochty, and an awfu'
+relief tae ken yir safe. Man, ye hevna wanted meat nor claithes; a'
+tak it rael neeburly o' ye tae speak ava wi' us auld-fashioned fouk.
+
+"Ye needna look soor nor cock yir nose in the air, for you an' me
+are auld freends, and yir puir granny wes na mair anxious aboot ye
+than a' wes.
+
+"A'm feared that laddie o' Bell's 'ill kill himsel' oot in Ameriky'
+were ma verra words tae Hillocks here; 'he 'ill be slavin' his flesh
+aff his banes tae mak a fortune and keep her comfortable'
+
+"It was a rael satisfaction tae read yir letter frae the backwoods--or
+was't a public-hoose in New York? ma memory's no what it used to
+be--tellin' hoo ye were aye thinkin' o' yer auld granny, and wantin'
+tae come hame and be a comfort tae her if she wud send ye out twenty
+pund.
+
+"The bit that affeckit me maist wes the text frae the Prodigal Son--it
+cam in sae natural. Mony a broken hert hes that story bund up, as we
+ken weel in this Glen; but it's dune a feck o' mischief tae--that gude
+word o' the Maister. Half the wastrels in the warld pay their passage
+hame wi' that Parable, and get a bran new outfit for anither start in
+the far country.
+
+"Noo dinna turn red, Chairlie, for the neeburs ken ye were tae work
+yir wy hame hed it no been for yir health. But there's a pack of
+rascals 'ill sorn on their father as lang as he's livin', and they
+'ill stairve a weedowed mither, and they 'ill tak a sister's wages,
+and if they canna get ony better a dune body o' eighty 'ill serve
+them.
+
+"Man, Chairlie, if a' hed ma wull wi' thae wawfies, I wud ship them
+aff tae a desert island, wi' ae sack o' seed potatoes and anither o'
+seed corn, and let them work or dee. A' ken yir wi' me there, for ye
+aye hed an independent spirit, and wesna feared tae bend yir back.
+
+"Noo, if a' cam across ane o' thae meeserable objects in Drumtochty,
+div ye ken the advice I wud gie him?
+
+"A wud tell the daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch o'
+a cratur tae watch for the first spate and droon himsel' in the
+Tochty."
+
+"What's he aff through the graves for in sic a hurry?" and Jamie
+followed Charlie's retreating figure with a glance of admirable
+amazement; "thae's no very gude mainners he's learned in Americky."
+
+"Thank ye, Jeemes, thank ye; we're a' obleeged tae ye," said
+Drumsheugh. "A' wes ettlin' tae lay ma hands on the whup-ma-denty
+(fop) masel, but ma certes, he's hed his kail het this mornin'. Div
+ye think he 'ill tak yir advice?"
+
+"Nae fear o' him; thae neer-dae-weels haena the spunk; but a'm
+expeckin' he 'ill flee the pairish."
+
+Which he did. Had you called him indolent or useless he had smiled,
+but "daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch," drew blood
+at every stroke, like a Russian knout.
+
+We had tender words also, that still bring the tears to my eyes, and
+chief among them was "couthy." What did it mean? It meant a letter
+to some tired townsman, written in homely Scotch, and bidding him
+come to get new life from the Drumtochty air; and the grip of an
+honest hand on the Kildrummie platform whose warmth lasted till you
+reached the Glen; and another welcome at the garden-gate that
+mingled with the scent of honeysuckle, and moss-roses, and thyme,
+and carnations; and the best of everything that could be given you;
+and motherly nursing in illness, with skilly remedies of the olden
+time; and wise, cheery talk that spake no ill of man or God; and
+loud reproaches if you proposed to leave under a month or two; and
+absolute conditions that you must return; and a load of country
+dainties for a bachelor's bare commons; and far more, that cannot be
+put into words, of hospitality, and kindness, and quietness, and
+restfulness, and loyal friendship of hearts now turned to dust in
+the old kirkyard.
+
+But the best of all our words were kept for spiritual things, and
+the description of a godly man. We did not speak of the "higher
+life," nor of a "beautiful Christian," for this way of putting it
+would not have been in keeping with the genius of Drumtochty.
+Religion there was very lowly and modest--an inward walk with God.
+No man boasted of himself, none told the secrets of the soul. But
+the Glen took notice of its saints, and did them silent reverence,
+which they themselves never knew. Jamie Soutar had a wicked tongue,
+and, at a time, it played round Archie's temperance schemes, but
+when that good man's back was turned Jamie was the first to do him
+justice.
+
+"It wud set us better if we did as muckle gude as Archie; he's a
+richt livin' man and weel prepared."
+
+Our choicest tribute was paid by general consent to Burnbrae, and it
+may be partiality, but it sounds to me the deepest in religious
+speech. Every cottage, strangers must understand, had at least two
+rooms--the kitchen where the work was done, that we called the
+"But," and there all kinds of people came; and the inner chamber
+which held the household treasures, that we called the "Ben," and
+there none but a few honoured visitors had entrance. So we imagined
+an outer court of the religious life where most of us made our home,
+and a secret place where only God's nearest friends could enter, and
+it was said of Burnbrae, "He's far ben." His neighbours had watched
+him, for a generation and more, buying and selling, ploughing and
+reaping, going out and in the common ways of a farmer's life, and
+had not missed the glory of the soul. The cynic of Drumtochty summed
+up his character: "There's a puckle gude fouk in the pairish, and
+ane or twa o' the ither kind, and the maist o' us are half and
+between," said Jamie Soutar, "but there's ae thing ye may be sure
+o', Burnbrae is 'far ben.'"
+
+
+
+
+A WISE WOMAN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+A Drumtochty man, standing six feet three in his boots, sat himself
+down one day in the study of a West-end minister, and gazed before
+him with the countenance of a sphinx.
+
+The sight struck awe into the townsman's heart, and the power of
+speech was paralysed within him.
+
+"A'm frae Drumtochty," began a deep solemn voice. "Ye 'ill hae heard
+of Drumtochty, of coorse. A've jined the polis; the pay is no that
+bad, and the work is naethin' tae an able-bodied man."
+
+When these particulars had been digested by the audience--
+
+"It's a crooded place London, and the fouks aye in a tiravie
+(commotion), rinnin' here an' rinnin' there, and the maist feck o'
+them dinna ken whar they're gaein.
+
+"It's officer this and officer that frae mornin' till nicht. It's
+peetifu' tae see the helplessness o' the bodies in their ain toon.
+And they're freevolous," continued the figure, refreshing itself
+with a reminiscence.
+
+"It wes this verra mornin' that a man askit me hoo tae get tae the
+Strand.
+
+"'Haud on,' I says, 'till ye come tae a cross street, and dinna gang
+doon it, and when ye see anither pass it, but whup roond the third,
+and yir nose 'ill bring ye tae the Strand.'
+
+"He was a shachlin bit cratur, and he lookit up at me.
+
+"'Where were you born, officer?' in his clippit English tongue.
+
+"'Drumtochty,' a' said, 'an' we hev juist ae man as sma' as you in
+the hale Glen.'
+
+"He gied awa' lauchin' like tae split his sides, an' the fac' is
+there's no ane o' them asks me a question but he lauchs. They're a
+licht-headed fouk, and no sair educat. But we maunna boast; they
+hevna hed oor advantages."
+
+The minister made a brave effort to assert himself.
+
+"Is there anything I can do?" but the figure simply waved its hand
+and resumed:
+
+"A'm comin' tae that, but a' thocht ye wud be wantin' ma opeenion o'
+London.
+
+"Weel, ye see, the first thing a' did, of coorse, after settlin'
+doon, was tae gae roond the kirks and hear what kin' o' ministers
+they hae up here. A've been in saxteen kirks the last three months,
+an' a' wud hae been in mair had it no bin for ma oors.
+
+"Ay, ay, a' ken ye 'ill be wantin' ma judgment," interpreting a movement
+in the chair, "an' ye 'ill hae it. Some wes puir stuff--plenty o' water
+and little meal--and some wesna sae bad for England. But ye 'ill be
+pleased to know," here the figure relaxed and beamed on the anxious
+minister, "that a'm rael weel satisfied wi' yersel', and a'm thinkin'
+o' sittin' under ye.
+
+"Man," were Drumtochty's last words, "a' wish Elspeth Macfadyen cud
+hear ye, her 'at prees (tastes) the sermons in oor Glen; a' believe
+she wud pass ye, an' if ye got a certeeficat frae Elspeth, ye wud be
+a prood man."
+
+Drumtochty read widely--Soutar was soaked in Carlyle, and Marget
+Howe knew her "In Memoriam" by heart--but our intellectual life
+centred on the weekly sermon. Men thought about Sabbath as they
+followed the plough in our caller air, and braced themselves for an
+effort at the giving out of the text. The hearer had his snuff and
+selected his attitude, and from that moment to the close he never
+moved nor took his eyes off the preacher. There was a tradition that
+one of the Disruption fathers had preached in the Free Kirk for one
+hour and fifty minutes on the bulwarks of Zion, and had left the
+impression that he was only playing round the outskirts of his
+subject. No preacher with anything to say could complain of
+Drumtochty, for he got a patient, honest, critical hearing from
+beginning to end. If a preacher were slightly equipped, the audience
+may have been trying. Well-meaning evangelists who came with what
+they called "a simple Gospel address," and were accustomed to have
+their warmer passages punctuated with rounds of spiritual applause
+in the shape of smiles and nods, lost heart in face of that judicial
+front, and afterwards described Drumtochty in the religious papers
+as "dead." It was as well that these good men walked in a vain show,
+for, as a matter of fact, their hearers were painfully alive.
+
+"Whar did yon wakely body come frae, Burnbrae? it wes licht wark the
+day. There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes
+eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories."
+
+"He lives aboot England, a'm telt, an' dis a feck o' gude in his ain
+place. He hesna muckle in his head, a'll alloo that, Netherton, but
+he's an earnest bit cratur."
+
+"Ou ay, and fu' o' self-conceit. Did ye hear hoo often he said 'I'?
+a' got as far as saxty-three, and then a' lost coont. But a' keepit
+'dear,' it cam tae the hundred neat.
+
+"'Weel?' a' says tae Elspeth Macfadyen. A' kent she wud hae his
+measure.
+
+"'Gruel, Netherton, juist gruel, and eneuch tae scunner (disgust) ye
+wi' sugar.'"
+
+It was the birthright of every native of the parish to be a critic, and
+certain were allowed to be experts in special departments--Lachlan
+Campbell in doctrine and Jamie Soutar in logic--but as an old round
+practitioner Mrs. Macfadyen had a solitary reputation. It rested on
+a long series of unreversed judgments, with felicitous strokes of
+description that passed into the literary capital of the Glen. One
+felt it was genius, and could only note contributing circumstances--an
+eye that took in the preacher from the crown of his head to the sole
+of his foot; an almost uncannie insight into character; the instinct
+to seize on every scrap of evidence; a memory that was simply an
+automatic register; an unfailing sense of fitness; and an absolute
+impartiality regarding subject.
+
+It goes without saying that Mrs. Macfadyen did not take nervous
+little notes during the sermon--all writing on Sabbath, in kirk or
+outside, was strictly forbidden in Drumtochty--or mark her Bible, or
+practise any other profane device of feeble-minded hearers. It did
+not matter how elaborate or how incoherent a sermon might be, it
+could not confuse our critic.
+
+When John Peddie of Muirtown, who always approached two hours, and
+usually had to leave out the last head, took time at the Drumtochty
+Fast, and gave, at full length, his famous discourse on the total
+depravity of the human race, from the text, "Arise, shine, for thy
+light is come," it may be admitted that the Glen wavered in its
+confidence. Human nature has limitations, and failure would have
+been no discredit to Elspeth.
+
+"They were sayin' at the Presbytery," Burnbrae reported, "that it
+hes mair than seeventy heads, coontin' pints, of coorse, and a' can
+weel believe it. Na, na, it's no tae be expeckit that Elspeth cud
+gie them a' aifter ae hearin'."
+
+Jamie Souter looked in to set his mind at rest, and Elspeth went at
+once to work.
+
+"Sit doon, Jamie, for it canna be dune in a meenut."
+
+It took twenty-three minutes exactly, for Jamie watched the clock.
+
+"That's the laist, makin' seeventy-four, and ye may depend on every
+ane but that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it wes the
+'beginnin' o' faith' or 'the origin,' a' canna be sure, for he
+cleared his throat at the time."
+
+Peter Bruce stood helpless at the Junction next Friday--Drumtochty
+was celebrating Elspeth--and the achievement established her for
+life.
+
+Probationers who preached in the vacancy had heard rumours, and
+tried to identify their judge, with the disconcerting result that
+they addressed their floweriest passages to Mistress Stirton, who
+was the stupidest woman in the Free Kirk, and had once stuck in the
+"chief end of man." They never suspected the sonsy motherly woman,
+two pews behind Donald Menzies, with her face of demure interest and
+general air of country simplicity. It was as well for the
+probationers that they had not caught the glint of those black beady
+eyes.
+
+"It's curious," Mrs. Macfadyen remarked to me one day, "hoo the
+pulpit fashions change, juist like weemen's bonnets.
+
+"Noo a' mind when auld Doctor Ferintosh, him 'at wrote 'Judas
+Iscariot the first Residuary,' would stand twa meenutes facing the
+fouk, and no sit doon till he hed his snuff.
+
+"But thae young birkies gie oot 'at they see naebody comin' in, an'
+cover their face wi' ae hand sae solemn, that if ye didna catch them
+keekin' through their fingers tae see what like the kirk is, ye wud
+think they were prayin'."
+
+"There's not much escapes you," I dared to say, and although the
+excellent woman was not accessible to gross flattery, she seemed
+pleased.
+
+"A'm thankfu' that a' can see withoot lookin'; an' a'll wager nae
+man ever read his sermon in Drumtochty Kirk, an' a' didna find him
+oot. Noo, there's the new minister o' Netheraird, he writes his
+sermon on ae side o' ten sheets o' paper, an' he's that carried awa'
+at the end o' ilka page that he disna ken what he's daein', an' the
+sleeve o' his goon slips the sheet across tae the ither side o' the
+Bible.
+
+"But Doctor Ferintosh wes cleverer, sall it near beat me tae detect
+him," and Elspeth paused to enjoy the pulpit ruse. "It cam tae me
+sudden ae Sacrament Monday, hoo dis he aye turn up twal texts,
+naither mair nor less, and that set me thinkin'. Then a' noticed
+that he left the Bible open at the place till anither text was due,
+an' I wunnered a'd been sae slow. It wes this wy: he askit the
+beadle for a gless o' water in the vestry, and slippit his sermon in
+atween the leaves in sae mony bits. A've wished for a gallery at a
+time, but there's mair credit in findin' it oot below--ay, an'
+pleesure tae; a' never wearied in kirk in ma life."
+
+Mrs. Macfadyen did not appreciate prodigal quotations of Scriptures,
+and had her suspicions of this practice.
+
+"Tak the minister o' Pitscourie noo; he's fair fozzy wi' trokin' in
+his gairden an' feedin' pigs, and hesna studied a sermon for thirty
+year.
+
+"Sae what dis he dae, think ye? He havers for a whilie on the errors
+o' the day, and syne he says, 'That's what man says, but what says
+the Apostle Paul? We shall see what the Apostle Paul says.' He puts
+on his glasses, and turns up the passage, and reads maybe ten
+verses, and then he's aff on the jundy (trot) again. When a man hes
+naethin' tae say he's aye lang, and a've seen him gie half an oor o'
+passages, and anither half oor o' havers.
+
+"'He's a Bible preacher, at any rate,' says Burnbrae tae me laist
+Fast, for, honest man, he hes aye some gude word for a body.
+
+"'It's ae thing,' I said to him, 'tae feed a calf wi' milk, and
+anither tae gie it the empty cogie tae lick.'
+
+"It's curious, but a've noticed that when a Moderate gets lazy he
+preaches auld sermons, but a Free Kirk minister taks tae abusin' his
+neeburs and readin' screeds o' the Bible.
+
+"But Maister Pittendreigh hes twa sermons, at ony rate," and Elspeth
+tasted the sweets of memory with such keen relish that I begged for
+a share.
+
+"Well, ye see he's terrible prood o' his feenishes, and this is ane
+o' them:
+
+"'Heaven, ma brethren, will be far grander than the hoose o' ony
+earthly potentate, for there ye will no longer eat the flesh of
+bulls nor drink the blood o' goats, but we shall sook the juicy pear
+and scoop the loocious meelon. Amen.'
+
+"He hes nae mair sense o' humour than an owl, and a' aye haud that a
+man withoot humour sudna be allowed intae a poopit.
+
+"A' hear that they have nae examination in humour at the college;
+it's an awfu' want, for it wud keep oot mony a dreich body.
+
+"But the meelon's naethin' tae the goat, that cowed a'thing, at the
+Fast tae.
+
+"If Jeems wes aboot a' daurna mention 't: he canna behave himsel'
+tae this day gin he hears 'it, though ye ken he's a douce man as
+ever lived.
+
+"It wes anither feenish, and it ran this wy:
+
+"'Noo, ma freends, a' wull no be keepin' ye ony longer, and ye 'ill
+a' gae hame tae yir ain hooses and mind yir ain business. And as
+sune as ye get hame ilka man 'ill gae tae his closet and shut the
+door, and stand for five meenutes, and ask himsel' this solemn
+question, "Am I a goat?" Amen.'
+
+"The amen near upset me masel', and a' hed tae dunge Jeems wi' ma
+elbow.
+
+"He said no a word on the wy back, but a' saw it wes barmin' in him,
+and he gied oot sudden aifter his dinner as if he had been ta'en
+unweel.
+
+"A' cam' on him in the byre, rowing in the strae like a bairn, and
+every ither row he took he wud say, 'Am I a goat?'
+
+"It wes na cannie for a man o' his wecht, besides bein' a married
+man and a kirk member, and a' gied him a hearin'.
+
+"He sobered doon, and a' never saw him dae the like since. But he
+hesna forgot, na, na; a've seen a look come ower Jeems' face in
+kirk, and a've been feared."
+
+When the Free Kirk quarrelled in their vacancy over two
+probationers, Mrs. Macfadyen summed them up with such excellent
+judgment that they were thrown over and peace restored.
+
+"There's some o' thae Muirtown drapers can busk oot their windows
+that ye canna pass withoot lookin'; there's bits o' blue and bits o'
+red, and a ribbon here an' a lace yonder.
+
+"It's a bonnie show and denty, an' no wunner the lassies stan' and
+stare.
+
+"But gae intae the shop, and peety me, there's next tae naethin';
+it's a' in the window.
+
+"Noo, that's Maister Popinjay, as neat an' fikey a little mannie as
+ever a' saw in a black goon.
+
+"His bit sermon wes six poems--five a' hed heard afore--four
+anecdotes--three aboot himsel' and ain aboot a lord--twa burnies, ae
+floo'r gairden, and a snowstorm, wi' the text thirteen times and
+'beloved' twal; that was a'; a takin' window, and Netherton's
+lassies cudna sleep thinkin' o' him.
+
+"There's ither shopmen in Muirtown that fair scunner ye wi' their
+windows--they're that ill set out--and inside there's sic a wrale o'
+stuff that the man canna get what ye want; he's clean smoored wi'
+his ain goods.
+
+"It's a graund shop for the auld fouk that hae plenty o' time and
+can turn ower the things by the 'oor. Ye 'ill no get a young body
+inside the door.
+
+"That's Maister Auchtermuchty; he hes mair material than he kens hoo
+tae handle, and naebody, hearin' him, can mak head or tail o' his
+sermon.
+
+"Ye get a rive at the Covenants ae meenute, and a mouthfu' o'
+justification the next. Yir nae suner wi' the Patriarchs than yir
+whuppit aff tae the Apostles.
+
+"It's rich feedin', nae doot, but sair mixed, an' no verra tasty."
+
+So the old and young compromised, and chose Carmichael.
+
+Elspeth was candid enough on occasion, but she was not indiscreet.
+She could convey her mind delicately if need be, and was a mistress
+of subtle suggestion.
+
+When Netherton's nephew preached the missionary sermon--he was a
+stout young man with a volcanic voice--Mrs. Macfadyen could not
+shirk her duty, but she gave her judgment with care.
+
+"He's a fine lad, and 'ill be sure to get a kirk; he's been weel
+brocht up, and comes o' decent fouk.
+
+"His doctrine soonds richt, and he 'ill no gang aff the track. Ye
+canna ca' him bashfu', and he's sure to be heard."
+
+Her audience still waited, and not in vain.
+
+"But the Lord hes nae pleesure in the legs o' a man," and every one
+felt that the last word had been said on Netherton's nephew.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+Carmichael used to lament bitterly that he had lost his Gaelic, and
+laboured plans of compensation for our Celts, who were understood to
+worship in English at an immense reduction of profit. One spring he
+intercepted a Highland minister, who was returning from his winter's
+raid on Glasgow with great spoil, and arranged an evening service,
+which might carry Lachlan Campbell back to the golden days of
+Auchindarroch. Mr. Dugald Mactavish was himself much impressed with
+the opportunity of refreshing his exiled brethren, speaking freely
+on the Saturday of the Lowlands as Babylon, and the duty of
+gathering the outcasts of Israel into one. He was weaned with
+difficulty from Gaelic, and only consented to preach in the "other
+language" on condition that he should not be restricted in time. His
+soul had been much hampered in West End churches, where he had to
+appeal for his new stove under the first head, lest he should go
+empty away, and it was natural for one escaping from such bondage to
+put a generous interpretation on Carmichael's concession. So Maister
+Dugald continued unto the setting of the sun. His discourse was so
+rich and varied that Peddie of Muirtown on original sin was not to
+be compared with it in breadth of treatment, and Mrs. Macfadyen
+confessed frankly that she gave up in despair before the preacher
+had fairly entered on his second hour. Besides the encounter of the
+preacher with Mr. Urijah Hopps, which carried the Glen by storm, and
+kept the name of Mactavish green with us for a generation.
+
+Rumours of this monumental pulpit effort, with its stirring
+circumstances, passed from end to end of the Glen during the week,
+and Peter himself recognised that it was an occasion at the Junction
+on Friday.
+
+"Ye may as weel shut aff the steam, Jeems," Peter explained to our
+engine-driver, "an' gie them ten meenuts. It's been by ordinar' at
+Drumtochty Free Kirk laist Sabbath nicht, and Drumsheugh 'ill no
+move till he hears the end o't."
+
+And as soon as the Muirtown train had removed all strangers, that
+worthy man opened the campaign.
+
+"What kin' o' collieshangie (disturbance) is this ye've been
+carryin' on, Hillocks? it's doonricht aggravatin' that ye're no
+content pesterin' oor life oot wi' that English body in the
+kirkyaird, but ye maist needs set him up tae arglebargle wi' a
+stranger minister at the Free Kirk. They say that the puir man cud
+hardly get a word in atween you and yir lodger. Burnbrae here is
+threatenin' ye wi' the Sherra, and a' dinna wonder.
+
+"It's nae lauchin' maitter, a' can tell ye, Drumsheugh; a've never
+been sae black affrontit a' ma life. Burnbrae kens as weel as ye dae
+that a' wasna tae blame.
+
+"Ye 'ill better clear yersel at ony rate, Hillocks, for some o' the
+neeburs threep (insist) 'at it wes you, and some that it wes yir
+freend, an' there's ithers declare ye ran in compt (company) like
+twa dogs worrying sheep; it wes a bonnie like pliskie (escapade)
+onywy, and hardly fit for an Auld Kirk elder"--a sally much enjoyed
+by the audience, who knew that, after Whinnie, Hillocks was the
+doucest man in Drumtochty.
+
+"Weel, ye see it wes this wy," began Hillocks, with the air of a man
+on his trial for fire raising. "Hopps fund oot that a Hielandman wes
+tae preach in the Free Kirk, and naethin' wud sateesfy him but that
+we maun gae. A' micht hae jaloused (suspected) it wesna the sermon
+the wratch wantit, for he hed the impidence tae complain that the
+Doctor was tedious Sabbath a fortnicht when he gied us 'Ruth,'
+though I never minded 'Ruth' gae aff sae sweet a' the times a've
+heard it.
+
+"Gin a' hed imagined what the ettercap (captious creature) wes
+aifter a' wud hae seen ma feet in the fire afore they carried me tae
+the Free Kirk that nicht.
+
+"Says he tae me on the road, 'A'm told the minister will be in his
+national costume.'
+
+"'He 'ill be in his goon and bands,' says I, 'if that's what ye
+mean,' for the head o' him is fu' o' maggots, and nae man can tell
+what he wull be at next.
+
+"'Mister Soutar said that he would wear his kilt, and that it would
+be an interesting spectacle.'
+
+"'Jamie's been drawing yir leg (befooling you),' says I. 'Man,
+there's naebody wears a kilt forbye gemkeepers and tourist bodies.
+Ye 'ill better come awa hame,' and sall, if a' hed kent what wes tae
+happen, a' wud hae taken him aff below ma oxter.
+
+"It's no richt tae mak me responsible, for a' tried tae wile him awa
+tae the back o' the kirk whar naebody cud see him, but he's that
+thrawn and upsettin', if he didna gae tae the verra front seat afore
+the poopit.
+
+"'I want a good position,' says he; 'I'll see everything here;' sae
+a' left him an' gied tae Elspeth Macfadyen's seat.
+
+"'He's anxious tae hear,' she said, 'an' a'm thinkin' he 'ill get
+mair than he expecks. A' wish it wes weel ower masel, Hillocks; it
+'ill be an awfu' nicht.'
+
+"Thae Hielandmen dinna pit aff time wi' the preleeminaries, but they
+were lang eneuch tae let onybody see what kin' o' man Mactavish wes.
+
+"A gruesome carle, neeburs, wi' his hair hangin' roond his face like
+a warlock and his een blazin' oot o' his head like fire; the sicht
+o' him is sure tae sober Hopps, thinks I.
+
+"But no, there's some fouk 'ill tak nae warnin'; there he was,
+sittin' in front o' Mactavish with his thumbs in his airm holes, and
+a watch gaird spread richt across him, and ae leg cocked over the
+ither, the verra eemage of a bantam cock fleein' in the face o'
+judgment."
+
+Drumtochty had never moved during this history, and now they drew
+closer round Hillocks, on whom the mantle of speech had for once
+descended.
+
+"Mactavish lookit at the body aince, and he lookit again juist tae
+gie him fair notis, and then he broke oot in face o' the hale
+congregation:
+
+"'There's nothing in all the world so deceptive as sin, for outside
+it's like a bonnie summer day, and inside it's as black as hell.
+
+"'Now here iss this fat little man sittin' before me with his suit
+o' blue clothes so bonnie and dainty, and a watch guard as thick as
+my finger on his wame, smilin' an' smirkin', and real well contented
+with himself, but if he wass opened up what a sight it would be for
+men and angels. Oh yes, yes, it would be a fearsome sicht, and no
+man here would be able to look.'
+
+"A' tell ye, neeburs, ye micht hae heard a pin fa' tae the ground,
+and ma heart was thumping in ma briest; a' wudna come thro' the like
+o' yon again for half the pleenishin' o' Hillocks."
+
+There was not a sound at the junction save the steam escaping from
+the engine, and Hillocks resumed:
+
+"But the worst's comin'. Hopps jumps up and faces Mactavish--a'll no
+deny there is some spunk in the body.
+
+"'What right have you to speak like that to me? do you know who I
+am?'
+
+"He hed better been quiet, for he wes nae match for yon Hielandman.
+
+"Mactavish glowered at him for maybe a meenut till the puir cratur
+fell back intae his seat.
+
+"'Man,' says Mactavish, 'I do not know who you are, and I do not
+know what you are, and I shall not be asking who you are, and I am
+not caring though you be MacCallummore himsel'. You are just a
+Parable, oh yes, just a Parable.
+
+"'But if ye be convicted of secret sin ye may go out, and if there
+be anybody else whose sins have been laid bare he may go out too,
+and if nobody wants to go out, then I will be going on with the
+sermon, oh yes, for it will not do to be spending all our time on
+Parables.'
+
+"As sure as a'm stannin' here ye cudna see Hopps inside his claithes
+when Mactavish wes dune wi' him."
+
+When the train started Hillocks received the compliments of the
+third with much modesty, and added piquant details regarding the
+utter confusion of our sermon taster.
+
+"'Did ye follow?' a' speirit o' Elspeth afore a' went tae pit Hopps
+thegither.
+
+"'Cud a' follow a bumbee?' was the only word a' got frae her; a' saw
+she was beaten for aince and wes rael mad."
+
+"I'st true Elspeth scuffled wi' her feet at the laist head and gar'd
+him close?"
+
+"A'll neither deny nor affirm, Drumsheugh; but there's nae doot when
+the mune began tae shine aboot nine, and Mactavish started aff on
+the Devil, somebody scrapit aside me. It wesna Jeems; he daurna for
+his life; and it wesna me. A'll no say but it micht be Elspeth, but
+she wes sair provokit. Aifter haddin' her ain twenty years tae be
+maistered by a Hielandman."
+
+It was simply a duty of friendship to look in and express one's
+sympathy with Mrs. Macfadyen in this professional disaster. I found
+her quite willing to go over the circumstances, which were
+unexampled in her experience, and may indeed be considered a
+contribution to history.
+
+"A' wudna hae minded," explained Elspeth, settling down to
+narrative, "hoo mony heads he gied oot, no tho' he hed titched the
+hundred. A've cause tae be gratefu' for a guid memory, and a've kept
+it in fine fettle wi' sermons. My wy is tae place ilka head at the
+end o' a shelf and a' the pints aifter it in order like the plates
+there," and Mrs. Macfadyen pointed with honest pride to her wall of
+crockery, "and when the minister is at an illustration or makin' an
+appeal a' aye rin ower the rack tae see that a've a' the pints in
+their places. Maister Mactavish cud ne'er hae got the wheephand o'
+me wi' his diveesions; he's no fit to haud the can'le tae John
+Peddie. Na, na, a' wesna feared o' that when a' examined yon man
+gieing oot the Psalm, but a' didna like his een.
+
+"'He's ravelled,' a' said tae masel, 'without beginning or end; we
+'ill hae a nicht o't,' and sae we hed."
+
+I preserved a sympathetic silence till Mrs. Macfadyen felt herself
+able to proceed.
+
+"It's easy eneuch, ye see, for an auld hand tae manage ae set o'
+heads gin they come tae ten or a hundred, but it's another business
+when a man hes different sets in ae sermon. Noo hoo mony sets div ye
+think that man hed afore he wes dune?"
+
+It was vain for a mere layman to cope with the possibilities of Mr.
+Mactavish.
+
+"Fower, as a'm a leevin' woman, and that's no a'; he didna feenish
+wi' ae set an' begin wi' the next, but if he didna mix them a'
+thegither. Fower set o' heads a' in a tangle; noo ye hae some kin'
+o' idea o' what a' hed tae face." And Mrs. Macfadyen paused that I
+might take in the situation.
+
+When I expressed my conviction that even the most experienced hearer
+was helpless in such circumstances, Elspeth rallied, and gave me to
+understand that she had saved some fragments from the wreckage.
+
+"A'll juist tell ye the hale hypothic, for sic a discoorse ye may
+never hear a' the days o' yir life.
+
+"Ye ken thae Hielandmen tak their texts for the maist pairt frae the
+Auld Testament, and this was it mair or less, 'The trumpet shall be
+blown, and they shall come from Assyria and the land o' Egypt,' and
+he began by explainin' that there were twa classes in Drumtochty,
+those who were born and bred in the parish, which were oursels, and
+them 'at hed tae stay here owin' tae the mysterious dispensations o'
+Providence, which wes Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Noo this roosed ma suspicions, for it's against reason for a man
+tae be dividing intae classes till the end o' his sermon. Tak my
+word, it's no chancy when a minister begins at the tail o' his
+subject: he'll wind a queer pirn afore he's dune.
+
+"Weel, he gaed up and he gaed doon, and he aye said, 'Oh yes, yes,'
+juist like the thrashing mill at Drumsheugh scraiking and girling
+till it's fairly aff, an' by-and-by oot he comes wi' his heads.
+
+"'There are fower trumpets,' says he. 'First, a leeteral trumpet;
+second, a heestorical trumpet; third, a metaphorical trumpet;
+fourth, a speeritual trumpet.'
+
+"'I've got ye,' a' said tae masel, and settled doon to hear him on
+the first head, for fear he micht hae pints; but wull ye believe me,
+he barely mentioned leeteral till he was aff tae speeritual, and
+then back tae heestorical, an' in five meenuts he had the hale fower
+trumpets blawing thegither.
+
+"It wes maist exasperatin', and a' saw Jeems watchin' me--but that's
+naethin'.
+
+"'There be many trumpets,' says he, 'oh yes, an' it wes a good
+trumpet Zaccheus heard,' and afore a' knew where a' wes he hed
+startit again wi' fower new heads, as if he had never said trumpet.
+
+"'A big tree' he cries, 'an' a little man, oh yes, an' this is what
+we will be doin'.
+
+"'First. We shall go up the tree wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Second. We shall sit in the branches wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Third. We shall come down from the tree wi' Zaccheus; and if time
+permits,
+
+"'Fourth. We shall be going home wi' the publican.'"
+
+It seemed only just to pay a tribute at this point to the wonderful
+presence of mind Mrs. Macfadyen had shown amid unparalleled
+difficulties.
+
+"Hoot awa," she responded; the meenut ony heads cam a' knew ma
+grund: but the times atween I wes fairly lost.
+
+"A'll no deny," and our critic turned aside to general reflections,
+"that Mactavish said mony bonnie and affeckin' things frae time tae
+time, like the glimpses o' the hills ye get when the mist rolls awa,
+and he cam nearer the hert than the feck o' oor preachers; but
+certes yon confusion is mair than us low country fouk cud stand.
+
+"Juist when he wes speakin' aboot Zaccheus as nice as ye please--though
+whether he was up the tree or doon the tree a' cudna for the life o' me
+tell--he stops sudden and looks at us ower the top o' his spectacles,
+which is terrible impressive, and near dis instead o' speakin.'
+
+"We will now come to the third head of this discoorse.
+
+"'The trumpet shall be blown, for,' says he, in a kin' o' whisper,
+'there's a hint o' oppeesition here,' an' a' tell ye honestly a'
+lost hert a'thegither, for here he wes back again amang the
+trumpets, and a'll gie ma aith he never sae much as mentioned that
+head afore.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety that some men dinna ken when tae stop; they
+micht see frae the poopit; if a' saw the tears comin' tae the
+women's een, or the men glowering like wild cats for fear they sud
+brak doon, a'd say Amen as quick as Pittendreigh aifter his goat.
+
+"What possessed Maister Dugald, as Lachlan ca'd him, a'd dinna ken,
+but aboot half nine--an' he begood at six--he sat oot upon the
+trumpets again, an' when he cudna get a haud o' them, he says:
+
+"'It will be getting dark' (the mune was fairly oot), 'an' it is
+time we were considering our last head.
+
+"'We will now study Satan in all his offices and characteristics.'"
+
+"A' see they've been telling ye what happened," and confusion
+covered Mrs. Macfadyen's ingenuous countenance.
+
+"Weel, as sure's deith a' cudna help it, tae be sittin' on peens for
+mair than twa oors tryin' tae get a grup o' a man's heads, an' him
+tae play hide-and-seek wi' ye, an' then tae begin on Satan at nine
+o'clock is mair nor flesh and bluid cud endure.
+
+"A' acknowledge a' scrapit, but a' houp tae gudeness a'll never be
+tempted like yon again.
+
+"It's a judgment on me for ma pride, an' Jeems said that tae me, for
+a' boastit a' cudna be beat, but anither oor o' Mactavish wud hae
+driven me dottle (silly)."
+
+Then I understood that Mrs. Macfadyen had been humbled in the dust.
+
+
+
+
+A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+Drumtochty was accustomed to break every law of health, except
+wholesome food and fresh air, and yet had reduced the Psalmist's
+farthest limit to an average life-rate. Our men made no difference
+in their clothes for summer or winter, Drumsheugh and one or two of
+the larger farmers condescending to a topcoat on Sabbath, as a
+penalty of their position, and without regard to temperature. They
+wore their blacks at a funeral, refusing to cover them with
+anything, out of respect to the deceased, and standing longest in
+the kirkyard when the north wind was blowing across a hundred miles
+of snow. If the rain was pouring at the Junction, then Drumtochty
+stood two minutes longer through sheer native dourness till each man
+had a cascade from the tail of his coat, and hazarded the
+suggestion, halfway to Kildrummie, that it had been "a bit scrowie,"
+a "scrowie" being as far short of a "shoor" as a "shoor" fell below
+"weet."
+
+This sustained defiance of the elements provoked occasional
+judgments in the shape of a "hoast" (cough), and the head of the
+house was then exhorted by his women folk to "change his feet" if he
+had happened to walk through a burn on his way home, and was
+pestered generally with sanitary precautions. It is right to add
+that the gudeman treated such advice with contempt, regarding it as
+suitable for the effeminacy of towns, but not seriously intended for
+Drumtochty. Sandy Stewart "napped" stones on the road in his shirt
+sleeves, wet or fair, summer and winter, till he was persuaded to
+retire from active duty at eighty-five, and he spent ten years more
+in regetting his hastiness and criticising his successor. The
+ordinary course of life, with fine air and contented minds, was to
+do a full share of work till seventy, and then to look after "orra"
+jobs well into the eighties, and to "slip awa" within sight of
+ninety. Persons above ninety were understood to be acquitting
+themselves with credit, and assumed airs of authority, brushing
+aside the opinions of seventy as immature, and confirming their
+conclusions with illustrations drawn from the end of last century.
+
+When Hillocks' brother so far forgot himself as to "slip awa" at
+sixty, that worthy man was scandalized, and offered laboured
+explanations at the "beerial."
+
+"It's an awfu' business ony wy ye look at it, an' a sair trial tae
+us a'. A' never heard tell o' sic a thing in oor family afore, an'
+it's no easy accoontin' for't.
+
+"The gudewife was sayin' he wes never the same sin' a weet nicht he
+lost himsel on the muir and slept below a bush; but that's neither
+here nor there. A'm thinkin' he sappit his constitution thae twa
+years he wes grieve aboot England. That wes thirty years syne, but
+ye're never the same aifter thae foreign climates."
+
+Drumtochty listened patiently to Hillocks' apologia, but was not
+satisfied.
+
+"It's clean havers aboot the muir. Losh keep's, we've a' sleepit oot
+and never been a hair the waur.
+
+"A' admit that England micht hae dune the job; it's no cannie
+stravagin' yon wy frae place tae place, but Drums never complained
+tae me as if he hed been nippit in the Sooth."
+
+The parish had, in fact, lost confidence in Drums after his wayward
+experiment with a potato-digging machine, which turned out a
+lamentable failure, and his premature departure confirmed our vague
+impression of his character.
+
+"He's awa noo," Drumsheugh summed up, after opinion had time to
+form; "an' there were waur fouk than Drums, but there's nae doot he
+wes a wee flichty."
+
+When illness had the audacity to attack a Drumtochty man, it was
+described as a "whup," and was treated by the men with a fine
+negligence. Hillocks was sitting in the Post Office one afternoon
+when I looked in for my letters, and the right side of his face was
+blazing red. His subject of discourse was the prospects of the
+turnip "breer," but he casually explained that he was waiting for
+medical advice.
+
+"The gudewife is keepin' up a ding-dong frae mornin' till nicht
+aboot ma face, and a'm fair deaved (deafened), so a'm watchin' for
+MacLure tae get a bottle as he comes wast; yon's him noo."
+
+The doctor made his diagnosis from horseback on sight, and stated
+the result with that admirable clearness which endeared him to
+Drumtochty.
+
+"Confoond ye, Hillocks, what are ye ploiterin' aboot here for in the
+weet wi' a face like a boiled beet? Div ye no ken that ye've a titch
+o' the rose (erysipelas), and ocht tae be in the hoose? Gae hame wi'
+ye afore a' leave the bit, and send a haflin for some medicine. Ye
+donnerd idiot, are ye ettlin tae follow Drums afore yir time?" And
+the medical attendant of Drumtochty continued his invective till
+Hillocks started, and still pursued his retreating figure with
+medical directions of a simple and practical character.
+
+"A'm watchin', an' peety ye if ye pit aff time. Keep yir bed the
+mornin', and dinna show yir face in the fields till a' see ye. A'll
+gie ye a cry on Monday--sic an auld fule--but there's no ane o' them
+tae mind anither in the hale pairish."
+
+Hillocks' wife informed the kirkyaird that the doctor "gied the
+gudeman an awfu' clearin'," and that Hillocks "wes keepin' the
+hoose," which meant that the patient had tea breakfast, and at that
+time was wandering about the farm buildings in an easy undress with
+his head in a plaid.
+
+It was impossible for a doctor to earn even the most modest
+competence from a people of such scandalous health, and so MacLure
+had annexed neighbouring parishes. His house--little more than a
+cottage--stood on the roadside among the pines towards the head of
+our Glen, and from this base of operations he dominated the wild
+glen that broke the wall of the Grampians above Drumtochty--where
+the snows drifts were twelve feet deep in winter, and the only way
+of passage at times was the channel of the river--and the moorland
+district westwards till he came to the Dunleith sphere of influence,
+where there were four doctors and a hydropathic. Drumtochty in its
+length, which was eight miles, and its breadth, which was four, lay
+in his hand; besides a glen behind, unknown to the world, which in
+the night time he visited at the risk of life, for the way thereto
+was across the big moor with its peat holes and treacherous bogs.
+And he held the land eastwards towards Muirtown so far as Geordie,
+the Drumtochty post, travelled every day, and could carry word that
+the doctor was wanted. He did his best for the need of every man,
+woman, and child in this wild, straggling district, year in, year
+out, in the snow and in the heat, in the dark and in the light,
+without rest, and without holiday for forty years.
+
+One horse could not do the work of this man, but we liked best to
+see him on his old white mare, who died the week after her master,
+and the passing of the two did our hearts good. It was not that he
+rode beautifully, for he broke every canon of art, flying with his
+arms, stooping till he seemed to be speaking into Jess's ears, and
+rising in the saddle beyond all necessity. But he could rise faster,
+stay longer in the saddle, and had a firmer grip with his knees than
+any one I ever met, and it was all for mercy's sake. When the
+reapers in harvest time saw a figure whirling past in a cloud of
+dust, or the family at the foot of Glen Urtach, gathered round the
+fire on a winter's night, heard the rattle of a horse's hoofs on the
+road, or the shepherds, out after the sheep, traced a black speck
+moving across the snow to the upper glen, they knew it was the
+doctor, and, without being conscious of it, wished him God speed.
+
+Before and behind his saddle were strapped the instruments and
+medicines the doctor might want, for he never knew what was before
+him. There were no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do
+everything as best he could, and as quickly. He was chest doctor and
+doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon;
+he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist, besides
+being chemist and druggist. It was often told how he was far up Glen
+Urtach when the feeders of the threshing mill caught young Burnbrae,
+and how he only stopped to change horses at his house, and galloped
+all the way to Burnbrae, and flung himself off his horse and
+amputated the arm, and saved the lad's life.
+
+"You wud hae thocht that every meenut was an hour," said Jamie
+Soutar, who had been at the threshing, "an' a'll never forget the
+puir lad lying as white as deith on the floor o' the loft, wi' his
+head on a sheaf, an' Burnbrae haudin' the bandage ticht an' prayin'
+a' the while, and the mither greetin' in the corner.
+
+"'Will he never come?' she cries, an' a' heard the soond o' the
+horse's feet on the road a mile awa in the frosty air.
+
+"'The Lord be praised!' said Burnbrae, and a' slippit doon the
+ladder as the doctor came skelpin' intae the close, the foam fleein'
+frae his horse's mooth.
+
+"'Whar is he?' wes a' that passed his lips, an' in five meenuts he
+hed him on the feedin' board, and wes at his wark--sic wark,
+neeburs--but he did it weel. An' ae thing a' thocht rael thochtfu'
+o' him: he first sent aff the laddie's mither tae get a bed ready.
+
+"'Noo that's feenished, and his constitution 'ill dae the rest,' and
+he carried the lad doon the ladder in his airms like a bairn, and
+laid him in his bed, and waits aside him till he wes sleepin', and
+then says he: 'Burnbrae, yir a gey lad never tae say "Collie, will
+ye lick?" for a' hevna tasted meat for saxteen hoors.'
+
+"It was michty tae see him come intae the yaird that day, neeburs;
+the verra look o' him wes victory."
+
+Jamie's cynicism slipped off in the enthusiasm of this reminiscence,
+and he expressed the feeling of Drumtochty. No one sent for MacLure
+save in great straits, and the sight of him put courage in sinking
+hearts. But this was not by the grace of his appearance, or the
+advantage of a good bedside manner. A tall, gaunt, loosely made man,
+without an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body, his face burned a
+dark brick colour by constant exposure to the weather, red hair and
+beard turning grey, honest blue eyes that look you ever in the face,
+huge hands with wrist bones like the shank of a ham, and a voice
+that hurled his salutations across two fields, he suggested the moor
+rather than the drawing-room. But what a clever hand it was in an
+operation, as delicate as a woman's, and what a kindly voice it was
+in the humble room where the shepherd's wife was weeping by her
+man's bedside. He was "ill pitten thegither" to begin with, but many
+of his physical defects were the penalties of his work, and endeared
+him to the Glen. That ugly scar that cut into his right eyebrow and
+gave him such a sinister expression, was got one night Jess slipped
+on the ice and laid him insensible eight miles from home. His limp
+marked the big snowstorm in the fifties, when his horse missed the
+road in Glen Urtach, and they rolled together in a drift. MacLure
+escaped with a broken leg and the fracture of three ribs, but he
+never walked like other men again. He could not swing himself into
+the saddle without making two attempts and holding Jess's mane.
+Neither can you "warstle" through the peat bogs and snow drifts for
+forty winters without a touch of rheumatism. But they were
+honourable scars, and for such risks of life men get the Victoria
+Cross in other fields. MacLure got nothing but the secret affection
+of the Glen, which knew that none had ever done one-tenth as much
+for it as this ungainly, twisted, battered figure, and I have seen a
+Drumtochty face soften at the sight of MacLure limping to his horse.
+
+Mr. Hopps earned the ill-will of the Glen for ever by criticising
+the doctor's dress, but indeed it would have filled any townsman
+with amazement. Black he wore once a year, on Sacrament Sunday, and,
+if possible, at a funeral; topcoat or waterproof never. His jacket
+and waistcoat were rough homespun of Glen Urtach wool, which threw
+off the wet like a duck's back, and below he was clad in shepherd's
+tartan trousers, which disappeared into unpolished riding boots. His
+shirt was grey flannel, and he was uncertain about a collar, but
+certain as to a tie which he never had, his beard doing instead, and
+his hat was soft felt of four colours and seven different shapes.
+His point of distinction in dress was the trousers, and they were
+the subject of unending speculation.
+
+"Some threep that he's worn thae eedentical pair the last twenty
+year, an' a' mind masel him gettin' a tear ahint, when he was
+crossin' oor palin', and the mend's still veesible.
+
+"Ithers declare 'at he's got a wab o' claith, and hes a new pair
+made in Muirtown aince in the twa year maybe, and keeps them in the
+garden till the new look wears aft.
+
+"For ma ain pairt," Soutar used to declare, "a' canna mak up my
+mind, but there's ae thing sure, the Glen wud not like tae see him
+withoot them: it wud be a shock tae confidence. There's no muckle o'
+the check left, but ye can aye tell it, and when ye see thae breeks
+comin' in ye ken that if human pooer can save yir bairn's life it
+'ill be dune."
+
+The confidence of the Glen--and tributary states--was unbounded, and
+rested partly on long experience of the doctor's resources, and
+partly on his hereditary connection.
+
+"His father was here afore him," Mrs. Macfadyen used to explain;
+"atween them they've hed the countyside for weel on tae a century;
+if MacLure disna understand oor constitution, wha dis, a' wud like
+tae ask?"
+
+For Drumtochty had its own constitution and a special throat
+disease, as became a parish which was quite self-contained between
+the woods and the hills, and not dependent on the lowlands either
+for its diseases or its doctors.
+
+"He's a skilly man, Doctor MacLure," continued my friend Mrs.
+Macfadyen, whose judgment on sermons or anything else was seldom at
+fault; "an' a kind-hearted, though o' coorse he hes his faults like
+us a', an' he disna tribble the Kirk often.
+
+"He aye can tell what's wrang wi' a body, an' maistly he can put ye
+richt, and there's nae new-fangled wys wi' him: a blister for the
+ootside an' Epsom salts for the inside dis his wark, an' they say
+there's no an herb on the hills he disna ken.
+
+"If we're tae dee, we're tae dee; an' if we're tae live, we're tae
+live," concluded Elspeth, with sound Calvinistic logic; "but a'll
+say this for the doctor, that whether yir tae live or dee, he can
+aye keep up a shairp meisture on the skin.
+
+"But he's no verra ceevil gin ye bring him when there's naethin'
+wrang," and Mrs. Macfadyen's face reflected another of Mr. Hopps'
+misadventures of which Hillocks held the copyright.
+
+"Hopps' laddie ate grosarts (gooseberries) till they hed to sit up
+a' nicht wi' him, an' naethin' wud do but they maun hae the doctor,
+an' he writes 'immediately' on a slip o' paper.
+
+"Weel, MacLure had been awa a' nicht wi' a shepherd's wife Dunleith
+wy, and he comes here withoot drawin' bridle, mud up tae the een.
+
+"'What's a dae here, Hillocks?" he cries; 'it's no an accident,
+is't?' and when he got aff his horse he cud hardly stand wi'
+stiffness and tire.
+
+"'It's nane o' us, doctor; it's Hopps' laddie; he's been eatin' ower
+mony berries.'
+
+"If he didna turn on me like a tiger.
+
+"'Div ye mean tae say--'
+
+"'Weesht, weesht,' an' I tried tae quiet him, for Hopps wes comin'
+oot.
+
+"'Well, doctor,' begins he, as brisk as a magpie, 'you're here at
+last; there's no hurry with you Scotchmen. My boy has been sick all
+night, and I've never had one wink of sleep. You might have come a
+little quicker, that's all I've got to say.'
+
+"'We've mair tae dae in Drumtochty than attend tae every bairn that
+hes a sair stomach,' and a' saw MacLure wes roosed.
+
+"'I'm astonished to hear you speak. Our doctor at home always says
+to Mrs. 'Opps, "Look on me as a family friend, Mrs. 'Opps, and send
+for me though it be only a headache."'
+
+"'He'd be mair sparin' o' his offers if he hed four and twenty mile
+tae look aifter. There's naethin' wrang wi' yir laddie but greed.
+Gie him a gude dose o' castor oil and stop his meat for a day, an'
+he 'ill be a' richt the morn.'
+
+"'He 'ill not take castor oil, doctor. We have given up those
+barbarous medicines.'
+
+"'Whatna kind o' medicines hae ye noo in the Sooth?'
+
+"'Well, you see, Dr. MacLure, we're homoeopathists, and I've my
+little chest here, 'and oot Hopps comes wi' his boxy.
+
+"'Let's see't,' an' MacLure sits doon and taks oot the bit bottles,
+and he reads the names wi' a lauch every time.
+
+"'Belladonna; did ye ever hear the like? Aconite; it cowes a'. Nux
+Vomica. What next? Weel, ma mannie,' he says tae Hopps, 'it's a fine
+ploy, and ye 'ill better gang on wi' the Nux till it's dune, and gie
+him ony ither o' the sweeties he fancies.
+
+"'Noo, Hillocks, a' maun be aff tae see Drumsheugh's grieve, for
+he's doon wi' the fever, and it's tae be a teuch fecht. A' hinna
+time tae wait for dinner; gie me some cheese an' cake in ma haund,
+and Jess 'ill tak a pail o' meal an' water.
+
+"'Fee; a'm no wantin' yir fees, man; wi' that boxy ye dinna need a
+doctor; na, na, gie yir siller tae some puir body, Maister Hopps,'
+an' he was doon the road as hard as he cud lick."
+
+His fees were pretty much what the folk chose to give him, and he
+collected them once a year at Kildrummie fair.
+
+"Weel, doctor, what am a' awin' ye for the wife and bairn? Ye 'ill
+need three notes for that nicht ye stayed in the hoose an' a' the
+veesits."
+
+"Havers," MacLure would answer, "prices are low, a'm hearing; gie's
+thirty shillings."
+
+"No, a'll no, or the wife 'ill tak ma ears off," and it was settled
+for two pounds.
+
+Lord Kilspindie gave him a free house and fields, and one way or
+other, Drumsheugh told me, the doctor might get in about £150 a
+year, out of which he had to pay his old housekeeper's wages and a
+boy's, and keep two horses, besides the cost of instruments and
+books, which he bought through a friend in Edinburgh with much
+judgment.
+
+There was only one man who ever complained of the doctor's charges,
+and that was the new farmer of Milton, who was so good that he was
+above both churches, and held a meeting in his barn. (It was Milton
+the Glen supposed at first to be a Mormon, but I can't go into that
+now.) He offered McLure a pound less than he asked, and two tracts,
+whereupon MacLure expressed his opinion of Milton, both from a
+theological and social standpoint, with such vigour and frankness
+that an attentive audience of Drumtochty men could hardly contain
+themselves.
+
+Jamie Soutar was selling his pig at the time, and missed the
+meeting, but he hastened to condole with Milton, who was complaining
+everywhere of the doctor's language.
+
+"Ye did richt tae resist him; it 'ill maybe roose the Glen tae mak a
+stand; he fair hauds them in bondage.
+
+"Thirty shillings for twal veesits, and him no mair than seeven mile
+awa, an' a'm telt there werena mair than four at nicht.
+
+"Ye 'ill hae the sympathy o' the Glen, for a' body kens yir as free
+wi' yir siller as yir tracts.
+
+"Wes't 'Beware o' gude warks' ye offered him? Man, ye chose it weel,
+for he's been colleckin' sae mony thae forty years, a'm feared for
+him.
+
+"A've often thocht oor doctor's little better than the Gude
+Samaritan, an' the Pharisees didna think muckle o' his chance aither
+in this warld or that which is tae come."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+Doctor MacLure did not lead a solemn procession from the sick bed to
+the dining-room, and give his opinion from the hearthrug with an air
+of wisdom bordering on the supernatural, because neither the
+Drumtochty houses nor his manners were on that large scale. He was
+accustomed to deliver himself in the yard, and to conclude his
+directions with one foot in the stirrup; but when he left the room
+where the life of Annie Mitchell was ebbing slowly away, our doctor
+said not one word, and at the sight of his face her husband's heart
+was troubled.
+
+He was a dull man, Tammas, who could not read the meaning of a sign,
+and laboured under a perpetual disability of speech; but love was
+eyes to him that day, and a mouth.
+
+"Is't as bad as yir lookin', doctor? tell's the truth; wull Annie no
+come through?" and Tammas looked MacLure straight in the face, who
+never flinched his duty or said smooth things.
+
+"A' wud gie onything tae say Annie hes a chance, but a' daurna; a'
+doot yir gaein' tae lose her, Tammas."
+
+MacLure was in the saddle, and as he gave his judgment, he laid his
+hand on Tammas's shoulder with one of the rare caresses that pass
+between men.
+
+"It's a sair business, but ye 'ill play the man and no vex Annie;
+she 'ill dae her best, a'll warrant."
+
+"An' a'll dae mine," and Tammas gave MacLure's hand a grip that
+would have crushed the bones of a weakling. Drumtochty felt in such
+moments the brotherliness of this rough-looking man, and loved him.
+
+Tammas hid his face in Jess's mane, who looked round with sorrow in
+her beautiful eyes, for she had seen many tragedies, and in this
+silent sympathy the stricken man drank his cup, drop by drop.
+
+"A' wesna prepared for this, for a' aye thocht she wud live the
+langest.... She's younger than me by ten years, and never wes
+ill.... We've been mairit twal year laist Martinmas, but its juist
+like a year the day.... A' wes never worthy o' her, the bonniest,
+snoddest (neatest), kindliest lass in the Glen.... A' never cud mak
+oot hoo she ever lookit at me, 'at hesna hed ae word tae say aboot
+her till it's ower late.... She didna cuist up tae me that a' wesna
+worthy o' her, no her, but aye she said, 'Yir ma ain gudeman, and
+nane cud be kinder tae me.'... An' a' wes minded tae be kind, but a'
+see noo mony little trokes a' micht hae dune for her, and noo the
+time is bye.... Naebody kens hoo patient she wes wi' me, and aye
+made the best o' me, an' never pit me tae shame afore the fouk....
+An' we never hed ae cross word, no ane in twal year.... We were mair
+nor man and wife, we were sweethearts a' the time.... Oh, ma bonnie
+lass, what 'ill the bairnies an' me dae withoot ye, Annie?"
+
+The winter night was falling fast, the snow lay deep upon the
+ground, and the merciless north wind moaned through the close as
+Tammas wrestled with his sorrow dry-eyed, for tears were denied
+Drumtochty men. Neither the doctor nor Jess moved hand or foot, but
+their hearts were with their fellow creature, and at length the
+doctor made a sign to Marget Howe, who had come out in search of
+Tammas, and now stood by his side.
+
+"Dinna mourn tae the brakin' o' yir hert, Tammas," she said, "as if
+Annie an' you hed never luved. Neither death nor time can pairt them
+that luve; there's naethin' in a' the warld sae strong as luve. If
+Annie gaes frae the sicht o' yir een she 'ill come the nearer tae
+yir hert. She wants tae see ye, and tae hear ye say that ye 'ill
+never forget her nicht nor day till ye meet in the land where
+there's nae pairtin'. Oh, a' ken what a'm sayin', for it's five year
+noo sin George gied awa, an' he's mair wi' me noo than when he wes
+in Edinboro' and I wes in Drumtochty."
+
+"Thank ye kindly, Marget; thae are gude words and true, an' ye hev
+the richt tae say them; but a' canna dae without seein' Annie comin'
+tae meet me in the gloamin', an' gaein' in an' oot the hoose, an'
+hearin' her ca' me by ma name, an' a'll no can tell her that a' luve
+her when there's nae Annie in the hoose.
+
+"Can naethin' be dune, doctor? Ye savit Flora Cammil, and young
+Burnbrae, an' yon shepherd's wife Dunleith wy, an' we were a sae
+prood o' ye, an' pleased tae think that ye hed keepit deith frae
+anither hame. Can ye no think o' somethin' tae help Annie, and gie
+her back tae her man and bairnies?" and Tammas searched the doctor's
+face in the cold, weird light.
+
+"There's nae pooer in heaven or airth like luve," Marget said to me
+afterwards; "it maks the weak strong and the dumb tae speak. Oor
+herts were as water afore Tammas's words, an' a' saw the doctor
+shake in his saddle. A' never kent till that meenut hoo he hed a
+share in a'body's grief, an' carried the heaviest wecht o' a' the
+Glen. A' peetied him wi' Tammas lookin' at him sae wistfully, as if
+he hed the keys o' life an' deith in his hands. But he wes honest,
+and wudna hold oot a false houp tae deceive a sore hert or win
+escape for himsel'."
+
+"Ye needna plead wi' me, Tammas, to dae the best a' can for yir
+wife. Man, a' kent her lang afore ye ever luved her; a' brocht her
+intae the warld, and a' saw her through the fever when she wes a bit
+lassikie; a' closed her mither's een, and it wes me hed tae tell her
+she wes an orphan, an' nae man wes better pleased when she got a
+gude husband, and a' helpit her wi' her fower bairns. A've naither
+wife nor bairns o' ma own, an' a coont a' the fouk o' the Glen ma
+family. Div ye think a' wudna save Annie if I cud? If there wes a
+man in Muirtown 'at cud dae mair for her, a'd have him this verra
+nicht, but a' the doctors in Perthshire are helpless for this
+tribble.
+
+"Tammas, ma puir fallow, if it could avail, a' tell ye a' wud lay
+doon this auld worn-oot ruckle o' a body o' mine juist tae see ye
+baith sittin' at the fireside, an' the bairns roond ye, couthy an'
+canty again; but it's no tae be, Tammas, it's no tae be."
+
+"When a' lookit at the doctor's face," Marget said, "a' thocht him
+the winsomest man a' ever saw. He wes transfigured that nicht, for
+a'm judging there's nae transfiguration like luve."
+
+"It's God's wull an' maun be borne, but it's a sair wull for me, an'
+a'm no ungratefu' tae you, doctor, for a' ye've dune and what ye
+said the nicht," and Tammas went back to sit with Annie for the last
+time.
+
+Jess picked her way through the deep snow to the main road, with a
+skill that came of long experience, and the doctor held converse
+with her according to his wont.
+
+"Eh, Jess wumman, yon wes the hardest wark a' hae tae face, and a'
+wud raither hae ta'en ma chance o' anither row in a Glen Urtach
+drift than tell Tammas Mitchell his wife wes deein'.
+
+"A' said she cudna be cured, and it wes true, for there's juist ae
+man in the land fit for't, and they micht as weel try tae get the
+mune oot o' heaven. Sae a' said naethin' tae vex Tammas's hert, for
+it's heavy eneuch withoot regrets.
+
+"But it's hard, Jess, that money wull buy life after a', an' if
+Annie wes a duchess her man wudna lose her; but bein' only a puir
+cottar's wife, she maun dee afore the week's oot.
+
+"Gin we hed him the morn there's little doot she wud be saved, for
+he hesna lost mair than five per cent, o' his cases, and they 'ill
+be puir toon's craturs, no strappin' women like Annie.
+
+"It's oot o' the question, Jess, sae hurry up, lass, for we've hed a
+heavy day. But it wud be the grandest thing that was ever dune in
+the Glen in oor time if it could be managed by hook or crook.
+
+"We 'ill gang and see Drumsheugh, Jess; he's anither man sin'
+Geordie Hoo's deith, and he wes aye kinder than fouk kent;" and the
+doctor passed at a gallop through the village, whose lights shone
+across the white frost-bound road.
+
+"Come in by, doctor; a' heard ye on the road; ye 'ill hae been at
+Tammas Mitchell's; hoo's the gudewife? a' doot she's sober."
+
+"Annie's deein', Drumsheugh, an' Tammas is like tae brak his hert."
+
+"That's no lichtsome, doctor, no lichtsome ava, for a' dinna ken ony
+man in Drumtochty sae bund up in his wife as Tammas, and there's no
+a bonnier wumman o' her age crosses oor kirk door than Annie, nor a
+cleverer at her wark. Man, ye 'ill need tae pit yir brains in steep.
+Is she clean beyond ye?"
+
+"Beyond me and every ither in the land but ane, and it wud cost a
+hundred guineas tae bring him tae Drumtochty."
+
+"Certes, he's no blate; it's a fell chairge for a short day's work;
+but hundred or no hundred we 'ill hae him, an' no let Annie gang,
+and her no half her years."
+
+"Are ye meanin' it, Drumsheugh?" and MacLure turned white below the
+tan.
+
+"William MacLure," said Drumsheugh, in one of the few confidences
+that ever broke the Drumtochty reserve, "a'm a lonely man, wi'
+naebody o' ma ain blude tae care for me livin', or tae lift me intae
+ma coffin when a'm deid.
+
+"A' fecht awa at Muirtown market for an extra pund on a beast, or a
+shillin' on the quarter o' barley, an' what's the gude o't? Burnbrae
+gaes aff tae get a goon for his wife or a buke for his college
+laddie, an' Lachlan Campbell 'ill no leave the place noo withoot a
+ribbon for Flora.
+
+"Ilka man in the Kildrummie train has some bit fairin' in his pooch
+for the fouk at hame that he's bocht wi' the siller he won.
+
+"But there's naebody tae be lookin' oot for me, an' comin' doon the
+road tae meet me, and daffin' (joking) wi' me aboot their fairing,
+or feeling ma pockets. Ou ay, a've seen it a' at ither hooses,
+though they tried tae hide it frae me for fear a' wud lauch at them.
+Me lauch, wi' ma cauld, empty hame!
+
+"Yir the only man kens, Weelum, that I aince luved the noblest
+wumman in the glen or onywhere, an' a' luve her still, but wi'
+anither luve noo.
+
+"She hed given her heart tae anither, or a've thocht a' micht hae
+won her, though nae man be worthy o' sic a gift. Ma hert turned tae
+bitterness, but that passed awa beside the brier bush whar George
+Hoo lay yon sad simmer time. Some day a'll tell ye ma story, Weelum,
+for you an' me are auld freends, and will be till we dee."
+
+MacLure felt beneath the table for Drumsheugh's hand, but neither
+man looked at the other.
+
+"Weel, a' we can dae noo, Weelum, gin we haena mickle brichtness in
+oor ain hames, is tae keep the licht frae gaein' oot in anither
+hoose. Write the telegram, man, and Sandy 'ill send it aff frae
+Kildrurnmie this verra nicht, and ye 'ill hae yir man the morn."
+
+"Yir the man a' coonted ye, Drumsheugh, but ye 'ill grant me ae
+favour. Ye 'ill lat me pay the half, bit by bit--a' ken yir wullin'
+tae dae't a',--but a' haena mony pleesures, an' a' wud like tae hae
+ma ain share in savin' Annie's life."
+
+Next morning a figure received Sir George on the Kildrummie
+platform, whom that famous surgeon took for a gillie, but who
+introduced himself as "MacLure of Drumtochty." It seemed as if the
+East had come to meet the West when these two stood together, the
+one in travelling furs, handsome and distinguished, with his strong,
+cultured face and carriage of authority, a characteristic type of
+his profession; and the other more marvellously dressed than ever,
+for Drumsheugh's topcoat had been forced upon him for the occasion,
+his face and neck one redness with the bitter cold; rough and
+ungainly, yet not without some signs of power in his eye and voice,
+the most heroic type of his noble profession. MacLure compassed the
+precious arrival with observances till he was securely seated in
+Drumsheugh's dogcart--a vehicle that lent itself to history--with
+two full-sized plaids added to his equipment--Drumsheugh and
+Hillocks had both been requisitioned--and MacLure wrapped another
+plaid round a leather case, which was placed below the seat with
+such reverence as might be given to the Queen's regalia. Peter
+attended their departure full of interest, and as soon as they were
+in the fir woods MacLure explained that it would be an eventful
+journey.
+
+"It's a' richt in here, for the wind disna get at the snaw, but the
+drifts are deep in the Glen, and th'ill be some engineerin' afore we
+get tae oor destination."
+
+Four times they left the road and took their way over fields, twice
+they forced a passage through a slap in a dyke, thrice they used
+gaps in the paling which MacLure had made on his downward journey.
+
+"A' seleckit the road this mornin', an' a' ken the depth tae an
+inch; we 'ill get through this steadin' here tae the main road, but
+oor worst job 'ill be crossin' the Tochty.
+
+"Ye see the bridge hes been shakin' wi' this winter's flood, and we
+daurna venture on it, sae we hev tae ford, and the snaw's been
+melting up Urtach way. There's nae doot the water's gey big, and
+it's threatenin' tae rise, but we 'ill win through wi' a warstle.
+
+"It micht be safer tae lift the instruments oot o' reach o' the
+water; wud ye mind haddin' them on yir knee till we're ower, an'
+keep firm in yir seat in case we come on a stane in the bed o' the
+river."
+
+By this time they had come to the edge, and it was not a cheering
+sight. The Tochty had spread out over the meadows, and while they
+waited they could see it cover another two inches on the trunk of a
+tree. There are summer floods, when the water is brown and flecked
+with foam, but this was a winter flood, which is black and sullen,
+and runs in the centre with a strong, fierce, silent current. Upon
+the op posite side Hillocks stood to give directions by word and
+hand, as the ford was on his land, and none knew the Tochty better
+in all its ways.
+
+They passed through the shallow water without mishap, save when the
+wheel struck a hidden stone or fell suddenly into a rut; but when
+they neared the body of the river MacLure halted, to give Jess a
+minute's breathing.
+
+"It 'ill tak ye a' yir time, lass, an' a' wud raither be on yir
+back; but ye never failed me yet, and a wumman's life is hangin' on
+the crossin'."
+
+With the first plunge into the bed of the stream the water rose to
+the axles, and then it crept up to the shafts, so that the surgeon
+could feel it lapping in about his feet, while the dogcart began to
+quiver, and it seemed as if it were to be carried away. Sir George
+was as brave as most men, but he had never forded a Highland river
+in flood, and the mass of black water racing past beneath, before,
+behind him, affected his imagination and shook his nerves. He rose
+from his seat and ordered MacLure to turn back, declaring that he
+would be condemned utterly and eternally if he allowed himself to be
+drowned for any person.
+
+"Sit doon," thundered MacLure; "condemned ye will be suner or later
+gin ye shirk yir duty, but through the water ye gang the day."
+
+Both men spoke much more strongly and shortly, but this is what they
+intended to say, and it was MacLure that prevailed.
+
+Jess trailed her feet along the ground with cunning art, and held
+her shoulder against the stream; MacLure leant forward in his seat,
+a rein in each hand, and his eyes fixed on Hillocks, who was now
+standing up to the waist in the water, shouting directions and
+cheering on horse and driver.
+
+"Haud tae the richt, doctor; there's a hole yonder. Keep oot o't for
+ony sake. That's it; yir daein' fine. Steady, man, steady. Yir at
+the deepest; sit heavy in yir seats. Up the channel noo, and ye 'll
+be oot o' the swirl. Weel dune, Jess, weel dune, auld mare! Mak
+straicht for me, doctor, an' a'll gie ye the road oot. Ma word,
+ye've dune yir best, baith o' ye this mornin'," cried Hillocks,
+splashing up to the dogcart, now in the shallows.
+
+"Sall, it wes titch an' go for a meenut in the middle; a Hielan'
+ford is a kittle (hazardous) road in the snaw time, but ye're safe
+noo.
+
+"Gude luck tae ye up at Westerton, sir; nane but a richt-hearted man
+wud hae riskit the Tochty in flood. Ye're boond tae succeed aifter
+sic a graund beginning" for it had spread already that a famous
+surgeon had come to do his best for Annie, Tammas Mitchell's wife.
+
+Two hours later MacLure came out from Annie's room and laid hold of
+Tammas, a heap of speechless misery by the kitchen fire, and carried
+him off to the barn, and spread some corn on the threshing floor and
+thrust a flail into his hands.
+
+"Noo we've tae begin, an' we 'ill no be dune for an' oor, and ye've
+tae lay on withoot stoppin' till a' come for ye, an' a'll shut the
+door tae haud in the noise, an' keep yir dog beside ye, for there
+maunna be a cheep aboot the hoose for Annie's sake."
+
+"A'll dae onythingye want me, but if--if--"
+
+"A'll come for ye, Tammas, gin there be danger; but what are ye
+feared for wi' the Queen's ain surgeon here?"
+
+Fifty minutes did the flail rise and fall, save twice, when Tammas
+crept to the door and listened, the dog lifting his head and
+whining.
+
+It seemed twelve hours instead of one when the door swung back, and
+MacLure filled the doorway, preceded by a great burst of light, for
+the sun had arisen on the snow.
+
+His face was as tidings of great joy, and Elspeth told me that there
+was nothing like it to be seen that afternoon for glory, save the
+sun itself in the heavens.
+
+"A' never saw the marrow o't, Tammas, an' a'll never see the like
+again; it's a' ower, man, withoot a hitch frae beginnin' tae end,
+and she's fa'in' asleep as fine as ye like."
+
+"Dis he think Annie ... 'ill live?"
+
+"Of coorse he dis, and be aboot the hoose inside a month; that's the
+gude o' bein' a clean-bluided, weel-livin'--"
+
+"Preserve ye, man, what's wrang wi' ye? it's a mercy a' keppit ye,
+or we wud hev hed anither job for Sir George.
+
+"Ye're a' richt noo; sit doon on the strae. A'll come back in a
+whilie, an' ye 'ill see Annie juist for a meenut, but ye maunna say
+a word."
+
+Marget took him in and let him kneel by Annie's bedside.
+
+He said nothing then or afterwards, for speech came only once in his
+lifetime to Tammas, but Annie whispered, "Ma ain dear man."
+
+When the doctor placed the precious bag beside Sir George in our
+solitary first next morning, he laid a cheque beside it and was
+about to leave.
+
+"No, no," said the great man. "Mrs. Macfadyen and I were on the
+gossip last night, and I know the whole story about you and your
+friend.
+
+"You have some right to call me a coward, but I'll never let you
+count me a mean, miserly rascal," and the cheque with Drumsheugh's
+painful writing fell in fifty pieces on the floor.
+
+As the train began to move, a voice from the first called so that
+all in the station heard.
+
+"Give's another shake of your hand, MacLure; I'm proud to have met
+you; you are an honour to our profession. Mind the antiseptic
+dressings."
+
+It was market day, but only Jamie Soutar and Hillocks had ventured
+down.
+
+"Did ye hear yon, Hillocks? hoo dae ye feel? A'll no deny a'm
+lifted"
+
+Halfway to the Junction Hillocks had recovered, and began to grasp
+the situation.
+
+"Tell's what he said. A' wud like to hae it exact for Drumsheugh."
+
+"Thae's the eedentical words, an' they're true; there's no a man in
+Drumtochty disna ken that, except ane."
+
+"An' wha's that, Jamie?"
+
+"It's Weelum MacLure himsel. Man, a've often girned that he sud
+fecht awa for us a', and maybe dee before he kent that he hed
+githered mair luve than ony man in the Glen.
+
+"'A'm prood tae hae met ye', says Sir George, an' him the greatest
+doctor in the land. 'Yir an honour tae oor profession.'
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae missed it for twenty notes," said James
+Soutar, cynic-in-ordinary to the parish of Drumtochty.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+When Drumsheugh's grieve was brought to the gates of death by fever,
+caught, as was supposed, on an adventurous visit to Glasgow, the
+London doctor at Lord Kilspindie's shooting lodge looked in on his
+way from the moor, and declared it impossible for Saunders to live
+through the night.
+
+"I give him six hours, more or less; it is only a question of time,"
+said the oracle, buttoning his gloves and getting into the brake;
+"tell your parish doctor that I was sorry not to have met him."
+
+Bell heard this verdict from behind the door, and gave way utterly,
+but Drumsheugh declined to accept it as final, and devoted himself
+to consolation.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, Bell wumman, sae lang as Saunders is still
+livin'; a'll never give up houp, for ma pairt, till oor ain man says
+the word.
+
+"A' the doctors in the land dinna ken as muckle aboot us as Weelum
+MacLure, an' he's ill tae beat when he's tryin' tae save a man's
+life."
+
+MacLure, on his coming, would say nothing, either weal or woe, till
+he had examined Saunders. Suddenly his face turned into iron before
+their eyes, and he looked like one encountering a merciless foe. For
+there was a feud between MacLure and a certain mighty power which
+had lasted for forty years in Drumtochty.
+
+"The London doctor said that Saunders wud sough awa afore mornin',
+did he? Weel, he's an authority on fevers an' sic like diseases, an
+ought tae ken.
+
+"It's may be presumptous o' me tae differ frae him, and it wudna be
+verra respectfu' o' Saunders tae live aifter this opeenion. But
+Saunders wes aye thraun an' ill tae drive, an' he's as like as no
+tae gang his ain gait.
+
+"A'm no meanin' tae reflect on sae clever a man, but he didna ken
+the seetuation. He can read fevers like a bulk, but he never cam
+across sic a thing as the Drumtochty constitution a' his days.
+
+"Ye see, when onybody gets as low as puir Saunders here, it's juist
+a hand to hand wrastle atween the fever and his constitution, an' of
+coorse, if he hed been a shilpit, stuntit, feckless effeegy o' a
+cratur, fed on tea an' made dishes and pushioned wi' bad air,
+Saunders wud hae nae chance; he wes boond tae gae oot like the snuff
+o' a candle.
+
+"But Saunders hes been fillin' his lungs for five and thirty year
+wi' strong Drumtochty air, an' eatin' naethin' but kirny aitmeal,
+and drinkin' naethin' but fresh milk frae the coo, an' followin' the
+ploo through the new-turned, sweet-smellin' earth, an' swingin' the
+scythe in haytime and harvest, till the legs an' airms o' him were
+iron, an' his chest wes like the cuttin' o' an oak tree.
+
+"He's a waesome sicht the nicht, but Saunders wes a buirdly man
+aince, and wull never lat his life be taken lichtly frae him. Na,
+na, he hesna sinned against Nature, and Nature 'ill stand by him noo
+in his oor o' distress.
+
+"A' daurna say yea, Bell, muckle as a' wud like, for this is an evil
+disease, cunnin' an' treacherous as the deevil himsel', but a' winna
+say nay, sae keep yir hert frae despair.
+
+"It wull be a sair fecht, but it 'ill be settled one wy or anither
+by sax o'clock the morn's morn. Nae man can prophecee hoo it 'ill
+end, but ae thing is certain, a'll no see deith tak a Drumtochty man
+afore his time if a' can help it.
+
+"Noo, Bell ma wumman, yir near deid wi' tire, an' nae wonder. Ye've
+dune a' ye cud for yir man, an' ye 'ill lippen (trust) him the nicht
+tae Drumsheugh an' me; we 'ill no fail him or you.
+
+"Lie doon an' rest, an' if it be the wull o' the Almichty a'll
+wauken ye in the mornin' tae see a livin' conscious man, an' if it
+be itherwise a'll come for ye the suner, Bell," and the big red hand
+went out to the anxious wife. "A' gie ye ma word."
+
+Bell leant over the bed, and at the sight of Saunders' face a
+superstitious dread seized her.
+
+"See, doctor, the shadow of deith is on him that never lifts. A've
+seen it afore, on ma father an' mither. A' canna leave him, a' canna
+leave him."
+
+"It's hoverin', Bell, but it hesna fallen; please God it never wull.
+Gang but and get some sleep, for it's time we were at oor work.
+
+"The doctors in the toons hae nurses an' a' kinds o' handy
+apparatus," said MacLure to Drumsheugh when Bell had gone, "but you
+an' me 'ill need tae be nurse the nicht, an' use sic things as we
+hev.
+
+"It 'ill be a lang nicht and anxious wark, but a' wud raither hae
+ye, auld freend, wi' me than ony man in the Glen. Ye're no feared
+tae gie a hand?"
+
+"Me feared? No likely. Man, Saunders cam tae me a haflin, and hes
+been on Drumsheugh for twenty years, an' though he be a dour chiel,
+he's a faithfu' servant as ever lived. It's waesome tae see him
+lyin' there moanin' like some dumb animal frae mornin' tae nicht,
+an' no able tae answer his ain wife when she speaks.
+
+"Div ye think, Weelum, he hes a chance?"
+
+"That he hes, at ony rate, and it 'ill no be your blame or mine if
+he hesna mair."
+
+While he was speaking, MacLure took off his coat and waistcoat and
+hung them on the back of the door. Then he rolled up the sleeves of
+his shirt and laid bare two arms that were nothing but bone and
+muscle.
+
+"It gar'd ma very blood rin faster tae the end of ma fingers juist
+tae look at him," Drumsheugh expatiated afterwards to Hillocks, "for
+a' saw noo that there was tae be a stand-up fecht atween him an'
+deith for Saunders, and when a' thocht o' Bell an' her bairns, a'
+kent wha wud win.
+
+"'Aff wi' yir coat, Drumsheugh,' said MacLure; 'ye 'ill need tae
+bend yir back the nicht; gither a' the pails in the hoose and fill
+them at the spring, an' a'll come doon tae help ye wi' the
+carryin'."
+
+It was a wonderful ascent up the steep pathway from the spring to
+the cottage on its little knoll, the two men in single file,
+bareheaded, silent, solemn, each with a pail of water in either
+hand, MacLure limping painfully in front, Drumsheugh blowing behind;
+and when they laid down their burden in the sick room, where the
+bits of furniture had been put to a side and a large tub held the
+centre, Drumsheugh looked curiously at the doctor.
+
+"No, a'm no daft; ye needna be feared; but yir tae get yir first
+lesson in medicine the nicht, an' if we win the battle ye can set up
+for yersel in the Glen.
+
+"There's twa dangers--that Saunders' strength fails, an' that the
+force o' the fever grows; and we have juist twa weapons.
+
+"Yon milk on the drawers' head an' the bottle of whisky is tae keep
+up the strength, and this cool caller water is tae keep doon the
+fever.
+
+"We 'ill cast oot the fever by the virtue o' the earth an' the
+water."
+
+"Div ye mean tae pit Saunders in the tub?"
+
+"Ye hiv it noo, Drumsheugh, and that's hoo a' need yir help."
+
+"Man, Hillocks," Drumsheugh used to moralise, as often as he
+remembered that critical night, "it wes humblin' tae see hoo low
+sickness can bring a pooerfu' man, an' ocht tae keep us frae pride.
+
+"A month syne there wesna a stronger man in the Glen than Saunders,
+an' noo he wes juist a bundle o' skin and bone, that naither saw nor
+heard, nor moved nor felt, that kent naethin' that was dune tae him.
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae wished ony man tae hev seen Saunders--for it
+wull never pass frae before ma een as long as a' live--but a' wish
+a' the Glen hed stude by MacLure kneelin' on the floor wi' his
+sleeves up tae his oxters and waitin' on Saunders.
+
+"Yon big man wes as pitifu' an' gentle as a wumman, and when he laid
+the puir fallow in his bed again, he happit him ower as a mither dis
+her bairn."
+
+Thrice it was done, Drumsheugh ever bringing up colder water from
+the spring, and twice MacLure was silent; but after the third time
+there was a gleam in his eye.
+
+"We're haudin' oor ain; we're no bein' maistered, at ony rate; mair
+a' canna say for three oors.
+
+"We 'ill no need the water again, Drumsheugh; gae oot and tak a
+breath o' air; a'm on gaird masel."
+
+It was the hour before daybreak, and Drumsheugh wandered through
+fields he had trodden since childhood. The cattle lay sleeping in
+the pastures; their shadowy forms, with a patch of whiteness here
+and there, having a weird suggestion of death. He heard the burn
+running over the stones; fifty years ago he had made a dam that
+lasted till winter. The hooting of an owl made him start; one had
+frightened him as a boy so that he ran home to his mother--she died
+thirty years ago. The smell of ripe corn filled the air; it would
+soon be cut and garnered. He could see the dim outlines of his
+house, all dark and cold; no one he loved was beneath the roof. The
+lighted window in Saunders' cottage told where a man hung between
+life and death, but love was in that home. The futility of life
+arose before this lonely man, and overcame his heart with an
+indescribable sadness. What a vanity was all human labour, what a
+mystery all human life.
+
+But while he stood, a subtle change came over the night, and the air
+trembled round him as if one had whispered. Drumsheugh lifted his
+head and looked eastwards. A faint grey stole over the distant
+horizon, and suddenly a cloud reddened before his eyes. The sun was
+not in sight, but was rising, and sending forerunners before his
+face. The cattle began to stir, a blackbird burst into song, and
+before Drumsheugh crossed the threshold of Saunders' house, the
+first ray of the sun had broken on a peak of the Grampians.
+
+MacLure left the bedside, and as the light of the candle fell on the
+doctor's face, Drumsheugh could see that it was going well with
+Saunders.
+
+"He's nae waur; an' it's half six noo; it's ower sune tae say mair,
+but a'm houpin' for the best. Sit doon and take a sleep, for ye're
+needin' 't, Drumsheugh, an', man, ye hae worked for it"
+
+As he dozed off, the last thing Drumsheugh saw was the doctor
+sitting erect in his chair, a clenched fist resting on the bed, and
+his eyes already bright with the vision of victory.
+
+He awoke with a start to find the room flooded with the morning
+sunshine, and every trace of last night's work removed.
+
+The doctor was bending over the bed, and speaking to Saunders.
+
+"It's me, Saunders, Doctor MacLure, ye ken; dinna try tae speak or
+move; juist let this drap milk slip ower--ye 'ill be needin' yir
+breakfast, lad--and gang tae sleep again."
+
+Five minutes, and Saunders had fallen into a deep, healthy sleep,
+all tossing and moaning come to an end. Then MacLure stepped softly
+across the floor, picked up his coat and waistcoat, and went out at
+the door.
+
+Drumsheugh arose and followed him without a word. They passed
+through the little garden, sparkling with dew, and beside the byre,
+where Hawkie rattled her chain, impatient for Bell's coming, and by
+Saunders' little strip of corn ready for the scythe, till they
+reached an open field. There they came to a halt, and Doctor MacLure
+for once allowed himself to go.
+
+His coat he flung east and his waistcoat west, as far as he could hurl
+them, and it was plain he would have shouted had he been a complete
+mile from Saunders' room. Any less distance was useless for adequate
+expression. He struck Drumsheugh a mighty blow that well-nigh levelled
+that substantial man in the dust, and then the doctor of Drumtochty
+issued his bulletin.
+
+"Saunders wesna tae live through the nicht, but he's livin' this
+meenut, an' like to live.
+
+"He's got by the warst clean and fair, and wi' him that's as good as
+cure.
+
+"It' ill be a graund waukenin' for Bell; she 'ill no be a weedow
+yet, nor the bairnies fatherless.
+
+"There's nae use glowerin' at me, Drumsheugh, for a body's daft at a
+time, an' a' canna contain masel, and a'm no gaein' tae try."
+
+Then it dawned upon Drumsheugh that the doctor was attempting the
+Highland fling.
+
+"He's ill made tae begin wi'," Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyard
+next Sabbath, "and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled by
+accidents, sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith,
+o' a' the Hielan' flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.
+
+"A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty years, but a' confess tae a
+turn masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o'
+Bell an' the news that wes waitin' her got the better o' me."
+
+Drumtochty did not laugh. Drumtochty looked as if it could have done
+quite otherwise for joy.
+
+"A' wud hae made a third gin a' hed been there," announced Hillocks,
+aggressively.
+
+"Come on, Drumsheugh," said Jamie Soutar, "gie's the end o't; it wes
+a michty mornin'."
+
+"'We're twa auld fules,' says MacLure tae me, and he gaithers up his
+claithes. 'It wud set us better tae be tellin' Bell.'
+
+"She wes sleepin' on the top o' her bed wrapped in a plaid, fair
+worn oot wi' three weeks' nursin' o' Saunders, but at the first
+touch she was oot upon the floor.
+
+"'Is Saunders deein', doctor?' she cries. 'Ye promised tae wauken
+me; dinna tell me it's a' ower.'
+
+"'There's nae deein' aboot him, Bell; ye're no tae lose yir man this
+time, sae far as a' can see. Come ben an' jidge for yersel'.
+
+"Bell lookit at Saunders, and the tears of joy fell on the bed like
+rain.
+
+"'The shadow's lifted,' she said; 'he's come back frae the mooth o'
+the tomb.
+
+"'A' prayed last nicht that the Lord wud leave Saunders till the
+laddies cud dae for themselves, an' thae words came intae ma mind,
+"Weepin' may endure for a nicht, but joy cometh in the mornin'."
+
+"'The Lord heard ma prayer, and joy hes come in the mornin', an' she
+gripped the doctor's hand.
+
+"'Ye've been the instrument, Doctor MacLure. Ye wudna gie him up,
+and ye did what nae ither cud for him, an' a've ma man the day, and
+the bairns hae their father.'
+
+"An' afore MacLure kent what she was daein', Bell lifted his hand to
+her lips an' kissed it."
+
+"Did she, though?" cried Jamie. "Wha wud hae thocht there wes as
+muckle spunk in Bell?"
+
+"MacLure, of coorse, was clean scandalised," continued Drumsheugh,
+"an' pooed awa his hand as if it hed been burned.
+
+"Nae man can thole that kind o' fraikin', and a' never heard o' sic
+a thing in the parish, but we maun excuse Bell, neeburs; it wes an
+occasion by ordinar," and Drumsheugh made Bell's apology to
+Drumtochty for such an excess of feeling.
+
+"A' see naethin' tae excuse," insisted Jamie, who was in great
+fettle that Sabbath; "the doctor hes never been burdened wi' fees,
+and a'm judgin' he coonted a wumman's gratitude that he saved frae
+weedowhood the best he ever got."
+
+"A' gaed up tae the Manse last nicht," concluded Drumsheugh, "and
+telt the minister hoo the doctor focht aucht oors for Saunders'
+life, an' won, and ye never saw a man sae carried. He walkit up and
+doon the room a' the time, and every other meenut he blew his nose
+like a trumpet.
+
+"'I've a cold in my head to-night, Drumsheugh,' says he; 'never mind
+me.'"
+
+"A've hed the same masel in sic circumstances; they come on sudden,"
+said Jamie.
+
+"A' wager there 'ill be a new bit in the laist prayer the day, an'
+somethin' worth hearin'."
+
+And the fathers went into kirk in great expectation.
+
+"We beseech Thee for such as be sick, that Thy hand may be on them
+for good, and that Thou wouldst restore them again to health and
+strength," was the familiar petition of every Sabbath.
+
+The congregation waited in a silence that might be heard, and were
+not disappointed that morning, for the minister continued:
+
+"Especially we tender Thee hearty thanks that Thou didst spare Thy
+servant who was brought down into the dust of death, and hast given
+him back to his wife and children, and unto that end didst
+wonderfully bless the skill of him who goes out and in amongst us,
+the beloved physician of this parish and adjacent districts."
+
+"Didna a' tell ye, neeburs?" said Jamie, as they stood at the
+kirkyard gate before dispersing; "there's no a man in the coonty cud
+hae dune it better. 'Beloved physician,' an' his 'skill,' tae, an'
+bringing in 'adjacent districts'; that's Glen Urtach; it wes
+handsome, and the doctor earned it, ay, every word.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety he didna hear yon; but dear knows whar he is
+the day, maist likely up--"
+
+Jamie stopped suddenly at the sound of a horse's feet, and there,
+coming down the avenue of beech trees that made a long vista from
+the kirk gate, they saw the doctor and Jess.
+
+One thought flashed through the minds of the fathers of the
+commonwealth.
+
+It ought to be done as he passed, and it would be done if it were
+not Sabbath. Of course it was out of the question on Sabbath.
+
+The doctor is now distinctly visible, riding after his fashion.
+
+There was never such a chance, if it were only Saturday; and each
+man reads his own regret in his neighbour's face.
+
+The doctor is nearing them rapidly; they can imagine the shepherd's
+tartan.
+
+Sabbath or no Sabbath, the Glen cannot let him pass without some
+tribute of their pride.
+
+Jess has recognised friends, and the doctor is drawing rein.
+
+"It hes tae be dune," said Jamie desperately, "say what ye like."
+Then they all looked towards him, and Jamie led.
+
+"Hurrah," swinging his Sabbath hat in the air, "hurrah," and once
+more, "hurrah," Whinnie Knowe, Drumsheugh, and Hillocks joining
+lustily, but Tammas Mitchell carrying all before him, for he had
+found at last an expression for his feelings that rendered speech
+unnecessary.
+
+It was a solitary experience for horse and rider, and Jess bolted
+without delay. But the sound followed and surrounded them, and as
+they passed the corner of the kirkyard, a figure waved his college
+cap over the wall and gave a cheer on his own account.
+
+"God bless you, doctor, and well done."
+
+"If it isna the minister," cried Drumsheugh, "in his goon an' bans;
+tae think o' that; but a' respeck him for it."
+
+Then Drumtochty became self-conscious, and went home in confusion of
+face and unbroken silence, except Jamie Soutar, who faced his
+neighbours at the parting of the ways without shame.
+
+"A' wud dae it a' ower again if a' hed the chance; he got naethin'
+but his due."
+
+It was two miles before Jess composed her mind, and the doctor and
+she could discuss it quietly together.
+
+"A' can hardly believe ma ears, Jess, an' the Sabbath tae; their
+verra jidgment hes gane frae the fouk o' Drumtochty.
+
+"They've heard about Saunders, a'm thinkin', wumman, and they're
+pleased we brocht him roond; he's fairly on the mend, ye ken, noo.
+
+"A' never expeckit the like o' this, though, and it wes juist a wee
+thingie mair than a' cud hae stude.
+
+"Ye hev yir share in't tae, lass; we've hed mony a hard nicht and
+day thegither, an' yon wes oor reward. No mony men in this warld
+'ill ever get a better, for it cam frae the hert o' honest fouk."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+Drumtochty had a vivid recollection of the winter when Dr. MacLure
+was laid up for two months with a broken leg, and the Glen was
+dependent on the dubious ministrations of the Kildrummie doctor.
+Mrs. Macfadyen also pretended to recall a "whup" of some kind or
+other he had in the fifties, but this was considered to be rather a
+pyrotechnic display of Elspeth's superior memory than a serious
+statement of fact. MacLure could not have ridden through the snow of
+forty winters without suffering, yet no one ever heard him complain,
+and he never pled illness to any messenger by night or day.
+
+"It took me," said Jamie Soutar to Milton afterwards, "the feck o'
+ten meenuts tae howk him an' Jess oot ae snawy nicht when Drums
+turned bad sudden, and if he didna try to excuse himself for no
+hearing me at aince wi' some story aboot juist comin' in frae Glen
+Urtach, and no bein' in his bed for the laist twa nichts.
+
+"He wes that carefu' o' himsel an' lazy that if it hedna been for
+the siller, a've often thocht, Milton, he wud never hae dune a
+handstroke o' wark in the Glen.
+
+"What scunnered me wes the wy the bairns were ta'en in wi' him. Man,
+a've seen him tak a wee laddie on his knee that his ain mither cudna
+quiet, an' lilt 'Sing a song o' saxpence' till the bit mannie wud be
+lauchin' like a gude ane, an' pooin' the doctor's beard.
+
+"As for the weemen, he fair cuist a glamour ower them; they're
+daein' naethin' noo but speak aboot this body and the ither he
+cured, an' hoo he aye hed a couthy word for sick fouk. Weemen hae
+nae discernment, Milton; tae hear them speak ye wud think MacLure
+hed been a releegious man like yersel, although, as ye said, he wes
+little mair than a Gallic.
+
+"Bell Baxter was haverin' awa in the shop tae sic an extent aboot
+the wy MacLure brocht roond Saunders when he hed the fever that a'
+gied oot at the door, a wes that disgusted, an' a'm telt when Tammas
+Mitchell heard the news in the smiddy he wes juist on the greeting.
+
+"The smith said that he wes thinkin' o' Annie's tribble, but ony wy
+a' ca' it rael bairnly. It's no like Drumtochty; ye're setting an
+example, Milton, wi' yir composure. But a' mind ye took the doctor's
+meesure as sune as ye cam intae the pairish."
+
+It is the penalty of a cynic that he must have some relief for his
+secret grief, and Milton began to weary of life in Jamie's hands
+during those days.
+
+Drumtochty was not observant in the matter of health, but they had
+grown sensitive about Dr. MacLure, and remarked in the kirkyard all
+summer that he was failing.
+
+"He wes aye spare," said Hillocks, "an' he's been sair twisted for
+the laist twenty year, but a' never mind him booed till the year.
+An' he's gaein' intae sma' buke (bulk), an' a' dinna like that,
+neeburs.
+
+"The Glen wudna dae weel withoot Weelum MacLure, an' he's no as
+young as he wes. Man, Drumsheugh, ye micht wile him aff tae the saut
+water atween the neeps and the hairst. He's been workin' forty year
+for a holiday, an' it's aboot due."
+
+Drumsheugh was full of tact, and met MacLure quite by accident on
+the road.
+
+"Saunders 'ill no need me till the shearing begins," he explained to
+the doctor, "an' a'm gaein' tae Brochty for a turn o' the hot baths;
+they're fine for the rheumatics.
+
+"Wull ye no come wi' me for auld lang syne? it's lonesome for a
+solitary man, an' it wud dae ye gude."
+
+"Na, na, Drumsheugh," said MacLure, who understood perfectly, "a've
+dune a' thae years withoot a break, an' a'm laith (unwilling) tae be
+takin' holidays at the tail end.
+
+"A'll no be mony months wi' ye a' thegither noo, an' a'm wanting tae
+spend a' the time a' hev in the Glen. Ye see yersel that a'll sune
+be getting ma lang rest, an' a'll no deny that a'm wearyin' for it."
+
+As autumn passed into winter, the Glen noticed that the doctor's
+hair had turned grey, and that his manner had lost all its
+roughness. A feeling of secret gratitude filled their hearts, and
+they united in a conspiracy of attention. Annie Mitchell knitted a
+huge comforter in red and white, which the doctor wore in misery for
+one whole day, out of respect for Annie, and then hung in his
+sitting-room as a wall ornament. Hillocks used to intercept him with
+hot drinks, and one drifting day compelled him to shelter till the
+storm abated. Flora Campbell brought a wonderful compound of honey
+and whisky, much tasted in Auchindarroch, for his cough, and the
+mother of young Burnbrae filled his cupboard with black jam, as a
+healing measure. Jamie Soutar seemed to have an endless series of
+jobs in the doctor's direction, and looked in "juist tae rest
+himsel" in the kitchen.
+
+MacLure had been slowly taking in the situation, and at last he
+unburdened himself one night to Jamie.
+
+"What ails the fouk, think ye? for they're aye lecturin' me noo tae
+tak care o' the weet and tae wrap masel up, an' there's no a week
+but they're sendin' bit presents tae the hoose, till a'm fair
+ashamed."
+
+"Oo, a'll explain that in a meenut," answered Jamie, "for a' ken the
+Glen weel. Ye see they're juist tryin' the Scripture plan o' heapin'
+coals o' fire on yer head.
+
+"Here ye've been negleckin' the fouk in seeckness an' lettin' them
+dee afore their freends' eyes withoot a fecht, an' refusin' tae gang
+tae a puir wumman in her tribble, an' frichtenin' the bairns--no,
+a'm no dune--and scourgin' us wi' fees, and livin' yersel on the fat
+o' the land.
+
+"Ye've been carryin' on this trade ever sin yir father dee'd, and
+the Glen didna notis. But ma word, they've fund ye oot at laist, an'
+they're gaein' tae mak ye suffer for a' yir ill usage. Div ye
+understand noo?" said Jamie, savagely.
+
+For a while MacLure was silent, and then he only said:
+
+"It's little a' did for the puir bodies; but ye hev a gude hert,
+Jamie, a rael good hert."
+
+It was a bitter December Sabbath, and the fathers were settling the
+affairs of the parish ankle deep in snow, when MacLure's old
+housekeeper told Drumsheugh that the doctor was not able to rise,
+and wished to see him in the afternoon.
+
+"Ay, ay," said Hillocks, shaking his head, and that day Drumsheugh
+omitted four pews with the ladle, while Jamie was so vicious on the
+way home that none could endure him.
+
+Janet had lit a fire in the unused grate, and hung a plaid by the
+window to break the power of the cruel north wind, but the bare room
+with its half-a-dozen bits of furniture and a worn strip of carpet,
+and the outlook upon the snow drifted up to the second pane of the
+window and the black firs laden with their icy burden, sent a chill
+to Drumsheugh's heart.
+
+The doctor had weakened sadly, and could hardly lift his head, but his
+face lit up at the sight of his visitor, and the big hand, which was
+now quite refined in its whiteness, came out from the bed-clothes with
+the old warm grip.
+
+"Come in by, man, and sit doon; it's an awfu' day tae bring ye sae
+far, but a' kent ye wudna grudge the traivel.
+
+"A' wesna sure till last nicht, an' then a' felt it wudna be lang,
+an' a' took a wearyin' this mornin' tae see ye.
+
+"We've been freends sin' we were laddies at the auld schule in the
+firs, an' a' wud like ye tae be wi' me at the end. Ye 'ill stay the
+nicht, Paitrick, for auld lang syne."
+
+Drumsheugh was much shaken, and the sound of the Christian name,
+which he had not heard since his mother's death, gave him a "grue"
+(shiver), as if one had spoken from the other world.
+
+"It's maist awfu' tae hear ye speakin' aboot deein', Weelum; a'
+canna bear it. We 'ill hae the Muirtown doctor up, an' ye 'ill be
+aboot again in nae time.
+
+"Ye hevna ony sair tribble; ye're juist trachled wi' hard wark an'
+needin' a rest. Dinna say ye're gaein' tae leave us, Weelum; we
+canna dae withoot ye in Drumtochty;" and Drumsheugh looked wistfully
+for some word of hope.
+
+"Na, na, Paitrick, naethin' can be dune, an' it's ower late tae send
+for ony doctor. There's a knock that canna be mista'en, an' a' heard
+it last night. A've focht deith for ither fouk mair than forty year,
+but ma ain time hes come at laist.
+
+"A've nae tribble worth mentionin'--a bit titch o' bronchitis--an'
+a've hed a graund constitution; but a'm fair worn oot, Paitrick;
+that's ma complaint, an' its past curin'."
+
+Drumsheugh went over to the fireplace, and for a while did nothing
+but break up the smouldering peats, whose smoke powerfully affected
+his nose and eyes.
+
+"When ye're ready, Paitrick, there's twa or three little trokes a'
+wud like ye tae look aifter, an' a'll tell ye aboot them as lang's
+ma head's clear.
+
+"A' didna keep buiks, as ye ken, for a' aye hed a guid memory, so
+naebody 'ill be harried for money aifter ma deith, and ye 'ill hae
+nae accoonts tae collect.
+
+"But the fouk are honest in Drumtochty, and they 'ill be offerin' ye
+siller, an' a'll gie ye ma mind aboot it. Gin it be a puir body,
+tell her tae keep it and get a bit plaidie wi' the money, and she
+'ill maybe think o' her auld doctor at a time. Gin it be a bien
+(well-to-do) man, tak half of what he offers, for a Drumtochty man
+wud scorn to be mean in sic circumstances; and if onybody needs a
+doctor an' canna pay for him, see he's no left tae dee when a'm oot
+o' the road."
+
+"Nae fear o' that as lang as a'm living Weelum; that hundred's still
+tae the fore, ye ken, an' a'll tak care it's weel spent.
+
+"Yon wes the best job we ever did thegither, an' dookin' Saunders;
+ye 'ill no forget that nicht, Weelum"--a gleam came into the
+doctor's eyes--"tae say naethin' o' the Highlan' fling."
+
+The remembrance of that great victory came upon Drumsheugh, and
+tried his fortitude.
+
+"What 'ill become o's when ye're no here tae gie a hand in time o'
+need? we 'ill tak ill wi' a stranger that disna ken ane o's frae
+anither."
+
+"It's a' for the best, Paitrick, an' ye 'ill see that in a whilie.
+A've kent fine that ma day wes ower, an' that ye sud hae a younger
+man.
+
+"A' did what a' cud tae keep up wi' the new medicine, but a' hed
+little time for readin', an' nane for traivellin'.
+
+"A'm the last o' the auld schule, an' a' ken as weel as onybody thet
+a' wesna sae dainty an' fine-mannered as the town doctors. Ye took
+me as a' wes, an' naebody ever cuist up tae me that a' wes a plain
+man. Na, na; ye've been rael kind an' conseederate a' thae years."
+
+"Weelum, gin ye cairry on sic nonsense ony langer," interrupted
+Drumsheugh, huskily, "a'll leave the hoose; a' canna stand it."
+
+"It's the truth, Paitrick, but we 'ill gae on wi' our wark, for a'm
+failin' fast.
+
+"Gie Janet ony sticks of furniture she needs tae furnish a hoose,
+and sell a' thing else tae pay the wricht (undertaker) an' bedrel
+(grave-digger). If the new doctor be a young laddie and no verra
+rich, ye micht let him hae the buiks an' instruments; it 'ill aye be
+a help.
+
+"But a' wudna like ye tae sell Jess, for she's been a faithfu'
+servant, an' a freend tae. There's a note or twa in that drawer a'
+savit, an' if ye kent ony man that wud gie her a bite o' grass and a
+sta' in his stable till she followed her maister--"
+
+"Confoond ye, Weelum," broke out Drumsheugh; "its doonricht cruel o'
+ye to speak like this tae me. Whar wud Jess gang but tae Drumsheugh?
+she 'ill hae her run o' heck an' manger sae lang as she lives; the
+Glen wudna like tae see anither man on Jess, and nae man 'ill ever
+touch the auld mare."
+
+"Dinna mind me, Paitrick, for a' expeckit this; but ye ken we're no
+verra gleg wi' oor tongues in Drumtochty, an' dinna tell a' that's
+in oor hearts.
+
+"Weel, that's a' that a' mind, an' the rest a' leave tae yersel'.
+A've neither kith nor kin tae bury me, sae you an' the neeburs 'ill
+need tae lat me doon; but gin Tammas Mitchell or Saunders be
+stannin' near and lookin' as if they wud like a cord, gie't tae
+them, Paitrick. They're baith dour chiels, and haena muckle tae say,
+but Tammas lies a graund hert, and there's waur fouk in the Glen
+than Saunders.
+
+"A'm gettin' drowsy, an' a'll no be able tae follow ye sune, a'
+doot; wud ye read a bit tae me afore a' fa' ower?
+
+"Ye 'ill find ma mither's Bible on the drawers' heid, but ye 'ill
+need tae come close tae the bed, for a'm no hearin' or seein' sae
+weel as a' wes when ye cam."
+
+Drumsheugh put on his spectacles and searched for a comfortable
+Scripture, while the light of the lamp fell on his shaking hands and
+the doctor's face, where the shadow was now settling.
+
+"Ma mither aye wantit this read tae her when she wes sober" (weak),
+and Drumsheugh began, "In My Father's house are many mansions," but
+MacLure stopped him.
+
+"It's a bonnie word, an' yir mither wes a sanct; but it's no for the
+like o' me. It's ower gude; a' daurna tak it.
+
+"Shut the buik an' let it open itsel, an' ye 'ill get a bit a've
+been readin' every nicht the laist month."
+
+Then Drumsheugh found the Parable wherein the Master tells us what
+God thinks of a Pharisee and of a penitent sinner, till he came to
+the words: "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up
+so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
+God be merciful to me a sinner."
+
+"That micht hae been written for me, Paitrick, or ony ither auld
+sinner that hes feenished his life, an' hes naethin' tae say for
+himsel'.
+
+"It wesna easy for me tae get tae kirk, but a' cud hae managed wi' a
+stretch, an' a' used langidge a' sudna, an' a' micht hae been
+gentler, and no been so short in the temper. A' see't a' noo.
+
+"It's ower late tae mend, but ye 'ill maybe juist say to the fouk
+that I wes sorry, an' a'm houpin' that the Almichty 'ill hae mercy
+on me.
+
+"Cud ye ... pit up a bit prayer, Paitrick?"
+
+"A' haena the words," said Drumsheugh in great distress; "wud ye
+like's tae send for the minister?"
+
+"It's no the time for that noo, an' a' wud rather hae yersel'--juist
+what's in yir heart, Paitrick: the Almichty 'ill ken the lave (rest)
+Himsel'."
+
+So Drumsheugh knelt and prayed with many pauses.
+
+"Almichty God ... dinna be hard on Weelum MacLure, for he's no been
+hard wi' onybody in Drumtochty.... Be kind tae him as he's been tae
+us a' for forty year.... We're a' sinners afore Thee.... Forgive him
+what he's dune wrang, an' dinna cuist it up tae him.... Mind the
+fouk he's helpit ... the weemen an' bairnies ... an' gie him a
+welcome name, for he's sair needin't after a' his wark.... Amen."
+
+"Thank ye, Paitrick, and gude nicht tae ye. Ma ain true freend,
+gie's yir hand, for a'll maybe no ken ye again.
+
+"Noo a'll say ma mither's prayer and hae a sleep, but ye 'ill no
+leave me till a' is ower."
+
+Then he repeated as he had done every night of his life:
+
+  "This night I lay me down to sleep,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
+   And if I die before I wake,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to take."
+
+He was sleeping quietly when the wind drove the snow against the
+window with a sudden "swish ;" and he instantly awoke, so to say, in
+his sleep. Some one needed him.
+
+"Are ye frae Glen Urtach?" and an unheard voice seemed to have
+answered him.
+
+"Worse is she, an' sufferin' awfu'; that's no lichtsome; ye did
+richt tae come.
+
+"The front door's drifted up; gang roond tae the back, an' ye 'ill
+get intae the kitchen; a'll be ready in a meenut.
+
+"Gie's a hand wi' the lantern when a'm saidling Jess, an' ye needna
+come on till daylicht; a' ken the road."
+
+Then he was away in his sleep on some errand of mercy, and
+struggling through the storm.
+
+"It's a coorse nicht, Jess, an' heavy traivellin'; can ye see afore
+ye, lass? for a'm clean confused wi' the snaw; bide a wee till a'
+find the diveesion o' the roads; it's aboot here back or forrit.
+
+"Steady, lass, steady, dinna plunge; it's a drift we're in, but
+ye're no sinkin'; ... up noo; ... there ye are on the road again.
+
+"Eh, it's deep the nicht, an' hard on us baith, but there's a puir
+wumman micht dee if we didna warstle through; ... that's it; ye ken
+fine what a'm sayin'.
+
+"We 'ill hae tae leave the road here, an' tak tae the muir. Sandie
+'ill no can leave the wife alane tae meet us; ... feel for yersel',
+lass, and keep oot o' the holes.
+
+"Yon's the hoose black in the snaw. Sandie! man, ye frichtened us;
+a' didna see ye ahint the dyke; hoo's the wife?"
+
+After a while he began again:
+
+"Ye're fair dune, Jess, and so a' am masel'; we're baith gettin'
+auld, an' dinna tak sae weel wi' the nicht wark.
+
+"We 'ill sune be hame noo; this is the black wood, and it's no lang
+aifter that; we're ready for oor beds, Jess; ... ay, ye like a clap
+at a time; mony a mile we've gaed hegither.
+
+"Yon's the licht in the kitchen window; nae wonder ye're nickering
+(neighing); ... it's been a stiff journey; a'm tired, lass ... a'm
+tired tae deith," and the voice died into silence.
+
+Drumsheugh held his friend's hand, which now and again tightened in
+his, and as he watched, a change came over the face on the pillow
+beside him. The lines of weariness disappeared, as if God's hand had
+passed over it; and peace began to gather round the closed eyes.
+
+The doctor has forgotten the toil of later years, and has gone back
+to his boyhood.
+
+  "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want,"
+
+he repeated, till he came to the last verse, and then he hesitated.
+
+  "Goodness and mercy all my life
+   Shall surely follow me.
+
+"Follow me ... and ... and ... what's next? Mither said I wes tae
+haed ready when she cam.
+
+"'A'll come afore ye gang tae sleep, Wullie, but ye 'ill no get yir
+kiss unless ye can feenish the psalm.'
+
+"And ... in God's house ... for evermore my ... hoo dis it rin? a'
+canna mind the next word ... my, my--
+
+"It's ower dark noo tae read it, an' mither 'ill sune be comin'."
+
+Drumsheugh, in an agony, whispered into his ear, "'My dwelling-place,'
+Weelum."
+
+"That's it, that's it a' noo; wha said it?
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"A'm ready noo, an' a'll get ma kiss when mither comes; a' wish she
+wud come, for a'm tired an' wantin' tae sleep.
+
+"Yon's her step ... an' she's carryin' a licht in her hand; a' see
+it through the door.
+
+"Mither! a' kent ye wudna forget yir laddie, for ye promised tae
+come, and a've feenished ma psalm.
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"Gie me the kiss, mither, for a've been waitin' for ye, an' a'll
+sune be asleep."
+
+The grey morning light fell on Drumsheugh, still holding his
+friend's cold hand, and staring at a hearth where the fire had died
+down into white ashes; but the peace on the doctor's face was of one
+who rested from his labours.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+Dr. MacLure was buried during the great snowstorm, which is still
+spoken of, and will remain the standard of snowfall in Drumtochty
+for the century. The snow was deep on the Monday, and the men that
+gave notice of his funeral had hard work to reach the doctor's
+distant patients. On Tuesday morning it began to fall again in heavy
+fleecy flakes, and continued till Thursday, and then on Thursday the
+north wind rose and swept the snow into the hollows of the roads
+that went to the upland farms, and built it into a huge bank at the
+mouth of Glen Urtach, and laid it across our main roads in drifts of
+every size and the most lovely shapes, and filled up crevices in the
+hills to the depth of fifty feet.
+
+On Friday morning the wind had sunk to passing gusts that powdered
+your coat with white, and the sun was shining on one of those winter
+landscapes no townsman can imagine and no countryman ever forgets.
+The Glen, from end to end and side to side, was clothed in a
+glistering mantle white as no fuller on earth could white it, that
+flung its skirts over the clumps of trees and scattered farm-houses,
+and was only divided where the Tochty ran with black, swollen
+stream. The great moor rose and fell in swelling billows of snow
+that arched themselves over the burns, running deep in the mossy
+ground, and hid the black peat bogs with a thin, treacherous crust.
+Beyond, the hills northwards and westwards stood high in white
+majesty, save where the black crags of Glen Urtach broke the line,
+and, above our lower Grampians, we caught glimpses of the distant
+peaks that lifted their heads in holiness unto God.
+
+It seemed to me a fitting day for William MacLure's funeral, rather
+than summer time, with its flowers and golden corn. He had not been
+a soft man, nor had he lived an easy life, and now he was to be laid
+to rest amid the austere majesty of winter, yet in the shining of
+the sun. Jamie Soutar, with whom I toiled across the Glen, did not
+think with me, but was gravely concerned.
+
+"Nae doot it's a graund sicht; the like o't is no gien tae us twice
+in a generation, an' nae king wes ever carried tae his tomb in sic a
+cathedral.
+
+"But it's the fouk a'm conseederin', an' hoo they 'ill win through;
+it's hard eneuch for them 'at's on the road, an' it's clean
+impossible for the lave.
+
+"They 'ill dae their best, every man o' them, ye may depend on that,
+an' hed it been open weather there wudna hev been six able-bodied
+men missin'.
+
+"A' wes mad at them, because they never said onything when he wes
+leevin', but they felt for a' that what he hed dune, an', a' think,
+he kent it afore he deed.
+
+"He hed juist ae faut, tae ma thinkin', for a' never jidged the waur
+o' him for his titch of rochness--guid trees hae gnarled bark--but
+he thocht ower little o' himsel.
+
+"Noo, gin a' hed asked him hoo mony fouk wud come tae his beerial,
+he wud hae said, 'They 'ill be Drumsheugh an' yersel', an' maybe twa
+or three neeburs besides the minister,' an' the fact is that nae man
+in oor time wud hae sic a githerin' if it werena for the storm.
+
+"Ye see," said Jamie, who had been counting heads all morning,
+"there's six shepherds in Glen Urtach--they're shut up fast; an'
+there micht hae been a gude half dizen frae Dunleith wy, an' a'm
+telt there's nae road; an' there's the heich Glen, nae man cud cross
+the muir the day, an' it's aucht mile roond;" and Jamie proceeded to
+review the Glen in every detail of age, driftiness of road and
+strength of body, till we arrived at the doctor's cottage, when he
+had settled on a reduction of fifty through stress of weather.
+
+Drumsheugh was acknowledged as chief mourner by the Glen, and
+received us at the gate with a labored attempt at everyday manners.
+
+"Ye've hed heavy traivellin', a' doot, an' ye 'ill be cauld. It's
+hard weather for the sheep, an' a'm thinkin' this 'ill be a feeding
+storm.
+
+"There wes nae use trying tae dig oot the front door yestreen, for
+it wud hae been drifted up again before morning. We've cleared awa
+the snow at the back for the prayer; ye 'ill get in at the kitchen
+door.
+
+"There's a puckle Dunleith men--"
+
+"Wha?" cried Jamie in an instant.
+
+"Dunleith men," said Drumsheugh.
+
+"Div ye mean they're here, whar are they?"
+
+"Drying themsels at the fire, an' no withoot need; ane of them gied
+ower the head in a drift, and his neeburs hed tae pu' him oot.
+
+"It took them a gude fower oors tae get across, an' it wes coorse
+wark; they likit him weel doon that wy, an', Jamie man"--here
+Drumsheugh's voice changed its note, and his public manner
+disappeared--"what div ye think o' this? every man o' them hes on
+his blacks."
+
+"It's mair than cud be expeckit," said Jamie; "but whar dae yon men
+come frae, Drumsheugh?"
+
+Two men in plaids were descending the hill behind the doctor's
+cottage, taking three feet at a stride, and carrying long staffs in
+their hands.
+
+"They're Glen Urtach men, Jamie, for ane o' them wes at Kildrummie
+fair wi' sheep, but hoo they've wun doon passes me."
+
+"It canna be, Drumsheugh," said Jamie, greatly excited. "Glen
+Urtach's steikit up wi' sna like a locked door.
+
+"Ye're no surely frae the Glen, lads?" as the men leaped the dyke
+and crossed to the back door, the snow falling from their plaids as
+they walked.
+
+"We're that an' nae mistak, but a' thocht we wud be lickit ae place,
+eh, Chairlie? a'm no sae weel acquant wi' the hill on this side, an'
+there wes some kittle (hazardous) drifts."
+
+"It wes grand o' ye tae mak the attempt," said Drumsheugh, "an' a'm
+gled ye're safe."
+
+"He cam through as bad himsel tae help ma wife," was Charlie's
+reply.
+
+"They're three mair Urtach shepherds 'ill come in by sune; they're
+frae Upper Urtach, an' we saw them fording the river; ma certes, it
+took them a' their time, for it wes up tae their waists and rinnin'
+like a mill lade, but they jined hands and cam ower fine." And the
+Urtach men went in to the fire.
+
+The Glen began to arrive in twos and threes, and Jamie, from a point
+of vantage at the gate, and under an appearance of utter
+indifference, checked his roll till even he was satisfied.
+
+"Weelum MacLure 'ill hae the beerial he deserves in spite o' sna and
+drifts; it passes a' tae see hoo they've githered frae far an' near.
+
+"A'm thinkin'ye can colleck them for the minister noo, Drumsheugh.
+A'body's here except the heich Glen, an' we mauna hike for them."
+
+"Dinna be sae sure o' that, Jamie. Yon's terrible like them on the
+road, wi' Whinnie at their head;" and so it was, twelve in all, only
+old Adam Ross absent, detained by force, being eighty-two years of
+age.
+
+"It wud hae been temptin' Providence tae cross the muir," Whinnie
+explained, "and it's a fell stap roond; a' doot we're laist."
+
+"See, Jamie," said Drumsheugh, as he went to the house, "gin there
+be ony antern body in sicht afore we begin; we maun mak allooances
+the day wi' twa feet o' sna on the grund, tae say naethin' o'
+drifts."
+
+"There's something at the turnin', an' it's no fouk; it's a machine
+o' some kind or ither--maybe a bread cart that's focht its wy up."
+
+"Na, it's no that; there's twa horses, ane afore the ither; if it's
+no a dogcairt wi' twa men in the front; they 'ill be comin' tae the
+beerial."
+
+"What wud ye sae, Jamie," Hillocks suggested, "but it micht be some
+o' thae Muirtown doctors? they were awfu' chief wi' MacLure."
+
+"It's nae Muirtown doctors," cried Jamie, in great exultation, "nor
+ony ither doctors. A' ken thae horses, and wha's ahint them. Quick,
+man Hillocks, stop the fouk, and tell Drumsheugh tae come oot, for
+Lord Kilspindie hes come up frae Muirtown Castle."
+
+Jamie himself slipped behind, and did not wish to be seen.
+
+"It's the respeck he's gettin' the day frae high an' low," was
+Jamie's husky apology; "tae think o' them fechtin' their wy doon
+frae Glen Urtach, and toiling roond frae the heich Glen, an' his
+lordship driving through the drifts a' the road frae Muirtown, juist
+tae honour Weelum MacLure's beerial.
+
+"It's nae ceremony the day, ye may lippen tae it; it's the hert
+brocht the fouk, an' ye can see it in their faces; ilka man hes his
+ain reason, an' he's thinkin' on't, though he's speakin' o' naethin'
+but the storm; he's mindin' the day Weelum pued him oot frae the
+jaws o' death, or the nicht he savit the gude wife in her oor o'
+tribble.
+
+"That's why they pit on their blacks this mornin' afore it wes
+licht, and wrastled through the sna drifts at risk o' life.
+Drumtochty fouk canna say muckle, it's an awfu' peety, and they 'ill
+dae their best tae show naethin', but a' can read it a' in their
+een.
+
+"But wae's me"--and Jamie broke down utterly behind a fir tree, so
+tender a thing is a cynic's heart--"that fouk 'ill tak a man's best
+wark a' his days withoot a word an' no dae him honour till he dees.
+Oh, if they hed only githered like this juist aince when he wes
+livin', an' lat him see he hedna laboured in vain. His reward hes
+come ower late, ower late."
+
+During Jamie's vain regret, the Castle trap, bearing the marks of a
+wild passage in the snow-covered wheels, a broken shaft tied with
+rope, a twisted lamp, and the panting horses, pulled up between two
+rows of farmers, and Drumsheugh received his lordship with evident
+emotion.
+
+"Ma lord ... we never thocht o' this ... an' sic a road."
+
+"How are you, Drumsheugh? and how are you all this wintry day?
+That's how I'm half an hour late; it took us four hours' stiff work
+for sixteen miles, mostly in the drifts, of course."
+
+"It wes gude o' yir lordship, tae mak sic an effort, an' the hale
+Glen wull be gratefu' tae ye, for ony kindness tae him is kindness
+tae us."
+
+"You make too much of it, Drumsheugh," and the clear, firm voice was
+heard of all; "it would have taken more than a few snow drifts to
+keep me from showing my respect to William MacLure's memory."
+
+When all had gathered in a half circle before the kitchen door, Lord
+Kilspindie came out--every man noticed he had left his overcoat, and
+was in black, like the Glen--and took a place in the middle with
+Drumsheugh and Burnbrae, his two chief tenants, on the right and
+left, and as the minister appeared every man bared his head.
+
+The doctor looked on the company--a hundred men such as for strength
+and gravity you could hardly have matched in Scotland--standing out
+in picturesque relief against the white background, and he said:
+
+"It's a bitter day, friends, and some of you are old; perhaps it
+might be wise to cover your heads before I begin to pray."
+
+Lord Kilspindie, standing erect and greyheaded between the two old
+men, replied:
+
+"We thank you, Dr. Davidson, for your thoughtfulness; but he endured
+many a storm in our service, and we are not afraid of a few minutes'
+cold at his funeral."
+
+A look flashed round the stern faces, and was reflected from the
+minister, who seemed to stand higher.
+
+His prayer, we noticed with critical appreciation, was composed for
+the occasion, and the first part was a thanksgiving to God for the
+life-work of our doctor, wherein each clause was a reference to his
+services and sacrifices. No one moved or said Amen--it had been
+strange with us--but when every man had heard the gratitude of his
+dumb heart offered to Heaven, there was a great sigh.
+
+After which the minister prayed that we might have grace to live as
+this man had done from youth to old age, not for himself, but for
+others, and that we might be followed to our grave by somewhat of
+"that love wherewith we mourn this day Thy servant departed." Again
+the same sigh, and the minister said Amen.
+
+The "wricht" stood in the doorway without speaking, and four
+stalwart men came forward. They were the volunteers that would lift
+the coffin and carry it for the first stage. One was Tammas, Annie
+Mitchell's man; and another was Saunders Baxter, for whose life
+MacLure had his great fight with death; and the third was the Glen
+Urtach shepherd for whose wife's sake MacLure suffered a broken leg
+and three fractured ribs in a drift; and the fourth, a Dunleith man,
+had his own reasons of remembrance.
+
+"He's far lichter than ye wud expeck for sae big a man--there wesna
+muckle left o' him, ye see--but the road is heavy, and a'll change
+ye aifter the first half mile."
+
+"Ye needna tribble yersel, wricht," said the man from Glen Urtach;
+"the'll be nae change in the cairryin' the day," and Tammas was
+thankful some one had saved him speaking.
+
+Surely no funeral is like unto that of a doctor for pathos, and a
+peculiar sadness fell on that company as his body was carried out
+who for nearly half a century had been their help in sickness, and
+had beaten back death time after time from their door. Death after
+all was victor, for the man that saved them had not been able to
+save himself.
+
+As the coffin passed the stable door a horse neighed within, and
+every man looked at his neighbour. It was his old mare crying to her
+master.
+
+Jamie slipped into the stable, and went up into the stall.
+
+"Puir lass, ye're no gaein' wi' him the day, an' ye 'ill never see
+him again; ye've hed yir last ride thegither, an' ye were true tae
+the end."
+
+After the funeral Drumsheugh came himself for Jess, and took her to
+his farm. Saunders made a bed for her with soft, dry straw, and
+prepared for her supper such things as horses love. Jess would
+neither take food nor rest, but moved uneasily in her stall, and
+seemed to be waiting for some one that never came. No man knows what
+a horse or a dog understands and feels, for God hath not given them
+our speech. If any footstep was heard in the courtyard, she began to
+neigh, and was always looking round as the door opened. But nothing
+would tempt her to eat, and in the night-time Drumsheugh heard her
+crying as if she expected to be taken out for some sudden journey.
+The Kildrummie veterinary came to see her, and said that nothing
+could be done when it happened after this fashion with an old horse.
+
+"A've seen it aince afore," he said. "Gin she were a Christian
+instead o' a horse, ye micht say she wes dying o' a broken hert."
+
+He recommended that she should be shot to end her misery, but no man
+could be found in the Glen to do the deed, and Jess relieved them of
+the trouble. When Drumsheugh went to the stable on Monday morning, a
+week after Dr. MacLure fell on sleep, Jess was resting at last, but
+her eyes were open and her face turned to the door.
+
+"She wes a' the wife he hed," said Jamie, as he rejoined the
+procession, "an' they luved ane anither weel."
+
+The black thread wound itself along the whiteness of the Glen, the
+coffin first, with his lordship and Drumsheugh behind, and the
+others as they pleased, but in closer ranks than usual, because the
+snow on either side was deep, and because this was not as other
+funerals. They could see the women standing at the door of every
+house on the hillside, and weeping, for each family had some good
+reason in forty years to remember MacLure. When Bell Baxter saw
+Saunders alive, and the coffin of the doctor that saved him on her
+man's shoulder, she bowed her head on the dyke, and the bairns in
+the village made such a wail for him they loved that the men nearly
+disgraced themselves.
+
+"A'm gled we're through that, at ony rate," said Hillocks; "he wes
+awfu' taen up wi' the bairns, conseederin' he hed nane o' his ain."
+
+There was only one drift on the road between his cottage and the
+kirkyard, and it had been cut early that morning.
+
+Before daybreak Saunders had roused the lads in the bothy, and they
+had set to work by the light of lanterns with such good will that,
+when Drumsheugh came down to engineer a circuit for the funeral,
+there was a fair passage, with walls of snow twelve feet high on
+either side.
+
+"Man, Saunders," he said, "this wes a kind thocht, and rael weel
+dune."
+
+But Saunders' only reply was this:
+
+"Mony a time he's hed tae gang roond; he micht as weel hae an open
+road for his last traivel."
+
+When the coffin was laid down at the mouth of the grave, the only
+blackness in the white kirkyard, Tammas Mitchell did the most
+beautiful thing in all his life. He knelt down and carefully wiped
+off the snow the wind had blown upon the coffin, and which had
+covered the name, and when he had done this he disappeared behind
+the others, so that Drumsheugh could hardly find him to take a cord.
+For these were the eight that buried Dr. MacLure--Lord Kilspindie at
+the head as landlord and Drumsheugh at the feet as his friend; the
+two ministers of the parish came first on the right and left; then
+Burnbrae and Hillocks of the farmers, and Saunders and Tammas for
+the plowmen. So the Glen he loved laid him to rest.
+
+When the bedrel had finished his work and the turf had been spread,
+Lord Kilspindie spoke:
+
+"Friends of Drumtochty, it would not be right that we should part in
+silence and no man say what is in every heart. We have buried the
+remains of one that served this Glen with a devotion that has known
+no reserve, and a kindliness that never failed, for more than forty
+years. I have seen many brave men in my day, but no man in the
+trenches of Sebastopol carried himself more knightly than William
+MacLure. You will never have heard from his lips what I may tell you
+to-day, that my father secured for him a valuable post in his
+younger days, and he preferred to work among his own people; and I
+wished to do many things for him when he was old, but he would have
+nothing for himself. He will never be forgotten while one of us
+lives, and I pray that all doctors everywhere may share his spirit.
+If it be your pleasure, I shall erect a cross above his grave, and
+shall ask my old friend and companion Dr. Davidson, your minister,
+to choose the text to be inscribed."
+
+"We thank you, Lord Kilspindie," said the doctor, "for your presence
+with us in our sorrow and your tribute to the memory of William
+MacLure, and I choose this for his text:
+
+"'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
+for his friends.'"
+
+Milton was, at that time, held in the bonds of a very bitter
+theology, and his indignation was stirred by this unqualified
+eulogium.
+
+"No doubt Dr. MacLure hed mony natural virtues, an' he did his wark
+weel, but it wes a peety he didna mak mair profession o' releegion."
+
+"When William MacLure appears before the Judge, Milton," said
+Lachlan Campbell, who that day spoke his last words in public, and
+they were in defence of charity, "He will not be asking him about
+his professions, for the doctor's judgment hass been ready long ago;
+and it iss a good judgment, and you and I will be happy men if we
+get the like of it.
+
+"It iss written in the Gospel, but it iss William MacLure that will
+not be expecting it."
+
+"What is't, Lachlan?" asked Jamie Soutar, eagerly.
+
+The old man, now very feeble, stood in the middle of the road, and
+his face, once so hard, was softened into a winsome tenderness.
+
+"'Come, ye blessed of My Father ... I was sick, and ye visited Me.'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
+
+Author: Ian Maclaren
+
+Posting Date: September 3, 2012 [EBook #7179]
+Release Date: December, 2004
+First Posted: March 22, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH
+
+By IAN MACLAREN
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+  'There grows a bonnie brier bush in our kail-yard,
+   And white are the blossoms on't in our kail-yard.'
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. DOMSIE.
+
+1. A LAD O' PAIRTS,
+
+2. HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+3. IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+4. A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+
+II. A HIGHLAND MYSTIC.
+
+1. WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN,
+
+2. AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS,
+
+
+III. HIS MOTHER'S SERMON,
+
+
+IV. THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL.
+
+1. A GRAND INQUISITOR,
+
+2. HIS BITTER SHAME,
+
+3. LIKE AS A FATHER,
+
+4. AS A LITTLE CHILD,
+
+
+V. THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+VI. A WISE WOMAN.
+
+1. OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+2. THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+
+VII. A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+1. A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+2. THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+3. A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+4. THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+5. THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+
+
+
+DOMSIE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A LAD O' PAIRTS
+
+The Revolution reached our parish years ago, and Drumtochty has a
+School Board, with a chairman and a clerk, besides a treasurer and
+an officer. Young Hillocks, who had two years in a lawyer's office,
+is clerk, and summons meetings by post, although he sees every
+member at the market or the kirk. Minutes are read with much
+solemnity, and motions to expend ten shillings upon a coal-cellar
+door passed, on the motion of Hillocks, seconded by Drumsheugh, who
+are both severely prompted for the occasion, and move uneasily
+before speaking.
+
+Drumsheugh was at first greatly exalted by his poll, and referred
+freely on market days to his "plumpers," but as time went on the
+irony of the situation laid hold upon him.
+
+"Think o' you and me, Hillocks, veesitin' the schule and sittin' wi'
+bukes in oor hands watchin' the Inspector. Keep's a', it's eneuch to
+mak' the auld Dominie turn in his grave. Twa meenisters cam' in his
+time, and Domsie put Geordie Hoo or some ither gleg laddie, that was
+makin' for college, thro' his facin's, and maybe some bit lassie
+brocht her copybuke. Syne they had their dinner, and Domsie tae, wi'
+the Doctor. Man, a've often thocht it was the prospeck o' the Schule
+Board and its weary bit rules that feenished Domsie. He wasna maybe
+sae shairp at the elements as this pirjinct body we hae noo, but
+a'body kent he was a terrible scholar and a credit tae the parish.
+Drumtochty was a name in thae days wi' the lads he sent tae college.
+It was maybe juist as weel he slippit awa' when he did, for he wud
+hae taen ill with thae new fikes, and nae college lad to warm his
+hert."
+
+The present school-house stands in an open place beside the main
+road to Muirtown, treeless and comfortless, built of red, staring
+stone, with a playground for the boys and another for the girls, and
+a trim, smug-looking teacher's house, all very neat and symmetrical,
+and well regulated. The local paper had a paragraph headed
+"Drumtochty," written by the Muirtown architect, describing the
+whole premises in technical language that seemed to compensate the
+ratepayers for the cost, mentioning the contractor's name, and
+concluding that "this handsome building of the Scoto-Grecian style
+was one of the finest works that had ever come from the accomplished
+architect's hands." It has pitch-pine benches and map-cases, and a
+thermometer to be kept at not less than 58 deg. and not more than 62 deg.,
+and ventilators which the Inspector is careful to examine. When I
+stumbled in last week the teacher was drilling the children in Tonic
+Sol-fa with a little harmonium, and I left on tiptoe.
+
+It is difficult to live up to this kind of thing, and my thoughts
+drift to the auld schule-house and Domsie. Some one with the love of
+God in his heart had built it long ago, and chose a site for the
+bairns in the sweet pine-woods at the foot of the cart road to
+Whinnie Knowe and the upland farms. It stood in a clearing with the
+tall Scotch firs round three sides, and on the fourth a brake of
+gorse and bramble bushes, through which there was an opening to the
+road. The clearing was the playground, and in summer the bairns
+annexed as much wood as they liked, playing tig among the trees, or
+sitting down at dinner-time on the soft, dry spines that made an
+elastic carpet everywhere. Domsie used to say there were two
+pleasant sights for his old eyes every day. One was to stand in the
+open at dinner-time and see the flitting forms of the healthy, rosy
+sonsie bairns in the wood, and from the door in the afternoon to
+watch the schule skail till each group was lost in the kindly shadow,
+and the merry shouts died away in this quiet place. Then the Dominie
+took a pinch of snuff and locked the door, and went to his house
+beside the school. One evening I came on him listening bare-headed
+to the voices, and he showed so kindly that I shall take him as he
+stands. A man of middle height, but stooping below it, with sandy
+hair turning to grey, and bushy eye-brow covering keen, shrewd
+grey eyes. You will notice that his linen is coarse but spotless,
+and that, though his clothes are worn almost threadbare, they are
+well brushed and orderly. But you will be chiefly arrested by the
+Dominie's coat, for the like of it was not in the parish. It was a
+black dress coat, and no man knew when it had begun its history; in
+its origin and its continuance it resembled Melchisedek. Many were
+the myths that gathered round that coat, but on this all were agreed,
+that without it we could not have realised the Dominie, and it
+became to us the sign and trappings of learning. He had taken a
+high place at the University, and won a good degree, and I've heard
+the Doctor say that he had a career before him. But something
+happened in his life, and Domsie buried himself among the woods with
+the bairns of Drumtochty. No one knew the story, but after he died I
+found a locket on his breast, with a proud, beautiful face within,
+and I have fancied it was a tragedy. It may have been in substitution
+that he gave all his love to the children, and nearly all his money
+too, helping lads to college, and affording an inexhaustible store
+of peppermints for the little ones.
+
+Perhaps one ought to have been ashamed of that school-house, but yet
+it had its own distinction, for scholars were born there, and now
+and then to this day some famous man will come and stand in the
+deserted playground for a space. The door was at one end, and stood
+open in summer, so that the boys saw the rabbits come out from their
+holes on the edge of the wood, and birds sometimes flew in unheeded.
+The fireplace was at the other end, and was fed in winter with the
+sticks and peats brought by the scholars. On one side Domsie sat
+with the half-dozen lads he hoped to send to college, to whom he
+grudged no labour, and on the other gathered the very little ones,
+who used to warm their bare feet at the fire, while down the sides
+of the room the other scholars sat at their rough old desks, working
+sums and copying. Now and then a class came up and did some task,
+and at times a boy got the tawse for his negligence, but never a
+girl. He kept the girls in as their punishment, with a brother to
+take them home, and both had tea in Domsie's house, with a bit of
+his best honey, departing much torn between an honest wish to please
+Domsie and a pardonable longing for another tea.
+
+"Domsie," as we called the schoolmaster, behind his back in
+Drumtochty, because we loved him, was true to the tradition of his
+kind, and had an unerring scent for "pairts" in his laddies. He
+could detect a scholar in the egg, and prophesied Latinity from a
+boy that seemed fit only to be a cowherd. It was believed that he
+had never made a mistake in judgment, and it was not his blame if
+the embryo scholar did not come to birth. "Five and thirty years
+have I been minister at Drumtochty," the Doctor used to say at
+school examinations, "and we have never wanted a student at the
+University, and while Dominie Jamieson lives we never shall."
+Whereupon Domsie took snuff, and assigned his share of credit to the
+Doctor, "who gave the finish in Greek to every lad of them, without
+money and without price, to make no mention of the higher mathematics."
+Seven ministers, four schoolmasters, four doctors, one professor,
+and three civil service men had been sent out by the auld schule
+in Domsie's time, besides many that "had given themselves to
+mercantile pursuits."
+
+He had a leaning to classics and the professions, but Domsie was
+catholic in his recognition of "pairts," and when the son of
+Hillocks' foreman made a collection of the insects of Drumtochty,
+there was a council at the manse. "Bumbee Willie," as he had been
+pleasantly called by his companions, was rescued from ridicule and
+encouraged to fulfil his bent. Once a year a long letter came to Mr.
+Patrick Jamieson, M.A., Schoolmaster, Drumtochty, N.B., and the
+address within was the British Museum. When Domsie read this letter
+to the school, he was always careful to explain that "Dr. Graham is
+the greatest living authority on beetles," and, generally speaking,
+if any clever lad did not care for Latin, he had the alternative of
+beetles.
+
+But it was Latin Domsie hunted for as for fine gold, and when he
+found the smack of it in a lad he rejoiced openly. He counted it a
+day in his life when he knew certainly that he had hit on another
+scholar, and the whole school saw the identification of George Howe.
+For a winter Domsie had been "at point," racing George through
+Caesar, stalking him behind irregular verbs, baiting traps with
+tit-bits of Virgil. During these exercises Domsie surveyed George
+from above his spectacles with a hope that grew every day in assurance,
+and came to its height over a bit of Latin prose. Domsie tasted it
+visibly, and read it again in the shadow of the firs at meal-time,
+slapping his leg twice.
+
+"He'll dae! he'll dae!" cried Domsie aloud, ladling in the snuff.
+"George, ma mannie, tell yir father that I am comin' up to Whinnie
+Knowe the nicht on a bit o' business."
+
+Then the "schule" knew that Geordie Hoo was marked for college, and
+pelted him with fir cones in great gladness of heart.
+
+"Whinnie" was full of curiosity over the Dominie's visit, and vexed
+Marget sorely, to whom Geordie had told wondrous things in the
+milk-house. "It canna be coals 'at he's wantin' frae the station,
+for there's a fell puckle left."
+
+"And it'll no be seed taties," she said, pursuing the principle of
+exhaustion, "for he hes some Perthshire reds himsel'. I doot it's
+somethin' wrang with Geordie," and Whinnie started on a new track.
+
+"He's been playin' truant maybe. A' mind gettin' ma paiks for
+birdnestin' masel. I'll wager that's the verra thing."
+
+"Weel, yir wrang, Weelum," broke in Marget, Whinnie's wife, a tall,
+silent woman, with a speaking face; "it's naither the ae thing nor
+the ither, but something I've been prayin' for since Geordie was a
+wee bairn. Clean yirsel and meet Domsie on the road, for nae man
+deserves more honour in Drumtochty, naither laird nor farmer."
+
+Conversation with us was a leisurely game, with slow movements and
+many pauses, and it was our custom to handle all the pawns before we
+brought the queen into action.
+
+Domsie and Whinnie discussed the weather with much detail before
+they came in sight of George, but it was clear that Domsie was
+charged with something weighty, and even Whinnie felt that his own
+treatment of the turnip crop was wanting in repose.
+
+At last Domsie cleared his throat and looked at Marget, who had been
+in and out, but ever within hearing.
+
+"George is a fine laddie, Mrs. Howe."
+
+An ordinary Drumtochty mother, although bursting with pride, would
+have responded, "He's weel eneuch, if he hed grace in his heart," in
+a tone that implied it was extremely unlikely, and that her laddie
+led the reprobates of the parish. As it was, Marget's face
+lightened, and she waited.
+
+"What do you think of making him?" and the Dominie dropped the words
+slowly, for this was a moment in Drumtochty.
+
+There was just a single ambition in those humble homes, to have one
+of its members at college, and if Domsie approved a lad, then his
+brothers and sisters would give their wages, and the family would
+live on skim milk and oat cake, to let him have his chance.
+
+Whinnie glanced at his wife and turned to Domsie.
+
+"Marget's set on seein' Geordie a minister, Dominie."
+
+"If he's worthy o't, no otherwise. We haena the means though; the
+farm is highly rented, and there's barely a penny over at the end o'
+the year."
+
+"But you are willing George should go and see what he can do. If he
+disappoint you, then I dinna know a lad o' pairts when I see him,
+and the Doctor is with me."
+
+"Maister Jamieson," said Marget, with great solemnity, "ma hert's
+desire is to see George a minister, and if the Almichty spared me to
+hear ma only bairn open his mooth in the Evangel, I wud hae naething
+mair to ask ... but I doot sair it canna be managed."
+
+Domsie had got all he asked, and he rose in his strength.
+
+"If George Howe disna get to college, then he's the first scholar
+I've lost in Drumtochty ... ye 'ill manage his keep and sic like?"
+
+"Nae fear o' that," for Whinnie was warming, "tho' I haena a steek
+(stitch) o' new claithes for four years. But what aboot his fees and
+ither ootgaeins?"
+
+"There's ae man in the parish can pay George's fees without missing
+a penny, and I'll warrant he 'ill dae it."
+
+"Are ye meanin' Drumsheugh?" said Whinnie, "for ye 'ill never get a
+penny piece oot o' him. Did ye no hear hoo the Frees wiled him intae
+their kirk, Sabbath past a week, when Netherton's sister's son frae
+Edinboro' wes preaching the missionary sermon, expectin' a note, and
+if he didna change a shillin' at the public-hoose and pit in a
+penny. Sall, he's a lad Drumsheugh; a'm thinking ye may save yir
+journey, Dominie."
+
+But Marget looked away from her into the past, and her eyes had a
+tender light. "He hed the best hert in the pairish aince."
+
+Domsie found Drumsheugh inclined for company, and assisted at an
+exhaustive and caustic treatment of local affairs. When the conduct
+of Piggie Walker, who bought Drumsheugh's potatoes and went into
+bankruptcy without paying for a single tuber, had been characterized
+in language that left nothing to be desired, Drumsheugh began to
+soften and show signs of reciprocity.
+
+"Hoo's yir laddies, Dominie?" whom the farmers regarded as a risky
+turnip crop in a stiff clay that Domsie had "to fecht awa in." "Are
+ony o' them shaping weel?"
+
+Drumsheugh had given himself away, and Domsie laid his first
+parallel with a glowing account of George Howe's Latinity, which was
+well received.
+
+"Weel, I'm gled tae hear sic accoonts o' Marget Hoo's son; there's
+naething in Whinnie but what the spune puts in."
+
+But at the next move Drumsheugh scented danger and stood at guard.
+"Na, na, Dominie, I see what yir aifter fine; ye mind hoo ye got
+three notes oot o' me at Perth market Martinmas a year past for ane
+o' yir college laddies. Five punds for four years; my word, yir no
+blate (modest). And what for sud I educat Marget Hoo's bairn? If ye
+kent a' ye wudna ask me; it's no reasonable, Dominie. So there's an
+end o't."
+
+Domsie was only a pedantic old parish schoolmaster, and he knew
+little beyond his craft, but the spirit of the Humanists awoke
+within him, and he smote with all his might, bidding goodbye to his
+English as one flings away the scabbard of a sword.
+
+"Ye think that a'm asking a great thing when I plead for a pickle
+notes to give a puir laddie a college education. I tell ye, man, a'm
+honourin' ye and givin' ye the fairest chance ye'll ever hae o'
+winning wealth. Gin ye store the money ye hae scrapit by mony a hard
+bargain, some heir ye never saw 'ill gar it flee in chambering and
+wantonness. Gin ye hed the heart to spend it on a lad o' pairts like
+Geordie Hoo, ye wud hae twa rewards nae man could tak fra ye. Ane
+wud be the honest gratitude o' a laddie whose desire for knowledge
+ye hed sateesfied, and the second wud be this--anither scholar in
+the land; and a'm thinking with auld John Knox that ilka scholar is
+something added to the riches of the commonwealth. And what 'ill it
+cost ye? Little mair than the price o' a cattle beast. Man, Drumsheugh,
+ye poverty-stricken cratur, I've naethin' in this world but a handfu'
+o' books and a ten-pund note for my funeral, and yet, if it wasna I
+have all my brither's bairns tae keep, I wud pay every penny mysel'.
+But I'll no see Geordie sent to the plough, tho' I gang frae door
+to door. Na, na, the grass 'ill no grow on the road atween the
+college and the schule-hoose o' Drumtochty till they lay me in the
+auld kirkyard."
+
+"Sall, Domsie was roosed," Drumsheugh explained in the Muirtown inn
+next market. "'Miserly wratch' was the ceevilest word on his tongue.
+He wud naither sit nor taste, and was half way doon the yaird afore
+I cud quiet him. An' a'm no sayin' he hed na reason if I'd been
+meanin' a' I said. It wud be a scan'al to the pairish if a likely
+lad cudna win tae college for the want o' siller. Na, na, neeburs,
+we hae oor faults, but we're no sae dune mean as that in
+Drumtochty."
+
+As it was, when Domsie did depart he could only grip Drumsheugh's
+hand, and say Maecenas, and was so intoxicated, but not with strong
+drink, that he explained to Hillocks on the way home that Drumsheugh
+would be a credit to Drumtochty, and that his Latin style reminded
+him of Cicero. He added as an afterthought that Whinnie Knowe had
+promised to pay Drumsheugh's fees for four years at the University
+of Edinburgh.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+Domsie was an artist, and prepared the way for George's University
+achievement with much cunning. Once every Sabbath in the kirk-yard,
+where he laid down the law beneath an old elm tree, and twice
+between Sabbaths, at the post-office and by the wayside, he adjured
+us not to expect beyond measure, and gave us reasons.
+
+"Ye see, he has a natural talent for learning, and took to Latin
+like a duck to water. What could be done in Drumtochty was done for
+him, and he's working night and day, but he'll have a sore fight
+with the lads from the town schools. Na, na, neighbours," said the
+Dominie, lapsing into dialect, "we daurna luik for a prize. No the
+first year, at ony rate."
+
+"Man, Dominie. A'm clean astonished at ye," Drumsheugh used to break
+in, who, since he had given to George's support, outran us all in
+his faith, and had no patience with Domsie's devices, "a' tell ye if
+Geordie disna get a first in every class he's entered for, the
+judges 'ill be a puir lot," with a fine confusion of circumstances.
+
+"Losh, Drumsheugh, be quiet, or ye'll dae the laddie an injury,"
+said Domsie, with genuine alarm. "We maunna mention prizes, and
+first is fair madness, A certificate of honour now, that will be
+aboot it, may be next to the prizemen."
+
+Coming home from market he might open his heart. "George 'ill be
+amang the first sax, or my name is no Jamieson," but generally he
+prophesied a moderate success. There were times when he affected
+indifference, and talked cattle. We then regarded him with awe,
+because this was more than mortal.
+
+It was my luck to carry the bulletin to Domsie, and I learned what
+he had been enduring. It was good manners in Drumtochty to feign
+amazement at the sight of a letter, and to insist that it must be
+intended for some other person. When it was finally forced upon one,
+you examined the handwriting at various angles and speculated about
+the writer. Some felt emboldened, after these precautions, to open
+the letter, but this haste was considered indecent. When Posty
+handed Drumsheugh the factor's letter, with the answer to his offer
+for the farm, he only remarked, "It'll be frae the factor," and
+harked back to a polled Angus bull he had seen at the show. "Sall,"
+said Posty in the kirkyard with keen relish, "ye'll never flurry
+Drumsheugh." Ordinary letters were read in leisurely retirement,
+and, in case of urgency, answered within the week.
+
+Domsie clutched the letter, and would have torn off the envelope.
+But he could not; his hand was shaking like an aspen. He could only
+look, and I read:
+
+"Dear Mr. Jamieson,--The class honour lists are just out, and you
+will be pleased to know that I have got the medal both in the
+Humanity and the Greek."
+
+There was something about telling his mother, and his gratitude to
+his schoolmaster, but Domsie heard no more. He tried to speak and
+could not, for a rain of tears was on his hard old face. Domsie was
+far more a pagan than a saint, but somehow he seemed to me that day
+as Simeon, who had at last seen his heart's desire, and was
+satisfied.
+
+When the school had dispersed with a joyful shout, and disappeared
+in the pine woods, he said, "Ye'll come too," and I knew he was
+going to Whinnie Knowe. He did not speak one word upon the way, but
+twice he stood and read the letter which he held fast in his hand.
+His face was set as he climbed the cart track. I saw it set again as
+we came down that road one day, but it was well that we could not
+pierce beyond the present.
+
+Whinnie left his plough in the furrow, and came to meet us, taking
+two drills at a stride, and shouting remarks on the weather yards
+off.
+
+Domsie only lifted the letter. "Frae George."
+
+"Ay, ay, and what's he gotten noo?"
+
+Domsie solemnly unfolded the letter, and brought down his spectacles.
+"Edinburgh, April 7th." Then he looked at Whinnie, and closed his
+mouth.
+
+"We'll tell it first to his mither."
+
+"Yer richt, Dominie. She weel deserves it. A'm thinking she's seen
+us by this time." So we fell into a procession, Dominie leading by
+two yards; and then a strange thing happened. For the first and last
+time in his life Domsie whistled, and the tune was "A hundred pipers
+and a' and a'," and as he whistled he seemed to dilate before our
+eyes, and he struck down thistles with his stick--a thistle at every
+stroke.
+
+"Domsie's fair carried," whispered Whinnie, "it cowes a'."
+
+Marget met us at the end of the house beside the brier bush, where
+George was to sit on summer afternoons before he died, and a flash
+passed between Domsie and the lad's mother. Then she knew that it
+was well, and fixed her eyes on the letter, but Whinnie, his thumbs
+in his armholes, watched the wife.
+
+Domsie now essayed to read the news, but between the shaking of his
+hands and his voice he could not.
+
+"It's nae use," he cried, "he's first in the Humanity oot o' a
+hundred and seeventy lads, first o' them a', and he's first in the
+Greek too; the like o' this is hardly known, and it has na been seen
+in Drumtochty since there was a schule. That's the word he's sent,
+and he bade me tell his mother without delay, and I am here as fast
+as my old feet could carry me."
+
+I glanced round, although I did not myself see very clearly.
+
+Marget was silent for the space of five seconds; she was a good
+woman, and I knew that better afterwards. She took the Dominie's
+hand, and said to him, "Under God this was your doing, Maister
+Jamieson, and for your reward ye'ill get naither silver nor gold,
+but ye hae a mither's gratitude."
+
+Whinnie gave a hoarse chuckle and said to his wife, "It was frae
+you, Marget, he got it a'."
+
+When we settled in the parlour Domsie's tongue was loosed, and he
+lifted up his voice and sang the victory of Geordie Hoo.
+
+"It's ten years ago at the brak up o' the winter ye brought him down
+to me, Mrs. Hoo, and ye said at the schule-hoose door, 'Dinna be
+hard on him, Maister Jamieson, he's my only bairn, and a wee thingie
+quiet.' Div ye mind what I said, 'There's something ahint that
+face,' and my heart warmed to George that hour. Two years after the
+Doctor examined the schule, and he looks at George. 'That's a likely
+lad, Dominie. What think ye?' And he was only eight years auld, and
+no big for his size. 'Doctor, I daurna prophesy till we turn him
+into the Latin, but a've my thoughts.' So I had a' the time, but I
+never boasted, na, na, that's dangerous. Didna I say, 'Ye hev a
+promisin' laddie, Whinnie,' ae day in the market?"
+
+"It's a fac'," said Whinnie, "it wes the day I bocht the white coo."
+But Domsie swept on.
+
+"The first year o' Latin was enough for me. He juist nippet up his
+verbs. Caesar could na keep him going; he wes into Virgil afore he
+wes eleven, and the Latin prose, man, as sure as a'm living, it
+tasted o' Cicero frae the beginning."
+
+Whinnie wagged his head in amazement.
+
+"It was the verra nicht o' the Latin prose I cam up to speak aboot
+the college, and ye thocht Geordie hed been playing truant."
+
+Whinnie laughed uproariously, but Domsie heeded not.
+
+"It was awfu' work the next twa years, but the Doctor stood in weel
+wi' the Greek. Ye mind hoo Geordie tramped ower the muir to the
+manse thro' the weet an' the snaw, and there wes aye dry stockings
+for him in the kitchen afore he had his Greek in the Doctor's
+study."
+
+"And a warm drink tae," put in Marget, "and that's the window I pit the
+licht in to guide him hame in the dark winter nichts, and mony a time
+when the sleet played swish on the glass I wes near wishin'--" Domsie
+waved his hand.
+
+"But that's dune wi' noo, and he was worth a' the toil and trouble.
+First in the Humanity and first in the Greek, sweepit the field,
+Lord preserve us. A' can hardly believe it. Eh, I was feared o' thae
+High School lads. They had terrible advantages. Maisters frae
+England, and tutors, and whatna', but Drumtochty carried aff the
+croon. It'll be fine reading in the papers--
+
+_Humanity_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire.
+
+_Greek_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire."
+
+"It'll be michty," cried Whinnie, now fairly on fire.
+
+"And Philosophy and Mathematics to come. Geordie's no bad at Euclid,
+I'll wager he'll be first there too. When he gets his hand in
+there's naething he's no fit for wi' time. My ain laddie--and the
+Doctor's--we maunna forget him--it's his classics he hes, every book
+o' them. The Doctor 'ill be lifted when he comes back on Saturday.
+A'm thinkin' we'll hear o't on Sabbath. And Drumsheugh, he'll be
+naither to had nor bind in the kirk-yard. As for me, I wad na change
+places wi' the Duke o' Athole," and Domsie shook the table to its
+foundation.
+
+Then he awoke, as from a dream, and the shame of boasting that shuts
+the mouths of self-respecting Scots descended upon him.
+
+"But this is fair nonsense. Ye'll no mind the havers o' an auld
+dominie."
+
+He fell back on a recent roup, and would not again break away,
+although sorely tempted by certain of Whinnie's speculations.
+
+When I saw him last, his coat-tails were waving victoriously as he
+leaped a dyke on his way to tell our Drumtochty Maecenas that the
+judges knew their business.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+The cart track to Whinnie Knowe was commanded by a gable window, and
+Whinnie boasted that Marget had never been taken unawares. Tramps,
+finding every door locked, and no sign of life anywhere, used to
+express their mind in the "close," and return by the way they came,
+while ladies from Kildrummie, fearful lest they should put Mrs. Howe
+out, were met at the garden gate by Marget in her Sabbath dress, and
+brought into a set tea as if they had been invited weeks before.
+
+Whinnie gloried most in the discomfiture of the Tory agent, who had
+vainly hoped to coerce him in the stack yard without Marget's
+presence, as her intellectual contempt for the Conservative party
+knew no bounds.
+
+"Sall she saw him slip aff the road afore the last stile, and wheep
+roond the fit o' the gairden wa' like a tod (fox) aifter the
+chickens.
+
+"'It's a het day, Maister Anderson,' says Marget frae the gairden,
+lookin' doon on him as calm as ye like. 'Yir surely no gaein' to
+pass oor hoose without a gless o' milk?'
+
+"Wud ye believe it, he wes that upset he left withoot sayin' 'vote,'
+and Drumsheugh telt me next market that his langidge aifterwards
+cudna be printed."
+
+When George came home for the last time, Marget went back and
+forward all afternoon from his bedroom to the window, and hid
+herself beneath the laburnum to see his face as the cart stood
+before the stile. It told her plain what she had feared, and Marget
+passed through her Gethsemane with the gold blossoms falling on her
+face. When their eyes met, and before she helped him down, mother
+and son understood.
+
+"Ye mind what I told ye, o' the Greek mothers, the day I left. Weel,
+I wud hae liked to have carried my shield, but it wasna to be, so
+I've come home on it." As they went slowly up the garden walk, "I've
+got my degree, a double first, mathematics and classics."
+
+"Ye've been a gude soldier, George, and faithfu'."
+
+"Unto death, a'm dootin, mother."
+
+"Na," said Marget, "unto life."
+
+Drumtochty was not a heartening place in sickness, and Marget, who
+did not think our thoughts, endured much consolation at her
+neighbour's hands. It is said that in cities visitors congratulate a
+patient on his good looks, and deluge his family with instances of
+recovery. This would have seemed to us shallow and unfeeling,
+besides being a "temptin' o' Providence," which might not have
+intended to go to extremities, but on a challenge of this kind had
+no alternative. Sickness was regarded as a distinction tempered with
+judgment, and favoured people found it difficult to be humble. I
+always thought more of Peter MacIntosh when the mysterious "tribble"
+that needed the Perth doctor made no difference in his manner, and
+he passed his snuff box across the seat before the long prayer as
+usual, but in this indifference to privileges Peter was exceptional.
+
+You could never meet Kirsty Stewart on equal terms, although she was
+quite affable to any one who knew his place.
+
+"Ay," she said, on my respectful allusion to her experience, "a've
+seen mair than most. It doesna become me to boast, but tho' I say it
+as sudna, I hae buried a' my ain fouk."
+
+Kirsty had a "way" in sick visiting, consisting in a certain cadence
+of the voice and arrangement of the face, which was felt to be
+soothing and complimentary.
+
+"Yir aboot again, a'm glad to see," to me after my accident, "but
+yir no dune wi' that leg; na, na, Jeems, that was ma second son,
+scrapit his shin aince, tho' no so bad as ye've dune a'm hearing
+(for I had denied Kirsty the courtesy of an inspection). It's sax
+year syne noo, and he got up and wes traivellin' fell hearty like
+yersel. But he begood to dwam (sicken) in the end of the year, and
+soughed awa' in the spring. Ay, ay, when tribble comes ye never ken
+hoo it 'ill end. A' thocht I wud come up and speir for ye. A body
+needs comfort gin he's sober (ill)."
+
+When I found George wrapped in his plaid beside the brier bush whose
+roses were no whiter than his cheeks, Kirsty was already installed
+as comforter in the parlour, and her drone came through the open
+window.
+
+"Ay, ay, Marget, sae it's come to this. Weel, we daurna complain, ye
+ken. Be thankfu' ye haena lost your man and five sons, besides twa
+sisters and a brither, no to mention cousins. That wud be something
+to speak aboot, and Losh keep's, there's nae saying but he micht
+hang on a whilie. Ay, ay, it's a sair blow aifter a' that wes in the
+papers. I wes feared when I heard o' the papers; 'Lat weel alane,'
+says I to the Dominie; 'ye 'ill bring a judgment on the laddie wi'
+yir blawing.' But ye micht as weel hae spoken to the hills. Domsie's
+a thraun body at the best, and he was clean infatuat' wi' George.
+Ay, ay, it's an awfu' lesson, Marget, no to mak' idols o' our
+bairns, for that's naethin' else than provokin' the Almichty."
+
+It was at this point that Marget gave way and scandalized
+Drumtochty, which held that obtrusive prosperity was an irresistible
+provocation to the higher powers, and that a skilful depreciation of
+our children was a policy of safety.
+
+"Did ye say the Almichty? I'm thinkin' that's ower grand a name for
+your God, Kirsty. What wud ye think o' a faither that brocht hame
+some bonnie thing frae the fair for ane o' his bairns, and when the
+puir bairn wes pleased wi' it tore it oot o' his hand and flung it
+into the fire? Eh, woman, he wud be a meeserable cankered jealous
+body. Kirsty, wumman, when the Almichty sees a mither bound up in
+her laddie, I tell ye He is sair pleased in His heaven, for mind ye
+hoo He loved His ain Son. Besides, a'm judgin' that nane o' us can
+love anither withoot lovin' Him, or hurt anither withoot hurtin'
+Him.
+
+"Oh, I ken weel that George is gaein' to leave us; but it's no
+because the Almichty is jealous o' him or me, no likely. It cam' to
+me last nicht that He needs my laddie for some grand wark in the
+ither world, and that's hoo George has his bukes brocht oot tae the
+garden and studies a' the day. He wants to be ready for his kingdom,
+just as he trachled in the bit schule o' Drumtochty for Edinboro'. I
+hoped he wud hae been a minister o' Christ's Gospel here, but he
+'ill be judge over many cities yonder. A'm no denyin', Kirsty, that
+it's a trial, but I hae licht on it, and naethin' but gude thochts
+o' the Almichty."
+
+Drumtochty understood that Kirsty had dealt faithfully with Marget
+for pride and presumption, but all we heard was, "Losh keep us a'."
+
+When Marget came out and sat down beside her son, her face was
+shining. Then she saw the open window.
+
+"I didna ken."
+
+"Never mind, mither, there's nae secrets atween us, and it gar'd my
+heart leap to hear ye speak up like yon for God, and to know yir
+content. Div ye mind the nicht I called for ye, mother, and ye gave
+me the Gospel aboot God?"
+
+Marget slipped her hand into George's, and he let his head rest on
+her shoulder. The likeness flashed upon me in that moment, the
+earnest deep-set grey eyes, the clean-cut firm jaw, and the tender
+mobile lips, that blend of apparent austerity and underlying romance
+that make the pathos of a Scottish face.
+
+"There had been a Revival man, here," George explained to me, "and
+he was preaching on hell. As it grew dark a candle was lighted, and
+I can still see his face as in a picture, a hard-visaged man. He
+looked down at us laddies in the front, and asked us if we knew what
+like hell was. By this time we were that terrified none of us could
+speak, but I whispered 'No.'
+
+"Then he rolled up a piece of paper and held it in the flame, and we
+saw it burn and glow and shrivel up and fall in black dust.
+
+"'Think,' said he, and he leaned over the desk, and spoke in a
+gruesome whisper which made the cold run down our backs, 'that yon
+paper was your finger, one finger only of your hand, and it burned
+like that for ever and ever, and think of your hand and your arm and
+your whole body all on fire, never to go out.' We shuddered that you
+might have heard the form creak. 'That is hell, and that is where
+ony laddie will go who does not repent and believe.'
+
+"It was like Dante's Inferno, and I dared not take my eyes off his
+face. He blew out the candle, and we crept to the door trembling,
+not able to say one word.
+
+"That night I could not sleep, for I thought I might be in the fire
+before morning. It was harvest time, and the moon was filling the
+room with cold clear light. From my bed I could see the stooks
+standing in rows upon the field, and it seemed like the judgment
+day.
+
+"I was only a wee laddie, and I did what we all do in trouble, I
+cried for my mother.
+
+"Ye hae na forgotten, mither, the fricht that was on me that nicht."
+
+"Never," said Marget, "and never can; it's hard wark for me to keep
+frae hating that man, dead or alive. Geordie gripped me wi' baith
+his wee airms round my neck, and he cries over and over and over
+again, 'Is yon God?'"
+
+"Ay, and ye kissed me, mither, and ye said (it's like yesterday),
+'Yir safe with me,' and ye telt me that God micht punish me to mak
+me better if I was bad, but that he wud never torture ony puir soul,
+for that cud dae nae guid, and was the Devil's wark. Ye asked me:
+
+"'Am I a guid mother tae ye?' and when I could dae naethin' but
+hold, ye said, 'Be sure God maun be a hantle kinder.'
+
+"The truth came to me as with a flicker, and I cuddled down into my
+bed, and fell asleep in His love as in my mother's arms.
+
+"Mither," and George lifted up his head, "that was my conversion,
+and, mither dear, I hae longed a' thro' thae college studies for the
+day when ma mooth wud be opened wi' this evangel."
+
+Marget's was an old-fashioned garden, with pinks and daisies and
+forget-me-nots, with sweet-scented wall-flower and thyme and moss
+roses, where nature had her way, and gracious thoughts could visit
+one without any jarring note. As George's voice softened to the
+close, I caught her saying, "His servants shall see His face," and
+the peace of Paradise fell upon us in the shadow of death.
+
+The night before the end George was carried out to his corner, and
+Domsie, whose heart was nigh unto the breaking, sat with him the
+afternoon. They used to fight the College battles over again, with
+their favourite classics beside them, but this time none of them
+spoke of books. Marget was moving about the garden, and she told me
+that George looked at Domsie wistfully, as if he had something to
+say and knew not how to do it.
+
+After a while he took a book from below his pillow, and began, like
+one thinking over his words:
+
+"Maister Jamieson, ye hae been a gude freend tae me, the best I ever
+hed aifter my mither and faither. Wull ye tak this buik for a
+keepsake o' yir grateful scholar? It's a Latin 'Imitation' Dominie,
+and it's bonnie printin'. Ye mind hoo ye gave me yir ain Virgil, and
+said he was a kind o' Pagan sanct. Noo here is my sanct, and div ye
+ken I've often thocht Virgil saw His day afar off, and was glad.
+Wull ye read it, Dominie, for my sake, and maybe ye 'ill come to
+see--" and George could not find words for more.
+
+But Domsie understood. "Ma laddie, ma laddie, that I luve better
+than onythin' on earth, I'll read it till I die, and, George, I'll
+tell ye what livin' man does na ken. When I was your verra age I had
+a cruel trial, and ma heart was turned frae faith. The classics hae
+been my bible, though I said naethin' to ony man against Christ. He
+aye seemed beyond man, and noo the veesion o' Him has come to me in
+this gairden. Laddie, ye hae dune far mair for me than I ever did
+for you. Wull ye mak a prayer for yir auld dominie afore we pairt?"
+
+There was a thrush singing in the birches and a sound of bees in the
+air, when George prayed in a low, soft voice, with a little break in
+it.
+
+"Lord Jesus, remember my dear maister, for he's been a kind freend
+to me and mony a puir laddie in Drumtochty. Bind up his sair heart
+and give him licht at eventide, and may the maister and his scholars
+meet some mornin' where the schule never skails, in the kingdom o'
+oor Father."
+
+Twice Domsie said Amen, and it seemed as the voice of another man,
+and then he kissed George upon the forehead; but what they said
+Marget did not wish to hear.
+
+When he passed out at the garden gate, the westering sun was shining
+golden, and the face of Domsie was like unto that of a little child.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+Drumtochty never acquitted itself with credit at a marriage, having
+no natural aptitude for gaiety, and being haunted with anxiety lest
+any "hicht" should end in a "howe," but the parish had a genius for
+funerals. It was long mentioned with a just sense of merit that an
+English undertaker, chancing on a "beerial" with us, had no limits
+to his admiration. He had been disheartened to despair all his life
+by the ghastly efforts of chirpy little Southerners to look solemn
+on occasion, but his dreams were satisfied at the sight of men like
+Drumsheugh and Hillocks in their Sabbath blacks. Nature lent an
+initial advantage in face, but it was an instinct in the blood that
+brought our manner to perfection, and nothing could be more awful
+than a group of those austere figures, each man gazing into vacancy
+without a trace of expression, and refusing to recognise his nearest
+neighbour by word or look. Drumtochty gave itself to a "beerial"
+with chastened satisfaction, partly because it lay near to the
+sorrow of things, and partly because there was nothing of speculation
+in it. "Ye can hae little rael pleesure in a merrige," explained our
+gravedigger, in whom the serious side had been perhaps abnormally
+developed, "for ye never ken hoo it will end; but there's nae risk
+about a 'beerial.'"
+
+It came with a shock upon townsmen that the ceremony began with a
+"service o' speerits," and that an attempt of the Free Kirk minister
+to replace this by the reading of Scripture was resisted as an
+"innovation." Yet every one admitted that the seriousness of
+Drumtochty pervaded and sanctified this function. A tray of glasses
+was placed on a table with great solemnity by the "wricht," who made
+no sign and invited none. You might have supposed that the
+circumstance had escaped the notice of the company, so abstracted
+and unconscious was their manner, had it not been that two graven
+images a minute later are standing at the table.
+
+"Ye 'ill taste, Tammas," with settled melancholy.
+
+"Na, na; I've nae incleenation the day; it's an awfu' dispensation
+this, Jeems. She wud be barely saxty."
+
+"Ay, ay, but we maun keep up the body sae lang as we're here,
+Tammas."
+
+"Weel, puttin' it that way, a'm not sayin' but yir richt," yielding
+unwillingly to the force of circumstance.
+
+"We're here the day and there the morn, Tammas. She wes a fine
+wumman--Mistress Stirton--a weel-livin' wumman; this 'ill be a
+blend, a'm thinkin'."
+
+"She slippit aff sudden in the end; a'm judgin' it's frae the
+Muirtown grocer; but a body canna discreeminate on a day like this."
+
+Before the glasses are empty all idea of drinking is dissipated, and
+one has a vague impression that he is at church.
+
+It was George Howe's funeral that broke the custom and closed the
+"service." When I came into the garden where the neighbours were
+gathered, the "wricht" was removing his tray, and not a glass had
+been touched. Then I knew that Drumtochty had a sense of the fitness
+of things, and was stirred to its depths.
+
+"Ye saw the wricht carry in his tray," said Drumsheugh, as we went
+home from the kirkyard. "Weel, yon's the last sicht o't ye 'ill get,
+or a'm no Drumsheugh. I've nae objection ma'sel to a nee'bur tastin'
+at a funeral, a' the mair if he's come frae the upper end o' the
+pairish, and ye ken I dinna hold wi' thae teetotal fouk. A'm ower
+auld in the horn to change noo. But there's times and seasons, as
+the gude Buik says, and it wud hae been an awfu' like business tae
+luik at a gless in Marget's gairden, and puir Domsie standing in
+ahent the brier bush as if he cud never lift his heid again. Ye may
+get shairper fouk in the uptak', but ye 'ill no get a pairish with
+better feelin's. It 'ill be a kind o' sateesfaction tae Marget when
+she hears o't. She was aye against tastin', and a'm judgin' her
+tribble has ended it at beerials."
+
+"Man, it was hard on some o' yon lads the day, but there wesna ane
+o' them made a mudge. I keepit my eye on Posty, but he never lookit
+the way it wes. He's a drouthy body, but he hes his feelin's, hes
+Posty."
+
+Before the Doctor began the prayer, Whinnie took me up to the room.
+
+"There's twa o' Geordie's College freends with Marget, grand
+scholars a'm telt, and there's anither I canna weel mak oot. He's
+terrible cast doon, and Marget speaks as if she kent him."
+
+It was a low-roofed room, with a box bed and some pieces of humble
+furniture, fit only for a labouring man. But the choice treasures of
+Greece and Rome lay on the table, and on a shelf beside the bed
+College prizes and medals, while everywhere were the roses he loved.
+His peasant mother stood beside the body of her scholar son, whose
+hopes and thoughts she had shared, and through the window came the
+bleating of distant sheep. It was the idyll of Scottish University
+life.
+
+George's friends were characteristic men, each of his own type, and
+could only have met in the commonwealth of letters. One was of an
+ancient Scottish house which had fought for Mary against the Lords
+of the Congregation, followed Prince Charlie to Culloden, and were
+High Church and Tory to the last drop of their blood. Ludovic Gordon
+left Harrow with the reputation of a classic, and had expected to be
+first at Edinboro'. It was Gordon, in fact, that Domsie feared in
+the great war, but he proved second to Marget's son, and being of
+the breed of Prince Jonathan, which is the same the world over, he
+came to love our David as his own soul. The other, a dark little
+man, with a quick, fiery eye, was a Western Celt, who had worried
+his way from a fishing croft in Barra to be an easy first in
+Philosophy at Edinboro', and George and Ronald Maclean were as
+brothers because there is nothing so different as Scottish and
+Highland blood.
+
+"Maister Gordon," said Marget, "this is George's Homer, and he bade
+me tell you that he coonted yir freendship ain o' the gifts o' God."
+
+For a brief space Gordon was silent, and, when he spoke, his voice
+sounded strange in that room.
+
+"Your son was the finest scholar of my time, and a very perfect
+gentleman. He was also my true friend, and I pray God to console his
+mother." And Ludovic Gordon bowed low over Marget's worn hand as if
+she had been a queen.
+
+Marget lifted Plato, and it seemed to me that day as if the dignity
+of our Lady of Sorrows had fallen upon her.
+
+"This is the buik George chose for you, Maister Maclean, for he aye
+said to me ye hed been a prophet and shown him mony deep things."
+
+The tears sprang to the Celt's eyes.
+
+"It wass like him to make all other men better than himself," with
+the soft, sad Highland accent; "and a proud woman you are to hef
+been his mother."
+
+The third man waited at the window till the scholars left, and then
+I saw he was none of that kind, but one who had been a slave of sin
+and now was free.
+
+"Andra Chaumers, George wished ye tae hev his Bible, and he expecks
+ye tae keep the tryst."
+
+"God helping me, I will," said Chalmers, hoarsely; and from the
+garden ascended a voice, "O God, who art a very present help in
+trouble."
+
+The Doctor's funeral prayer was one of the glories of the parish,
+compelling even the Free Kirk to reluctant admiration, although they
+hinted that its excellence was rather of the letter than the spirit,
+and regarded its indiscriminate charity with suspicion. It opened
+with a series of extracts from the Psalms, relieved by two excursions
+into the minor prophets, and led up to a sonorous recitation of the
+problem of immortality from Job, with its triumphant solution in the
+peroration of the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians. Drumtochty men
+held their breath till the Doctor reached the crest of the hill
+(Hillocks disgraced himself once by dropping his staff at the very
+moment when the Doctor was passing from Job to Paul), and then we
+relaxed while the Doctor descended to local detail. It was understood
+that it took twenty years to bring the body of this prayer to perfection,
+and any change would have been detected and resented.
+
+The Doctor made a good start, and had already sighted Job, when he
+was carried out of his course by a sudden current, and began to
+speak to God about Marget and her son, after a very simple fashion
+that brought a lump to the throat, till at last, as I imagine, the
+sight of the laddie working at his Greek in the study of a winter
+night came up before him, and the remnants of the great prayer
+melted like an iceberg in the Gulf Stream.
+
+"Lord, hae peety upon us, for we a' luved him, and we were a' prood
+o' him."
+
+After the Doctor said "Amen" with majesty, one used to look at his
+neighbour, and the other would shut his eyes and shake his head,
+meaning, "There's no use asking me, for it simply can't be better
+done by living man." This time no one remembered his neighbour,
+because every eye was fixed on the Doctor. Drumtochty was
+identifying its new minister.
+
+"It may be that I hef judged him hardly," said Lachlan Campbell, one
+of the Free Kirk Highlanders, and our St. Dominic. "I shall never
+again deny that the root of the matter is in the man, although much
+choked with the tares of worldliness and Arminianism."
+
+"He is a goot man, Lachlan," replied Donald Menzies, another Celt,
+and he was our St. Francis, for "every one that loveth is born of
+God."
+
+There was no hearse in Drumtochty, and we carried our dead by relays
+of four, who waded every stream unless more than knee deep, the rest
+following in straggling, picturesque procession over the moor and
+across the stepping stones. Before we started, Marget came out and
+arranged George's white silken hood upon the coffin with roses in
+its folds.
+
+She swept us into one brief flush of gratitude, from Domsie to
+Posty.
+
+"Neeburs, ye were a' his freends, and he wanted ye tae ken hoo yir
+trust wes mickle help tae him in his battle."
+
+There was a stir within us, and it came to birth in Drumsheugh of
+all men:
+
+"Marget Hoo, this is no the day for mony words, but there's juist ae
+heart in Drumtochty, and it's sair."
+
+No one spoke to Domsie as we went down the cart track, with the ripe
+corn standing on either side, but he beckoned Chalmers to walk with
+him.
+
+"Ye hae heard him speak o' me, then, Maister Jamieson?"
+
+"Ay, oftentimes, and he said once that ye were hard driven, but that
+ye had trampled Satan under yir feet."
+
+"He didna tell ye all, for if it hadna been for George Howe I wudna
+been worth callin' a man this day. One night when he was workin'
+hard for his honours examination and his disease was heavy upon him,
+puir fellow, he sought me oot where I was, and wouldna leave till I
+cam' wi him.
+
+"'Go home,' I said, 'Howe; it's death for ye to be oot in this sleet
+and cold. Why not leave me to lie in the bed I hae made?'
+
+"He took me by the arm into a passage. I see the gaslicht on his
+white face, and the shining o' his eyes.
+
+"'Because I have a mother...'
+
+"Dominie, he pulled me oot o' hell."
+
+"Me tae, Andra, but no your hell. Ye mind the Roman Triumph, when a
+general cam' hame wi' his spoils. Laddie, we're the captives that go
+with his chariot up the Capitol."
+
+Donald Menzies was a man of moods, and the Doctor's prayer had
+loosed his imagination so that he saw visions.
+
+"Look," said he, as we stood on a ridge, "I hef seen it before in
+the book of Joshua."
+
+Below the bearers had crossed a burn on foot, and were ascending the
+slope where an open space of deep green was fringed with purple
+heather.
+
+"The ark hass gone over Jordan, and George will have come into the
+Land of Promise."
+
+The September sunshine glinted on the white silk George won with his
+blood, and fell like a benediction on the two figures that climbed
+the hard ascent close after the man they loved.
+
+Strangers do not touch our dead in Drumtochty, but the eight of
+nearest blood lower the body into the grave. The order of precedence
+is keenly calculated, and the loss of a merited cord can never be
+forgiven. Marget had arranged everything with Whinnie, and all saw
+the fitness. His father took the head, and the feet (next in honour)
+he gave to Domsie.
+
+"Ye maun dae it. Marget said ye were o' his ain bluid."
+
+On the right side the cords were handed to the Doctor, Gordon, and
+myself; and on the left to Drumsheugh, Maclean, and Chalmers. Domsie
+lifted the hood for Marget, but the roses he gently placed on
+George's name. Then with bent, uncovered heads, and in unbroken
+silence, we buried all that remained of our scholar.
+
+We always waited till the grave was filled and the turf laid down, a
+trying quarter of an hour. Ah me! the thud of the spade on your
+mother's grave! None gave any sign of what he felt save Drumsheugh,
+whose sordid slough had slipped off from a tender heart, and
+Chalmers, who went behind a tombstone and sobbed aloud. Not even
+Posty asked the reason so much as by a look, and Drumtochty, as it
+passed, made as though it did not see. But I marked that the Dominie
+took Chalmers home, and walked all the way with him to Kildrummie
+station next morning. His friends erected a granite cross over
+George's grave, and it was left to Domsie to choose the inscription.
+There was a day when it would have been "Whom the gods love die
+young." Since then Domsie had seen the kingdom of God, and this is
+graven where the roses bloomed fresh every summer for twenty years
+till Marget was laid with her son:
+
+  GEORGE HOWE, M.A., Died September 22nd, 1869, Aged 21.
+
+  "They shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it."
+
+It was a late November day when I went to see George's memorial, and
+the immortal hope was burning low in my heart; but as I stood before
+that cross, the sun struggled from behind a black watery bank of
+cloud, and picked out every letter of the Apocalypse in gold.
+
+
+
+
+A HIGHLAND MYSTIC
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN
+
+Strange ministers who came to assist at the Free Kirk Sacrament were
+much impressed with the elders, and never forgot the transfiguration
+of Donald Menzies, which used to begin about the middle of the
+"action" sermon, and was completed at the singing of the last Psalm.
+Once there was no glory, because the minister, being still young,
+expounded a new theory of the atonement of German manufacture, and
+Donald's face was piteous to behold. It haunted the minister for
+months, and brought to confusion a promising course of sermons on
+the contribution of Hegel to Christian thought. Donald never laid
+the blame of such calamities on the preacher, but accepted them as a
+just judgment on his blindness of heart.
+
+"We hef had the open vision," Donald explained to his friend Lachlan
+Campbell, who distributed the responsibility in another fashion,
+"and we would not see--so the veil hass fallen."
+
+Donald sat before the pulpit and filled the hearts of nervous
+probationers with dismay, not because his face was critical, but
+because it seemed non-conducting, upon which their best passages
+would break like spray against a rock. It was by nature the dullest
+you ever saw, with hair descending low upon the forehead, and
+preposterous whiskers dominating everything that remained, except a
+heavy mouth and brown, lack-lustre eyes. For a while Donald crouched
+in the corner of the pew, his head sunk on his breast, a very
+picture of utter hopelessness. But as the Evangel began to play
+round his heart, he would fix the preacher with rapid, wistful
+glances, as of one who had awaked but hardly dared believe such
+things could be true. Suddenly a sigh pervaded six pews, a kind of
+gentle breath of penitence, faith, love, and hope mingled together
+like the incense of the sanctuary, and Donald lifted up his head.
+His eyes are now aflame, and those sullen lips are refining into
+curves of tenderness. From the manse pew I watched keenly, for at
+any moment a wonderful sight may be seen. A radiant smile will pass
+from his lips to his eyes and spread over his face, as when the sun
+shines on a fallow field and the rough furrows melt into warmth and
+beauty. Donald's gaze is now fixed on a window above the preacher's
+head, for on these great days that window is to him as the gate of
+heaven. All I could see would be a bit of blue, and the fretted
+sunlight through the swaying branches of an old plane tree. But
+Donald has seen his Lord hanging upon the Cross for him, and the New
+Jerusalem descending like a bride adorned for her husband more
+plainly than if Perugino's great Crucifixion, with the kneeling
+saints, and Angelico's Outer Court of Heaven, with the dancing
+angels, had been hung in our little Free Kirk. When he went down the
+aisle with the flagon in the Sacrament, he walked as one in a dream,
+and wist not that his face shone.
+
+There was an interval after the Sacrament, when the stranger was
+sent to his room with light refreshments, to prepare himself for the
+evening, and the elders dined with the minister. Before the
+introduction of the Highlanders conversation had an easy play within
+recognized limits, and was always opened by Burnbrae, who had come
+out in '43, and was understood to have read the Confession of Faith.
+
+"Ye gave us a grawnd discoorse this mornin', sir, baith instructive
+and edifyin'; we were juist sayin' comin' up the gairden that ye
+were never heard to mair advantage."
+
+The minister was much relieved, because he had not been hopeful
+during the week, and was still dissatisfied, as he explained at
+length, with the passage on the Colossian heresy.
+
+When these doubts had been cleared up, Burnbrae did his best by the
+minister up stairs, who had submitted himself to the severe test of
+table addresses.
+
+"Yon were verra suitable words at the second table; he's a
+speeritually minded man, Maister Cosh, and has the richt sough."
+
+Or at the worst, when Burnbrae's courage had failed:
+
+"Maister McKittrick had a fine text afore the table. I aye like tae
+see a man gang tae the Song o' Solomon on the Sacrament Sabbath. A'
+mind Dr. Guthrie on that verra subject twenty years syne."
+
+Having paid its religious dues, conversation was now allowed some
+freedom, and it was wonderful how many things could be touched on,
+always from a sacramental standpoint.
+
+"We've been awfu' favoured wi' weather the day, and ought to be
+thankfu'. Gin it hads on like this I wudna say but th'ill be a gude
+hairst. That's a fine pucklie aits ye hae in the laigh park,
+Burnbrae."
+
+"A've seen waur; they're fillin' no that bad. I wes juist thinkin'
+as I cam to the Kirk that there wes aits in that field the Sacrament
+after the Disruption."
+
+"Did ye notice that Rachel Skene sat in her seat through the tables?
+Says I, 'Are ye no gain forrit, Mistress Skene, or hae ye lost yir
+token?' 'Na, na,' says she, 'ma token's safe in ma handkerchief; but
+I cudna get to Kirk yesterday, and I never went forrit withoot ma
+Saiturday yet, and I'm no to begin noo.'"
+
+"She was aye a richt-thinkin' woman, Rachel, there's nae mistake o'
+that; a' wonder hoo her son is gettin' on wi' that fairm he's
+takin'; a' doot it's rack-rented."
+
+It was an honest, satisfying conversation, and reminded one of the
+parish of Drumtochty, being both _quoad sacra_ and _quoad
+civilia_.
+
+When the Highlanders came in, Burnbrae was deposed after one
+encounter, and the minister was reduced to a state of timid
+suggestion. There were days when they would not speak one word, and
+were understood to be lost in meditation; on others they broke in on
+any conversation that was going from levels beyond the imagination
+of Drumtochty. Had this happened in the Auld Manse, Drumsheugh would
+have taken for granted that Donald was "feeling sober" (ill), and
+recommended the bottle which cured him of "a hoast" (cough) in the
+fifties. But the Free Kirk had been taught that the Highlanders were
+unapproachable in spiritual attainments, and even Burnbrae took his
+discipline meekly.
+
+"It wes a mercy the mune changed last week, Maister Menzies, or a'm
+thinkin' it hed been a weet sacrament."
+
+Donald came out of a maze, where he had been wandering in great
+peace.
+
+"I wass not hearing that the moon had anything to do in the matter.
+Oh no, but he wass bound hand and foot by a mighty man."
+
+"Wha was bund? A'm no juist followin' ye, Maister Menzies."
+
+"The Prince of the power of the air. Oh yes, and he shall not be
+loosed till the occasion be over. I hef had a sign." After which
+conversation on the weather languished.
+
+Perhaps the minister fared worse in an attempt to extract a
+certificate of efficiency from Lachlan Campbell in favour of a
+rhetorical young preacher.
+
+"A fery nice speaker, and well pleased with himself. But I would be
+thinking, when he wass giving his images. Oh yes, I would be
+thinking. There was a laddie feeshing in the burn before my house,
+and a fery pretty laddie he wass. He had a rod and a string, and he
+threw his line peautiful. It wass a great peety he had no hook, for
+it iss a want, and you do not catch many fish without a hook. But I
+shall be glad that you are pleased, sir, and all the elders."
+
+These were only passing incidents, and left no trace, but the rebuke
+Donald gave to Burnbrae will be told while an elder lives. One of
+the last of the old mystical school, which trace their descent from
+Samuel Rutherford, had described the great mystery of our Faith with
+such insight and pathos, that Donald had stood by the table weeping
+gently, and found himself afterwards in the manse, he knew not how.
+
+The silence was more than could be borne, and his former
+responsibility fell on Burnbrae.
+
+"It wes wonnerful, and I canna mind hearing the like o' yon at the
+tables; but I wes sorry to see the Doctor sae failed. He wes bent
+twa fad; a' doot it's a titch o' rheumatism, or maybe lumbago."
+
+Johannine men are subject to sudden flashes of anger, and Donald
+blazed.
+
+"Bent down with rheumatism, iss that what you say? Oh yes, it will
+be rheumatism. Hass the sight of your eyes left you, and hef you no
+discernment? Did ye not see that he was bowed to the very table with
+the power of the Word? for it was a fire in his bones, and he was
+baptised with the Holy Ghost."
+
+When the elders gathered in the vestry, the minister asked what time
+the preacher might have for his evening sermon, and Donald again
+burst forth:
+
+"I am told that in towns the Gospel goes by minutes, like the trains
+at the stations; but there iss no time-table here, for we shall wait
+till the sun goes down to hear all things God will be sending by His
+servant."
+
+Good memories differ about the text that Sacrament evening, and the
+length of the sermon, but all hold as a treasure for ever what
+happened when the book was closed. The people were hushed into a
+quiet that might be felt, and the old man, swayed by the spirit of
+the Prophets, began to repeat the blessings and curses in the Bible
+between Genesis and Revelation, and after each pair he cried with
+heart-piercing voice, "Choose this day which ye will take," till
+Donald could contain himself no longer.
+
+"Here iss the man who hass deserved all the curses, and here iss the
+man who chooses all the blessings."
+
+Our fathers had no turn for sensation, but they had an unerring
+sense of a spiritual situation. The preacher paused for five
+seconds, while no man could breathe, and then lifting up his hand to
+Heaven he said, with an indescribable authority and tenderness, "The
+Lord fulfil the desire of your heart both in this world and in that
+which is to come."
+
+Then the congregation sang, after the ancient custom of our parts,
+
+  "Now blessed be the Lord our God,
+   The God of Israel,"
+
+and Donald's face was one glory, because he saw in the soft evening
+light of the upper window the angels of God ascending and descending
+upon the Son of man.
+
+It was after this that the Free Kirk minister occupied six months in
+proving that Moses did not write Deuteronomy, and Lachlan was trying
+for the same period to have the minister removed from Drumtochty.
+Donald, deprived by one stroke of both his friends, fell back on me,
+and told me many things I loved to hear, although they were beyond
+my comprehension.
+
+"It wass not always so with me as it iss this day, for I once had no
+ear for God's voice, and my eyes were holden that I saw not the
+spiritual world. But sore sickness came upon me, and I wass nigh
+unto death, and my soul awoke within me and began to cry like a
+child for its mother. All my days I had lived on Loch Tay, and now I
+thought of the other country into which I would hef to be going,
+where I had no nest, and my soul would be driven to and fro in the
+darkness as a bird on the moor of Rannoch.
+
+"Janet sent for the minister, and he wass fery kind, and he spoke
+about my sickness and my farm, and I said nothing. For I wass hoping
+he would tell me what I wass to do for my soul. But he began upon
+the sheep market at Amulree, and I knew he wass also in the dark.
+After he left I turned my face to the wall and wept.
+
+"Next morning wass the Sabbath, and I said to Janet:
+
+"'Wrap me in my plaid, and put me in a cart, and take me to
+Aberfeldy.' 'And what will ye be doing at Aberfeldy? and you will
+die on the road.' 'There iss,' said I, 'a man there who knows the
+way of the soul, and it iss better to die with my face to the
+light.'
+
+"They set me in a corner of the church where I wass thinking no man
+could see me, and I cried in my heart without ceasing, 'Lord, send
+me--send me a word from Thy mouth.'
+
+"When the minister came into the pulpit he gave me a strange look,
+and this wass his text, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"As he preached I knew I wass Lazurus, with the darkness of the
+grave around me, and my soul straitly bound. I could do nothing, but
+I wass longing with all my strength.
+
+"Then the minister stopped, and he said:
+
+"There iss a man in this church, and he will know himself who it
+iss. When I came in this morning I saw a shadow on his face, and I
+knew not whether it was the wing of the Angel of Life or the Angel
+of Death passing over him, but the Lord has made it plain to me, and
+I see the silver feathers of the Angel of the Covenant, and this
+shall be a sign unto that man, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+"While he wass still speaking I felt my soul carried out into the
+light of God's face, and my grave clothes were taken off one by one
+as Janet would unwind my plaid, and I stood a living man before
+Christ.
+
+"It wass a sweet June day as we drove home, and I lay in sunshine,
+and every bird that sang, and the burnies by the roadside, and the
+rustling of the birch leaves in the wind--oh yes, and the sound of
+the horse's feet were saying, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"Loch Tay looked black angry as we came by its side in the morning,
+and I said to Janet:
+
+"'It iss the Dead Sea, and I shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah;' but in
+the evening it wass as a sea of glass mingled with fire, and I heard
+the song of Moses and the Lamb sweeping over the Loch, but this wass
+still the sweetest word to me, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
+
+The powers of darkness had been making a dead set upon Donald all
+winter, and towards spring he began to lose hope. He came to the
+Cottage once a week with news from the seat of war, and I could
+distinguish three zones of depression. Within the first he bewailed
+his inveterate attachment to this world, and his absolute
+indifference to spiritual things, and was content to describe
+himself as Achan. The sign that he had entered the second was a
+recurring reference to apostacy, and then you had the melancholy
+satisfaction of meeting the living representative of Simon Peter.
+When he passed into the last zone of the Purgatorio, Donald was
+beyond speech, and simply allowed one to gather from allusions to
+thirty pieces of silver that he was Judas Iscariot.
+
+So long as it was only Achan or Simon Peter that came to sit with
+me, one was not gravely concerned, but Judas Iscariot meant that
+Donald had entered the Valley of the Shadow.
+
+He made a spirited rally at the Winter Sacrament, and distinguished
+himself greatly on the evening of the Fast day. Being asked to pray,
+as a recognition of comparative cheerfulness, Donald continued for
+five and twenty minutes, and unfolded the works of the Devil in such
+minute and vivid detail that Burnbrae talks about it to this day,
+and Lachlan Campbell, although an expert in this department,
+confessed astonishment. It was a mighty wrestle, and it was perhaps
+natural that Donald should groan heavily at regular intervals, and
+acquaint the meeting how the conflict went, but the younger people
+were much shaken, and the edification even of the serious was not
+without reserve.
+
+While Donald still lingered on the field of battle to gather the
+spoils and guard against any sudden return of the enemy, the elders
+had a hurried consultation in the vestry, and Burnbrae put the
+position with admirable force.
+
+"Naebody can deny that it wes a maist extraordinary prayer, and it
+passes me hoo he kens sae muckle aboot the Deevil. In fac' it's a
+preevilege tae hae sic an experienced hand among us, and I wudna
+offend Donald Menzies for onything. But yon groanin' wes a wee
+thingie discomposin', and when he said, kind o' confidential, 'He's
+losing his grup,' ma ain fouk cudna keep their coontenance. Weel, I
+wes thinkin' that the best plan wud be for Maister Campbell juist
+tae give a bit advice and tell Donald that we're thankfu' to hear
+him at the meeting, and michty lifted wi' his peteetions, but it wud
+be an obleegation gin he wud leave oot the groans and tell us
+aifterwards what wes gaein' on, maybe in the Session."
+
+Lachlan accepted his commission with quite unusual diffidence, and
+offered a very free translation on the way home.
+
+"It wass a mercy to hef you at the meeting this night, Donald
+Menzies, for I saw that Satan had come in great strength, and it iss
+not every man that can withstand him. But you will not be ignorant
+of his devices; oh no, you will be knowing them fery well. Satan had
+not much to say before the prayer wass done, and I will not be
+expecting to see him again at this occasion. It wass the elders
+said, 'Donald Menzies hass trampled Satan under foot.' Oh yes, and
+fery glad men they were, for it iss not given to them. But I would
+be thinking iss it good to let the Devil hear you groaning in the
+battle, and I would be wishing that you had kept all your groans and
+given them to me on the road."
+
+"Iss it the groans you are not liking?" retorted Donald, stung by
+this unexpected criticism. "And what iss wrong with groaning? But I
+hef the Scripture, and I will not be caring what you say, Lachlan
+Campbell."
+
+"If you hef a warrant for groaning, it iss this man that will be
+glad to hear it, for I am not remembering that passage."
+
+"Maybe you hef not read 'Maketh intercession with groanings,' but it
+iss a fery good Scripture, and it iss in my Bible."
+
+"All Scripture iss good, Donald Menzies, but it iss not lawful to
+divide Scripture, and it will read in my Bible, 'groanings which
+cannot be uttered,' and I wass saying this would be the best way
+with your groans."
+
+Donald came in to tell me how his companion in arms had treated him,
+and was still sore.
+
+"He iss in the bondage of the letter these days, for he will be
+always talking about Moses with the minister, and I am not hearing
+that iss good for the soul."
+
+If even Lachlan could not attain to Donald, it was perhaps no
+discredit that the Drumtochty mind was at times hopelessly
+perplexed.
+
+ "He's a gude cratur and terrible gifted in prayer," Netherton
+explained to Burnbrae after a prayer-meeting, when Donald had
+temporarily abandoned Satan and given himself to autobiography, "but
+yon wesna a verra ceevil way to speak aboot his faither and mither."
+
+"A' doot yir imaginin', Netherton. Donald never mentioned his fouk
+the nicht, and it's no likely he wud in the prayer-meeting."
+
+"There's nae imaginin' aboot it; a' heard him wi' ma ain ears say
+twice, 'My father was an Amorite, and my mother a Hittite.' I'll
+take my aith on it. Noo, a' dinna ken Donald's forbears masel, for
+he's frae Tayside, but supposin' they were as bad as bad cud be,
+it's no for him to blacken his ain blood, and him an Elder."
+
+"Toots, Netherton, yir aff it a' thegither. Div ye no see yon's
+Bible langidge oot o' a Prophet, or maybe Kings, and Donald wes
+usin't in a feegurative capaucity?"
+
+"Feegurative or no feegurative, Burnbrae, it disna maitter; it's a
+peetifu' job howking (digging) thro' the Bible for ill words tae
+misca yir fouk wi' afore the public."
+
+Burnbrae gave up the contest in despair, feeling himself that Old
+Testament allusions were risky, and that Donald's quotation was less
+than felicitous.
+
+Donald's prayers were not known outside the Free Kirk circle, but
+his encounters with the evil one were public property, and caused a
+general shudder. Drumtochty was never sure who might not be
+listening, and considered that it was safer not to meddle with
+certain nameless people. But Donald waged an open warfare in every
+corner of the parish, in the Kirk, by the wayside, in his house, on
+the road to market, and was ready to give any one the benefit of his
+experiences.
+
+"Donald Menzies is in yonder," said Hillocks, pointing to the
+smithy, whose fire sent fitful gleams across the dark road, "and
+he's carryin' on maist fearsome. Ye wud think tae hear him speak
+that auld Hornie wes gaein' louse in the parish; it sent a grue
+(shiver) doon ma back. Faigs, it's no cannie to be muckle wi' the
+body, for the Deil and Donald seem never separate. Hear him noo,
+hear him."
+
+"Oh yes," said Donald, addressing the smith and two horror-stricken
+ploughmen, "I hef seen him, and he hass withstood me on the road. It
+wass late, and I wass thinking on the shepherd and the sheep, and
+Satan will come out from the wood below Hillocks' farm-house ('Gude
+preserve us,' from Hillocks) and say, 'That word is not for you,
+Donald Menzies,' But I wass strong that night, and I said, 'Neither
+shall any pluck them out of my hand,' and he will not wait long
+after that, oh no, and I did not follow him into the wood."
+
+The smith, released by the conclusion of the tale, blew a mighty
+blast, and the fire burst into a red blaze, throwing into relief the
+black figure of the smith and the white faces of the ploughmen;
+glancing from the teeth of harrows, and the blades of scythes, and
+the cruel knives of reaping machines, and from instruments with
+triple prongs; and lighting up with a hideous glare the black sooty
+recesses of the smithy.
+
+"Keep's a'," whispered Hillocks, clutching my arm, "it's little
+better than the ill place. I wish to gudeness I wes safe in ma ain
+hoose."
+
+These were only indecisive skirmishes, for one evening Donald came
+to my den with despair written on every feature, and I knew that
+fighting had begun at the centre, and that he was worsted.
+
+It was half an hour before he became articulate, during which time
+he sighed as if the end of all things had come, and I caught the
+word scapegoat twice, but at last he told me that he had resigned
+his eldership, and would absent himself in future from the Free
+Kirk.
+
+"It hass been a weary winter when minister and people hef gone into
+captivity, and on Sabbath the word wass taken altogether from the
+minister's mouth, and he spake a language which we understood not
+[it was the first of three sermons on the Hexateuch, and had treated
+of the Jehovistic and Elohistic documents with much learning], and I
+will be asking all the way back, 'Iss it I?' 'Iss it I?'
+
+"Oh yes, and when I opened my Bible this iss the word I will see,
+'That thou doest do quickly,' and I knew it wass my sins that had
+brought great judgments on the people, and turned the minister into
+a man of stammering lips and another tongue.
+
+"It wass a mercy that the roof did not fall and bury all the people
+with me; but we will not be tempting the Almighty, for I hef gone
+outside, and now there will be peace and blessing."
+
+When we left the lighted room and stood on the doorstep, Donald
+pointed to the darkness. "There iss no star, and you will be
+remembering what John saw when the door opened and Judas went out.
+'It wass night'--oh yes, it iss night for me, but it will be light
+for them."
+
+As weeks went past, and Donald was seen neither at Kirk nor market,
+my heart went out to the lonely man in his soul conflict, and,
+although there was no help in me, I went to ask how it fared with
+him. After the footpath disentangled itself from the pine woods and
+crossed the burn by two fir trees nailed together, it climbed a
+steep ascent to Donald's house, but I had barely touched the foot,
+when I saw him descending, his head in the air, and his face
+shining. Before any words passed, I knew that the battle had been
+fought and won.
+
+"It wass last night, and I will be coming to tell you. Satan hass
+gone like darkness when the sun ariseth, and I hef been delivered."
+
+There are stories one cannot hear sitting, and so we paced the
+meadow below, rich in primroses, with a sloping bank of gorse behind
+us, and the pines before us, and the water breaking over the stones
+at our feet.
+
+"It is three weeks since I saw you, and all that time I hef been
+wandering on the hill by day, and lying in the barn at night, for it
+wass not good to be with people, and Satan wass always saying to me,
+Judas went to 'his own place.' My dog will lay his head on my knee,
+and be sorry for me, and the dumb animals will be looking at me out
+of their great eyes, and be moaning.
+
+"The lads are good singers, and there wass always a sound of Psalms
+on the farm, oh yes, and it was pleasant to come from the market and
+hear the Psalms at the foot of the hill. It wass like going up to
+Jerusalem. But there would be no Psalms these days, for the lads
+could not sing when their father's soul wass going down into the
+pit.
+
+"Oh no, and there wass no prayer last night, but I told the lads to
+go to bed, and I lay down before the fire to wrestle once more
+before I perished.
+
+"Janet will offer this word and the other, and I will be trying them
+all, but Satan wass tearing them away as quick as I could speak, and
+he always said, 'his own place.'
+
+"'There iss no hope for me,' I cried, 'but it iss a mercy that you
+and the lads will be safe in the City, and maybe the Lord will let
+me see you all through the gate.' And that wass lifting me, but then
+I will hear 'his own place,' 'his own place,' and my heart began to
+fail, and I wass nigh to despair.
+
+"Then I heard a voice, oh yes, as plain as you are hearing me, 'The
+blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' It wass
+like a gleam from the Mercy-seat, but I would be waiting to see
+whether Satan had any answer, and my heart was standing still. But
+there wass no word from him, not one word. Then I leaped to my feet
+and cried, 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' and I will look round, and
+there wass no one to be seen but Janet in her chair, with the tears
+on her cheeks, and she wass saying, 'Thanks be to God, which giveth
+us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'
+
+"The lads were not sleeping fery sound when their father was
+fighting for his life, oh no, and I am not saying but maybe they
+would be praying. It wass not fery long before they came down, and
+Hamish will be looking at my face, and then he will get the books,
+and this is the Psalm we sang?
+
+  "I love the Lord, because my voice
+     And prayers He did hear.
+   I, while I live, will call on Him,
+     Who bowed to me His ear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+   God merciful and righteous is,
+     Yea, gracious is our Lord;
+   God saves the meek; I was brought low,
+     He did me help afford."
+
+This was the victory of Donald Menzies, and on reaching home I
+marked that the early roses were beginning to bloom over the door
+through which Donald had gone out into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+He was an ingenuous lad, with the callow simplicity of a theological
+college still untouched, and had arrived on the preceding Monday at
+the Free Kirk manse with four cartloads of furniture and a maiden
+aunt. For three days he roamed from room to room in the excitement
+of householding, and made suggestions which were received with
+hilarious contempt; then he shut himself up in his study to prepare
+the great sermon, and his aunt went about on tiptoe. During meals on
+Friday he explained casually that his own wish was to preach a
+simple sermon, and that he would have done so had he been a private
+individual, but as he had held the MacWhammel scholarship a
+deliverance was expected by the country. He would be careful and say
+nothing rash, but it was due to himself to state the present
+position of theological thought, and he might have to quote once or
+twice from Ewald.
+
+His aunt was a saint, with that firm grasp of truth, and tender
+mysticism, whose combination is the charm of Scottish piety, and her
+face was troubled. While the minister was speaking in his boyish
+complacency, her thoughts were in a room where they had both stood,
+five years before, by the death-bed of his mother.
+
+He was broken that day, and his sobs shook the bed, for he was his
+mother's only son and fatherless, and his mother, brave and faithful
+to the last, was bidding him farewell.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, John, nor break yir hert, for it's the will
+o' God, and that's aye best."
+
+"Here's my watch and chain," placing them beside her son, who could
+not touch them, nor would lift his head, "and when ye feel the chain
+about yir neck it will mind ye o' yir mother's arms."
+
+"Ye 'ill no forget me, John, I ken that weel, and I'll never forget
+you. I've loved ye here and I'll love ye yonder. Th'ill no be an
+'oor when I'll no pray for ye, and I'll ken better what to ask than
+I did here, sae dinna be comfortless."
+
+Then she felt for his head and stroked it once more, but he could
+not look nor speak.
+
+"Ye 'ill follow Christ, and gin He offers ye His cross, ye 'ill no
+refuse it, for He aye carries the heavy end Himsel'. He's guided yir
+mother a' thae years, and been as gude as a husband since yir
+father's death, and He 'ill hold me fast tae the end. He 'ill keep
+ye too, and, John, I'll be watchin' for ye. Ye 'ill no fail me," and
+her poor cold hand that had tended him all his days tightened on his
+head.
+
+But he could not speak, and her voice was failing fast.
+
+"I canna see ye noo, John, but I know yir there, and I've just one
+other wish. If God calls ye to the ministry, ye 'ill no refuse, an'
+the first day ye preach in yir ain kirk, speak a gude word for Jesus
+Christ, an,' John, I'll hear ye that day, though ye 'ill no see me,
+and I'll be satisfied."
+
+A minute after she whispered, "Pray for me," and he cried, "My
+mother, my mother."
+
+It was a full prayer, and left nothing unasked of Mary's Son.
+
+"John," said his aunt, "your mother is with the Lord," and he saw
+death for the first time, but it was beautiful with the peace that
+passeth all understanding.
+
+Five years had passed, crowded with thought and work, and his aunt
+wondered whether he remembered that last request, or indeed had
+heard it in his sorrow.
+
+"What are you thinking about, aunt? Are you afraid of my theology?"
+
+"No, John, it's no that, laddie, for I ken ye 'ill say what ye
+believe to be true withoot fear o' man," and she hesitated.
+
+"Come, out with it, auntie: you're my only mother now, you know,"
+and the minister put his arm round her, "as well as the kindest,
+bonniest, goodest auntie ever man had."
+
+Below his student self-conceit he was a good lad, and sound of
+heart.
+
+"Shame on you, John, to make a fule o' an auld dune body, but ye'll
+no come round me with yir flattery. I ken ye ower weel," and as she
+caught the likeness in his face, her eyes filled suddenly.
+
+"What's the matter, auntie? Will ye no tell me?"
+
+"Dinna be angry wi' me, John, but a'm concerned aboot Sabbath, for
+a've been praying ever syne ye were called to Drumtochty that it
+micht be a great day, and that I micht see ye comin' tae yir people,
+laddie, wi' the beauty o' the Lord upon ye, according tae the auld
+prophecy: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
+bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace,'" and again she
+stopped.
+
+"Go on, auntie, go on," he whispered; "say all that's in yir mind."
+
+"It's no for me tae advise ye, who am only a simple auld woman, who
+ken's naethin' but her Bible and the Catechism, and it's no that a'm
+feared for the new views, or aboot yir faith, for I aye mind that
+there's mony things the Speerit hes still tae teach us, and I ken
+weel the man that follows Christ will never lose his way in ony
+thicket. But it's the fouk, John, a'm anxious aboot, the flock o'
+sheep the Lord hes given ye tae feed for Him."
+
+She could not see his face, but she felt him gently press her hand,
+and took courage.
+
+"Ye maun mind, laddie, that they're no clever and learned like what
+ye are, but juist plain country fouk, ilka ane wi' his ain
+temptation, an' a' sair trachled wi' mony cares o' this world. They
+'ill need a clear word tae comfort their herts and show them the way
+everlasting. Ye 'ill say what's richt, nae doot o' that, and a'body
+'ill be pleased wi' ye, but, oh, laddie, be sure ye say a gude word
+for Jesus Christ."
+
+The minister's face whitened, and his arm relaxed. He rose hastily
+and went to the door, but in going out he gave his aunt an
+understanding look, such as passes between people who have stood
+together in a sorrow. The son had not forgotten his mother's
+request.
+
+The manse garden lies toward the west, and as the minister paced its
+little square of turf, sheltered by fir hedges, the sun was going
+down behind the Grampians. Black massy clouds had begun to gather in
+the evening, and threatened to obscure the sunset, which was the
+finest sight a Drumtochty man was ever likely to see, and a means of
+grace to every sensible heart in the glen. But the sun had beat back
+the clouds on either side, and shot them through with glory and now
+between piled billows of light he went along a shining pathway into
+the Gates of the West. The minister stood still before that
+spectacle, his face bathed in the golden glory, and then before his
+eyes the gold deepened into an awful red, and the red passed into
+shades of violet and green, beyond painter's hand or the imagination
+of man. It seemed to him as if a victorious saint had entered
+through the gates into the city, washed in the blood of the Lamb,
+and the after glow of his mother's life fell solemnly on his soul.
+The last trace of sunset had faded from the hills when the minister
+came in, and his face was of one who had seen a vision. He asked his
+aunt to have worship with the servant, for he must be alone in his
+study.
+
+It was a cheerful room in the daytime, with its southern window,
+through which the minister saw the roses touching the very glass and
+dwarf apple trees lining the garden walks; there was also a western
+window that he might watch each day close. It was a pleasant room
+now, when the curtains were drawn, and the light of the lamp fell on
+the books he loved, and which bade him welcome. One by one he had
+arranged the hard-bought treasures of student days in the little
+book-case, and had planned for himself that sweetest of pleasures,
+an evening of desultory reading. But his books went out of mind as
+he looked at the sermon shining beneath the glare of the lamp, and
+demanding judgment. He had finished its last page with honest pride
+that afternoon, and had declaimed it, facing the southern window,
+with a success that amazed himself. His hope was that he might be
+kept humble, and not called to Edinburgh for at least two years; and
+now he lifted the sheets with fear. The brilliant opening, with its
+historical parallel, this review of modern thought reinforced by
+telling quotations, that trenchant criticism of old-fashioned views,
+would not deliver. For the audience had vanished, and left one
+careworn, but ever beautiful face, whose gentle eyes were waiting
+with a yearning look. Twice he crushed the sermon in his hands, and
+turned to the fire his aunt's care had kindled, and twice he
+repented and smoothed it out. What else could he say now to the
+people? and then in the stillness of the room he heard a voice,
+"Speak a gude word for Jesus Christ."
+
+Next minute he was kneeling on the hearth, and pressing the
+_magnum opus_, that was to shake Drumtochty, into the heart of
+the red fire, and he saw, half-smiling and half-weeping, the
+impressive words, "Semitic environment," shrivel up and disappear.
+As the last black flake fluttered out of sight, the face looked at
+him again, but this time the sweet brown eyes were full of peace.
+
+It was no masterpiece, but only the crude production of a lad who
+knew little of letters and nothing of the world. Very likely it
+would have done neither harm nor good, but it was his best, and he
+gave it for love's sake, and I suppose that there is nothing in a
+human life so precious to God, neither clever words nor famous
+deeds, as the sacrifices of love.
+
+The moon flooded his bedroom with silver light, and he felt the
+presence of his mother. His bed stood ghostly with its white
+curtains, and he remembered how every night his mother knelt by its
+side in prayer for him. He is a boy once more, and repeats the
+Lord's Prayer, then he cries again, "My mother! my mother!" and an
+indescribable contentment fills his heart.
+
+His prayer next morning was very short, but afterwards he stood at
+the window for a space, and when he turned, his aunt said:
+
+"Ye will get yir sermon, and it will be worth hearing."
+
+"How did ye know?"
+
+But she only smiled, "I heard you pray."
+
+When he shut himself into the study that Saturday morning, his aunt
+went into her room above, and he knew she had gone to intercede for
+him.
+
+An hour afterwards he was pacing the garden in such anxious thought
+that he crushed with his foot a rose lying on the path, and then she
+saw his face suddenly lighten, and he hurried to the house, but
+first he plucked a bunch of forget-me-nots. In the evening she found
+them on his sermon.
+
+Two hours later--for still she prayed and watched in faithfulness to
+mother and son--she observed him come out and wander round the
+garden in great joy. He lifted up the soiled rose and put it in his
+coat; he released a butterfly caught in some mesh; he buried his
+face in fragrant honeysuckle. Then she understood that his heart was
+full of love, and was sure that it would be well on the morrow.
+
+When the bell began to ring, the minister rose from his knees and
+went to his aunt's room to be robed, for this was a covenant between
+them.
+
+His gown was spread out in its black silken glory, but he sat down
+in despair.
+
+"Auntie, whatever shall we do, for I've forgotten the bands?"
+
+"But I've not forgot them, John, and here are six pair wrought with
+my own hands, and now sit still and I'll tie them round my laddie's
+neck."
+
+When she had given the last touch, and he was ready to go, a sudden
+seriousness fell upon them.
+
+"Kiss me, auntie."
+
+"For your mother, and her God be with you," and then he went through
+the garden and underneath the honeysuckle and into the kirk, where
+every Free Churchman in Drumtochty that could get out of bed, and
+half the Established Kirk, were waiting in expectation.
+
+I sat with his aunt in the minister's pew, and shall always be glad
+that I was at that service. When winter lies heavy upon the glen I
+go upon my travels, and in my time have seen many religious
+functions. I have been in Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle, where the
+people wept one minute and laughed the next; have heard Canon Liddon
+in St. Paul's, and the sound of that high, clear voice is still with
+me, "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion;" have seen High Mass
+in St. Peter's, and stood in the dusk of the Duomo at Florence when
+Padre Agostino thundered against the evils of the day. But I never
+realised the unseen world as I did that day in the Free Kirk of
+Drumtochty.
+
+It is impossible to analyse a spiritual effect, because it is largely
+an atmosphere, but certain circumstances assisted. One was instantly
+prepossessed in favour of a young minister who gave out the second
+paraphrase at his first service, for it declared his filial reverence
+and won for him the blessing of a cloud of witnesses. No Scottish man
+can ever sing,
+
+  "God of our fathers, be the God
+   Of their succeeding race."
+
+with a dry heart. It satisfied me at once that the minister was of a
+fine temper when, after a brave attempt to join, he hid his face and
+was silent. We thought none the worse of him that he was nervous, and
+two or three old people who had suspected self-sufficiency took him to
+their hearts when the minister concluded the Lord's prayer hurriedly,
+having omitted two petitions. But we knew it was not nervousness which
+made him pause for ten seconds after praying for widows and orphans,
+and in the silence which fell upon us the Divine Spirit had free access.
+His youth commended him, since he was also modest, for every mother had
+come with an inarticulate prayer that the "puir laddie wud dae weel on
+his first day, and him only twenty-four." Texts I can never remember,
+nor, for that matter, the words of sermons; but the subject was Jesus
+Christ, and before he had spoken five minutes I was convinced, who am
+outside dogmas and churches, that Christ was present. The preacher
+faded from before one's eyes, and there rose the figure of the Nazarene,
+best lover of every human soul, with a face of tender patience such as
+Sarto gave the Master in the Church of the Annunziata, and stretching
+out His hands to old folk and little children as He did, before His
+death, in Galilee. His voice might be heard any moment, as I have
+imagined it in my lonely hours by the winter fire or on the solitary
+hills--soft, low, and sweet, penetrating like music to the secret of
+the heart, "Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest."
+
+During a pause in the sermon I glanced up the church, and saw the
+same spell held the people. Donald Menzies had long ago been caught
+into the third heaven, and was now hearing words which it is not
+lawful to utter. Campbell in his watch-tower at the back had closed
+his eyes, and was praying. The women were weeping quietly, and the
+rugged faces of our men were subdued and softened, as when the
+evening sun plays on the granite stone.
+
+But what will stand out for ever before my mind was the sight of
+Marget Howe. Her face was as white as death, and her wonderful grey
+eyes were shining through a mist of tears, so that I caught the
+light in the manse pew. She was thinking of George, and had taken
+the minister to her heart.
+
+The elders, one by one, gripped the minister's hand in the vestry,
+and, though plain, homely men, they were the godliest in the glen;
+but no man spoke save Burnbrae.
+
+"I a' but lost ae fairm for the Free Kirk, and I wud hae lost ten
+tae be in the Kirk this day."
+
+Donald walked with me homewards, but would only say:
+
+"There was a man sent from God whose name was John." At the cottage
+he added, "The friend of the bridegroom rejoiced greatly because of
+the bridegroom's voice,"
+
+Beneath the honeysuckle at his garden gate a woman was waiting.
+
+"My name is Marget Howe, and I'm the wife of William Howe of Whinnie
+Knowe. My only son wes preparin' for the ministry, but God wanted
+him nearly a year syne. When ye preached the Evangel o' Jesus the
+day I heard his voice, and I loved you. Ye hev nae mither on earth,
+I hear, and I hae nae son, and I wantit tae say that if ye ever wish
+tae speak to ony woman as ye wud tae yir mither, come tae Whinnie
+Knowe, an' I'll coont it ane of the Lord's consolations."
+
+His aunt could only meet him in the study, and when he looked on her
+his lip quivered, for his heart was wrung with one wistful regret.
+
+"Oh, auntie, if she had only been spared to see this day, and her
+prayers answered."
+
+But his aunt flung her arms round his neck.
+
+"Dinna be cast doon, laddie, nor be unbelievin'. Yir mither has
+heard every word, and is satisfied, for ye did it in remembrance o'
+her, and yon was yir mither's sermon."
+
+
+
+
+THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GRAND INQUISITOR
+
+The Free Kirk of Drumtochty had no gallery, but a section of seats
+at the back was raised two feet, and any one in the first pew might
+be said to sit in the "briest o' the laft." When Lachlan Campbell
+arrived from the privileged parish of Auchindarroch, where the "Men"
+ruled with iron hand and no one shaved on Sabbath, he examined the
+lie of country with the eye of a strategist, and seized at once a
+corner seat on the crest of the hill. From this vantage ground, with
+his back to the wall and a clear space left between himself and his
+daughter Flora, he had an easy command of the pulpit, and within six
+months had been constituted a court of review neither minister nor
+people could lightly disregard. It was not that Lachlan spoke hastily
+or at length, for his policy was generally a silence pregnant with
+judgment, and his deliverances were for the most part in parables,
+none the less awful because hard of interpretation. Like every true
+Celt, he had the power of reserve, and knew the value of mystery.
+His voice must not be heard in irresponsible gossip at the Kirk door,
+and he never condescended to the level of Mrs. MacFadyen, our recognised
+sermon taster, who criticised everything in the technique of the pulpit,
+from the number of heads in a sermon to the air with which a probationer
+used his pocket-handkerchief. She lived in the eye of the public, and
+gave her opinions with the light heart of a newspaper writer; but
+Lachlan kept himself in the shadow and wore a manner of studied humility
+as became the administrator of the Holy Office in Drumtochty.
+
+Lachlan was a little man, with a spare, wiry body, iron grey hair
+and whiskers carefully arranged, a keen, old-fashioned face
+sharpened by much spiritual thinking, and eyes that looked at you
+from beneath shaggy eyebrows as from some other world. His face had
+an irresistible suggestion of a Skye terrier, the most serious of
+animals, with the hair reduced, and Drumsheugh carried us all with
+him when, in a moment of inspiration, he declared that "the body
+looks as if he hed juist come oot o' the Ark." He was a shepherd to
+trade, and very faithful in all his work, but his life business was
+theology, from Supralapsarianism in Election to the marks of faith
+in a believer's heart. His library consisted of some fifty volumes
+of ancient divinity, and lay on an old oak kist close to his hand,
+where he sat beside the fire of a winter night. When the sheep were
+safe and his day's labour was over, he read by the light of the fire
+and the "crusie" (oil-lamp) overhead, Witsius on the Covenants, or
+Rutherford's "Christ Dying," or Bunyan's "Grace Abounding," or
+Owen's "130th Psalm," while the collies slept at his feet, and Flora
+put the finishing stroke to some bit of rustic finery. Worship was
+always coloured by the evening's reading, but the old man never
+forgot to pray that they both might have a place in the everlasting
+covenant, and that the backslidings of Scotland might be healed.
+
+As our inquisitor, Lachlan searched anxiously for sound doctrine and
+deep experience, but he was not concerned about learning, and
+fluency he regarded with disgust. When a young minister from
+Muirtown stamped twice in his prayer at the Drumtochty Fast, and
+preached with great eloquence from the words, "And there was no more
+sea," repeating the text at the end of each paragraph, and
+concluding the sermon with "Lord Ullin's Daughter," the atmosphere
+round Lachlan became electric, and no one dared to speak to him
+outside. He never expressed his mind on this melancholy exhibition,
+but the following Sabbath he explained the principle on which they
+elected ministers at Auchindarroch, which was his standard of
+perfection.
+
+"Six young men came, and they did not sing songs in the pulpit. Oh
+no, they preached fery well, and I said to Angus Bain, 'They are all
+goot lads, and there is nothing wrong with their doctrine.'
+
+"Angus wass one of the 'Men,' and saw what wass hidden from me, and
+he will be saying, 'Oh yes, they said their lesson fery pretty, but
+I did not see them tremble, Lachlan Campbell. Another iss coming,
+and seven is a goot number.'
+
+"It wass next Sabbath that he came, and he wass a white man, giving
+out his text, 'Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
+supper of the Lamb,' and I wass thinking that the Lord had laid too
+great a burden on the lad, and that he could not be fit for such a
+work. It wass not more than ten minutes before he will be trying to
+tell us what he wass seeing, and will not hef the words. He had to
+go down from the pulpit as a man that had been in the heavenly
+places and wass stricken dumb.
+
+"'It iss the Lord that has put me to shame this day,' he said to the
+elders, 'and I will nefer show my face again in Auchindarroch, for I
+ought not to have meddled with things too high for me.'
+
+"'You will show your face here every Sabbath,' answered Angus Bain,
+'for the Lord said unto me, "Wait for the man that trembles at the
+Word, and iss not able to speak, and it will be a sign unto you,"'
+and a fery goot minister he wass, and made the hypocrites in Zion to
+be afraid."
+
+Lachlan dealt tenderly with our young Free Kirk minister, for the
+sake of his first day, and passed over some very shallow experience
+without remark, but an autumn sermon roused him to a sense of duty.
+For some days a storm of wind and rain had been stripping the leaves
+from the trees and gathering them in sodden heaps upon the ground.
+The minister looked out on the garden where many holy thoughts had
+visited him, and his heart sank like lead, for it was desolate, and
+of all its beauty there remained but one rose clinging to its stalk,
+drenched and faded. It seemed as if youth, with its flower of
+promise and hope, had been beaten down, and a sense of loneliness
+fell on his soul. He had no heart for work, and crept to bed broken
+and dispirited. During the night the rain ceased, and the north wind
+began to blow, which cleanses nature in every pore, and braces each
+true man for his battle. The morrow was one of those glorious days
+which herald winter, and as the minister tramped along the road,
+where the dry leaves crackled beneath his feet, and climbed to the
+moor with head on high, the despair of yesterday vanished. The wind
+had ceased, and the glen lay at his feet, distinct in the cold,
+clear air, from the dark mass of pines that closed its upper end to
+the swelling woods of oak and beech that cut it off from the great
+Strath. He had received a warm welcome from all kinds of people, and
+now he marked with human sympathy each little homestead with its
+belt of firs against the winter's storms, and its stackyard where
+the corn had been gathered safe; the ploughman and his horses
+cutting brown ribbons in the bare stubble; dark squares where the
+potato stalks have withered to the ground, and women are raising the
+roots, and here and there a few cattle still out in the fields. His
+eye fell on the great wood through which he had rambled in August,
+now one blaze of colour, rich green and light yellow, with patches
+of fiery red and dark purple. God seemed to have given him a sermon,
+and he wrote that evening, like one inspired, on the same parable of
+nature Jesus loved, with its subtle interpretation of our sorrows,
+joys, trust, and hope. People told me that it was a "rael bonnie
+sermon," and that Netherton had forgotten his after-sermon snuff,
+although it was his turn to pass the box to Burnbrae.
+
+The minister returned to his study in a fine glow of body and soul,
+to find a severe figure standing motionless in the middle of the
+room.
+
+"Wass that what you call a sermon?" said Lachlan Campbell, without
+other greeting.
+
+John Carmichael was still so full of joy that he did not catch the
+tone, and explained with college pedantry that it was hardly a
+sermon, nor yet a lecture.
+
+"You may call it a meditation."
+
+"I will be calling it an essay without one bite of grass for
+starving sheep."
+
+Then the minister awoke from a pleasant dream, as if one had flung
+cold water on his naked body.
+
+"What was wrong?" with an anxious look at the stern little man who
+of a sudden had become his judge.
+
+"There wass nothing right, for I am not thinking that trees and
+leaves and stubble fields will save our souls, and I did not hear
+about sin and repentance and the work of Christ. It iss sound
+doctrine that we need, and a great peety you are not giving it."
+
+The minister had been made much of in college circles, and had a
+fair idea of himself. He was a kindly lad, but he did not see why he
+should be lectured by an old Highlandman who read nothing except
+Puritans, and was blind with prejudice. When they parted that
+Sabbath afternoon it was the younger man that had lost his temper,
+and the other did not offer to shake hands.
+
+Perhaps the minister would have understood Lachlan better if he had
+known that the old man could not touch food when he got home, and
+spent the evening in a fir wood praying for the lad he had begun to
+love. And Lachlan would have had a lighter heart if he had heard the
+minister questioning himself whether he had denied the Evangel or
+sinned against one of Christ's disciples. They argued together; they
+prayed apart.
+
+Lachlan was careful to say nothing, but the congregation felt that
+his hand was against the minister, and Burnbrae took him to task.
+
+"Ye maunna be ower hard on him, Maister Campbell, for he's but
+young, and comin' on fine. He hes a hearty word for ilka body on the
+road, and the sicht o' his fresh young face in the poopit is a
+sermon itsel'."
+
+"You are wrong, Burnbrae, if you will be thinking that my heart iss
+not warm to the minister, for it went out unto him from the day he
+preached his first sermon. But the Lord regardeth not the
+countenance of man."
+
+"Nae doot, nae doot, but I canna see onything wrang in his doctrine;
+it wudna be reasonable tae expect auld-fashioned sermons frae a
+young man, and I wud coont them barely honest. A'm no denying that
+he gaes far afield, and taks us tae strange lands when he's on his
+travels, but ye 'ill acknowledge that he gaithers mony treasures,
+and he aye comes back tae Christ."
+
+"No, I will not be saying that John Carmichael does not love Christ,
+for I hef seen the Lord in his sermons like a face through a
+lattice. Oh yes, and I hef felt the fragrance of the myrrh. But I am
+not liking his doctrine, and I wass thinking that some day there
+will be no original sin left in the parish of Drumtochty."
+
+It was about this time that the minister made a great mistake,
+although he was trying to do his best for the people, and always
+obeyed his conscience. He used to come over to the Cottage for a
+ramble through my books, and one evening he told me that he had
+prepared what he called a "course" on Biblical criticism, and was
+going to place Drumtochty on a level with Germany. It was certainly
+a strange part for me to advise a minister, but I had grown to like
+the lad, because he was full of enthusiasm and too honest for this
+world, and I implored him to be cautious. Drumtochty was not anxious
+to be enlightened about the authors of the Pentateuch, being quite
+satisfied with Moses, and it was possible that certain good men in
+Drumtochty might resent any interference with their herditary
+notions. Why could he not read this subject for his own pleasure,
+and teach it quietly in classes? Why give himself away in the
+pulpit? This worldly counsel brought the minister to a white heat,
+and he rose to his feet. Had he not been ordained to feed his people
+with truth, and was he not bound to tell them all he knew? We were
+living in an age of transition, and he must prepare Christ's folk
+that they be not taken unawares. If he failed in his duty through
+any fear of consequences, men would arise afterwards to condemn him
+for cowardice, and lay their unbelief at his door. When he ceased I
+was ashamed of my cynical advice, and resolved never again to
+interfere with "courses" or other matters above the lay mind. But
+greater knowledge of the world had made me a wise prophet.
+
+Within a month the Free Kirk was in an uproar, and when I dropped in
+one Sabbath morning the situation seemed to me a very pathetic
+tragedy. The minister was offering to the honest country folk a mass
+of immature and undigested details about the Bible, and they were
+listening with wearied, perplexed faces. Lachlan Campbell sat grim
+and watchful, without a sign of flinching, but even from the Manse
+pew I could detect the suffering of his heart. When the minister
+blazed into polemic against the bigotry of the old school, the iron
+face quivered as if a father had been struck by his son. Carmichael
+looked thin and nervous in the pulpit, and it came to me that if new
+views are to be preached to old-fashioned people it ought not to be
+by lads who are always heady and intolerant, but by a stout man of
+middle age, with a rich voice and a good-natured manner. Had
+Carmichael rasped and girded much longer, one would have believed in
+the inspiration of the vowel points, and I left the church with a
+low heart, for this was a woeful change from his first sermon.
+
+Lachlan would not be pacified, not even by the plea of the
+minister's health.
+
+"Oh yes, I am seeing that he is ill, and I will be as sorry as any
+man in Drumtochty. But it iss not too much work, as they are saying;
+it iss the judgment of God. It iss not goot to meddle with Moses,
+and John Carmichael will be knowing that. His own sister wass not
+respectful to Moses, and she will not be feeling fery well next
+day."
+
+But Burnbrae added that the "auld man cudna be mair cast doon if he
+hed lost his dochter."
+
+The peace of the Free Kirk had been broken, and the minister was
+eating out his heart, when he remembered the invitation of Marget
+Howe, and went one sweet spring day to Whinnie Knowe.
+
+Marget met him with her quiet welcome at the garden gate.
+
+"Ye hae dune me a great kindness in comin', Maister Carmichael, and
+if ye please we 'ill sit in this sunny corner which is dear tae me,
+and ye 'ill tell me yir troubles."
+
+So they sat down together beside the brier bush, and after one
+glance at Marget's face the minister opened his heart, and told her
+the great controversy with Lachlan.
+
+Marget lifted her head as one who had heard of some brave deed, and
+there was a ring in her voice.
+
+"It maks me prood before God that there are twa men in Drumtochty
+who follow their conscience as king, and coont truth dearer than
+their ain freends. It's peetifu' when God's bairns fecht through
+greed and envy, but it's hertsome when they are wullin' tae wrestle
+aboot the Evangel, for surely the end o' it a' maun be peace.
+
+"A've often thocht that in the auld days baith the man on the rack
+and the inqueesitor himself micht be gude men and accepted o' God,
+and maybe the inqueesitor suffered mair than the martyr. A'm
+thinkin', Maister Carmichael, that it's been hardest on Lachlan."
+
+The minister's head was buried in his hands, but his heart was with
+Marget.
+
+"It's a strange buik the Bible, and no the buik we wud hae made, tae
+judge by oor bit creeds and confessions. It's like a head o' aits in
+the harvest time. There's the ear that hauds the grain and keeps it
+safe, and that's the history, and there's often no mickle nutriment
+in it; then there's the corn lying in the ear, which is the Evangel
+frae Eden tae Revelation, and that is the bread o' the soul. But the
+corn maun be threshed first and the cauf (chaff) cleaned aff. It's a
+bonnie sicht tae see the pure grain fallin' like a rinnin' burn on
+the corn-room floor, and a glint o' the sun through the window
+turning it intae gold. But the stour (dust) o' the cauf room is mair
+than onybody can abide, and the cauf's worth naethin' when the
+corn's awa."
+
+"Ye mean," said the minister, "that my study is the threshin' mill,
+and that some of the chaff has got into the pulpit."
+
+"Yir no offended," and Marget's voice trembled.
+
+Then the minister lifted his head and laughed aloud with joy, while
+a swift flash of humour lit up Marget's face.
+
+"You've been the voice of God to me this day, Mrs. Howe, but if I
+give up my 'course,' the people will misunderstand, for I know
+everything I gave was true, and I would give it all again if it were
+expedient."
+
+"Nae fear, Maister Carmichael, naebody misunderstands that luves,
+and the fouk all luve ye, and the man that hauds ye dearest is
+Lachlan Campbell. I saw the look in his een that canna be mista'en."
+
+"I'll go to him this very day," and the minister leaped to his feet.
+
+"Ye 'ill no regret it," said Marget, "for God will give ye peace."
+
+Lachlan did not see the minister coming, for he was busy with a lamb
+that had lost its way and hurt itself. Carmichael marked with a
+growing tenderness at his heart how gently the old man washed and
+bound up the wounded leg, all the time crooning to the frightened
+creature in the sweet Gaelic speech, and also how he must needs give
+the lamb a drink of warm milk before he set it free.
+
+When he rose from his work of mercy, he faced the minister.
+
+For an instant Lachlan hesitated, and then at the look on
+Carmichael's face he held out both his hands.
+
+"This iss a goot day for me, and I bid you ten thousand welcomes."
+
+But the minister took the first word.
+
+"You and I, Lachlan, have not seen eye to eye about some things
+lately, and I am not here to argue which is nearer the truth,
+because perhaps we may always differ on some lesser matters. But
+once I spoke rudely to you, and often I have spoken unwisely in my
+sermons. You are an old man and I am a young, and I ask you to
+forgive me and to pray that both of us may be kept near the heart of
+our Lord, whom we love, and who loves us."
+
+No man can be so courteous as a Celt, and Lachlan was of the pure
+Highland breed, kindest of friends, fiercest of foes.
+
+"You hef done a beautiful deed this day, Maister Carmichael; and the
+grace of God must hef been exceeding abundant in your heart. It iss
+this man that asks your forgiveness, for I wass full of pride, and
+did not speak to you as an old man should; but God iss my witness
+that I would hef plucked out my right eye for your sake. You will
+say every word God gives you, and I will take as much as God gives
+me, and there will be a covenant between us as long as we live."
+
+They knelt together on the earthen floor of that Highland cottage,
+the old school and the new, before one Lord, and the only difference
+in their prayers was that the young man prayed they might keep the
+faith once delivered unto the saints, while the burden of the old
+man's prayer was that they might be led into all truth.
+
+Lachlan's portion that evening ought to have been the slaying of
+Sisera from the Book of Judges, but instead he read, to Flora's
+amazement--it was the night before she left her home--the thirteenth
+chapter of I Corinthians, and twice he repeated to himself, "Now we
+see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HIS BITTER SHAME
+
+The Free Kirk people were very proud of their vestry because the
+Established Church had none, and because it was reasonably supposed
+to be the smallest in Scotland. When the minister, who touched five
+feet eleven, and the beadle, who was three inches taller, assembled
+for the procession, with the precentor, a man of fair proportions,
+there was no waste ground in that room, and any messenger from the
+church door had to be selected with judgment. "Step up, Airchie man,
+tae the vestry," Burnbrae would say to the one under-sized man in
+Drumtochty, "and tell the minister no tae forget the Jews. Ye can
+birse (push) in fine, but it wud beat me to get by the door. It's a
+bonnie bit room, but three fouk stannin' maks it contrakit for
+another man,"
+
+It was eight feet by eight, and consisted largely of two doors and a
+fireplace, and its chief glory was a portrait of Dr. Chalmers, whose
+face, dimly seen in the light of the lamp, was a charter of
+authority, and raised the proceedings to the level of history.
+Lockers on either side of the mantelpiece contained the church
+library, which abounded in the lives of Scottish worthies, and was
+never lightly disturbed. Where there was neither grate nor door, a
+narrow board ran along the wall, on which it was simply a point of
+honour to seat the twelve deacons, who met once a month to raise the
+Sustentation Fund by modest, heroic sacrifices of hard-working
+people, and to keep the slates on the church roof in winter. When
+they had nothing else to do, they talked about the stove which "came
+out in '43," and, when it was in good humour, would raise the
+temperature in winter one degree above freezing. Seating the court
+was a work of art, and could only be achieved by the repression of
+the smaller men, who looked out from the loopholes of retreat, the
+projection of bigger men on to their neighbours' knees, and the
+absolute elimination of Archie Moncur, whose voice made motions on
+temperance from the lowest depths. Netherton was always the twelfth
+man to arrive, and nothing could be done till he was safely settled.
+Only some six inches were reserved at the end of the bench, and he
+was a full sitter, but he had discovered a trick of sitting sideways
+and screwing his leg against the opposite wall, that secured the
+court as well as himself in their places on the principle of a
+compressed spring. When this operation was completed, Burnbrae used
+to say to the minister, who sat in the middle on a cane chair before
+the tiniest of tables--the living was small, and the ministers never
+grew fat till they left--
+
+"We're fine and comfortable noo, Moderator, and ye can begin
+business as sune as ye like."
+
+As there were only six elders they could sit in state, besides
+leaving a vacant space for any penitents who came to confess their
+sins and receive absolution, or some catechumen who wished to be
+admitted to the sacrament. Carmichael used to say that a meeting of
+Session affected his imagination, and would have made an interior
+for Rembrandt. On one side of the table sat the men who represented
+the piety of the district, and were supposed to be "far ben" in the
+Divine fellowship, and on the other some young girl in her
+loneliness, who wrung her handkerchief in terror of this dreaded
+spiritual court, and hoped within her heart that no elder would ask
+her "effectual calling" from the Shorter Catechism; while the little
+lamp, hanging from the ceiling, and swinging gently in the wind that
+had free access from every airt, cast a fitful light on the fresh,
+tearful face of the girl and the hard, weather-beaten countenances
+of the elders, composed into a serious gravity not untouched by
+tenderness. They were little else than labouring men, but no one was
+elected to that court unless he had given pledges of godliness, and
+they bore themselves as men who had the charge of souls.
+
+The little Sanhedrim had within it the school of Hillel, which was
+swayed by mercy, and its Rabbi was Burnbrae; and the school of
+Shammai, whose rule was inflexible justice, and its Rabbi was
+Lachlan Campbell. Burnbrae was a big-hearted man, with a fatherly
+manner, and had a genius for dealing with "young communicants."
+
+"Weel, Jessie, we're awfu pleased tae think yer gaein' forrit, and
+the Dominie wes tellin' me juist last week that ye did yir work at
+schule graund, and knew yir Bible frae end tae end.
+
+"It'll no be easy to speir (ask) the like o' you questions, but ye
+mind Abraham, Jessie."
+
+"Ou ay," and Jessie is all alert, although she is afraid to look up.
+
+"What was the name o' his wife, noo?"
+
+"Sarah, an' their son was Isaac."
+
+"That's richt, and what aboot Isaac's wife?"
+
+"Isaac mairrit Rebecca, and they hed twa sons, Jacob and Esau," and
+the girl takes a shy glance at the honest elder, and begins to feel
+at home.
+
+"Domsie wesna far wrang, a' see, but it's no possible ye cud tell us
+the names o' Jacob's sons; it's maybe no fair tae ask sic a teuch
+question," knowing all the while that this was a test case of
+Domsie's.
+
+When Jessie reached Benjamin, Burnbrae could not contain himself.
+
+"It's nae use trying to stick Jessie wi' the Bible, neeburs; we 'ill
+see what she can dae wi' the Carritches (Catechism). Yir no the
+lassie that said the questions frae beginning tae end wi' twa
+mistaks, are ye?"
+
+Yes, she was, and dared him to come on, for Jessie has forgotten the
+minister and all the Session.
+
+"The elders wud like tae hear 'What is the Lord's Supper?'"
+
+"That's it; and, Jessie, ma woman, gie's the 'worthy receiving.'"
+
+Jessie achieves another triumph, and is now ready for anything.
+
+"Ye hae the Word weel stored in yir mind, lassie, and ye maun keep
+it in yir life, and dinna forget that Christ's a gude Maister."
+
+"A'll dae ma best," and Jessie declared that Burnbrae had been as
+kind as if she had been "his ain bairn," and that she "wasna feared
+ava." But her trial is not over; the worst is to come.
+
+Lachlan began where Burnbrae ended, and very soon had Jessie on the
+rack.
+
+"How old will you be?"
+
+"Auchteen next Martinmas."
+
+"And why will you be coming to the sacrament?"
+
+"Ma mither thocht it was time," with a threatening of tears as she
+looked at the face in the corner.
+
+"Ye will maybe tell the Session what hass been your 'lawwork' and
+how long ye hef been at Sinai."
+
+"A' dinna ken what yir askin'. I was never oot o' Drumtochty," and
+Jessie breaks down utterly.
+
+"A' dinna think, Moderator, we ocht tae ask sic questions," broke in
+Burnbrae, who could not see a little one put to confusion; "an' I
+canna mind them in the Gospels. There's ae commandment Jessie keeps
+weel, as a' can testeefy, and that's the fifth, for there's no a
+better dochter in Drumtochty. A' move, Moderator, she get her token;
+dinna greet, puir woman, for ye've dune weel, and the Session's rael
+satisfeed."
+
+"It wass Dr. John's mark I wass trying the girl by," explained
+Lachlan after Jessie had gone away comforted. "And it iss a goot
+mark, oh yes, and very searching.
+
+"Ye will maybe not know what it iss, Moderator," and Lachlan
+regarded the minister with austere superiority, for it was the
+winter of the feud.
+
+No, he did not, nor any of the Session, being all douce Scotchmen,
+except Donald Menzies who was at home fighting the devil.
+
+"It iss broken bones, and Dr. John did preach three hours upon it at
+Auchindarroch Fast, and there wass not many went to the Sacrament on
+that occasion.
+
+"Broken bones iss a fine mark to begin with, and the next will be
+doubts. But there iss a deeper," continued Lachlan, warming to his
+subject, "oh yes, far deeper, and I heard of it when I wass North
+for the sheep, and I will not be forgetting that day with Janet
+Macfarlane.
+
+"I knew she wass a professor, and I wass looking for her marks. But
+it wass not for me to hef been searching her; it wass that woman
+that should hef been trying me."
+
+A profound silence wrapt the Session.
+
+"'Janet,' I said, 'hef ye had many doubts?'
+
+"'Doubts, Lachlan? was that what you asked? I hef had desertions,
+and one will be for six months.'
+
+"So I saw she wass far beyond me, for I dare not be speaking about
+desertions."
+
+Two minutes after the minister pronounced the benediction, and no
+one had offered any remark in the interval.
+
+It seemed to the elders that Lachlan dealt hardly with young people
+and those that had gone astray, but they learned one evening that
+his justice had at least no partiality. Burnbrae said afterwards
+that Lachlan "looked like a ghaist comin' in at the door," but he
+sat in silence in the shadow, and no one marked the agony on his
+face till the end.
+
+"If that iss all the business, Moderator, I hef to bring a case of
+discipline before the Session, and ask them to do their duty. It iss
+known to me that a young woman who hass been a member of this church
+hass left her home and gone into the far country. There will be no
+use in summoning her to appear before the Session, for she will
+never be seen again in this parish. I move that she be cut off from
+the roll, and her name iss "--and Lachlan's voice broke, but in an
+instant he recovered himself--"her name iss Flora Campbell."
+
+Carmichael confessed to me that he was stricken dumb, and that
+Lachlan's ashen face held him with an awful fascination.
+
+It was Burnbrae that first found a voice, and showed that night the
+fine delicacy of heart that may be hidden behind a plain exterior.
+
+"Moderator, this is a terrible calamity that hes befaen oor brither,
+and a'm feelin' as if a' hed lost a bairn o' my ane, for a sweeter
+lassie didna cross oor kirk door. Nane o' us want tae know what hes
+happened or where she hes gane, and no a word o' this wull cross oor
+lips. Her faither's dune mair than cud be expeckit o' mortal man,
+and noo we have oor duty. It's no the way o' this Session tae cut
+aff ony member o' the flock at a stroke, and we 'ill no begin with
+Flora Campbell. A' move, Moderator, that her case be left tae her
+faither and yersel, and oor neebur may depend on it that Flora's
+name and his ain will be mentioned in oor prayers, ilka mornin' an'
+nicht till the gude Shepherd o' the sheep brings her hame."
+
+Burnbrae paused, and then, with tears in his voice--men do not weep
+in Drumtochty--"With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is
+plenteous redemption."
+
+The minister took the old man's arm and led him into the manse, and
+set him in the big chair by the study fire. "Thank God, Lachlan, we
+are friends now; tell me about it as if I were your son and Flora's
+brother."
+
+The father took a letter out of an inner pocket with a trembling
+hand, and this is what Carmichael read by the light of the lamp:--
+
+"DEAR FATHER,--When this reaches you I will be in London, and not
+worthy to cross your door. Do not be always angry with me, and try
+to forgive me, for you will not be troubled any more by my dancing
+or dressing. Do not think that I will be blaming you, for you have
+been a good father to me, and said what you would be considering
+right, but it is not easy for a man to understand a girl. Oh, if I
+had had my mother, then she would have understood me, and I would
+not have crossed you. Forget poor Flora's foolishness, but you will
+not forget her, and maybe you will still pray for me. Take care of
+the geraniums for my sake, and give milk to the lamb that you called
+after me. I will never see you again, in this world or the next nor
+my mother ... (here the letter was much blotted). When I think that
+there will be no one to look after you, and have the fire burning
+for you on winter nights, I will be rising to come back. But it is
+too late, too late. Oh, the disgrace I will be bringing on you in
+the glen.--Your unworthy daughter,
+
+FLORA CAMPBELL."
+
+"This is a fiery trial, Lachlan, and I cannot even imagine what you
+are suffering. But do not despair, for that is not the letter of a
+bad girl. Perhaps she was impatient, and has been led astray. But
+Flora is good at heart, and you must not think she is gone forever."
+
+Lachlan groaned, the first moan he had made, and then he tottered to
+his feet.
+
+"You are fery kind, Maister Carmichael, and so wass Burnbrae, and I
+will be thankful you all, but you do not understand. Oh no, you do
+not understand." Lachlan caught hold of a chair and looked the
+minister in the face.
+
+"She hass gone, and there will be no coming back. You would not take
+her name from the roll of the church, and I will not be meddling
+with that book. But I hef blotted out her name from my Bible, where
+her mother's name iss written and mine. She has wrought confusion in
+Israel and in an elder's house, and I ... I hef no danghter. But I
+loved her; she nefer knew how I loved her, for her mother would be
+looking at me from her eyes."
+
+The minister walked with Lachlan to the foot of the hill on which
+his cottage stood, and after they had shaken hands in silence, he
+watched the old man's figure in the cold moonlight till he
+disappeared into the forsaken home, where the fire had gone out on
+the hearth, and neither love nor hope were waiting for a broken
+heart.
+
+The railway did not think it worth while to come to Drumtochty, and
+we, were cut off from the lowlands by miles of forest, so our
+manners retained the fashion of the former age. Six elders, besides
+the minister, knew the tragedy of Flora Campbell, and never opened
+their lips. Mrs. Macfadyen, who was our newspaper, and understood
+her duty, refused to pry into this secret. The pity of the glen went
+out to Lachlan, but no one even looked a question as he sat alone in
+his pew or came down on a Saturday afternoon to the village shop for
+his week's provisions. London friends thought me foolish about my
+adopted home, but I asked them whether they could find such perfect
+good manners in Belgravia, and they were silent. My Drumtochty
+neighbours would have played an awkward part in a drawing-room, but
+never have I seen in all my wanderings men and women of truer
+courtesy or tenderer heart.
+
+"It gars ma hert greet tae see him," Mrs. Macfadyen said to me one
+day, "sae booed an' disjackit, him that wes that snod (tidy) and
+firm. His hair's turned white in a month, and he's awa' tae naething
+in his claithes. But least said is sunest mended. It's no richt tae
+interfere wi' another's sorrow, an' it wad be an awfu' sin tae
+misca' a young lassie. We maun juist houp that Flora 'll sune come
+back, for if she disna Lachlan 'ill no be lang wi's. He's sayin'
+naethin', and a' respeck him for't; but onybody can see that his
+hert is breakin'."
+
+We were helpless till Marget Howe met Lachlan in the shop and read
+his sorrow at a glance. She went home to Whinnie Knowe in great
+distress.
+
+"It wes waesome tae see the auld man githerin' his bit things wi' a
+shakin' hand, and speakin' tae me aboot the weather, and a' the time
+his eyes were sayin', 'Flora, Flora.'"
+
+"Whar div ye think the young hizzie is, Marget?"
+
+"Naebody needs tae know, Weelum, an' ye maunna speak that way, for
+whatever's come ower her, she's dear to Lachlan and tae God.
+
+"It's laid on me tae veesit Lachlan, for a'm thinking oor Father
+didna comfort us withoot expeckin' that we wud comfort other fouk."
+
+When Marget came round the corner of Lachlan's cottage, she found
+Flora's plants laid out in the sun, and her father watering them on
+his knees. One was ready to die, and for it he had made a shelter
+with his plaid.
+
+He was taken unawares, but in a minute he was leading Marget in with
+hospitable words.
+
+"It iss kind of you to come to an old man's house, Mistress Howe,
+and it iss a fery warm day. You will not care for speerits, but I am
+fery goot at making tea."
+
+Marget was not as other women, and she spoke at once.
+
+"Maister Campbell, ye will believe that I hev come in the love of
+God, and because we hev baith been afflickit. I had ae son, and he
+is gone; ye had a dochter, and she is gone. A' ken where George is,
+and am sateesfied. A' doot sairly yir sorrow is deeper than mine."
+
+"Would to God that she wass lying in the kirkyard; but I will not
+speak of her. She iss not anything to me this day. See, I will show
+you what I hef done, for she hass been a black shame to her name."
+
+He opened the Bible, and there was Flora's name scored with wavering
+strokes, but the ink had run as if it had been mingled with tears.
+
+Marget's heart burned within her at the sight, and perhaps she could
+hardly make allowance for Lachlan's blood and theology.
+
+"This is what ye hev dune, and ye let a woman see yir wark. Ye are
+an auld man, and in sore travail, but a' tell ye before God ye hae
+the greater shame. Juist twenty years o' age this spring, and her
+mither dead. Nae woman to watch over her, and she wandered frae the
+fold, and a' ye can dae is to tak her oot o' yir Bible. Waes me if
+oor Father had blotted out oor names frae the Book o' Life when we
+left His hoose. But He sent His ain Son to seek us, an' a weary road
+He cam. A' tell ye, a man wudna leave a sheep tae perish as ye hae
+cast aff yir ain bairn. Yir worse than Simon the Pharisee, for Mary
+was nae kin tae him. Puir Flora, tae hae sic a father."
+
+"Who will be telling you that I wass a Pharisee?" cried Lachlan,
+quivering in every limb, and grasping Marget's arm.
+
+"Forgie me, Lachlan, forgie me. It was the thocht o' the misguided
+lassie carried me, for a' didna come tae upbraid ye."
+
+But Lachlan had sunk into a chair and had forgotten her.
+
+"She hass the word, and God will hef smitten the pride of my heart,
+for it iss Simon that I am. I wass hard on my child, and I wass hard
+on the minister, and there wass none like me. The Lord has laid my
+name in the dust, and I will be angry with her. But she iss the
+scapegoat for my sins, and hass gone into the desert. God be
+merciful to me a sinner." And then Marget understood no more, for
+the rest was in Gaelic, but she heard Flora's name with another she
+took to be her mother's twined together.
+
+So Marget knew it would be well with Lachlan yet, and she wrote this
+letter:
+
+"MY DEAR LASSIE,--Ye ken that I wes aye yir freend, and I am writing
+this tae say that yir father luves ye mair than ever, and is wearing
+oot his hert for the sicht o' yir face. Come back, or he'll dee
+thro' want o' his bairn. The glen is bright and bonny noo, for the
+purple heather is on the hills, and doon below the gowden corn, wi'
+bluebell and poppy flowers between. Naebody 'ill ask ye where ye've
+been, or onything else; there's no a bairn in the place that's no
+wearying tae see ye; and, Flora, lassie, if there will be sic
+gledness in oor wee glen when ye come hame, what think ye o' the joy
+in the Father's Hoose? Start the verra meenute that ye get this
+letter; yir father bids ye come, and I'm writing this in place o'
+yir mother.
+
+MARGET HOWE."
+
+Marget went out to tend the flowers while Lachlan read the letter,
+and when he gave it back the address was written in his own hand.
+
+He went as far as the crest of the hill with Marget, and watched her
+on the way to the post office till she was only a speck upon the
+road.
+
+When he entered his cottage the shadows were beginning to fall, and
+he remembered it would soon be night.
+
+"It iss in the dark that Flora will be coming, and she must know
+that her father iss waiting for her."
+
+He cleaned and trimmed with anxious hand a lamp that was kept for
+show, and had never been used. Then he selected from his books
+Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an angry God," and "Coles on the
+Divine Sovereignty," and on them he laid the large family Bible out
+of which Flora's name had been blotted. This was the stand on which
+he set the lamp in the window, and every night till Flora returned
+its light shone down the steep path that ascended to her home, like
+the Divine Love from the open door of our Father's House.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+LIKE AS A FATHER
+
+It was only by physical force and a free use of personalities that
+the Kildrummie passengers could be entrained at the Junction, and
+the Drumtochty men were always the last to capitulate.
+
+They watched the main line train that had brought them from Muirtown
+disappear in the distance, and then broke into groups to discuss the
+cattle sale at leisure, while Peter, the factotum of the little
+Kildrummie branch, drove his way through their midst with offensive
+pieces of luggage, and abused them by name without respect of
+persons.
+
+"It's maist aggravatin', Drumsheugh, 'at ye 'ill stand there girnin'
+at the prices, as if ye were a puir cottar body that hed selt her ae
+coo, and us twal meenutes late. Man, get intae yer kerridge; he 'ill
+no be fat that buys frae you, a'll wager."
+
+"Peter's in an awfu' feery-farry (excitement) the nicht, neeburs,"
+Drumsheugh would respond, after a long pause; "ye wud think he wes a
+mail gaird tae hear him speak. Mind ye, a'm no gain' tae shove ahint
+if the engine sticks, for I hae na time. He needs a bit nip," and
+Drumsheugh settles himself in his seat, "or else there wud be nae
+leevin' wi' him."
+
+Peter escaped this winged shaft, for he had detected a woman in the
+remote darkness.
+
+"Keep's a', wumman, what are ye stravagin' about there for out o' a
+body's sicht? a' near set aff withoot ye."
+
+Then Peter recognised her face, and his manner softened of a sudden.
+
+"Come awa', lassie, come awa'; a' didna ken ye at the moment, but a'
+heard ye hed been veesitin' in the sooth.
+
+"The third is terrible full wi' thae Drumtochty lads, and ye 'ill
+hear naething but Drumsheugh's stirks; ye 'ill maybe be as handy in
+oor second." And Flora Campbell stepped in unseen.
+
+Between the Junction and Kildrummie Peter was accustomed to wander
+along the footboard, collecting tickets and identifying passengers.
+He was generally in fine trim on the way up, and took ample revenge
+for the insults of the departure. But it was supposed that Peter had
+taken Drumsheugh's withering sarcasm to heart, for he attached
+himself to the second that night, and was invisible to the expectant
+third till the last moment.
+
+"Ye've hed a lang journey, Miss Cammil, and ye maun be nearly dune
+wi' tire; juist ye sit still till the fouk get awa', and the guid
+wife and me wud be prood if ye took a cup o' tea wi's afore ye
+stairted hame. A'll come for ye as sune as a' get the van emptied
+and ma little trokes feenished."
+
+Peter hurried up to his cottage in such hot haste that his wife came
+out in great alarm.
+
+"Na, their's naethin' wrang; it's the opposite way this nicht. Ye
+mind o' Flora Cammil that left her father, and name o' the
+Drumtochty fouk wud say onything aboot her. Weel, she's in the
+train, and a've asked her up tae rest, and she was gled tae come,
+puir thing. Sae gie her a couthy welcome, wumman, and the best in
+the hoose, for oors 'ill be the first roof she 'ill be under on her
+way hame."
+
+Our women do not kiss one another like the city ladies; but the
+motherly grip of Mary Bruce's hand sent a thrill to Flora's heart.
+
+"Noo a' ca' this rael kind o' ye, Miss Cammil, tae come in withoot
+ceremony, and a'd be terrible pleased if ye would dae it ony time
+yer traivellin'. The rail is by ordinar' fateegin', and a cup o' tea
+'ill set ye up," and Mary had Flora in the best chair, and was
+loading her plate with homely dainties.
+
+Peter would speak of nothing but the new engine that was coming, and
+was to place the Kildrummie branch beyond ridicule for ever, and on
+this great event he continued without intermission till he parted
+with Flora on the edge of the pine woods that divided Drumtochty
+from Kildrummie.
+
+"Gude nicht tae ye, Miss Cammil, and thank ye again for yir veesit.
+Bring the auld man wi' ye next time ye're passing, though a'm feared
+ye've been deived (deafened) wi' the engine."
+
+Flora took Peter's hand, that was callous and rough with the turning
+of brakes and the coupling of chains.
+
+"It wass not your new engine you wass thinking about this night,
+Peter Bruce, but a poor girl that iss in trouble. I hef not the
+words, but I will be remembering your house, oh yes, as long as I
+live."
+
+Twice Peter stood on his way home; the first time he slapped his leg
+and chuckled:
+
+"Sall, it was gey clever o' me; a hale kerridge o' Drumtochty lads,
+and no ane o' them ever hed a glint o' her."
+
+At the second stoppage he drew his hand across his eyes.
+
+"Puir lassie, a' houp her father 'ill be kind tae her, for she's
+sair broken, and looks liker deith than life."
+
+No one can desire a sweeter walk than through a Scottish pine wood
+in late September, where you breathe the healing resinous air, and
+the ground is crisp and springy beneath your feet, and gentle
+animals dart away on every side, and here and there you come on an
+open space with a pool, and a brake of gorse. Many a time on market
+days Flora had gone singing through these woods, plucking a posy of
+wild flowers and finding a mirror in every pool, as young girls
+will; but now she trembled and was afraid. The rustling of the trees
+in the darkness, the hooting of an owl, the awful purity of the
+moonlight in the glades, the cold sheen of the water, were to her
+troubled conscience omens of judgment. Had it not been for the
+kindness of Peter Bruce, which was a pledge of human forgiveness,
+there would have been no heart in her to dare that wood, and it was
+with a sob of relief she escaped from the shadow and looked upon the
+old glen once more, bathed from end to end in the light of the
+harvest moon. Beneath her ran our little river, spanned by its
+quaint old bridge; away on the right the Parish Kirk peeped out from
+a clump of trees; half way up the glen the clachan lay surrounded by
+patches of corn; and beyond were the moors, with a shepherd's
+cottage that held her heart. Two hours ago squares of light told of
+warmth and welcome within; but now, as Flora passed one house after
+another, it seemed as if every one she knew was dead, and she was
+forgotten in her misery. Her heart grew cold, and she longed to lie
+down and die, when she caught the gleam of a lighted window. Some
+one was living still to know she had repented, and she knelt down
+among the flowers with her ear to the glass to hear the sound of a
+human voice. Archie Moncur had come home late from a far-away job,
+but he must needs have worship with his sister before they went to
+bed, and well did he choose the psalm that night. Flora's tears
+rained upon the mignonette as the two old people sang:
+
+  "When Sion's bondage God turned back,
+     As men that dreamed were we,
+   Then filled with laughter was our mouth,
+     Our tongue with melody;"
+
+while the fragrance of the flowers went up as incense unto God.
+
+All the way along the glen the last words of the psalm still rang in
+her ears, "Rejoicing shall return," but as she touched the footpath
+to her home, courage failed her. Marget had written for her dead
+mother, but no one could speak with authority for her father. She
+knew the pride of his religion and his iron principles. If he
+refused her entrance, then it had been better for her to have died
+in London. A turn of the path brought her within sight of the
+cottage, and her heart came into her mouth, for the kitchen window
+was a blaze of light. One moment she feared Lachlan might be ill,
+but in the next she understood, and in the greatness of her joy she
+ran the rest of the way. When she reached the door, her strength had
+departed, and she was not able to knock. But there was no need, for
+the dogs, who never forget nor cast off, were bidding her welcome
+with short joyous yelps of delight, and she could hear her father
+feeling for the latch, which for once could not be found, and saying
+nothing but "Flora, Flora."
+
+She had made up some kind of speech, but the only word she ever said
+was "Father," for Lachlan, who had never even kissed her all the
+days of her youth, clasped her in his arms and sobbed out blessings
+over her head, while the dogs licked her hands with their soft,
+kindly tongues.
+
+"It iss a peety you hef not the Gaelic," Flora said to Marget
+afterwards; "it iss the best of all languages for loving. There are
+fifty words for darling, and my father would be calling me every one
+that night I came home."
+
+Lachlan was so carried with joy, and firelight is so hopeful, that
+he had not seen the signs of sore sickness on Flora's face, but the
+morning light undeceived him, and he was sadly dashed.
+
+"You will be fery tired after your long journey, Flora, and it iss
+good for you to rest. There iss a man in the clachan I am wanting to
+see, and he will maybe be comin' back with me."
+
+When Lachlan reached his place of prayer, he lay on the ground and
+cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, and spare her for Thy servant's
+sake, and let me not lose her after Thou hast brought her back and
+hast opened my heart.... Take her not till she hass seen that I love
+her.... Give me time to do her kindness for the past wherein I
+oppressed her.... O, turn away Thy judgment on my hardness, and let
+not the child suffer for her father's sins." Then he arose and
+hastened for the doctor.
+
+It was afternoon before Dr. MacLure could come, but the very sight
+of his face, which was as the sun in its strength, let light into
+the room where Lachlan sat at the bedside holding Flora's hand, and
+making woful pretence that she was not ill.
+
+"Weel, Flora, yeve got back frae yir veesits, and a' tell ye we've
+a' missed ye maist terrible. A' doot thae sooth country fouk haena
+been feeding ye ower weel, or maybe it was the toon air. It never
+agrees wi' me. A'm half chokit a' the time a'm in Glesgie, and as
+for London, there's ower mony fouk tae the square yaird for health."
+
+All the time he was busy at his work, and no man could do it better
+or quicker, although the outside of him was not encouraging.
+
+"Lachlan, what are ye traivellin' in and oot there for with a face
+that wud sour milk? What ails ye, man? ye're surely no imaginin'
+Flora's gaein' to leave ye?
+
+"Lord's sake, it's maist provokin' that if a body hes a bit whup o'
+illness in Drumtochty, their freends tak tae propheseein' deith."
+
+Lachlan had crept over to Flora's side, and both were waiting.
+
+"Na, na; ye ken a' never tell lees like the graund ceety doctors,
+and a'll warrant Flora 'ill be in kirk afore Martinmas, an' kiltin'
+up the braes as hardy as a hielan' sheltie by the new year."
+
+Flora puts an arm round her father's neck, and draws down his face
+to hers, but the doctor is looking another way.
+
+"Dinna fash wi' medicine; gie her plenty o' fresh milk and plenty o'
+air. There's nae leevin' for a doctor wi' that Drumtochty air; it
+hasna a marra in Scotland. It starts frae the Moray Firth and sweeps
+doon Badenoch, and comes ower the moor o' Rannoch and across the
+Grampians. There's the salt o' the sea, and the caller air o' the
+hills, and the smell o' the heather, and the bloom o'mony a flower
+in't. If there's nae disease in the organs o' the body, a puff o'
+Drumtochty air wud bring back a man frae the gates o' deith."
+
+"You hef made two hearts glad this day, Doctor McLure," said
+Lachlan, outside the door, "and I am calling you Barnabas."
+
+"Ye've ca'd me waur names than that in yir time," and the doctor
+mounted his horse. "It's dune me a warld o' guid tae see Flora in
+her hame again, and I'll gie Marget Howe a cry in passin' and send
+her up tae hae a crack, for there's no a wiser wumman in the glen."
+
+When Marget came, Flora told her the history of her letter.
+
+"It wass a beautiful night in London, but I will be thinking that
+there iss no living person caring whether I die or live, and I wass
+considering how I could die, for there iss nothing so hopeless as to
+hef no friend in a great city. It iss often that I hef been alone on
+the moor, and no man within miles, but I wass never lonely, oh no, I
+had plenty of good company. I would sit down beside a burn, and the
+trout will swim out from below a stone, and the cattle will come to
+drink, and the muirfowl will be crying to each other, and the sheep
+will be bleating, oh yes, and there are the bees all round, and a
+string of wild ducks above your head. It iss a busy place a moor,
+and a safe place too, for there iss not one of the animals will hurt
+you. No, the big highlanders will only look at you and go away to
+their pasture. But it iss weary to be in London and no one to speak
+a kind word to you, and I will be looking at the crowd that iss
+always passing, and I will not see one kent face, and when I looked
+in at the lighted windows the people were all sitting round the
+table, but there wass no place for me. Millions and millions of
+people, and not one to say 'Flora,' and not one sore heart if I died
+that night. Then a strange thing happened, as you will be
+considering, but it iss good to be a Highlander, for we see visions.
+You maybe know that a wounded deer will try to hide herself, and I
+crept into the shadow of a church, and wept. Then the people and the
+noise and the houses passed away like the mist on the hill, and I
+wass walking to the kirk with my father, oh yes, and I saw you all
+in your places, and I heard the Psalms, and I could see through the
+window the green fields and the trees on the edge of the moor. And I
+saw my home, with the dogs before the door, and the flowers that I
+planted, and the lamb coming for her mik, and I heard myself singing,
+and I awoke. But there wass singing, oh yes, and beautiful too, for
+the dark church wass open, and the light wass falling over my head
+from the face of the Virgin Mary. When I arose she wass looking down
+at me in the darkness, and then I knew that there wass service in
+the church, and this wass the hymn--
+
+  "'There is a fountain filled with blood.'
+
+"So I went in and sat down at the door. The sermon wass on the
+Prodigal Son, but there iss only one word I remember. 'You are not
+forgotten or cast off,' the preacher said; 'you are missed,' and
+then he will come back to it again, and it wass always 'missed,
+missed, missed.' Sometimes he will say, 'If you had a plant, and you
+had taken great care of it, and it was stolen, would you not miss
+it?' And I will be thinking of my geraniums, and saying 'yes' in my
+heart. And then he will go on, 'If a shepherd wass counting his
+sheep, and there wass one short, does he not go out to the hill and
+seek for it?' and I will see my father coming back with that lamb
+that lost its mother. My heart wass melting within me, but he will
+still be pleading, 'If a father had a child, and she left her home
+and lost herself in the wicked city, she will still be remembered in
+the old house, and her chair will be there,' and I will be seeing my
+father all alone with the Bible before him, and the dogs will lay
+their heads on his knee, but there iss no Flora. So I slipped out
+into the darkness and cried 'Father,' but I could not go back, and I
+knew not what to do. But this wass ever in my ear, 'missed,' and I
+wass wondering if God will be thinking of me. 'Perhaps there may be
+a sign,' I said, and I went to my room, and I saw the letter. It
+wass not long before I will be in the train, and all the night I
+held your letter in my hand, and when I wass afraid I will read
+'Your father loves you more than efer,' and I will say, 'This is my
+warrant.' Oh yes, and God wass very good to me, and I did not want
+for friends all the way home.
+
+"The English guard noticed me cry, and he will take care of me all
+the night, and see me off at Muirtown, and this iss what he will say
+as the train wass leaving, in his cheery English way, 'Keep up your
+heart, lass, there's a good time coming,' and Peter Bruce will be
+waiting for me at the Junction, and a gentle man iss Peter Bruce,
+and Maister Moncur will be singing a psalm to keep up my heart, and
+I will see the light, and then I will know that the Lord hass had
+mercy upon me. That iss all I have to tell you, Marget, for the rest
+I will be saying to God."
+
+"But there iss something I must be telling," said Lachlan, coming
+in, "and it iss not easy."
+
+He brought over the Bible and opened it at the family register where
+his daughter's name had been erased; then he laid it down before
+Flora, and bowed his head on the bed.
+
+"Will you ever be able to forgive your father?"
+
+"Give me the pen, Marget;" and Flora wrote for a minute, but Lachlan
+never moved.
+
+When he lifted his head, this was what he read in a vacant space:--
+
+  FLORA CAMPBELL.
+  Missed April 1873.
+  Found September 1873.
+ "Her father fell on her neck and kissed her."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+AS A LITTLE CHILD
+
+Drumtochty made up its mind slowly upon any new-comer, and for some
+time looked into the far distance when his name was mentioned. He
+himself was struck with the studied indifference of the parish, and
+lived under the delusion that he had escaped notice. Perhaps he
+might have felt uncomfortable if he had suspected that he was under
+a microscope, and the keenest eyes in the country were watching
+every movement at kirk and market. His knowledge of theology, his
+preference in artificial manures, his wife's Sabbath dress, his
+skill in cattle, and his manner in the Kildrummie train, went as
+evidence in the case, and were duly weighed. Some morning the
+floating opinion suddenly crystallized in the kirkyard, and there is
+only one historical instance in which judgment was reversed. It was
+a strong proof of Lachlan Campbell's individuality that he impressed
+himself twice on the parish, and each time with a marked adjective.
+
+Lachlan had been superintending the theology of the glen and
+correcting our ignorance from an unapproachable height for two years
+before the word went forth, but the glen had been thinking.
+
+"Lachlan is a carefu' shepherd and fine wi' the ewes at the lambing
+time, there's nae doot o' that, but a' canna thole (bear) himsel'.
+Ye wud think there was nae releegion in the parish till he came frae
+Auchindarroch. What say ye, Domsie?"
+
+"Campbell's a censorious body, Drumsheugh," and Domsie shut his
+snuff-box lid with a snap.
+
+Drumsheugh nodded to the fathers of our commonwealth, and they went
+into kirk with silent satisfaction. Lachlan had been classified, and
+Peter Bruce, who prided himself on keeping in touch with Drumtochty,
+passed the word round the Kildrummie train next market night.
+
+"Ye haena that censorious body, Lachlan Campbell, wi' ye the nicht,"
+thrusting his head in on the thirds.
+
+"There's naething Peter disna ken," Hillocks remarked with
+admiration afterwards; "he's as gude as the _Advertiser_."
+
+When Flora had come home, and Drumtochty resumed freedom of
+criticism, I noticed for the first time a certain vacillation in its
+treatment of Lachlan.
+
+"He's pluckit up his speerit maist extraordinar," Hillocks
+explained, "and he whuppit by me like a three year auld laist
+Sabbath.
+
+"'I'm glad tae hear the Miss is comin' roond fine,' says I.
+
+"'It's the fouk o' Drumtochty hes made her weel. God bless you, for
+you hev done good for evil,' and wi' that he was aff afore I cud
+fin' a word.
+
+"He's changed, the body, some wy or ither, and there's a kind o'
+warmth aboot him ye canna get ower."
+
+Next day I turned into Mrs. Macfadyen's cottage for a cup of tea and
+the smack of that wise woman's conversation, but was not able to
+pass the inner door for the sight which met my eyes.
+
+Lachlan was sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with
+Elsie, Mrs. Macfadyen's pet child, on his knee, and their heads so
+close together that his white hair was mingling with her burnished
+gold. An odour of peppermint floated out at the door, and Elsie was
+explaining to Lachlan, for his guidance at the shop, that the round
+drops were a better bargain than the black and white rock.
+
+When Lachlan had departed, with gracious words on his lips and a
+very sticky imprint on his right cheek, I settled down in the big
+chair, beyond the power of speech, and Mrs. Macfadyen opened the
+mystery.
+
+"Ye may weel look, for twa month syne I wudna hae believed this day,
+though a' hed seen him wi' ma ain een.
+
+"It was juist this time laist year that he cam here on his elder's
+veesitation, and he catches the bairn in this verra kitchen.
+
+"'Elspeth,' says he--it was Elsie the day, ye mind--'div ye ken that
+ye're an oreeginal sinner?'
+
+"It was nichtfa' afore she got over the fricht, and when she saw him
+on the road next Sabbath, she cooried in ahint ma goon, and cried
+till I thocht her hert wud break.
+
+"'It's meeserable wark for Christ's Elder,' says Jeems, 'tae put the
+fear o' death on a bairn, and a'm thinkin' he wudna get muckle
+thanks frae his Maister if He wes here,' and Jeems wasna far wrong,
+though, of course, a' told him tae keep a quiet sough, and no conter
+the elder.
+
+"Weel, I sees Lachlan comin' up the road the day, and a' ran oot to
+catch Elsie and hide her in the byre. But a' micht hae saved mysel'
+the trouble: afore I got tae the gairden gate they were comin' up as
+chief (friendly) as ye like, and Lachlan wes callin' Elsie his
+bonnie dawtie.
+
+"If he hadna a pock o' peppermints--but it wesna that wiled Elsie's
+hert. Na, na, dogs and bairns can read fouks' faces, and mak nae
+mistakes. As sune as a' saw Lachlan's een a' kent he wes a new man.
+
+"Hoo has it come about? That's easy tae guess. Sax months syne
+Lachlan didna ken what father meant, and the heart wes wizened in
+the breist o' him wi' pride an' diveenity.
+
+"He kens noo, and a'm jalousing that nae man can be a richt father
+tae his ain without being sib (akin) tae every bairn he sees. It wes
+Flora he was dawting (petting) ye see the day, and he's learned his
+trade weel, though it cost him a sair lesson."
+
+Wonderful stories circulated through the glen, and were told in the
+kirkyard of a Sabbath morning, concerning the transformation of
+Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Ane o' ma wee lassies," expatiated Domsie, "fell comin' doon the
+near road frae Whinnie Knowe, and cuttit her cheek on the stones,
+and if Lachlan didna wash her face and comfort her; an' mair, he
+carried her a' the road tae the schule, and says he in his Hieland
+way, 'Here iss a brave little woman that hass hurt herself, but she
+will not be crying,' and he gave her a kiss and a penny tae buy some
+sweeties at the shop. It minded me o' the Gude Samaritan, fouks,"
+and everybody understood that Lachlan had captured Domsie for life.
+
+"It beats a' things," said Whinnie; "a' canna mak' oot what's come
+ower the cratur. There's a puckle o' the upland bairns pass oor wy
+frae schule, and whiles Lachlan 'ill meet them when he's aifter his
+sheep, and as sure as a'm stannin' here, he 'ill lay aff stories
+aboot battles and fairies, till the laddies 'ill hardly gae hame. I
+wes tellin' Marget this verra mornin', and she says, 'Lachlan's
+become as a little child.' I dinna haud wi' her there, but a
+quieter, mair cautious body ye never saw."
+
+Drumtochty was doing its best to focus Lachlan afresh, and felt the
+responsibility lay on Domsie, who accepted it cheerfully.
+
+"Marget's aye richt, neebours, and she's put the word on it noo. His
+tribble hes melted Lachlan's heart, an'--it's in the Evangel, ye
+ken--he's become as a little child."
+
+This language was too figurative and imposing for the parish, but it
+ran henceforward in our modest speech, "He's a cautious body."
+Cautious, with us, meant unassuming, kindly obliging, as well as
+much more; and I still hear Drumsheugh pronouncing this final
+judgment of the glen on Lachlan as we parted at his grave ten years
+later, and adding, "He 'ill be sair missed by the bairns."
+
+While the glen was readjusting itself to Lachlan, I came down from a
+long tramp on the moor, and intended to inquire for Flora. But I was
+arrested on the step by the sound of Lachlan's voice in family
+worship.
+
+"This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
+found. And they began to be merry."
+
+Lachlan's voice trembled as he read, but he went on with much
+firmness:
+
+"Now his elder son was in the field."
+
+"You will not be reading more of that chapter, father," interrupted
+Flora, with a new note of authority.
+
+"And why not?" said Lachlan, quite humbly.
+
+"Because you will be calling yourself the elder son and many more
+bad names, and I will be angry with you."
+
+"But they are true names, and it iss good for me to know myself."
+
+"You hef just one true name, and that iss father.... And now you
+will be singing a psalm."
+
+"There iss a book of himes (hymns) here, and maybe you will be
+liking one of them."
+
+And Lachlan produced the little book Flora got in that London church
+when the preacher told her she was missed.
+
+"We will not sing hymns, father, for I am remembering that you hef a
+conscience against hymns, and I did not know that you had that
+book."
+
+"My conscience wass sometimes better than the Bible, Flora, and if
+God will be sending a hime to bind up your heart when it wass
+broken, it iss your father that will be wanting to sing that hime.
+
+"It iss here," continued Lachlan in triumph, "for I hef often been
+reading that hime, and I am not seeing much wrong in it."
+
+"But each hymn hass got its own tune, father, and you will not know
+the way that it goes, and the doctor will not be wishing me to
+sing."
+
+"You are a good girl, Flora, but you are not so clever as your
+father, oh no, for I hef been trying that hime on the hill, and it
+will sing beautiful to a Psalm tune. You will lie still and hear."
+
+Then Lachlan lifted up his voice in "French,"
+
+  "There is a fountain filled with blood,
+     Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
+   And sinners plunged beneath that flood
+     Lose all their guilty stains."
+
+The singing was fairly good, with a whisper from Flora, till they
+came to that verse:
+
+  "Then in a nobler, sweeter song
+     I'll sing Thy power to save,
+   When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
+     Lies silent in the grave,"
+
+when Lachlan seemed to lose the tune, and be falling into a
+coronach.
+
+"We must not be singing that to-day, father, for God iss fery good
+to us, and I will be stronger every week, and maybe you will be
+saying that we are thankful in your prayer."
+
+Then I realised my baseness, and went off on tiptoe (had the dogs
+been at home it had not been so easy to escape); but first I heard,
+"Our Father." It was a new word for Lachlan; he used to say Jehovah.
+
+The doctor paid his last visit one frosty winter day, and was
+merciless on Lachlan.
+
+"What for are ye cockering up this lassie, and no getting her doon
+tae the kirk? it's clean disgracefu' in an Elder, and if I were yir
+minister a' wud hae ye sessioned. Sall, ye're hard enough on ither
+fouk that are no kirk greedy."
+
+"You will not be speaking that way next Sabbath, for it iss in her
+pew Flora will be sitting with her father," said Lachlan, in great
+spirits.
+
+Flora caught him studying her closely for some days, as if he were
+taking her measure, and he announced that he had business in
+Muirtown on Friday.
+
+When he came up in the market train he was carrying a large paper
+parcel, and attempted a joke with Peter at a window of the third.
+From a critical point of view it was beneath notice, but as
+Lachlan's first effort it was much tasted.
+
+"Ye 'ill believe me noo, Peter, since ye've heard him. Did ye ever
+see sic a change? it's maist astonishin'."
+
+"Man, Hillocks, div ye no see he's gotten back his dochter, and it's
+made him anither man?"
+
+Lachlan showed Flora a new pair of shears he had bought in Muirtown,
+and a bottle of sheep embrocation, but she did not know he had
+hidden his parcel in the byre, and that he opened it four separate
+times on Saturday.
+
+From daybreak on Sabbath Lachlan went in and out till he returned
+with Marget Howe.
+
+"Mrs. Howe iss very kind, and she will be coming to help you with
+your dresses, Flora, for we will be wanting you to look well this
+day, and here iss some small thing to keep you warm," and Lachlan
+produced with unspeakable pride a jacket lined with flannel and
+trimmed with fur.
+
+So her father and Marget dressed Flora for the kirk, and they went
+together down the path on which the light had shone that night of
+her return.
+
+There were only two dog-carts in the Free Kirk Session, and Burnbrae
+was waiting with his for Flora at the foot of the hill.
+
+"I bid ye welcome, Flora, in the name o' oor kirk. It's a gled day
+for your father, and for us a' tae see you back again and strong.
+And noo ye 'ill just get up aside me in the front, and Mistress Hoo
+'ill hap ye round, for we maunna let ye come tae ony ill the first
+day yir oot, or we 'ill never hear the end o't." And so the honest
+man went on, for he was as near the breaking as Drumtochty nature
+allowed.
+
+"A' body's pleased," said Marget to Lachlan as they sat on the back
+seat and caught the faces of the people. "This is the first time I
+have seen the fifteenth of Luke in Drumtochty. It's a bonnie sicht,
+and a'm thinkin' it's still bonnier in the presence o' the angels."
+
+"Flora Cammil's in the kirk the day," and the precentor looked at
+Carmichael with expectation. "The fouk are terrible taen up wi'
+Lachlan and her."
+
+"What do you think of the hundred and third Psalm, Robert? It would
+go well this morning."
+
+"The verra word that was on my lips, and Lachlan 'ill be lookin' for
+Coleshill."
+
+Lachlan had put Flora in his old place next the wall (he would not
+need it again, having retired from the office of inquisitor), and
+sat close beside her, with great contentment on his face. The
+manners of Drumtochty were perfect, and no one turned his head by
+one inch; but Marget Howe, sitting behind in Burnbrae's pew, saw
+Flora's hand go out to Lachlan's as the people sang:
+
+  "All thine iniquities who doth
+     Most graciously forgive,
+   Who thy diseases all and pains
+     Doth heal and thee relieve."
+
+The Session met that week, and a young girl broke down utterly in
+her examination for the Sacrament, so that not even Burnbrae could
+get a correct answer.
+
+She rose in great confusion and sorrow.
+
+"A' see it wudna be fit for the like o' me tae gae forrit, but a'
+had set ma hert on't; it wes the last thing He askit o' His
+freends," and she left before any one could bid her stay.
+
+"Moderator," said Lachlan, "it iss a great joy for me to move that
+Mary Macfarlane get her token, and I will be wishing that we all had
+her warrant, oh yes, for there iss no warrant like love. And there
+iss something that I must be asking of the elders, and it iss to
+forgive me for my pride in this Session. I wass thinking that I knew
+more than any man in Drumtochty, and wass judging God's people. But
+He hass had mercy upon Simon the Pharisee, and you hef all been been
+very good to me and Flora.... The Scripture hass been fulfilled, 'So
+the last shall be first, and the first last.'"
+
+Then the minister asked Burnbrae to pray, and the Spirit descended
+on that good man, of simple heart:
+
+"Almichty Father, we are a' Thy puir and sinfu' bairns, wha wearied
+o' hame and gaed awa' intae the far country. Forgive us, for we
+didna ken what we were leavin' or the sair hert we gied oor Father.
+It wes weary wark tae live wi' oor sins, but we wud never hev come
+back had it no been for oor Elder Brither. He cam' a long road tae
+find us, and a sore travail He had afore He set us free. He's been a
+gude Brither tae us, and we've been a heavy chairge tae Him. May He
+keep a firm haud o' us, and guide us in the richt road, and bring us
+back gin we wander, and tell us a' we need tae know till the
+gloamin' come. Gither us in then, we pray Thee, and a' we luve, no a
+bairn missin', and may we sit doon for ever in oor ain Father's
+House. Amen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Burnbrae said Amen, Carmichael opened his eyes, and had a vision
+which will remain with him until the day break and the shadows flee
+away.
+
+The six elders--three small farmers, a tailor, a stonemason, and a
+shepherd--were standing beneath the lamp, and the light fell like a
+halo on their bent heads. That poor little vestry had disappeared,
+and this present world was forgotten. The sons of God had come into
+their heritage, "for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
+things which are not seen are eternal."
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+Speech in Drumtochty distilled slowly, drop by drop, and the faces
+of our men were carved in stone. Visitors, without discernment, used
+to pity our dulness and lay themselves out for missionary work.
+Before their month was over they spoke bitterly of us, as if we had
+deceived them, and departed with a grudge in their hearts. When
+Hillocks scandalised the Glen by letting his house and living in the
+bothie--through sheer greed of money--it was taken by a fussy little
+man from the South, whose control over the letter "h" was uncertain,
+but whose self-confidence bordered on the miraculous. As a deacon of
+the Social Religionists,--a new denomination, which had made an 'it
+with Sunday Entertainments,--and Chairman of the Amalgamated Sons of
+Rest,--a society of persons with conscientious objections to work
+between meals--he was horrified at the primeval simplicity of the
+Glen, where no meeting of protest had been held in the memory of
+living man, and the ministers preached from the Bible. It was
+understood that he was to do his best for us, and there was
+curiosity in the kirkyard.
+
+"Whatna like man is that English veesitor ye've got, Hillocks? a'
+hear he's fleein' ower the Glen, yammerin' and haverin' like a
+starlin'."
+
+"He's a gabby (talkative) body, Drumsheugh, there's nae doot o'
+that, but terrible ignorant.
+
+"Says he tae me nae later than yesterday, 'That's a fine field o'
+barley ye've there, Maister Harris,' an' as sure as deith a' didna
+ken whaur tae luik, for it was a puckle aits."
+
+"Keep's a'," said Whinnie; "he's been awfu' negleckit when he wes a
+bairn, or maybe there's a want in the puir cratur."
+
+Next Sabbath Mr. Urijah Hopps appeared in person among the fathers--who
+looked at each other over his head--and enlightened them on supply and
+demand, the Game Laws, the production of cabbages for towns, the
+iniquity of an Established Church, and the bad metre of the Psalms of
+David.
+
+"You must 'ave henterprise, or it's hall hup with you farmers."
+
+"Ay, ay," responded Drumsheugh, after a long pause, and then every
+man concentrated his attention on the belfry of the kirk.
+
+"Is there onything ava' in the body, think ye, Domsie," as Mr. Hopps
+bustled into kirk, "or is't a' wind?"
+
+"Three wechtfu's o' naething, Drumsheugh; a' peety the puir man if
+Jamie Soutar gets a haud o' him."
+
+Jamie was the cynic of the Glen--who had pricked many a wind bag--and
+there was a general feeling that his meeting with Mr. Hopps would not
+be devoid of interest. When he showed himself anxious to learn next
+Sabbath, any man outside Drumtochty might have been deceived, for
+Jamie could withdraw every sign of intelligence from his face, as
+when shutters close upon a shop window. Our visitor fell at once
+into the trap, and made things plain to the meanest capacity, until
+Jamie elicited from the guileless Southron that he had never heard
+of the Act of Union; that Adam Smith was a new book he hoped to buy;
+that he did not know the difference between an Arminian and a Calvinist,
+and that he supposed the Confession of Faith was invented in Edinburgh.
+This in the briefest space of time, and by way of information to
+Drumtochty. James was making for general literature, and had still
+agriculture in reserve, when Drumsheugh intervened in the humanity of
+his heart.
+
+"A' dinna like tae interrupt yir conversation, Maister Hopps, but
+it's no verra safe for ye tae be stannin' here sae lang. Oor air hes
+a bit nip in't, and is mair searchin' than doon Sooth. Jamie 'ill be
+speirin' a' mornin' gin ye 'ill answer him, but a'm thinkin' ye'ill
+be warmer in the kirk."
+
+And Drumsheugh escorted Mr. Hopps to cover, who began to suspect
+that he had been turned inside out, and found wanting.
+
+Drumtochty had listened with huge delight, but without a trace of
+expression, and, on Mr. Hopps reaching shelter, three boxes were
+offered Jamie.
+
+The group was still lost in admiration when Drumsheugh returned from
+his errand of mercy.
+
+"Sall, ye've dune the job this time. Jamie. Ye're an awfu' creetic.
+Yon man 'ill keep a quiet cheep till he gets Sooth. It passes me hoo
+a body wi' sae little in him hes the face tae open his mooth."
+
+"Ye did it weel, Jamie," Domsie added, "a clean furrow frae end tae
+end."
+
+"Toots, fouk, yir makin' ower muckle o' it. It wes licht grund, no
+worth puttin' in a ploo."
+
+Mr. Hopps explained to me, before leaving, that he had been much
+pleased with the scenery of our Glen, but disappointed in the
+people.
+
+"They may not be hignorant," said the little man doubtfully, "but no
+man could call them haffable."
+
+It flashed on me for the first time that perhaps there may have been
+the faintest want of geniality in the Drumtochty manner, but it was
+simply the reticence of a subtle and conscientious people. Intellect
+with us had been brought to so fine an edge by the Shorter Catechism
+that it could detect endless distinctions, and was ever on the watch
+against inaccuracy. Farmers who could state the esoteric doctrine of
+"spiritual independence" between the stilts of the plough, and talked
+familiarly of "co-ordinate jurisdiction with mutual subordination,"
+were not likely to fall into the vice of generalisation. When James
+Soutar was in good fettle, he could trace the whole history of Scottish
+secession from the beginning, winding his way through the maze of
+Original Seceders and Cameronians, Burghers and Anti-Burghers--there
+were days when he would include the Glassites,--with unfaltering step;
+but this was considered a feat even in Drumtochty, and it was admitted
+that Jamie had "a gift o' discreemination." We all had the gift in
+measure, and dared not therefore allow ourselves the expansive language
+of the South. What right had any human being to fling about superlative
+adjectives, seeing what a big place the world is, and how little we
+know? Purple adjectives would have been as much out of place in our
+conversation as a bird of paradise among our muirfowl.
+
+Mr. Hopps was so inspired by one of our sunsets--to his credit let
+that be told--that he tried to drive Jamie into extravagance.
+
+"No bad! I call it glorious, and if it hisn't, then I'd like to know
+what his."
+
+"Man," replied Soutar austerely, "ye 'ill surely keep ae word for
+the twenty-first o' Reevelation."
+
+Had any native used "magnificent," there would have been an uneasy
+feeling in the Glen; the man must be suffering from wind in the
+head, and might upset the rotation of crops, sowing his young grass
+after potatoes, or replacing turnip with beetroot. But nothing of
+that sort happened in my time; we kept ourselves well in hand. It
+rained in torrents elsewhere, with us it only "threatened tae be
+weet"--some provision had to be made for the deluge. Strangers, in
+the pride of health, described themselves as "fit for anything," but
+Hillocks, who died at ninety-two, and never had an hour's illness,
+did not venture, in his prime, beyond "Gaein' aboot, a'm thankfu' to
+say, gaein' aboot."
+
+When one was seriously ill, he was said to be "gey an' sober," and
+no one died in Drumtochty--"he slippit awa."
+
+Hell and heaven were pulpit words; in private life we spoke of "the
+ill place" and "oor lang hame."
+
+When the corn sprouted in the stooks one late wet harvest, and
+Burnbrae lost half his capital, he only said, "It's no lichtsome,"
+and no congratulations on a good harvest ever extracted more from
+Drumsheugh than "A' daurna complain."
+
+Drumsheugh might be led beyond bounds in reviewing a certain potato
+transaction, but, as a rule, he was a master of measured speech. After
+the privilege of much intercourse with that excellent man, I was able
+to draw up his table of equivalents for the three degrees of wickedness.
+When there was just a suspicion of trickiness--neglecting the paling
+between your cattle and your neighbour's clover field--"He's no juist
+the man for an elder." If it deepened into deceit--running a "greasy"
+horse for an hour before selling--"He wud be the better o' anither
+dip." And in the case of downright fraud--finding out what a man had
+offered for his farm and taking it over his head--the offender was "an
+ill gettit wratch." The two latter phrases were dark with theology,
+and even the positive degree of condemnation had an ecclesiastical
+flavour.
+
+When Drumsheugh approved any one, he was content to say, "He micht
+be waur," a position beyond argument. On occasion he ventured upon
+bolder assertions: "There's nae mischief in Domsie;" and once I
+heard him in a white heat of enthusiasm pronounce Dr. Davidson, our
+parish minister, "A graund man ony wy ye tak him." But he seemed
+ashamed after this outburst, and "shooed" the crows off the corn
+with needless vigour.
+
+No Drumtochty man would commit himself to a positive statement on
+any subject if he could find a way of escape, not because his mind
+was confused, but because he was usually in despair for an accurate
+expression. It was told for years in the Glen, with much relish and
+almost funereal solemnity, how a Drumtochty witness had held his own
+in an ecclesiastical court.
+
+"You are beadle in the parish of Pitscouric," began the advocate
+with a light heart, not knowing the witness's birthplace.
+
+"It's a fac'," after a long pause and a careful review of the whole
+situation.
+
+"You remember that Sabbath when the minister of Netheraird
+preached."
+
+"Weel, a'll admit that," making a concession to justice.
+
+"Did ye see him in the vestry?"
+
+"A' canna deny it."
+
+"Was he intoxicated?"
+
+The crudeness of this question took away Drumtochty's breath, and
+suggested that something must have been left out in the creation of
+that advocate. Our men were not bigoted abstainers, but I never
+heard any word so coarse and elementary as intoxicated used in
+Drumtochty. Conversation touched this kind of circumstance with
+delicacy and caution, for we keenly realised the limitations of
+human knowledge.
+
+"He hed his mornin'," served all ordinary purposes, and in cases of
+emergency, such as Muirtown market:
+
+"Ye cud see he hed been tastin'."
+
+When an advocate forgot himself so far as to say intoxicated, a
+Drumtochty man might be excused for being upset.
+
+"Losh, man," when he had recovered, "hoo cud ony richt-thinkin' man
+sweer tae sic an awfu' word? Na, na, a' daurna use that kin' o'
+langidge; it's no cannie."
+
+The advocate tried again, a humbler, wiser man.
+
+"Was there a smell of drink on him?"
+
+"Noo, since ye press me, a'll juist tell ye the hale truth; it wes
+doonricht stupid o' me, but, as sure as a'm livin', a' clean forgot
+tae try him."
+
+Then the chastened counsel gathered himself up for his last effort.
+
+"Will you answer one question, sir? you are on your oath. Did you
+see anything unusual in Mr. MacOmish's walk? Did he stagger?"
+
+"Na," when he had spent two minutes in recalling the scene. "Na, I
+cudna say stagger, but he micht gie a bit trimmil."
+
+"We are coming to the truth now; what did you consider the cause of
+the trimmiling, as you call it?" and the innocent young advocate
+looked round in triumph.
+
+"Weel," replied Drumtochty, making a clean breast of it, "since ye
+maun hae it, a' heard that he wes a very learned man, and it cam
+intae ma mind that the Hebrew, which, a'm telt, is a very contrairy
+langidge, hed gaen doon and settled in his legs."
+
+The parish of Netheraird was declared vacant, but it was understood
+that the beadle of Pitscourie had not contributed to this decision.
+
+His own parish followed the trial with intense interest, and were
+much pleased with Andra's appearance.
+
+"Sall," said Hillocks, "Andra has mair gumption than ye wud think,
+and yon advocat didna mak muckle o' him. Na, na, Andra wesna brocht
+up in the Glen for naethin'. Maister MacOmish may hae taen his gless
+atween the Hebrew and the Greek, and it's no verra suitable for a
+minister, but that's anither thing frae bein' intoxicat."
+
+"Keep's a', if ye were tae pit me in the box this meenut, a' cudna
+sweer a hed ever seen a man intoxicat in ma life, except a puir body
+o' an English bag-man at Muirtown Station. A' doot he hed bin
+meddlin' wi' speerits, and they were wheelin' him tae his kerridge
+in a luggage barrow. It wes a fearsome sicht, and eneugh tae keep
+ony man frae speakin' aboot intoxicat in yon louse wy."
+
+Archie Moncur fought the drinking customs of the Glen night and day
+with moderate success, and one winter's night he gave me a study in
+his subject which, after the lapse of years, I still think admirable
+for its reserve power and Dantesque conclusion.
+
+"They a' begin in a sma' wy," explained Archie, almost hidden in the
+depths of my reading chair, and emphasising his points with a gentle
+motion of his right hand; "naethin' tae mention at first, juist a gless
+at an orra time--a beerial or a merridge--and maybe New Year. That's
+the first stage; they ca' that moderation. Aifter a whilie they tak a
+mornin' wi' a freend, and syne a gless at the public-hoose in the
+evenin', and they treat ane anither on market days. That's the second
+stage; that's 'tastin'.' Then they need it reg'lar every day, nicht an'
+mornin', and they'll sit on at nicht till they're turned oot. They
+'ill fecht ower the Confession noo, and laist Sabbath's sermon, in
+the Kildrummie train, till it's clean reediklus. That's drammin', and
+when they've hed a year or twa at that they hae their first spatie
+(spate is a river flood), and that gies them a bit fricht. But aff
+they set again, and then comes anither spatie, and the doctor hes tae
+bring them roond. They ca' (drive) cannie for a year or sae, but the
+feein' market puts the feenishin' titch. They slip aff sudden in the
+end, and then they juist gang plunk--ay," said Archie in a tone of
+gentle meditation, looking, as it were, over the edge, "juist plunk."
+
+Nothing ever affected my imagination more powerfully than the swift
+surprise and gruesome suggestion of that "plunk."
+
+But the literary credit of Drumtochty rested on a broad basis, and
+no one could live with us without having his speech braced for life.
+You felt equal to any emergency, and were always able to express
+your mind with some degree of accuracy, which is one of the luxuries
+of life. There is, for instance, a type of idler who exasperates one
+to the point of assault, and whom one hungers to describe after a
+becoming manner. He was rare in the cold air of the North, but we
+had produced one specimen, and it was my luck to be present when he
+came back from a distant colony, and Jamie Soutar welcomed him in
+the kirkyard.
+
+"Weel, Chairlie," and Jamie examined the well-dressed prodigal from
+top to toe, "this is a prood moment for Drumtochty, and an awfu'
+relief tae ken yir safe. Man, ye hevna wanted meat nor claithes; a'
+tak it rael neeburly o' ye tae speak ava wi' us auld-fashioned fouk.
+
+"Ye needna look soor nor cock yir nose in the air, for you an' me
+are auld freends, and yir puir granny wes na mair anxious aboot ye
+than a' wes.
+
+"A'm feared that laddie o' Bell's 'ill kill himsel' oot in Ameriky'
+were ma verra words tae Hillocks here; 'he 'ill be slavin' his flesh
+aff his banes tae mak a fortune and keep her comfortable'
+
+"It was a rael satisfaction tae read yir letter frae the backwoods--or
+was't a public-hoose in New York? ma memory's no what it used to
+be--tellin' hoo ye were aye thinkin' o' yer auld granny, and wantin'
+tae come hame and be a comfort tae her if she wud send ye out twenty
+pund.
+
+"The bit that affeckit me maist wes the text frae the Prodigal Son--it
+cam in sae natural. Mony a broken hert hes that story bund up, as we
+ken weel in this Glen; but it's dune a feck o' mischief tae--that gude
+word o' the Maister. Half the wastrels in the warld pay their passage
+hame wi' that Parable, and get a bran new outfit for anither start in
+the far country.
+
+"Noo dinna turn red, Chairlie, for the neeburs ken ye were tae work
+yir wy hame hed it no been for yir health. But there's a pack of
+rascals 'ill sorn on their father as lang as he's livin', and they
+'ill stairve a weedowed mither, and they 'ill tak a sister's wages,
+and if they canna get ony better a dune body o' eighty 'ill serve
+them.
+
+"Man, Chairlie, if a' hed ma wull wi' thae wawfies, I wud ship them
+aff tae a desert island, wi' ae sack o' seed potatoes and anither o'
+seed corn, and let them work or dee. A' ken yir wi' me there, for ye
+aye hed an independent spirit, and wesna feared tae bend yir back.
+
+"Noo, if a' cam across ane o' thae meeserable objects in Drumtochty,
+div ye ken the advice I wud gie him?
+
+"A wud tell the daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch o'
+a cratur tae watch for the first spate and droon himsel' in the
+Tochty."
+
+"What's he aff through the graves for in sic a hurry?" and Jamie
+followed Charlie's retreating figure with a glance of admirable
+amazement; "thae's no very gude mainners he's learned in Americky."
+
+"Thank ye, Jeemes, thank ye; we're a' obleeged tae ye," said
+Drumsheugh. "A' wes ettlin' tae lay ma hands on the whup-ma-denty
+(fop) masel, but ma certes, he's hed his kail het this mornin'. Div
+ye think he 'ill tak yir advice?"
+
+"Nae fear o' him; thae neer-dae-weels haena the spunk; but a'm
+expeckin' he 'ill flee the pairish."
+
+Which he did. Had you called him indolent or useless he had smiled,
+but "daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch," drew blood
+at every stroke, like a Russian knout.
+
+We had tender words also, that still bring the tears to my eyes, and
+chief among them was "couthy." What did it mean? It meant a letter
+to some tired townsman, written in homely Scotch, and bidding him
+come to get new life from the Drumtochty air; and the grip of an
+honest hand on the Kildrummie platform whose warmth lasted till you
+reached the Glen; and another welcome at the garden-gate that
+mingled with the scent of honeysuckle, and moss-roses, and thyme,
+and carnations; and the best of everything that could be given you;
+and motherly nursing in illness, with skilly remedies of the olden
+time; and wise, cheery talk that spake no ill of man or God; and
+loud reproaches if you proposed to leave under a month or two; and
+absolute conditions that you must return; and a load of country
+dainties for a bachelor's bare commons; and far more, that cannot be
+put into words, of hospitality, and kindness, and quietness, and
+restfulness, and loyal friendship of hearts now turned to dust in
+the old kirkyard.
+
+But the best of all our words were kept for spiritual things, and
+the description of a godly man. We did not speak of the "higher
+life," nor of a "beautiful Christian," for this way of putting it
+would not have been in keeping with the genius of Drumtochty.
+Religion there was very lowly and modest--an inward walk with God.
+No man boasted of himself, none told the secrets of the soul. But
+the Glen took notice of its saints, and did them silent reverence,
+which they themselves never knew. Jamie Soutar had a wicked tongue,
+and, at a time, it played round Archie's temperance schemes, but
+when that good man's back was turned Jamie was the first to do him
+justice.
+
+"It wud set us better if we did as muckle gude as Archie; he's a
+richt livin' man and weel prepared."
+
+Our choicest tribute was paid by general consent to Burnbrae, and it
+may be partiality, but it sounds to me the deepest in religious
+speech. Every cottage, strangers must understand, had at least two
+rooms--the kitchen where the work was done, that we called the
+"But," and there all kinds of people came; and the inner chamber
+which held the household treasures, that we called the "Ben," and
+there none but a few honoured visitors had entrance. So we imagined
+an outer court of the religious life where most of us made our home,
+and a secret place where only God's nearest friends could enter, and
+it was said of Burnbrae, "He's far ben." His neighbours had watched
+him, for a generation and more, buying and selling, ploughing and
+reaping, going out and in the common ways of a farmer's life, and
+had not missed the glory of the soul. The cynic of Drumtochty summed
+up his character: "There's a puckle gude fouk in the pairish, and
+ane or twa o' the ither kind, and the maist o' us are half and
+between," said Jamie Soutar, "but there's ae thing ye may be sure
+o', Burnbrae is 'far ben.'"
+
+
+
+
+A WISE WOMAN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+A Drumtochty man, standing six feet three in his boots, sat himself
+down one day in the study of a West-end minister, and gazed before
+him with the countenance of a sphinx.
+
+The sight struck awe into the townsman's heart, and the power of
+speech was paralysed within him.
+
+"A'm frae Drumtochty," began a deep solemn voice. "Ye 'ill hae heard
+of Drumtochty, of coorse. A've jined the polis; the pay is no that
+bad, and the work is naethin' tae an able-bodied man."
+
+When these particulars had been digested by the audience--
+
+"It's a crooded place London, and the fouks aye in a tiravie
+(commotion), rinnin' here an' rinnin' there, and the maist feck o'
+them dinna ken whar they're gaein.
+
+"It's officer this and officer that frae mornin' till nicht. It's
+peetifu' tae see the helplessness o' the bodies in their ain toon.
+And they're freevolous," continued the figure, refreshing itself
+with a reminiscence.
+
+"It wes this verra mornin' that a man askit me hoo tae get tae the
+Strand.
+
+"'Haud on,' I says, 'till ye come tae a cross street, and dinna gang
+doon it, and when ye see anither pass it, but whup roond the third,
+and yir nose 'ill bring ye tae the Strand.'
+
+"He was a shachlin bit cratur, and he lookit up at me.
+
+"'Where were you born, officer?' in his clippit English tongue.
+
+"'Drumtochty,' a' said, 'an' we hev juist ae man as sma' as you in
+the hale Glen.'
+
+"He gied awa' lauchin' like tae split his sides, an' the fac' is
+there's no ane o' them asks me a question but he lauchs. They're a
+licht-headed fouk, and no sair educat. But we maunna boast; they
+hevna hed oor advantages."
+
+The minister made a brave effort to assert himself.
+
+"Is there anything I can do?" but the figure simply waved its hand
+and resumed:
+
+"A'm comin' tae that, but a' thocht ye wud be wantin' ma opeenion o'
+London.
+
+"Weel, ye see, the first thing a' did, of coorse, after settlin'
+doon, was tae gae roond the kirks and hear what kin' o' ministers
+they hae up here. A've been in saxteen kirks the last three months,
+an' a' wud hae been in mair had it no bin for ma oors.
+
+"Ay, ay, a' ken ye 'ill be wantin' ma judgment," interpreting a movement
+in the chair, "an' ye 'ill hae it. Some wes puir stuff--plenty o' water
+and little meal--and some wesna sae bad for England. But ye 'ill be
+pleased to know," here the figure relaxed and beamed on the anxious
+minister, "that a'm rael weel satisfied wi' yersel', and a'm thinkin'
+o' sittin' under ye.
+
+"Man," were Drumtochty's last words, "a' wish Elspeth Macfadyen cud
+hear ye, her 'at prees (tastes) the sermons in oor Glen; a' believe
+she wud pass ye, an' if ye got a certeeficat frae Elspeth, ye wud be
+a prood man."
+
+Drumtochty read widely--Soutar was soaked in Carlyle, and Marget
+Howe knew her "In Memoriam" by heart--but our intellectual life
+centred on the weekly sermon. Men thought about Sabbath as they
+followed the plough in our caller air, and braced themselves for an
+effort at the giving out of the text. The hearer had his snuff and
+selected his attitude, and from that moment to the close he never
+moved nor took his eyes off the preacher. There was a tradition that
+one of the Disruption fathers had preached in the Free Kirk for one
+hour and fifty minutes on the bulwarks of Zion, and had left the
+impression that he was only playing round the outskirts of his
+subject. No preacher with anything to say could complain of
+Drumtochty, for he got a patient, honest, critical hearing from
+beginning to end. If a preacher were slightly equipped, the audience
+may have been trying. Well-meaning evangelists who came with what
+they called "a simple Gospel address," and were accustomed to have
+their warmer passages punctuated with rounds of spiritual applause
+in the shape of smiles and nods, lost heart in face of that judicial
+front, and afterwards described Drumtochty in the religious papers
+as "dead." It was as well that these good men walked in a vain show,
+for, as a matter of fact, their hearers were painfully alive.
+
+"Whar did yon wakely body come frae, Burnbrae? it wes licht wark the
+day. There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes
+eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories."
+
+"He lives aboot England, a'm telt, an' dis a feck o' gude in his ain
+place. He hesna muckle in his head, a'll alloo that, Netherton, but
+he's an earnest bit cratur."
+
+"Ou ay, and fu' o' self-conceit. Did ye hear hoo often he said 'I'?
+a' got as far as saxty-three, and then a' lost coont. But a' keepit
+'dear,' it cam tae the hundred neat.
+
+"'Weel?' a' says tae Elspeth Macfadyen. A' kent she wud hae his
+measure.
+
+"'Gruel, Netherton, juist gruel, and eneuch tae scunner (disgust) ye
+wi' sugar.'"
+
+It was the birthright of every native of the parish to be a critic, and
+certain were allowed to be experts in special departments--Lachlan
+Campbell in doctrine and Jamie Soutar in logic--but as an old round
+practitioner Mrs. Macfadyen had a solitary reputation. It rested on
+a long series of unreversed judgments, with felicitous strokes of
+description that passed into the literary capital of the Glen. One
+felt it was genius, and could only note contributing circumstances--an
+eye that took in the preacher from the crown of his head to the sole
+of his foot; an almost uncannie insight into character; the instinct
+to seize on every scrap of evidence; a memory that was simply an
+automatic register; an unfailing sense of fitness; and an absolute
+impartiality regarding subject.
+
+It goes without saying that Mrs. Macfadyen did not take nervous
+little notes during the sermon--all writing on Sabbath, in kirk or
+outside, was strictly forbidden in Drumtochty--or mark her Bible, or
+practise any other profane device of feeble-minded hearers. It did
+not matter how elaborate or how incoherent a sermon might be, it
+could not confuse our critic.
+
+When John Peddie of Muirtown, who always approached two hours, and
+usually had to leave out the last head, took time at the Drumtochty
+Fast, and gave, at full length, his famous discourse on the total
+depravity of the human race, from the text, "Arise, shine, for thy
+light is come," it may be admitted that the Glen wavered in its
+confidence. Human nature has limitations, and failure would have
+been no discredit to Elspeth.
+
+"They were sayin' at the Presbytery," Burnbrae reported, "that it
+hes mair than seeventy heads, coontin' pints, of coorse, and a' can
+weel believe it. Na, na, it's no tae be expeckit that Elspeth cud
+gie them a' aifter ae hearin'."
+
+Jamie Souter looked in to set his mind at rest, and Elspeth went at
+once to work.
+
+"Sit doon, Jamie, for it canna be dune in a meenut."
+
+It took twenty-three minutes exactly, for Jamie watched the clock.
+
+"That's the laist, makin' seeventy-four, and ye may depend on every
+ane but that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it wes the
+'beginnin' o' faith' or 'the origin,' a' canna be sure, for he
+cleared his throat at the time."
+
+Peter Bruce stood helpless at the Junction next Friday--Drumtochty
+was celebrating Elspeth--and the achievement established her for
+life.
+
+Probationers who preached in the vacancy had heard rumours, and
+tried to identify their judge, with the disconcerting result that
+they addressed their floweriest passages to Mistress Stirton, who
+was the stupidest woman in the Free Kirk, and had once stuck in the
+"chief end of man." They never suspected the sonsy motherly woman,
+two pews behind Donald Menzies, with her face of demure interest and
+general air of country simplicity. It was as well for the
+probationers that they had not caught the glint of those black beady
+eyes.
+
+"It's curious," Mrs. Macfadyen remarked to me one day, "hoo the
+pulpit fashions change, juist like weemen's bonnets.
+
+"Noo a' mind when auld Doctor Ferintosh, him 'at wrote 'Judas
+Iscariot the first Residuary,' would stand twa meenutes facing the
+fouk, and no sit doon till he hed his snuff.
+
+"But thae young birkies gie oot 'at they see naebody comin' in, an'
+cover their face wi' ae hand sae solemn, that if ye didna catch them
+keekin' through their fingers tae see what like the kirk is, ye wud
+think they were prayin'."
+
+"There's not much escapes you," I dared to say, and although the
+excellent woman was not accessible to gross flattery, she seemed
+pleased.
+
+"A'm thankfu' that a' can see withoot lookin'; an' a'll wager nae
+man ever read his sermon in Drumtochty Kirk, an' a' didna find him
+oot. Noo, there's the new minister o' Netheraird, he writes his
+sermon on ae side o' ten sheets o' paper, an' he's that carried awa'
+at the end o' ilka page that he disna ken what he's daein', an' the
+sleeve o' his goon slips the sheet across tae the ither side o' the
+Bible.
+
+"But Doctor Ferintosh wes cleverer, sall it near beat me tae detect
+him," and Elspeth paused to enjoy the pulpit ruse. "It cam tae me
+sudden ae Sacrament Monday, hoo dis he aye turn up twal texts,
+naither mair nor less, and that set me thinkin'. Then a' noticed
+that he left the Bible open at the place till anither text was due,
+an' I wunnered a'd been sae slow. It wes this wy: he askit the
+beadle for a gless o' water in the vestry, and slippit his sermon in
+atween the leaves in sae mony bits. A've wished for a gallery at a
+time, but there's mair credit in findin' it oot below--ay, an'
+pleesure tae; a' never wearied in kirk in ma life."
+
+Mrs. Macfadyen did not appreciate prodigal quotations of Scriptures,
+and had her suspicions of this practice.
+
+"Tak the minister o' Pitscourie noo; he's fair fozzy wi' trokin' in
+his gairden an' feedin' pigs, and hesna studied a sermon for thirty
+year.
+
+"Sae what dis he dae, think ye? He havers for a whilie on the errors
+o' the day, and syne he says, 'That's what man says, but what says
+the Apostle Paul? We shall see what the Apostle Paul says.' He puts
+on his glasses, and turns up the passage, and reads maybe ten
+verses, and then he's aff on the jundy (trot) again. When a man hes
+naethin' tae say he's aye lang, and a've seen him gie half an oor o'
+passages, and anither half oor o' havers.
+
+"'He's a Bible preacher, at any rate,' says Burnbrae tae me laist
+Fast, for, honest man, he hes aye some gude word for a body.
+
+"'It's ae thing,' I said to him, 'tae feed a calf wi' milk, and
+anither tae gie it the empty cogie tae lick.'
+
+"It's curious, but a've noticed that when a Moderate gets lazy he
+preaches auld sermons, but a Free Kirk minister taks tae abusin' his
+neeburs and readin' screeds o' the Bible.
+
+"But Maister Pittendreigh hes twa sermons, at ony rate," and Elspeth
+tasted the sweets of memory with such keen relish that I begged for
+a share.
+
+"Well, ye see he's terrible prood o' his feenishes, and this is ane
+o' them:
+
+"'Heaven, ma brethren, will be far grander than the hoose o' ony
+earthly potentate, for there ye will no longer eat the flesh of
+bulls nor drink the blood o' goats, but we shall sook the juicy pear
+and scoop the loocious meelon. Amen.'
+
+"He hes nae mair sense o' humour than an owl, and a' aye haud that a
+man withoot humour sudna be allowed intae a poopit.
+
+"A' hear that they have nae examination in humour at the college;
+it's an awfu' want, for it wud keep oot mony a dreich body.
+
+"But the meelon's naethin' tae the goat, that cowed a'thing, at the
+Fast tae.
+
+"If Jeems wes aboot a' daurna mention 't: he canna behave himsel'
+tae this day gin he hears 'it, though ye ken he's a douce man as
+ever lived.
+
+"It wes anither feenish, and it ran this wy:
+
+"'Noo, ma freends, a' wull no be keepin' ye ony longer, and ye 'ill
+a' gae hame tae yir ain hooses and mind yir ain business. And as
+sune as ye get hame ilka man 'ill gae tae his closet and shut the
+door, and stand for five meenutes, and ask himsel' this solemn
+question, "Am I a goat?" Amen.'
+
+"The amen near upset me masel', and a' hed tae dunge Jeems wi' ma
+elbow.
+
+"He said no a word on the wy back, but a' saw it wes barmin' in him,
+and he gied oot sudden aifter his dinner as if he had been ta'en
+unweel.
+
+"A' cam' on him in the byre, rowing in the strae like a bairn, and
+every ither row he took he wud say, 'Am I a goat?'
+
+"It wes na cannie for a man o' his wecht, besides bein' a married
+man and a kirk member, and a' gied him a hearin'.
+
+"He sobered doon, and a' never saw him dae the like since. But he
+hesna forgot, na, na; a've seen a look come ower Jeems' face in
+kirk, and a've been feared."
+
+When the Free Kirk quarrelled in their vacancy over two
+probationers, Mrs. Macfadyen summed them up with such excellent
+judgment that they were thrown over and peace restored.
+
+"There's some o' thae Muirtown drapers can busk oot their windows
+that ye canna pass withoot lookin'; there's bits o' blue and bits o'
+red, and a ribbon here an' a lace yonder.
+
+"It's a bonnie show and denty, an' no wunner the lassies stan' and
+stare.
+
+"But gae intae the shop, and peety me, there's next tae naethin';
+it's a' in the window.
+
+"Noo, that's Maister Popinjay, as neat an' fikey a little mannie as
+ever a' saw in a black goon.
+
+"His bit sermon wes six poems--five a' hed heard afore--four
+anecdotes--three aboot himsel' and ain aboot a lord--twa burnies, ae
+floo'r gairden, and a snowstorm, wi' the text thirteen times and
+'beloved' twal; that was a'; a takin' window, and Netherton's
+lassies cudna sleep thinkin' o' him.
+
+"There's ither shopmen in Muirtown that fair scunner ye wi' their
+windows--they're that ill set out--and inside there's sic a wrale o'
+stuff that the man canna get what ye want; he's clean smoored wi'
+his ain goods.
+
+"It's a graund shop for the auld fouk that hae plenty o' time and
+can turn ower the things by the 'oor. Ye 'ill no get a young body
+inside the door.
+
+"That's Maister Auchtermuchty; he hes mair material than he kens hoo
+tae handle, and naebody, hearin' him, can mak head or tail o' his
+sermon.
+
+"Ye get a rive at the Covenants ae meenute, and a mouthfu' o'
+justification the next. Yir nae suner wi' the Patriarchs than yir
+whuppit aff tae the Apostles.
+
+"It's rich feedin', nae doot, but sair mixed, an' no verra tasty."
+
+So the old and young compromised, and chose Carmichael.
+
+Elspeth was candid enough on occasion, but she was not indiscreet.
+She could convey her mind delicately if need be, and was a mistress
+of subtle suggestion.
+
+When Netherton's nephew preached the missionary sermon--he was a
+stout young man with a volcanic voice--Mrs. Macfadyen could not
+shirk her duty, but she gave her judgment with care.
+
+"He's a fine lad, and 'ill be sure to get a kirk; he's been weel
+brocht up, and comes o' decent fouk.
+
+"His doctrine soonds richt, and he 'ill no gang aff the track. Ye
+canna ca' him bashfu', and he's sure to be heard."
+
+Her audience still waited, and not in vain.
+
+"But the Lord hes nae pleesure in the legs o' a man," and every one
+felt that the last word had been said on Netherton's nephew.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+Carmichael used to lament bitterly that he had lost his Gaelic, and
+laboured plans of compensation for our Celts, who were understood to
+worship in English at an immense reduction of profit. One spring he
+intercepted a Highland minister, who was returning from his winter's
+raid on Glasgow with great spoil, and arranged an evening service,
+which might carry Lachlan Campbell back to the golden days of
+Auchindarroch. Mr. Dugald Mactavish was himself much impressed with
+the opportunity of refreshing his exiled brethren, speaking freely
+on the Saturday of the Lowlands as Babylon, and the duty of
+gathering the outcasts of Israel into one. He was weaned with
+difficulty from Gaelic, and only consented to preach in the "other
+language" on condition that he should not be restricted in time. His
+soul had been much hampered in West End churches, where he had to
+appeal for his new stove under the first head, lest he should go
+empty away, and it was natural for one escaping from such bondage to
+put a generous interpretation on Carmichael's concession. So Maister
+Dugald continued unto the setting of the sun. His discourse was so
+rich and varied that Peddie of Muirtown on original sin was not to
+be compared with it in breadth of treatment, and Mrs. Macfadyen
+confessed frankly that she gave up in despair before the preacher
+had fairly entered on his second hour. Besides the encounter of the
+preacher with Mr. Urijah Hopps, which carried the Glen by storm, and
+kept the name of Mactavish green with us for a generation.
+
+Rumours of this monumental pulpit effort, with its stirring
+circumstances, passed from end to end of the Glen during the week,
+and Peter himself recognised that it was an occasion at the Junction
+on Friday.
+
+"Ye may as weel shut aff the steam, Jeems," Peter explained to our
+engine-driver, "an' gie them ten meenuts. It's been by ordinar' at
+Drumtochty Free Kirk laist Sabbath nicht, and Drumsheugh 'ill no
+move till he hears the end o't."
+
+And as soon as the Muirtown train had removed all strangers, that
+worthy man opened the campaign.
+
+"What kin' o' collieshangie (disturbance) is this ye've been
+carryin' on, Hillocks? it's doonricht aggravatin' that ye're no
+content pesterin' oor life oot wi' that English body in the
+kirkyaird, but ye maist needs set him up tae arglebargle wi' a
+stranger minister at the Free Kirk. They say that the puir man cud
+hardly get a word in atween you and yir lodger. Burnbrae here is
+threatenin' ye wi' the Sherra, and a' dinna wonder.
+
+"It's nae lauchin' maitter, a' can tell ye, Drumsheugh; a've never
+been sae black affrontit a' ma life. Burnbrae kens as weel as ye dae
+that a' wasna tae blame.
+
+"Ye 'ill better clear yersel at ony rate, Hillocks, for some o' the
+neeburs threep (insist) 'at it wes you, and some that it wes yir
+freend, an' there's ithers declare ye ran in compt (company) like
+twa dogs worrying sheep; it wes a bonnie like pliskie (escapade)
+onywy, and hardly fit for an Auld Kirk elder"--a sally much enjoyed
+by the audience, who knew that, after Whinnie, Hillocks was the
+doucest man in Drumtochty.
+
+"Weel, ye see it wes this wy," began Hillocks, with the air of a man
+on his trial for fire raising. "Hopps fund oot that a Hielandman wes
+tae preach in the Free Kirk, and naethin' wud sateesfy him but that
+we maun gae. A' micht hae jaloused (suspected) it wesna the sermon
+the wratch wantit, for he hed the impidence tae complain that the
+Doctor was tedious Sabbath a fortnicht when he gied us 'Ruth,'
+though I never minded 'Ruth' gae aff sae sweet a' the times a've
+heard it.
+
+"Gin a' hed imagined what the ettercap (captious creature) wes
+aifter a' wud hae seen ma feet in the fire afore they carried me tae
+the Free Kirk that nicht.
+
+"Says he tae me on the road, 'A'm told the minister will be in his
+national costume.'
+
+"'He 'ill be in his goon and bands,' says I, 'if that's what ye
+mean,' for the head o' him is fu' o' maggots, and nae man can tell
+what he wull be at next.
+
+"'Mister Soutar said that he would wear his kilt, and that it would
+be an interesting spectacle.'
+
+"'Jamie's been drawing yir leg (befooling you),' says I. 'Man,
+there's naebody wears a kilt forbye gemkeepers and tourist bodies.
+Ye 'ill better come awa hame,' and sall, if a' hed kent what wes tae
+happen, a' wud hae taken him aff below ma oxter.
+
+"It's no richt tae mak me responsible, for a' tried tae wile him awa
+tae the back o' the kirk whar naebody cud see him, but he's that
+thrawn and upsettin', if he didna gae tae the verra front seat afore
+the poopit.
+
+"'I want a good position,' says he; 'I'll see everything here;' sae
+a' left him an' gied tae Elspeth Macfadyen's seat.
+
+"'He's anxious tae hear,' she said, 'an' a'm thinkin' he 'ill get
+mair than he expecks. A' wish it wes weel ower masel, Hillocks; it
+'ill be an awfu' nicht.'
+
+"Thae Hielandmen dinna pit aff time wi' the preleeminaries, but they
+were lang eneuch tae let onybody see what kin' o' man Mactavish wes.
+
+"A gruesome carle, neeburs, wi' his hair hangin' roond his face like
+a warlock and his een blazin' oot o' his head like fire; the sicht
+o' him is sure tae sober Hopps, thinks I.
+
+"But no, there's some fouk 'ill tak nae warnin'; there he was,
+sittin' in front o' Mactavish with his thumbs in his airm holes, and
+a watch gaird spread richt across him, and ae leg cocked over the
+ither, the verra eemage of a bantam cock fleein' in the face o'
+judgment."
+
+Drumtochty had never moved during this history, and now they drew
+closer round Hillocks, on whom the mantle of speech had for once
+descended.
+
+"Mactavish lookit at the body aince, and he lookit again juist tae
+gie him fair notis, and then he broke oot in face o' the hale
+congregation:
+
+"'There's nothing in all the world so deceptive as sin, for outside
+it's like a bonnie summer day, and inside it's as black as hell.
+
+"'Now here iss this fat little man sittin' before me with his suit
+o' blue clothes so bonnie and dainty, and a watch guard as thick as
+my finger on his wame, smilin' an' smirkin', and real well contented
+with himself, but if he wass opened up what a sight it would be for
+men and angels. Oh yes, yes, it would be a fearsome sicht, and no
+man here would be able to look.'
+
+"A' tell ye, neeburs, ye micht hae heard a pin fa' tae the ground,
+and ma heart was thumping in ma briest; a' wudna come thro' the like
+o' yon again for half the pleenishin' o' Hillocks."
+
+There was not a sound at the junction save the steam escaping from
+the engine, and Hillocks resumed:
+
+"But the worst's comin'. Hopps jumps up and faces Mactavish--a'll no
+deny there is some spunk in the body.
+
+"'What right have you to speak like that to me? do you know who I
+am?'
+
+"He hed better been quiet, for he wes nae match for yon Hielandman.
+
+"Mactavish glowered at him for maybe a meenut till the puir cratur
+fell back intae his seat.
+
+"'Man,' says Mactavish, 'I do not know who you are, and I do not
+know what you are, and I shall not be asking who you are, and I am
+not caring though you be MacCallummore himsel'. You are just a
+Parable, oh yes, just a Parable.
+
+"'But if ye be convicted of secret sin ye may go out, and if there
+be anybody else whose sins have been laid bare he may go out too,
+and if nobody wants to go out, then I will be going on with the
+sermon, oh yes, for it will not do to be spending all our time on
+Parables.'
+
+"As sure as a'm stannin' here ye cudna see Hopps inside his claithes
+when Mactavish wes dune wi' him."
+
+When the train started Hillocks received the compliments of the
+third with much modesty, and added piquant details regarding the
+utter confusion of our sermon taster.
+
+"'Did ye follow?' a' speirit o' Elspeth afore a' went tae pit Hopps
+thegither.
+
+"'Cud a' follow a bumbee?' was the only word a' got frae her; a' saw
+she was beaten for aince and wes rael mad."
+
+"I'st true Elspeth scuffled wi' her feet at the laist head and gar'd
+him close?"
+
+"A'll neither deny nor affirm, Drumsheugh; but there's nae doot when
+the mune began tae shine aboot nine, and Mactavish started aff on
+the Devil, somebody scrapit aside me. It wesna Jeems; he daurna for
+his life; and it wesna me. A'll no say but it micht be Elspeth, but
+she wes sair provokit. Aifter haddin' her ain twenty years tae be
+maistered by a Hielandman."
+
+It was simply a duty of friendship to look in and express one's
+sympathy with Mrs. Macfadyen in this professional disaster. I found
+her quite willing to go over the circumstances, which were
+unexampled in her experience, and may indeed be considered a
+contribution to history.
+
+"A' wudna hae minded," explained Elspeth, settling down to
+narrative, "hoo mony heads he gied oot, no tho' he hed titched the
+hundred. A've cause tae be gratefu' for a guid memory, and a've kept
+it in fine fettle wi' sermons. My wy is tae place ilka head at the
+end o' a shelf and a' the pints aifter it in order like the plates
+there," and Mrs. Macfadyen pointed with honest pride to her wall of
+crockery, "and when the minister is at an illustration or makin' an
+appeal a' aye rin ower the rack tae see that a've a' the pints in
+their places. Maister Mactavish cud ne'er hae got the wheephand o'
+me wi' his diveesions; he's no fit to haud the can'le tae John
+Peddie. Na, na, a' wesna feared o' that when a' examined yon man
+gieing oot the Psalm, but a' didna like his een.
+
+"'He's ravelled,' a' said tae masel, 'without beginning or end; we
+'ill hae a nicht o't,' and sae we hed."
+
+I preserved a sympathetic silence till Mrs. Macfadyen felt herself
+able to proceed.
+
+"It's easy eneuch, ye see, for an auld hand tae manage ae set o'
+heads gin they come tae ten or a hundred, but it's another business
+when a man hes different sets in ae sermon. Noo hoo mony sets div ye
+think that man hed afore he wes dune?"
+
+It was vain for a mere layman to cope with the possibilities of Mr.
+Mactavish.
+
+"Fower, as a'm a leevin' woman, and that's no a'; he didna feenish
+wi' ae set an' begin wi' the next, but if he didna mix them a'
+thegither. Fower set o' heads a' in a tangle; noo ye hae some kin'
+o' idea o' what a' hed tae face." And Mrs. Macfadyen paused that I
+might take in the situation.
+
+When I expressed my conviction that even the most experienced hearer
+was helpless in such circumstances, Elspeth rallied, and gave me to
+understand that she had saved some fragments from the wreckage.
+
+"A'll juist tell ye the hale hypothic, for sic a discoorse ye may
+never hear a' the days o' yir life.
+
+"Ye ken thae Hielandmen tak their texts for the maist pairt frae the
+Auld Testament, and this was it mair or less, 'The trumpet shall be
+blown, and they shall come from Assyria and the land o' Egypt,' and
+he began by explainin' that there were twa classes in Drumtochty,
+those who were born and bred in the parish, which were oursels, and
+them 'at hed tae stay here owin' tae the mysterious dispensations o'
+Providence, which wes Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Noo this roosed ma suspicions, for it's against reason for a man
+tae be dividing intae classes till the end o' his sermon. Tak my
+word, it's no chancy when a minister begins at the tail o' his
+subject: he'll wind a queer pirn afore he's dune.
+
+"Weel, he gaed up and he gaed doon, and he aye said, 'Oh yes, yes,'
+juist like the thrashing mill at Drumsheugh scraiking and girling
+till it's fairly aff, an' by-and-by oot he comes wi' his heads.
+
+"'There are fower trumpets,' says he. 'First, a leeteral trumpet;
+second, a heestorical trumpet; third, a metaphorical trumpet;
+fourth, a speeritual trumpet.'
+
+"'I've got ye,' a' said tae masel, and settled doon to hear him on
+the first head, for fear he micht hae pints; but wull ye believe me,
+he barely mentioned leeteral till he was aff tae speeritual, and
+then back tae heestorical, an' in five meenuts he had the hale fower
+trumpets blawing thegither.
+
+"It wes maist exasperatin', and a' saw Jeems watchin' me--but that's
+naethin'.
+
+"'There be many trumpets,' says he, 'oh yes, an' it wes a good
+trumpet Zaccheus heard,' and afore a' knew where a' wes he hed
+startit again wi' fower new heads, as if he had never said trumpet.
+
+"'A big tree' he cries, 'an' a little man, oh yes, an' this is what
+we will be doin'.
+
+"'First. We shall go up the tree wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Second. We shall sit in the branches wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Third. We shall come down from the tree wi' Zaccheus; and if time
+permits,
+
+"'Fourth. We shall be going home wi' the publican.'"
+
+It seemed only just to pay a tribute at this point to the wonderful
+presence of mind Mrs. Macfadyen had shown amid unparalleled
+difficulties.
+
+"Hoot awa," she responded; the meenut ony heads cam a' knew ma
+grund: but the times atween I wes fairly lost.
+
+"A'll no deny," and our critic turned aside to general reflections,
+"that Mactavish said mony bonnie and affeckin' things frae time tae
+time, like the glimpses o' the hills ye get when the mist rolls awa,
+and he cam nearer the hert than the feck o' oor preachers; but
+certes yon confusion is mair than us low country fouk cud stand.
+
+"Juist when he wes speakin' aboot Zaccheus as nice as ye please--though
+whether he was up the tree or doon the tree a' cudna for the life o' me
+tell--he stops sudden and looks at us ower the top o' his spectacles,
+which is terrible impressive, and near dis instead o' speakin.'
+
+"We will now come to the third head of this discoorse.
+
+"'The trumpet shall be blown, for,' says he, in a kin' o' whisper,
+'there's a hint o' oppeesition here,' an' a' tell ye honestly a'
+lost hert a'thegither, for here he wes back again amang the
+trumpets, and a'll gie ma aith he never sae much as mentioned that
+head afore.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety that some men dinna ken when tae stop; they
+micht see frae the poopit; if a' saw the tears comin' tae the
+women's een, or the men glowering like wild cats for fear they sud
+brak doon, a'd say Amen as quick as Pittendreigh aifter his goat.
+
+"What possessed Maister Dugald, as Lachlan ca'd him, a'd dinna ken,
+but aboot half nine--an' he begood at six--he sat oot upon the
+trumpets again, an' when he cudna get a haud o' them, he says:
+
+"'It will be getting dark' (the mune was fairly oot), 'an' it is
+time we were considering our last head.
+
+"'We will now study Satan in all his offices and characteristics.'"
+
+"A' see they've been telling ye what happened," and confusion
+covered Mrs. Macfadyen's ingenuous countenance.
+
+"Weel, as sure's deith a' cudna help it, tae be sittin' on peens for
+mair than twa oors tryin' tae get a grup o' a man's heads, an' him
+tae play hide-and-seek wi' ye, an' then tae begin on Satan at nine
+o'clock is mair nor flesh and bluid cud endure.
+
+"A' acknowledge a' scrapit, but a' houp tae gudeness a'll never be
+tempted like yon again.
+
+"It's a judgment on me for ma pride, an' Jeems said that tae me, for
+a' boastit a' cudna be beat, but anither oor o' Mactavish wud hae
+driven me dottle (silly)."
+
+Then I understood that Mrs. Macfadyen had been humbled in the dust.
+
+
+
+
+A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+Drumtochty was accustomed to break every law of health, except
+wholesome food and fresh air, and yet had reduced the Psalmist's
+farthest limit to an average life-rate. Our men made no difference
+in their clothes for summer or winter, Drumsheugh and one or two of
+the larger farmers condescending to a topcoat on Sabbath, as a
+penalty of their position, and without regard to temperature. They
+wore their blacks at a funeral, refusing to cover them with
+anything, out of respect to the deceased, and standing longest in
+the kirkyard when the north wind was blowing across a hundred miles
+of snow. If the rain was pouring at the Junction, then Drumtochty
+stood two minutes longer through sheer native dourness till each man
+had a cascade from the tail of his coat, and hazarded the
+suggestion, halfway to Kildrummie, that it had been "a bit scrowie,"
+a "scrowie" being as far short of a "shoor" as a "shoor" fell below
+"weet."
+
+This sustained defiance of the elements provoked occasional
+judgments in the shape of a "hoast" (cough), and the head of the
+house was then exhorted by his women folk to "change his feet" if he
+had happened to walk through a burn on his way home, and was
+pestered generally with sanitary precautions. It is right to add
+that the gudeman treated such advice with contempt, regarding it as
+suitable for the effeminacy of towns, but not seriously intended for
+Drumtochty. Sandy Stewart "napped" stones on the road in his shirt
+sleeves, wet or fair, summer and winter, till he was persuaded to
+retire from active duty at eighty-five, and he spent ten years more
+in regetting his hastiness and criticising his successor. The
+ordinary course of life, with fine air and contented minds, was to
+do a full share of work till seventy, and then to look after "orra"
+jobs well into the eighties, and to "slip awa" within sight of
+ninety. Persons above ninety were understood to be acquitting
+themselves with credit, and assumed airs of authority, brushing
+aside the opinions of seventy as immature, and confirming their
+conclusions with illustrations drawn from the end of last century.
+
+When Hillocks' brother so far forgot himself as to "slip awa" at
+sixty, that worthy man was scandalized, and offered laboured
+explanations at the "beerial."
+
+"It's an awfu' business ony wy ye look at it, an' a sair trial tae
+us a'. A' never heard tell o' sic a thing in oor family afore, an'
+it's no easy accoontin' for't.
+
+"The gudewife was sayin' he wes never the same sin' a weet nicht he
+lost himsel on the muir and slept below a bush; but that's neither
+here nor there. A'm thinkin' he sappit his constitution thae twa
+years he wes grieve aboot England. That wes thirty years syne, but
+ye're never the same aifter thae foreign climates."
+
+Drumtochty listened patiently to Hillocks' apologia, but was not
+satisfied.
+
+"It's clean havers aboot the muir. Losh keep's, we've a' sleepit oot
+and never been a hair the waur.
+
+"A' admit that England micht hae dune the job; it's no cannie
+stravagin' yon wy frae place tae place, but Drums never complained
+tae me as if he hed been nippit in the Sooth."
+
+The parish had, in fact, lost confidence in Drums after his wayward
+experiment with a potato-digging machine, which turned out a
+lamentable failure, and his premature departure confirmed our vague
+impression of his character.
+
+"He's awa noo," Drumsheugh summed up, after opinion had time to
+form; "an' there were waur fouk than Drums, but there's nae doot he
+wes a wee flichty."
+
+When illness had the audacity to attack a Drumtochty man, it was
+described as a "whup," and was treated by the men with a fine
+negligence. Hillocks was sitting in the Post Office one afternoon
+when I looked in for my letters, and the right side of his face was
+blazing red. His subject of discourse was the prospects of the
+turnip "breer," but he casually explained that he was waiting for
+medical advice.
+
+"The gudewife is keepin' up a ding-dong frae mornin' till nicht
+aboot ma face, and a'm fair deaved (deafened), so a'm watchin' for
+MacLure tae get a bottle as he comes wast; yon's him noo."
+
+The doctor made his diagnosis from horseback on sight, and stated
+the result with that admirable clearness which endeared him to
+Drumtochty.
+
+"Confoond ye, Hillocks, what are ye ploiterin' aboot here for in the
+weet wi' a face like a boiled beet? Div ye no ken that ye've a titch
+o' the rose (erysipelas), and ocht tae be in the hoose? Gae hame wi'
+ye afore a' leave the bit, and send a haflin for some medicine. Ye
+donnerd idiot, are ye ettlin tae follow Drums afore yir time?" And
+the medical attendant of Drumtochty continued his invective till
+Hillocks started, and still pursued his retreating figure with
+medical directions of a simple and practical character.
+
+"A'm watchin', an' peety ye if ye pit aff time. Keep yir bed the
+mornin', and dinna show yir face in the fields till a' see ye. A'll
+gie ye a cry on Monday--sic an auld fule--but there's no ane o' them
+tae mind anither in the hale pairish."
+
+Hillocks' wife informed the kirkyaird that the doctor "gied the
+gudeman an awfu' clearin'," and that Hillocks "wes keepin' the
+hoose," which meant that the patient had tea breakfast, and at that
+time was wandering about the farm buildings in an easy undress with
+his head in a plaid.
+
+It was impossible for a doctor to earn even the most modest
+competence from a people of such scandalous health, and so MacLure
+had annexed neighbouring parishes. His house--little more than a
+cottage--stood on the roadside among the pines towards the head of
+our Glen, and from this base of operations he dominated the wild
+glen that broke the wall of the Grampians above Drumtochty--where
+the snows drifts were twelve feet deep in winter, and the only way
+of passage at times was the channel of the river--and the moorland
+district westwards till he came to the Dunleith sphere of influence,
+where there were four doctors and a hydropathic. Drumtochty in its
+length, which was eight miles, and its breadth, which was four, lay
+in his hand; besides a glen behind, unknown to the world, which in
+the night time he visited at the risk of life, for the way thereto
+was across the big moor with its peat holes and treacherous bogs.
+And he held the land eastwards towards Muirtown so far as Geordie,
+the Drumtochty post, travelled every day, and could carry word that
+the doctor was wanted. He did his best for the need of every man,
+woman, and child in this wild, straggling district, year in, year
+out, in the snow and in the heat, in the dark and in the light,
+without rest, and without holiday for forty years.
+
+One horse could not do the work of this man, but we liked best to
+see him on his old white mare, who died the week after her master,
+and the passing of the two did our hearts good. It was not that he
+rode beautifully, for he broke every canon of art, flying with his
+arms, stooping till he seemed to be speaking into Jess's ears, and
+rising in the saddle beyond all necessity. But he could rise faster,
+stay longer in the saddle, and had a firmer grip with his knees than
+any one I ever met, and it was all for mercy's sake. When the
+reapers in harvest time saw a figure whirling past in a cloud of
+dust, or the family at the foot of Glen Urtach, gathered round the
+fire on a winter's night, heard the rattle of a horse's hoofs on the
+road, or the shepherds, out after the sheep, traced a black speck
+moving across the snow to the upper glen, they knew it was the
+doctor, and, without being conscious of it, wished him God speed.
+
+Before and behind his saddle were strapped the instruments and
+medicines the doctor might want, for he never knew what was before
+him. There were no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do
+everything as best he could, and as quickly. He was chest doctor and
+doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon;
+he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist, besides
+being chemist and druggist. It was often told how he was far up Glen
+Urtach when the feeders of the threshing mill caught young Burnbrae,
+and how he only stopped to change horses at his house, and galloped
+all the way to Burnbrae, and flung himself off his horse and
+amputated the arm, and saved the lad's life.
+
+"You wud hae thocht that every meenut was an hour," said Jamie
+Soutar, who had been at the threshing, "an' a'll never forget the
+puir lad lying as white as deith on the floor o' the loft, wi' his
+head on a sheaf, an' Burnbrae haudin' the bandage ticht an' prayin'
+a' the while, and the mither greetin' in the corner.
+
+"'Will he never come?' she cries, an' a' heard the soond o' the
+horse's feet on the road a mile awa in the frosty air.
+
+"'The Lord be praised!' said Burnbrae, and a' slippit doon the
+ladder as the doctor came skelpin' intae the close, the foam fleein'
+frae his horse's mooth.
+
+"'Whar is he?' wes a' that passed his lips, an' in five meenuts he
+hed him on the feedin' board, and wes at his wark--sic wark,
+neeburs--but he did it weel. An' ae thing a' thocht rael thochtfu'
+o' him: he first sent aff the laddie's mither tae get a bed ready.
+
+"'Noo that's feenished, and his constitution 'ill dae the rest,' and
+he carried the lad doon the ladder in his airms like a bairn, and
+laid him in his bed, and waits aside him till he wes sleepin', and
+then says he: 'Burnbrae, yir a gey lad never tae say "Collie, will
+ye lick?" for a' hevna tasted meat for saxteen hoors.'
+
+"It was michty tae see him come intae the yaird that day, neeburs;
+the verra look o' him wes victory."
+
+Jamie's cynicism slipped off in the enthusiasm of this reminiscence,
+and he expressed the feeling of Drumtochty. No one sent for MacLure
+save in great straits, and the sight of him put courage in sinking
+hearts. But this was not by the grace of his appearance, or the
+advantage of a good bedside manner. A tall, gaunt, loosely made man,
+without an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body, his face burned a
+dark brick colour by constant exposure to the weather, red hair and
+beard turning grey, honest blue eyes that look you ever in the face,
+huge hands with wrist bones like the shank of a ham, and a voice
+that hurled his salutations across two fields, he suggested the moor
+rather than the drawing-room. But what a clever hand it was in an
+operation, as delicate as a woman's, and what a kindly voice it was
+in the humble room where the shepherd's wife was weeping by her
+man's bedside. He was "ill pitten thegither" to begin with, but many
+of his physical defects were the penalties of his work, and endeared
+him to the Glen. That ugly scar that cut into his right eyebrow and
+gave him such a sinister expression, was got one night Jess slipped
+on the ice and laid him insensible eight miles from home. His limp
+marked the big snowstorm in the fifties, when his horse missed the
+road in Glen Urtach, and they rolled together in a drift. MacLure
+escaped with a broken leg and the fracture of three ribs, but he
+never walked like other men again. He could not swing himself into
+the saddle without making two attempts and holding Jess's mane.
+Neither can you "warstle" through the peat bogs and snow drifts for
+forty winters without a touch of rheumatism. But they were
+honourable scars, and for such risks of life men get the Victoria
+Cross in other fields. MacLure got nothing but the secret affection
+of the Glen, which knew that none had ever done one-tenth as much
+for it as this ungainly, twisted, battered figure, and I have seen a
+Drumtochty face soften at the sight of MacLure limping to his horse.
+
+Mr. Hopps earned the ill-will of the Glen for ever by criticising
+the doctor's dress, but indeed it would have filled any townsman
+with amazement. Black he wore once a year, on Sacrament Sunday, and,
+if possible, at a funeral; topcoat or waterproof never. His jacket
+and waistcoat were rough homespun of Glen Urtach wool, which threw
+off the wet like a duck's back, and below he was clad in shepherd's
+tartan trousers, which disappeared into unpolished riding boots. His
+shirt was grey flannel, and he was uncertain about a collar, but
+certain as to a tie which he never had, his beard doing instead, and
+his hat was soft felt of four colours and seven different shapes.
+His point of distinction in dress was the trousers, and they were
+the subject of unending speculation.
+
+"Some threep that he's worn thae eedentical pair the last twenty
+year, an' a' mind masel him gettin' a tear ahint, when he was
+crossin' oor palin', and the mend's still veesible.
+
+"Ithers declare 'at he's got a wab o' claith, and hes a new pair
+made in Muirtown aince in the twa year maybe, and keeps them in the
+garden till the new look wears aft.
+
+"For ma ain pairt," Soutar used to declare, "a' canna mak up my
+mind, but there's ae thing sure, the Glen wud not like tae see him
+withoot them: it wud be a shock tae confidence. There's no muckle o'
+the check left, but ye can aye tell it, and when ye see thae breeks
+comin' in ye ken that if human pooer can save yir bairn's life it
+'ill be dune."
+
+The confidence of the Glen--and tributary states--was unbounded, and
+rested partly on long experience of the doctor's resources, and
+partly on his hereditary connection.
+
+"His father was here afore him," Mrs. Macfadyen used to explain;
+"atween them they've hed the countyside for weel on tae a century;
+if MacLure disna understand oor constitution, wha dis, a' wud like
+tae ask?"
+
+For Drumtochty had its own constitution and a special throat
+disease, as became a parish which was quite self-contained between
+the woods and the hills, and not dependent on the lowlands either
+for its diseases or its doctors.
+
+"He's a skilly man, Doctor MacLure," continued my friend Mrs.
+Macfadyen, whose judgment on sermons or anything else was seldom at
+fault; "an' a kind-hearted, though o' coorse he hes his faults like
+us a', an' he disna tribble the Kirk often.
+
+"He aye can tell what's wrang wi' a body, an' maistly he can put ye
+richt, and there's nae new-fangled wys wi' him: a blister for the
+ootside an' Epsom salts for the inside dis his wark, an' they say
+there's no an herb on the hills he disna ken.
+
+"If we're tae dee, we're tae dee; an' if we're tae live, we're tae
+live," concluded Elspeth, with sound Calvinistic logic; "but a'll
+say this for the doctor, that whether yir tae live or dee, he can
+aye keep up a shairp meisture on the skin.
+
+"But he's no verra ceevil gin ye bring him when there's naethin'
+wrang," and Mrs. Macfadyen's face reflected another of Mr. Hopps'
+misadventures of which Hillocks held the copyright.
+
+"Hopps' laddie ate grosarts (gooseberries) till they hed to sit up
+a' nicht wi' him, an' naethin' wud do but they maun hae the doctor,
+an' he writes 'immediately' on a slip o' paper.
+
+"Weel, MacLure had been awa a' nicht wi' a shepherd's wife Dunleith
+wy, and he comes here withoot drawin' bridle, mud up tae the een.
+
+"'What's a dae here, Hillocks?" he cries; 'it's no an accident,
+is't?' and when he got aff his horse he cud hardly stand wi'
+stiffness and tire.
+
+"'It's nane o' us, doctor; it's Hopps' laddie; he's been eatin' ower
+mony berries.'
+
+"If he didna turn on me like a tiger.
+
+"'Div ye mean tae say--'
+
+"'Weesht, weesht,' an' I tried tae quiet him, for Hopps wes comin'
+oot.
+
+"'Well, doctor,' begins he, as brisk as a magpie, 'you're here at
+last; there's no hurry with you Scotchmen. My boy has been sick all
+night, and I've never had one wink of sleep. You might have come a
+little quicker, that's all I've got to say.'
+
+"'We've mair tae dae in Drumtochty than attend tae every bairn that
+hes a sair stomach,' and a' saw MacLure wes roosed.
+
+"'I'm astonished to hear you speak. Our doctor at home always says
+to Mrs. 'Opps, "Look on me as a family friend, Mrs. 'Opps, and send
+for me though it be only a headache."'
+
+"'He'd be mair sparin' o' his offers if he hed four and twenty mile
+tae look aifter. There's naethin' wrang wi' yir laddie but greed.
+Gie him a gude dose o' castor oil and stop his meat for a day, an'
+he 'ill be a' richt the morn.'
+
+"'He 'ill not take castor oil, doctor. We have given up those
+barbarous medicines.'
+
+"'Whatna kind o' medicines hae ye noo in the Sooth?'
+
+"'Well, you see, Dr. MacLure, we're homoeopathists, and I've my
+little chest here, 'and oot Hopps comes wi' his boxy.
+
+"'Let's see't,' an' MacLure sits doon and taks oot the bit bottles,
+and he reads the names wi' a lauch every time.
+
+"'Belladonna; did ye ever hear the like? Aconite; it cowes a'. Nux
+Vomica. What next? Weel, ma mannie,' he says tae Hopps, 'it's a fine
+ploy, and ye 'ill better gang on wi' the Nux till it's dune, and gie
+him ony ither o' the sweeties he fancies.
+
+"'Noo, Hillocks, a' maun be aff tae see Drumsheugh's grieve, for
+he's doon wi' the fever, and it's tae be a teuch fecht. A' hinna
+time tae wait for dinner; gie me some cheese an' cake in ma haund,
+and Jess 'ill tak a pail o' meal an' water.
+
+"'Fee; a'm no wantin' yir fees, man; wi' that boxy ye dinna need a
+doctor; na, na, gie yir siller tae some puir body, Maister Hopps,'
+an' he was doon the road as hard as he cud lick."
+
+His fees were pretty much what the folk chose to give him, and he
+collected them once a year at Kildrummie fair.
+
+"Weel, doctor, what am a' awin' ye for the wife and bairn? Ye 'ill
+need three notes for that nicht ye stayed in the hoose an' a' the
+veesits."
+
+"Havers," MacLure would answer, "prices are low, a'm hearing; gie's
+thirty shillings."
+
+"No, a'll no, or the wife 'ill tak ma ears off," and it was settled
+for two pounds.
+
+Lord Kilspindie gave him a free house and fields, and one way or
+other, Drumsheugh told me, the doctor might get in about L150 a
+year, out of which he had to pay his old housekeeper's wages and a
+boy's, and keep two horses, besides the cost of instruments and
+books, which he bought through a friend in Edinburgh with much
+judgment.
+
+There was only one man who ever complained of the doctor's charges,
+and that was the new farmer of Milton, who was so good that he was
+above both churches, and held a meeting in his barn. (It was Milton
+the Glen supposed at first to be a Mormon, but I can't go into that
+now.) He offered McLure a pound less than he asked, and two tracts,
+whereupon MacLure expressed his opinion of Milton, both from a
+theological and social standpoint, with such vigour and frankness
+that an attentive audience of Drumtochty men could hardly contain
+themselves.
+
+Jamie Soutar was selling his pig at the time, and missed the
+meeting, but he hastened to condole with Milton, who was complaining
+everywhere of the doctor's language.
+
+"Ye did richt tae resist him; it 'ill maybe roose the Glen tae mak a
+stand; he fair hauds them in bondage.
+
+"Thirty shillings for twal veesits, and him no mair than seeven mile
+awa, an' a'm telt there werena mair than four at nicht.
+
+"Ye 'ill hae the sympathy o' the Glen, for a' body kens yir as free
+wi' yir siller as yir tracts.
+
+"Wes't 'Beware o' gude warks' ye offered him? Man, ye chose it weel,
+for he's been colleckin' sae mony thae forty years, a'm feared for
+him.
+
+"A've often thocht oor doctor's little better than the Gude
+Samaritan, an' the Pharisees didna think muckle o' his chance aither
+in this warld or that which is tae come."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+Doctor MacLure did not lead a solemn procession from the sick bed to
+the dining-room, and give his opinion from the hearthrug with an air
+of wisdom bordering on the supernatural, because neither the
+Drumtochty houses nor his manners were on that large scale. He was
+accustomed to deliver himself in the yard, and to conclude his
+directions with one foot in the stirrup; but when he left the room
+where the life of Annie Mitchell was ebbing slowly away, our doctor
+said not one word, and at the sight of his face her husband's heart
+was troubled.
+
+He was a dull man, Tammas, who could not read the meaning of a sign,
+and laboured under a perpetual disability of speech; but love was
+eyes to him that day, and a mouth.
+
+"Is't as bad as yir lookin', doctor? tell's the truth; wull Annie no
+come through?" and Tammas looked MacLure straight in the face, who
+never flinched his duty or said smooth things.
+
+"A' wud gie onything tae say Annie hes a chance, but a' daurna; a'
+doot yir gaein' tae lose her, Tammas."
+
+MacLure was in the saddle, and as he gave his judgment, he laid his
+hand on Tammas's shoulder with one of the rare caresses that pass
+between men.
+
+"It's a sair business, but ye 'ill play the man and no vex Annie;
+she 'ill dae her best, a'll warrant."
+
+"An' a'll dae mine," and Tammas gave MacLure's hand a grip that
+would have crushed the bones of a weakling. Drumtochty felt in such
+moments the brotherliness of this rough-looking man, and loved him.
+
+Tammas hid his face in Jess's mane, who looked round with sorrow in
+her beautiful eyes, for she had seen many tragedies, and in this
+silent sympathy the stricken man drank his cup, drop by drop.
+
+"A' wesna prepared for this, for a' aye thocht she wud live the
+langest.... She's younger than me by ten years, and never wes
+ill.... We've been mairit twal year laist Martinmas, but its juist
+like a year the day.... A' wes never worthy o' her, the bonniest,
+snoddest (neatest), kindliest lass in the Glen.... A' never cud mak
+oot hoo she ever lookit at me, 'at hesna hed ae word tae say aboot
+her till it's ower late.... She didna cuist up tae me that a' wesna
+worthy o' her, no her, but aye she said, 'Yir ma ain gudeman, and
+nane cud be kinder tae me.'... An' a' wes minded tae be kind, but a'
+see noo mony little trokes a' micht hae dune for her, and noo the
+time is bye.... Naebody kens hoo patient she wes wi' me, and aye
+made the best o' me, an' never pit me tae shame afore the fouk....
+An' we never hed ae cross word, no ane in twal year.... We were mair
+nor man and wife, we were sweethearts a' the time.... Oh, ma bonnie
+lass, what 'ill the bairnies an' me dae withoot ye, Annie?"
+
+The winter night was falling fast, the snow lay deep upon the
+ground, and the merciless north wind moaned through the close as
+Tammas wrestled with his sorrow dry-eyed, for tears were denied
+Drumtochty men. Neither the doctor nor Jess moved hand or foot, but
+their hearts were with their fellow creature, and at length the
+doctor made a sign to Marget Howe, who had come out in search of
+Tammas, and now stood by his side.
+
+"Dinna mourn tae the brakin' o' yir hert, Tammas," she said, "as if
+Annie an' you hed never luved. Neither death nor time can pairt them
+that luve; there's naethin' in a' the warld sae strong as luve. If
+Annie gaes frae the sicht o' yir een she 'ill come the nearer tae
+yir hert. She wants tae see ye, and tae hear ye say that ye 'ill
+never forget her nicht nor day till ye meet in the land where
+there's nae pairtin'. Oh, a' ken what a'm sayin', for it's five year
+noo sin George gied awa, an' he's mair wi' me noo than when he wes
+in Edinboro' and I wes in Drumtochty."
+
+"Thank ye kindly, Marget; thae are gude words and true, an' ye hev
+the richt tae say them; but a' canna dae without seein' Annie comin'
+tae meet me in the gloamin', an' gaein' in an' oot the hoose, an'
+hearin' her ca' me by ma name, an' a'll no can tell her that a' luve
+her when there's nae Annie in the hoose.
+
+"Can naethin' be dune, doctor? Ye savit Flora Cammil, and young
+Burnbrae, an' yon shepherd's wife Dunleith wy, an' we were a sae
+prood o' ye, an' pleased tae think that ye hed keepit deith frae
+anither hame. Can ye no think o' somethin' tae help Annie, and gie
+her back tae her man and bairnies?" and Tammas searched the doctor's
+face in the cold, weird light.
+
+"There's nae pooer in heaven or airth like luve," Marget said to me
+afterwards; "it maks the weak strong and the dumb tae speak. Oor
+herts were as water afore Tammas's words, an' a' saw the doctor
+shake in his saddle. A' never kent till that meenut hoo he hed a
+share in a'body's grief, an' carried the heaviest wecht o' a' the
+Glen. A' peetied him wi' Tammas lookin' at him sae wistfully, as if
+he hed the keys o' life an' deith in his hands. But he wes honest,
+and wudna hold oot a false houp tae deceive a sore hert or win
+escape for himsel'."
+
+"Ye needna plead wi' me, Tammas, to dae the best a' can for yir
+wife. Man, a' kent her lang afore ye ever luved her; a' brocht her
+intae the warld, and a' saw her through the fever when she wes a bit
+lassikie; a' closed her mither's een, and it wes me hed tae tell her
+she wes an orphan, an' nae man wes better pleased when she got a
+gude husband, and a' helpit her wi' her fower bairns. A've naither
+wife nor bairns o' ma own, an' a coont a' the fouk o' the Glen ma
+family. Div ye think a' wudna save Annie if I cud? If there wes a
+man in Muirtown 'at cud dae mair for her, a'd have him this verra
+nicht, but a' the doctors in Perthshire are helpless for this
+tribble.
+
+"Tammas, ma puir fallow, if it could avail, a' tell ye a' wud lay
+doon this auld worn-oot ruckle o' a body o' mine juist tae see ye
+baith sittin' at the fireside, an' the bairns roond ye, couthy an'
+canty again; but it's no tae be, Tammas, it's no tae be."
+
+"When a' lookit at the doctor's face," Marget said, "a' thocht him
+the winsomest man a' ever saw. He wes transfigured that nicht, for
+a'm judging there's nae transfiguration like luve."
+
+"It's God's wull an' maun be borne, but it's a sair wull for me, an'
+a'm no ungratefu' tae you, doctor, for a' ye've dune and what ye
+said the nicht," and Tammas went back to sit with Annie for the last
+time.
+
+Jess picked her way through the deep snow to the main road, with a
+skill that came of long experience, and the doctor held converse
+with her according to his wont.
+
+"Eh, Jess wumman, yon wes the hardest wark a' hae tae face, and a'
+wud raither hae ta'en ma chance o' anither row in a Glen Urtach
+drift than tell Tammas Mitchell his wife wes deein'.
+
+"A' said she cudna be cured, and it wes true, for there's juist ae
+man in the land fit for't, and they micht as weel try tae get the
+mune oot o' heaven. Sae a' said naethin' tae vex Tammas's hert, for
+it's heavy eneuch withoot regrets.
+
+"But it's hard, Jess, that money wull buy life after a', an' if
+Annie wes a duchess her man wudna lose her; but bein' only a puir
+cottar's wife, she maun dee afore the week's oot.
+
+"Gin we hed him the morn there's little doot she wud be saved, for
+he hesna lost mair than five per cent, o' his cases, and they 'ill
+be puir toon's craturs, no strappin' women like Annie.
+
+"It's oot o' the question, Jess, sae hurry up, lass, for we've hed a
+heavy day. But it wud be the grandest thing that was ever dune in
+the Glen in oor time if it could be managed by hook or crook.
+
+"We 'ill gang and see Drumsheugh, Jess; he's anither man sin'
+Geordie Hoo's deith, and he wes aye kinder than fouk kent;" and the
+doctor passed at a gallop through the village, whose lights shone
+across the white frost-bound road.
+
+"Come in by, doctor; a' heard ye on the road; ye 'ill hae been at
+Tammas Mitchell's; hoo's the gudewife? a' doot she's sober."
+
+"Annie's deein', Drumsheugh, an' Tammas is like tae brak his hert."
+
+"That's no lichtsome, doctor, no lichtsome ava, for a' dinna ken ony
+man in Drumtochty sae bund up in his wife as Tammas, and there's no
+a bonnier wumman o' her age crosses oor kirk door than Annie, nor a
+cleverer at her wark. Man, ye 'ill need tae pit yir brains in steep.
+Is she clean beyond ye?"
+
+"Beyond me and every ither in the land but ane, and it wud cost a
+hundred guineas tae bring him tae Drumtochty."
+
+"Certes, he's no blate; it's a fell chairge for a short day's work;
+but hundred or no hundred we 'ill hae him, an' no let Annie gang,
+and her no half her years."
+
+"Are ye meanin' it, Drumsheugh?" and MacLure turned white below the
+tan.
+
+"William MacLure," said Drumsheugh, in one of the few confidences
+that ever broke the Drumtochty reserve, "a'm a lonely man, wi'
+naebody o' ma ain blude tae care for me livin', or tae lift me intae
+ma coffin when a'm deid.
+
+"A' fecht awa at Muirtown market for an extra pund on a beast, or a
+shillin' on the quarter o' barley, an' what's the gude o't? Burnbrae
+gaes aff tae get a goon for his wife or a buke for his college
+laddie, an' Lachlan Campbell 'ill no leave the place noo withoot a
+ribbon for Flora.
+
+"Ilka man in the Kildrummie train has some bit fairin' in his pooch
+for the fouk at hame that he's bocht wi' the siller he won.
+
+"But there's naebody tae be lookin' oot for me, an' comin' doon the
+road tae meet me, and daffin' (joking) wi' me aboot their fairing,
+or feeling ma pockets. Ou ay, a've seen it a' at ither hooses,
+though they tried tae hide it frae me for fear a' wud lauch at them.
+Me lauch, wi' ma cauld, empty hame!
+
+"Yir the only man kens, Weelum, that I aince luved the noblest
+wumman in the glen or onywhere, an' a' luve her still, but wi'
+anither luve noo.
+
+"She hed given her heart tae anither, or a've thocht a' micht hae
+won her, though nae man be worthy o' sic a gift. Ma hert turned tae
+bitterness, but that passed awa beside the brier bush whar George
+Hoo lay yon sad simmer time. Some day a'll tell ye ma story, Weelum,
+for you an' me are auld freends, and will be till we dee."
+
+MacLure felt beneath the table for Drumsheugh's hand, but neither
+man looked at the other.
+
+"Weel, a' we can dae noo, Weelum, gin we haena mickle brichtness in
+oor ain hames, is tae keep the licht frae gaein' oot in anither
+hoose. Write the telegram, man, and Sandy 'ill send it aff frae
+Kildrurnmie this verra nicht, and ye 'ill hae yir man the morn."
+
+"Yir the man a' coonted ye, Drumsheugh, but ye 'ill grant me ae
+favour. Ye 'ill lat me pay the half, bit by bit--a' ken yir wullin'
+tae dae't a',--but a' haena mony pleesures, an' a' wud like tae hae
+ma ain share in savin' Annie's life."
+
+Next morning a figure received Sir George on the Kildrummie
+platform, whom that famous surgeon took for a gillie, but who
+introduced himself as "MacLure of Drumtochty." It seemed as if the
+East had come to meet the West when these two stood together, the
+one in travelling furs, handsome and distinguished, with his strong,
+cultured face and carriage of authority, a characteristic type of
+his profession; and the other more marvellously dressed than ever,
+for Drumsheugh's topcoat had been forced upon him for the occasion,
+his face and neck one redness with the bitter cold; rough and
+ungainly, yet not without some signs of power in his eye and voice,
+the most heroic type of his noble profession. MacLure compassed the
+precious arrival with observances till he was securely seated in
+Drumsheugh's dogcart--a vehicle that lent itself to history--with
+two full-sized plaids added to his equipment--Drumsheugh and
+Hillocks had both been requisitioned--and MacLure wrapped another
+plaid round a leather case, which was placed below the seat with
+such reverence as might be given to the Queen's regalia. Peter
+attended their departure full of interest, and as soon as they were
+in the fir woods MacLure explained that it would be an eventful
+journey.
+
+"It's a' richt in here, for the wind disna get at the snaw, but the
+drifts are deep in the Glen, and th'ill be some engineerin' afore we
+get tae oor destination."
+
+Four times they left the road and took their way over fields, twice
+they forced a passage through a slap in a dyke, thrice they used
+gaps in the paling which MacLure had made on his downward journey.
+
+"A' seleckit the road this mornin', an' a' ken the depth tae an
+inch; we 'ill get through this steadin' here tae the main road, but
+oor worst job 'ill be crossin' the Tochty.
+
+"Ye see the bridge hes been shakin' wi' this winter's flood, and we
+daurna venture on it, sae we hev tae ford, and the snaw's been
+melting up Urtach way. There's nae doot the water's gey big, and
+it's threatenin' tae rise, but we 'ill win through wi' a warstle.
+
+"It micht be safer tae lift the instruments oot o' reach o' the
+water; wud ye mind haddin' them on yir knee till we're ower, an'
+keep firm in yir seat in case we come on a stane in the bed o' the
+river."
+
+By this time they had come to the edge, and it was not a cheering
+sight. The Tochty had spread out over the meadows, and while they
+waited they could see it cover another two inches on the trunk of a
+tree. There are summer floods, when the water is brown and flecked
+with foam, but this was a winter flood, which is black and sullen,
+and runs in the centre with a strong, fierce, silent current. Upon
+the op posite side Hillocks stood to give directions by word and
+hand, as the ford was on his land, and none knew the Tochty better
+in all its ways.
+
+They passed through the shallow water without mishap, save when the
+wheel struck a hidden stone or fell suddenly into a rut; but when
+they neared the body of the river MacLure halted, to give Jess a
+minute's breathing.
+
+"It 'ill tak ye a' yir time, lass, an' a' wud raither be on yir
+back; but ye never failed me yet, and a wumman's life is hangin' on
+the crossin'."
+
+With the first plunge into the bed of the stream the water rose to
+the axles, and then it crept up to the shafts, so that the surgeon
+could feel it lapping in about his feet, while the dogcart began to
+quiver, and it seemed as if it were to be carried away. Sir George
+was as brave as most men, but he had never forded a Highland river
+in flood, and the mass of black water racing past beneath, before,
+behind him, affected his imagination and shook his nerves. He rose
+from his seat and ordered MacLure to turn back, declaring that he
+would be condemned utterly and eternally if he allowed himself to be
+drowned for any person.
+
+"Sit doon," thundered MacLure; "condemned ye will be suner or later
+gin ye shirk yir duty, but through the water ye gang the day."
+
+Both men spoke much more strongly and shortly, but this is what they
+intended to say, and it was MacLure that prevailed.
+
+Jess trailed her feet along the ground with cunning art, and held
+her shoulder against the stream; MacLure leant forward in his seat,
+a rein in each hand, and his eyes fixed on Hillocks, who was now
+standing up to the waist in the water, shouting directions and
+cheering on horse and driver.
+
+"Haud tae the richt, doctor; there's a hole yonder. Keep oot o't for
+ony sake. That's it; yir daein' fine. Steady, man, steady. Yir at
+the deepest; sit heavy in yir seats. Up the channel noo, and ye 'll
+be oot o' the swirl. Weel dune, Jess, weel dune, auld mare! Mak
+straicht for me, doctor, an' a'll gie ye the road oot. Ma word,
+ye've dune yir best, baith o' ye this mornin'," cried Hillocks,
+splashing up to the dogcart, now in the shallows.
+
+"Sall, it wes titch an' go for a meenut in the middle; a Hielan'
+ford is a kittle (hazardous) road in the snaw time, but ye're safe
+noo.
+
+"Gude luck tae ye up at Westerton, sir; nane but a richt-hearted man
+wud hae riskit the Tochty in flood. Ye're boond tae succeed aifter
+sic a graund beginning" for it had spread already that a famous
+surgeon had come to do his best for Annie, Tammas Mitchell's wife.
+
+Two hours later MacLure came out from Annie's room and laid hold of
+Tammas, a heap of speechless misery by the kitchen fire, and carried
+him off to the barn, and spread some corn on the threshing floor and
+thrust a flail into his hands.
+
+"Noo we've tae begin, an' we 'ill no be dune for an' oor, and ye've
+tae lay on withoot stoppin' till a' come for ye, an' a'll shut the
+door tae haud in the noise, an' keep yir dog beside ye, for there
+maunna be a cheep aboot the hoose for Annie's sake."
+
+"A'll dae onythingye want me, but if--if--"
+
+"A'll come for ye, Tammas, gin there be danger; but what are ye
+feared for wi' the Queen's ain surgeon here?"
+
+Fifty minutes did the flail rise and fall, save twice, when Tammas
+crept to the door and listened, the dog lifting his head and
+whining.
+
+It seemed twelve hours instead of one when the door swung back, and
+MacLure filled the doorway, preceded by a great burst of light, for
+the sun had arisen on the snow.
+
+His face was as tidings of great joy, and Elspeth told me that there
+was nothing like it to be seen that afternoon for glory, save the
+sun itself in the heavens.
+
+"A' never saw the marrow o't, Tammas, an' a'll never see the like
+again; it's a' ower, man, withoot a hitch frae beginnin' tae end,
+and she's fa'in' asleep as fine as ye like."
+
+"Dis he think Annie ... 'ill live?"
+
+"Of coorse he dis, and be aboot the hoose inside a month; that's the
+gude o' bein' a clean-bluided, weel-livin'--"
+
+"Preserve ye, man, what's wrang wi' ye? it's a mercy a' keppit ye,
+or we wud hev hed anither job for Sir George.
+
+"Ye're a' richt noo; sit doon on the strae. A'll come back in a
+whilie, an' ye 'ill see Annie juist for a meenut, but ye maunna say
+a word."
+
+Marget took him in and let him kneel by Annie's bedside.
+
+He said nothing then or afterwards, for speech came only once in his
+lifetime to Tammas, but Annie whispered, "Ma ain dear man."
+
+When the doctor placed the precious bag beside Sir George in our
+solitary first next morning, he laid a cheque beside it and was
+about to leave.
+
+"No, no," said the great man. "Mrs. Macfadyen and I were on the
+gossip last night, and I know the whole story about you and your
+friend.
+
+"You have some right to call me a coward, but I'll never let you
+count me a mean, miserly rascal," and the cheque with Drumsheugh's
+painful writing fell in fifty pieces on the floor.
+
+As the train began to move, a voice from the first called so that
+all in the station heard.
+
+"Give's another shake of your hand, MacLure; I'm proud to have met
+you; you are an honour to our profession. Mind the antiseptic
+dressings."
+
+It was market day, but only Jamie Soutar and Hillocks had ventured
+down.
+
+"Did ye hear yon, Hillocks? hoo dae ye feel? A'll no deny a'm
+lifted"
+
+Halfway to the Junction Hillocks had recovered, and began to grasp
+the situation.
+
+"Tell's what he said. A' wud like to hae it exact for Drumsheugh."
+
+"Thae's the eedentical words, an' they're true; there's no a man in
+Drumtochty disna ken that, except ane."
+
+"An' wha's that, Jamie?"
+
+"It's Weelum MacLure himsel. Man, a've often girned that he sud
+fecht awa for us a', and maybe dee before he kent that he hed
+githered mair luve than ony man in the Glen.
+
+"'A'm prood tae hae met ye', says Sir George, an' him the greatest
+doctor in the land. 'Yir an honour tae oor profession.'
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae missed it for twenty notes," said James
+Soutar, cynic-in-ordinary to the parish of Drumtochty.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+When Drumsheugh's grieve was brought to the gates of death by fever,
+caught, as was supposed, on an adventurous visit to Glasgow, the
+London doctor at Lord Kilspindie's shooting lodge looked in on his
+way from the moor, and declared it impossible for Saunders to live
+through the night.
+
+"I give him six hours, more or less; it is only a question of time,"
+said the oracle, buttoning his gloves and getting into the brake;
+"tell your parish doctor that I was sorry not to have met him."
+
+Bell heard this verdict from behind the door, and gave way utterly,
+but Drumsheugh declined to accept it as final, and devoted himself
+to consolation.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, Bell wumman, sae lang as Saunders is still
+livin'; a'll never give up houp, for ma pairt, till oor ain man says
+the word.
+
+"A' the doctors in the land dinna ken as muckle aboot us as Weelum
+MacLure, an' he's ill tae beat when he's tryin' tae save a man's
+life."
+
+MacLure, on his coming, would say nothing, either weal or woe, till
+he had examined Saunders. Suddenly his face turned into iron before
+their eyes, and he looked like one encountering a merciless foe. For
+there was a feud between MacLure and a certain mighty power which
+had lasted for forty years in Drumtochty.
+
+"The London doctor said that Saunders wud sough awa afore mornin',
+did he? Weel, he's an authority on fevers an' sic like diseases, an
+ought tae ken.
+
+"It's may be presumptous o' me tae differ frae him, and it wudna be
+verra respectfu' o' Saunders tae live aifter this opeenion. But
+Saunders wes aye thraun an' ill tae drive, an' he's as like as no
+tae gang his ain gait.
+
+"A'm no meanin' tae reflect on sae clever a man, but he didna ken
+the seetuation. He can read fevers like a bulk, but he never cam
+across sic a thing as the Drumtochty constitution a' his days.
+
+"Ye see, when onybody gets as low as puir Saunders here, it's juist
+a hand to hand wrastle atween the fever and his constitution, an' of
+coorse, if he hed been a shilpit, stuntit, feckless effeegy o' a
+cratur, fed on tea an' made dishes and pushioned wi' bad air,
+Saunders wud hae nae chance; he wes boond tae gae oot like the snuff
+o' a candle.
+
+"But Saunders hes been fillin' his lungs for five and thirty year
+wi' strong Drumtochty air, an' eatin' naethin' but kirny aitmeal,
+and drinkin' naethin' but fresh milk frae the coo, an' followin' the
+ploo through the new-turned, sweet-smellin' earth, an' swingin' the
+scythe in haytime and harvest, till the legs an' airms o' him were
+iron, an' his chest wes like the cuttin' o' an oak tree.
+
+"He's a waesome sicht the nicht, but Saunders wes a buirdly man
+aince, and wull never lat his life be taken lichtly frae him. Na,
+na, he hesna sinned against Nature, and Nature 'ill stand by him noo
+in his oor o' distress.
+
+"A' daurna say yea, Bell, muckle as a' wud like, for this is an evil
+disease, cunnin' an' treacherous as the deevil himsel', but a' winna
+say nay, sae keep yir hert frae despair.
+
+"It wull be a sair fecht, but it 'ill be settled one wy or anither
+by sax o'clock the morn's morn. Nae man can prophecee hoo it 'ill
+end, but ae thing is certain, a'll no see deith tak a Drumtochty man
+afore his time if a' can help it.
+
+"Noo, Bell ma wumman, yir near deid wi' tire, an' nae wonder. Ye've
+dune a' ye cud for yir man, an' ye 'ill lippen (trust) him the nicht
+tae Drumsheugh an' me; we 'ill no fail him or you.
+
+"Lie doon an' rest, an' if it be the wull o' the Almichty a'll
+wauken ye in the mornin' tae see a livin' conscious man, an' if it
+be itherwise a'll come for ye the suner, Bell," and the big red hand
+went out to the anxious wife. "A' gie ye ma word."
+
+Bell leant over the bed, and at the sight of Saunders' face a
+superstitious dread seized her.
+
+"See, doctor, the shadow of deith is on him that never lifts. A've
+seen it afore, on ma father an' mither. A' canna leave him, a' canna
+leave him."
+
+"It's hoverin', Bell, but it hesna fallen; please God it never wull.
+Gang but and get some sleep, for it's time we were at oor work.
+
+"The doctors in the toons hae nurses an' a' kinds o' handy
+apparatus," said MacLure to Drumsheugh when Bell had gone, "but you
+an' me 'ill need tae be nurse the nicht, an' use sic things as we
+hev.
+
+"It 'ill be a lang nicht and anxious wark, but a' wud raither hae
+ye, auld freend, wi' me than ony man in the Glen. Ye're no feared
+tae gie a hand?"
+
+"Me feared? No likely. Man, Saunders cam tae me a haflin, and hes
+been on Drumsheugh for twenty years, an' though he be a dour chiel,
+he's a faithfu' servant as ever lived. It's waesome tae see him
+lyin' there moanin' like some dumb animal frae mornin' tae nicht,
+an' no able tae answer his ain wife when she speaks.
+
+"Div ye think, Weelum, he hes a chance?"
+
+"That he hes, at ony rate, and it 'ill no be your blame or mine if
+he hesna mair."
+
+While he was speaking, MacLure took off his coat and waistcoat and
+hung them on the back of the door. Then he rolled up the sleeves of
+his shirt and laid bare two arms that were nothing but bone and
+muscle.
+
+"It gar'd ma very blood rin faster tae the end of ma fingers juist
+tae look at him," Drumsheugh expatiated afterwards to Hillocks, "for
+a' saw noo that there was tae be a stand-up fecht atween him an'
+deith for Saunders, and when a' thocht o' Bell an' her bairns, a'
+kent wha wud win.
+
+"'Aff wi' yir coat, Drumsheugh,' said MacLure; 'ye 'ill need tae
+bend yir back the nicht; gither a' the pails in the hoose and fill
+them at the spring, an' a'll come doon tae help ye wi' the
+carryin'."
+
+It was a wonderful ascent up the steep pathway from the spring to
+the cottage on its little knoll, the two men in single file,
+bareheaded, silent, solemn, each with a pail of water in either
+hand, MacLure limping painfully in front, Drumsheugh blowing behind;
+and when they laid down their burden in the sick room, where the
+bits of furniture had been put to a side and a large tub held the
+centre, Drumsheugh looked curiously at the doctor.
+
+"No, a'm no daft; ye needna be feared; but yir tae get yir first
+lesson in medicine the nicht, an' if we win the battle ye can set up
+for yersel in the Glen.
+
+"There's twa dangers--that Saunders' strength fails, an' that the
+force o' the fever grows; and we have juist twa weapons.
+
+"Yon milk on the drawers' head an' the bottle of whisky is tae keep
+up the strength, and this cool caller water is tae keep doon the
+fever.
+
+"We 'ill cast oot the fever by the virtue o' the earth an' the
+water."
+
+"Div ye mean tae pit Saunders in the tub?"
+
+"Ye hiv it noo, Drumsheugh, and that's hoo a' need yir help."
+
+"Man, Hillocks," Drumsheugh used to moralise, as often as he
+remembered that critical night, "it wes humblin' tae see hoo low
+sickness can bring a pooerfu' man, an' ocht tae keep us frae pride.
+
+"A month syne there wesna a stronger man in the Glen than Saunders,
+an' noo he wes juist a bundle o' skin and bone, that naither saw nor
+heard, nor moved nor felt, that kent naethin' that was dune tae him.
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae wished ony man tae hev seen Saunders--for it
+wull never pass frae before ma een as long as a' live--but a' wish
+a' the Glen hed stude by MacLure kneelin' on the floor wi' his
+sleeves up tae his oxters and waitin' on Saunders.
+
+"Yon big man wes as pitifu' an' gentle as a wumman, and when he laid
+the puir fallow in his bed again, he happit him ower as a mither dis
+her bairn."
+
+Thrice it was done, Drumsheugh ever bringing up colder water from
+the spring, and twice MacLure was silent; but after the third time
+there was a gleam in his eye.
+
+"We're haudin' oor ain; we're no bein' maistered, at ony rate; mair
+a' canna say for three oors.
+
+"We 'ill no need the water again, Drumsheugh; gae oot and tak a
+breath o' air; a'm on gaird masel."
+
+It was the hour before daybreak, and Drumsheugh wandered through
+fields he had trodden since childhood. The cattle lay sleeping in
+the pastures; their shadowy forms, with a patch of whiteness here
+and there, having a weird suggestion of death. He heard the burn
+running over the stones; fifty years ago he had made a dam that
+lasted till winter. The hooting of an owl made him start; one had
+frightened him as a boy so that he ran home to his mother--she died
+thirty years ago. The smell of ripe corn filled the air; it would
+soon be cut and garnered. He could see the dim outlines of his
+house, all dark and cold; no one he loved was beneath the roof. The
+lighted window in Saunders' cottage told where a man hung between
+life and death, but love was in that home. The futility of life
+arose before this lonely man, and overcame his heart with an
+indescribable sadness. What a vanity was all human labour, what a
+mystery all human life.
+
+But while he stood, a subtle change came over the night, and the air
+trembled round him as if one had whispered. Drumsheugh lifted his
+head and looked eastwards. A faint grey stole over the distant
+horizon, and suddenly a cloud reddened before his eyes. The sun was
+not in sight, but was rising, and sending forerunners before his
+face. The cattle began to stir, a blackbird burst into song, and
+before Drumsheugh crossed the threshold of Saunders' house, the
+first ray of the sun had broken on a peak of the Grampians.
+
+MacLure left the bedside, and as the light of the candle fell on the
+doctor's face, Drumsheugh could see that it was going well with
+Saunders.
+
+"He's nae waur; an' it's half six noo; it's ower sune tae say mair,
+but a'm houpin' for the best. Sit doon and take a sleep, for ye're
+needin' 't, Drumsheugh, an', man, ye hae worked for it"
+
+As he dozed off, the last thing Drumsheugh saw was the doctor
+sitting erect in his chair, a clenched fist resting on the bed, and
+his eyes already bright with the vision of victory.
+
+He awoke with a start to find the room flooded with the morning
+sunshine, and every trace of last night's work removed.
+
+The doctor was bending over the bed, and speaking to Saunders.
+
+"It's me, Saunders, Doctor MacLure, ye ken; dinna try tae speak or
+move; juist let this drap milk slip ower--ye 'ill be needin' yir
+breakfast, lad--and gang tae sleep again."
+
+Five minutes, and Saunders had fallen into a deep, healthy sleep,
+all tossing and moaning come to an end. Then MacLure stepped softly
+across the floor, picked up his coat and waistcoat, and went out at
+the door.
+
+Drumsheugh arose and followed him without a word. They passed
+through the little garden, sparkling with dew, and beside the byre,
+where Hawkie rattled her chain, impatient for Bell's coming, and by
+Saunders' little strip of corn ready for the scythe, till they
+reached an open field. There they came to a halt, and Doctor MacLure
+for once allowed himself to go.
+
+His coat he flung east and his waistcoat west, as far as he could hurl
+them, and it was plain he would have shouted had he been a complete
+mile from Saunders' room. Any less distance was useless for adequate
+expression. He struck Drumsheugh a mighty blow that well-nigh levelled
+that substantial man in the dust, and then the doctor of Drumtochty
+issued his bulletin.
+
+"Saunders wesna tae live through the nicht, but he's livin' this
+meenut, an' like to live.
+
+"He's got by the warst clean and fair, and wi' him that's as good as
+cure.
+
+"It' ill be a graund waukenin' for Bell; she 'ill no be a weedow
+yet, nor the bairnies fatherless.
+
+"There's nae use glowerin' at me, Drumsheugh, for a body's daft at a
+time, an' a' canna contain masel, and a'm no gaein' tae try."
+
+Then it dawned upon Drumsheugh that the doctor was attempting the
+Highland fling.
+
+"He's ill made tae begin wi'," Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyard
+next Sabbath, "and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled by
+accidents, sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith,
+o' a' the Hielan' flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.
+
+"A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty years, but a' confess tae a
+turn masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o'
+Bell an' the news that wes waitin' her got the better o' me."
+
+Drumtochty did not laugh. Drumtochty looked as if it could have done
+quite otherwise for joy.
+
+"A' wud hae made a third gin a' hed been there," announced Hillocks,
+aggressively.
+
+"Come on, Drumsheugh," said Jamie Soutar, "gie's the end o't; it wes
+a michty mornin'."
+
+"'We're twa auld fules,' says MacLure tae me, and he gaithers up his
+claithes. 'It wud set us better tae be tellin' Bell.'
+
+"She wes sleepin' on the top o' her bed wrapped in a plaid, fair
+worn oot wi' three weeks' nursin' o' Saunders, but at the first
+touch she was oot upon the floor.
+
+"'Is Saunders deein', doctor?' she cries. 'Ye promised tae wauken
+me; dinna tell me it's a' ower.'
+
+"'There's nae deein' aboot him, Bell; ye're no tae lose yir man this
+time, sae far as a' can see. Come ben an' jidge for yersel'.
+
+"Bell lookit at Saunders, and the tears of joy fell on the bed like
+rain.
+
+"'The shadow's lifted,' she said; 'he's come back frae the mooth o'
+the tomb.
+
+"'A' prayed last nicht that the Lord wud leave Saunders till the
+laddies cud dae for themselves, an' thae words came intae ma mind,
+"Weepin' may endure for a nicht, but joy cometh in the mornin'."
+
+"'The Lord heard ma prayer, and joy hes come in the mornin', an' she
+gripped the doctor's hand.
+
+"'Ye've been the instrument, Doctor MacLure. Ye wudna gie him up,
+and ye did what nae ither cud for him, an' a've ma man the day, and
+the bairns hae their father.'
+
+"An' afore MacLure kent what she was daein', Bell lifted his hand to
+her lips an' kissed it."
+
+"Did she, though?" cried Jamie. "Wha wud hae thocht there wes as
+muckle spunk in Bell?"
+
+"MacLure, of coorse, was clean scandalised," continued Drumsheugh,
+"an' pooed awa his hand as if it hed been burned.
+
+"Nae man can thole that kind o' fraikin', and a' never heard o' sic
+a thing in the parish, but we maun excuse Bell, neeburs; it wes an
+occasion by ordinar," and Drumsheugh made Bell's apology to
+Drumtochty for such an excess of feeling.
+
+"A' see naethin' tae excuse," insisted Jamie, who was in great
+fettle that Sabbath; "the doctor hes never been burdened wi' fees,
+and a'm judgin' he coonted a wumman's gratitude that he saved frae
+weedowhood the best he ever got."
+
+"A' gaed up tae the Manse last nicht," concluded Drumsheugh, "and
+telt the minister hoo the doctor focht aucht oors for Saunders'
+life, an' won, and ye never saw a man sae carried. He walkit up and
+doon the room a' the time, and every other meenut he blew his nose
+like a trumpet.
+
+"'I've a cold in my head to-night, Drumsheugh,' says he; 'never mind
+me.'"
+
+"A've hed the same masel in sic circumstances; they come on sudden,"
+said Jamie.
+
+"A' wager there 'ill be a new bit in the laist prayer the day, an'
+somethin' worth hearin'."
+
+And the fathers went into kirk in great expectation.
+
+"We beseech Thee for such as be sick, that Thy hand may be on them
+for good, and that Thou wouldst restore them again to health and
+strength," was the familiar petition of every Sabbath.
+
+The congregation waited in a silence that might be heard, and were
+not disappointed that morning, for the minister continued:
+
+"Especially we tender Thee hearty thanks that Thou didst spare Thy
+servant who was brought down into the dust of death, and hast given
+him back to his wife and children, and unto that end didst
+wonderfully bless the skill of him who goes out and in amongst us,
+the beloved physician of this parish and adjacent districts."
+
+"Didna a' tell ye, neeburs?" said Jamie, as they stood at the
+kirkyard gate before dispersing; "there's no a man in the coonty cud
+hae dune it better. 'Beloved physician,' an' his 'skill,' tae, an'
+bringing in 'adjacent districts'; that's Glen Urtach; it wes
+handsome, and the doctor earned it, ay, every word.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety he didna hear yon; but dear knows whar he is
+the day, maist likely up--"
+
+Jamie stopped suddenly at the sound of a horse's feet, and there,
+coming down the avenue of beech trees that made a long vista from
+the kirk gate, they saw the doctor and Jess.
+
+One thought flashed through the minds of the fathers of the
+commonwealth.
+
+It ought to be done as he passed, and it would be done if it were
+not Sabbath. Of course it was out of the question on Sabbath.
+
+The doctor is now distinctly visible, riding after his fashion.
+
+There was never such a chance, if it were only Saturday; and each
+man reads his own regret in his neighbour's face.
+
+The doctor is nearing them rapidly; they can imagine the shepherd's
+tartan.
+
+Sabbath or no Sabbath, the Glen cannot let him pass without some
+tribute of their pride.
+
+Jess has recognised friends, and the doctor is drawing rein.
+
+"It hes tae be dune," said Jamie desperately, "say what ye like."
+Then they all looked towards him, and Jamie led.
+
+"Hurrah," swinging his Sabbath hat in the air, "hurrah," and once
+more, "hurrah," Whinnie Knowe, Drumsheugh, and Hillocks joining
+lustily, but Tammas Mitchell carrying all before him, for he had
+found at last an expression for his feelings that rendered speech
+unnecessary.
+
+It was a solitary experience for horse and rider, and Jess bolted
+without delay. But the sound followed and surrounded them, and as
+they passed the corner of the kirkyard, a figure waved his college
+cap over the wall and gave a cheer on his own account.
+
+"God bless you, doctor, and well done."
+
+"If it isna the minister," cried Drumsheugh, "in his goon an' bans;
+tae think o' that; but a' respeck him for it."
+
+Then Drumtochty became self-conscious, and went home in confusion of
+face and unbroken silence, except Jamie Soutar, who faced his
+neighbours at the parting of the ways without shame.
+
+"A' wud dae it a' ower again if a' hed the chance; he got naethin'
+but his due."
+
+It was two miles before Jess composed her mind, and the doctor and
+she could discuss it quietly together.
+
+"A' can hardly believe ma ears, Jess, an' the Sabbath tae; their
+verra jidgment hes gane frae the fouk o' Drumtochty.
+
+"They've heard about Saunders, a'm thinkin', wumman, and they're
+pleased we brocht him roond; he's fairly on the mend, ye ken, noo.
+
+"A' never expeckit the like o' this, though, and it wes juist a wee
+thingie mair than a' cud hae stude.
+
+"Ye hev yir share in't tae, lass; we've hed mony a hard nicht and
+day thegither, an' yon wes oor reward. No mony men in this warld
+'ill ever get a better, for it cam frae the hert o' honest fouk."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+Drumtochty had a vivid recollection of the winter when Dr. MacLure
+was laid up for two months with a broken leg, and the Glen was
+dependent on the dubious ministrations of the Kildrummie doctor.
+Mrs. Macfadyen also pretended to recall a "whup" of some kind or
+other he had in the fifties, but this was considered to be rather a
+pyrotechnic display of Elspeth's superior memory than a serious
+statement of fact. MacLure could not have ridden through the snow of
+forty winters without suffering, yet no one ever heard him complain,
+and he never pled illness to any messenger by night or day.
+
+"It took me," said Jamie Soutar to Milton afterwards, "the feck o'
+ten meenuts tae howk him an' Jess oot ae snawy nicht when Drums
+turned bad sudden, and if he didna try to excuse himself for no
+hearing me at aince wi' some story aboot juist comin' in frae Glen
+Urtach, and no bein' in his bed for the laist twa nichts.
+
+"He wes that carefu' o' himsel an' lazy that if it hedna been for
+the siller, a've often thocht, Milton, he wud never hae dune a
+handstroke o' wark in the Glen.
+
+"What scunnered me wes the wy the bairns were ta'en in wi' him. Man,
+a've seen him tak a wee laddie on his knee that his ain mither cudna
+quiet, an' lilt 'Sing a song o' saxpence' till the bit mannie wud be
+lauchin' like a gude ane, an' pooin' the doctor's beard.
+
+"As for the weemen, he fair cuist a glamour ower them; they're
+daein' naethin' noo but speak aboot this body and the ither he
+cured, an' hoo he aye hed a couthy word for sick fouk. Weemen hae
+nae discernment, Milton; tae hear them speak ye wud think MacLure
+hed been a releegious man like yersel, although, as ye said, he wes
+little mair than a Gallic.
+
+"Bell Baxter was haverin' awa in the shop tae sic an extent aboot
+the wy MacLure brocht roond Saunders when he hed the fever that a'
+gied oot at the door, a wes that disgusted, an' a'm telt when Tammas
+Mitchell heard the news in the smiddy he wes juist on the greeting.
+
+"The smith said that he wes thinkin' o' Annie's tribble, but ony wy
+a' ca' it rael bairnly. It's no like Drumtochty; ye're setting an
+example, Milton, wi' yir composure. But a' mind ye took the doctor's
+meesure as sune as ye cam intae the pairish."
+
+It is the penalty of a cynic that he must have some relief for his
+secret grief, and Milton began to weary of life in Jamie's hands
+during those days.
+
+Drumtochty was not observant in the matter of health, but they had
+grown sensitive about Dr. MacLure, and remarked in the kirkyard all
+summer that he was failing.
+
+"He wes aye spare," said Hillocks, "an' he's been sair twisted for
+the laist twenty year, but a' never mind him booed till the year.
+An' he's gaein' intae sma' buke (bulk), an' a' dinna like that,
+neeburs.
+
+"The Glen wudna dae weel withoot Weelum MacLure, an' he's no as
+young as he wes. Man, Drumsheugh, ye micht wile him aff tae the saut
+water atween the neeps and the hairst. He's been workin' forty year
+for a holiday, an' it's aboot due."
+
+Drumsheugh was full of tact, and met MacLure quite by accident on
+the road.
+
+"Saunders 'ill no need me till the shearing begins," he explained to
+the doctor, "an' a'm gaein' tae Brochty for a turn o' the hot baths;
+they're fine for the rheumatics.
+
+"Wull ye no come wi' me for auld lang syne? it's lonesome for a
+solitary man, an' it wud dae ye gude."
+
+"Na, na, Drumsheugh," said MacLure, who understood perfectly, "a've
+dune a' thae years withoot a break, an' a'm laith (unwilling) tae be
+takin' holidays at the tail end.
+
+"A'll no be mony months wi' ye a' thegither noo, an' a'm wanting tae
+spend a' the time a' hev in the Glen. Ye see yersel that a'll sune
+be getting ma lang rest, an' a'll no deny that a'm wearyin' for it."
+
+As autumn passed into winter, the Glen noticed that the doctor's
+hair had turned grey, and that his manner had lost all its
+roughness. A feeling of secret gratitude filled their hearts, and
+they united in a conspiracy of attention. Annie Mitchell knitted a
+huge comforter in red and white, which the doctor wore in misery for
+one whole day, out of respect for Annie, and then hung in his
+sitting-room as a wall ornament. Hillocks used to intercept him with
+hot drinks, and one drifting day compelled him to shelter till the
+storm abated. Flora Campbell brought a wonderful compound of honey
+and whisky, much tasted in Auchindarroch, for his cough, and the
+mother of young Burnbrae filled his cupboard with black jam, as a
+healing measure. Jamie Soutar seemed to have an endless series of
+jobs in the doctor's direction, and looked in "juist tae rest
+himsel" in the kitchen.
+
+MacLure had been slowly taking in the situation, and at last he
+unburdened himself one night to Jamie.
+
+"What ails the fouk, think ye? for they're aye lecturin' me noo tae
+tak care o' the weet and tae wrap masel up, an' there's no a week
+but they're sendin' bit presents tae the hoose, till a'm fair
+ashamed."
+
+"Oo, a'll explain that in a meenut," answered Jamie, "for a' ken the
+Glen weel. Ye see they're juist tryin' the Scripture plan o' heapin'
+coals o' fire on yer head.
+
+"Here ye've been negleckin' the fouk in seeckness an' lettin' them
+dee afore their freends' eyes withoot a fecht, an' refusin' tae gang
+tae a puir wumman in her tribble, an' frichtenin' the bairns--no,
+a'm no dune--and scourgin' us wi' fees, and livin' yersel on the fat
+o' the land.
+
+"Ye've been carryin' on this trade ever sin yir father dee'd, and
+the Glen didna notis. But ma word, they've fund ye oot at laist, an'
+they're gaein' tae mak ye suffer for a' yir ill usage. Div ye
+understand noo?" said Jamie, savagely.
+
+For a while MacLure was silent, and then he only said:
+
+"It's little a' did for the puir bodies; but ye hev a gude hert,
+Jamie, a rael good hert."
+
+It was a bitter December Sabbath, and the fathers were settling the
+affairs of the parish ankle deep in snow, when MacLure's old
+housekeeper told Drumsheugh that the doctor was not able to rise,
+and wished to see him in the afternoon.
+
+"Ay, ay," said Hillocks, shaking his head, and that day Drumsheugh
+omitted four pews with the ladle, while Jamie was so vicious on the
+way home that none could endure him.
+
+Janet had lit a fire in the unused grate, and hung a plaid by the
+window to break the power of the cruel north wind, but the bare room
+with its half-a-dozen bits of furniture and a worn strip of carpet,
+and the outlook upon the snow drifted up to the second pane of the
+window and the black firs laden with their icy burden, sent a chill
+to Drumsheugh's heart.
+
+The doctor had weakened sadly, and could hardly lift his head, but his
+face lit up at the sight of his visitor, and the big hand, which was
+now quite refined in its whiteness, came out from the bed-clothes with
+the old warm grip.
+
+"Come in by, man, and sit doon; it's an awfu' day tae bring ye sae
+far, but a' kent ye wudna grudge the traivel.
+
+"A' wesna sure till last nicht, an' then a' felt it wudna be lang,
+an' a' took a wearyin' this mornin' tae see ye.
+
+"We've been freends sin' we were laddies at the auld schule in the
+firs, an' a' wud like ye tae be wi' me at the end. Ye 'ill stay the
+nicht, Paitrick, for auld lang syne."
+
+Drumsheugh was much shaken, and the sound of the Christian name,
+which he had not heard since his mother's death, gave him a "grue"
+(shiver), as if one had spoken from the other world.
+
+"It's maist awfu' tae hear ye speakin' aboot deein', Weelum; a'
+canna bear it. We 'ill hae the Muirtown doctor up, an' ye 'ill be
+aboot again in nae time.
+
+"Ye hevna ony sair tribble; ye're juist trachled wi' hard wark an'
+needin' a rest. Dinna say ye're gaein' tae leave us, Weelum; we
+canna dae withoot ye in Drumtochty;" and Drumsheugh looked wistfully
+for some word of hope.
+
+"Na, na, Paitrick, naethin' can be dune, an' it's ower late tae send
+for ony doctor. There's a knock that canna be mista'en, an' a' heard
+it last night. A've focht deith for ither fouk mair than forty year,
+but ma ain time hes come at laist.
+
+"A've nae tribble worth mentionin'--a bit titch o' bronchitis--an'
+a've hed a graund constitution; but a'm fair worn oot, Paitrick;
+that's ma complaint, an' its past curin'."
+
+Drumsheugh went over to the fireplace, and for a while did nothing
+but break up the smouldering peats, whose smoke powerfully affected
+his nose and eyes.
+
+"When ye're ready, Paitrick, there's twa or three little trokes a'
+wud like ye tae look aifter, an' a'll tell ye aboot them as lang's
+ma head's clear.
+
+"A' didna keep buiks, as ye ken, for a' aye hed a guid memory, so
+naebody 'ill be harried for money aifter ma deith, and ye 'ill hae
+nae accoonts tae collect.
+
+"But the fouk are honest in Drumtochty, and they 'ill be offerin' ye
+siller, an' a'll gie ye ma mind aboot it. Gin it be a puir body,
+tell her tae keep it and get a bit plaidie wi' the money, and she
+'ill maybe think o' her auld doctor at a time. Gin it be a bien
+(well-to-do) man, tak half of what he offers, for a Drumtochty man
+wud scorn to be mean in sic circumstances; and if onybody needs a
+doctor an' canna pay for him, see he's no left tae dee when a'm oot
+o' the road."
+
+"Nae fear o' that as lang as a'm living Weelum; that hundred's still
+tae the fore, ye ken, an' a'll tak care it's weel spent.
+
+"Yon wes the best job we ever did thegither, an' dookin' Saunders;
+ye 'ill no forget that nicht, Weelum"--a gleam came into the
+doctor's eyes--"tae say naethin' o' the Highlan' fling."
+
+The remembrance of that great victory came upon Drumsheugh, and
+tried his fortitude.
+
+"What 'ill become o's when ye're no here tae gie a hand in time o'
+need? we 'ill tak ill wi' a stranger that disna ken ane o's frae
+anither."
+
+"It's a' for the best, Paitrick, an' ye 'ill see that in a whilie.
+A've kent fine that ma day wes ower, an' that ye sud hae a younger
+man.
+
+"A' did what a' cud tae keep up wi' the new medicine, but a' hed
+little time for readin', an' nane for traivellin'.
+
+"A'm the last o' the auld schule, an' a' ken as weel as onybody thet
+a' wesna sae dainty an' fine-mannered as the town doctors. Ye took
+me as a' wes, an' naebody ever cuist up tae me that a' wes a plain
+man. Na, na; ye've been rael kind an' conseederate a' thae years."
+
+"Weelum, gin ye cairry on sic nonsense ony langer," interrupted
+Drumsheugh, huskily, "a'll leave the hoose; a' canna stand it."
+
+"It's the truth, Paitrick, but we 'ill gae on wi' our wark, for a'm
+failin' fast.
+
+"Gie Janet ony sticks of furniture she needs tae furnish a hoose,
+and sell a' thing else tae pay the wricht (undertaker) an' bedrel
+(grave-digger). If the new doctor be a young laddie and no verra
+rich, ye micht let him hae the buiks an' instruments; it 'ill aye be
+a help.
+
+"But a' wudna like ye tae sell Jess, for she's been a faithfu'
+servant, an' a freend tae. There's a note or twa in that drawer a'
+savit, an' if ye kent ony man that wud gie her a bite o' grass and a
+sta' in his stable till she followed her maister--"
+
+"Confoond ye, Weelum," broke out Drumsheugh; "its doonricht cruel o'
+ye to speak like this tae me. Whar wud Jess gang but tae Drumsheugh?
+she 'ill hae her run o' heck an' manger sae lang as she lives; the
+Glen wudna like tae see anither man on Jess, and nae man 'ill ever
+touch the auld mare."
+
+"Dinna mind me, Paitrick, for a' expeckit this; but ye ken we're no
+verra gleg wi' oor tongues in Drumtochty, an' dinna tell a' that's
+in oor hearts.
+
+"Weel, that's a' that a' mind, an' the rest a' leave tae yersel'.
+A've neither kith nor kin tae bury me, sae you an' the neeburs 'ill
+need tae lat me doon; but gin Tammas Mitchell or Saunders be
+stannin' near and lookin' as if they wud like a cord, gie't tae
+them, Paitrick. They're baith dour chiels, and haena muckle tae say,
+but Tammas lies a graund hert, and there's waur fouk in the Glen
+than Saunders.
+
+"A'm gettin' drowsy, an' a'll no be able tae follow ye sune, a'
+doot; wud ye read a bit tae me afore a' fa' ower?
+
+"Ye 'ill find ma mither's Bible on the drawers' heid, but ye 'ill
+need tae come close tae the bed, for a'm no hearin' or seein' sae
+weel as a' wes when ye cam."
+
+Drumsheugh put on his spectacles and searched for a comfortable
+Scripture, while the light of the lamp fell on his shaking hands and
+the doctor's face, where the shadow was now settling.
+
+"Ma mither aye wantit this read tae her when she wes sober" (weak),
+and Drumsheugh began, "In My Father's house are many mansions," but
+MacLure stopped him.
+
+"It's a bonnie word, an' yir mither wes a sanct; but it's no for the
+like o' me. It's ower gude; a' daurna tak it.
+
+"Shut the buik an' let it open itsel, an' ye 'ill get a bit a've
+been readin' every nicht the laist month."
+
+Then Drumsheugh found the Parable wherein the Master tells us what
+God thinks of a Pharisee and of a penitent sinner, till he came to
+the words: "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up
+so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
+God be merciful to me a sinner."
+
+"That micht hae been written for me, Paitrick, or ony ither auld
+sinner that hes feenished his life, an' hes naethin' tae say for
+himsel'.
+
+"It wesna easy for me tae get tae kirk, but a' cud hae managed wi' a
+stretch, an' a' used langidge a' sudna, an' a' micht hae been
+gentler, and no been so short in the temper. A' see't a' noo.
+
+"It's ower late tae mend, but ye 'ill maybe juist say to the fouk
+that I wes sorry, an' a'm houpin' that the Almichty 'ill hae mercy
+on me.
+
+"Cud ye ... pit up a bit prayer, Paitrick?"
+
+"A' haena the words," said Drumsheugh in great distress; "wud ye
+like's tae send for the minister?"
+
+"It's no the time for that noo, an' a' wud rather hae yersel'--juist
+what's in yir heart, Paitrick: the Almichty 'ill ken the lave (rest)
+Himsel'."
+
+So Drumsheugh knelt and prayed with many pauses.
+
+"Almichty God ... dinna be hard on Weelum MacLure, for he's no been
+hard wi' onybody in Drumtochty.... Be kind tae him as he's been tae
+us a' for forty year.... We're a' sinners afore Thee.... Forgive him
+what he's dune wrang, an' dinna cuist it up tae him.... Mind the
+fouk he's helpit ... the weemen an' bairnies ... an' gie him a
+welcome name, for he's sair needin't after a' his wark.... Amen."
+
+"Thank ye, Paitrick, and gude nicht tae ye. Ma ain true freend,
+gie's yir hand, for a'll maybe no ken ye again.
+
+"Noo a'll say ma mither's prayer and hae a sleep, but ye 'ill no
+leave me till a' is ower."
+
+Then he repeated as he had done every night of his life:
+
+  "This night I lay me down to sleep,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
+   And if I die before I wake,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to take."
+
+He was sleeping quietly when the wind drove the snow against the
+window with a sudden "swish ;" and he instantly awoke, so to say, in
+his sleep. Some one needed him.
+
+"Are ye frae Glen Urtach?" and an unheard voice seemed to have
+answered him.
+
+"Worse is she, an' sufferin' awfu'; that's no lichtsome; ye did
+richt tae come.
+
+"The front door's drifted up; gang roond tae the back, an' ye 'ill
+get intae the kitchen; a'll be ready in a meenut.
+
+"Gie's a hand wi' the lantern when a'm saidling Jess, an' ye needna
+come on till daylicht; a' ken the road."
+
+Then he was away in his sleep on some errand of mercy, and
+struggling through the storm.
+
+"It's a coorse nicht, Jess, an' heavy traivellin'; can ye see afore
+ye, lass? for a'm clean confused wi' the snaw; bide a wee till a'
+find the diveesion o' the roads; it's aboot here back or forrit.
+
+"Steady, lass, steady, dinna plunge; it's a drift we're in, but
+ye're no sinkin'; ... up noo; ... there ye are on the road again.
+
+"Eh, it's deep the nicht, an' hard on us baith, but there's a puir
+wumman micht dee if we didna warstle through; ... that's it; ye ken
+fine what a'm sayin'.
+
+"We 'ill hae tae leave the road here, an' tak tae the muir. Sandie
+'ill no can leave the wife alane tae meet us; ... feel for yersel',
+lass, and keep oot o' the holes.
+
+"Yon's the hoose black in the snaw. Sandie! man, ye frichtened us;
+a' didna see ye ahint the dyke; hoo's the wife?"
+
+After a while he began again:
+
+"Ye're fair dune, Jess, and so a' am masel'; we're baith gettin'
+auld, an' dinna tak sae weel wi' the nicht wark.
+
+"We 'ill sune be hame noo; this is the black wood, and it's no lang
+aifter that; we're ready for oor beds, Jess; ... ay, ye like a clap
+at a time; mony a mile we've gaed hegither.
+
+"Yon's the licht in the kitchen window; nae wonder ye're nickering
+(neighing); ... it's been a stiff journey; a'm tired, lass ... a'm
+tired tae deith," and the voice died into silence.
+
+Drumsheugh held his friend's hand, which now and again tightened in
+his, and as he watched, a change came over the face on the pillow
+beside him. The lines of weariness disappeared, as if God's hand had
+passed over it; and peace began to gather round the closed eyes.
+
+The doctor has forgotten the toil of later years, and has gone back
+to his boyhood.
+
+  "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want,"
+
+he repeated, till he came to the last verse, and then he hesitated.
+
+  "Goodness and mercy all my life
+   Shall surely follow me.
+
+"Follow me ... and ... and ... what's next? Mither said I wes tae
+haed ready when she cam.
+
+"'A'll come afore ye gang tae sleep, Wullie, but ye 'ill no get yir
+kiss unless ye can feenish the psalm.'
+
+"And ... in God's house ... for evermore my ... hoo dis it rin? a'
+canna mind the next word ... my, my--
+
+"It's ower dark noo tae read it, an' mither 'ill sune be comin'."
+
+Drumsheugh, in an agony, whispered into his ear, "'My dwelling-place,'
+Weelum."
+
+"That's it, that's it a' noo; wha said it?
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"A'm ready noo, an' a'll get ma kiss when mither comes; a' wish she
+wud come, for a'm tired an' wantin' tae sleep.
+
+"Yon's her step ... an' she's carryin' a licht in her hand; a' see
+it through the door.
+
+"Mither! a' kent ye wudna forget yir laddie, for ye promised tae
+come, and a've feenished ma psalm.
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"Gie me the kiss, mither, for a've been waitin' for ye, an' a'll
+sune be asleep."
+
+The grey morning light fell on Drumsheugh, still holding his
+friend's cold hand, and staring at a hearth where the fire had died
+down into white ashes; but the peace on the doctor's face was of one
+who rested from his labours.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+Dr. MacLure was buried during the great snowstorm, which is still
+spoken of, and will remain the standard of snowfall in Drumtochty
+for the century. The snow was deep on the Monday, and the men that
+gave notice of his funeral had hard work to reach the doctor's
+distant patients. On Tuesday morning it began to fall again in heavy
+fleecy flakes, and continued till Thursday, and then on Thursday the
+north wind rose and swept the snow into the hollows of the roads
+that went to the upland farms, and built it into a huge bank at the
+mouth of Glen Urtach, and laid it across our main roads in drifts of
+every size and the most lovely shapes, and filled up crevices in the
+hills to the depth of fifty feet.
+
+On Friday morning the wind had sunk to passing gusts that powdered
+your coat with white, and the sun was shining on one of those winter
+landscapes no townsman can imagine and no countryman ever forgets.
+The Glen, from end to end and side to side, was clothed in a
+glistering mantle white as no fuller on earth could white it, that
+flung its skirts over the clumps of trees and scattered farm-houses,
+and was only divided where the Tochty ran with black, swollen
+stream. The great moor rose and fell in swelling billows of snow
+that arched themselves over the burns, running deep in the mossy
+ground, and hid the black peat bogs with a thin, treacherous crust.
+Beyond, the hills northwards and westwards stood high in white
+majesty, save where the black crags of Glen Urtach broke the line,
+and, above our lower Grampians, we caught glimpses of the distant
+peaks that lifted their heads in holiness unto God.
+
+It seemed to me a fitting day for William MacLure's funeral, rather
+than summer time, with its flowers and golden corn. He had not been
+a soft man, nor had he lived an easy life, and now he was to be laid
+to rest amid the austere majesty of winter, yet in the shining of
+the sun. Jamie Soutar, with whom I toiled across the Glen, did not
+think with me, but was gravely concerned.
+
+"Nae doot it's a graund sicht; the like o't is no gien tae us twice
+in a generation, an' nae king wes ever carried tae his tomb in sic a
+cathedral.
+
+"But it's the fouk a'm conseederin', an' hoo they 'ill win through;
+it's hard eneuch for them 'at's on the road, an' it's clean
+impossible for the lave.
+
+"They 'ill dae their best, every man o' them, ye may depend on that,
+an' hed it been open weather there wudna hev been six able-bodied
+men missin'.
+
+"A' wes mad at them, because they never said onything when he wes
+leevin', but they felt for a' that what he hed dune, an', a' think,
+he kent it afore he deed.
+
+"He hed juist ae faut, tae ma thinkin', for a' never jidged the waur
+o' him for his titch of rochness--guid trees hae gnarled bark--but
+he thocht ower little o' himsel.
+
+"Noo, gin a' hed asked him hoo mony fouk wud come tae his beerial,
+he wud hae said, 'They 'ill be Drumsheugh an' yersel', an' maybe twa
+or three neeburs besides the minister,' an' the fact is that nae man
+in oor time wud hae sic a githerin' if it werena for the storm.
+
+"Ye see," said Jamie, who had been counting heads all morning,
+"there's six shepherds in Glen Urtach--they're shut up fast; an'
+there micht hae been a gude half dizen frae Dunleith wy, an' a'm
+telt there's nae road; an' there's the heich Glen, nae man cud cross
+the muir the day, an' it's aucht mile roond;" and Jamie proceeded to
+review the Glen in every detail of age, driftiness of road and
+strength of body, till we arrived at the doctor's cottage, when he
+had settled on a reduction of fifty through stress of weather.
+
+Drumsheugh was acknowledged as chief mourner by the Glen, and
+received us at the gate with a labored attempt at everyday manners.
+
+"Ye've hed heavy traivellin', a' doot, an' ye 'ill be cauld. It's
+hard weather for the sheep, an' a'm thinkin' this 'ill be a feeding
+storm.
+
+"There wes nae use trying tae dig oot the front door yestreen, for
+it wud hae been drifted up again before morning. We've cleared awa
+the snow at the back for the prayer; ye 'ill get in at the kitchen
+door.
+
+"There's a puckle Dunleith men--"
+
+"Wha?" cried Jamie in an instant.
+
+"Dunleith men," said Drumsheugh.
+
+"Div ye mean they're here, whar are they?"
+
+"Drying themsels at the fire, an' no withoot need; ane of them gied
+ower the head in a drift, and his neeburs hed tae pu' him oot.
+
+"It took them a gude fower oors tae get across, an' it wes coorse
+wark; they likit him weel doon that wy, an', Jamie man"--here
+Drumsheugh's voice changed its note, and his public manner
+disappeared--"what div ye think o' this? every man o' them hes on
+his blacks."
+
+"It's mair than cud be expeckit," said Jamie; "but whar dae yon men
+come frae, Drumsheugh?"
+
+Two men in plaids were descending the hill behind the doctor's
+cottage, taking three feet at a stride, and carrying long staffs in
+their hands.
+
+"They're Glen Urtach men, Jamie, for ane o' them wes at Kildrummie
+fair wi' sheep, but hoo they've wun doon passes me."
+
+"It canna be, Drumsheugh," said Jamie, greatly excited. "Glen
+Urtach's steikit up wi' sna like a locked door.
+
+"Ye're no surely frae the Glen, lads?" as the men leaped the dyke
+and crossed to the back door, the snow falling from their plaids as
+they walked.
+
+"We're that an' nae mistak, but a' thocht we wud be lickit ae place,
+eh, Chairlie? a'm no sae weel acquant wi' the hill on this side, an'
+there wes some kittle (hazardous) drifts."
+
+"It wes grand o' ye tae mak the attempt," said Drumsheugh, "an' a'm
+gled ye're safe."
+
+"He cam through as bad himsel tae help ma wife," was Charlie's
+reply.
+
+"They're three mair Urtach shepherds 'ill come in by sune; they're
+frae Upper Urtach, an' we saw them fording the river; ma certes, it
+took them a' their time, for it wes up tae their waists and rinnin'
+like a mill lade, but they jined hands and cam ower fine." And the
+Urtach men went in to the fire.
+
+The Glen began to arrive in twos and threes, and Jamie, from a point
+of vantage at the gate, and under an appearance of utter
+indifference, checked his roll till even he was satisfied.
+
+"Weelum MacLure 'ill hae the beerial he deserves in spite o' sna and
+drifts; it passes a' tae see hoo they've githered frae far an' near.
+
+"A'm thinkin'ye can colleck them for the minister noo, Drumsheugh.
+A'body's here except the heich Glen, an' we mauna hike for them."
+
+"Dinna be sae sure o' that, Jamie. Yon's terrible like them on the
+road, wi' Whinnie at their head;" and so it was, twelve in all, only
+old Adam Ross absent, detained by force, being eighty-two years of
+age.
+
+"It wud hae been temptin' Providence tae cross the muir," Whinnie
+explained, "and it's a fell stap roond; a' doot we're laist."
+
+"See, Jamie," said Drumsheugh, as he went to the house, "gin there
+be ony antern body in sicht afore we begin; we maun mak allooances
+the day wi' twa feet o' sna on the grund, tae say naethin' o'
+drifts."
+
+"There's something at the turnin', an' it's no fouk; it's a machine
+o' some kind or ither--maybe a bread cart that's focht its wy up."
+
+"Na, it's no that; there's twa horses, ane afore the ither; if it's
+no a dogcairt wi' twa men in the front; they 'ill be comin' tae the
+beerial."
+
+"What wud ye sae, Jamie," Hillocks suggested, "but it micht be some
+o' thae Muirtown doctors? they were awfu' chief wi' MacLure."
+
+"It's nae Muirtown doctors," cried Jamie, in great exultation, "nor
+ony ither doctors. A' ken thae horses, and wha's ahint them. Quick,
+man Hillocks, stop the fouk, and tell Drumsheugh tae come oot, for
+Lord Kilspindie hes come up frae Muirtown Castle."
+
+Jamie himself slipped behind, and did not wish to be seen.
+
+"It's the respeck he's gettin' the day frae high an' low," was
+Jamie's husky apology; "tae think o' them fechtin' their wy doon
+frae Glen Urtach, and toiling roond frae the heich Glen, an' his
+lordship driving through the drifts a' the road frae Muirtown, juist
+tae honour Weelum MacLure's beerial.
+
+"It's nae ceremony the day, ye may lippen tae it; it's the hert
+brocht the fouk, an' ye can see it in their faces; ilka man hes his
+ain reason, an' he's thinkin' on't, though he's speakin' o' naethin'
+but the storm; he's mindin' the day Weelum pued him oot frae the
+jaws o' death, or the nicht he savit the gude wife in her oor o'
+tribble.
+
+"That's why they pit on their blacks this mornin' afore it wes
+licht, and wrastled through the sna drifts at risk o' life.
+Drumtochty fouk canna say muckle, it's an awfu' peety, and they 'ill
+dae their best tae show naethin', but a' can read it a' in their
+een.
+
+"But wae's me"--and Jamie broke down utterly behind a fir tree, so
+tender a thing is a cynic's heart--"that fouk 'ill tak a man's best
+wark a' his days withoot a word an' no dae him honour till he dees.
+Oh, if they hed only githered like this juist aince when he wes
+livin', an' lat him see he hedna laboured in vain. His reward hes
+come ower late, ower late."
+
+During Jamie's vain regret, the Castle trap, bearing the marks of a
+wild passage in the snow-covered wheels, a broken shaft tied with
+rope, a twisted lamp, and the panting horses, pulled up between two
+rows of farmers, and Drumsheugh received his lordship with evident
+emotion.
+
+"Ma lord ... we never thocht o' this ... an' sic a road."
+
+"How are you, Drumsheugh? and how are you all this wintry day?
+That's how I'm half an hour late; it took us four hours' stiff work
+for sixteen miles, mostly in the drifts, of course."
+
+"It wes gude o' yir lordship, tae mak sic an effort, an' the hale
+Glen wull be gratefu' tae ye, for ony kindness tae him is kindness
+tae us."
+
+"You make too much of it, Drumsheugh," and the clear, firm voice was
+heard of all; "it would have taken more than a few snow drifts to
+keep me from showing my respect to William MacLure's memory."
+
+When all had gathered in a half circle before the kitchen door, Lord
+Kilspindie came out--every man noticed he had left his overcoat, and
+was in black, like the Glen--and took a place in the middle with
+Drumsheugh and Burnbrae, his two chief tenants, on the right and
+left, and as the minister appeared every man bared his head.
+
+The doctor looked on the company--a hundred men such as for strength
+and gravity you could hardly have matched in Scotland--standing out
+in picturesque relief against the white background, and he said:
+
+"It's a bitter day, friends, and some of you are old; perhaps it
+might be wise to cover your heads before I begin to pray."
+
+Lord Kilspindie, standing erect and greyheaded between the two old
+men, replied:
+
+"We thank you, Dr. Davidson, for your thoughtfulness; but he endured
+many a storm in our service, and we are not afraid of a few minutes'
+cold at his funeral."
+
+A look flashed round the stern faces, and was reflected from the
+minister, who seemed to stand higher.
+
+His prayer, we noticed with critical appreciation, was composed for
+the occasion, and the first part was a thanksgiving to God for the
+life-work of our doctor, wherein each clause was a reference to his
+services and sacrifices. No one moved or said Amen--it had been
+strange with us--but when every man had heard the gratitude of his
+dumb heart offered to Heaven, there was a great sigh.
+
+After which the minister prayed that we might have grace to live as
+this man had done from youth to old age, not for himself, but for
+others, and that we might be followed to our grave by somewhat of
+"that love wherewith we mourn this day Thy servant departed." Again
+the same sigh, and the minister said Amen.
+
+The "wricht" stood in the doorway without speaking, and four
+stalwart men came forward. They were the volunteers that would lift
+the coffin and carry it for the first stage. One was Tammas, Annie
+Mitchell's man; and another was Saunders Baxter, for whose life
+MacLure had his great fight with death; and the third was the Glen
+Urtach shepherd for whose wife's sake MacLure suffered a broken leg
+and three fractured ribs in a drift; and the fourth, a Dunleith man,
+had his own reasons of remembrance.
+
+"He's far lichter than ye wud expeck for sae big a man--there wesna
+muckle left o' him, ye see--but the road is heavy, and a'll change
+ye aifter the first half mile."
+
+"Ye needna tribble yersel, wricht," said the man from Glen Urtach;
+"the'll be nae change in the cairryin' the day," and Tammas was
+thankful some one had saved him speaking.
+
+Surely no funeral is like unto that of a doctor for pathos, and a
+peculiar sadness fell on that company as his body was carried out
+who for nearly half a century had been their help in sickness, and
+had beaten back death time after time from their door. Death after
+all was victor, for the man that saved them had not been able to
+save himself.
+
+As the coffin passed the stable door a horse neighed within, and
+every man looked at his neighbour. It was his old mare crying to her
+master.
+
+Jamie slipped into the stable, and went up into the stall.
+
+"Puir lass, ye're no gaein' wi' him the day, an' ye 'ill never see
+him again; ye've hed yir last ride thegither, an' ye were true tae
+the end."
+
+After the funeral Drumsheugh came himself for Jess, and took her to
+his farm. Saunders made a bed for her with soft, dry straw, and
+prepared for her supper such things as horses love. Jess would
+neither take food nor rest, but moved uneasily in her stall, and
+seemed to be waiting for some one that never came. No man knows what
+a horse or a dog understands and feels, for God hath not given them
+our speech. If any footstep was heard in the courtyard, she began to
+neigh, and was always looking round as the door opened. But nothing
+would tempt her to eat, and in the night-time Drumsheugh heard her
+crying as if she expected to be taken out for some sudden journey.
+The Kildrummie veterinary came to see her, and said that nothing
+could be done when it happened after this fashion with an old horse.
+
+"A've seen it aince afore," he said. "Gin she were a Christian
+instead o' a horse, ye micht say she wes dying o' a broken hert."
+
+He recommended that she should be shot to end her misery, but no man
+could be found in the Glen to do the deed, and Jess relieved them of
+the trouble. When Drumsheugh went to the stable on Monday morning, a
+week after Dr. MacLure fell on sleep, Jess was resting at last, but
+her eyes were open and her face turned to the door.
+
+"She wes a' the wife he hed," said Jamie, as he rejoined the
+procession, "an' they luved ane anither weel."
+
+The black thread wound itself along the whiteness of the Glen, the
+coffin first, with his lordship and Drumsheugh behind, and the
+others as they pleased, but in closer ranks than usual, because the
+snow on either side was deep, and because this was not as other
+funerals. They could see the women standing at the door of every
+house on the hillside, and weeping, for each family had some good
+reason in forty years to remember MacLure. When Bell Baxter saw
+Saunders alive, and the coffin of the doctor that saved him on her
+man's shoulder, she bowed her head on the dyke, and the bairns in
+the village made such a wail for him they loved that the men nearly
+disgraced themselves.
+
+"A'm gled we're through that, at ony rate," said Hillocks; "he wes
+awfu' taen up wi' the bairns, conseederin' he hed nane o' his ain."
+
+There was only one drift on the road between his cottage and the
+kirkyard, and it had been cut early that morning.
+
+Before daybreak Saunders had roused the lads in the bothy, and they
+had set to work by the light of lanterns with such good will that,
+when Drumsheugh came down to engineer a circuit for the funeral,
+there was a fair passage, with walls of snow twelve feet high on
+either side.
+
+"Man, Saunders," he said, "this wes a kind thocht, and rael weel
+dune."
+
+But Saunders' only reply was this:
+
+"Mony a time he's hed tae gang roond; he micht as weel hae an open
+road for his last traivel."
+
+When the coffin was laid down at the mouth of the grave, the only
+blackness in the white kirkyard, Tammas Mitchell did the most
+beautiful thing in all his life. He knelt down and carefully wiped
+off the snow the wind had blown upon the coffin, and which had
+covered the name, and when he had done this he disappeared behind
+the others, so that Drumsheugh could hardly find him to take a cord.
+For these were the eight that buried Dr. MacLure--Lord Kilspindie at
+the head as landlord and Drumsheugh at the feet as his friend; the
+two ministers of the parish came first on the right and left; then
+Burnbrae and Hillocks of the farmers, and Saunders and Tammas for
+the plowmen. So the Glen he loved laid him to rest.
+
+When the bedrel had finished his work and the turf had been spread,
+Lord Kilspindie spoke:
+
+"Friends of Drumtochty, it would not be right that we should part in
+silence and no man say what is in every heart. We have buried the
+remains of one that served this Glen with a devotion that has known
+no reserve, and a kindliness that never failed, for more than forty
+years. I have seen many brave men in my day, but no man in the
+trenches of Sebastopol carried himself more knightly than William
+MacLure. You will never have heard from his lips what I may tell you
+to-day, that my father secured for him a valuable post in his
+younger days, and he preferred to work among his own people; and I
+wished to do many things for him when he was old, but he would have
+nothing for himself. He will never be forgotten while one of us
+lives, and I pray that all doctors everywhere may share his spirit.
+If it be your pleasure, I shall erect a cross above his grave, and
+shall ask my old friend and companion Dr. Davidson, your minister,
+to choose the text to be inscribed."
+
+"We thank you, Lord Kilspindie," said the doctor, "for your presence
+with us in our sorrow and your tribute to the memory of William
+MacLure, and I choose this for his text:
+
+"'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
+for his friends.'"
+
+Milton was, at that time, held in the bonds of a very bitter
+theology, and his indignation was stirred by this unqualified
+eulogium.
+
+"No doubt Dr. MacLure hed mony natural virtues, an' he did his wark
+weel, but it wes a peety he didna mak mair profession o' releegion."
+
+"When William MacLure appears before the Judge, Milton," said
+Lachlan Campbell, who that day spoke his last words in public, and
+they were in defence of charity, "He will not be asking him about
+his professions, for the doctor's judgment hass been ready long ago;
+and it iss a good judgment, and you and I will be happy men if we
+get the like of it.
+
+"It iss written in the Gospel, but it iss William MacLure that will
+not be expecting it."
+
+"What is't, Lachlan?" asked Jamie Soutar, eagerly.
+
+The old man, now very feeble, stood in the middle of the road, and
+his face, once so hard, was softened into a winsome tenderness.
+
+"'Come, ye blessed of My Father ... I was sick, and ye visited Me.'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
+#2 in our series by Ian Maclaren
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
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+Title: Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
+
+Author: Ian Maclaren
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7179]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 22, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH
+
+By IAN MACLAREN
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+  'There grows a bonnie brier bush in our kail-yard,
+   And white are the blossoms on't in our kail-yard.'
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. DOMSIE.
+
+1. A LAD O' PAIRTS,
+
+2. HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+3. IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+4. A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+
+II. A HIGHLAND MYSTIC.
+
+1. WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN,
+
+2. AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS,
+
+
+III. HIS MOTHER'S SERMON,
+
+
+IV. THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL.
+
+1. A GRAND INQUISITOR,
+
+2. HIS BITTER SHAME,
+
+3. LIKE AS A FATHER,
+
+4. AS A LITTLE CHILD,
+
+
+V. THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+VI. A WISE WOMAN.
+
+1. OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+2. THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+
+VII. A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+1. A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+2. THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+3. A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+4. THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+5. THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+
+
+
+DOMSIE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A LAD O' PAIRTS
+
+The Revolution reached our parish years ago, and Drumtochty has a
+School Board, with a chairman and a clerk, besides a treasurer and
+an officer. Young Hillocks, who had two years in a lawyer's office,
+is clerk, and summons meetings by post, although he sees every
+member at the market or the kirk. Minutes are read with much
+solemnity, and motions to expend ten shillings upon a coal-cellar
+door passed, on the motion of Hillocks, seconded by Drumsheugh, who
+are both severely prompted for the occasion, and move uneasily
+before speaking.
+
+Drumsheugh was at first greatly exalted by his poll, and referred
+freely on market days to his "plumpers," but as time went on the
+irony of the situation laid hold upon him.
+
+"Think o' you and me, Hillocks, veesitin' the schule and sittin' wi'
+bukes in oor hands watchin' the Inspector. Keep's a', it's eneuch to
+mak' the auld Dominie turn in his grave. Twa meenisters cam' in his
+time, and Domsie put Geordie Hoo or some ither gleg laddie, that was
+makin' for college, thro' his facin's, and maybe some bit lassie
+brocht her copybuke. Syne they had their dinner, and Domsie tae, wi'
+the Doctor. Man, a've often thocht it was the prospeck o' the Schule
+Board and its weary bit rules that feenished Domsie. He wasna maybe
+sae shairp at the elements as this pirjinct body we hae noo, but
+a'body kent he was a terrible scholar and a credit tae the parish.
+Drumtochty was a name in thae days wi' the lads he sent tae college.
+It was maybe juist as weel he slippit awa' when he did, for he wud
+hae taen ill with thae new fikes, and nae college lad to warm his
+hert."
+
+The present school-house stands in an open place beside the main
+road to Muirtown, treeless and comfortless, built of red, staring
+stone, with a playground for the boys and another for the girls, and
+a trim, smug-looking teacher's house, all very neat and symmetrical,
+and well regulated. The local paper had a paragraph headed
+"Drumtochty," written by the Muirtown architect, describing the
+whole premises in technical language that seemed to compensate the
+ratepayers for the cost, mentioning the contractor's name, and
+concluding that "this handsome building of the Scoto-Grecian style
+was one of the finest works that had ever come from the accomplished
+architect's hands." It has pitch-pine benches and map-cases, and a
+thermometer to be kept at not less than 58  and not more than 62 ,
+and ventilators which the Inspector is careful to examine. When I
+stumbled in last week the teacher was drilling the children in Tonic
+Sol-fa with a little harmonium, and I left on tiptoe.
+
+It is difficult to live up to this kind of thing, and my thoughts
+drift to the auld schule-house and Domsie. Some one with the love of
+God in his heart had built it long ago, and chose a site for the
+bairns in the sweet pine-woods at the foot of the cart road to
+Whinnie Knowe and the upland farms. It stood in a clearing with the
+tall Scotch firs round three sides, and on the fourth a brake of
+gorse and bramble bushes, through which there was an opening to the
+road. The clearing was the playground, and in summer the bairns
+annexed as much wood as they liked, playing tig among the trees, or
+sitting down at dinner-time on the soft, dry spines that made an
+elastic carpet everywhere. Domsie used to say there were two
+pleasant sights for his old eyes every day. One was to stand in the
+open at dinner-time and see the flitting forms of the healthy, rosy
+sonsie bairns in the wood, and from the door in the afternoon to
+watch the schule skail till each group was lost in the kindly shadow,
+and the merry shouts died away in this quiet place. Then the Dominie
+took a pinch of snuff and locked the door, and went to his house
+beside the school. One evening I came on him listening bare-headed
+to the voices, and he showed so kindly that I shall take him as he
+stands. A man of middle height, but stooping below it, with sandy
+hair turning to grey, and bushy eye-brow covering keen, shrewd
+grey eyes. You will notice that his linen is coarse but spotless,
+and that, though his clothes are worn almost threadbare, they are
+well brushed and orderly. But you will be chiefly arrested by the
+Dominie's coat, for the like of it was not in the parish. It was a
+black dress coat, and no man knew when it had begun its history; in
+its origin and its continuance it resembled Melchisedek. Many were
+the myths that gathered round that coat, but on this all were agreed,
+that without it we could not have realised the Dominie, and it
+became to us the sign and trappings of learning. He had taken a
+high place at the University, and won a good degree, and I've heard
+the Doctor say that he had a career before him. But something
+happened in his life, and Domsie buried himself among the woods with
+the bairns of Drumtochty. No one knew the story, but after he died I
+found a locket on his breast, with a proud, beautiful face within,
+and I have fancied it was a tragedy. It may have been in substitution
+that he gave all his love to the children, and nearly all his money
+too, helping lads to college, and affording an inexhaustible store
+of peppermints for the little ones.
+
+Perhaps one ought to have been ashamed of that school-house, but yet
+it had its own distinction, for scholars were born there, and now
+and then to this day some famous man will come and stand in the
+deserted playground for a space. The door was at one end, and stood
+open in summer, so that the boys saw the rabbits come out from their
+holes on the edge of the wood, and birds sometimes flew in unheeded.
+The fireplace was at the other end, and was fed in winter with the
+sticks and peats brought by the scholars. On one side Domsie sat
+with the half-dozen lads he hoped to send to college, to whom he
+grudged no labour, and on the other gathered the very little ones,
+who used to warm their bare feet at the fire, while down the sides
+of the room the other scholars sat at their rough old desks, working
+sums and copying. Now and then a class came up and did some task,
+and at times a boy got the tawse for his negligence, but never a
+girl. He kept the girls in as their punishment, with a brother to
+take them home, and both had tea in Domsie's house, with a bit of
+his best honey, departing much torn between an honest wish to please
+Domsie and a pardonable longing for another tea.
+
+"Domsie," as we called the schoolmaster, behind his back in
+Drumtochty, because we loved him, was true to the tradition of his
+kind, and had an unerring scent for "pairts" in his laddies. He
+could detect a scholar in the egg, and prophesied Latinity from a
+boy that seemed fit only to be a cowherd. It was believed that he
+had never made a mistake in judgment, and it was not his blame if
+the embryo scholar did not come to birth. "Five and thirty years
+have I been minister at Drumtochty," the Doctor used to say at
+school examinations, "and we have never wanted a student at the
+University, and while Dominie Jamieson lives we never shall."
+Whereupon Domsie took snuff, and assigned his share of credit to the
+Doctor, "who gave the finish in Greek to every lad of them, without
+money and without price, to make no mention of the higher mathematics."
+Seven ministers, four schoolmasters, four doctors, one professor,
+and three civil service men had been sent out by the auld schule
+in Domsie's time, besides many that "had given themselves to
+mercantile pursuits."
+
+He had a leaning to classics and the professions, but Domsie was
+catholic in his recognition of "pairts," and when the son of
+Hillocks' foreman made a collection of the insects of Drumtochty,
+there was a council at the manse. "Bumbee Willie," as he had been
+pleasantly called by his companions, was rescued from ridicule and
+encouraged to fulfil his bent. Once a year a long letter came to Mr.
+Patrick Jamieson, M.A., Schoolmaster, Drumtochty, N.B., and the
+address within was the British Museum. When Domsie read this letter
+to the school, he was always careful to explain that "Dr. Graham is
+the greatest living authority on beetles," and, generally speaking,
+if any clever lad did not care for Latin, he had the alternative of
+beetles.
+
+But it was Latin Domsie hunted for as for fine gold, and when he
+found the smack of it in a lad he rejoiced openly. He counted it a
+day in his life when he knew certainly that he had hit on another
+scholar, and the whole school saw the identification of George Howe.
+For a winter Domsie had been "at point," racing George through
+Caesar, stalking him behind irregular verbs, baiting traps with
+tit-bits of Virgil. During these exercises Domsie surveyed George
+from above his spectacles with a hope that grew every day in assurance,
+and came to its height over a bit of Latin prose. Domsie tasted it
+visibly, and read it again in the shadow of the firs at meal-time,
+slapping his leg twice.
+
+"He'll dae! he'll dae!" cried Domsie aloud, ladling in the snuff.
+"George, ma mannie, tell yir father that I am comin' up to Whinnie
+Knowe the nicht on a bit o' business."
+
+Then the "schule" knew that Geordie Hoo was marked for college, and
+pelted him with fir cones in great gladness of heart.
+
+"Whinnie" was full of curiosity over the Dominie's visit, and vexed
+Marget sorely, to whom Geordie had told wondrous things in the
+milk-house. "It canna be coals 'at he's wantin' frae the station,
+for there's a fell puckle left."
+
+"And it'll no be seed taties," she said, pursuing the principle of
+exhaustion, "for he hes some Perthshire reds himsel'. I doot it's
+somethin' wrang with Geordie," and Whinnie started on a new track.
+
+"He's been playin' truant maybe. A' mind gettin' ma paiks for
+birdnestin' masel. I'll wager that's the verra thing."
+
+"Weel, yir wrang, Weelum," broke in Marget, Whinnie's wife, a tall,
+silent woman, with a speaking face; "it's naither the ae thing nor
+the ither, but something I've been prayin' for since Geordie was a
+wee bairn. Clean yirsel and meet Domsie on the road, for nae man
+deserves more honour in Drumtochty, naither laird nor farmer."
+
+Conversation with us was a leisurely game, with slow movements and
+many pauses, and it was our custom to handle all the pawns before we
+brought the queen into action.
+
+Domsie and Whinnie discussed the weather with much detail before
+they came in sight of George, but it was clear that Domsie was
+charged with something weighty, and even Whinnie felt that his own
+treatment of the turnip crop was wanting in repose.
+
+At last Domsie cleared his throat and looked at Marget, who had been
+in and out, but ever within hearing.
+
+"George is a fine laddie, Mrs. Howe."
+
+An ordinary Drumtochty mother, although bursting with pride, would
+have responded, "He's weel eneuch, if he hed grace in his heart," in
+a tone that implied it was extremely unlikely, and that her laddie
+led the reprobates of the parish. As it was, Marget's face
+lightened, and she waited.
+
+"What do you think of making him?" and the Dominie dropped the words
+slowly, for this was a moment in Drumtochty.
+
+There was just a single ambition in those humble homes, to have one
+of its members at college, and if Domsie approved a lad, then his
+brothers and sisters would give their wages, and the family would
+live on skim milk and oat cake, to let him have his chance.
+
+Whinnie glanced at his wife and turned to Domsie.
+
+"Marget's set on seein' Geordie a minister, Dominie."
+
+"If he's worthy o't, no otherwise. We haena the means though; the
+farm is highly rented, and there's barely a penny over at the end o'
+the year."
+
+"But you are willing George should go and see what he can do. If he
+disappoint you, then I dinna know a lad o' pairts when I see him,
+and the Doctor is with me."
+
+"Maister Jamieson," said Marget, with great solemnity, "ma hert's
+desire is to see George a minister, and if the Almichty spared me to
+hear ma only bairn open his mooth in the Evangel, I wud hae naething
+mair to ask ... but I doot sair it canna be managed."
+
+Domsie had got all he asked, and he rose in his strength.
+
+"If George Howe disna get to college, then he's the first scholar
+I've lost in Drumtochty ... ye 'ill manage his keep and sic like?"
+
+"Nae fear o' that," for Whinnie was warming, "tho' I haena a steek
+(stitch) o' new claithes for four years. But what aboot his fees and
+ither ootgaeins?"
+
+"There's ae man in the parish can pay George's fees without missing
+a penny, and I'll warrant he 'ill dae it."
+
+"Are ye meanin' Drumsheugh?" said Whinnie, "for ye 'ill never get a
+penny piece oot o' him. Did ye no hear hoo the Frees wiled him intae
+their kirk, Sabbath past a week, when Netherton's sister's son frae
+Edinboro' wes preaching the missionary sermon, expectin' a note, and
+if he didna change a shillin' at the public-hoose and pit in a
+penny. Sall, he's a lad Drumsheugh; a'm thinking ye may save yir
+journey, Dominie."
+
+But Marget looked away from her into the past, and her eyes had a
+tender light. "He hed the best hert in the pairish aince."
+
+Domsie found Drumsheugh inclined for company, and assisted at an
+exhaustive and caustic treatment of local affairs. When the conduct
+of Piggie Walker, who bought Drumsheugh's potatoes and went into
+bankruptcy without paying for a single tuber, had been characterized
+in language that left nothing to be desired, Drumsheugh began to
+soften and show signs of reciprocity.
+
+"Hoo's yir laddies, Dominie?" whom the farmers regarded as a risky
+turnip crop in a stiff clay that Domsie had "to fecht awa in." "Are
+ony o' them shaping weel?"
+
+Drumsheugh had given himself away, and Domsie laid his first
+parallel with a glowing account of George Howe's Latinity, which was
+well received.
+
+"Weel, I'm gled tae hear sic accoonts o' Marget Hoo's son; there's
+naething in Whinnie but what the spune puts in."
+
+But at the next move Drumsheugh scented danger and stood at guard.
+"Na, na, Dominie, I see what yir aifter fine; ye mind hoo ye got
+three notes oot o' me at Perth market Martinmas a year past for ane
+o' yir college laddies. Five punds for four years; my word, yir no
+blate (modest). And what for sud I educat Marget Hoo's bairn? If ye
+kent a' ye wudna ask me; it's no reasonable, Dominie. So there's an
+end o't."
+
+Domsie was only a pedantic old parish schoolmaster, and he knew
+little beyond his craft, but the spirit of the Humanists awoke
+within him, and he smote with all his might, bidding goodbye to his
+English as one flings away the scabbard of a sword.
+
+"Ye think that a'm asking a great thing when I plead for a pickle
+notes to give a puir laddie a college education. I tell ye, man, a'm
+honourin' ye and givin' ye the fairest chance ye'll ever hae o'
+winning wealth. Gin ye store the money ye hae scrapit by mony a hard
+bargain, some heir ye never saw 'ill gar it flee in chambering and
+wantonness. Gin ye hed the heart to spend it on a lad o' pairts like
+Geordie Hoo, ye wud hae twa rewards nae man could tak fra ye. Ane
+wud be the honest gratitude o' a laddie whose desire for knowledge
+ye hed sateesfied, and the second wud be this--anither scholar in
+the land; and a'm thinking with auld John Knox that ilka scholar is
+something added to the riches of the commonwealth. And what 'ill it
+cost ye? Little mair than the price o' a cattle beast. Man, Drumsheugh,
+ye poverty-stricken cratur, I've naethin' in this world but a handfu'
+o' books and a ten-pund note for my funeral, and yet, if it wasna I
+have all my brither's bairns tae keep, I wud pay every penny mysel'.
+But I'll no see Geordie sent to the plough, tho' I gang frae door
+to door. Na, na, the grass 'ill no grow on the road atween the
+college and the schule-hoose o' Drumtochty till they lay me in the
+auld kirkyard."
+
+"Sall, Domsie was roosed," Drumsheugh explained in the Muirtown inn
+next market. "'Miserly wratch' was the ceevilest word on his tongue.
+He wud naither sit nor taste, and was half way doon the yaird afore
+I cud quiet him. An' a'm no sayin' he hed na reason if I'd been
+meanin' a' I said. It wud be a scan'al to the pairish if a likely
+lad cudna win tae college for the want o' siller. Na, na, neeburs,
+we hae oor faults, but we're no sae dune mean as that in
+Drumtochty."
+
+As it was, when Domsie did depart he could only grip Drumsheugh's
+hand, and say Maecenas, and was so intoxicated, but not with strong
+drink, that he explained to Hillocks on the way home that Drumsheugh
+would be a credit to Drumtochty, and that his Latin style reminded
+him of Cicero. He added as an afterthought that Whinnie Knowe had
+promised to pay Drumsheugh's fees for four years at the University
+of Edinburgh.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+Domsie was an artist, and prepared the way for George's University
+achievement with much cunning. Once every Sabbath in the kirk-yard,
+where he laid down the law beneath an old elm tree, and twice
+between Sabbaths, at the post-office and by the wayside, he adjured
+us not to expect beyond measure, and gave us reasons.
+
+"Ye see, he has a natural talent for learning, and took to Latin
+like a duck to water. What could be done in Drumtochty was done for
+him, and he's working night and day, but he'll have a sore fight
+with the lads from the town schools. Na, na, neighbours," said the
+Dominie, lapsing into dialect, "we daurna luik for a prize. No the
+first year, at ony rate."
+
+"Man, Dominie. A'm clean astonished at ye," Drumsheugh used to break
+in, who, since he had given to George's support, outran us all in
+his faith, and had no patience with Domsie's devices, "a' tell ye if
+Geordie disna get a first in every class he's entered for, the
+judges 'ill be a puir lot," with a fine confusion of circumstances.
+
+"Losh, Drumsheugh, be quiet, or ye'll dae the laddie an injury,"
+said Domsie, with genuine alarm. "We maunna mention prizes, and
+first is fair madness, A certificate of honour now, that will be
+aboot it, may be next to the prizemen."
+
+Coming home from market he might open his heart. "George 'ill be
+amang the first sax, or my name is no Jamieson," but generally he
+prophesied a moderate success. There were times when he affected
+indifference, and talked cattle. We then regarded him with awe,
+because this was more than mortal.
+
+It was my luck to carry the bulletin to Domsie, and I learned what
+he had been enduring. It was good manners in Drumtochty to feign
+amazement at the sight of a letter, and to insist that it must be
+intended for some other person. When it was finally forced upon one,
+you examined the handwriting at various angles and speculated about
+the writer. Some felt emboldened, after these precautions, to open
+the letter, but this haste was considered indecent. When Posty
+handed Drumsheugh the factor's letter, with the answer to his offer
+for the farm, he only remarked, "It'll be frae the factor," and
+harked back to a polled Angus bull he had seen at the show. "Sall,"
+said Posty in the kirkyard with keen relish, "ye'll never flurry
+Drumsheugh." Ordinary letters were read in leisurely retirement,
+and, in case of urgency, answered within the week.
+
+Domsie clutched the letter, and would have torn off the envelope.
+But he could not; his hand was shaking like an aspen. He could only
+look, and I read:
+
+"Dear Mr. Jamieson,--The class honour lists are just out, and you
+will be pleased to know that I have got the medal both in the
+Humanity and the Greek."
+
+There was something about telling his mother, and his gratitude to
+his schoolmaster, but Domsie heard no more. He tried to speak and
+could not, for a rain of tears was on his hard old face. Domsie was
+far more a pagan than a saint, but somehow he seemed to me that day
+as Simeon, who had at last seen his heart's desire, and was
+satisfied.
+
+When the school had dispersed with a joyful shout, and disappeared
+in the pine woods, he said, "Ye'll come too," and I knew he was
+going to Whinnie Knowe. He did not speak one word upon the way, but
+twice he stood and read the letter which he held fast in his hand.
+His face was set as he climbed the cart track. I saw it set again as
+we came down that road one day, but it was well that we could not
+pierce beyond the present.
+
+Whinnie left his plough in the furrow, and came to meet us, taking
+two drills at a stride, and shouting remarks on the weather yards
+off.
+
+Domsie only lifted the letter. "Frae George."
+
+"Ay, ay, and what's he gotten noo?"
+
+Domsie solemnly unfolded the letter, and brought down his spectacles.
+"Edinburgh, April 7th." Then he looked at Whinnie, and closed his
+mouth.
+
+"We'll tell it first to his mither."
+
+"Yer richt, Dominie. She weel deserves it. A'm thinking she's seen
+us by this time." So we fell into a procession, Dominie leading by
+two yards; and then a strange thing happened. For the first and last
+time in his life Domsie whistled, and the tune was "A hundred pipers
+and a' and a'," and as he whistled he seemed to dilate before our
+eyes, and he struck down thistles with his stick--a thistle at every
+stroke.
+
+"Domsie's fair carried," whispered Whinnie, "it cowes a'."
+
+Marget met us at the end of the house beside the brier bush, where
+George was to sit on summer afternoons before he died, and a flash
+passed between Domsie and the lad's mother. Then she knew that it
+was well, and fixed her eyes on the letter, but Whinnie, his thumbs
+in his armholes, watched the wife.
+
+Domsie now essayed to read the news, but between the shaking of his
+hands and his voice he could not.
+
+"It's nae use," he cried, "he's first in the Humanity oot o' a
+hundred and seeventy lads, first o' them a', and he's first in the
+Greek too; the like o' this is hardly known, and it has na been seen
+in Drumtochty since there was a schule. That's the word he's sent,
+and he bade me tell his mother without delay, and I am here as fast
+as my old feet could carry me."
+
+I glanced round, although I did not myself see very clearly.
+
+Marget was silent for the space of five seconds; she was a good
+woman, and I knew that better afterwards. She took the Dominie's
+hand, and said to him, "Under God this was your doing, Maister
+Jamieson, and for your reward ye'ill get naither silver nor gold,
+but ye hae a mither's gratitude."
+
+Whinnie gave a hoarse chuckle and said to his wife, "It was frae
+you, Marget, he got it a'."
+
+When we settled in the parlour Domsie's tongue was loosed, and he
+lifted up his voice and sang the victory of Geordie Hoo.
+
+"It's ten years ago at the brak up o' the winter ye brought him down
+to me, Mrs. Hoo, and ye said at the schule-hoose door, 'Dinna be
+hard on him, Maister Jamieson, he's my only bairn, and a wee thingie
+quiet.' Div ye mind what I said, 'There's something ahint that
+face,' and my heart warmed to George that hour. Two years after the
+Doctor examined the schule, and he looks at George. 'That's a likely
+lad, Dominie. What think ye?' And he was only eight years auld, and
+no big for his size. 'Doctor, I daurna prophesy till we turn him
+into the Latin, but a've my thoughts.' So I had a' the time, but I
+never boasted, na, na, that's dangerous. Didna I say, 'Ye hev a
+promisin' laddie, Whinnie,' ae day in the market?"
+
+"It's a fac'," said Whinnie, "it wes the day I bocht the white coo."
+But Domsie swept on.
+
+"The first year o' Latin was enough for me. He juist nippet up his
+verbs. Casar could na keep him going; he wes into Virgil afore he
+wes eleven, and the Latin prose, man, as sure as a'm living, it
+tasted o' Cicero frae the beginning."
+
+Whinnie wagged his head in amazement.
+
+"It was the verra nicht o' the Latin prose I cam up to speak aboot
+the college, and ye thocht Geordie hed been playing truant."
+
+Whinnie laughed uproariously, but Domsie heeded not.
+
+"It was awfu' work the next twa years, but the Doctor stood in weel
+wi' the Greek. Ye mind hoo Geordie tramped ower the muir to the
+manse thro' the weet an' the snaw, and there wes aye dry stockings
+for him in the kitchen afore he had his Greek in the Doctor's
+study."
+
+"And a warm drink tae," put in Marget, "and that's the window I pit the
+licht in to guide him hame in the dark winter nichts, and mony a time
+when the sleet played swish on the glass I wes near wishin'--" Domsie
+waved his hand.
+
+"But that's dune wi' noo, and he was worth a' the toil and trouble.
+First in the Humanity and first in the Greek, sweepit the field,
+Lord preserve us. A' can hardly believe it. Eh, I was feared o' thae
+High School lads. They had terrible advantages. Maisters frae
+England, and tutors, and whatna', but Drumtochty carried aff the
+croon. It'll be fine reading in the papers--
+
+_Humanity_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire.
+
+_Greek_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire."
+
+"It'll be michty," cried Whinnie, now fairly on fire.
+
+"And Philosophy and Mathematics to come. Geordie's no bad at Euclid,
+I'll wager he'll be first there too. When he gets his hand in
+there's naething he's no fit for wi' time. My ain laddie--and the
+Doctor's--we maunna forget him--it's his classics he hes, every book
+o' them. The Doctor 'ill be lifted when he comes back on Saturday.
+A'm thinkin' we'll hear o't on Sabbath. And Drumsheugh, he'll be
+naither to had nor bind in the kirk-yard. As for me, I wad na change
+places wi' the Duke o' Athole," and Domsie shook the table to its
+foundation.
+
+Then he awoke, as from a dream, and the shame of boasting that shuts
+the mouths of self-respecting Scots descended upon him.
+
+"But this is fair nonsense. Ye'll no mind the havers o' an auld
+dominie."
+
+He fell back on a recent roup, and would not again break away,
+although sorely tempted by certain of Whinnie's speculations.
+
+When I saw him last, his coat-tails were waving victoriously as he
+leaped a dyke on his way to tell our Drumtochty Maecenas that the
+judges knew their business.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+The cart track to Whinnie Knowe was commanded by a gable window, and
+Whinnie boasted that Marget had never been taken unawares. Tramps,
+finding every door locked, and no sign of life anywhere, used to
+express their mind in the "close," and return by the way they came,
+while ladies from Kildrummie, fearful lest they should put Mrs. Howe
+out, were met at the garden gate by Marget in her Sabbath dress, and
+brought into a set tea as if they had been invited weeks before.
+
+Whinnie gloried most in the discomfiture of the Tory agent, who had
+vainly hoped to coerce him in the stack yard without Marget's
+presence, as her intellectual contempt for the Conservative party
+knew no bounds.
+
+"Sall she saw him slip aff the road afore the last stile, and wheep
+roond the fit o' the gairden wa' like a tod (fox) aifter the
+chickens.
+
+"'It's a het day, Maister Anderson,' says Marget frae the gairden,
+lookin' doon on him as calm as ye like. 'Yir surely no gaein' to
+pass oor hoose without a gless o' milk?'
+
+"Wud ye believe it, he wes that upset he left withoot sayin' 'vote,'
+and Drumsheugh telt me next market that his langidge aifterwards
+cudna be printed."
+
+When George came home for the last time, Marget went back and
+forward all afternoon from his bedroom to the window, and hid
+herself beneath the laburnum to see his face as the cart stood
+before the stile. It told her plain what she had feared, and Marget
+passed through her Gethsemane with the gold blossoms falling on her
+face. When their eyes met, and before she helped him down, mother
+and son understood.
+
+"Ye mind what I told ye, o' the Greek mothers, the day I left. Weel,
+I wud hae liked to have carried my shield, but it wasna to be, so
+I've come home on it." As they went slowly up the garden walk, "I've
+got my degree, a double first, mathematics and classics."
+
+"Ye've been a gude soldier, George, and faithfu'."
+
+"Unto death, a'm dootin, mother."
+
+"Na," said Marget, "unto life."
+
+Drumtochty was not a heartening place in sickness, and Marget, who
+did not think our thoughts, endured much consolation at her
+neighbour's hands. It is said that in cities visitors congratulate a
+patient on his good looks, and deluge his family with instances of
+recovery. This would have seemed to us shallow and unfeeling,
+besides being a "temptin' o' Providence," which might not have
+intended to go to extremities, but on a challenge of this kind had
+no alternative. Sickness was regarded as a distinction tempered with
+judgment, and favoured people found it difficult to be humble. I
+always thought more of Peter MacIntosh when the mysterious "tribble"
+that needed the Perth doctor made no difference in his manner, and
+he passed his snuff box across the seat before the long prayer as
+usual, but in this indifference to privileges Peter was exceptional.
+
+You could never meet Kirsty Stewart on equal terms, although she was
+quite affable to any one who knew his place.
+
+"Ay," she said, on my respectful allusion to her experience, "a've
+seen mair than most. It doesna become me to boast, but tho' I say it
+as sudna, I hae buried a' my ain fouk."
+
+Kirsty had a "way" in sick visiting, consisting in a certain cadence
+of the voice and arrangement of the face, which was felt to be
+soothing and complimentary.
+
+"Yir aboot again, a'm glad to see," to me after my accident, "but
+yir no dune wi' that leg; na, na, Jeems, that was ma second son,
+scrapit his shin aince, tho' no so bad as ye've dune a'm hearing
+(for I had denied Kirsty the courtesy of an inspection). It's sax
+year syne noo, and he got up and wes traivellin' fell hearty like
+yersel. But he begood to dwam (sicken) in the end of the year, and
+soughed awa' in the spring. Ay, ay, when tribble comes ye never ken
+hoo it 'ill end. A' thocht I wud come up and speir for ye. A body
+needs comfort gin he's sober (ill)."
+
+When I found George wrapped in his plaid beside the brier bush whose
+roses were no whiter than his cheeks, Kirsty was already installed
+as comforter in the parlour, and her drone came through the open
+window.
+
+"Ay, ay, Marget, sae it's come to this. Weel, we daurna complain, ye
+ken. Be thankfu' ye haena lost your man and five sons, besides twa
+sisters and a brither, no to mention cousins. That wud be something
+to speak aboot, and Losh keep's, there's nae saying but he micht
+hang on a whilie. Ay, ay, it's a sair blow aifter a' that wes in the
+papers. I wes feared when I heard o' the papers; 'Lat weel alane,'
+says I to the Dominie; 'ye 'ill bring a judgment on the laddie wi'
+yir blawing.' But ye micht as weel hae spoken to the hills. Domsie's
+a thraun body at the best, and he was clean infatuat' wi' George.
+Ay, ay, it's an awfu' lesson, Marget, no to mak' idols o' our
+bairns, for that's naethin' else than provokin' the Almichty."
+
+It was at this point that Marget gave way and scandalized
+Drumtochty, which held that obtrusive prosperity was an irresistible
+provocation to the higher powers, and that a skilful depreciation of
+our children was a policy of safety.
+
+"Did ye say the Almichty? I'm thinkin' that's ower grand a name for
+your God, Kirsty. What wud ye think o' a faither that brocht hame
+some bonnie thing frae the fair for ane o' his bairns, and when the
+puir bairn wes pleased wi' it tore it oot o' his hand and flung it
+into the fire? Eh, woman, he wud be a meeserable cankered jealous
+body. Kirsty, wumman, when the Almichty sees a mither bound up in
+her laddie, I tell ye He is sair pleased in His heaven, for mind ye
+hoo He loved His ain Son. Besides, a'm judgin' that nane o' us can
+love anither withoot lovin' Him, or hurt anither withoot hurtin'
+Him.
+
+"Oh, I ken weel that George is gaein' to leave us; but it's no
+because the Almichty is jealous o' him or me, no likely. It cam' to
+me last nicht that He needs my laddie for some grand wark in the
+ither world, and that's hoo George has his bukes brocht oot tae the
+garden and studies a' the day. He wants to be ready for his kingdom,
+just as he trachled in the bit schule o' Drumtochty for Edinboro'. I
+hoped he wud hae been a minister o' Christ's Gospel here, but he
+'ill be judge over many cities yonder. A'm no denyin', Kirsty, that
+it's a trial, but I hae licht on it, and naethin' but gude thochts
+o' the Almichty."
+
+Drumtochty understood that Kirsty had dealt faithfully with Marget
+for pride and presumption, but all we heard was, "Losh keep us a'."
+
+When Marget came out and sat down beside her son, her face was
+shining. Then she saw the open window.
+
+"I didna ken."
+
+"Never mind, mither, there's nae secrets atween us, and it gar'd my
+heart leap to hear ye speak up like yon for God, and to know yir
+content. Div ye mind the nicht I called for ye, mother, and ye gave
+me the Gospel aboot God?"
+
+Marget slipped her hand into George's, and he let his head rest on
+her shoulder. The likeness flashed upon me in that moment, the
+earnest deep-set grey eyes, the clean-cut firm jaw, and the tender
+mobile lips, that blend of apparent austerity and underlying romance
+that make the pathos of a Scottish face.
+
+"There had been a Revival man, here," George explained to me, "and
+he was preaching on hell. As it grew dark a candle was lighted, and
+I can still see his face as in a picture, a hard-visaged man. He
+looked down at us laddies in the front, and asked us if we knew what
+like hell was. By this time we were that terrified none of us could
+speak, but I whispered 'No.'
+
+"Then he rolled up a piece of paper and held it in the flame, and we
+saw it burn and glow and shrivel up and fall in black dust.
+
+"'Think,' said he, and he leaned over the desk, and spoke in a
+gruesome whisper which made the cold run down our backs, 'that yon
+paper was your finger, one finger only of your hand, and it burned
+like that for ever and ever, and think of your hand and your arm and
+your whole body all on fire, never to go out.' We shuddered that you
+might have heard the form creak. 'That is hell, and that is where
+ony laddie will go who does not repent and believe.'
+
+"It was like Dante's Inferno, and I dared not take my eyes off his
+face. He blew out the candle, and we crept to the door trembling,
+not able to say one word.
+
+"That night I could not sleep, for I thought I might be in the fire
+before morning. It was harvest time, and the moon was filling the
+room with cold clear light. From my bed I could see the stooks
+standing in rows upon the field, and it seemed like the judgment
+day.
+
+"I was only a wee laddie, and I did what we all do in trouble, I
+cried for my mother.
+
+"Ye hae na forgotten, mither, the fricht that was on me that nicht."
+
+"Never," said Marget, "and never can; it's hard wark for me to keep
+frae hating that man, dead or alive. Geordie gripped me wi' baith
+his wee airms round my neck, and he cries over and over and over
+again, 'Is yon God?'"
+
+"Ay, and ye kissed me, mither, and ye said (it's like yesterday),
+'Yir safe with me,' and ye telt me that God micht punish me to mak
+me better if I was bad, but that he wud never torture ony puir soul,
+for that cud dae nae guid, and was the Devil's wark. Ye asked me:
+
+"'Am I a guid mother tae ye?' and when I could dae naethin' but
+hold, ye said, 'Be sure God maun be a hantle kinder.'
+
+"The truth came to me as with a flicker, and I cuddled down into my
+bed, and fell asleep in His love as in my mother's arms.
+
+"Mither," and George lifted up his head, "that was my conversion,
+and, mither dear, I hae longed a' thro' thae college studies for the
+day when ma mooth wud be opened wi' this evangel."
+
+Marget's was an old-fashioned garden, with pinks and daisies and
+forget-me-nots, with sweet-scented wall-flower and thyme and moss
+roses, where nature had her way, and gracious thoughts could visit
+one without any jarring note. As George's voice softened to the
+close, I caught her saying, "His servants shall see His face," and
+the peace of Paradise fell upon us in the shadow of death.
+
+The night before the end George was carried out to his corner, and
+Domsie, whose heart was nigh unto the breaking, sat with him the
+afternoon. They used to fight the College battles over again, with
+their favourite classics beside them, but this time none of them
+spoke of books. Marget was moving about the garden, and she told me
+that George looked at Domsie wistfully, as if he had something to
+say and knew not how to do it.
+
+After a while he took a book from below his pillow, and began, like
+one thinking over his words:
+
+"Maister Jamieson, ye hae been a gude freend tae me, the best I ever
+hed aifter my mither and faither. Wull ye tak this buik for a
+keepsake o' yir grateful scholar? It's a Latin 'Imitation' Dominie,
+and it's bonnie printin'. Ye mind hoo ye gave me yir ain Virgil, and
+said he was a kind o' Pagan sanct. Noo here is my sanct, and div ye
+ken I've often thocht Virgil saw His day afar off, and was glad.
+Wull ye read it, Dominie, for my sake, and maybe ye 'ill come to
+see--" and George could not find words for more.
+
+But Domsie understood. "Ma laddie, ma laddie, that I luve better
+than onythin' on earth, I'll read it till I die, and, George, I'll
+tell ye what livin' man does na ken. When I was your verra age I had
+a cruel trial, and ma heart was turned frae faith. The classics hae
+been my bible, though I said naethin' to ony man against Christ. He
+aye seemed beyond man, and noo the veesion o' Him has come to me in
+this gairden. Laddie, ye hae dune far mair for me than I ever did
+for you. Wull ye mak a prayer for yir auld dominie afore we pairt?"
+
+There was a thrush singing in the birches and a sound of bees in the
+air, when George prayed in a low, soft voice, with a little break in
+it.
+
+"Lord Jesus, remember my dear maister, for he's been a kind freend
+to me and mony a puir laddie in Drumtochty. Bind up his sair heart
+and give him licht at eventide, and may the maister and his scholars
+meet some mornin' where the schule never skails, in the kingdom o'
+oor Father."
+
+Twice Domsie said Amen, and it seemed as the voice of another man,
+and then he kissed George upon the forehead; but what they said
+Marget did not wish to hear.
+
+When he passed out at the garden gate, the westering sun was shining
+golden, and the face of Domsie was like unto that of a little child.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+Drumtochty never acquitted itself with credit at a marriage, having
+no natural aptitude for gaiety, and being haunted with anxiety lest
+any "hicht" should end in a "howe," but the parish had a genius for
+funerals. It was long mentioned with a just sense of merit that an
+English undertaker, chancing on a "beerial" with us, had no limits
+to his admiration. He had been disheartened to despair all his life
+by the ghastly efforts of chirpy little Southerners to look solemn
+on occasion, but his dreams were satisfied at the sight of men like
+Drumsheugh and Hillocks in their Sabbath blacks. Nature lent an
+initial advantage in face, but it was an instinct in the blood that
+brought our manner to perfection, and nothing could be more awful
+than a group of those austere figures, each man gazing into vacancy
+without a trace of expression, and refusing to recognise his nearest
+neighbour by word or look. Drumtochty gave itself to a "beerial"
+with chastened satisfaction, partly because it lay near to the
+sorrow of things, and partly because there was nothing of speculation
+in it. "Ye can hae little rael pleesure in a merrige," explained our
+gravedigger, in whom the serious side had been perhaps abnormally
+developed, "for ye never ken hoo it will end; but there's nae risk
+about a 'beerial.'"
+
+It came with a shock upon townsmen that the ceremony began with a
+"service o' speerits," and that an attempt of the Free Kirk minister
+to replace this by the reading of Scripture was resisted as an
+"innovation." Yet every one admitted that the seriousness of
+Drumtochty pervaded and sanctified this function. A tray of glasses
+was placed on a table with great solemnity by the "wricht," who made
+no sign and invited none. You might have supposed that the
+circumstance had escaped the notice of the company, so abstracted
+and unconscious was their manner, had it not been that two graven
+images a minute later are standing at the table.
+
+"Ye 'ill taste, Tammas," with settled melancholy.
+
+"Na, na; I've nae incleenation the day; it's an awfu' dispensation
+this, Jeems. She wud be barely saxty."
+
+"Ay, ay, but we maun keep up the body sae lang as we're here,
+Tammas."
+
+"Weel, puttin' it that way, a'm not sayin' but yir richt," yielding
+unwillingly to the force of circumstance.
+
+"We're here the day and there the morn, Tammas. She wes a fine
+wumman--Mistress Stirton--a weel-livin' wumman; this 'ill be a
+blend, a'm thinkin'."
+
+"She slippit aff sudden in the end; a'm judgin' it's frae the
+Muirtown grocer; but a body canna discreeminate on a day like this."
+
+Before the glasses are empty all idea of drinking is dissipated, and
+one has a vague impression that he is at church.
+
+It was George Howe's funeral that broke the custom and closed the
+"service." When I came into the garden where the neighbours were
+gathered, the "wricht" was removing his tray, and not a glass had
+been touched. Then I knew that Drumtochty had a sense of the fitness
+of things, and was stirred to its depths.
+
+"Ye saw the wricht carry in his tray," said Drumsheugh, as we went
+home from the kirkyard. "Weel, yon's the last sicht o't ye 'ill get,
+or a'm no Drumsheugh. I've nae objection ma'sel to a nee'bur tastin'
+at a funeral, a' the mair if he's come frae the upper end o' the
+pairish, and ye ken I dinna hold wi' thae teetotal fouk. A'm ower
+auld in the horn to change noo. But there's times and seasons, as
+the gude Buik says, and it wud hae been an awfu' like business tae
+luik at a gless in Marget's gairden, and puir Domsie standing in
+ahent the brier bush as if he cud never lift his heid again. Ye may
+get shairper fouk in the uptak', but ye 'ill no get a pairish with
+better feelin's. It 'ill be a kind o' sateesfaction tae Marget when
+she hears o't. She was aye against tastin', and a'm judgin' her
+tribble has ended it at beerials."
+
+"Man, it was hard on some o' yon lads the day, but there wesna ane
+o' them made a mudge. I keepit my eye on Posty, but he never lookit
+the way it wes. He's a drouthy body, but he hes his feelin's, hes
+Posty."
+
+Before the Doctor began the prayer, Whinnie took me up to the room.
+
+"There's twa o' Geordie's College freends with Marget, grand
+scholars a'm telt, and there's anither I canna weel mak oot. He's
+terrible cast doon, and Marget speaks as if she kent him."
+
+It was a low-roofed room, with a box bed and some pieces of humble
+furniture, fit only for a labouring man. But the choice treasures of
+Greece and Rome lay on the table, and on a shelf beside the bed
+College prizes and medals, while everywhere were the roses he loved.
+His peasant mother stood beside the body of her scholar son, whose
+hopes and thoughts she had shared, and through the window came the
+bleating of distant sheep. It was the idyll of Scottish University
+life.
+
+George's friends were characteristic men, each of his own type, and
+could only have met in the commonwealth of letters. One was of an
+ancient Scottish house which had fought for Mary against the Lords
+of the Congregation, followed Prince Charlie to Culloden, and were
+High Church and Tory to the last drop of their blood. Ludovic Gordon
+left Harrow with the reputation of a classic, and had expected to be
+first at Edinboro'. It was Gordon, in fact, that Domsie feared in
+the great war, but he proved second to Marget's son, and being of
+the breed of Prince Jonathan, which is the same the world over, he
+came to love our David as his own soul. The other, a dark little
+man, with a quick, fiery eye, was a Western Celt, who had worried
+his way from a fishing croft in Barra to be an easy first in
+Philosophy at Edinboro', and George and Ronald Maclean were as
+brothers because there is nothing so different as Scottish and
+Highland blood.
+
+"Maister Gordon," said Marget, "this is George's Homer, and he bade
+me tell you that he coonted yir freendship ain o' the gifts o' God."
+
+For a brief space Gordon was silent, and, when he spoke, his voice
+sounded strange in that room.
+
+"Your son was the finest scholar of my time, and a very perfect
+gentleman. He was also my true friend, and I pray God to console his
+mother." And Ludovic Gordon bowed low over Marget's worn hand as if
+she had been a queen.
+
+Marget lifted Plato, and it seemed to me that day as if the dignity
+of our Lady of Sorrows had fallen upon her.
+
+"This is the buik George chose for you, Maister Maclean, for he aye
+said to me ye hed been a prophet and shown him mony deep things."
+
+The tears sprang to the Celt's eyes.
+
+"It wass like him to make all other men better than himself," with
+the soft, sad Highland accent; "and a proud woman you are to hef
+been his mother."
+
+The third man waited at the window till the scholars left, and then
+I saw he was none of that kind, but one who had been a slave of sin
+and now was free.
+
+"Andra Chaumers, George wished ye tae hev his Bible, and he expecks
+ye tae keep the tryst."
+
+"God helping me, I will," said Chalmers, hoarsely; and from the
+garden ascended a voice, "O God, who art a very present help in
+trouble."
+
+The Doctor's funeral prayer was one of the glories of the parish,
+compelling even the Free Kirk to reluctant admiration, although they
+hinted that its excellence was rather of the letter than the spirit,
+and regarded its indiscriminate charity with suspicion. It opened
+with a series of extracts from the Psalms, relieved by two excursions
+into the minor prophets, and led up to a sonorous recitation of the
+problem of immortality from Job, with its triumphant solution in the
+peroration of the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians. Drumtochty men
+held their breath till the Doctor reached the crest of the hill
+(Hillocks disgraced himself once by dropping his staff at the very
+moment when the Doctor was passing from Job to Paul), and then we
+relaxed while the Doctor descended to local detail. It was understood
+that it took twenty years to bring the body of this prayer to perfection,
+and any change would have been detected and resented.
+
+The Doctor made a good start, and had already sighted Job, when he
+was carried out of his course by a sudden current, and began to
+speak to God about Marget and her son, after a very simple fashion
+that brought a lump to the throat, till at last, as I imagine, the
+sight of the laddie working at his Greek in the study of a winter
+night came up before him, and the remnants of the great prayer
+melted like an iceberg in the Gulf Stream.
+
+"Lord, hae peety upon us, for we a' luved him, and we were a' prood
+o' him."
+
+After the Doctor said "Amen" with majesty, one used to look at his
+neighbour, and the other would shut his eyes and shake his head,
+meaning, "There's no use asking me, for it simply can't be better
+done by living man." This time no one remembered his neighbour,
+because every eye was fixed on the Doctor. Drumtochty was
+identifying its new minister.
+
+"It may be that I hef judged him hardly," said Lachlan Campbell, one
+of the Free Kirk Highlanders, and our St. Dominic. "I shall never
+again deny that the root of the matter is in the man, although much
+choked with the tares of worldliness and Arminianism."
+
+"He is a goot man, Lachlan," replied Donald Menzies, another Celt,
+and he was our St. Francis, for "every one that loveth is born of
+God."
+
+There was no hearse in Drumtochty, and we carried our dead by relays
+of four, who waded every stream unless more than knee deep, the rest
+following in straggling, picturesque procession over the moor and
+across the stepping stones. Before we started, Marget came out and
+arranged George's white silken hood upon the coffin with roses in
+its folds.
+
+She swept us into one brief flush of gratitude, from Domsie to
+Posty.
+
+"Neeburs, ye were a' his freends, and he wanted ye tae ken hoo yir
+trust wes mickle help tae him in his battle."
+
+There was a stir within us, and it came to birth in Drumsheugh of
+all men:
+
+"Marget Hoo, this is no the day for mony words, but there's juist ae
+heart in Drumtochty, and it's sair."
+
+No one spoke to Domsie as we went down the cart track, with the ripe
+corn standing on either side, but he beckoned Chalmers to walk with
+him.
+
+"Ye hae heard him speak o' me, then, Maister Jamieson?"
+
+"Ay, oftentimes, and he said once that ye were hard driven, but that
+ye had trampled Satan under yir feet."
+
+"He didna tell ye all, for if it hadna been for George Howe I wudna
+been worth callin' a man this day. One night when he was workin'
+hard for his honours examination and his disease was heavy upon him,
+puir fellow, he sought me oot where I was, and wouldna leave till I
+cam' wi him.
+
+"'Go home,' I said, 'Howe; it's death for ye to be oot in this sleet
+and cold. Why not leave me to lie in the bed I hae made?'
+
+"He took me by the arm into a passage. I see the gaslicht on his
+white face, and the shining o' his eyes.
+
+"'Because I have a mother...'
+
+"Dominie, he pulled me oot o' hell."
+
+"Me tae, Andra, but no your hell. Ye mind the Roman Triumph, when a
+general cam' hame wi' his spoils. Laddie, we're the captives that go
+with his chariot up the Capitol."
+
+Donald Menzies was a man of moods, and the Doctor's prayer had
+loosed his imagination so that he saw visions.
+
+"Look," said he, as we stood on a ridge, "I hef seen it before in
+the book of Joshua."
+
+Below the bearers had crossed a burn on foot, and were ascending the
+slope where an open space of deep green was fringed with purple
+heather.
+
+"The ark hass gone over Jordan, and George will have come into the
+Land of Promise."
+
+The September sunshine glinted on the white silk George won with his
+blood, and fell like a benediction on the two figures that climbed
+the hard ascent close after the man they loved.
+
+Strangers do not touch our dead in Drumtochty, but the eight of
+nearest blood lower the body into the grave. The order of precedence
+is keenly calculated, and the loss of a merited cord can never be
+forgiven. Marget had arranged everything with Whinnie, and all saw
+the fitness. His father took the head, and the feet (next in honour)
+he gave to Domsie.
+
+"Ye maun dae it. Marget said ye were o' his ain bluid."
+
+On the right side the cords were handed to the Doctor, Gordon, and
+myself; and on the left to Drumsheugh, Maclean, and Chalmers. Domsie
+lifted the hood for Marget, but the roses he gently placed on
+George's name. Then with bent, uncovered heads, and in unbroken
+silence, we buried all that remained of our scholar.
+
+We always waited till the grave was filled and the turf laid down, a
+trying quarter of an hour. Ah me! the thud of the spade on your
+mother's grave! None gave any sign of what he felt save Drumsheugh,
+whose sordid slough had slipped off from a tender heart, and
+Chalmers, who went behind a tombstone and sobbed aloud. Not even
+Posty asked the reason so much as by a look, and Drumtochty, as it
+passed, made as though it did not see. But I marked that the Dominie
+took Chalmers home, and walked all the way with him to Kildrummie
+station next morning. His friends erected a granite cross over
+George's grave, and it was left to Domsie to choose the inscription.
+There was a day when it would have been "Whom the gods love die
+young." Since then Domsie had seen the kingdom of God, and this is
+graven where the roses bloomed fresh every summer for twenty years
+till Marget was laid with her son:
+
+  GEORGE HOWE, M.A., Died September 22nd, 1869, Aged 21.
+
+  "They shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it."
+
+It was a late November day when I went to see George's memorial, and
+the immortal hope was burning low in my heart; but as I stood before
+that cross, the sun struggled from behind a black watery bank of
+cloud, and picked out every letter of the Apocalypse in gold.
+
+
+
+
+A HIGHLAND MYSTIC
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN
+
+Strange ministers who came to assist at the Free Kirk Sacrament were
+much impressed with the elders, and never forgot the transfiguration
+of Donald Menzies, which used to begin about the middle of the
+"action" sermon, and was completed at the singing of the last Psalm.
+Once there was no glory, because the minister, being still young,
+expounded a new theory of the atonement of German manufacture, and
+Donald's face was piteous to behold. It haunted the minister for
+months, and brought to confusion a promising course of sermons on
+the contribution of Hegel to Christian thought. Donald never laid
+the blame of such calamities on the preacher, but accepted them as a
+just judgment on his blindness of heart.
+
+"We hef had the open vision," Donald explained to his friend Lachlan
+Campbell, who distributed the responsibility in another fashion,
+"and we would not see--so the veil hass fallen."
+
+Donald sat before the pulpit and filled the hearts of nervous
+probationers with dismay, not because his face was critical, but
+because it seemed non-conducting, upon which their best passages
+would break like spray against a rock. It was by nature the dullest
+you ever saw, with hair descending low upon the forehead, and
+preposterous whiskers dominating everything that remained, except a
+heavy mouth and brown, lack-lustre eyes. For a while Donald crouched
+in the corner of the pew, his head sunk on his breast, a very
+picture of utter hopelessness. But as the Evangel began to play
+round his heart, he would fix the preacher with rapid, wistful
+glances, as of one who had awaked but hardly dared believe such
+things could be true. Suddenly a sigh pervaded six pews, a kind of
+gentle breath of penitence, faith, love, and hope mingled together
+like the incense of the sanctuary, and Donald lifted up his head.
+His eyes are now aflame, and those sullen lips are refining into
+curves of tenderness. From the manse pew I watched keenly, for at
+any moment a wonderful sight may be seen. A radiant smile will pass
+from his lips to his eyes and spread over his face, as when the sun
+shines on a fallow field and the rough furrows melt into warmth and
+beauty. Donald's gaze is now fixed on a window above the preacher's
+head, for on these great days that window is to him as the gate of
+heaven. All I could see would be a bit of blue, and the fretted
+sunlight through the swaying branches of an old plane tree. But
+Donald has seen his Lord hanging upon the Cross for him, and the New
+Jerusalem descending like a bride adorned for her husband more
+plainly than if Perugino's great Crucifixion, with the kneeling
+saints, and Angelico's Outer Court of Heaven, with the dancing
+angels, had been hung in our little Free Kirk. When he went down the
+aisle with the flagon in the Sacrament, he walked as one in a dream,
+and wist not that his face shone.
+
+There was an interval after the Sacrament, when the stranger was
+sent to his room with light refreshments, to prepare himself for the
+evening, and the elders dined with the minister. Before the
+introduction of the Highlanders conversation had an easy play within
+recognized limits, and was always opened by Burnbrae, who had come
+out in '43, and was understood to have read the Confession of Faith.
+
+"Ye gave us a grawnd discoorse this mornin', sir, baith instructive
+and edifyin'; we were juist sayin' comin' up the gairden that ye
+were never heard to mair advantage."
+
+The minister was much relieved, because he had not been hopeful
+during the week, and was still dissatisfied, as he explained at
+length, with the passage on the Colossian heresy.
+
+When these doubts had been cleared up, Burnbrae did his best by the
+minister up stairs, who had submitted himself to the severe test of
+table addresses.
+
+"Yon were verra suitable words at the second table; he's a
+speeritually minded man, Maister Cosh, and has the richt sough."
+
+Or at the worst, when Burnbrae's courage had failed:
+
+"Maister McKittrick had a fine text afore the table. I aye like tae
+see a man gang tae the Song o' Solomon on the Sacrament Sabbath. A'
+mind Dr. Guthrie on that verra subject twenty years syne."
+
+Having paid its religious dues, conversation was now allowed some
+freedom, and it was wonderful how many things could be touched on,
+always from a sacramental standpoint.
+
+"We've been awfu' favoured wi' weather the day, and ought to be
+thankfu'. Gin it hads on like this I wudna say but th'ill be a gude
+hairst. That's a fine pucklie aits ye hae in the laigh park,
+Burnbrae."
+
+"A've seen waur; they're fillin' no that bad. I wes juist thinkin'
+as I cam to the Kirk that there wes aits in that field the Sacrament
+after the Disruption."
+
+"Did ye notice that Rachel Skene sat in her seat through the tables?
+Says I, 'Are ye no gain forrit, Mistress Skene, or hae ye lost yir
+token?' 'Na, na,' says she, 'ma token's safe in ma handkerchief; but
+I cudna get to Kirk yesterday, and I never went forrit withoot ma
+Saiturday yet, and I'm no to begin noo.'"
+
+"She was aye a richt-thinkin' woman, Rachel, there's nae mistake o'
+that; a' wonder hoo her son is gettin' on wi' that fairm he's
+takin'; a' doot it's rack-rented."
+
+It was an honest, satisfying conversation, and reminded one of the
+parish of Drumtochty, being both _quoad sacra_ and _quoad
+civilia_.
+
+When the Highlanders came in, Burnbrae was deposed after one
+encounter, and the minister was reduced to a state of timid
+suggestion. There were days when they would not speak one word, and
+were understood to be lost in meditation; on others they broke in on
+any conversation that was going from levels beyond the imagination
+of Drumtochty. Had this happened in the Auld Manse, Drumsheugh would
+have taken for granted that Donald was "feeling sober" (ill), and
+recommended the bottle which cured him of "a hoast" (cough) in the
+fifties. But the Free Kirk had been taught that the Highlanders were
+unapproachable in spiritual attainments, and even Burnbrae took his
+discipline meekly.
+
+"It wes a mercy the mune changed last week, Maister Menzies, or a'm
+thinkin' it hed been a weet sacrament."
+
+Donald came out of a maze, where he had been wandering in great
+peace.
+
+"I wass not hearing that the moon had anything to do in the matter.
+Oh no, but he wass bound hand and foot by a mighty man."
+
+"Wha was bund? A'm no juist followin' ye, Maister Menzies."
+
+"The Prince of the power of the air. Oh yes, and he shall not be
+loosed till the occasion be over. I hef had a sign." After which
+conversation on the weather languished.
+
+Perhaps the minister fared worse in an attempt to extract a
+certificate of efficiency from Lachlan Campbell in favour of a
+rhetorical young preacher.
+
+"A fery nice speaker, and well pleased with himself. But I would be
+thinking, when he wass giving his images. Oh yes, I would be
+thinking. There was a laddie feeshing in the burn before my house,
+and a fery pretty laddie he wass. He had a rod and a string, and he
+threw his line peautiful. It wass a great peety he had no hook, for
+it iss a want, and you do not catch many fish without a hook. But I
+shall be glad that you are pleased, sir, and all the elders."
+
+These were only passing incidents, and left no trace, but the rebuke
+Donald gave to Burnbrae will be told while an elder lives. One of
+the last of the old mystical school, which trace their descent from
+Samuel Rutherford, had described the great mystery of our Faith with
+such insight and pathos, that Donald had stood by the table weeping
+gently, and found himself afterwards in the manse, he knew not how.
+
+The silence was more than could be borne, and his former
+responsibility fell on Burnbrae.
+
+"It wes wonnerful, and I canna mind hearing the like o' yon at the
+tables; but I wes sorry to see the Doctor sae failed. He wes bent
+twa fad; a' doot it's a titch o' rheumatism, or maybe lumbago."
+
+Johannine men are subject to sudden flashes of anger, and Donald
+blazed.
+
+"Bent down with rheumatism, iss that what you say? Oh yes, it will
+be rheumatism. Hass the sight of your eyes left you, and hef you no
+discernment? Did ye not see that he was bowed to the very table with
+the power of the Word? for it was a fire in his bones, and he was
+baptised with the Holy Ghost."
+
+When the elders gathered in the vestry, the minister asked what time
+the preacher might have for his evening sermon, and Donald again
+burst forth:
+
+"I am told that in towns the Gospel goes by minutes, like the trains
+at the stations; but there iss no time-table here, for we shall wait
+till the sun goes down to hear all things God will be sending by His
+servant."
+
+Good memories differ about the text that Sacrament evening, and the
+length of the sermon, but all hold as a treasure for ever what
+happened when the book was closed. The people were hushed into a
+quiet that might be felt, and the old man, swayed by the spirit of
+the Prophets, began to repeat the blessings and curses in the Bible
+between Genesis and Revelation, and after each pair he cried with
+heart-piercing voice, "Choose this day which ye will take," till
+Donald could contain himself no longer.
+
+"Here iss the man who hass deserved all the curses, and here iss the
+man who chooses all the blessings."
+
+Our fathers had no turn for sensation, but they had an unerring
+sense of a spiritual situation. The preacher paused for five
+seconds, while no man could breathe, and then lifting up his hand to
+Heaven he said, with an indescribable authority and tenderness, "The
+Lord fulfil the desire of your heart both in this world and in that
+which is to come."
+
+Then the congregation sang, after the ancient custom of our parts,
+
+  "Now blessed be the Lord our God,
+   The God of Israel,"
+
+and Donald's face was one glory, because he saw in the soft evening
+light of the upper window the angels of God ascending and descending
+upon the Son of man.
+
+It was after this that the Free Kirk minister occupied six months in
+proving that Moses did not write Deuteronomy, and Lachlan was trying
+for the same period to have the minister removed from Drumtochty.
+Donald, deprived by one stroke of both his friends, fell back on me,
+and told me many things I loved to hear, although they were beyond
+my comprehension.
+
+"It wass not always so with me as it iss this day, for I once had no
+ear for God's voice, and my eyes were holden that I saw not the
+spiritual world. But sore sickness came upon me, and I wass nigh
+unto death, and my soul awoke within me and began to cry like a
+child for its mother. All my days I had lived on Loch Tay, and now I
+thought of the other country into which I would hef to be going,
+where I had no nest, and my soul would be driven to and fro in the
+darkness as a bird on the moor of Rannoch.
+
+"Janet sent for the minister, and he wass fery kind, and he spoke
+about my sickness and my farm, and I said nothing. For I wass hoping
+he would tell me what I wass to do for my soul. But he began upon
+the sheep market at Amulree, and I knew he wass also in the dark.
+After he left I turned my face to the wall and wept.
+
+"Next morning wass the Sabbath, and I said to Janet:
+
+"'Wrap me in my plaid, and put me in a cart, and take me to
+Aberfeldy.' 'And what will ye be doing at Aberfeldy? and you will
+die on the road.' 'There iss,' said I, 'a man there who knows the
+way of the soul, and it iss better to die with my face to the
+light.'
+
+"They set me in a corner of the church where I wass thinking no man
+could see me, and I cried in my heart without ceasing, 'Lord, send
+me--send me a word from Thy mouth.'
+
+"When the minister came into the pulpit he gave me a strange look,
+and this wass his text, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"As he preached I knew I wass Lazurus, with the darkness of the
+grave around me, and my soul straitly bound. I could do nothing, but
+I wass longing with all my strength.
+
+"Then the minister stopped, and he said:
+
+"There iss a man in this church, and he will know himself who it
+iss. When I came in this morning I saw a shadow on his face, and I
+knew not whether it was the wing of the Angel of Life or the Angel
+of Death passing over him, but the Lord has made it plain to me, and
+I see the silver feathers of the Angel of the Covenant, and this
+shall be a sign unto that man, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+"While he wass still speaking I felt my soul carried out into the
+light of God's face, and my grave clothes were taken off one by one
+as Janet would unwind my plaid, and I stood a living man before
+Christ.
+
+"It wass a sweet June day as we drove home, and I lay in sunshine,
+and every bird that sang, and the burnies by the roadside, and the
+rustling of the birch leaves in the wind--oh yes, and the sound of
+the horse's feet were saying, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"Loch Tay looked black angry as we came by its side in the morning,
+and I said to Janet:
+
+"'It iss the Dead Sea, and I shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah;' but in
+the evening it wass as a sea of glass mingled with fire, and I heard
+the song of Moses and the Lamb sweeping over the Loch, but this wass
+still the sweetest word to me, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
+
+The powers of darkness had been making a dead set upon Donald all
+winter, and towards spring he began to lose hope. He came to the
+Cottage once a week with news from the seat of war, and I could
+distinguish three zones of depression. Within the first he bewailed
+his inveterate attachment to this world, and his absolute
+indifference to spiritual things, and was content to describe
+himself as Achan. The sign that he had entered the second was a
+recurring reference to apostacy, and then you had the melancholy
+satisfaction of meeting the living representative of Simon Peter.
+When he passed into the last zone of the Purgatorio, Donald was
+beyond speech, and simply allowed one to gather from allusions to
+thirty pieces of silver that he was Judas Iscariot.
+
+So long as it was only Achan or Simon Peter that came to sit with
+me, one was not gravely concerned, but Judas Iscariot meant that
+Donald had entered the Valley of the Shadow.
+
+He made a spirited rally at the Winter Sacrament, and distinguished
+himself greatly on the evening of the Fast day. Being asked to pray,
+as a recognition of comparative cheerfulness, Donald continued for
+five and twenty minutes, and unfolded the works of the Devil in such
+minute and vivid detail that Burnbrae talks about it to this day,
+and Lachlan Campbell, although an expert in this department,
+confessed astonishment. It was a mighty wrestle, and it was perhaps
+natural that Donald should groan heavily at regular intervals, and
+acquaint the meeting how the conflict went, but the younger people
+were much shaken, and the edification even of the serious was not
+without reserve.
+
+While Donald still lingered on the field of battle to gather the
+spoils and guard against any sudden return of the enemy, the elders
+had a hurried consultation in the vestry, and Burnbrae put the
+position with admirable force.
+
+"Naebody can deny that it wes a maist extraordinary prayer, and it
+passes me hoo he kens sae muckle aboot the Deevil. In fac' it's a
+preevilege tae hae sic an experienced hand among us, and I wudna
+offend Donald Menzies for onything. But yon groanin' wes a wee
+thingie discomposin', and when he said, kind o' confidential, 'He's
+losing his grup,' ma ain fouk cudna keep their coontenance. Weel, I
+wes thinkin' that the best plan wud be for Maister Campbell juist
+tae give a bit advice and tell Donald that we're thankfu' to hear
+him at the meeting, and michty lifted wi' his peteetions, but it wud
+be an obleegation gin he wud leave oot the groans and tell us
+aifterwards what wes gaein' on, maybe in the Session."
+
+Lachlan accepted his commission with quite unusual diffidence, and
+offered a very free translation on the way home.
+
+"It wass a mercy to hef you at the meeting this night, Donald
+Menzies, for I saw that Satan had come in great strength, and it iss
+not every man that can withstand him. But you will not be ignorant
+of his devices; oh no, you will be knowing them fery well. Satan had
+not much to say before the prayer wass done, and I will not be
+expecting to see him again at this occasion. It wass the elders
+said, 'Donald Menzies hass trampled Satan under foot.' Oh yes, and
+fery glad men they were, for it iss not given to them. But I would
+be thinking iss it good to let the Devil hear you groaning in the
+battle, and I would be wishing that you had kept all your groans and
+given them to me on the road."
+
+"Iss it the groans you are not liking?" retorted Donald, stung by
+this unexpected criticism. "And what iss wrong with groaning? But I
+hef the Scripture, and I will not be caring what you say, Lachlan
+Campbell."
+
+"If you hef a warrant for groaning, it iss this man that will be
+glad to hear it, for I am not remembering that passage."
+
+"Maybe you hef not read 'Maketh intercession with groanings,' but it
+iss a fery good Scripture, and it iss in my Bible."
+
+"All Scripture iss good, Donald Menzies, but it iss not lawful to
+divide Scripture, and it will read in my Bible, 'groanings which
+cannot be uttered,' and I wass saying this would be the best way
+with your groans."
+
+Donald came in to tell me how his companion in arms had treated him,
+and was still sore.
+
+"He iss in the bondage of the letter these days, for he will be
+always talking about Moses with the minister, and I am not hearing
+that iss good for the soul."
+
+If even Lachlan could not attain to Donald, it was perhaps no
+discredit that the Drumtochty mind was at times hopelessly
+perplexed.
+
+ "He's a gude cratur and terrible gifted in prayer," Netherton
+explained to Burnbrae after a prayer-meeting, when Donald had
+temporarily abandoned Satan and given himself to autobiography, "but
+yon wesna a verra ceevil way to speak aboot his faither and mither."
+
+"A' doot yir imaginin', Netherton. Donald never mentioned his fouk
+the nicht, and it's no likely he wud in the prayer-meeting."
+
+"There's nae imaginin' aboot it; a' heard him wi' ma ain ears say
+twice, 'My father was an Amorite, and my mother a Hittite.' I'll
+take my aith on it. Noo, a' dinna ken Donald's forbears masel, for
+he's frae Tayside, but supposin' they were as bad as bad cud be,
+it's no for him to blacken his ain blood, and him an Elder."
+
+"Toots, Netherton, yir aff it a' thegither. Div ye no see yon's
+Bible langidge oot o' a Prophet, or maybe Kings, and Donald wes
+usin't in a feegurative capaucity?"
+
+"Feegurative or no feegurative, Burnbrae, it disna maitter; it's a
+peetifu' job howking (digging) thro' the Bible for ill words tae
+misca yir fouk wi' afore the public."
+
+Burnbrae gave up the contest in despair, feeling himself that Old
+Testament allusions were risky, and that Donald's quotation was less
+than felicitous.
+
+Donald's prayers were not known outside the Free Kirk circle, but
+his encounters with the evil one were public property, and caused a
+general shudder. Drumtochty was never sure who might not be
+listening, and considered that it was safer not to meddle with
+certain nameless people. But Donald waged an open warfare in every
+corner of the parish, in the Kirk, by the wayside, in his house, on
+the road to market, and was ready to give any one the benefit of his
+experiences.
+
+"Donald Menzies is in yonder," said Hillocks, pointing to the
+smithy, whose fire sent fitful gleams across the dark road, "and
+he's carryin' on maist fearsome. Ye wud think tae hear him speak
+that auld Hornie wes gaein' louse in the parish; it sent a grue
+(shiver) doon ma back. Faigs, it's no cannie to be muckle wi' the
+body, for the Deil and Donald seem never separate. Hear him noo,
+hear him."
+
+"Oh yes," said Donald, addressing the smith and two horror-stricken
+ploughmen, "I hef seen him, and he hass withstood me on the road. It
+wass late, and I wass thinking on the shepherd and the sheep, and
+Satan will come out from the wood below Hillocks' farm-house ('Gude
+preserve us,' from Hillocks) and say, 'That word is not for you,
+Donald Menzies,' But I wass strong that night, and I said, 'Neither
+shall any pluck them out of my hand,' and he will not wait long
+after that, oh no, and I did not follow him into the wood."
+
+The smith, released by the conclusion of the tale, blew a mighty
+blast, and the fire burst into a red blaze, throwing into relief the
+black figure of the smith and the white faces of the ploughmen;
+glancing from the teeth of harrows, and the blades of scythes, and
+the cruel knives of reaping machines, and from instruments with
+triple prongs; and lighting up with a hideous glare the black sooty
+recesses of the smithy.
+
+"Keep's a'," whispered Hillocks, clutching my arm, "it's little
+better than the ill place. I wish to gudeness I wes safe in ma ain
+hoose."
+
+These were only indecisive skirmishes, for one evening Donald came
+to my den with despair written on every feature, and I knew that
+fighting had begun at the centre, and that he was worsted.
+
+It was half an hour before he became articulate, during which time
+he sighed as if the end of all things had come, and I caught the
+word scapegoat twice, but at last he told me that he had resigned
+his eldership, and would absent himself in future from the Free
+Kirk.
+
+"It hass been a weary winter when minister and people hef gone into
+captivity, and on Sabbath the word wass taken altogether from the
+minister's mouth, and he spake a language which we understood not
+[it was the first of three sermons on the Hexateuch, and had treated
+of the Jehovistic and Elohistic documents with much learning], and I
+will be asking all the way back, 'Iss it I?' 'Iss it I?'
+
+"Oh yes, and when I opened my Bible this iss the word I will see,
+'That thou doest do quickly,' and I knew it wass my sins that had
+brought great judgments on the people, and turned the minister into
+a man of stammering lips and another tongue.
+
+"It wass a mercy that the roof did not fall and bury all the people
+with me; but we will not be tempting the Almighty, for I hef gone
+outside, and now there will be peace and blessing."
+
+When we left the lighted room and stood on the doorstep, Donald
+pointed to the darkness. "There iss no star, and you will be
+remembering what John saw when the door opened and Judas went out.
+'It wass night'--oh yes, it iss night for me, but it will be light
+for them."
+
+As weeks went past, and Donald was seen neither at Kirk nor market,
+my heart went out to the lonely man in his soul conflict, and,
+although there was no help in me, I went to ask how it fared with
+him. After the footpath disentangled itself from the pine woods and
+crossed the burn by two fir trees nailed together, it climbed a
+steep ascent to Donald's house, but I had barely touched the foot,
+when I saw him descending, his head in the air, and his face
+shining. Before any words passed, I knew that the battle had been
+fought and won.
+
+"It wass last night, and I will be coming to tell you. Satan hass
+gone like darkness when the sun ariseth, and I hef been delivered."
+
+There are stories one cannot hear sitting, and so we paced the
+meadow below, rich in primroses, with a sloping bank of gorse behind
+us, and the pines before us, and the water breaking over the stones
+at our feet.
+
+"It is three weeks since I saw you, and all that time I hef been
+wandering on the hill by day, and lying in the barn at night, for it
+wass not good to be with people, and Satan wass always saying to me,
+Judas went to 'his own place.' My dog will lay his head on my knee,
+and be sorry for me, and the dumb animals will be looking at me out
+of their great eyes, and be moaning.
+
+"The lads are good singers, and there wass always a sound of Psalms
+on the farm, oh yes, and it was pleasant to come from the market and
+hear the Psalms at the foot of the hill. It wass like going up to
+Jerusalem. But there would be no Psalms these days, for the lads
+could not sing when their father's soul wass going down into the
+pit.
+
+"Oh no, and there wass no prayer last night, but I told the lads to
+go to bed, and I lay down before the fire to wrestle once more
+before I perished.
+
+"Janet will offer this word and the other, and I will be trying them
+all, but Satan wass tearing them away as quick as I could speak, and
+he always said, 'his own place.'
+
+"'There iss no hope for me,' I cried, 'but it iss a mercy that you
+and the lads will be safe in the City, and maybe the Lord will let
+me see you all through the gate.' And that wass lifting me, but then
+I will hear 'his own place,' 'his own place,' and my heart began to
+fail, and I wass nigh to despair.
+
+"Then I heard a voice, oh yes, as plain as you are hearing me, 'The
+blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' It wass
+like a gleam from the Mercy-seat, but I would be waiting to see
+whether Satan had any answer, and my heart was standing still. But
+there wass no word from him, not one word. Then I leaped to my feet
+and cried, 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' and I will look round, and
+there wass no one to be seen but Janet in her chair, with the tears
+on her cheeks, and she wass saying, 'Thanks be to God, which giveth
+us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'
+
+"The lads were not sleeping fery sound when their father was
+fighting for his life, oh no, and I am not saying but maybe they
+would be praying. It wass not fery long before they came down, and
+Hamish will be looking at my face, and then he will get the books,
+and this is the Psalm we sang?
+
+  "I love the Lord, because my voice
+     And prayers He did hear.
+   I, while I live, will call on Him,
+     Who bowed to me His ear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+   God merciful and righteous is,
+     Yea, gracious is our Lord;
+   God saves the meek; I was brought low,
+     He did me help afford."
+
+This was the victory of Donald Menzies, and on reaching home I
+marked that the early roses were beginning to bloom over the door
+through which Donald had gone out into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+He was an ingenuous lad, with the callow simplicity of a theological
+college still untouched, and had arrived on the preceding Monday at
+the Free Kirk manse with four cartloads of furniture and a maiden
+aunt. For three days he roamed from room to room in the excitement
+of householding, and made suggestions which were received with
+hilarious contempt; then he shut himself up in his study to prepare
+the great sermon, and his aunt went about on tiptoe. During meals on
+Friday he explained casually that his own wish was to preach a
+simple sermon, and that he would have done so had he been a private
+individual, but as he had held the MacWhammel scholarship a
+deliverance was expected by the country. He would be careful and say
+nothing rash, but it was due to himself to state the present
+position of theological thought, and he might have to quote once or
+twice from Ewald.
+
+His aunt was a saint, with that firm grasp of truth, and tender
+mysticism, whose combination is the charm of Scottish piety, and her
+face was troubled. While the minister was speaking in his boyish
+complacency, her thoughts were in a room where they had both stood,
+five years before, by the death-bed of his mother.
+
+He was broken that day, and his sobs shook the bed, for he was his
+mother's only son and fatherless, and his mother, brave and faithful
+to the last, was bidding him farewell.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, John, nor break yir hert, for it's the will
+o' God, and that's aye best."
+
+"Here's my watch and chain," placing them beside her son, who could
+not touch them, nor would lift his head, "and when ye feel the chain
+about yir neck it will mind ye o' yir mother's arms."
+
+"Ye 'ill no forget me, John, I ken that weel, and I'll never forget
+you. I've loved ye here and I'll love ye yonder. Th'ill no be an
+'oor when I'll no pray for ye, and I'll ken better what to ask than
+I did here, sae dinna be comfortless."
+
+Then she felt for his head and stroked it once more, but he could
+not look nor speak.
+
+"Ye 'ill follow Christ, and gin He offers ye His cross, ye 'ill no
+refuse it, for He aye carries the heavy end Himsel'. He's guided yir
+mother a' thae years, and been as gude as a husband since yir
+father's death, and He 'ill hold me fast tae the end. He 'ill keep
+ye too, and, John, I'll be watchin' for ye. Ye 'ill no fail me," and
+her poor cold hand that had tended him all his days tightened on his
+head.
+
+But he could not speak, and her voice was failing fast.
+
+"I canna see ye noo, John, but I know yir there, and I've just one
+other wish. If God calls ye to the ministry, ye 'ill no refuse, an'
+the first day ye preach in yir ain kirk, speak a gude word for Jesus
+Christ, an,' John, I'll hear ye that day, though ye 'ill no see me,
+and I'll be satisfied."
+
+A minute after she whispered, "Pray for me," and he cried, "My
+mother, my mother."
+
+It was a full prayer, and left nothing unasked of Mary's Son.
+
+"John," said his aunt, "your mother is with the Lord," and he saw
+death for the first time, but it was beautiful with the peace that
+passeth all understanding.
+
+Five years had passed, crowded with thought and work, and his aunt
+wondered whether he remembered that last request, or indeed had
+heard it in his sorrow.
+
+"What are you thinking about, aunt? Are you afraid of my theology?"
+
+"No, John, it's no that, laddie, for I ken ye 'ill say what ye
+believe to be true withoot fear o' man," and she hesitated.
+
+"Come, out with it, auntie: you're my only mother now, you know,"
+and the minister put his arm round her, "as well as the kindest,
+bonniest, goodest auntie ever man had."
+
+Below his student self-conceit he was a good lad, and sound of
+heart.
+
+"Shame on you, John, to make a fule o' an auld dune body, but ye'll
+no come round me with yir flattery. I ken ye ower weel," and as she
+caught the likeness in his face, her eyes filled suddenly.
+
+"What's the matter, auntie? Will ye no tell me?"
+
+"Dinna be angry wi' me, John, but a'm concerned aboot Sabbath, for
+a've been praying ever syne ye were called to Drumtochty that it
+micht be a great day, and that I micht see ye comin' tae yir people,
+laddie, wi' the beauty o' the Lord upon ye, according tae the auld
+prophecy: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
+bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace,'" and again she
+stopped.
+
+"Go on, auntie, go on," he whispered; "say all that's in yir mind."
+
+"It's no for me tae advise ye, who am only a simple auld woman, who
+ken's naethin' but her Bible and the Catechism, and it's no that a'm
+feared for the new views, or aboot yir faith, for I aye mind that
+there's mony things the Speerit hes still tae teach us, and I ken
+weel the man that follows Christ will never lose his way in ony
+thicket. But it's the fouk, John, a'm anxious aboot, the flock o'
+sheep the Lord hes given ye tae feed for Him."
+
+She could not see his face, but she felt him gently press her hand,
+and took courage.
+
+"Ye maun mind, laddie, that they're no clever and learned like what
+ye are, but juist plain country fouk, ilka ane wi' his ain
+temptation, an' a' sair trachled wi' mony cares o' this world. They
+'ill need a clear word tae comfort their herts and show them the way
+everlasting. Ye 'ill say what's richt, nae doot o' that, and a'body
+'ill be pleased wi' ye, but, oh, laddie, be sure ye say a gude word
+for Jesus Christ."
+
+The minister's face whitened, and his arm relaxed. He rose hastily
+and went to the door, but in going out he gave his aunt an
+understanding look, such as passes between people who have stood
+together in a sorrow. The son had not forgotten his mother's
+request.
+
+The manse garden lies toward the west, and as the minister paced its
+little square of turf, sheltered by fir hedges, the sun was going
+down behind the Grampians. Black massy clouds had begun to gather in
+the evening, and threatened to obscure the sunset, which was the
+finest sight a Drumtochty man was ever likely to see, and a means of
+grace to every sensible heart in the glen. But the sun had beat back
+the clouds on either side, and shot them through with glory and now
+between piled billows of light he went along a shining pathway into
+the Gates of the West. The minister stood still before that
+spectacle, his face bathed in the golden glory, and then before his
+eyes the gold deepened into an awful red, and the red passed into
+shades of violet and green, beyond painter's hand or the imagination
+of man. It seemed to him as if a victorious saint had entered
+through the gates into the city, washed in the blood of the Lamb,
+and the after glow of his mother's life fell solemnly on his soul.
+The last trace of sunset had faded from the hills when the minister
+came in, and his face was of one who had seen a vision. He asked his
+aunt to have worship with the servant, for he must be alone in his
+study.
+
+It was a cheerful room in the daytime, with its southern window,
+through which the minister saw the roses touching the very glass and
+dwarf apple trees lining the garden walks; there was also a western
+window that he might watch each day close. It was a pleasant room
+now, when the curtains were drawn, and the light of the lamp fell on
+the books he loved, and which bade him welcome. One by one he had
+arranged the hard-bought treasures of student days in the little
+book-case, and had planned for himself that sweetest of pleasures,
+an evening of desultory reading. But his books went out of mind as
+he looked at the sermon shining beneath the glare of the lamp, and
+demanding judgment. He had finished its last page with honest pride
+that afternoon, and had declaimed it, facing the southern window,
+with a success that amazed himself. His hope was that he might be
+kept humble, and not called to Edinburgh for at least two years; and
+now he lifted the sheets with fear. The brilliant opening, with its
+historical parallel, this review of modern thought reinforced by
+telling quotations, that trenchant criticism of old-fashioned views,
+would not deliver. For the audience had vanished, and left one
+careworn, but ever beautiful face, whose gentle eyes were waiting
+with a yearning look. Twice he crushed the sermon in his hands, and
+turned to the fire his aunt's care had kindled, and twice he
+repented and smoothed it out. What else could he say now to the
+people? and then in the stillness of the room he heard a voice,
+"Speak a gude word for Jesus Christ."
+
+Next minute he was kneeling on the hearth, and pressing the
+_magnum opus_, that was to shake Drumtochty, into the heart of
+the red fire, and he saw, half-smiling and half-weeping, the
+impressive words, "Semitic environment," shrivel up and disappear.
+As the last black flake fluttered out of sight, the face looked at
+him again, but this time the sweet brown eyes were full of peace.
+
+It was no masterpiece, but only the crude production of a lad who
+knew little of letters and nothing of the world. Very likely it
+would have done neither harm nor good, but it was his best, and he
+gave it for love's sake, and I suppose that there is nothing in a
+human life so precious to God, neither clever words nor famous
+deeds, as the sacrifices of love.
+
+The moon flooded his bedroom with silver light, and he felt the
+presence of his mother. His bed stood ghostly with its white
+curtains, and he remembered how every night his mother knelt by its
+side in prayer for him. He is a boy once more, and repeats the
+Lord's Prayer, then he cries again, "My mother! my mother!" and an
+indescribable contentment fills his heart.
+
+His prayer next morning was very short, but afterwards he stood at
+the window for a space, and when he turned, his aunt said:
+
+"Ye will get yir sermon, and it will be worth hearing."
+
+"How did ye know?"
+
+But she only smiled, "I heard you pray."
+
+When he shut himself into the study that Saturday morning, his aunt
+went into her room above, and he knew she had gone to intercede for
+him.
+
+An hour afterwards he was pacing the garden in such anxious thought
+that he crushed with his foot a rose lying on the path, and then she
+saw his face suddenly lighten, and he hurried to the house, but
+first he plucked a bunch of forget-me-nots. In the evening she found
+them on his sermon.
+
+Two hours later--for still she prayed and watched in faithfulness to
+mother and son--she observed him come out and wander round the
+garden in great joy. He lifted up the soiled rose and put it in his
+coat; he released a butterfly caught in some mesh; he buried his
+face in fragrant honeysuckle. Then she understood that his heart was
+full of love, and was sure that it would be well on the morrow.
+
+When the bell began to ring, the minister rose from his knees and
+went to his aunt's room to be robed, for this was a covenant between
+them.
+
+His gown was spread out in its black silken glory, but he sat down
+in despair.
+
+"Auntie, whatever shall we do, for I've forgotten the bands?"
+
+"But I've not forgot them, John, and here are six pair wrought with
+my own hands, and now sit still and I'll tie them round my laddie's
+neck."
+
+When she had given the last touch, and he was ready to go, a sudden
+seriousness fell upon them.
+
+"Kiss me, auntie."
+
+"For your mother, and her God be with you," and then he went through
+the garden and underneath the honeysuckle and into the kirk, where
+every Free Churchman in Drumtochty that could get out of bed, and
+half the Established Kirk, were waiting in expectation.
+
+I sat with his aunt in the minister's pew, and shall always be glad
+that I was at that service. When winter lies heavy upon the glen I
+go upon my travels, and in my time have seen many religious
+functions. I have been in Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle, where the
+people wept one minute and laughed the next; have heard Canon Liddon
+in St. Paul's, and the sound of that high, clear voice is still with
+me, "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion;" have seen High Mass
+in St. Peter's, and stood in the dusk of the Duomo at Florence when
+Padre Agostino thundered against the evils of the day. But I never
+realised the unseen world as I did that day in the Free Kirk of
+Drumtochty.
+
+It is impossible to analyse a spiritual effect, because it is largely
+an atmosphere, but certain circumstances assisted. One was instantly
+prepossessed in favour of a young minister who gave out the second
+paraphrase at his first service, for it declared his filial reverence
+and won for him the blessing of a cloud of witnesses. No Scottish man
+can ever sing,
+
+  "God of our fathers, be the God
+   Of their succeeding race."
+
+with a dry heart. It satisfied me at once that the minister was of a
+fine temper when, after a brave attempt to join, he hid his face and
+was silent. We thought none the worse of him that he was nervous, and
+two or three old people who had suspected self-sufficiency took him to
+their hearts when the minister concluded the Lord's prayer hurriedly,
+having omitted two petitions. But we knew it was not nervousness which
+made him pause for ten seconds after praying for widows and orphans,
+and in the silence which fell upon us the Divine Spirit had free access.
+His youth commended him, since he was also modest, for every mother had
+come with an inarticulate prayer that the "puir laddie wud dae weel on
+his first day, and him only twenty-four." Texts I can never remember,
+nor, for that matter, the words of sermons; but the subject was Jesus
+Christ, and before he had spoken five minutes I was convinced, who am
+outside dogmas and churches, that Christ was present. The preacher
+faded from before one's eyes, and there rose the figure of the Nazarene,
+best lover of every human soul, with a face of tender patience such as
+Sarto gave the Master in the Church of the Annunziata, and stretching
+out His hands to old folk and little children as He did, before His
+death, in Galilee. His voice might be heard any moment, as I have
+imagined it in my lonely hours by the winter fire or on the solitary
+hills--soft, low, and sweet, penetrating like music to the secret of
+the heart, "Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest."
+
+During a pause in the sermon I glanced up the church, and saw the
+same spell held the people. Donald Menzies had long ago been caught
+into the third heaven, and was now hearing words which it is not
+lawful to utter. Campbell in his watch-tower at the back had closed
+his eyes, and was praying. The women were weeping quietly, and the
+rugged faces of our men were subdued and softened, as when the
+evening sun plays on the granite stone.
+
+But what will stand out for ever before my mind was the sight of
+Marget Howe. Her face was as white as death, and her wonderful grey
+eyes were shining through a mist of tears, so that I caught the
+light in the manse pew. She was thinking of George, and had taken
+the minister to her heart.
+
+The elders, one by one, gripped the minister's hand in the vestry,
+and, though plain, homely men, they were the godliest in the glen;
+but no man spoke save Burnbrae.
+
+"I a' but lost ae fairm for the Free Kirk, and I wud hae lost ten
+tae be in the Kirk this day."
+
+Donald walked with me homewards, but would only say:
+
+"There was a man sent from God whose name was John." At the cottage
+he added, "The friend of the bridegroom rejoiced greatly because of
+the bridegroom's voice,"
+
+Beneath the honeysuckle at his garden gate a woman was waiting.
+
+"My name is Marget Howe, and I'm the wife of William Howe of Whinnie
+Knowe. My only son wes preparin' for the ministry, but God wanted
+him nearly a year syne. When ye preached the Evangel o' Jesus the
+day I heard his voice, and I loved you. Ye hev nae mither on earth,
+I hear, and I hae nae son, and I wantit tae say that if ye ever wish
+tae speak to ony woman as ye wud tae yir mither, come tae Whinnie
+Knowe, an' I'll coont it ane of the Lord's consolations."
+
+His aunt could only meet him in the study, and when he looked on her
+his lip quivered, for his heart was wrung with one wistful regret.
+
+"Oh, auntie, if she had only been spared to see this day, and her
+prayers answered."
+
+But his aunt flung her arms round his neck.
+
+"Dinna be cast doon, laddie, nor be unbelievin'. Yir mither has
+heard every word, and is satisfied, for ye did it in remembrance o'
+her, and yon was yir mither's sermon."
+
+
+
+
+THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GRAND INQUISITOR
+
+The Free Kirk of Drumtochty had no gallery, but a section of seats
+at the back was raised two feet, and any one in the first pew might
+be said to sit in the "briest o' the laft." When Lachlan Campbell
+arrived from the privileged parish of Auchindarroch, where the "Men"
+ruled with iron hand and no one shaved on Sabbath, he examined the
+lie of country with the eye of a strategist, and seized at once a
+corner seat on the crest of the hill. From this vantage ground, with
+his back to the wall and a clear space left between himself and his
+daughter Flora, he had an easy command of the pulpit, and within six
+months had been constituted a court of review neither minister nor
+people could lightly disregard. It was not that Lachlan spoke hastily
+or at length, for his policy was generally a silence pregnant with
+judgment, and his deliverances were for the most part in parables,
+none the less awful because hard of interpretation. Like every true
+Celt, he had the power of reserve, and knew the value of mystery.
+His voice must not be heard in irresponsible gossip at the Kirk door,
+and he never condescended to the level of Mrs. MacFadyen, our recognised
+sermon taster, who criticised everything in the technique of the pulpit,
+from the number of heads in a sermon to the air with which a probationer
+used his pocket-handkerchief. She lived in the eye of the public, and
+gave her opinions with the light heart of a newspaper writer; but
+Lachlan kept himself in the shadow and wore a manner of studied humility
+as became the administrator of the Holy Office in Drumtochty.
+
+Lachlan was a little man, with a spare, wiry body, iron grey hair
+and whiskers carefully arranged, a keen, old-fashioned face
+sharpened by much spiritual thinking, and eyes that looked at you
+from beneath shaggy eyebrows as from some other world. His face had
+an irresistible suggestion of a Skye terrier, the most serious of
+animals, with the hair reduced, and Drumsheugh carried us all with
+him when, in a moment of inspiration, he declared that "the body
+looks as if he hed juist come oot o' the Ark." He was a shepherd to
+trade, and very faithful in all his work, but his life business was
+theology, from Supralapsarianism in Election to the marks of faith
+in a believer's heart. His library consisted of some fifty volumes
+of ancient divinity, and lay on an old oak kist close to his hand,
+where he sat beside the fire of a winter night. When the sheep were
+safe and his day's labour was over, he read by the light of the fire
+and the "crusie" (oil-lamp) overhead, Witsius on the Covenants, or
+Rutherford's "Christ Dying," or Bunyan's "Grace Abounding," or
+Owen's "130th Psalm," while the collies slept at his feet, and Flora
+put the finishing stroke to some bit of rustic finery. Worship was
+always coloured by the evening's reading, but the old man never
+forgot to pray that they both might have a place in the everlasting
+covenant, and that the backslidings of Scotland might be healed.
+
+As our inquisitor, Lachlan searched anxiously for sound doctrine and
+deep experience, but he was not concerned about learning, and
+fluency he regarded with disgust. When a young minister from
+Muirtown stamped twice in his prayer at the Drumtochty Fast, and
+preached with great eloquence from the words, "And there was no more
+sea," repeating the text at the end of each paragraph, and
+concluding the sermon with "Lord Ullin's Daughter," the atmosphere
+round Lachlan became electric, and no one dared to speak to him
+outside. He never expressed his mind on this melancholy exhibition,
+but the following Sabbath he explained the principle on which they
+elected ministers at Auchindarroch, which was his standard of
+perfection.
+
+"Six young men came, and they did not sing songs in the pulpit. Oh
+no, they preached fery well, and I said to Angus Bain, 'They are all
+goot lads, and there is nothing wrong with their doctrine.'
+
+"Angus wass one of the 'Men,' and saw what wass hidden from me, and
+he will be saying, 'Oh yes, they said their lesson fery pretty, but
+I did not see them tremble, Lachlan Campbell. Another iss coming,
+and seven is a goot number.'
+
+"It wass next Sabbath that he came, and he wass a white man, giving
+out his text, 'Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
+supper of the Lamb,' and I wass thinking that the Lord had laid too
+great a burden on the lad, and that he could not be fit for such a
+work. It wass not more than ten minutes before he will be trying to
+tell us what he wass seeing, and will not hef the words. He had to
+go down from the pulpit as a man that had been in the heavenly
+places and wass stricken dumb.
+
+"'It iss the Lord that has put me to shame this day,' he said to the
+elders, 'and I will nefer show my face again in Auchindarroch, for I
+ought not to have meddled with things too high for me.'
+
+"'You will show your face here every Sabbath,' answered Angus Bain,
+'for the Lord said unto me, "Wait for the man that trembles at the
+Word, and iss not able to speak, and it will be a sign unto you,"'
+and a fery goot minister he wass, and made the hypocrites in Zion to
+be afraid."
+
+Lachlan dealt tenderly with our young Free Kirk minister, for the
+sake of his first day, and passed over some very shallow experience
+without remark, but an autumn sermon roused him to a sense of duty.
+For some days a storm of wind and rain had been stripping the leaves
+from the trees and gathering them in sodden heaps upon the ground.
+The minister looked out on the garden where many holy thoughts had
+visited him, and his heart sank like lead, for it was desolate, and
+of all its beauty there remained but one rose clinging to its stalk,
+drenched and faded. It seemed as if youth, with its flower of
+promise and hope, had been beaten down, and a sense of loneliness
+fell on his soul. He had no heart for work, and crept to bed broken
+and dispirited. During the night the rain ceased, and the north wind
+began to blow, which cleanses nature in every pore, and braces each
+true man for his battle. The morrow was one of those glorious days
+which herald winter, and as the minister tramped along the road,
+where the dry leaves crackled beneath his feet, and climbed to the
+moor with head on high, the despair of yesterday vanished. The wind
+had ceased, and the glen lay at his feet, distinct in the cold,
+clear air, from the dark mass of pines that closed its upper end to
+the swelling woods of oak and beech that cut it off from the great
+Strath. He had received a warm welcome from all kinds of people, and
+now he marked with human sympathy each little homestead with its
+belt of firs against the winter's storms, and its stackyard where
+the corn had been gathered safe; the ploughman and his horses
+cutting brown ribbons in the bare stubble; dark squares where the
+potato stalks have withered to the ground, and women are raising the
+roots, and here and there a few cattle still out in the fields. His
+eye fell on the great wood through which he had rambled in August,
+now one blaze of colour, rich green and light yellow, with patches
+of fiery red and dark purple. God seemed to have given him a sermon,
+and he wrote that evening, like one inspired, on the same parable of
+nature Jesus loved, with its subtle interpretation of our sorrows,
+joys, trust, and hope. People told me that it was a "rael bonnie
+sermon," and that Netherton had forgotten his after-sermon snuff,
+although it was his turn to pass the box to Burnbrae.
+
+The minister returned to his study in a fine glow of body and soul,
+to find a severe figure standing motionless in the middle of the
+room.
+
+"Wass that what you call a sermon?" said Lachlan Campbell, without
+other greeting.
+
+John Carmichael was still so full of joy that he did not catch the
+tone, and explained with college pedantry that it was hardly a
+sermon, nor yet a lecture.
+
+"You may call it a meditation."
+
+"I will be calling it an essay without one bite of grass for
+starving sheep."
+
+Then the minister awoke from a pleasant dream, as if one had flung
+cold water on his naked body.
+
+"What was wrong?" with an anxious look at the stern little man who
+of a sudden had become his judge.
+
+"There wass nothing right, for I am not thinking that trees and
+leaves and stubble fields will save our souls, and I did not hear
+about sin and repentance and the work of Christ. It iss sound
+doctrine that we need, and a great peety you are not giving it."
+
+The minister had been made much of in college circles, and had a
+fair idea of himself. He was a kindly lad, but he did not see why he
+should be lectured by an old Highlandman who read nothing except
+Puritans, and was blind with prejudice. When they parted that
+Sabbath afternoon it was the younger man that had lost his temper,
+and the other did not offer to shake hands.
+
+Perhaps the minister would have understood Lachlan better if he had
+known that the old man could not touch food when he got home, and
+spent the evening in a fir wood praying for the lad he had begun to
+love. And Lachlan would have had a lighter heart if he had heard the
+minister questioning himself whether he had denied the Evangel or
+sinned against one of Christ's disciples. They argued together; they
+prayed apart.
+
+Lachlan was careful to say nothing, but the congregation felt that
+his hand was against the minister, and Burnbrae took him to task.
+
+"Ye maunna be ower hard on him, Maister Campbell, for he's but
+young, and comin' on fine. He hes a hearty word for ilka body on the
+road, and the sicht o' his fresh young face in the poopit is a
+sermon itsel'."
+
+"You are wrong, Burnbrae, if you will be thinking that my heart iss
+not warm to the minister, for it went out unto him from the day he
+preached his first sermon. But the Lord regardeth not the
+countenance of man."
+
+"Nae doot, nae doot, but I canna see onything wrang in his doctrine;
+it wudna be reasonable tae expect auld-fashioned sermons frae a
+young man, and I wud coont them barely honest. A'm no denying that
+he gaes far afield, and taks us tae strange lands when he's on his
+travels, but ye 'ill acknowledge that he gaithers mony treasures,
+and he aye comes back tae Christ."
+
+"No, I will not be saying that John Carmichael does not love Christ,
+for I hef seen the Lord in his sermons like a face through a
+lattice. Oh yes, and I hef felt the fragrance of the myrrh. But I am
+not liking his doctrine, and I wass thinking that some day there
+will be no original sin left in the parish of Drumtochty."
+
+It was about this time that the minister made a great mistake,
+although he was trying to do his best for the people, and always
+obeyed his conscience. He used to come over to the Cottage for a
+ramble through my books, and one evening he told me that he had
+prepared what he called a "course" on Biblical criticism, and was
+going to place Drumtochty on a level with Germany. It was certainly
+a strange part for me to advise a minister, but I had grown to like
+the lad, because he was full of enthusiasm and too honest for this
+world, and I implored him to be cautious. Drumtochty was not anxious
+to be enlightened about the authors of the Pentateuch, being quite
+satisfied with Moses, and it was possible that certain good men in
+Drumtochty might resent any interference with their herditary
+notions. Why could he not read this subject for his own pleasure,
+and teach it quietly in classes? Why give himself away in the
+pulpit? This worldly counsel brought the minister to a white heat,
+and he rose to his feet. Had he not been ordained to feed his people
+with truth, and was he not bound to tell them all he knew? We were
+living in an age of transition, and he must prepare Christ's folk
+that they be not taken unawares. If he failed in his duty through
+any fear of consequences, men would arise afterwards to condemn him
+for cowardice, and lay their unbelief at his door. When he ceased I
+was ashamed of my cynical advice, and resolved never again to
+interfere with "courses" or other matters above the lay mind. But
+greater knowledge of the world had made me a wise prophet.
+
+Within a month the Free Kirk was in an uproar, and when I dropped in
+one Sabbath morning the situation seemed to me a very pathetic
+tragedy. The minister was offering to the honest country folk a mass
+of immature and undigested details about the Bible, and they were
+listening with wearied, perplexed faces. Lachlan Campbell sat grim
+and watchful, without a sign of flinching, but even from the Manse
+pew I could detect the suffering of his heart. When the minister
+blazed into polemic against the bigotry of the old school, the iron
+face quivered as if a father had been struck by his son. Carmichael
+looked thin and nervous in the pulpit, and it came to me that if new
+views are to be preached to old-fashioned people it ought not to be
+by lads who are always heady and intolerant, but by a stout man of
+middle age, with a rich voice and a good-natured manner. Had
+Carmichael rasped and girded much longer, one would have believed in
+the inspiration of the vowel points, and I left the church with a
+low heart, for this was a woeful change from his first sermon.
+
+Lachlan would not be pacified, not even by the plea of the
+minister's health.
+
+"Oh yes, I am seeing that he is ill, and I will be as sorry as any
+man in Drumtochty. But it iss not too much work, as they are saying;
+it iss the judgment of God. It iss not goot to meddle with Moses,
+and John Carmichael will be knowing that. His own sister wass not
+respectful to Moses, and she will not be feeling fery well next
+day."
+
+But Burnbrae added that the "auld man cudna be mair cast doon if he
+hed lost his dochter."
+
+The peace of the Free Kirk had been broken, and the minister was
+eating out his heart, when he remembered the invitation of Marget
+Howe, and went one sweet spring day to Whinnie Knowe.
+
+Marget met him with her quiet welcome at the garden gate.
+
+"Ye hae dune me a great kindness in comin', Maister Carmichael, and
+if ye please we 'ill sit in this sunny corner which is dear tae me,
+and ye 'ill tell me yir troubles."
+
+So they sat down together beside the brier bush, and after one
+glance at Marget's face the minister opened his heart, and told her
+the great controversy with Lachlan.
+
+Marget lifted her head as one who had heard of some brave deed, and
+there was a ring in her voice.
+
+"It maks me prood before God that there are twa men in Drumtochty
+who follow their conscience as king, and coont truth dearer than
+their ain freends. It's peetifu' when God's bairns fecht through
+greed and envy, but it's hertsome when they are wullin' tae wrestle
+aboot the Evangel, for surely the end o' it a' maun be peace.
+
+"A've often thocht that in the auld days baith the man on the rack
+and the inqueesitor himself micht be gude men and accepted o' God,
+and maybe the inqueesitor suffered mair than the martyr. A'm
+thinkin', Maister Carmichael, that it's been hardest on Lachlan."
+
+The minister's head was buried in his hands, but his heart was with
+Marget.
+
+"It's a strange buik the Bible, and no the buik we wud hae made, tae
+judge by oor bit creeds and confessions. It's like a head o' aits in
+the harvest time. There's the ear that hauds the grain and keeps it
+safe, and that's the history, and there's often no mickle nutriment
+in it; then there's the corn lying in the ear, which is the Evangel
+frae Eden tae Revelation, and that is the bread o' the soul. But the
+corn maun be threshed first and the cauf (chaff) cleaned aff. It's a
+bonnie sicht tae see the pure grain fallin' like a rinnin' burn on
+the corn-room floor, and a glint o' the sun through the window
+turning it intae gold. But the stour (dust) o' the cauf room is mair
+than onybody can abide, and the cauf's worth naethin' when the
+corn's awa."
+
+"Ye mean," said the minister, "that my study is the threshin' mill,
+and that some of the chaff has got into the pulpit."
+
+"Yir no offended," and Marget's voice trembled.
+
+Then the minister lifted his head and laughed aloud with joy, while
+a swift flash of humour lit up Marget's face.
+
+"You've been the voice of God to me this day, Mrs. Howe, but if I
+give up my 'course,' the people will misunderstand, for I know
+everything I gave was true, and I would give it all again if it were
+expedient."
+
+"Nae fear, Maister Carmichael, naebody misunderstands that luves,
+and the fouk all luve ye, and the man that hauds ye dearest is
+Lachlan Campbell. I saw the look in his een that canna be mista'en."
+
+"I'll go to him this very day," and the minister leaped to his feet.
+
+"Ye 'ill no regret it," said Marget, "for God will give ye peace."
+
+Lachlan did not see the minister coming, for he was busy with a lamb
+that had lost its way and hurt itself. Carmichael marked with a
+growing tenderness at his heart how gently the old man washed and
+bound up the wounded leg, all the time crooning to the frightened
+creature in the sweet Gaelic speech, and also how he must needs give
+the lamb a drink of warm milk before he set it free.
+
+When he rose from his work of mercy, he faced the minister.
+
+For an instant Lachlan hesitated, and then at the look on
+Carmichael's face he held out both his hands.
+
+"This iss a goot day for me, and I bid you ten thousand welcomes."
+
+But the minister took the first word.
+
+"You and I, Lachlan, have not seen eye to eye about some things
+lately, and I am not here to argue which is nearer the truth,
+because perhaps we may always differ on some lesser matters. But
+once I spoke rudely to you, and often I have spoken unwisely in my
+sermons. You are an old man and I am a young, and I ask you to
+forgive me and to pray that both of us may be kept near the heart of
+our Lord, whom we love, and who loves us."
+
+No man can be so courteous as a Celt, and Lachlan was of the pure
+Highland breed, kindest of friends, fiercest of foes.
+
+"You hef done a beautiful deed this day, Maister Carmichael; and the
+grace of God must hef been exceeding abundant in your heart. It iss
+this man that asks your forgiveness, for I wass full of pride, and
+did not speak to you as an old man should; but God iss my witness
+that I would hef plucked out my right eye for your sake. You will
+say every word God gives you, and I will take as much as God gives
+me, and there will be a covenant between us as long as we live."
+
+They knelt together on the earthen floor of that Highland cottage,
+the old school and the new, before one Lord, and the only difference
+in their prayers was that the young man prayed they might keep the
+faith once delivered unto the saints, while the burden of the old
+man's prayer was that they might be led into all truth.
+
+Lachlan's portion that evening ought to have been the slaying of
+Sisera from the Book of Judges, but instead he read, to Flora's
+amazement--it was the night before she left her home--the thirteenth
+chapter of I Corinthians, and twice he repeated to himself, "Now we
+see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HIS BITTER SHAME
+
+The Free Kirk people were very proud of their vestry because the
+Established Church had none, and because it was reasonably supposed
+to be the smallest in Scotland. When the minister, who touched five
+feet eleven, and the beadle, who was three inches taller, assembled
+for the procession, with the precentor, a man of fair proportions,
+there was no waste ground in that room, and any messenger from the
+church door had to be selected with judgment. "Step up, Airchie man,
+tae the vestry," Burnbrae would say to the one under-sized man in
+Drumtochty, "and tell the minister no tae forget the Jews. Ye can
+birse (push) in fine, but it wud beat me to get by the door. It's a
+bonnie bit room, but three fouk stannin' maks it contrakit for
+another man,"
+
+It was eight feet by eight, and consisted largely of two doors and a
+fireplace, and its chief glory was a portrait of Dr. Chalmers, whose
+face, dimly seen in the light of the lamp, was a charter of
+authority, and raised the proceedings to the level of history.
+Lockers on either side of the mantelpiece contained the church
+library, which abounded in the lives of Scottish worthies, and was
+never lightly disturbed. Where there was neither grate nor door, a
+narrow board ran along the wall, on which it was simply a point of
+honour to seat the twelve deacons, who met once a month to raise the
+Sustentation Fund by modest, heroic sacrifices of hard-working
+people, and to keep the slates on the church roof in winter. When
+they had nothing else to do, they talked about the stove which "came
+out in '43," and, when it was in good humour, would raise the
+temperature in winter one degree above freezing. Seating the court
+was a work of art, and could only be achieved by the repression of
+the smaller men, who looked out from the loopholes of retreat, the
+projection of bigger men on to their neighbours' knees, and the
+absolute elimination of Archie Moncur, whose voice made motions on
+temperance from the lowest depths. Netherton was always the twelfth
+man to arrive, and nothing could be done till he was safely settled.
+Only some six inches were reserved at the end of the bench, and he
+was a full sitter, but he had discovered a trick of sitting sideways
+and screwing his leg against the opposite wall, that secured the
+court as well as himself in their places on the principle of a
+compressed spring. When this operation was completed, Burnbrae used
+to say to the minister, who sat in the middle on a cane chair before
+the tiniest of tables--the living was small, and the ministers never
+grew fat till they left--
+
+"We're fine and comfortable noo, Moderator, and ye can begin
+business as sune as ye like."
+
+As there were only six elders they could sit in state, besides
+leaving a vacant space for any penitents who came to confess their
+sins and receive absolution, or some catechumen who wished to be
+admitted to the sacrament. Carmichael used to say that a meeting of
+Session affected his imagination, and would have made an interior
+for Rembrandt. On one side of the table sat the men who represented
+the piety of the district, and were supposed to be "far ben" in the
+Divine fellowship, and on the other some young girl in her
+loneliness, who wrung her handkerchief in terror of this dreaded
+spiritual court, and hoped within her heart that no elder would ask
+her "effectual calling" from the Shorter Catechism; while the little
+lamp, hanging from the ceiling, and swinging gently in the wind that
+had free access from every airt, cast a fitful light on the fresh,
+tearful face of the girl and the hard, weather-beaten countenances
+of the elders, composed into a serious gravity not untouched by
+tenderness. They were little else than labouring men, but no one was
+elected to that court unless he had given pledges of godliness, and
+they bore themselves as men who had the charge of souls.
+
+The little Sanhedrim had within it the school of Hillel, which was
+swayed by mercy, and its Rabbi was Burnbrae; and the school of
+Shammai, whose rule was inflexible justice, and its Rabbi was
+Lachlan Campbell. Burnbrae was a big-hearted man, with a fatherly
+manner, and had a genius for dealing with "young communicants."
+
+"Weel, Jessie, we're awfu pleased tae think yer gaein' forrit, and
+the Dominie wes tellin' me juist last week that ye did yir work at
+schule graund, and knew yir Bible frae end tae end.
+
+"It'll no be easy to speir (ask) the like o' you questions, but ye
+mind Abraham, Jessie."
+
+"Ou ay," and Jessie is all alert, although she is afraid to look up.
+
+"What was the name o' his wife, noo?"
+
+"Sarah, an' their son was Isaac."
+
+"That's richt, and what aboot Isaac's wife?"
+
+"Isaac mairrit Rebecca, and they hed twa sons, Jacob and Esau," and
+the girl takes a shy glance at the honest elder, and begins to feel
+at home.
+
+"Domsie wesna far wrang, a' see, but it's no possible ye cud tell us
+the names o' Jacob's sons; it's maybe no fair tae ask sic a teuch
+question," knowing all the while that this was a test case of
+Domsie's.
+
+When Jessie reached Benjamin, Burnbrae could not contain himself.
+
+"It's nae use trying to stick Jessie wi' the Bible, neeburs; we 'ill
+see what she can dae wi' the Carritches (Catechism). Yir no the
+lassie that said the questions frae beginning tae end wi' twa
+mistaks, are ye?"
+
+Yes, she was, and dared him to come on, for Jessie has forgotten the
+minister and all the Session.
+
+"The elders wud like tae hear 'What is the Lord's Supper?'"
+
+"That's it; and, Jessie, ma woman, gie's the 'worthy receiving.'"
+
+Jessie achieves another triumph, and is now ready for anything.
+
+"Ye hae the Word weel stored in yir mind, lassie, and ye maun keep
+it in yir life, and dinna forget that Christ's a gude Maister."
+
+"A'll dae ma best," and Jessie declared that Burnbrae had been as
+kind as if she had been "his ain bairn," and that she "wasna feared
+ava." But her trial is not over; the worst is to come.
+
+Lachlan began where Burnbrae ended, and very soon had Jessie on the
+rack.
+
+"How old will you be?"
+
+"Auchteen next Martinmas."
+
+"And why will you be coming to the sacrament?"
+
+"Ma mither thocht it was time," with a threatening of tears as she
+looked at the face in the corner.
+
+"Ye will maybe tell the Session what hass been your 'lawwork' and
+how long ye hef been at Sinai."
+
+"A' dinna ken what yir askin'. I was never oot o' Drumtochty," and
+Jessie breaks down utterly.
+
+"A' dinna think, Moderator, we ocht tae ask sic questions," broke in
+Burnbrae, who could not see a little one put to confusion; "an' I
+canna mind them in the Gospels. There's ae commandment Jessie keeps
+weel, as a' can testeefy, and that's the fifth, for there's no a
+better dochter in Drumtochty. A' move, Moderator, she get her token;
+dinna greet, puir woman, for ye've dune weel, and the Session's rael
+satisfeed."
+
+"It wass Dr. John's mark I wass trying the girl by," explained
+Lachlan after Jessie had gone away comforted. "And it iss a goot
+mark, oh yes, and very searching.
+
+"Ye will maybe not know what it iss, Moderator," and Lachlan
+regarded the minister with austere superiority, for it was the
+winter of the feud.
+
+No, he did not, nor any of the Session, being all douce Scotchmen,
+except Donald Menzies who was at home fighting the devil.
+
+"It iss broken bones, and Dr. John did preach three hours upon it at
+Auchindarroch Fast, and there wass not many went to the Sacrament on
+that occasion.
+
+"Broken bones iss a fine mark to begin with, and the next will be
+doubts. But there iss a deeper," continued Lachlan, warming to his
+subject, "oh yes, far deeper, and I heard of it when I wass North
+for the sheep, and I will not be forgetting that day with Janet
+Macfarlane.
+
+"I knew she wass a professor, and I wass looking for her marks. But
+it wass not for me to hef been searching her; it wass that woman
+that should hef been trying me."
+
+A profound silence wrapt the Session.
+
+"'Janet,' I said, 'hef ye had many doubts?'
+
+"'Doubts, Lachlan? was that what you asked? I hef had desertions,
+and one will be for six months.'
+
+"So I saw she wass far beyond me, for I dare not be speaking about
+desertions."
+
+Two minutes after the minister pronounced the benediction, and no
+one had offered any remark in the interval.
+
+It seemed to the elders that Lachlan dealt hardly with young people
+and those that had gone astray, but they learned one evening that
+his justice had at least no partiality. Burnbrae said afterwards
+that Lachlan "looked like a ghaist comin' in at the door," but he
+sat in silence in the shadow, and no one marked the agony on his
+face till the end.
+
+"If that iss all the business, Moderator, I hef to bring a case of
+discipline before the Session, and ask them to do their duty. It iss
+known to me that a young woman who hass been a member of this church
+hass left her home and gone into the far country. There will be no
+use in summoning her to appear before the Session, for she will
+never be seen again in this parish. I move that she be cut off from
+the roll, and her name iss "--and Lachlan's voice broke, but in an
+instant he recovered himself--"her name iss Flora Campbell."
+
+Carmichael confessed to me that he was stricken dumb, and that
+Lachlan's ashen face held him with an awful fascination.
+
+It was Burnbrae that first found a voice, and showed that night the
+fine delicacy of heart that may be hidden behind a plain exterior.
+
+"Moderator, this is a terrible calamity that hes befaen oor brither,
+and a'm feelin' as if a' hed lost a bairn o' my ane, for a sweeter
+lassie didna cross oor kirk door. Nane o' us want tae know what hes
+happened or where she hes gane, and no a word o' this wull cross oor
+lips. Her faither's dune mair than cud be expeckit o' mortal man,
+and noo we have oor duty. It's no the way o' this Session tae cut
+aff ony member o' the flock at a stroke, and we 'ill no begin with
+Flora Campbell. A' move, Moderator, that her case be left tae her
+faither and yersel, and oor neebur may depend on it that Flora's
+name and his ain will be mentioned in oor prayers, ilka mornin' an'
+nicht till the gude Shepherd o' the sheep brings her hame."
+
+Burnbrae paused, and then, with tears in his voice--men do not weep
+in Drumtochty--"With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is
+plenteous redemption."
+
+The minister took the old man's arm and led him into the manse, and
+set him in the big chair by the study fire. "Thank God, Lachlan, we
+are friends now; tell me about it as if I were your son and Flora's
+brother."
+
+The father took a letter out of an inner pocket with a trembling
+hand, and this is what Carmichael read by the light of the lamp:--
+
+"DEAR FATHER,--When this reaches you I will be in London, and not
+worthy to cross your door. Do not be always angry with me, and try
+to forgive me, for you will not be troubled any more by my dancing
+or dressing. Do not think that I will be blaming you, for you have
+been a good father to me, and said what you would be considering
+right, but it is not easy for a man to understand a girl. Oh, if I
+had had my mother, then she would have understood me, and I would
+not have crossed you. Forget poor Flora's foolishness, but you will
+not forget her, and maybe you will still pray for me. Take care of
+the geraniums for my sake, and give milk to the lamb that you called
+after me. I will never see you again, in this world or the next nor
+my mother ... (here the letter was much blotted). When I think that
+there will be no one to look after you, and have the fire burning
+for you on winter nights, I will be rising to come back. But it is
+too late, too late. Oh, the disgrace I will be bringing on you in
+the glen.--Your unworthy daughter,
+
+FLORA CAMPBELL."
+
+"This is a fiery trial, Lachlan, and I cannot even imagine what you
+are suffering. But do not despair, for that is not the letter of a
+bad girl. Perhaps she was impatient, and has been led astray. But
+Flora is good at heart, and you must not think she is gone forever."
+
+Lachlan groaned, the first moan he had made, and then he tottered to
+his feet.
+
+"You are fery kind, Maister Carmichael, and so wass Burnbrae, and I
+will be thankful you all, but you do not understand. Oh no, you do
+not understand." Lachlan caught hold of a chair and looked the
+minister in the face.
+
+"She hass gone, and there will be no coming back. You would not take
+her name from the roll of the church, and I will not be meddling
+with that book. But I hef blotted out her name from my Bible, where
+her mother's name iss written and mine. She has wrought confusion in
+Israel and in an elder's house, and I ... I hef no danghter. But I
+loved her; she nefer knew how I loved her, for her mother would be
+looking at me from her eyes."
+
+The minister walked with Lachlan to the foot of the hill on which
+his cottage stood, and after they had shaken hands in silence, he
+watched the old man's figure in the cold moonlight till he
+disappeared into the forsaken home, where the fire had gone out on
+the hearth, and neither love nor hope were waiting for a broken
+heart.
+
+The railway did not think it worth while to come to Drumtochty, and
+we, were cut off from the lowlands by miles of forest, so our
+manners retained the fashion of the former age. Six elders, besides
+the minister, knew the tragedy of Flora Campbell, and never opened
+their lips. Mrs. Macfadyen, who was our newspaper, and understood
+her duty, refused to pry into this secret. The pity of the glen went
+out to Lachlan, but no one even looked a question as he sat alone in
+his pew or came down on a Saturday afternoon to the village shop for
+his week's provisions. London friends thought me foolish about my
+adopted home, but I asked them whether they could find such perfect
+good manners in Belgravia, and they were silent. My Drumtochty
+neighbours would have played an awkward part in a drawing-room, but
+never have I seen in all my wanderings men and women of truer
+courtesy or tenderer heart.
+
+"It gars ma hert greet tae see him," Mrs. Macfadyen said to me one
+day, "sae booed an' disjackit, him that wes that snod (tidy) and
+firm. His hair's turned white in a month, and he's awa' tae naething
+in his claithes. But least said is sunest mended. It's no richt tae
+interfere wi' another's sorrow, an' it wad be an awfu' sin tae
+misca' a young lassie. We maun juist houp that Flora 'll sune come
+back, for if she disna Lachlan 'ill no be lang wi's. He's sayin'
+naethin', and a' respeck him for't; but onybody can see that his
+hert is breakin'."
+
+We were helpless till Marget Howe met Lachlan in the shop and read
+his sorrow at a glance. She went home to Whinnie Knowe in great
+distress.
+
+"It wes waesome tae see the auld man githerin' his bit things wi' a
+shakin' hand, and speakin' tae me aboot the weather, and a' the time
+his eyes were sayin', 'Flora, Flora.'"
+
+"Whar div ye think the young hizzie is, Marget?"
+
+"Naebody needs tae know, Weelum, an' ye maunna speak that way, for
+whatever's come ower her, she's dear to Lachlan and tae God.
+
+"It's laid on me tae veesit Lachlan, for a'm thinking oor Father
+didna comfort us withoot expeckin' that we wud comfort other fouk."
+
+When Marget came round the corner of Lachlan's cottage, she found
+Flora's plants laid out in the sun, and her father watering them on
+his knees. One was ready to die, and for it he had made a shelter
+with his plaid.
+
+He was taken unawares, but in a minute he was leading Marget in with
+hospitable words.
+
+"It iss kind of you to come to an old man's house, Mistress Howe,
+and it iss a fery warm day. You will not care for speerits, but I am
+fery goot at making tea."
+
+Marget was not as other women, and she spoke at once.
+
+"Maister Campbell, ye will believe that I hev come in the love of
+God, and because we hev baith been afflickit. I had ae son, and he
+is gone; ye had a dochter, and she is gone. A' ken where George is,
+and am sateesfied. A' doot sairly yir sorrow is deeper than mine."
+
+"Would to God that she wass lying in the kirkyard; but I will not
+speak of her. She iss not anything to me this day. See, I will show
+you what I hef done, for she hass been a black shame to her name."
+
+He opened the Bible, and there was Flora's name scored with wavering
+strokes, but the ink had run as if it had been mingled with tears.
+
+Marget's heart burned within her at the sight, and perhaps she could
+hardly make allowance for Lachlan's blood and theology.
+
+"This is what ye hev dune, and ye let a woman see yir wark. Ye are
+an auld man, and in sore travail, but a' tell ye before God ye hae
+the greater shame. Juist twenty years o' age this spring, and her
+mither dead. Nae woman to watch over her, and she wandered frae the
+fold, and a' ye can dae is to tak her oot o' yir Bible. Waes me if
+oor Father had blotted out oor names frae the Book o' Life when we
+left His hoose. But He sent His ain Son to seek us, an' a weary road
+He cam. A' tell ye, a man wudna leave a sheep tae perish as ye hae
+cast aff yir ain bairn. Yir worse than Simon the Pharisee, for Mary
+was nae kin tae him. Puir Flora, tae hae sic a father."
+
+"Who will be telling you that I wass a Pharisee?" cried Lachlan,
+quivering in every limb, and grasping Marget's arm.
+
+"Forgie me, Lachlan, forgie me. It was the thocht o' the misguided
+lassie carried me, for a' didna come tae upbraid ye."
+
+But Lachlan had sunk into a chair and had forgotten her.
+
+"She hass the word, and God will hef smitten the pride of my heart,
+for it iss Simon that I am. I wass hard on my child, and I wass hard
+on the minister, and there wass none like me. The Lord has laid my
+name in the dust, and I will be angry with her. But she iss the
+scapegoat for my sins, and hass gone into the desert. God be
+merciful to me a sinner." And then Marget understood no more, for
+the rest was in Gaelic, but she heard Flora's name with another she
+took to be her mother's twined together.
+
+So Marget knew it would be well with Lachlan yet, and she wrote this
+letter:
+
+"MY DEAR LASSIE,--Ye ken that I wes aye yir freend, and I am writing
+this tae say that yir father luves ye mair than ever, and is wearing
+oot his hert for the sicht o' yir face. Come back, or he'll dee
+thro' want o' his bairn. The glen is bright and bonny noo, for the
+purple heather is on the hills, and doon below the gowden corn, wi'
+bluebell and poppy flowers between. Naebody 'ill ask ye where ye've
+been, or onything else; there's no a bairn in the place that's no
+wearying tae see ye; and, Flora, lassie, if there will be sic
+gledness in oor wee glen when ye come hame, what think ye o' the joy
+in the Father's Hoose? Start the verra meenute that ye get this
+letter; yir father bids ye come, and I'm writing this in place o'
+yir mother.
+
+MARGET HOWE."
+
+Marget went out to tend the flowers while Lachlan read the letter,
+and when he gave it back the address was written in his own hand.
+
+He went as far as the crest of the hill with Marget, and watched her
+on the way to the post office till she was only a speck upon the
+road.
+
+When he entered his cottage the shadows were beginning to fall, and
+he remembered it would soon be night.
+
+"It iss in the dark that Flora will be coming, and she must know
+that her father iss waiting for her."
+
+He cleaned and trimmed with anxious hand a lamp that was kept for
+show, and had never been used. Then he selected from his books
+Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an angry God," and "Coles on the
+Divine Sovereignty," and on them he laid the large family Bible out
+of which Flora's name had been blotted. This was the stand on which
+he set the lamp in the window, and every night till Flora returned
+its light shone down the steep path that ascended to her home, like
+the Divine Love from the open door of our Father's House.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+LIKE AS A FATHER
+
+It was only by physical force and a free use of personalities that
+the Kildrummie passengers could be entrained at the Junction, and
+the Drumtochty men were always the last to capitulate.
+
+They watched the main line train that had brought them from Muirtown
+disappear in the distance, and then broke into groups to discuss the
+cattle sale at leisure, while Peter, the factotum of the little
+Kildrummie branch, drove his way through their midst with offensive
+pieces of luggage, and abused them by name without respect of
+persons.
+
+"It's maist aggravatin', Drumsheugh, 'at ye 'ill stand there girnin'
+at the prices, as if ye were a puir cottar body that hed selt her ae
+coo, and us twal meenutes late. Man, get intae yer kerridge; he 'ill
+no be fat that buys frae you, a'll wager."
+
+"Peter's in an awfu' feery-farry (excitement) the nicht, neeburs,"
+Drumsheugh would respond, after a long pause; "ye wud think he wes a
+mail gaird tae hear him speak. Mind ye, a'm no gain' tae shove ahint
+if the engine sticks, for I hae na time. He needs a bit nip," and
+Drumsheugh settles himself in his seat, "or else there wud be nae
+leevin' wi' him."
+
+Peter escaped this winged shaft, for he had detected a woman in the
+remote darkness.
+
+"Keep's a', wumman, what are ye stravagin' about there for out o' a
+body's sicht? a' near set aff withoot ye."
+
+Then Peter recognised her face, and his manner softened of a sudden.
+
+"Come awa', lassie, come awa'; a' didna ken ye at the moment, but a'
+heard ye hed been veesitin' in the sooth.
+
+"The third is terrible full wi' thae Drumtochty lads, and ye 'ill
+hear naething but Drumsheugh's stirks; ye 'ill maybe be as handy in
+oor second." And Flora Campbell stepped in unseen.
+
+Between the Junction and Kildrummie Peter was accustomed to wander
+along the footboard, collecting tickets and identifying passengers.
+He was generally in fine trim on the way up, and took ample revenge
+for the insults of the departure. But it was supposed that Peter had
+taken Drumsheugh's withering sarcasm to heart, for he attached
+himself to the second that night, and was invisible to the expectant
+third till the last moment.
+
+"Ye've hed a lang journey, Miss Cammil, and ye maun be nearly dune
+wi' tire; juist ye sit still till the fouk get awa', and the guid
+wife and me wud be prood if ye took a cup o' tea wi's afore ye
+stairted hame. A'll come for ye as sune as a' get the van emptied
+and ma little trokes feenished."
+
+Peter hurried up to his cottage in such hot haste that his wife came
+out in great alarm.
+
+"Na, their's naethin' wrang; it's the opposite way this nicht. Ye
+mind o' Flora Cammil that left her father, and name o' the
+Drumtochty fouk wud say onything aboot her. Weel, she's in the
+train, and a've asked her up tae rest, and she was gled tae come,
+puir thing. Sae gie her a couthy welcome, wumman, and the best in
+the hoose, for oors 'ill be the first roof she 'ill be under on her
+way hame."
+
+Our women do not kiss one another like the city ladies; but the
+motherly grip of Mary Bruce's hand sent a thrill to Flora's heart.
+
+"Noo a' ca' this rael kind o' ye, Miss Cammil, tae come in withoot
+ceremony, and a'd be terrible pleased if ye would dae it ony time
+yer traivellin'. The rail is by ordinar' fateegin', and a cup o' tea
+'ill set ye up," and Mary had Flora in the best chair, and was
+loading her plate with homely dainties.
+
+Peter would speak of nothing but the new engine that was coming, and
+was to place the Kildrummie branch beyond ridicule for ever, and on
+this great event he continued without intermission till he parted
+with Flora on the edge of the pine woods that divided Drumtochty
+from Kildrummie.
+
+"Gude nicht tae ye, Miss Cammil, and thank ye again for yir veesit.
+Bring the auld man wi' ye next time ye're passing, though a'm feared
+ye've been deived (deafened) wi' the engine."
+
+Flora took Peter's hand, that was callous and rough with the turning
+of brakes and the coupling of chains.
+
+"It wass not your new engine you wass thinking about this night,
+Peter Bruce, but a poor girl that iss in trouble. I hef not the
+words, but I will be remembering your house, oh yes, as long as I
+live."
+
+Twice Peter stood on his way home; the first time he slapped his leg
+and chuckled:
+
+"Sall, it was gey clever o' me; a hale kerridge o' Drumtochty lads,
+and no ane o' them ever hed a glint o' her."
+
+At the second stoppage he drew his hand across his eyes.
+
+"Puir lassie, a' houp her father 'ill be kind tae her, for she's
+sair broken, and looks liker deith than life."
+
+No one can desire a sweeter walk than through a Scottish pine wood
+in late September, where you breathe the healing resinous air, and
+the ground is crisp and springy beneath your feet, and gentle
+animals dart away on every side, and here and there you come on an
+open space with a pool, and a brake of gorse. Many a time on market
+days Flora had gone singing through these woods, plucking a posy of
+wild flowers and finding a mirror in every pool, as young girls
+will; but now she trembled and was afraid. The rustling of the trees
+in the darkness, the hooting of an owl, the awful purity of the
+moonlight in the glades, the cold sheen of the water, were to her
+troubled conscience omens of judgment. Had it not been for the
+kindness of Peter Bruce, which was a pledge of human forgiveness,
+there would have been no heart in her to dare that wood, and it was
+with a sob of relief she escaped from the shadow and looked upon the
+old glen once more, bathed from end to end in the light of the
+harvest moon. Beneath her ran our little river, spanned by its
+quaint old bridge; away on the right the Parish Kirk peeped out from
+a clump of trees; half way up the glen the clachan lay surrounded by
+patches of corn; and beyond were the moors, with a shepherd's
+cottage that held her heart. Two hours ago squares of light told of
+warmth and welcome within; but now, as Flora passed one house after
+another, it seemed as if every one she knew was dead, and she was
+forgotten in her misery. Her heart grew cold, and she longed to lie
+down and die, when she caught the gleam of a lighted window. Some
+one was living still to know she had repented, and she knelt down
+among the flowers with her ear to the glass to hear the sound of a
+human voice. Archie Moncur had come home late from a far-away job,
+but he must needs have worship with his sister before they went to
+bed, and well did he choose the psalm that night. Flora's tears
+rained upon the mignonette as the two old people sang:
+
+  "When Sion's bondage God turned back,
+     As men that dreamed were we,
+   Then filled with laughter was our mouth,
+     Our tongue with melody;"
+
+while the fragrance of the flowers went up as incense unto God.
+
+All the way along the glen the last words of the psalm still rang in
+her ears, "Rejoicing shall return," but as she touched the footpath
+to her home, courage failed her. Marget had written for her dead
+mother, but no one could speak with authority for her father. She
+knew the pride of his religion and his iron principles. If he
+refused her entrance, then it had been better for her to have died
+in London. A turn of the path brought her within sight of the
+cottage, and her heart came into her mouth, for the kitchen window
+was a blaze of light. One moment she feared Lachlan might be ill,
+but in the next she understood, and in the greatness of her joy she
+ran the rest of the way. When she reached the door, her strength had
+departed, and she was not able to knock. But there was no need, for
+the dogs, who never forget nor cast off, were bidding her welcome
+with short joyous yelps of delight, and she could hear her father
+feeling for the latch, which for once could not be found, and saying
+nothing but "Flora, Flora."
+
+She had made up some kind of speech, but the only word she ever said
+was "Father," for Lachlan, who had never even kissed her all the
+days of her youth, clasped her in his arms and sobbed out blessings
+over her head, while the dogs licked her hands with their soft,
+kindly tongues.
+
+"It iss a peety you hef not the Gaelic," Flora said to Marget
+afterwards; "it iss the best of all languages for loving. There are
+fifty words for darling, and my father would be calling me every one
+that night I came home."
+
+Lachlan was so carried with joy, and firelight is so hopeful, that
+he had not seen the signs of sore sickness on Flora's face, but the
+morning light undeceived him, and he was sadly dashed.
+
+"You will be fery tired after your long journey, Flora, and it iss
+good for you to rest. There iss a man in the clachan I am wanting to
+see, and he will maybe be comin' back with me."
+
+When Lachlan reached his place of prayer, he lay on the ground and
+cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, and spare her for Thy servant's
+sake, and let me not lose her after Thou hast brought her back and
+hast opened my heart.... Take her not till she hass seen that I love
+her.... Give me time to do her kindness for the past wherein I
+oppressed her.... O, turn away Thy judgment on my hardness, and let
+not the child suffer for her father's sins." Then he arose and
+hastened for the doctor.
+
+It was afternoon before Dr. MacLure could come, but the very sight
+of his face, which was as the sun in its strength, let light into
+the room where Lachlan sat at the bedside holding Flora's hand, and
+making woful pretence that she was not ill.
+
+"Weel, Flora, yeve got back frae yir veesits, and a' tell ye we've
+a' missed ye maist terrible. A' doot thae sooth country fouk haena
+been feeding ye ower weel, or maybe it was the toon air. It never
+agrees wi' me. A'm half chokit a' the time a'm in Glesgie, and as
+for London, there's ower mony fouk tae the square yaird for health."
+
+All the time he was busy at his work, and no man could do it better
+or quicker, although the outside of him was not encouraging.
+
+"Lachlan, what are ye traivellin' in and oot there for with a face
+that wud sour milk? What ails ye, man? ye're surely no imaginin'
+Flora's gaein' to leave ye?
+
+"Lord's sake, it's maist provokin' that if a body hes a bit whup o'
+illness in Drumtochty, their freends tak tae propheseein' deith."
+
+Lachlan had crept over to Flora's side, and both were waiting.
+
+"Na, na; ye ken a' never tell lees like the graund ceety doctors,
+and a'll warrant Flora 'ill be in kirk afore Martinmas, an' kiltin'
+up the braes as hardy as a hielan' sheltie by the new year."
+
+Flora puts an arm round her father's neck, and draws down his face
+to hers, but the doctor is looking another way.
+
+"Dinna fash wi' medicine; gie her plenty o' fresh milk and plenty o'
+air. There's nae leevin' for a doctor wi' that Drumtochty air; it
+hasna a marra in Scotland. It starts frae the Moray Firth and sweeps
+doon Badenoch, and comes ower the moor o' Rannoch and across the
+Grampians. There's the salt o' the sea, and the caller air o' the
+hills, and the smell o' the heather, and the bloom o'mony a flower
+in't. If there's nae disease in the organs o' the body, a puff o'
+Drumtochty air wud bring back a man frae the gates o' deith."
+
+"You hef made two hearts glad this day, Doctor McLure," said
+Lachlan, outside the door, "and I am calling you Barnabas."
+
+"Ye've ca'd me waur names than that in yir time," and the doctor
+mounted his horse. "It's dune me a warld o' guid tae see Flora in
+her hame again, and I'll gie Marget Howe a cry in passin' and send
+her up tae hae a crack, for there's no a wiser wumman in the glen."
+
+When Marget came, Flora told her the history of her letter.
+
+"It wass a beautiful night in London, but I will be thinking that
+there iss no living person caring whether I die or live, and I wass
+considering how I could die, for there iss nothing so hopeless as to
+hef no friend in a great city. It iss often that I hef been alone on
+the moor, and no man within miles, but I wass never lonely, oh no, I
+had plenty of good company. I would sit down beside a burn, and the
+trout will swim out from below a stone, and the cattle will come to
+drink, and the muirfowl will be crying to each other, and the sheep
+will be bleating, oh yes, and there are the bees all round, and a
+string of wild ducks above your head. It iss a busy place a moor,
+and a safe place too, for there iss not one of the animals will hurt
+you. No, the big highlanders will only look at you and go away to
+their pasture. But it iss weary to be in London and no one to speak
+a kind word to you, and I will be looking at the crowd that iss
+always passing, and I will not see one kent face, and when I looked
+in at the lighted windows the people were all sitting round the
+table, but there wass no place for me. Millions and millions of
+people, and not one to say 'Flora,' and not one sore heart if I died
+that night. Then a strange thing happened, as you will be
+considering, but it iss good to be a Highlander, for we see visions.
+You maybe know that a wounded deer will try to hide herself, and I
+crept into the shadow of a church, and wept. Then the people and the
+noise and the houses passed away like the mist on the hill, and I
+wass walking to the kirk with my father, oh yes, and I saw you all
+in your places, and I heard the Psalms, and I could see through the
+window the green fields and the trees on the edge of the moor. And I
+saw my home, with the dogs before the door, and the flowers that I
+planted, and the lamb coming for her mik, and I heard myself singing,
+and I awoke. But there wass singing, oh yes, and beautiful too, for
+the dark church wass open, and the light wass falling over my head
+from the face of the Virgin Mary. When I arose she wass looking down
+at me in the darkness, and then I knew that there wass service in
+the church, and this wass the hymn--
+
+  "'There is a fountain filled with blood.'
+
+"So I went in and sat down at the door. The sermon wass on the
+Prodigal Son, but there iss only one word I remember. 'You are not
+forgotten or cast off,' the preacher said; 'you are missed,' and
+then he will come back to it again, and it wass always 'missed,
+missed, missed.' Sometimes he will say, 'If you had a plant, and you
+had taken great care of it, and it was stolen, would you not miss
+it?' And I will be thinking of my geraniums, and saying 'yes' in my
+heart. And then he will go on, 'If a shepherd wass counting his
+sheep, and there wass one short, does he not go out to the hill and
+seek for it?' and I will see my father coming back with that lamb
+that lost its mother. My heart wass melting within me, but he will
+still be pleading, 'If a father had a child, and she left her home
+and lost herself in the wicked city, she will still be remembered in
+the old house, and her chair will be there,' and I will be seeing my
+father all alone with the Bible before him, and the dogs will lay
+their heads on his knee, but there iss no Flora. So I slipped out
+into the darkness and cried 'Father,' but I could not go back, and I
+knew not what to do. But this wass ever in my ear, 'missed,' and I
+wass wondering if God will be thinking of me. 'Perhaps there may be
+a sign,' I said, and I went to my room, and I saw the letter. It
+wass not long before I will be in the train, and all the night I
+held your letter in my hand, and when I wass afraid I will read
+'Your father loves you more than efer,' and I will say, 'This is my
+warrant.' Oh yes, and God wass very good to me, and I did not want
+for friends all the way home.
+
+"The English guard noticed me cry, and he will take care of me all
+the night, and see me off at Muirtown, and this iss what he will say
+as the train wass leaving, in his cheery English way, 'Keep up your
+heart, lass, there's a good time coming,' and Peter Bruce will be
+waiting for me at the Junction, and a gentle man iss Peter Bruce,
+and Maister Moncur will be singing a psalm to keep up my heart, and
+I will see the light, and then I will know that the Lord hass had
+mercy upon me. That iss all I have to tell you, Marget, for the rest
+I will be saying to God."
+
+"But there iss something I must be telling," said Lachlan, coming
+in, "and it iss not easy."
+
+He brought over the Bible and opened it at the family register where
+his daughter's name had been erased; then he laid it down before
+Flora, and bowed his head on the bed.
+
+"Will you ever be able to forgive your father?"
+
+"Give me the pen, Marget;" and Flora wrote for a minute, but Lachlan
+never moved.
+
+When he lifted his head, this was what he read in a vacant space:--
+
+  FLORA CAMPBELL.
+  Missed April 1873.
+  Found September 1873.
+ "Her father fell on her neck and kissed her."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+AS A LITTLE CHILD
+
+Drumtochty made up its mind slowly upon any new-comer, and for some
+time looked into the far distance when his name was mentioned. He
+himself was struck with the studied indifference of the parish, and
+lived under the delusion that he had escaped notice. Perhaps he
+might have felt uncomfortable if he had suspected that he was under
+a microscope, and the keenest eyes in the country were watching
+every movement at kirk and market. His knowledge of theology, his
+preference in artificial manures, his wife's Sabbath dress, his
+skill in cattle, and his manner in the Kildrummie train, went as
+evidence in the case, and were duly weighed. Some morning the
+floating opinion suddenly crystallized in the kirkyard, and there is
+only one historical instance in which judgment was reversed. It was
+a strong proof of Lachlan Campbell's individuality that he impressed
+himself twice on the parish, and each time with a marked adjective.
+
+Lachlan had been superintending the theology of the glen and
+correcting our ignorance from an unapproachable height for two years
+before the word went forth, but the glen had been thinking.
+
+"Lachlan is a carefu' shepherd and fine wi' the ewes at the lambing
+time, there's nae doot o' that, but a' canna thole (bear) himsel'.
+Ye wud think there was nae releegion in the parish till he came frae
+Auchindarroch. What say ye, Domsie?"
+
+"Campbell's a censorious body, Drumsheugh," and Domsie shut his
+snuff-box lid with a snap.
+
+Drumsheugh nodded to the fathers of our commonwealth, and they went
+into kirk with silent satisfaction. Lachlan had been classified, and
+Peter Bruce, who prided himself on keeping in touch with Drumtochty,
+passed the word round the Kildrummie train next market night.
+
+"Ye haena that censorious body, Lachlan Campbell, wi' ye the nicht,"
+thrusting his head in on the thirds.
+
+"There's naething Peter disna ken," Hillocks remarked with
+admiration afterwards; "he's as gude as the _Advertiser_."
+
+When Flora had come home, and Drumtochty resumed freedom of
+criticism, I noticed for the first time a certain vacillation in its
+treatment of Lachlan.
+
+"He's pluckit up his speerit maist extraordinar," Hillocks
+explained, "and he whuppit by me like a three year auld laist
+Sabbath.
+
+"'I'm glad tae hear the Miss is comin' roond fine,' says I.
+
+"'It's the fouk o' Drumtochty hes made her weel. God bless you, for
+you hev done good for evil,' and wi' that he was aff afore I cud
+fin' a word.
+
+"He's changed, the body, some wy or ither, and there's a kind o'
+warmth aboot him ye canna get ower."
+
+Next day I turned into Mrs. Macfadyen's cottage for a cup of tea and
+the smack of that wise woman's conversation, but was not able to
+pass the inner door for the sight which met my eyes.
+
+Lachlan was sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with
+Elsie, Mrs. Macfadyen's pet child, on his knee, and their heads so
+close together that his white hair was mingling with her burnished
+gold. An odour of peppermint floated out at the door, and Elsie was
+explaining to Lachlan, for his guidance at the shop, that the round
+drops were a better bargain than the black and white rock.
+
+When Lachlan had departed, with gracious words on his lips and a
+very sticky imprint on his right cheek, I settled down in the big
+chair, beyond the power of speech, and Mrs. Macfadyen opened the
+mystery.
+
+"Ye may weel look, for twa month syne I wudna hae believed this day,
+though a' hed seen him wi' ma ain een.
+
+"It was juist this time laist year that he cam here on his elder's
+veesitation, and he catches the bairn in this verra kitchen.
+
+"'Elspeth,' says he--it was Elsie the day, ye mind--'div ye ken that
+ye're an oreeginal sinner?'
+
+"It was nichtfa' afore she got over the fricht, and when she saw him
+on the road next Sabbath, she cooried in ahint ma goon, and cried
+till I thocht her hert wud break.
+
+"'It's meeserable wark for Christ's Elder,' says Jeems, 'tae put the
+fear o' death on a bairn, and a'm thinkin' he wudna get muckle
+thanks frae his Maister if He wes here,' and Jeems wasna far wrong,
+though, of course, a' told him tae keep a quiet sough, and no conter
+the elder.
+
+"Weel, I sees Lachlan comin' up the road the day, and a' ran oot to
+catch Elsie and hide her in the byre. But a' micht hae saved mysel'
+the trouble: afore I got tae the gairden gate they were comin' up as
+chief (friendly) as ye like, and Lachlan wes callin' Elsie his
+bonnie dawtie.
+
+"If he hadna a pock o' peppermints--but it wesna that wiled Elsie's
+hert. Na, na, dogs and bairns can read fouks' faces, and mak nae
+mistakes. As sune as a' saw Lachlan's een a' kent he wes a new man.
+
+"Hoo has it come about? That's easy tae guess. Sax months syne
+Lachlan didna ken what father meant, and the heart wes wizened in
+the breist o' him wi' pride an' diveenity.
+
+"He kens noo, and a'm jalousing that nae man can be a richt father
+tae his ain without being sib (akin) tae every bairn he sees. It wes
+Flora he was dawting (petting) ye see the day, and he's learned his
+trade weel, though it cost him a sair lesson."
+
+Wonderful stories circulated through the glen, and were told in the
+kirkyard of a Sabbath morning, concerning the transformation of
+Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Ane o' ma wee lassies," expatiated Domsie, "fell comin' doon the
+near road frae Whinnie Knowe, and cuttit her cheek on the stones,
+and if Lachlan didna wash her face and comfort her; an' mair, he
+carried her a' the road tae the schule, and says he in his Hieland
+way, 'Here iss a brave little woman that hass hurt herself, but she
+will not be crying,' and he gave her a kiss and a penny tae buy some
+sweeties at the shop. It minded me o' the Gude Samaritan, fouks,"
+and everybody understood that Lachlan had captured Domsie for life.
+
+"It beats a' things," said Whinnie; "a' canna mak' oot what's come
+ower the cratur. There's a puckle o' the upland bairns pass oor wy
+frae schule, and whiles Lachlan 'ill meet them when he's aifter his
+sheep, and as sure as a'm stannin' here, he 'ill lay aff stories
+aboot battles and fairies, till the laddies 'ill hardly gae hame. I
+wes tellin' Marget this verra mornin', and she says, 'Lachlan's
+become as a little child.' I dinna haud wi' her there, but a
+quieter, mair cautious body ye never saw."
+
+Drumtochty was doing its best to focus Lachlan afresh, and felt the
+responsibility lay on Domsie, who accepted it cheerfully.
+
+"Marget's aye richt, neebours, and she's put the word on it noo. His
+tribble hes melted Lachlan's heart, an'--it's in the Evangel, ye
+ken--he's become as a little child."
+
+This language was too figurative and imposing for the parish, but it
+ran henceforward in our modest speech, "He's a cautious body."
+Cautious, with us, meant unassuming, kindly obliging, as well as
+much more; and I still hear Drumsheugh pronouncing this final
+judgment of the glen on Lachlan as we parted at his grave ten years
+later, and adding, "He 'ill be sair missed by the bairns."
+
+While the glen was readjusting itself to Lachlan, I came down from a
+long tramp on the moor, and intended to inquire for Flora. But I was
+arrested on the step by the sound of Lachlan's voice in family
+worship.
+
+"This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
+found. And they began to be merry."
+
+Lachlan's voice trembled as he read, but he went on with much
+firmness:
+
+"Now his elder son was in the field."
+
+"You will not be reading more of that chapter, father," interrupted
+Flora, with a new note of authority.
+
+"And why not?" said Lachlan, quite humbly.
+
+"Because you will be calling yourself the elder son and many more
+bad names, and I will be angry with you."
+
+"But they are true names, and it iss good for me to know myself."
+
+"You hef just one true name, and that iss father.... And now you
+will be singing a psalm."
+
+"There iss a book of himes (hymns) here, and maybe you will be
+liking one of them."
+
+And Lachlan produced the little book Flora got in that London church
+when the preacher told her she was missed.
+
+"We will not sing hymns, father, for I am remembering that you hef a
+conscience against hymns, and I did not know that you had that
+book."
+
+"My conscience wass sometimes better than the Bible, Flora, and if
+God will be sending a hime to bind up your heart when it wass
+broken, it iss your father that will be wanting to sing that hime.
+
+"It iss here," continued Lachlan in triumph, "for I hef often been
+reading that hime, and I am not seeing much wrong in it."
+
+"But each hymn hass got its own tune, father, and you will not know
+the way that it goes, and the doctor will not be wishing me to
+sing."
+
+"You are a good girl, Flora, but you are not so clever as your
+father, oh no, for I hef been trying that hime on the hill, and it
+will sing beautiful to a Psalm tune. You will lie still and hear."
+
+Then Lachlan lifted up his voice in "French,"
+
+  "There is a fountain filled with blood,
+     Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
+   And sinners plunged beneath that flood
+     Lose all their guilty stains."
+
+The singing was fairly good, with a whisper from Flora, till they
+came to that verse:
+
+  "Then in a nobler, sweeter song
+     I'll sing Thy power to save,
+   When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
+     Lies silent in the grave,"
+
+when Lachlan seemed to lose the tune, and be falling into a
+coronach.
+
+"We must not be singing that to-day, father, for God iss fery good
+to us, and I will be stronger every week, and maybe you will be
+saying that we are thankful in your prayer."
+
+Then I realised my baseness, and went off on tiptoe (had the dogs
+been at home it had not been so easy to escape); but first I heard,
+"Our Father." It was a new word for Lachlan; he used to say Jehovah.
+
+The doctor paid his last visit one frosty winter day, and was
+merciless on Lachlan.
+
+"What for are ye cockering up this lassie, and no getting her doon
+tae the kirk? it's clean disgracefu' in an Elder, and if I were yir
+minister a' wud hae ye sessioned. Sall, ye're hard enough on ither
+fouk that are no kirk greedy."
+
+"You will not be speaking that way next Sabbath, for it iss in her
+pew Flora will be sitting with her father," said Lachlan, in great
+spirits.
+
+Flora caught him studying her closely for some days, as if he were
+taking her measure, and he announced that he had business in
+Muirtown on Friday.
+
+When he came up in the market train he was carrying a large paper
+parcel, and attempted a joke with Peter at a window of the third.
+From a critical point of view it was beneath notice, but as
+Lachlan's first effort it was much tasted.
+
+"Ye 'ill believe me noo, Peter, since ye've heard him. Did ye ever
+see sic a change? it's maist astonishin'."
+
+"Man, Hillocks, div ye no see he's gotten back his dochter, and it's
+made him anither man?"
+
+Lachlan showed Flora a new pair of shears he had bought in Muirtown,
+and a bottle of sheep embrocation, but she did not know he had
+hidden his parcel in the byre, and that he opened it four separate
+times on Saturday.
+
+From daybreak on Sabbath Lachlan went in and out till he returned
+with Marget Howe.
+
+"Mrs. Howe iss very kind, and she will be coming to help you with
+your dresses, Flora, for we will be wanting you to look well this
+day, and here iss some small thing to keep you warm," and Lachlan
+produced with unspeakable pride a jacket lined with flannel and
+trimmed with fur.
+
+So her father and Marget dressed Flora for the kirk, and they went
+together down the path on which the light had shone that night of
+her return.
+
+There were only two dog-carts in the Free Kirk Session, and Burnbrae
+was waiting with his for Flora at the foot of the hill.
+
+"I bid ye welcome, Flora, in the name o' oor kirk. It's a gled day
+for your father, and for us a' tae see you back again and strong.
+And noo ye 'ill just get up aside me in the front, and Mistress Hoo
+'ill hap ye round, for we maunna let ye come tae ony ill the first
+day yir oot, or we 'ill never hear the end o't." And so the honest
+man went on, for he was as near the breaking as Drumtochty nature
+allowed.
+
+"A' body's pleased," said Marget to Lachlan as they sat on the back
+seat and caught the faces of the people. "This is the first time I
+have seen the fifteenth of Luke in Drumtochty. It's a bonnie sicht,
+and a'm thinkin' it's still bonnier in the presence o' the angels."
+
+"Flora Cammil's in the kirk the day," and the precentor looked at
+Carmichael with expectation. "The fouk are terrible taen up wi'
+Lachlan and her."
+
+"What do you think of the hundred and third Psalm, Robert? It would
+go well this morning."
+
+"The verra word that was on my lips, and Lachlan 'ill be lookin' for
+Coleshill."
+
+Lachlan had put Flora in his old place next the wall (he would not
+need it again, having retired from the office of inquisitor), and
+sat close beside her, with great contentment on his face. The
+manners of Drumtochty were perfect, and no one turned his head by
+one inch; but Marget Howe, sitting behind in Burnbrae's pew, saw
+Flora's hand go out to Lachlan's as the people sang:
+
+  "All thine iniquities who doth
+     Most graciously forgive,
+   Who thy diseases all and pains
+     Doth heal and thee relieve."
+
+The Session met that week, and a young girl broke down utterly in
+her examination for the Sacrament, so that not even Burnbrae could
+get a correct answer.
+
+She rose in great confusion and sorrow.
+
+"A' see it wudna be fit for the like o' me tae gae forrit, but a'
+had set ma hert on't; it wes the last thing He askit o' His
+freends," and she left before any one could bid her stay.
+
+"Moderator," said Lachlan, "it iss a great joy for me to move that
+Mary Macfarlane get her token, and I will be wishing that we all had
+her warrant, oh yes, for there iss no warrant like love. And there
+iss something that I must be asking of the elders, and it iss to
+forgive me for my pride in this Session. I wass thinking that I knew
+more than any man in Drumtochty, and wass judging God's people. But
+He hass had mercy upon Simon the Pharisee, and you hef all been been
+very good to me and Flora.... The Scripture hass been fulfilled, 'So
+the last shall be first, and the first last.'"
+
+Then the minister asked Burnbrae to pray, and the Spirit descended
+on that good man, of simple heart:
+
+"Almichty Father, we are a' Thy puir and sinfu' bairns, wha wearied
+o' hame and gaed awa' intae the far country. Forgive us, for we
+didna ken what we were leavin' or the sair hert we gied oor Father.
+It wes weary wark tae live wi' oor sins, but we wud never hev come
+back had it no been for oor Elder Brither. He cam' a long road tae
+find us, and a sore travail He had afore He set us free. He's been a
+gude Brither tae us, and we've been a heavy chairge tae Him. May He
+keep a firm haud o' us, and guide us in the richt road, and bring us
+back gin we wander, and tell us a' we need tae know till the
+gloamin' come. Gither us in then, we pray Thee, and a' we luve, no a
+bairn missin', and may we sit doon for ever in oor ain Father's
+House. Amen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Burnbrae said Amen, Carmichael opened his eyes, and had a vision
+which will remain with him until the day break and the shadows flee
+away.
+
+The six elders--three small farmers, a tailor, a stonemason, and a
+shepherd--were standing beneath the lamp, and the light fell like a
+halo on their bent heads. That poor little vestry had disappeared,
+and this present world was forgotten. The sons of God had come into
+their heritage, "for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
+things which are not seen are eternal."
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+Speech in Drumtochty distilled slowly, drop by drop, and the faces
+of our men were carved in stone. Visitors, without discernment, used
+to pity our dulness and lay themselves out for missionary work.
+Before their month was over they spoke bitterly of us, as if we had
+deceived them, and departed with a grudge in their hearts. When
+Hillocks scandalised the Glen by letting his house and living in the
+bothie--through sheer greed of money--it was taken by a fussy little
+man from the South, whose control over the letter "h" was uncertain,
+but whose self-confidence bordered on the miraculous. As a deacon of
+the Social Religionists,--a new denomination, which had made an 'it
+with Sunday Entertainments,--and Chairman of the Amalgamated Sons of
+Rest,--a society of persons with conscientious objections to work
+between meals--he was horrified at the primeval simplicity of the
+Glen, where no meeting of protest had been held in the memory of
+living man, and the ministers preached from the Bible. It was
+understood that he was to do his best for us, and there was
+curiosity in the kirkyard.
+
+"Whatna like man is that English veesitor ye've got, Hillocks? a'
+hear he's fleein' ower the Glen, yammerin' and haverin' like a
+starlin'."
+
+"He's a gabby (talkative) body, Drumsheugh, there's nae doot o'
+that, but terrible ignorant.
+
+"Says he tae me nae later than yesterday, 'That's a fine field o'
+barley ye've there, Maister Harris,' an' as sure as deith a' didna
+ken whaur tae luik, for it was a puckle aits."
+
+"Keep's a'," said Whinnie; "he's been awfu' negleckit when he wes a
+bairn, or maybe there's a want in the puir cratur."
+
+Next Sabbath Mr. Urijah Hopps appeared in person among the fathers--who
+looked at each other over his head--and enlightened them on supply and
+demand, the Game Laws, the production of cabbages for towns, the
+iniquity of an Established Church, and the bad metre of the Psalms of
+David.
+
+"You must 'ave henterprise, or it's hall hup with you farmers."
+
+"Ay, ay," responded Drumsheugh, after a long pause, and then every
+man concentrated his attention on the belfry of the kirk.
+
+"Is there onything ava' in the body, think ye, Domsie," as Mr. Hopps
+bustled into kirk, "or is't a' wind?"
+
+"Three wechtfu's o' naething, Drumsheugh; a' peety the puir man if
+Jamie Soutar gets a haud o' him."
+
+Jamie was the cynic of the Glen--who had pricked many a wind bag--and
+there was a general feeling that his meeting with Mr. Hopps would not
+be devoid of interest. When he showed himself anxious to learn next
+Sabbath, any man outside Drumtochty might have been deceived, for
+Jamie could withdraw every sign of intelligence from his face, as
+when shutters close upon a shop window. Our visitor fell at once
+into the trap, and made things plain to the meanest capacity, until
+Jamie elicited from the guileless Southron that he had never heard
+of the Act of Union; that Adam Smith was a new book he hoped to buy;
+that he did not know the difference between an Arminian and a Calvinist,
+and that he supposed the Confession of Faith was invented in Edinburgh.
+This in the briefest space of time, and by way of information to
+Drumtochty. James was making for general literature, and had still
+agriculture in reserve, when Drumsheugh intervened in the humanity of
+his heart.
+
+"A' dinna like tae interrupt yir conversation, Maister Hopps, but
+it's no verra safe for ye tae be stannin' here sae lang. Oor air hes
+a bit nip in't, and is mair searchin' than doon Sooth. Jamie 'ill be
+speirin' a' mornin' gin ye 'ill answer him, but a'm thinkin' ye'ill
+be warmer in the kirk."
+
+And Drumsheugh escorted Mr. Hopps to cover, who began to suspect
+that he had been turned inside out, and found wanting.
+
+Drumtochty had listened with huge delight, but without a trace of
+expression, and, on Mr. Hopps reaching shelter, three boxes were
+offered Jamie.
+
+The group was still lost in admiration when Drumsheugh returned from
+his errand of mercy.
+
+"Sall, ye've dune the job this time. Jamie. Ye're an awfu' creetic.
+Yon man 'ill keep a quiet cheep till he gets Sooth. It passes me hoo
+a body wi' sae little in him hes the face tae open his mooth."
+
+"Ye did it weel, Jamie," Domsie added, "a clean furrow frae end tae
+end."
+
+"Toots, fouk, yir makin' ower muckle o' it. It wes licht grund, no
+worth puttin' in a ploo."
+
+Mr. Hopps explained to me, before leaving, that he had been much
+pleased with the scenery of our Glen, but disappointed in the
+people.
+
+"They may not be hignorant," said the little man doubtfully, "but no
+man could call them haffable."
+
+It flashed on me for the first time that perhaps there may have been
+the faintest want of geniality in the Drumtochty manner, but it was
+simply the reticence of a subtle and conscientious people. Intellect
+with us had been brought to so fine an edge by the Shorter Catechism
+that it could detect endless distinctions, and was ever on the watch
+against inaccuracy. Farmers who could state the esoteric doctrine of
+"spiritual independence" between the stilts of the plough, and talked
+familiarly of "co-ordinate jurisdiction with mutual subordination,"
+were not likely to fall into the vice of generalisation. When James
+Soutar was in good fettle, he could trace the whole history of Scottish
+secession from the beginning, winding his way through the maze of
+Original Seceders and Cameronians, Burghers and Anti-Burghers--there
+were days when he would include the Glassites,--with unfaltering step;
+but this was considered a feat even in Drumtochty, and it was admitted
+that Jamie had "a gift o' discreemination." We all had the gift in
+measure, and dared not therefore allow ourselves the expansive language
+of the South. What right had any human being to fling about superlative
+adjectives, seeing what a big place the world is, and how little we
+know? Purple adjectives would have been as much out of place in our
+conversation as a bird of paradise among our muirfowl.
+
+Mr. Hopps was so inspired by one of our sunsets--to his credit let
+that be told--that he tried to drive Jamie into extravagance.
+
+"No bad! I call it glorious, and if it hisn't, then I'd like to know
+what his."
+
+"Man," replied Soutar austerely, "ye 'ill surely keep ae word for
+the twenty-first o' Reevelation."
+
+Had any native used "magnificent," there would have been an uneasy
+feeling in the Glen; the man must be suffering from wind in the
+head, and might upset the rotation of crops, sowing his young grass
+after potatoes, or replacing turnip with beetroot. But nothing of
+that sort happened in my time; we kept ourselves well in hand. It
+rained in torrents elsewhere, with us it only "threatened tae be
+weet"--some provision had to be made for the deluge. Strangers, in
+the pride of health, described themselves as "fit for anything," but
+Hillocks, who died at ninety-two, and never had an hour's illness,
+did not venture, in his prime, beyond "Gaein' aboot, a'm thankfu' to
+say, gaein' aboot."
+
+When one was seriously ill, he was said to be "gey an' sober," and
+no one died in Drumtochty--"he slippit awa."
+
+Hell and heaven were pulpit words; in private life we spoke of "the
+ill place" and "oor lang hame."
+
+When the corn sprouted in the stooks one late wet harvest, and
+Burnbrae lost half his capital, he only said, "It's no lichtsome,"
+and no congratulations on a good harvest ever extracted more from
+Drumsheugh than "A' daurna complain."
+
+Drumsheugh might be led beyond bounds in reviewing a certain potato
+transaction, but, as a rule, he was a master of measured speech. After
+the privilege of much intercourse with that excellent man, I was able
+to draw up his table of equivalents for the three degrees of wickedness.
+When there was just a suspicion of trickiness--neglecting the paling
+between your cattle and your neighbour's clover field--"He's no juist
+the man for an elder." If it deepened into deceit--running a "greasy"
+horse for an hour before selling--"He wud be the better o' anither
+dip." And in the case of downright fraud--finding out what a man had
+offered for his farm and taking it over his head--the offender was "an
+ill gettit wratch." The two latter phrases were dark with theology,
+and even the positive degree of condemnation had an ecclesiastical
+flavour.
+
+When Drumsheugh approved any one, he was content to say, "He micht
+be waur," a position beyond argument. On occasion he ventured upon
+bolder assertions: "There's nae mischief in Domsie;" and once I
+heard him in a white heat of enthusiasm pronounce Dr. Davidson, our
+parish minister, "A graund man ony wy ye tak him." But he seemed
+ashamed after this outburst, and "shooed" the crows off the corn
+with needless vigour.
+
+No Drumtochty man would commit himself to a positive statement on
+any subject if he could find a way of escape, not because his mind
+was confused, but because he was usually in despair for an accurate
+expression. It was told for years in the Glen, with much relish and
+almost funereal solemnity, how a Drumtochty witness had held his own
+in an ecclesiastical court.
+
+"You are beadle in the parish of Pitscouric," began the advocate
+with a light heart, not knowing the witness's birthplace.
+
+"It's a fac'," after a long pause and a careful review of the whole
+situation.
+
+"You remember that Sabbath when the minister of Netheraird
+preached."
+
+"Weel, a'll admit that," making a concession to justice.
+
+"Did ye see him in the vestry?"
+
+"A' canna deny it."
+
+"Was he intoxicated?"
+
+The crudeness of this question took away Drumtochty's breath, and
+suggested that something must have been left out in the creation of
+that advocate. Our men were not bigoted abstainers, but I never
+heard any word so coarse and elementary as intoxicated used in
+Drumtochty. Conversation touched this kind of circumstance with
+delicacy and caution, for we keenly realised the limitations of
+human knowledge.
+
+"He hed his mornin'," served all ordinary purposes, and in cases of
+emergency, such as Muirtown market:
+
+"Ye cud see he hed been tastin'."
+
+When an advocate forgot himself so far as to say intoxicated, a
+Drumtochty man might be excused for being upset.
+
+"Losh, man," when he had recovered, "hoo cud ony richt-thinkin' man
+sweer tae sic an awfu' word? Na, na, a' daurna use that kin' o'
+langidge; it's no cannie."
+
+The advocate tried again, a humbler, wiser man.
+
+"Was there a smell of drink on him?"
+
+"Noo, since ye press me, a'll juist tell ye the hale truth; it wes
+doonricht stupid o' me, but, as sure as a'm livin', a' clean forgot
+tae try him."
+
+Then the chastened counsel gathered himself up for his last effort.
+
+"Will you answer one question, sir? you are on your oath. Did you
+see anything unusual in Mr. MacOmish's walk? Did he stagger?"
+
+"Na," when he had spent two minutes in recalling the scene. "Na, I
+cudna say stagger, but he micht gie a bit trimmil."
+
+"We are coming to the truth now; what did you consider the cause of
+the trimmiling, as you call it?" and the innocent young advocate
+looked round in triumph.
+
+"Weel," replied Drumtochty, making a clean breast of it, "since ye
+maun hae it, a' heard that he wes a very learned man, and it cam
+intae ma mind that the Hebrew, which, a'm telt, is a very contrairy
+langidge, hed gaen doon and settled in his legs."
+
+The parish of Netheraird was declared vacant, but it was understood
+that the beadle of Pitscourie had not contributed to this decision.
+
+His own parish followed the trial with intense interest, and were
+much pleased with Andra's appearance.
+
+"Sall," said Hillocks, "Andra has mair gumption than ye wud think,
+and yon advocat didna mak muckle o' him. Na, na, Andra wesna brocht
+up in the Glen for naethin'. Maister MacOmish may hae taen his gless
+atween the Hebrew and the Greek, and it's no verra suitable for a
+minister, but that's anither thing frae bein' intoxicat."
+
+"Keep's a', if ye were tae pit me in the box this meenut, a' cudna
+sweer a hed ever seen a man intoxicat in ma life, except a puir body
+o' an English bag-man at Muirtown Station. A' doot he hed bin
+meddlin' wi' speerits, and they were wheelin' him tae his kerridge
+in a luggage barrow. It wes a fearsome sicht, and eneugh tae keep
+ony man frae speakin' aboot intoxicat in yon louse wy."
+
+Archie Moncur fought the drinking customs of the Glen night and day
+with moderate success, and one winter's night he gave me a study in
+his subject which, after the lapse of years, I still think admirable
+for its reserve power and Dantesque conclusion.
+
+"They a' begin in a sma' wy," explained Archie, almost hidden in the
+depths of my reading chair, and emphasising his points with a gentle
+motion of his right hand; "naethin' tae mention at first, juist a gless
+at an orra time--a beerial or a merridge--and maybe New Year. That's
+the first stage; they ca' that moderation. Aifter a whilie they tak a
+mornin' wi' a freend, and syne a gless at the public-hoose in the
+evenin', and they treat ane anither on market days. That's the second
+stage; that's 'tastin'.' Then they need it reg'lar every day, nicht an'
+mornin', and they'll sit on at nicht till they're turned oot. They
+'ill fecht ower the Confession noo, and laist Sabbath's sermon, in
+the Kildrummie train, till it's clean reediklus. That's drammin', and
+when they've hed a year or twa at that they hae their first spatie
+(spate is a river flood), and that gies them a bit fricht. But aff
+they set again, and then comes anither spatie, and the doctor hes tae
+bring them roond. They ca' (drive) cannie for a year or sae, but the
+feein' market puts the feenishin' titch. They slip aff sudden in the
+end, and then they juist gang plunk--ay," said Archie in a tone of
+gentle meditation, looking, as it were, over the edge, "juist plunk."
+
+Nothing ever affected my imagination more powerfully than the swift
+surprise and gruesome suggestion of that "plunk."
+
+But the literary credit of Drumtochty rested on a broad basis, and
+no one could live with us without having his speech braced for life.
+You felt equal to any emergency, and were always able to express
+your mind with some degree of accuracy, which is one of the luxuries
+of life. There is, for instance, a type of idler who exasperates one
+to the point of assault, and whom one hungers to describe after a
+becoming manner. He was rare in the cold air of the North, but we
+had produced one specimen, and it was my luck to be present when he
+came back from a distant colony, and Jamie Soutar welcomed him in
+the kirkyard.
+
+"Weel, Chairlie," and Jamie examined the well-dressed prodigal from
+top to toe, "this is a prood moment for Drumtochty, and an awfu'
+relief tae ken yir safe. Man, ye hevna wanted meat nor claithes; a'
+tak it rael neeburly o' ye tae speak ava wi' us auld-fashioned fouk.
+
+"Ye needna look soor nor cock yir nose in the air, for you an' me
+are auld freends, and yir puir granny wes na mair anxious aboot ye
+than a' wes.
+
+"A'm feared that laddie o' Bell's 'ill kill himsel' oot in Ameriky'
+were ma verra words tae Hillocks here; 'he 'ill be slavin' his flesh
+aff his banes tae mak a fortune and keep her comfortable'
+
+"It was a rael satisfaction tae read yir letter frae the backwoods--or
+was't a public-hoose in New York? ma memory's no what it used to
+be--tellin' hoo ye were aye thinkin' o' yer auld granny, and wantin'
+tae come hame and be a comfort tae her if she wud send ye out twenty
+pund.
+
+"The bit that affeckit me maist wes the text frae the Prodigal Son--it
+cam in sae natural. Mony a broken hert hes that story bund up, as we
+ken weel in this Glen; but it's dune a feck o' mischief tae--that gude
+word o' the Maister. Half the wastrels in the warld pay their passage
+hame wi' that Parable, and get a bran new outfit for anither start in
+the far country.
+
+"Noo dinna turn red, Chairlie, for the neeburs ken ye were tae work
+yir wy hame hed it no been for yir health. But there's a pack of
+rascals 'ill sorn on their father as lang as he's livin', and they
+'ill stairve a weedowed mither, and they 'ill tak a sister's wages,
+and if they canna get ony better a dune body o' eighty 'ill serve
+them.
+
+"Man, Chairlie, if a' hed ma wull wi' thae wawfies, I wud ship them
+aff tae a desert island, wi' ae sack o' seed potatoes and anither o'
+seed corn, and let them work or dee. A' ken yir wi' me there, for ye
+aye hed an independent spirit, and wesna feared tae bend yir back.
+
+"Noo, if a' cam across ane o' thae meeserable objects in Drumtochty,
+div ye ken the advice I wud gie him?
+
+"A wud tell the daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch o'
+a cratur tae watch for the first spate and droon himsel' in the
+Tochty."
+
+"What's he aff through the graves for in sic a hurry?" and Jamie
+followed Charlie's retreating figure with a glance of admirable
+amazement; "thae's no very gude mainners he's learned in Americky."
+
+"Thank ye, Jeemes, thank ye; we're a' obleeged tae ye," said
+Drumsheugh. "A' wes ettlin' tae lay ma hands on the whup-ma-denty
+(fop) masel, but ma certes, he's hed his kail het this mornin'. Div
+ye think he 'ill tak yir advice?"
+
+"Nae fear o' him; thae neer-dae-weels haena the spunk; but a'm
+expeckin' he 'ill flee the pairish."
+
+Which he did. Had you called him indolent or useless he had smiled,
+but "daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch," drew blood
+at every stroke, like a Russian knout.
+
+We had tender words also, that still bring the tears to my eyes, and
+chief among them was "couthy." What did it mean? It meant a letter
+to some tired townsman, written in homely Scotch, and bidding him
+come to get new life from the Drumtochty air; and the grip of an
+honest hand on the Kildrummie platform whose warmth lasted till you
+reached the Glen; and another welcome at the garden-gate that
+mingled with the scent of honeysuckle, and moss-roses, and thyme,
+and carnations; and the best of everything that could be given you;
+and motherly nursing in illness, with skilly remedies of the olden
+time; and wise, cheery talk that spake no ill of man or God; and
+loud reproaches if you proposed to leave under a month or two; and
+absolute conditions that you must return; and a load of country
+dainties for a bachelor's bare commons; and far more, that cannot be
+put into words, of hospitality, and kindness, and quietness, and
+restfulness, and loyal friendship of hearts now turned to dust in
+the old kirkyard.
+
+But the best of all our words were kept for spiritual things, and
+the description of a godly man. We did not speak of the "higher
+life," nor of a "beautiful Christian," for this way of putting it
+would not have been in keeping with the genius of Drumtochty.
+Religion there was very lowly and modest--an inward walk with God.
+No man boasted of himself, none told the secrets of the soul. But
+the Glen took notice of its saints, and did them silent reverence,
+which they themselves never knew. Jamie Soutar had a wicked tongue,
+and, at a time, it played round Archie's temperance schemes, but
+when that good man's back was turned Jamie was the first to do him
+justice.
+
+"It wud set us better if we did as muckle gude as Archie; he's a
+richt livin' man and weel prepared."
+
+Our choicest tribute was paid by general consent to Burnbrae, and it
+may be partiality, but it sounds to me the deepest in religious
+speech. Every cottage, strangers must understand, had at least two
+rooms--the kitchen where the work was done, that we called the
+"But," and there all kinds of people came; and the inner chamber
+which held the household treasures, that we called the "Ben," and
+there none but a few honoured visitors had entrance. So we imagined
+an outer court of the religious life where most of us made our home,
+and a secret place where only God's nearest friends could enter, and
+it was said of Burnbrae, "He's far ben." His neighbours had watched
+him, for a generation and more, buying and selling, ploughing and
+reaping, going out and in the common ways of a farmer's life, and
+had not missed the glory of the soul. The cynic of Drumtochty summed
+up his character: "There's a puckle gude fouk in the pairish, and
+ane or twa o' the ither kind, and the maist o' us are half and
+between," said Jamie Soutar, "but there's ae thing ye may be sure
+o', Burnbrae is 'far ben.'"
+
+
+
+
+A WISE WOMAN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+A Drumtochty man, standing six feet three in his boots, sat himself
+down one day in the study of a West-end minister, and gazed before
+him with the countenance of a sphinx.
+
+The sight struck awe into the townsman's heart, and the power of
+speech was paralysed within him.
+
+"A'm frae Drumtochty," began a deep solemn voice. "Ye 'ill hae heard
+of Drumtochty, of coorse. A've jined the polis; the pay is no that
+bad, and the work is naethin' tae an able-bodied man."
+
+When these particulars had been digested by the audience--
+
+"It's a crooded place London, and the fouks aye in a tiravie
+(commotion), rinnin' here an' rinnin' there, and the maist feck o'
+them dinna ken whar they're gaein.
+
+"It's officer this and officer that frae mornin' till nicht. It's
+peetifu' tae see the helplessness o' the bodies in their ain toon.
+And they're freevolous," continued the figure, refreshing itself
+with a reminiscence.
+
+"It wes this verra mornin' that a man askit me hoo tae get tae the
+Strand.
+
+"'Haud on,' I says, 'till ye come tae a cross street, and dinna gang
+doon it, and when ye see anither pass it, but whup roond the third,
+and yir nose 'ill bring ye tae the Strand.'
+
+"He was a shachlin bit cratur, and he lookit up at me.
+
+"'Where were you born, officer?' in his clippit English tongue.
+
+"'Drumtochty,' a' said, 'an' we hev juist ae man as sma' as you in
+the hale Glen.'
+
+"He gied awa' lauchin' like tae split his sides, an' the fac' is
+there's no ane o' them asks me a question but he lauchs. They're a
+licht-headed fouk, and no sair educat. But we maunna boast; they
+hevna hed oor advantages."
+
+The minister made a brave effort to assert himself.
+
+"Is there anything I can do?" but the figure simply waved its hand
+and resumed:
+
+"A'm comin' tae that, but a' thocht ye wud be wantin' ma opeenion o'
+London.
+
+"Weel, ye see, the first thing a' did, of coorse, after settlin'
+doon, was tae gae roond the kirks and hear what kin' o' ministers
+they hae up here. A've been in saxteen kirks the last three months,
+an' a' wud hae been in mair had it no bin for ma oors.
+
+"Ay, ay, a' ken ye 'ill be wantin' ma judgment," interpreting a movement
+in the chair, "an' ye 'ill hae it. Some wes puir stuff--plenty o' water
+and little meal--and some wesna sae bad for England. But ye 'ill be
+pleased to know," here the figure relaxed and beamed on the anxious
+minister, "that a'm rael weel satisfied wi' yersel', and a'm thinkin'
+o' sittin' under ye.
+
+"Man," were Drumtochty's last words, "a' wish Elspeth Macfadyen cud
+hear ye, her 'at prees (tastes) the sermons in oor Glen; a' believe
+she wud pass ye, an' if ye got a certeeficat frae Elspeth, ye wud be
+a prood man."
+
+Drumtochty read widely--Soutar was soaked in Carlyle, and Marget
+Howe knew her "In Memoriam" by heart--but our intellectual life
+centred on the weekly sermon. Men thought about Sabbath as they
+followed the plough in our caller air, and braced themselves for an
+effort at the giving out of the text. The hearer had his snuff and
+selected his attitude, and from that moment to the close he never
+moved nor took his eyes off the preacher. There was a tradition that
+one of the Disruption fathers had preached in the Free Kirk for one
+hour and fifty minutes on the bulwarks of Zion, and had left the
+impression that he was only playing round the outskirts of his
+subject. No preacher with anything to say could complain of
+Drumtochty, for he got a patient, honest, critical hearing from
+beginning to end. If a preacher were slightly equipped, the audience
+may have been trying. Well-meaning evangelists who came with what
+they called "a simple Gospel address," and were accustomed to have
+their warmer passages punctuated with rounds of spiritual applause
+in the shape of smiles and nods, lost heart in face of that judicial
+front, and afterwards described Drumtochty in the religious papers
+as "dead." It was as well that these good men walked in a vain show,
+for, as a matter of fact, their hearers were painfully alive.
+
+"Whar did yon wakely body come frae, Burnbrae? it wes licht wark the
+day. There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes
+eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories."
+
+"He lives aboot England, a'm telt, an' dis a feck o' gude in his ain
+place. He hesna muckle in his head, a'll alloo that, Netherton, but
+he's an earnest bit cratur."
+
+"Ou ay, and fu' o' self-conceit. Did ye hear hoo often he said 'I'?
+a' got as far as saxty-three, and then a' lost coont. But a' keepit
+'dear,' it cam tae the hundred neat.
+
+"'Weel?' a' says tae Elspeth Macfadyen. A' kent she wud hae his
+measure.
+
+"'Gruel, Netherton, juist gruel, and eneuch tae scunner (disgust) ye
+wi' sugar.'"
+
+It was the birthright of every native of the parish to be a critic, and
+certain were allowed to be experts in special departments--Lachlan
+Campbell in doctrine and Jamie Soutar in logic--but as an old round
+practitioner Mrs. Macfadyen had a solitary reputation. It rested on
+a long series of unreversed judgments, with felicitous strokes of
+description that passed into the literary capital of the Glen. One
+felt it was genius, and could only note contributing circumstances--an
+eye that took in the preacher from the crown of his head to the sole
+of his foot; an almost uncannie insight into character; the instinct
+to seize on every scrap of evidence; a memory that was simply an
+automatic register; an unfailing sense of fitness; and an absolute
+impartiality regarding subject.
+
+It goes without saying that Mrs. Macfadyen did not take nervous
+little notes during the sermon--all writing on Sabbath, in kirk or
+outside, was strictly forbidden in Drumtochty--or mark her Bible, or
+practise any other profane device of feeble-minded hearers. It did
+not matter how elaborate or how incoherent a sermon might be, it
+could not confuse our critic.
+
+When John Peddie of Muirtown, who always approached two hours, and
+usually had to leave out the last head, took time at the Drumtochty
+Fast, and gave, at full length, his famous discourse on the total
+depravity of the human race, from the text, "Arise, shine, for thy
+light is come," it may be admitted that the Glen wavered in its
+confidence. Human nature has limitations, and failure would have
+been no discredit to Elspeth.
+
+"They were sayin' at the Presbytery," Burnbrae reported, "that it
+hes mair than seeventy heads, coontin' pints, of coorse, and a' can
+weel believe it. Na, na, it's no tae be expeckit that Elspeth cud
+gie them a' aifter ae hearin'."
+
+Jamie Souter looked in to set his mind at rest, and Elspeth went at
+once to work.
+
+"Sit doon, Jamie, for it canna be dune in a meenut."
+
+It took twenty-three minutes exactly, for Jamie watched the clock.
+
+"That's the laist, makin' seeventy-four, and ye may depend on every
+ane but that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it wes the
+'beginnin' o' faith' or 'the origin,' a' canna be sure, for he
+cleared his throat at the time."
+
+Peter Bruce stood helpless at the Junction next Friday--Drumtochty
+was celebrating Elspeth--and the achievement established her for
+life.
+
+Probationers who preached in the vacancy had heard rumours, and
+tried to identify their judge, with the disconcerting result that
+they addressed their floweriest passages to Mistress Stirton, who
+was the stupidest woman in the Free Kirk, and had once stuck in the
+"chief end of man." They never suspected the sonsy motherly woman,
+two pews behind Donald Menzies, with her face of demure interest and
+general air of country simplicity. It was as well for the
+probationers that they had not caught the glint of those black beady
+eyes.
+
+"It's curious," Mrs. Macfadyen remarked to me one day, "hoo the
+pulpit fashions change, juist like weemen's bonnets.
+
+"Noo a' mind when auld Doctor Ferintosh, him 'at wrote 'Judas
+Iscariot the first Residuary,' would stand twa meenutes facing the
+fouk, and no sit doon till he hed his snuff.
+
+"But thae young birkies gie oot 'at they see naebody comin' in, an'
+cover their face wi' ae hand sae solemn, that if ye didna catch them
+keekin' through their fingers tae see what like the kirk is, ye wud
+think they were prayin'."
+
+"There's not much escapes you," I dared to say, and although the
+excellent woman was not accessible to gross flattery, she seemed
+pleased.
+
+"A'm thankfu' that a' can see withoot lookin'; an' a'll wager nae
+man ever read his sermon in Drumtochty Kirk, an' a' didna find him
+oot. Noo, there's the new minister o' Netheraird, he writes his
+sermon on ae side o' ten sheets o' paper, an' he's that carried awa'
+at the end o' ilka page that he disna ken what he's daein', an' the
+sleeve o' his goon slips the sheet across tae the ither side o' the
+Bible.
+
+"But Doctor Ferintosh wes cleverer, sall it near beat me tae detect
+him," and Elspeth paused to enjoy the pulpit ruse. "It cam tae me
+sudden ae Sacrament Monday, hoo dis he aye turn up twal texts,
+naither mair nor less, and that set me thinkin'. Then a' noticed
+that he left the Bible open at the place till anither text was due,
+an' I wunnered a'd been sae slow. It wes this wy: he askit the
+beadle for a gless o' water in the vestry, and slippit his sermon in
+atween the leaves in sae mony bits. A've wished for a gallery at a
+time, but there's mair credit in findin' it oot below--ay, an'
+pleesure tae; a' never wearied in kirk in ma life."
+
+Mrs. Macfadyen did not appreciate prodigal quotations of Scriptures,
+and had her suspicions of this practice.
+
+"Tak the minister o' Pitscourie noo; he's fair fozzy wi' trokin' in
+his gairden an' feedin' pigs, and hesna studied a sermon for thirty
+year.
+
+"Sae what dis he dae, think ye? He havers for a whilie on the errors
+o' the day, and syne he says, 'That's what man says, but what says
+the Apostle Paul? We shall see what the Apostle Paul says.' He puts
+on his glasses, and turns up the passage, and reads maybe ten
+verses, and then he's aff on the jundy (trot) again. When a man hes
+naethin' tae say he's aye lang, and a've seen him gie half an oor o'
+passages, and anither half oor o' havers.
+
+"'He's a Bible preacher, at any rate,' says Burnbrae tae me laist
+Fast, for, honest man, he hes aye some gude word for a body.
+
+"'It's ae thing,' I said to him, 'tae feed a calf wi' milk, and
+anither tae gie it the empty cogie tae lick.'
+
+"It's curious, but a've noticed that when a Moderate gets lazy he
+preaches auld sermons, but a Free Kirk minister taks tae abusin' his
+neeburs and readin' screeds o' the Bible.
+
+"But Maister Pittendreigh hes twa sermons, at ony rate," and Elspeth
+tasted the sweets of memory with such keen relish that I begged for
+a share.
+
+"Well, ye see he's terrible prood o' his feenishes, and this is ane
+o' them:
+
+"'Heaven, ma brethren, will be far grander than the hoose o' ony
+earthly potentate, for there ye will no longer eat the flesh of
+bulls nor drink the blood o' goats, but we shall sook the juicy pear
+and scoop the loocious meelon. Amen.'
+
+"He hes nae mair sense o' humour than an owl, and a' aye haud that a
+man withoot humour sudna be allowed intae a poopit.
+
+"A' hear that they have nae examination in humour at the college;
+it's an awfu' want, for it wud keep oot mony a dreich body.
+
+"But the meelon's naethin' tae the goat, that cowed a'thing, at the
+Fast tae.
+
+"If Jeems wes aboot a' daurna mention 't: he canna behave himsel'
+tae this day gin he hears 'it, though ye ken he's a douce man as
+ever lived.
+
+"It wes anither feenish, and it ran this wy:
+
+"'Noo, ma freends, a' wull no be keepin' ye ony longer, and ye 'ill
+a' gae hame tae yir ain hooses and mind yir ain business. And as
+sune as ye get hame ilka man 'ill gae tae his closet and shut the
+door, and stand for five meenutes, and ask himsel' this solemn
+question, "Am I a goat?" Amen.'
+
+"The amen near upset me masel', and a' hed tae dunge Jeems wi' ma
+elbow.
+
+"He said no a word on the wy back, but a' saw it wes barmin' in him,
+and he gied oot sudden aifter his dinner as if he had been ta'en
+unweel.
+
+"A' cam' on him in the byre, rowing in the strae like a bairn, and
+every ither row he took he wud say, 'Am I a goat?'
+
+"It wes na cannie for a man o' his wecht, besides bein' a married
+man and a kirk member, and a' gied him a hearin'.
+
+"He sobered doon, and a' never saw him dae the like since. But he
+hesna forgot, na, na; a've seen a look come ower Jeems' face in
+kirk, and a've been feared."
+
+When the Free Kirk quarrelled in their vacancy over two
+probationers, Mrs. Macfadyen summed them up with such excellent
+judgment that they were thrown over and peace restored.
+
+"There's some o' thae Muirtown drapers can busk oot their windows
+that ye canna pass withoot lookin'; there's bits o' blue and bits o'
+red, and a ribbon here an' a lace yonder.
+
+"It's a bonnie show and denty, an' no wunner the lassies stan' and
+stare.
+
+"But gae intae the shop, and peety me, there's next tae naethin';
+it's a' in the window.
+
+"Noo, that's Maister Popinjay, as neat an' fikey a little mannie as
+ever a' saw in a black goon.
+
+"His bit sermon wes six poems--five a' hed heard afore--four
+anecdotes--three aboot himsel' and ain aboot a lord--twa burnies, ae
+floo'r gairden, and a snowstorm, wi' the text thirteen times and
+'beloved' twal; that was a'; a takin' window, and Netherton's
+lassies cudna sleep thinkin' o' him.
+
+"There's ither shopmen in Muirtown that fair scunner ye wi' their
+windows--they're that ill set out--and inside there's sic a wrale o'
+stuff that the man canna get what ye want; he's clean smoored wi'
+his ain goods.
+
+"It's a graund shop for the auld fouk that hae plenty o' time and
+can turn ower the things by the 'oor. Ye 'ill no get a young body
+inside the door.
+
+"That's Maister Auchtermuchty; he hes mair material than he kens hoo
+tae handle, and naebody, hearin' him, can mak head or tail o' his
+sermon.
+
+"Ye get a rive at the Covenants ae meenute, and a mouthfu' o'
+justification the next. Yir nae suner wi' the Patriarchs than yir
+whuppit aff tae the Apostles.
+
+"It's rich feedin', nae doot, but sair mixed, an' no verra tasty."
+
+So the old and young compromised, and chose Carmichael.
+
+Elspeth was candid enough on occasion, but she was not indiscreet.
+She could convey her mind delicately if need be, and was a mistress
+of subtle suggestion.
+
+When Netherton's nephew preached the missionary sermon--he was a
+stout young man with a volcanic voice--Mrs. Macfadyen could not
+shirk her duty, but she gave her judgment with care.
+
+"He's a fine lad, and 'ill be sure to get a kirk; he's been weel
+brocht up, and comes o' decent fouk.
+
+"His doctrine soonds richt, and he 'ill no gang aff the track. Ye
+canna ca' him bashfu', and he's sure to be heard."
+
+Her audience still waited, and not in vain.
+
+"But the Lord hes nae pleesure in the legs o' a man," and every one
+felt that the last word had been said on Netherton's nephew.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+Carmichael used to lament bitterly that he had lost his Gaelic, and
+laboured plans of compensation for our Celts, who were understood to
+worship in English at an immense reduction of profit. One spring he
+intercepted a Highland minister, who was returning from his winter's
+raid on Glasgow with great spoil, and arranged an evening service,
+which might carry Lachlan Campbell back to the golden days of
+Auchindarroch. Mr. Dugald Mactavish was himself much impressed with
+the opportunity of refreshing his exiled brethren, speaking freely
+on the Saturday of the Lowlands as Babylon, and the duty of
+gathering the outcasts of Israel into one. He was weaned with
+difficulty from Gaelic, and only consented to preach in the "other
+language" on condition that he should not be restricted in time. His
+soul had been much hampered in West End churches, where he had to
+appeal for his new stove under the first head, lest he should go
+empty away, and it was natural for one escaping from such bondage to
+put a generous interpretation on Carmichael's concession. So Maister
+Dugald continued unto the setting of the sun. His discourse was so
+rich and varied that Peddie of Muirtown on original sin was not to
+be compared with it in breadth of treatment, and Mrs. Macfadyen
+confessed frankly that she gave up in despair before the preacher
+had fairly entered on his second hour. Besides the encounter of the
+preacher with Mr. Urijah Hopps, which carried the Glen by storm, and
+kept the name of Mactavish green with us for a generation.
+
+Rumours of this monumental pulpit effort, with its stirring
+circumstances, passed from end to end of the Glen during the week,
+and Peter himself recognised that it was an occasion at the Junction
+on Friday.
+
+"Ye may as weel shut aff the steam, Jeems," Peter explained to our
+engine-driver, "an' gie them ten meenuts. It's been by ordinar' at
+Drumtochty Free Kirk laist Sabbath nicht, and Drumsheugh 'ill no
+move till he hears the end o't."
+
+And as soon as the Muirtown train had removed all strangers, that
+worthy man opened the campaign.
+
+"What kin' o' collieshangie (disturbance) is this ye've been
+carryin' on, Hillocks? it's doonricht aggravatin' that ye're no
+content pesterin' oor life oot wi' that English body in the
+kirkyaird, but ye maist needs set him up tae arglebargle wi' a
+stranger minister at the Free Kirk. They say that the puir man cud
+hardly get a word in atween you and yir lodger. Burnbrae here is
+threatenin' ye wi' the Sherra, and a' dinna wonder.
+
+"It's nae lauchin' maitter, a' can tell ye, Drumsheugh; a've never
+been sae black affrontit a' ma life. Burnbrae kens as weel as ye dae
+that a' wasna tae blame.
+
+"Ye 'ill better clear yersel at ony rate, Hillocks, for some o' the
+neeburs threep (insist) 'at it wes you, and some that it wes yir
+freend, an' there's ithers declare ye ran in compt (company) like
+twa dogs worrying sheep; it wes a bonnie like pliskie (escapade)
+onywy, and hardly fit for an Auld Kirk elder"--a sally much enjoyed
+by the audience, who knew that, after Whinnie, Hillocks was the
+doucest man in Drumtochty.
+
+"Weel, ye see it wes this wy," began Hillocks, with the air of a man
+on his trial for fire raising. "Hopps fund oot that a Hielandman wes
+tae preach in the Free Kirk, and naethin' wud sateesfy him but that
+we maun gae. A' micht hae jaloused (suspected) it wesna the sermon
+the wratch wantit, for he hed the impidence tae complain that the
+Doctor was tedious Sabbath a fortnicht when he gied us 'Ruth,'
+though I never minded 'Ruth' gae aff sae sweet a' the times a've
+heard it.
+
+"Gin a' hed imagined what the ettercap (captious creature) wes
+aifter a' wud hae seen ma feet in the fire afore they carried me tae
+the Free Kirk that nicht.
+
+"Says he tae me on the road, 'A'm told the minister will be in his
+national costume.'
+
+"'He 'ill be in his goon and bands,' says I, 'if that's what ye
+mean,' for the head o' him is fu' o' maggots, and nae man can tell
+what he wull be at next.
+
+"'Mister Soutar said that he would wear his kilt, and that it would
+be an interesting spectacle.'
+
+"'Jamie's been drawing yir leg (befooling you),' says I. 'Man,
+there's naebody wears a kilt forbye gemkeepers and tourist bodies.
+Ye 'ill better come awa hame,' and sall, if a' hed kent what wes tae
+happen, a' wud hae taken him aff below ma oxter.
+
+"It's no richt tae mak me responsible, for a' tried tae wile him awa
+tae the back o' the kirk whar naebody cud see him, but he's that
+thrawn and upsettin', if he didna gae tae the verra front seat afore
+the poopit.
+
+"'I want a good position,' says he; 'I'll see everything here;' sae
+a' left him an' gied tae Elspeth Macfadyen's seat.
+
+"'He's anxious tae hear,' she said, 'an' a'm thinkin' he 'ill get
+mair than he expecks. A' wish it wes weel ower masel, Hillocks; it
+'ill be an awfu' nicht.'
+
+"Thae Hielandmen dinna pit aff time wi' the preleeminaries, but they
+were lang eneuch tae let onybody see what kin' o' man Mactavish wes.
+
+"A gruesome carle, neeburs, wi' his hair hangin' roond his face like
+a warlock and his een blazin' oot o' his head like fire; the sicht
+o' him is sure tae sober Hopps, thinks I.
+
+"But no, there's some fouk 'ill tak nae warnin'; there he was,
+sittin' in front o' Mactavish with his thumbs in his airm holes, and
+a watch gaird spread richt across him, and ae leg cocked over the
+ither, the verra eemage of a bantam cock fleein' in the face o'
+judgment."
+
+Drumtochty had never moved during this history, and now they drew
+closer round Hillocks, on whom the mantle of speech had for once
+descended.
+
+"Mactavish lookit at the body aince, and he lookit again juist tae
+gie him fair notis, and then he broke oot in face o' the hale
+congregation:
+
+"'There's nothing in all the world so deceptive as sin, for outside
+it's like a bonnie summer day, and inside it's as black as hell.
+
+"'Now here iss this fat little man sittin' before me with his suit
+o' blue clothes so bonnie and dainty, and a watch guard as thick as
+my finger on his wame, smilin' an' smirkin', and real well contented
+with himself, but if he wass opened up what a sight it would be for
+men and angels. Oh yes, yes, it would be a fearsome sicht, and no
+man here would be able to look.'
+
+"A' tell ye, neeburs, ye micht hae heard a pin fa' tae the ground,
+and ma heart was thumping in ma briest; a' wudna come thro' the like
+o' yon again for half the pleenishin' o' Hillocks."
+
+There was not a sound at the junction save the steam escaping from
+the engine, and Hillocks resumed:
+
+"But the worst's comin'. Hopps jumps up and faces Mactavish--a'll no
+deny there is some spunk in the body.
+
+"'What right have you to speak like that to me? do you know who I
+am?'
+
+"He hed better been quiet, for he wes nae match for yon Hielandman.
+
+"Mactavish glowered at him for maybe a meenut till the puir cratur
+fell back intae his seat.
+
+"'Man,' says Mactavish, 'I do not know who you are, and I do not
+know what you are, and I shall not be asking who you are, and I am
+not caring though you be MacCallummore himsel'. You are just a
+Parable, oh yes, just a Parable.
+
+"'But if ye be convicted of secret sin ye may go out, and if there
+be anybody else whose sins have been laid bare he may go out too,
+and if nobody wants to go out, then I will be going on with the
+sermon, oh yes, for it will not do to be spending all our time on
+Parables.'
+
+"As sure as a'm stannin' here ye cudna see Hopps inside his claithes
+when Mactavish wes dune wi' him."
+
+When the train started Hillocks received the compliments of the
+third with much modesty, and added piquant details regarding the
+utter confusion of our sermon taster.
+
+"'Did ye follow?' a' speirit o' Elspeth afore a' went tae pit Hopps
+thegither.
+
+"'Cud a' follow a bumbee?' was the only word a' got frae her; a' saw
+she was beaten for aince and wes rael mad."
+
+"I'st true Elspeth scuffled wi' her feet at the laist head and gar'd
+him close?"
+
+"A'll neither deny nor affirm, Drumsheugh; but there's nae doot when
+the mune began tae shine aboot nine, and Mactavish started aff on
+the Devil, somebody scrapit aside me. It wesna Jeems; he daurna for
+his life; and it wesna me. A'll no say but it micht be Elspeth, but
+she wes sair provokit. Aifter haddin' her ain twenty years tae be
+maistered by a Hielandman."
+
+It was simply a duty of friendship to look in and express one's
+sympathy with Mrs. Macfadyen in this professional disaster. I found
+her quite willing to go over the circumstances, which were
+unexampled in her experience, and may indeed be considered a
+contribution to history.
+
+"A' wudna hae minded," explained Elspeth, settling down to
+narrative, "hoo mony heads he gied oot, no tho' he hed titched the
+hundred. A've cause tae be gratefu' for a guid memory, and a've kept
+it in fine fettle wi' sermons. My wy is tae place ilka head at the
+end o' a shelf and a' the pints aifter it in order like the plates
+there," and Mrs. Macfadyen pointed with honest pride to her wall of
+crockery, "and when the minister is at an illustration or makin' an
+appeal a' aye rin ower the rack tae see that a've a' the pints in
+their places. Maister Mactavish cud ne'er hae got the wheephand o'
+me wi' his diveesions; he's no fit to haud the can'le tae John
+Peddie. Na, na, a' wesna feared o' that when a' examined yon man
+gieing oot the Psalm, but a' didna like his een.
+
+"'He's ravelled,' a' said tae masel, 'without beginning or end; we
+'ill hae a nicht o't,' and sae we hed."
+
+I preserved a sympathetic silence till Mrs. Macfadyen felt herself
+able to proceed.
+
+"It's easy eneuch, ye see, for an auld hand tae manage ae set o'
+heads gin they come tae ten or a hundred, but it's another business
+when a man hes different sets in ae sermon. Noo hoo mony sets div ye
+think that man hed afore he wes dune?"
+
+It was vain for a mere layman to cope with the possibilities of Mr.
+Mactavish.
+
+"Fower, as a'm a leevin' woman, and that's no a'; he didna feenish
+wi' ae set an' begin wi' the next, but if he didna mix them a'
+thegither. Fower set o' heads a' in a tangle; noo ye hae some kin'
+o' idea o' what a' hed tae face." And Mrs. Macfadyen paused that I
+might take in the situation.
+
+When I expressed my conviction that even the most experienced hearer
+was helpless in such circumstances, Elspeth rallied, and gave me to
+understand that she had saved some fragments from the wreckage.
+
+"A'll juist tell ye the hale hypothic, for sic a discoorse ye may
+never hear a' the days o' yir life.
+
+"Ye ken thae Hielandmen tak their texts for the maist pairt frae the
+Auld Testament, and this was it mair or less, 'The trumpet shall be
+blown, and they shall come from Assyria and the land o' Egypt,' and
+he began by explainin' that there were twa classes in Drumtochty,
+those who were born and bred in the parish, which were oursels, and
+them 'at hed tae stay here owin' tae the mysterious dispensations o'
+Providence, which wes Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Noo this roosed ma suspicions, for it's against reason for a man
+tae be dividing intae classes till the end o' his sermon. Tak my
+word, it's no chancy when a minister begins at the tail o' his
+subject: he'll wind a queer pirn afore he's dune.
+
+"Weel, he gaed up and he gaed doon, and he aye said, 'Oh yes, yes,'
+juist like the thrashing mill at Drumsheugh scraiking and girling
+till it's fairly aff, an' by-and-by oot he comes wi' his heads.
+
+"'There are fower trumpets,' says he. 'First, a leeteral trumpet;
+second, a heestorical trumpet; third, a metaphorical trumpet;
+fourth, a speeritual trumpet.'
+
+"'I've got ye,' a' said tae masel, and settled doon to hear him on
+the first head, for fear he micht hae pints; but wull ye believe me,
+he barely mentioned leeteral till he was aff tae speeritual, and
+then back tae heestorical, an' in five meenuts he had the hale fower
+trumpets blawing thegither.
+
+"It wes maist exasperatin', and a' saw Jeems watchin' me--but that's
+naethin'.
+
+"'There be many trumpets,' says he, 'oh yes, an' it wes a good
+trumpet Zaccheus heard,' and afore a' knew where a' wes he hed
+startit again wi' fower new heads, as if he had never said trumpet.
+
+"'A big tree' he cries, 'an' a little man, oh yes, an' this is what
+we will be doin'.
+
+"'First. We shall go up the tree wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Second. We shall sit in the branches wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Third. We shall come down from the tree wi' Zaccheus; and if time
+permits,
+
+"'Fourth. We shall be going home wi' the publican.'"
+
+It seemed only just to pay a tribute at this point to the wonderful
+presence of mind Mrs. Macfadyen had shown amid unparalleled
+difficulties.
+
+"Hoot awa," she responded; the meenut ony heads cam a' knew ma
+grund: but the times atween I wes fairly lost.
+
+"A'll no deny," and our critic turned aside to general reflections,
+"that Mactavish said mony bonnie and affeckin' things frae time tae
+time, like the glimpses o' the hills ye get when the mist rolls awa,
+and he cam nearer the hert than the feck o' oor preachers; but
+certes yon confusion is mair than us low country fouk cud stand.
+
+"Juist when he wes speakin' aboot Zaccheus as nice as ye please--though
+whether he was up the tree or doon the tree a' cudna for the life o' me
+tell--he stops sudden and looks at us ower the top o' his spectacles,
+which is terrible impressive, and near dis instead o' speakin.'
+
+"We will now come to the third head of this discoorse.
+
+"'The trumpet shall be blown, for,' says he, in a kin' o' whisper,
+'there's a hint o' oppeesition here,' an' a' tell ye honestly a'
+lost hert a'thegither, for here he wes back again amang the
+trumpets, and a'll gie ma aith he never sae much as mentioned that
+head afore.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety that some men dinna ken when tae stop; they
+micht see frae the poopit; if a' saw the tears comin' tae the
+women's een, or the men glowering like wild cats for fear they sud
+brak doon, a'd say Amen as quick as Pittendreigh aifter his goat.
+
+"What possessed Maister Dugald, as Lachlan ca'd him, a'd dinna ken,
+but aboot half nine--an' he begood at six--he sat oot upon the
+trumpets again, an' when he cudna get a haud o' them, he says:
+
+"'It will be getting dark' (the mune was fairly oot), 'an' it is
+time we were considering our last head.
+
+"'We will now study Satan in all his offices and characteristics.'"
+
+"A' see they've been telling ye what happened," and confusion
+covered Mrs. Macfadyen's ingenuous countenance.
+
+"Weel, as sure's deith a' cudna help it, tae be sittin' on peens for
+mair than twa oors tryin' tae get a grup o' a man's heads, an' him
+tae play hide-and-seek wi' ye, an' then tae begin on Satan at nine
+o'clock is mair nor flesh and bluid cud endure.
+
+"A' acknowledge a' scrapit, but a' houp tae gudeness a'll never be
+tempted like yon again.
+
+"It's a judgment on me for ma pride, an' Jeems said that tae me, for
+a' boastit a' cudna be beat, but anither oor o' Mactavish wud hae
+driven me dottle (silly)."
+
+Then I understood that Mrs. Macfadyen had been humbled in the dust.
+
+
+
+
+A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+Drumtochty was accustomed to break every law of health, except
+wholesome food and fresh air, and yet had reduced the Psalmist's
+farthest limit to an average life-rate. Our men made no difference
+in their clothes for summer or winter, Drumsheugh and one or two of
+the larger farmers condescending to a topcoat on Sabbath, as a
+penalty of their position, and without regard to temperature. They
+wore their blacks at a funeral, refusing to cover them with
+anything, out of respect to the deceased, and standing longest in
+the kirkyard when the north wind was blowing across a hundred miles
+of snow. If the rain was pouring at the Junction, then Drumtochty
+stood two minutes longer through sheer native dourness till each man
+had a cascade from the tail of his coat, and hazarded the
+suggestion, halfway to Kildrummie, that it had been "a bit scrowie,"
+a "scrowie" being as far short of a "shoor" as a "shoor" fell below
+"weet."
+
+This sustained defiance of the elements provoked occasional
+judgments in the shape of a "hoast" (cough), and the head of the
+house was then exhorted by his women folk to "change his feet" if he
+had happened to walk through a burn on his way home, and was
+pestered generally with sanitary precautions. It is right to add
+that the gudeman treated such advice with contempt, regarding it as
+suitable for the effeminacy of towns, but not seriously intended for
+Drumtochty. Sandy Stewart "napped" stones on the road in his shirt
+sleeves, wet or fair, summer and winter, till he was persuaded to
+retire from active duty at eighty-five, and he spent ten years more
+in regetting his hastiness and criticising his successor. The
+ordinary course of life, with fine air and contented minds, was to
+do a full share of work till seventy, and then to look after "orra"
+jobs well into the eighties, and to "slip awa" within sight of
+ninety. Persons above ninety were understood to be acquitting
+themselves with credit, and assumed airs of authority, brushing
+aside the opinions of seventy as immature, and confirming their
+conclusions with illustrations drawn from the end of last century.
+
+When Hillocks' brother so far forgot himself as to "slip awa" at
+sixty, that worthy man was scandalized, and offered laboured
+explanations at the "beerial."
+
+"It's an awfu' business ony wy ye look at it, an' a sair trial tae
+us a'. A' never heard tell o' sic a thing in oor family afore, an'
+it's no easy accoontin' for't.
+
+"The gudewife was sayin' he wes never the same sin' a weet nicht he
+lost himsel on the muir and slept below a bush; but that's neither
+here nor there. A'm thinkin' he sappit his constitution thae twa
+years he wes grieve aboot England. That wes thirty years syne, but
+ye're never the same aifter thae foreign climates."
+
+Drumtochty listened patiently to Hillocks' apologia, but was not
+satisfied.
+
+"It's clean havers aboot the muir. Losh keep's, we've a' sleepit oot
+and never been a hair the waur.
+
+"A' admit that England micht hae dune the job; it's no cannie
+stravagin' yon wy frae place tae place, but Drums never complained
+tae me as if he hed been nippit in the Sooth."
+
+The parish had, in fact, lost confidence in Drums after his wayward
+experiment with a potato-digging machine, which turned out a
+lamentable failure, and his premature departure confirmed our vague
+impression of his character.
+
+"He's awa noo," Drumsheugh summed up, after opinion had time to
+form; "an' there were waur fouk than Drums, but there's nae doot he
+wes a wee flichty."
+
+When illness had the audacity to attack a Drumtochty man, it was
+described as a "whup," and was treated by the men with a fine
+negligence. Hillocks was sitting in the Post Office one afternoon
+when I looked in for my letters, and the right side of his face was
+blazing red. His subject of discourse was the prospects of the
+turnip "breer," but he casually explained that he was waiting for
+medical advice.
+
+"The gudewife is keepin' up a ding-dong frae mornin' till nicht
+aboot ma face, and a'm fair deaved (deafened), so a'm watchin' for
+MacLure tae get a bottle as he comes wast; yon's him noo."
+
+The doctor made his diagnosis from horseback on sight, and stated
+the result with that admirable clearness which endeared him to
+Drumtochty.
+
+"Confoond ye, Hillocks, what are ye ploiterin' aboot here for in the
+weet wi' a face like a boiled beet? Div ye no ken that ye've a titch
+o' the rose (erysipelas), and ocht tae be in the hoose? Gae hame wi'
+ye afore a' leave the bit, and send a haflin for some medicine. Ye
+donnerd idiot, are ye ettlin tae follow Drums afore yir time?" And
+the medical attendant of Drumtochty continued his invective till
+Hillocks started, and still pursued his retreating figure with
+medical directions of a simple and practical character.
+
+"A'm watchin', an' peety ye if ye pit aff time. Keep yir bed the
+mornin', and dinna show yir face in the fields till a' see ye. A'll
+gie ye a cry on Monday--sic an auld fule--but there's no ane o' them
+tae mind anither in the hale pairish."
+
+Hillocks' wife informed the kirkyaird that the doctor "gied the
+gudeman an awfu' clearin'," and that Hillocks "wes keepin' the
+hoose," which meant that the patient had tea breakfast, and at that
+time was wandering about the farm buildings in an easy undress with
+his head in a plaid.
+
+It was impossible for a doctor to earn even the most modest
+competence from a people of such scandalous health, and so MacLure
+had annexed neighbouring parishes. His house--little more than a
+cottage--stood on the roadside among the pines towards the head of
+our Glen, and from this base of operations he dominated the wild
+glen that broke the wall of the Grampians above Drumtochty--where
+the snows drifts were twelve feet deep in winter, and the only way
+of passage at times was the channel of the river--and the moorland
+district westwards till he came to the Dunleith sphere of influence,
+where there were four doctors and a hydropathic. Drumtochty in its
+length, which was eight miles, and its breadth, which was four, lay
+in his hand; besides a glen behind, unknown to the world, which in
+the night time he visited at the risk of life, for the way thereto
+was across the big moor with its peat holes and treacherous bogs.
+And he held the land eastwards towards Muirtown so far as Geordie,
+the Drumtochty post, travelled every day, and could carry word that
+the doctor was wanted. He did his best for the need of every man,
+woman, and child in this wild, straggling district, year in, year
+out, in the snow and in the heat, in the dark and in the light,
+without rest, and without holiday for forty years.
+
+One horse could not do the work of this man, but we liked best to
+see him on his old white mare, who died the week after her master,
+and the passing of the two did our hearts good. It was not that he
+rode beautifully, for he broke every canon of art, flying with his
+arms, stooping till he seemed to be speaking into Jess's ears, and
+rising in the saddle beyond all necessity. But he could rise faster,
+stay longer in the saddle, and had a firmer grip with his knees than
+any one I ever met, and it was all for mercy's sake. When the
+reapers in harvest time saw a figure whirling past in a cloud of
+dust, or the family at the foot of Glen Urtach, gathered round the
+fire on a winter's night, heard the rattle of a horse's hoofs on the
+road, or the shepherds, out after the sheep, traced a black speck
+moving across the snow to the upper glen, they knew it was the
+doctor, and, without being conscious of it, wished him God speed.
+
+Before and behind his saddle were strapped the instruments and
+medicines the doctor might want, for he never knew what was before
+him. There were no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do
+everything as best he could, and as quickly. He was chest doctor and
+doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon;
+he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist, besides
+being chemist and druggist. It was often told how he was far up Glen
+Urtach when the feeders of the threshing mill caught young Burnbrae,
+and how he only stopped to change horses at his house, and galloped
+all the way to Burnbrae, and flung himself off his horse and
+amputated the arm, and saved the lad's life.
+
+"You wud hae thocht that every meenut was an hour," said Jamie
+Soutar, who had been at the threshing, "an' a'll never forget the
+puir lad lying as white as deith on the floor o' the loft, wi' his
+head on a sheaf, an' Burnbrae haudin' the bandage ticht an' prayin'
+a' the while, and the mither greetin' in the corner.
+
+"'Will he never come?' she cries, an' a' heard the soond o' the
+horse's feet on the road a mile awa in the frosty air.
+
+"'The Lord be praised!' said Burnbrae, and a' slippit doon the
+ladder as the doctor came skelpin' intae the close, the foam fleein'
+frae his horse's mooth.
+
+"'Whar is he?' wes a' that passed his lips, an' in five meenuts he
+hed him on the feedin' board, and wes at his wark--sic wark,
+neeburs--but he did it weel. An' ae thing a' thocht rael thochtfu'
+o' him: he first sent aff the laddie's mither tae get a bed ready.
+
+"'Noo that's feenished, and his constitution 'ill dae the rest,' and
+he carried the lad doon the ladder in his airms like a bairn, and
+laid him in his bed, and waits aside him till he wes sleepin', and
+then says he: 'Burnbrae, yir a gey lad never tae say "Collie, will
+ye lick?" for a' hevna tasted meat for saxteen hoors.'
+
+"It was michty tae see him come intae the yaird that day, neeburs;
+the verra look o' him wes victory."
+
+Jamie's cynicism slipped off in the enthusiasm of this reminiscence,
+and he expressed the feeling of Drumtochty. No one sent for MacLure
+save in great straits, and the sight of him put courage in sinking
+hearts. But this was not by the grace of his appearance, or the
+advantage of a good bedside manner. A tall, gaunt, loosely made man,
+without an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body, his face burned a
+dark brick colour by constant exposure to the weather, red hair and
+beard turning grey, honest blue eyes that look you ever in the face,
+huge hands with wrist bones like the shank of a ham, and a voice
+that hurled his salutations across two fields, he suggested the moor
+rather than the drawing-room. But what a clever hand it was in an
+operation, as delicate as a woman's, and what a kindly voice it was
+in the humble room where the shepherd's wife was weeping by her
+man's bedside. He was "ill pitten thegither" to begin with, but many
+of his physical defects were the penalties of his work, and endeared
+him to the Glen. That ugly scar that cut into his right eyebrow and
+gave him such a sinister expression, was got one night Jess slipped
+on the ice and laid him insensible eight miles from home. His limp
+marked the big snowstorm in the fifties, when his horse missed the
+road in Glen Urtach, and they rolled together in a drift. MacLure
+escaped with a broken leg and the fracture of three ribs, but he
+never walked like other men again. He could not swing himself into
+the saddle without making two attempts and holding Jess's mane.
+Neither can you "warstle" through the peat bogs and snow drifts for
+forty winters without a touch of rheumatism. But they were
+honourable scars, and for such risks of life men get the Victoria
+Cross in other fields. MacLure got nothing but the secret affection
+of the Glen, which knew that none had ever done one-tenth as much
+for it as this ungainly, twisted, battered figure, and I have seen a
+Drumtochty face soften at the sight of MacLure limping to his horse.
+
+Mr. Hopps earned the ill-will of the Glen for ever by criticising
+the doctor's dress, but indeed it would have filled any townsman
+with amazement. Black he wore once a year, on Sacrament Sunday, and,
+if possible, at a funeral; topcoat or waterproof never. His jacket
+and waistcoat were rough homespun of Glen Urtach wool, which threw
+off the wet like a duck's back, and below he was clad in shepherd's
+tartan trousers, which disappeared into unpolished riding boots. His
+shirt was grey flannel, and he was uncertain about a collar, but
+certain as to a tie which he never had, his beard doing instead, and
+his hat was soft felt of four colours and seven different shapes.
+His point of distinction in dress was the trousers, and they were
+the subject of unending speculation.
+
+"Some threep that he's worn thae eedentical pair the last twenty
+year, an' a' mind masel him gettin' a tear ahint, when he was
+crossin' oor palin', and the mend's still veesible.
+
+"Ithers declare 'at he's got a wab o' claith, and hes a new pair
+made in Muirtown aince in the twa year maybe, and keeps them in the
+garden till the new look wears aft.
+
+"For ma ain pairt," Soutar used to declare, "a' canna mak up my
+mind, but there's ae thing sure, the Glen wud not like tae see him
+withoot them: it wud be a shock tae confidence. There's no muckle o'
+the check left, but ye can aye tell it, and when ye see thae breeks
+comin' in ye ken that if human pooer can save yir bairn's life it
+'ill be dune."
+
+The confidence of the Glen--and tributary states--was unbounded, and
+rested partly on long experience of the doctor's resources, and
+partly on his hereditary connection.
+
+"His father was here afore him," Mrs. Macfadyen used to explain;
+"atween them they've hed the countyside for weel on tae a century;
+if MacLure disna understand oor constitution, wha dis, a' wud like
+tae ask?"
+
+For Drumtochty had its own constitution and a special throat
+disease, as became a parish which was quite self-contained between
+the woods and the hills, and not dependent on the lowlands either
+for its diseases or its doctors.
+
+"He's a skilly man, Doctor MacLure," continued my friend Mrs.
+Macfadyen, whose judgment on sermons or anything else was seldom at
+fault; "an' a kind-hearted, though o' coorse he hes his faults like
+us a', an' he disna tribble the Kirk often.
+
+"He aye can tell what's wrang wi' a body, an' maistly he can put ye
+richt, and there's nae new-fangled wys wi' him: a blister for the
+ootside an' Epsom salts for the inside dis his wark, an' they say
+there's no an herb on the hills he disna ken.
+
+"If we're tae dee, we're tae dee; an' if we're tae live, we're tae
+live," concluded Elspeth, with sound Calvinistic logic; "but a'll
+say this for the doctor, that whether yir tae live or dee, he can
+aye keep up a shairp meisture on the skin.
+
+"But he's no verra ceevil gin ye bring him when there's naethin'
+wrang," and Mrs. Macfadyen's face reflected another of Mr. Hopps'
+misadventures of which Hillocks held the copyright.
+
+"Hopps' laddie ate grosarts (gooseberries) till they hed to sit up
+a' nicht wi' him, an' naethin' wud do but they maun hae the doctor,
+an' he writes 'immediately' on a slip o' paper.
+
+"Weel, MacLure had been awa a' nicht wi' a shepherd's wife Dunleith
+wy, and he comes here withoot drawin' bridle, mud up tae the een.
+
+"'What's a dae here, Hillocks?" he cries; 'it's no an accident,
+is't?' and when he got aff his horse he cud hardly stand wi'
+stiffness and tire.
+
+"'It's nane o' us, doctor; it's Hopps' laddie; he's been eatin' ower
+mony berries.'
+
+"If he didna turn on me like a tiger.
+
+"'Div ye mean tae say--'
+
+"'Weesht, weesht,' an' I tried tae quiet him, for Hopps wes comin'
+oot.
+
+"'Well, doctor,' begins he, as brisk as a magpie, 'you're here at
+last; there's no hurry with you Scotchmen. My boy has been sick all
+night, and I've never had one wink of sleep. You might have come a
+little quicker, that's all I've got to say.'
+
+"'We've mair tae dae in Drumtochty than attend tae every bairn that
+hes a sair stomach,' and a' saw MacLure wes roosed.
+
+"'I'm astonished to hear you speak. Our doctor at home always says
+to Mrs. 'Opps, "Look on me as a family friend, Mrs. 'Opps, and send
+for me though it be only a headache."'
+
+"'He'd be mair sparin' o' his offers if he hed four and twenty mile
+tae look aifter. There's naethin' wrang wi' yir laddie but greed.
+Gie him a gude dose o' castor oil and stop his meat for a day, an'
+he 'ill be a' richt the morn.'
+
+"'He 'ill not take castor oil, doctor. We have given up those
+barbarous medicines.'
+
+"'Whatna kind o' medicines hae ye noo in the Sooth?'
+
+"'Well, you see, Dr. MacLure, we're homoeopathists, and I've my
+little chest here, 'and oot Hopps comes wi' his boxy.
+
+"'Let's see't,' an' MacLure sits doon and taks oot the bit bottles,
+and he reads the names wi' a lauch every time.
+
+"'Belladonna; did ye ever hear the like? Aconite; it cowes a'. Nux
+Vomica. What next? Weel, ma mannie,' he says tae Hopps, 'it's a fine
+ploy, and ye 'ill better gang on wi' the Nux till it's dune, and gie
+him ony ither o' the sweeties he fancies.
+
+"'Noo, Hillocks, a' maun be aff tae see Drumsheugh's grieve, for
+he's doon wi' the fever, and it's tae be a teuch fecht. A' hinna
+time tae wait for dinner; gie me some cheese an' cake in ma haund,
+and Jess 'ill tak a pail o' meal an' water.
+
+"'Fee; a'm no wantin' yir fees, man; wi' that boxy ye dinna need a
+doctor; na, na, gie yir siller tae some puir body, Maister Hopps,'
+an' he was doon the road as hard as he cud lick."
+
+His fees were pretty much what the folk chose to give him, and he
+collected them once a year at Kildrummie fair.
+
+"Weel, doctor, what am a' awin' ye for the wife and bairn? Ye 'ill
+need three notes for that nicht ye stayed in the hoose an' a' the
+veesits."
+
+"Havers," MacLure would answer, "prices are low, a'm hearing; gie's
+thirty shillings."
+
+"No, a'll no, or the wife 'ill tak ma ears off," and it was settled
+for two pounds.
+
+Lord Kilspindie gave him a free house and fields, and one way or
+other, Drumsheugh told me, the doctor might get in about L150 a
+year, out of which he had to pay his old housekeeper's wages and a
+boy's, and keep two horses, besides the cost of instruments and
+books, which he bought through a friend in Edinburgh with much
+judgment.
+
+There was only one man who ever complained of the doctor's charges,
+and that was the new farmer of Milton, who was so good that he was
+above both churches, and held a meeting in his barn. (It was Milton
+the Glen supposed at first to be a Mormon, but I can't go into that
+now.) He offered McLure a pound less than he asked, and two tracts,
+whereupon MacLure expressed his opinion of Milton, both from a
+theological and social standpoint, with such vigour and frankness
+that an attentive audience of Drumtochty men could hardly contain
+themselves.
+
+Jamie Soutar was selling his pig at the time, and missed the
+meeting, but he hastened to condole with Milton, who was complaining
+everywhere of the doctor's language.
+
+"Ye did richt tae resist him; it 'ill maybe roose the Glen tae mak a
+stand; he fair hauds them in bondage.
+
+"Thirty shillings for twal veesits, and him no mair than seeven mile
+awa, an' a'm telt there werena mair than four at nicht.
+
+"Ye 'ill hae the sympathy o' the Glen, for a' body kens yir as free
+wi' yir siller as yir tracts.
+
+"Wes't 'Beware o' gude warks' ye offered him? Man, ye chose it weel,
+for he's been colleckin' sae mony thae forty years, a'm feared for
+him.
+
+"A've often thocht oor doctor's little better than the Gude
+Samaritan, an' the Pharisees didna think muckle o' his chance aither
+in this warld or that which is tae come."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+Doctor MacLure did not lead a solemn procession from the sick bed to
+the dining-room, and give his opinion from the hearthrug with an air
+of wisdom bordering on the supernatural, because neither the
+Drumtochty houses nor his manners were on that large scale. He was
+accustomed to deliver himself in the yard, and to conclude his
+directions with one foot in the stirrup; but when he left the room
+where the life of Annie Mitchell was ebbing slowly away, our doctor
+said not one word, and at the sight of his face her husband's heart
+was troubled.
+
+He was a dull man, Tammas, who could not read the meaning of a sign,
+and laboured under a perpetual disability of speech; but love was
+eyes to him that day, and a mouth.
+
+"Is't as bad as yir lookin', doctor? tell's the truth; wull Annie no
+come through?" and Tammas looked MacLure straight in the face, who
+never flinched his duty or said smooth things.
+
+"A' wud gie onything tae say Annie hes a chance, but a' daurna; a'
+doot yir gaein' tae lose her, Tammas."
+
+MacLure was in the saddle, and as he gave his judgment, he laid his
+hand on Tammas's shoulder with one of the rare caresses that pass
+between men.
+
+"It's a sair business, but ye 'ill play the man and no vex Annie;
+she 'ill dae her best, a'll warrant."
+
+"An' a'll dae mine," and Tammas gave MacLure's hand a grip that
+would have crushed the bones of a weakling. Drumtochty felt in such
+moments the brotherliness of this rough-looking man, and loved him.
+
+Tammas hid his face in Jess's mane, who looked round with sorrow in
+her beautiful eyes, for she had seen many tragedies, and in this
+silent sympathy the stricken man drank his cup, drop by drop.
+
+"A' wesna prepared for this, for a' aye thocht she wud live the
+langest.... She's younger than me by ten years, and never wes
+ill.... We've been mairit twal year laist Martinmas, but its juist
+like a year the day.... A' wes never worthy o' her, the bonniest,
+snoddest (neatest), kindliest lass in the Glen.... A' never cud mak
+oot hoo she ever lookit at me, 'at hesna hed ae word tae say aboot
+her till it's ower late.... She didna cuist up tae me that a' wesna
+worthy o' her, no her, but aye she said, 'Yir ma ain gudeman, and
+nane cud be kinder tae me.'... An' a' wes minded tae be kind, but a'
+see noo mony little trokes a' micht hae dune for her, and noo the
+time is bye.... Naebody kens hoo patient she wes wi' me, and aye
+made the best o' me, an' never pit me tae shame afore the fouk....
+An' we never hed ae cross word, no ane in twal year.... We were mair
+nor man and wife, we were sweethearts a' the time.... Oh, ma bonnie
+lass, what 'ill the bairnies an' me dae withoot ye, Annie?"
+
+The winter night was falling fast, the snow lay deep upon the
+ground, and the merciless north wind moaned through the close as
+Tammas wrestled with his sorrow dry-eyed, for tears were denied
+Drumtochty men. Neither the doctor nor Jess moved hand or foot, but
+their hearts were with their fellow creature, and at length the
+doctor made a sign to Marget Howe, who had come out in search of
+Tammas, and now stood by his side.
+
+"Dinna mourn tae the brakin' o' yir hert, Tammas," she said, "as if
+Annie an' you hed never luved. Neither death nor time can pairt them
+that luve; there's naethin' in a' the warld sae strong as luve. If
+Annie gaes frae the sicht o' yir een she 'ill come the nearer tae
+yir hert. She wants tae see ye, and tae hear ye say that ye 'ill
+never forget her nicht nor day till ye meet in the land where
+there's nae pairtin'. Oh, a' ken what a'm sayin', for it's five year
+noo sin George gied awa, an' he's mair wi' me noo than when he wes
+in Edinboro' and I wes in Drumtochty."
+
+"Thank ye kindly, Marget; thae are gude words and true, an' ye hev
+the richt tae say them; but a' canna dae without seein' Annie comin'
+tae meet me in the gloamin', an' gaein' in an' oot the hoose, an'
+hearin' her ca' me by ma name, an' a'll no can tell her that a' luve
+her when there's nae Annie in the hoose.
+
+"Can naethin' be dune, doctor? Ye savit Flora Cammil, and young
+Burnbrae, an' yon shepherd's wife Dunleith wy, an' we were a sae
+prood o' ye, an' pleased tae think that ye hed keepit deith frae
+anither hame. Can ye no think o' somethin' tae help Annie, and gie
+her back tae her man and bairnies?" and Tammas searched the doctor's
+face in the cold, weird light.
+
+"There's nae pooer in heaven or airth like luve," Marget said to me
+afterwards; "it maks the weak strong and the dumb tae speak. Oor
+herts were as water afore Tammas's words, an' a' saw the doctor
+shake in his saddle. A' never kent till that meenut hoo he hed a
+share in a'body's grief, an' carried the heaviest wecht o' a' the
+Glen. A' peetied him wi' Tammas lookin' at him sae wistfully, as if
+he hed the keys o' life an' deith in his hands. But he wes honest,
+and wudna hold oot a false houp tae deceive a sore hert or win
+escape for himsel'."
+
+"Ye needna plead wi' me, Tammas, to dae the best a' can for yir
+wife. Man, a' kent her lang afore ye ever luved her; a' brocht her
+intae the warld, and a' saw her through the fever when she wes a bit
+lassikie; a' closed her mither's een, and it wes me hed tae tell her
+she wes an orphan, an' nae man wes better pleased when she got a
+gude husband, and a' helpit her wi' her fower bairns. A've naither
+wife nor bairns o' ma own, an' a coont a' the fouk o' the Glen ma
+family. Div ye think a' wudna save Annie if I cud? If there wes a
+man in Muirtown 'at cud dae mair for her, a'd have him this verra
+nicht, but a' the doctors in Perthshire are helpless for this
+tribble.
+
+"Tammas, ma puir fallow, if it could avail, a' tell ye a' wud lay
+doon this auld worn-oot ruckle o' a body o' mine juist tae see ye
+baith sittin' at the fireside, an' the bairns roond ye, couthy an'
+canty again; but it's no tae be, Tammas, it's no tae be."
+
+"When a' lookit at the doctor's face," Marget said, "a' thocht him
+the winsomest man a' ever saw. He wes transfigured that nicht, for
+a'm judging there's nae transfiguration like luve."
+
+"It's God's wull an' maun be borne, but it's a sair wull for me, an'
+a'm no ungratefu' tae you, doctor, for a' ye've dune and what ye
+said the nicht," and Tammas went back to sit with Annie for the last
+time.
+
+Jess picked her way through the deep snow to the main road, with a
+skill that came of long experience, and the doctor held converse
+with her according to his wont.
+
+"Eh, Jess wumman, yon wes the hardest wark a' hae tae face, and a'
+wud raither hae ta'en ma chance o' anither row in a Glen Urtach
+drift than tell Tammas Mitchell his wife wes deein'.
+
+"A' said she cudna be cured, and it wes true, for there's juist ae
+man in the land fit for't, and they micht as weel try tae get the
+mune oot o' heaven. Sae a' said naethin' tae vex Tammas's hert, for
+it's heavy eneuch withoot regrets.
+
+"But it's hard, Jess, that money wull buy life after a', an' if
+Annie wes a duchess her man wudna lose her; but bein' only a puir
+cottar's wife, she maun dee afore the week's oot.
+
+"Gin we hed him the morn there's little doot she wud be saved, for
+he hesna lost mair than five per cent, o' his cases, and they 'ill
+be puir toon's craturs, no strappin' women like Annie.
+
+"It's oot o' the question, Jess, sae hurry up, lass, for we've hed a
+heavy day. But it wud be the grandest thing that was ever dune in
+the Glen in oor time if it could be managed by hook or crook.
+
+"We 'ill gang and see Drumsheugh, Jess; he's anither man sin'
+Geordie Hoo's deith, and he wes aye kinder than fouk kent;" and the
+doctor passed at a gallop through the village, whose lights shone
+across the white frost-bound road.
+
+"Come in by, doctor; a' heard ye on the road; ye 'ill hae been at
+Tammas Mitchell's; hoo's the gudewife? a' doot she's sober."
+
+"Annie's deein', Drumsheugh, an' Tammas is like tae brak his hert."
+
+"That's no lichtsome, doctor, no lichtsome ava, for a' dinna ken ony
+man in Drumtochty sae bund up in his wife as Tammas, and there's no
+a bonnier wumman o' her age crosses oor kirk door than Annie, nor a
+cleverer at her wark. Man, ye 'ill need tae pit yir brains in steep.
+Is she clean beyond ye?"
+
+"Beyond me and every ither in the land but ane, and it wud cost a
+hundred guineas tae bring him tae Drumtochty."
+
+"Certes, he's no blate; it's a fell chairge for a short day's work;
+but hundred or no hundred we 'ill hae him, an' no let Annie gang,
+and her no half her years."
+
+"Are ye meanin' it, Drumsheugh?" and MacLure turned white below the
+tan.
+
+"William MacLure," said Drumsheugh, in one of the few confidences
+that ever broke the Drumtochty reserve, "a'm a lonely man, wi'
+naebody o' ma ain blude tae care for me livin', or tae lift me intae
+ma coffin when a'm deid.
+
+"A' fecht awa at Muirtown market for an extra pund on a beast, or a
+shillin' on the quarter o' barley, an' what's the gude o't? Burnbrae
+gaes aff tae get a goon for his wife or a buke for his college
+laddie, an' Lachlan Campbell 'ill no leave the place noo withoot a
+ribbon for Flora.
+
+"Ilka man in the Kildrummie train has some bit fairin' in his pooch
+for the fouk at hame that he's bocht wi' the siller he won.
+
+"But there's naebody tae be lookin' oot for me, an' comin' doon the
+road tae meet me, and daffin' (joking) wi' me aboot their fairing,
+or feeling ma pockets. Ou ay, a've seen it a' at ither hooses,
+though they tried tae hide it frae me for fear a' wud lauch at them.
+Me lauch, wi' ma cauld, empty hame!
+
+"Yir the only man kens, Weelum, that I aince luved the noblest
+wumman in the glen or onywhere, an' a' luve her still, but wi'
+anither luve noo.
+
+"She hed given her heart tae anither, or a've thocht a' micht hae
+won her, though nae man be worthy o' sic a gift. Ma hert turned tae
+bitterness, but that passed awa beside the brier bush whar George
+Hoo lay yon sad simmer time. Some day a'll tell ye ma story, Weelum,
+for you an' me are auld freends, and will be till we dee."
+
+MacLure felt beneath the table for Drumsheugh's hand, but neither
+man looked at the other.
+
+"Weel, a' we can dae noo, Weelum, gin we haena mickle brichtness in
+oor ain hames, is tae keep the licht frae gaein' oot in anither
+hoose. Write the telegram, man, and Sandy 'ill send it aff frae
+Kildrurnmie this verra nicht, and ye 'ill hae yir man the morn."
+
+"Yir the man a' coonted ye, Drumsheugh, but ye 'ill grant me ae
+favour. Ye 'ill lat me pay the half, bit by bit--a' ken yir wullin'
+tae dae't a',--but a' haena mony pleesures, an' a' wud like tae hae
+ma ain share in savin' Annie's life."
+
+Next morning a figure received Sir George on the Kildrummie
+platform, whom that famous surgeon took for a gillie, but who
+introduced himself as "MacLure of Drumtochty." It seemed as if the
+East had come to meet the West when these two stood together, the
+one in travelling furs, handsome and distinguished, with his strong,
+cultured face and carriage of authority, a characteristic type of
+his profession; and the other more marvellously dressed than ever,
+for Drumsheugh's topcoat had been forced upon him for the occasion,
+his face and neck one redness with the bitter cold; rough and
+ungainly, yet not without some signs of power in his eye and voice,
+the most heroic type of his noble profession. MacLure compassed the
+precious arrival with observances till he was securely seated in
+Drumsheugh's dogcart--a vehicle that lent itself to history--with
+two full-sized plaids added to his equipment--Drumsheugh and
+Hillocks had both been requisitioned--and MacLure wrapped another
+plaid round a leather case, which was placed below the seat with
+such reverence as might be given to the Queen's regalia. Peter
+attended their departure full of interest, and as soon as they were
+in the fir woods MacLure explained that it would be an eventful
+journey.
+
+"It's a' richt in here, for the wind disna get at the snaw, but the
+drifts are deep in the Glen, and th'ill be some engineerin' afore we
+get tae oor destination."
+
+Four times they left the road and took their way over fields, twice
+they forced a passage through a slap in a dyke, thrice they used
+gaps in the paling which MacLure had made on his downward journey.
+
+"A' seleckit the road this mornin', an' a' ken the depth tae an
+inch; we 'ill get through this steadin' here tae the main road, but
+oor worst job 'ill be crossin' the Tochty.
+
+"Ye see the bridge hes been shakin' wi' this winter's flood, and we
+daurna venture on it, sae we hev tae ford, and the snaw's been
+melting up Urtach way. There's nae doot the water's gey big, and
+it's threatenin' tae rise, but we 'ill win through wi' a warstle.
+
+"It micht be safer tae lift the instruments oot o' reach o' the
+water; wud ye mind haddin' them on yir knee till we're ower, an'
+keep firm in yir seat in case we come on a stane in the bed o' the
+river."
+
+By this time they had come to the edge, and it was not a cheering
+sight. The Tochty had spread out over the meadows, and while they
+waited they could see it cover another two inches on the trunk of a
+tree. There are summer floods, when the water is brown and flecked
+with foam, but this was a winter flood, which is black and sullen,
+and runs in the centre with a strong, fierce, silent current. Upon
+the op posite side Hillocks stood to give directions by word and
+hand, as the ford was on his land, and none knew the Tochty better
+in all its ways.
+
+They passed through the shallow water without mishap, save when the
+wheel struck a hidden stone or fell suddenly into a rut; but when
+they neared the body of the river MacLure halted, to give Jess a
+minute's breathing.
+
+"It 'ill tak ye a' yir time, lass, an' a' wud raither be on yir
+back; but ye never failed me yet, and a wumman's life is hangin' on
+the crossin'."
+
+With the first plunge into the bed of the stream the water rose to
+the axles, and then it crept up to the shafts, so that the surgeon
+could feel it lapping in about his feet, while the dogcart began to
+quiver, and it seemed as if it were to be carried away. Sir George
+was as brave as most men, but he had never forded a Highland river
+in flood, and the mass of black water racing past beneath, before,
+behind him, affected his imagination and shook his nerves. He rose
+from his seat and ordered MacLure to turn back, declaring that he
+would be condemned utterly and eternally if he allowed himself to be
+drowned for any person.
+
+"Sit doon," thundered MacLure; "condemned ye will be suner or later
+gin ye shirk yir duty, but through the water ye gang the day."
+
+Both men spoke much more strongly and shortly, but this is what they
+intended to say, and it was MacLure that prevailed.
+
+Jess trailed her feet along the ground with cunning art, and held
+her shoulder against the stream; MacLure leant forward in his seat,
+a rein in each hand, and his eyes fixed on Hillocks, who was now
+standing up to the waist in the water, shouting directions and
+cheering on horse and driver.
+
+"Haud tae the richt, doctor; there's a hole yonder. Keep oot o't for
+ony sake. That's it; yir daein' fine. Steady, man, steady. Yir at
+the deepest; sit heavy in yir seats. Up the channel noo, and ye 'll
+be oot o' the swirl. Weel dune, Jess, weel dune, auld mare! Mak
+straicht for me, doctor, an' a'll gie ye the road oot. Ma word,
+ye've dune yir best, baith o' ye this mornin'," cried Hillocks,
+splashing up to the dogcart, now in the shallows.
+
+"Sall, it wes titch an' go for a meenut in the middle; a Hielan'
+ford is a kittle (hazardous) road in the snaw time, but ye're safe
+noo.
+
+"Gude luck tae ye up at Westerton, sir; nane but a richt-hearted man
+wud hae riskit the Tochty in flood. Ye're boond tae succeed aifter
+sic a graund beginning" for it had spread already that a famous
+surgeon had come to do his best for Annie, Tammas Mitchell's wife.
+
+Two hours later MacLure came out from Annie's room and laid hold of
+Tammas, a heap of speechless misery by the kitchen fire, and carried
+him off to the barn, and spread some corn on the threshing floor and
+thrust a flail into his hands.
+
+"Noo we've tae begin, an' we 'ill no be dune for an' oor, and ye've
+tae lay on withoot stoppin' till a' come for ye, an' a'll shut the
+door tae haud in the noise, an' keep yir dog beside ye, for there
+maunna be a cheep aboot the hoose for Annie's sake."
+
+"A'll dae onythingye want me, but if--if--"
+
+"A'll come for ye, Tammas, gin there be danger; but what are ye
+feared for wi' the Queen's ain surgeon here?"
+
+Fifty minutes did the flail rise and fall, save twice, when Tammas
+crept to the door and listened, the dog lifting his head and
+whining.
+
+It seemed twelve hours instead of one when the door swung back, and
+MacLure filled the doorway, preceded by a great burst of light, for
+the sun had arisen on the snow.
+
+His face was as tidings of great joy, and Elspeth told me that there
+was nothing like it to be seen that afternoon for glory, save the
+sun itself in the heavens.
+
+"A' never saw the marrow o't, Tammas, an' a'll never see the like
+again; it's a' ower, man, withoot a hitch frae beginnin' tae end,
+and she's fa'in' asleep as fine as ye like."
+
+"Dis he think Annie ... 'ill live?"
+
+"Of coorse he dis, and be aboot the hoose inside a month; that's the
+gude o' bein' a clean-bluided, weel-livin'--"
+
+"Preserve ye, man, what's wrang wi' ye? it's a mercy a' keppit ye,
+or we wud hev hed anither job for Sir George.
+
+"Ye're a' richt noo; sit doon on the strae. A'll come back in a
+whilie, an' ye 'ill see Annie juist for a meenut, but ye maunna say
+a word."
+
+Marget took him in and let him kneel by Annie's bedside.
+
+He said nothing then or afterwards, for speech came only once in his
+lifetime to Tammas, but Annie whispered, "Ma ain dear man."
+
+When the doctor placed the precious bag beside Sir George in our
+solitary first next morning, he laid a cheque beside it and was
+about to leave.
+
+"No, no," said the great man. "Mrs. Macfadyen and I were on the
+gossip last night, and I know the whole story about you and your
+friend.
+
+"You have some right to call me a coward, but I'll never let you
+count me a mean, miserly rascal," and the cheque with Drumsheugh's
+painful writing fell in fifty pieces on the floor.
+
+As the train began to move, a voice from the first called so that
+all in the station heard.
+
+"Give's another shake of your hand, MacLure; I'm proud to have met
+you; you are an honour to our profession. Mind the antiseptic
+dressings."
+
+It was market day, but only Jamie Soutar and Hillocks had ventured
+down.
+
+"Did ye hear yon, Hillocks? hoo dae ye feel? A'll no deny a'm
+lifted"
+
+Halfway to the Junction Hillocks had recovered, and began to grasp
+the situation.
+
+"Tell's what he said. A' wud like to hae it exact for Drumsheugh."
+
+"Thae's the eedentical words, an' they're true; there's no a man in
+Drumtochty disna ken that, except ane."
+
+"An' wha's that, Jamie?"
+
+"It's Weelum MacLure himsel. Man, a've often girned that he sud
+fecht awa for us a', and maybe dee before he kent that he hed
+githered mair luve than ony man in the Glen.
+
+"'A'm prood tae hae met ye', says Sir George, an' him the greatest
+doctor in the land. 'Yir an honour tae oor profession.'
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae missed it for twenty notes," said James
+Soutar, cynic-in-ordinary to the parish of Drumtochty.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+When Drumsheugh's grieve was brought to the gates of death by fever,
+caught, as was supposed, on an adventurous visit to Glasgow, the
+London doctor at Lord Kilspindie's shooting lodge looked in on his
+way from the moor, and declared it impossible for Saunders to live
+through the night.
+
+"I give him six hours, more or less; it is only a question of time,"
+said the oracle, buttoning his gloves and getting into the brake;
+"tell your parish doctor that I was sorry not to have met him."
+
+Bell heard this verdict from behind the door, and gave way utterly,
+but Drumsheugh declined to accept it as final, and devoted himself
+to consolation.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, Bell wumman, sae lang as Saunders is still
+livin'; a'll never give up houp, for ma pairt, till oor ain man says
+the word.
+
+"A' the doctors in the land dinna ken as muckle aboot us as Weelum
+MacLure, an' he's ill tae beat when he's tryin' tae save a man's
+life."
+
+MacLure, on his coming, would say nothing, either weal or woe, till
+he had examined Saunders. Suddenly his face turned into iron before
+their eyes, and he looked like one encountering a merciless foe. For
+there was a feud between MacLure and a certain mighty power which
+had lasted for forty years in Drumtochty.
+
+"The London doctor said that Saunders wud sough awa afore mornin',
+did he? Weel, he's an authority on fevers an' sic like diseases, an
+ought tae ken.
+
+"It's may be presumptous o' me tae differ frae him, and it wudna be
+verra respectfu' o' Saunders tae live aifter this opeenion. But
+Saunders wes aye thraun an' ill tae drive, an' he's as like as no
+tae gang his ain gait.
+
+"A'm no meanin' tae reflect on sae clever a man, but he didna ken
+the seetuation. He can read fevers like a bulk, but he never cam
+across sic a thing as the Drumtochty constitution a' his days.
+
+"Ye see, when onybody gets as low as puir Saunders here, it's juist
+a hand to hand wrastle atween the fever and his constitution, an' of
+coorse, if he hed been a shilpit, stuntit, feckless effeegy o' a
+cratur, fed on tea an' made dishes and pushioned wi' bad air,
+Saunders wud hae nae chance; he wes boond tae gae oot like the snuff
+o' a candle.
+
+"But Saunders hes been fillin' his lungs for five and thirty year
+wi' strong Drumtochty air, an' eatin' naethin' but kirny aitmeal,
+and drinkin' naethin' but fresh milk frae the coo, an' followin' the
+ploo through the new-turned, sweet-smellin' earth, an' swingin' the
+scythe in haytime and harvest, till the legs an' airms o' him were
+iron, an' his chest wes like the cuttin' o' an oak tree.
+
+"He's a waesome sicht the nicht, but Saunders wes a buirdly man
+aince, and wull never lat his life be taken lichtly frae him. Na,
+na, he hesna sinned against Nature, and Nature 'ill stand by him noo
+in his oor o' distress.
+
+"A' daurna say yea, Bell, muckle as a' wud like, for this is an evil
+disease, cunnin' an' treacherous as the deevil himsel', but a' winna
+say nay, sae keep yir hert frae despair.
+
+"It wull be a sair fecht, but it 'ill be settled one wy or anither
+by sax o'clock the morn's morn. Nae man can prophecee hoo it 'ill
+end, but ae thing is certain, a'll no see deith tak a Drumtochty man
+afore his time if a' can help it.
+
+"Noo, Bell ma wumman, yir near deid wi' tire, an' nae wonder. Ye've
+dune a' ye cud for yir man, an' ye 'ill lippen (trust) him the nicht
+tae Drumsheugh an' me; we 'ill no fail him or you.
+
+"Lie doon an' rest, an' if it be the wull o' the Almichty a'll
+wauken ye in the mornin' tae see a livin' conscious man, an' if it
+be itherwise a'll come for ye the suner, Bell," and the big red hand
+went out to the anxious wife. "A' gie ye ma word."
+
+Bell leant over the bed, and at the sight of Saunders' face a
+superstitious dread seized her.
+
+"See, doctor, the shadow of deith is on him that never lifts. A've
+seen it afore, on ma father an' mither. A' canna leave him, a' canna
+leave him."
+
+"It's hoverin', Bell, but it hesna fallen; please God it never wull.
+Gang but and get some sleep, for it's time we were at oor work.
+
+"The doctors in the toons hae nurses an' a' kinds o' handy
+apparatus," said MacLure to Drumsheugh when Bell had gone, "but you
+an' me 'ill need tae be nurse the nicht, an' use sic things as we
+hev.
+
+"It 'ill be a lang nicht and anxious wark, but a' wud raither hae
+ye, auld freend, wi' me than ony man in the Glen. Ye're no feared
+tae gie a hand?"
+
+"Me feared? No likely. Man, Saunders cam tae me a haflin, and hes
+been on Drumsheugh for twenty years, an' though he be a dour chiel,
+he's a faithfu' servant as ever lived. It's waesome tae see him
+lyin' there moanin' like some dumb animal frae mornin' tae nicht,
+an' no able tae answer his ain wife when she speaks.
+
+"Div ye think, Weelum, he hes a chance?"
+
+"That he hes, at ony rate, and it 'ill no be your blame or mine if
+he hesna mair."
+
+While he was speaking, MacLure took off his coat and waistcoat and
+hung them on the back of the door. Then he rolled up the sleeves of
+his shirt and laid bare two arms that were nothing but bone and
+muscle.
+
+"It gar'd ma very blood rin faster tae the end of ma fingers juist
+tae look at him," Drumsheugh expatiated afterwards to Hillocks, "for
+a' saw noo that there was tae be a stand-up fecht atween him an'
+deith for Saunders, and when a' thocht o' Bell an' her bairns, a'
+kent wha wud win.
+
+"'Aff wi' yir coat, Drumsheugh,' said MacLure; 'ye 'ill need tae
+bend yir back the nicht; gither a' the pails in the hoose and fill
+them at the spring, an' a'll come doon tae help ye wi' the
+carryin'."
+
+It was a wonderful ascent up the steep pathway from the spring to
+the cottage on its little knoll, the two men in single file,
+bareheaded, silent, solemn, each with a pail of water in either
+hand, MacLure limping painfully in front, Drumsheugh blowing behind;
+and when they laid down their burden in the sick room, where the
+bits of furniture had been put to a side and a large tub held the
+centre, Drumsheugh looked curiously at the doctor.
+
+"No, a'm no daft; ye needna be feared; but yir tae get yir first
+lesson in medicine the nicht, an' if we win the battle ye can set up
+for yersel in the Glen.
+
+"There's twa dangers--that Saunders' strength fails, an' that the
+force o' the fever grows; and we have juist twa weapons.
+
+"Yon milk on the drawers' head an' the bottle of whisky is tae keep
+up the strength, and this cool caller water is tae keep doon the
+fever.
+
+"We 'ill cast oot the fever by the virtue o' the earth an' the
+water."
+
+"Div ye mean tae pit Saunders in the tub?"
+
+"Ye hiv it noo, Drumsheugh, and that's hoo a' need yir help."
+
+"Man, Hillocks," Drumsheugh used to moralise, as often as he
+remembered that critical night, "it wes humblin' tae see hoo low
+sickness can bring a pooerfu' man, an' ocht tae keep us frae pride.
+
+"A month syne there wesna a stronger man in the Glen than Saunders,
+an' noo he wes juist a bundle o' skin and bone, that naither saw nor
+heard, nor moved nor felt, that kent naethin' that was dune tae him.
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae wished ony man tae hev seen Saunders--for it
+wull never pass frae before ma een as long as a' live--but a' wish
+a' the Glen hed stude by MacLure kneelin' on the floor wi' his
+sleeves up tae his oxters and waitin' on Saunders.
+
+"Yon big man wes as pitifu' an' gentle as a wumman, and when he laid
+the puir fallow in his bed again, he happit him ower as a mither dis
+her bairn."
+
+Thrice it was done, Drumsheugh ever bringing up colder water from
+the spring, and twice MacLure was silent; but after the third time
+there was a gleam in his eye.
+
+"We're haudin' oor ain; we're no bein' maistered, at ony rate; mair
+a' canna say for three oors.
+
+"We 'ill no need the water again, Drumsheugh; gae oot and tak a
+breath o' air; a'm on gaird masel."
+
+It was the hour before daybreak, and Drumsheugh wandered through
+fields he had trodden since childhood. The cattle lay sleeping in
+the pastures; their shadowy forms, with a patch of whiteness here
+and there, having a weird suggestion of death. He heard the burn
+running over the stones; fifty years ago he had made a dam that
+lasted till winter. The hooting of an owl made him start; one had
+frightened him as a boy so that he ran home to his mother--she died
+thirty years ago. The smell of ripe corn filled the air; it would
+soon be cut and garnered. He could see the dim outlines of his
+house, all dark and cold; no one he loved was beneath the roof. The
+lighted window in Saunders' cottage told where a man hung between
+life and death, but love was in that home. The futility of life
+arose before this lonely man, and overcame his heart with an
+indescribable sadness. What a vanity was all human labour, what a
+mystery all human life.
+
+But while he stood, a subtle change came over the night, and the air
+trembled round him as if one had whispered. Drumsheugh lifted his
+head and looked eastwards. A faint grey stole over the distant
+horizon, and suddenly a cloud reddened before his eyes. The sun was
+not in sight, but was rising, and sending forerunners before his
+face. The cattle began to stir, a blackbird burst into song, and
+before Drumsheugh crossed the threshold of Saunders' house, the
+first ray of the sun had broken on a peak of the Grampians.
+
+MacLure left the bedside, and as the light of the candle fell on the
+doctor's face, Drumsheugh could see that it was going well with
+Saunders.
+
+"He's nae waur; an' it's half six noo; it's ower sune tae say mair,
+but a'm houpin' for the best. Sit doon and take a sleep, for ye're
+needin' 't, Drumsheugh, an', man, ye hae worked for it"
+
+As he dozed off, the last thing Drumsheugh saw was the doctor
+sitting erect in his chair, a clenched fist resting on the bed, and
+his eyes already bright with the vision of victory.
+
+He awoke with a start to find the room flooded with the morning
+sunshine, and every trace of last night's work removed.
+
+The doctor was bending over the bed, and speaking to Saunders.
+
+"It's me, Saunders, Doctor MacLure, ye ken; dinna try tae speak or
+move; juist let this drap milk slip ower--ye 'ill be needin' yir
+breakfast, lad--and gang tae sleep again."
+
+Five minutes, and Saunders had fallen into a deep, healthy sleep,
+all tossing and moaning come to an end. Then MacLure stepped softly
+across the floor, picked up his coat and waistcoat, and went out at
+the door.
+
+Drumsheugh arose and followed him without a word. They passed
+through the little garden, sparkling with dew, and beside the byre,
+where Hawkie rattled her chain, impatient for Bell's coming, and by
+Saunders' little strip of corn ready for the scythe, till they
+reached an open field. There they came to a halt, and Doctor MacLure
+for once allowed himself to go.
+
+His coat he flung east and his waistcoat west, as far as he could hurl
+them, and it was plain he would have shouted had he been a complete
+mile from Saunders' room. Any less distance was useless for adequate
+expression. He struck Drumsheugh a mighty blow that well-nigh levelled
+that substantial man in the dust, and then the doctor of Drumtochty
+issued his bulletin.
+
+"Saunders wesna tae live through the nicht, but he's livin' this
+meenut, an' like to live.
+
+"He's got by the warst clean and fair, and wi' him that's as good as
+cure.
+
+"It' ill be a graund waukenin' for Bell; she 'ill no be a weedow
+yet, nor the bairnies fatherless.
+
+"There's nae use glowerin' at me, Drumsheugh, for a body's daft at a
+time, an' a' canna contain masel, and a'm no gaein' tae try."
+
+Then it dawned upon Drumsheugh that the doctor was attempting the
+Highland fling.
+
+"He's ill made tae begin wi'," Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyard
+next Sabbath, "and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled by
+accidents, sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith,
+o' a' the Hielan' flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.
+
+"A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty years, but a' confess tae a
+turn masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o'
+Bell an' the news that wes waitin' her got the better o' me."
+
+Drumtochty did not laugh. Drumtochty looked as if it could have done
+quite otherwise for joy.
+
+"A' wud hae made a third gin a' hed been there," announced Hillocks,
+aggressively.
+
+"Come on, Drumsheugh," said Jamie Soutar, "gie's the end o't; it wes
+a michty mornin'."
+
+"'We're twa auld fules,' says MacLure tae me, and he gaithers up his
+claithes. 'It wud set us better tae be tellin' Bell.'
+
+"She wes sleepin' on the top o' her bed wrapped in a plaid, fair
+worn oot wi' three weeks' nursin' o' Saunders, but at the first
+touch she was oot upon the floor.
+
+"'Is Saunders deein', doctor?' she cries. 'Ye promised tae wauken
+me; dinna tell me it's a' ower.'
+
+"'There's nae deein' aboot him, Bell; ye're no tae lose yir man this
+time, sae far as a' can see. Come ben an' jidge for yersel'.
+
+"Bell lookit at Saunders, and the tears of joy fell on the bed like
+rain.
+
+"'The shadow's lifted,' she said; 'he's come back frae the mooth o'
+the tomb.
+
+"'A' prayed last nicht that the Lord wud leave Saunders till the
+laddies cud dae for themselves, an' thae words came intae ma mind,
+"Weepin' may endure for a nicht, but joy cometh in the mornin'."
+
+"'The Lord heard ma prayer, and joy hes come in the mornin', an' she
+gripped the doctor's hand.
+
+"'Ye've been the instrument, Doctor MacLure. Ye wudna gie him up,
+and ye did what nae ither cud for him, an' a've ma man the day, and
+the bairns hae their father.'
+
+"An' afore MacLure kent what she was daein', Bell lifted his hand to
+her lips an' kissed it."
+
+"Did she, though?" cried Jamie. "Wha wud hae thocht there wes as
+muckle spunk in Bell?"
+
+"MacLure, of coorse, was clean scandalised," continued Drumsheugh,
+"an' pooed awa his hand as if it hed been burned.
+
+"Nae man can thole that kind o' fraikin', and a' never heard o' sic
+a thing in the parish, but we maun excuse Bell, neeburs; it wes an
+occasion by ordinar," and Drumsheugh made Bell's apology to
+Drumtochty for such an excess of feeling.
+
+"A' see naethin' tae excuse," insisted Jamie, who was in great
+fettle that Sabbath; "the doctor hes never been burdened wi' fees,
+and a'm judgin' he coonted a wumman's gratitude that he saved frae
+weedowhood the best he ever got."
+
+"A' gaed up tae the Manse last nicht," concluded Drumsheugh, "and
+telt the minister hoo the doctor focht aucht oors for Saunders'
+life, an' won, and ye never saw a man sae carried. He walkit up and
+doon the room a' the time, and every other meenut he blew his nose
+like a trumpet.
+
+"'I've a cold in my head to-night, Drumsheugh,' says he; 'never mind
+me.'"
+
+"A've hed the same masel in sic circumstances; they come on sudden,"
+said Jamie.
+
+"A' wager there 'ill be a new bit in the laist prayer the day, an'
+somethin' worth hearin'."
+
+And the fathers went into kirk in great expectation.
+
+"We beseech Thee for such as be sick, that Thy hand may be on them
+for good, and that Thou wouldst restore them again to health and
+strength," was the familiar petition of every Sabbath.
+
+The congregation waited in a silence that might be heard, and were
+not disappointed that morning, for the minister continued:
+
+"Especially we tender Thee hearty thanks that Thou didst spare Thy
+servant who was brought down into the dust of death, and hast given
+him back to his wife and children, and unto that end didst
+wonderfully bless the skill of him who goes out and in amongst us,
+the beloved physician of this parish and adjacent districts."
+
+"Didna a' tell ye, neeburs?" said Jamie, as they stood at the
+kirkyard gate before dispersing; "there's no a man in the coonty cud
+hae dune it better. 'Beloved physician,' an' his 'skill,' tae, an'
+bringing in 'adjacent districts'; that's Glen Urtach; it wes
+handsome, and the doctor earned it, ay, every word.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety he didna hear yon; but dear knows whar he is
+the day, maist likely up--"
+
+Jamie stopped suddenly at the sound of a horse's feet, and there,
+coming down the avenue of beech trees that made a long vista from
+the kirk gate, they saw the doctor and Jess.
+
+One thought flashed through the minds of the fathers of the
+commonwealth.
+
+It ought to be done as he passed, and it would be done if it were
+not Sabbath. Of course it was out of the question on Sabbath.
+
+The doctor is now distinctly visible, riding after his fashion.
+
+There was never such a chance, if it were only Saturday; and each
+man reads his own regret in his neighbour's face.
+
+The doctor is nearing them rapidly; they can imagine the shepherd's
+tartan.
+
+Sabbath or no Sabbath, the Glen cannot let him pass without some
+tribute of their pride.
+
+Jess has recognised friends, and the doctor is drawing rein.
+
+"It hes tae be dune," said Jamie desperately, "say what ye like."
+Then they all looked towards him, and Jamie led.
+
+"Hurrah," swinging his Sabbath hat in the air, "hurrah," and once
+more, "hurrah," Whinnie Knowe, Drumsheugh, and Hillocks joining
+lustily, but Tammas Mitchell carrying all before him, for he had
+found at last an expression for his feelings that rendered speech
+unnecessary.
+
+It was a solitary experience for horse and rider, and Jess bolted
+without delay. But the sound followed and surrounded them, and as
+they passed the corner of the kirkyard, a figure waved his college
+cap over the wall and gave a cheer on his own account.
+
+"God bless you, doctor, and well done."
+
+"If it isna the minister," cried Drumsheugh, "in his goon an' bans;
+tae think o' that; but a' respeck him for it."
+
+Then Drumtochty became self-conscious, and went home in confusion of
+face and unbroken silence, except Jamie Soutar, who faced his
+neighbours at the parting of the ways without shame.
+
+"A' wud dae it a' ower again if a' hed the chance; he got naethin'
+but his due."
+
+It was two miles before Jess composed her mind, and the doctor and
+she could discuss it quietly together.
+
+"A' can hardly believe ma ears, Jess, an' the Sabbath tae; their
+verra jidgment hes gane frae the fouk o' Drumtochty.
+
+"They've heard about Saunders, a'm thinkin', wumman, and they're
+pleased we brocht him roond; he's fairly on the mend, ye ken, noo.
+
+"A' never expeckit the like o' this, though, and it wes juist a wee
+thingie mair than a' cud hae stude.
+
+"Ye hev yir share in't tae, lass; we've hed mony a hard nicht and
+day thegither, an' yon wes oor reward. No mony men in this warld
+'ill ever get a better, for it cam frae the hert o' honest fouk."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+Drumtochty had a vivid recollection of the winter when Dr. MacLure
+was laid up for two months with a broken leg, and the Glen was
+dependent on the dubious ministrations of the Kildrummie doctor.
+Mrs. Macfadyen also pretended to recall a "whup" of some kind or
+other he had in the fifties, but this was considered to be rather a
+pyrotechnic display of Elspeth's superior memory than a serious
+statement of fact. MacLure could not have ridden through the snow of
+forty winters without suffering, yet no one ever heard him complain,
+and he never pled illness to any messenger by night or day.
+
+"It took me," said Jamie Soutar to Milton afterwards, "the feck o'
+ten meenuts tae howk him an' Jess oot ae snawy nicht when Drums
+turned bad sudden, and if he didna try to excuse himself for no
+hearing me at aince wi' some story aboot juist comin' in frae Glen
+Urtach, and no bein' in his bed for the laist twa nichts.
+
+"He wes that carefu' o' himsel an' lazy that if it hedna been for
+the siller, a've often thocht, Milton, he wud never hae dune a
+handstroke o' wark in the Glen.
+
+"What scunnered me wes the wy the bairns were ta'en in wi' him. Man,
+a've seen him tak a wee laddie on his knee that his ain mither cudna
+quiet, an' lilt 'Sing a song o' saxpence' till the bit mannie wud be
+lauchin' like a gude ane, an' pooin' the doctor's beard.
+
+"As for the weemen, he fair cuist a glamour ower them; they're
+daein' naethin' noo but speak aboot this body and the ither he
+cured, an' hoo he aye hed a couthy word for sick fouk. Weemen hae
+nae discernment, Milton; tae hear them speak ye wud think MacLure
+hed been a releegious man like yersel, although, as ye said, he wes
+little mair than a Gallic.
+
+"Bell Baxter was haverin' awa in the shop tae sic an extent aboot
+the wy MacLure brocht roond Saunders when he hed the fever that a'
+gied oot at the door, a wes that disgusted, an' a'm telt when Tammas
+Mitchell heard the news in the smiddy he wes juist on the greeting.
+
+"The smith said that he wes thinkin' o' Annie's tribble, but ony wy
+a' ca' it rael bairnly. It's no like Drumtochty; ye're setting an
+example, Milton, wi' yir composure. But a' mind ye took the doctor's
+meesure as sune as ye cam intae the pairish."
+
+It is the penalty of a cynic that he must have some relief for his
+secret grief, and Milton began to weary of life in Jamie's hands
+during those days.
+
+Drumtochty was not observant in the matter of health, but they had
+grown sensitive about Dr. MacLure, and remarked in the kirkyard all
+summer that he was failing.
+
+"He wes aye spare," said Hillocks, "an' he's been sair twisted for
+the laist twenty year, but a' never mind him booed till the year.
+An' he's gaein' intae sma' buke (bulk), an' a' dinna like that,
+neeburs.
+
+"The Glen wudna dae weel withoot Weelum MacLure, an' he's no as
+young as he wes. Man, Drumsheugh, ye micht wile him aff tae the saut
+water atween the neeps and the hairst. He's been workin' forty year
+for a holiday, an' it's aboot due."
+
+Drumsheugh was full of tact, and met MacLure quite by accident on
+the road.
+
+"Saunders 'ill no need me till the shearing begins," he explained to
+the doctor, "an' a'm gaein' tae Brochty for a turn o' the hot baths;
+they're fine for the rheumatics.
+
+"Wull ye no come wi' me for auld lang syne? it's lonesome for a
+solitary man, an' it wud dae ye gude."
+
+"Na, na, Drumsheugh," said MacLure, who understood perfectly, "a've
+dune a' thae years withoot a break, an' a'm laith (unwilling) tae be
+takin' holidays at the tail end.
+
+"A'll no be mony months wi' ye a' thegither noo, an' a'm wanting tae
+spend a' the time a' hev in the Glen. Ye see yersel that a'll sune
+be getting ma lang rest, an' a'll no deny that a'm wearyin' for it."
+
+As autumn passed into winter, the Glen noticed that the doctor's
+hair had turned grey, and that his manner had lost all its
+roughness. A feeling of secret gratitude filled their hearts, and
+they united in a conspiracy of attention. Annie Mitchell knitted a
+huge comforter in red and white, which the doctor wore in misery for
+one whole day, out of respect for Annie, and then hung in his
+sitting-room as a wall ornament. Hillocks used to intercept him with
+hot drinks, and one drifting day compelled him to shelter till the
+storm abated. Flora Campbell brought a wonderful compound of honey
+and whisky, much tasted in Auchindarroch, for his cough, and the
+mother of young Burnbrae filled his cupboard with black jam, as a
+healing measure. Jamie Soutar seemed to have an endless series of
+jobs in the doctor's direction, and looked in "juist tae rest
+himsel" in the kitchen.
+
+MacLure had been slowly taking in the situation, and at last he
+unburdened himself one night to Jamie.
+
+"What ails the fouk, think ye? for they're aye lecturin' me noo tae
+tak care o' the weet and tae wrap masel up, an' there's no a week
+but they're sendin' bit presents tae the hoose, till a'm fair
+ashamed."
+
+"Oo, a'll explain that in a meenut," answered Jamie, "for a' ken the
+Glen weel. Ye see they're juist tryin' the Scripture plan o' heapin'
+coals o' fire on yer head.
+
+"Here ye've been negleckin' the fouk in seeckness an' lettin' them
+dee afore their freends' eyes withoot a fecht, an' refusin' tae gang
+tae a puir wumman in her tribble, an' frichtenin' the bairns--no,
+a'm no dune--and scourgin' us wi' fees, and livin' yersel on the fat
+o' the land.
+
+"Ye've been carryin' on this trade ever sin yir father dee'd, and
+the Glen didna notis. But ma word, they've fund ye oot at laist, an'
+they're gaein' tae mak ye suffer for a' yir ill usage. Div ye
+understand noo?" said Jamie, savagely.
+
+For a while MacLure was silent, and then he only said:
+
+"It's little a' did for the puir bodies; but ye hev a gude hert,
+Jamie, a rael good hert."
+
+It was a bitter December Sabbath, and the fathers were settling the
+affairs of the parish ankle deep in snow, when MacLure's old
+housekeeper told Drumsheugh that the doctor was not able to rise,
+and wished to see him in the afternoon.
+
+"Ay, ay," said Hillocks, shaking his head, and that day Drumsheugh
+omitted four pews with the ladle, while Jamie was so vicious on the
+way home that none could endure him.
+
+Janet had lit a fire in the unused grate, and hung a plaid by the
+window to break the power of the cruel north wind, but the bare room
+with its half-a-dozen bits of furniture and a worn strip of carpet,
+and the outlook upon the snow drifted up to the second pane of the
+window and the black firs laden with their icy burden, sent a chill
+to Drumsheugh's heart.
+
+The doctor had weakened sadly, and could hardly lift his head, but his
+face lit up at the sight of his visitor, and the big hand, which was
+now quite refined in its whiteness, came out from the bed-clothes with
+the old warm grip.
+
+"Come in by, man, and sit doon; it's an awfu' day tae bring ye sae
+far, but a' kent ye wudna grudge the traivel.
+
+"A' wesna sure till last nicht, an' then a' felt it wudna be lang,
+an' a' took a wearyin' this mornin' tae see ye.
+
+"We've been freends sin' we were laddies at the auld schule in the
+firs, an' a' wud like ye tae be wi' me at the end. Ye 'ill stay the
+nicht, Paitrick, for auld lang syne."
+
+Drumsheugh was much shaken, and the sound of the Christian name,
+which he had not heard since his mother's death, gave him a "grue"
+(shiver), as if one had spoken from the other world.
+
+"It's maist awfu' tae hear ye speakin' aboot deein', Weelum; a'
+canna bear it. We 'ill hae the Muirtown doctor up, an' ye 'ill be
+aboot again in nae time.
+
+"Ye hevna ony sair tribble; ye're juist trachled wi' hard wark an'
+needin' a rest. Dinna say ye're gaein' tae leave us, Weelum; we
+canna dae withoot ye in Drumtochty;" and Drumsheugh looked wistfully
+for some word of hope.
+
+"Na, na, Paitrick, naethin' can be dune, an' it's ower late tae send
+for ony doctor. There's a knock that canna be mista'en, an' a' heard
+it last night. A've focht deith for ither fouk mair than forty year,
+but ma ain time hes come at laist.
+
+"A've nae tribble worth mentionin'--a bit titch o' bronchitis--an'
+a've hed a graund constitution; but a'm fair worn oot, Paitrick;
+that's ma complaint, an' its past curin'."
+
+Drumsheugh went over to the fireplace, and for a while did nothing
+but break up the smouldering peats, whose smoke powerfully affected
+his nose and eyes.
+
+"When ye're ready, Paitrick, there's twa or three little trokes a'
+wud like ye tae look aifter, an' a'll tell ye aboot them as lang's
+ma head's clear.
+
+"A' didna keep buiks, as ye ken, for a' aye hed a guid memory, so
+naebody 'ill be harried for money aifter ma deith, and ye 'ill hae
+nae accoonts tae collect.
+
+"But the fouk are honest in Drumtochty, and they 'ill be offerin' ye
+siller, an' a'll gie ye ma mind aboot it. Gin it be a puir body,
+tell her tae keep it and get a bit plaidie wi' the money, and she
+'ill maybe think o' her auld doctor at a time. Gin it be a bien
+(well-to-do) man, tak half of what he offers, for a Drumtochty man
+wud scorn to be mean in sic circumstances; and if onybody needs a
+doctor an' canna pay for him, see he's no left tae dee when a'm oot
+o' the road."
+
+"Nae fear o' that as lang as a'm living Weelum; that hundred's still
+tae the fore, ye ken, an' a'll tak care it's weel spent.
+
+"Yon wes the best job we ever did thegither, an' dookin' Saunders;
+ye 'ill no forget that nicht, Weelum"--a gleam came into the
+doctor's eyes--"tae say naethin' o' the Highlan' fling."
+
+The remembrance of that great victory came upon Drumsheugh, and
+tried his fortitude.
+
+"What 'ill become o's when ye're no here tae gie a hand in time o'
+need? we 'ill tak ill wi' a stranger that disna ken ane o's frae
+anither."
+
+"It's a' for the best, Paitrick, an' ye 'ill see that in a whilie.
+A've kent fine that ma day wes ower, an' that ye sud hae a younger
+man.
+
+"A' did what a' cud tae keep up wi' the new medicine, but a' hed
+little time for readin', an' nane for traivellin'.
+
+"A'm the last o' the auld schule, an' a' ken as weel as onybody thet
+a' wesna sae dainty an' fine-mannered as the town doctors. Ye took
+me as a' wes, an' naebody ever cuist up tae me that a' wes a plain
+man. Na, na; ye've been rael kind an' conseederate a' thae years."
+
+"Weelum, gin ye cairry on sic nonsense ony langer," interrupted
+Drumsheugh, huskily, "a'll leave the hoose; a' canna stand it."
+
+"It's the truth, Paitrick, but we 'ill gae on wi' our wark, for a'm
+failin' fast.
+
+"Gie Janet ony sticks of furniture she needs tae furnish a hoose,
+and sell a' thing else tae pay the wricht (undertaker) an' bedrel
+(grave-digger). If the new doctor be a young laddie and no verra
+rich, ye micht let him hae the buiks an' instruments; it 'ill aye be
+a help.
+
+"But a' wudna like ye tae sell Jess, for she's been a faithfu'
+servant, an' a freend tae. There's a note or twa in that drawer a'
+savit, an' if ye kent ony man that wud gie her a bite o' grass and a
+sta' in his stable till she followed her maister--"
+
+"Confoond ye, Weelum," broke out Drumsheugh; "its doonricht cruel o'
+ye to speak like this tae me. Whar wud Jess gang but tae Drumsheugh?
+she 'ill hae her run o' heck an' manger sae lang as she lives; the
+Glen wudna like tae see anither man on Jess, and nae man 'ill ever
+touch the auld mare."
+
+"Dinna mind me, Paitrick, for a' expeckit this; but ye ken we're no
+verra gleg wi' oor tongues in Drumtochty, an' dinna tell a' that's
+in oor hearts.
+
+"Weel, that's a' that a' mind, an' the rest a' leave tae yersel'.
+A've neither kith nor kin tae bury me, sae you an' the neeburs 'ill
+need tae lat me doon; but gin Tammas Mitchell or Saunders be
+stannin' near and lookin' as if they wud like a cord, gie't tae
+them, Paitrick. They're baith dour chiels, and haena muckle tae say,
+but Tammas lies a graund hert, and there's waur fouk in the Glen
+than Saunders.
+
+"A'm gettin' drowsy, an' a'll no be able tae follow ye sune, a'
+doot; wud ye read a bit tae me afore a' fa' ower?
+
+"Ye 'ill find ma mither's Bible on the drawers' heid, but ye 'ill
+need tae come close tae the bed, for a'm no hearin' or seein' sae
+weel as a' wes when ye cam."
+
+Drumsheugh put on his spectacles and searched for a comfortable
+Scripture, while the light of the lamp fell on his shaking hands and
+the doctor's face, where the shadow was now settling.
+
+"Ma mither aye wantit this read tae her when she wes sober" (weak),
+and Drumsheugh began, "In My Father's house are many mansions," but
+MacLure stopped him.
+
+"It's a bonnie word, an' yir mither wes a sanct; but it's no for the
+like o' me. It's ower gude; a' daurna tak it.
+
+"Shut the buik an' let it open itsel, an' ye 'ill get a bit a've
+been readin' every nicht the laist month."
+
+Then Drumsheugh found the Parable wherein the Master tells us what
+God thinks of a Pharisee and of a penitent sinner, till he came to
+the words: "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up
+so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
+God be merciful to me a sinner."
+
+"That micht hae been written for me, Paitrick, or ony ither auld
+sinner that hes feenished his life, an' hes naethin' tae say for
+himsel'.
+
+"It wesna easy for me tae get tae kirk, but a' cud hae managed wi' a
+stretch, an' a' used langidge a' sudna, an' a' micht hae been
+gentler, and no been so short in the temper. A' see't a' noo.
+
+"It's ower late tae mend, but ye 'ill maybe juist say to the fouk
+that I wes sorry, an' a'm houpin' that the Almichty 'ill hae mercy
+on me.
+
+"Cud ye ... pit up a bit prayer, Paitrick?"
+
+"A' haena the words," said Drumsheugh in great distress; "wud ye
+like's tae send for the minister?"
+
+"It's no the time for that noo, an' a' wud rather hae yersel'--juist
+what's in yir heart, Paitrick: the Almichty 'ill ken the lave (rest)
+Himsel'."
+
+So Drumsheugh knelt and prayed with many pauses.
+
+"Almichty God ... dinna be hard on Weelum MacLure, for he's no been
+hard wi' onybody in Drumtochty.... Be kind tae him as he's been tae
+us a' for forty year.... We're a' sinners afore Thee.... Forgive him
+what he's dune wrang, an' dinna cuist it up tae him.... Mind the
+fouk he's helpit ... the weemen an' bairnies ... an' gie him a
+welcome name, for he's sair needin't after a' his wark.... Amen."
+
+"Thank ye, Paitrick, and gude nicht tae ye. Ma ain true freend,
+gie's yir hand, for a'll maybe no ken ye again.
+
+"Noo a'll say ma mither's prayer and hae a sleep, but ye 'ill no
+leave me till a' is ower."
+
+Then he repeated as he had done every night of his life:
+
+  "This night I lay me down to sleep,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
+   And if I die before I wake,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to take."
+
+He was sleeping quietly when the wind drove the snow against the
+window with a sudden "swish ;" and he instantly awoke, so to say, in
+his sleep. Some one needed him.
+
+"Are ye frae Glen Urtach?" and an unheard voice seemed to have
+answered him.
+
+"Worse is she, an' sufferin' awfu'; that's no lichtsome; ye did
+richt tae come.
+
+"The front door's drifted up; gang roond tae the back, an' ye 'ill
+get intae the kitchen; a'll be ready in a meenut.
+
+"Gie's a hand wi' the lantern when a'm saidling Jess, an' ye needna
+come on till daylicht; a' ken the road."
+
+Then he was away in his sleep on some errand of mercy, and
+struggling through the storm.
+
+"It's a coorse nicht, Jess, an' heavy traivellin'; can ye see afore
+ye, lass? for a'm clean confused wi' the snaw; bide a wee till a'
+find the diveesion o' the roads; it's aboot here back or forrit.
+
+"Steady, lass, steady, dinna plunge; it's a drift we're in, but
+ye're no sinkin'; ... up noo; ... there ye are on the road again.
+
+"Eh, it's deep the nicht, an' hard on us baith, but there's a puir
+wumman micht dee if we didna warstle through; ... that's it; ye ken
+fine what a'm sayin'.
+
+"We 'ill hae tae leave the road here, an' tak tae the muir. Sandie
+'ill no can leave the wife alane tae meet us; ... feel for yersel',
+lass, and keep oot o' the holes.
+
+"Yon's the hoose black in the snaw. Sandie! man, ye frichtened us;
+a' didna see ye ahint the dyke; hoo's the wife?"
+
+After a while he began again:
+
+"Ye're fair dune, Jess, and so a' am masel'; we're baith gettin'
+auld, an' dinna tak sae weel wi' the nicht wark.
+
+"We 'ill sune be hame noo; this is the black wood, and it's no lang
+aifter that; we're ready for oor beds, Jess; ... ay, ye like a clap
+at a time; mony a mile we've gaed hegither.
+
+"Yon's the licht in the kitchen window; nae wonder ye're nickering
+(neighing); ... it's been a stiff journey; a'm tired, lass ... a'm
+tired tae deith," and the voice died into silence.
+
+Drumsheugh held his friend's hand, which now and again tightened in
+his, and as he watched, a change came over the face on the pillow
+beside him. The lines of weariness disappeared, as if God's hand had
+passed over it; and peace began to gather round the closed eyes.
+
+The doctor has forgotten the toil of later years, and has gone back
+to his boyhood.
+
+  "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want,"
+
+he repeated, till he came to the last verse, and then he hesitated.
+
+  "Goodness and mercy all my life
+   Shall surely follow me.
+
+"Follow me ... and ... and ... what's next? Mither said I wes tae
+haed ready when she cam.
+
+"'A'll come afore ye gang tae sleep, Wullie, but ye 'ill no get yir
+kiss unless ye can feenish the psalm.'
+
+"And ... in God's house ... for evermore my ... hoo dis it rin? a'
+canna mind the next word ... my, my--
+
+"It's ower dark noo tae read it, an' mither 'ill sune be comin'."
+
+Drumsheugh, in an agony, whispered into his ear, "'My dwelling-place,'
+Weelum."
+
+"That's it, that's it a' noo; wha said it?
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"A'm ready noo, an' a'll get ma kiss when mither comes; a' wish she
+wud come, for a'm tired an' wantin' tae sleep.
+
+"Yon's her step ... an' she's carryin' a licht in her hand; a' see
+it through the door.
+
+"Mither! a' kent ye wudna forget yir laddie, for ye promised tae
+come, and a've feenished ma psalm.
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"Gie me the kiss, mither, for a've been waitin' for ye, an' a'll
+sune be asleep."
+
+The grey morning light fell on Drumsheugh, still holding his
+friend's cold hand, and staring at a hearth where the fire had died
+down into white ashes; but the peace on the doctor's face was of one
+who rested from his labours.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+Dr. MacLure was buried during the great snowstorm, which is still
+spoken of, and will remain the standard of snowfall in Drumtochty
+for the century. The snow was deep on the Monday, and the men that
+gave notice of his funeral had hard work to reach the doctor's
+distant patients. On Tuesday morning it began to fall again in heavy
+fleecy flakes, and continued till Thursday, and then on Thursday the
+north wind rose and swept the snow into the hollows of the roads
+that went to the upland farms, and built it into a huge bank at the
+mouth of Glen Urtach, and laid it across our main roads in drifts of
+every size and the most lovely shapes, and filled up crevices in the
+hills to the depth of fifty feet.
+
+On Friday morning the wind had sunk to passing gusts that powdered
+your coat with white, and the sun was shining on one of those winter
+landscapes no townsman can imagine and no countryman ever forgets.
+The Glen, from end to end and side to side, was clothed in a
+glistering mantle white as no fuller on earth could white it, that
+flung its skirts over the clumps of trees and scattered farm-houses,
+and was only divided where the Tochty ran with black, swollen
+stream. The great moor rose and fell in swelling billows of snow
+that arched themselves over the burns, running deep in the mossy
+ground, and hid the black peat bogs with a thin, treacherous crust.
+Beyond, the hills northwards and westwards stood high in white
+majesty, save where the black crags of Glen Urtach broke the line,
+and, above our lower Grampians, we caught glimpses of the distant
+peaks that lifted their heads in holiness unto God.
+
+It seemed to me a fitting day for William MacLure's funeral, rather
+than summer time, with its flowers and golden corn. He had not been
+a soft man, nor had he lived an easy life, and now he was to be laid
+to rest amid the austere majesty of winter, yet in the shining of
+the sun. Jamie Soutar, with whom I toiled across the Glen, did not
+think with me, but was gravely concerned.
+
+"Nae doot it's a graund sicht; the like o't is no gien tae us twice
+in a generation, an' nae king wes ever carried tae his tomb in sic a
+cathedral.
+
+"But it's the fouk a'm conseederin', an' hoo they 'ill win through;
+it's hard eneuch for them 'at's on the road, an' it's clean
+impossible for the lave.
+
+"They 'ill dae their best, every man o' them, ye may depend on that,
+an' hed it been open weather there wudna hev been six able-bodied
+men missin'.
+
+"A' wes mad at them, because they never said onything when he wes
+leevin', but they felt for a' that what he hed dune, an', a' think,
+he kent it afore he deed.
+
+"He hed juist ae faut, tae ma thinkin', for a' never jidged the waur
+o' him for his titch of rochness--guid trees hae gnarled bark--but
+he thocht ower little o' himsel.
+
+"Noo, gin a' hed asked him hoo mony fouk wud come tae his beerial,
+he wud hae said, 'They 'ill be Drumsheugh an' yersel', an' maybe twa
+or three neeburs besides the minister,' an' the fact is that nae man
+in oor time wud hae sic a githerin' if it werena for the storm.
+
+"Ye see," said Jamie, who had been counting heads all morning,
+"there's six shepherds in Glen Urtach--they're shut up fast; an'
+there micht hae been a gude half dizen frae Dunleith wy, an' a'm
+telt there's nae road; an' there's the heich Glen, nae man cud cross
+the muir the day, an' it's aucht mile roond;" and Jamie proceeded to
+review the Glen in every detail of age, driftiness of road and
+strength of body, till we arrived at the doctor's cottage, when he
+had settled on a reduction of fifty through stress of weather.
+
+Drumsheugh was acknowledged as chief mourner by the Glen, and
+received us at the gate with a labored attempt at everyday manners.
+
+"Ye've hed heavy traivellin', a' doot, an' ye 'ill be cauld. It's
+hard weather for the sheep, an' a'm thinkin' this 'ill be a feeding
+storm.
+
+"There wes nae use trying tae dig oot the front door yestreen, for
+it wud hae been drifted up again before morning. We've cleared awa
+the snow at the back for the prayer; ye 'ill get in at the kitchen
+door.
+
+"There's a puckle Dunleith men--"
+
+"Wha?" cried Jamie in an instant.
+
+"Dunleith men," said Drumsheugh.
+
+"Div ye mean they're here, whar are they?"
+
+"Drying themsels at the fire, an' no withoot need; ane of them gied
+ower the head in a drift, and his neeburs hed tae pu' him oot.
+
+"It took them a gude fower oors tae get across, an' it wes coorse
+wark; they likit him weel doon that wy, an', Jamie man"--here
+Drumsheugh's voice changed its note, and his public manner
+disappeared--"what div ye think o' this? every man o' them hes on
+his blacks."
+
+"It's mair than cud be expeckit," said Jamie; "but whar dae yon men
+come frae, Drumsheugh?"
+
+Two men in plaids were descending the hill behind the doctor's
+cottage, taking three feet at a stride, and carrying long staffs in
+their hands.
+
+"They're Glen Urtach men, Jamie, for ane o' them wes at Kildrummie
+fair wi' sheep, but hoo they've wun doon passes me."
+
+"It canna be, Drumsheugh," said Jamie, greatly excited. "Glen
+Urtach's steikit up wi' sna like a locked door.
+
+"Ye're no surely frae the Glen, lads?" as the men leaped the dyke
+and crossed to the back door, the snow falling from their plaids as
+they walked.
+
+"We're that an' nae mistak, but a' thocht we wud be lickit ae place,
+eh, Chairlie? a'm no sae weel acquant wi' the hill on this side, an'
+there wes some kittle (hazardous) drifts."
+
+"It wes grand o' ye tae mak the attempt," said Drumsheugh, "an' a'm
+gled ye're safe."
+
+"He cam through as bad himsel tae help ma wife," was Charlie's
+reply.
+
+"They're three mair Urtach shepherds 'ill come in by sune; they're
+frae Upper Urtach, an' we saw them fording the river; ma certes, it
+took them a' their time, for it wes up tae their waists and rinnin'
+like a mill lade, but they jined hands and cam ower fine." And the
+Urtach men went in to the fire.
+
+The Glen began to arrive in twos and threes, and Jamie, from a point
+of vantage at the gate, and under an appearance of utter
+indifference, checked his roll till even he was satisfied.
+
+"Weelum MacLure 'ill hae the beerial he deserves in spite o' sna and
+drifts; it passes a' tae see hoo they've githered frae far an' near.
+
+"A'm thinkin'ye can colleck them for the minister noo, Drumsheugh.
+A'body's here except the heich Glen, an' we mauna hike for them."
+
+"Dinna be sae sure o' that, Jamie. Yon's terrible like them on the
+road, wi' Whinnie at their head;" and so it was, twelve in all, only
+old Adam Ross absent, detained by force, being eighty-two years of
+age.
+
+"It wud hae been temptin' Providence tae cross the muir," Whinnie
+explained, "and it's a fell stap roond; a' doot we're laist."
+
+"See, Jamie," said Drumsheugh, as he went to the house, "gin there
+be ony antern body in sicht afore we begin; we maun mak allooances
+the day wi' twa feet o' sna on the grund, tae say naethin' o'
+drifts."
+
+"There's something at the turnin', an' it's no fouk; it's a machine
+o' some kind or ither--maybe a bread cart that's focht its wy up."
+
+"Na, it's no that; there's twa horses, ane afore the ither; if it's
+no a dogcairt wi' twa men in the front; they 'ill be comin' tae the
+beerial."
+
+"What wud ye sae, Jamie," Hillocks suggested, "but it micht be some
+o' thae Muirtown doctors? they were awfu' chief wi' MacLure."
+
+"It's nae Muirtown doctors," cried Jamie, in great exultation, "nor
+ony ither doctors. A' ken thae horses, and wha's ahint them. Quick,
+man Hillocks, stop the fouk, and tell Drumsheugh tae come oot, for
+Lord Kilspindie hes come up frae Muirtown Castle."
+
+Jamie himself slipped behind, and did not wish to be seen.
+
+"It's the respeck he's gettin' the day frae high an' low," was
+Jamie's husky apology; "tae think o' them fechtin' their wy doon
+frae Glen Urtach, and toiling roond frae the heich Glen, an' his
+lordship driving through the drifts a' the road frae Muirtown, juist
+tae honour Weelum MacLure's beerial.
+
+"It's nae ceremony the day, ye may lippen tae it; it's the hert
+brocht the fouk, an' ye can see it in their faces; ilka man hes his
+ain reason, an' he's thinkin' on't, though he's speakin' o' naethin'
+but the storm; he's mindin' the day Weelum pued him oot frae the
+jaws o' death, or the nicht he savit the gude wife in her oor o'
+tribble.
+
+"That's why they pit on their blacks this mornin' afore it wes
+licht, and wrastled through the sna drifts at risk o' life.
+Drumtochty fouk canna say muckle, it's an awfu' peety, and they 'ill
+dae their best tae show naethin', but a' can read it a' in their
+een.
+
+"But wae's me"--and Jamie broke down utterly behind a fir tree, so
+tender a thing is a cynic's heart--"that fouk 'ill tak a man's best
+wark a' his days withoot a word an' no dae him honour till he dees.
+Oh, if they hed only githered like this juist aince when he wes
+livin', an' lat him see he hedna laboured in vain. His reward hes
+come ower late, ower late."
+
+During Jamie's vain regret, the Castle trap, bearing the marks of a
+wild passage in the snow-covered wheels, a broken shaft tied with
+rope, a twisted lamp, and the panting horses, pulled up between two
+rows of farmers, and Drumsheugh received his lordship with evident
+emotion.
+
+"Ma lord ... we never thocht o' this ... an' sic a road."
+
+"How are you, Drumsheugh? and how are you all this wintry day?
+That's how I'm half an hour late; it took us four hours' stiff work
+for sixteen miles, mostly in the drifts, of course."
+
+"It wes gude o' yir lordship, tae mak sic an effort, an' the hale
+Glen wull be gratefu' tae ye, for ony kindness tae him is kindness
+tae us."
+
+"You make too much of it, Drumsheugh," and the clear, firm voice was
+heard of all; "it would have taken more than a few snow drifts to
+keep me from showing my respect to William MacLure's memory."
+
+When all had gathered in a half circle before the kitchen door, Lord
+Kilspindie came out--every man noticed he had left his overcoat, and
+was in black, like the Glen--and took a place in the middle with
+Drumsheugh and Burnbrae, his two chief tenants, on the right and
+left, and as the minister appeared every man bared his head.
+
+The doctor looked on the company--a hundred men such as for strength
+and gravity you could hardly have matched in Scotland--standing out
+in picturesque relief against the white background, and he said:
+
+"It's a bitter day, friends, and some of you are old; perhaps it
+might be wise to cover your heads before I begin to pray."
+
+Lord Kilspindie, standing erect and greyheaded between the two old
+men, replied:
+
+"We thank you, Dr. Davidson, for your thoughtfulness; but he endured
+many a storm in our service, and we are not afraid of a few minutes'
+cold at his funeral."
+
+A look flashed round the stern faces, and was reflected from the
+minister, who seemed to stand higher.
+
+His prayer, we noticed with critical appreciation, was composed for
+the occasion, and the first part was a thanksgiving to God for the
+life-work of our doctor, wherein each clause was a reference to his
+services and sacrifices. No one moved or said Amen--it had been
+strange with us--but when every man had heard the gratitude of his
+dumb heart offered to Heaven, there was a great sigh.
+
+After which the minister prayed that we might have grace to live as
+this man had done from youth to old age, not for himself, but for
+others, and that we might be followed to our grave by somewhat of
+"that love wherewith we mourn this day Thy servant departed." Again
+the same sigh, and the minister said Amen.
+
+The "wricht" stood in the doorway without speaking, and four
+stalwart men came forward. They were the volunteers that would lift
+the coffin and carry it for the first stage. One was Tammas, Annie
+Mitchell's man; and another was Saunders Baxter, for whose life
+MacLure had his great fight with death; and the third was the Glen
+Urtach shepherd for whose wife's sake MacLure suffered a broken leg
+and three fractured ribs in a drift; and the fourth, a Dunleith man,
+had his own reasons of remembrance.
+
+"He's far lichter than ye wud expeck for sae big a man--there wesna
+muckle left o' him, ye see--but the road is heavy, and a'll change
+ye aifter the first half mile."
+
+"Ye needna tribble yersel, wricht," said the man from Glen Urtach;
+"the'll be nae change in the cairryin' the day," and Tammas was
+thankful some one had saved him speaking.
+
+Surely no funeral is like unto that of a doctor for pathos, and a
+peculiar sadness fell on that company as his body was carried out
+who for nearly half a century had been their help in sickness, and
+had beaten back death time after time from their door. Death after
+all was victor, for the man that saved them had not been able to
+save himself.
+
+As the coffin passed the stable door a horse neighed within, and
+every man looked at his neighbour. It was his old mare crying to her
+master.
+
+Jamie slipped into the stable, and went up into the stall.
+
+"Puir lass, ye're no gaein' wi' him the day, an' ye 'ill never see
+him again; ye've hed yir last ride thegither, an' ye were true tae
+the end."
+
+After the funeral Drumsheugh came himself for Jess, and took her to
+his farm. Saunders made a bed for her with soft, dry straw, and
+prepared for her supper such things as horses love. Jess would
+neither take food nor rest, but moved uneasily in her stall, and
+seemed to be waiting for some one that never came. No man knows what
+a horse or a dog understands and feels, for God hath not given them
+our speech. If any footstep was heard in the courtyard, she began to
+neigh, and was always looking round as the door opened. But nothing
+would tempt her to eat, and in the night-time Drumsheugh heard her
+crying as if she expected to be taken out for some sudden journey.
+The Kildrummie veterinary came to see her, and said that nothing
+could be done when it happened after this fashion with an old horse.
+
+"A've seen it aince afore," he said. "Gin she were a Christian
+instead o' a horse, ye micht say she wes dying o' a broken hert."
+
+He recommended that she should be shot to end her misery, but no man
+could be found in the Glen to do the deed, and Jess relieved them of
+the trouble. When Drumsheugh went to the stable on Monday morning, a
+week after Dr. MacLure fell on sleep, Jess was resting at last, but
+her eyes were open and her face turned to the door.
+
+"She wes a' the wife he hed," said Jamie, as he rejoined the
+procession, "an' they luved ane anither weel."
+
+The black thread wound itself along the whiteness of the Glen, the
+coffin first, with his lordship and Drumsheugh behind, and the
+others as they pleased, but in closer ranks than usual, because the
+snow on either side was deep, and because this was not as other
+funerals. They could see the women standing at the door of every
+house on the hillside, and weeping, for each family had some good
+reason in forty years to remember MacLure. When Bell Baxter saw
+Saunders alive, and the coffin of the doctor that saved him on her
+man's shoulder, she bowed her head on the dyke, and the bairns in
+the village made such a wail for him they loved that the men nearly
+disgraced themselves.
+
+"A'm gled we're through that, at ony rate," said Hillocks; "he wes
+awfu' taen up wi' the bairns, conseederin' he hed nane o' his ain."
+
+There was only one drift on the road between his cottage and the
+kirkyard, and it had been cut early that morning.
+
+Before daybreak Saunders had roused the lads in the bothy, and they
+had set to work by the light of lanterns with such good will that,
+when Drumsheugh came down to engineer a circuit for the funeral,
+there was a fair passage, with walls of snow twelve feet high on
+either side.
+
+"Man, Saunders," he said, "this wes a kind thocht, and rael weel
+dune."
+
+But Saunders' only reply was this:
+
+"Mony a time he's hed tae gang roond; he micht as weel hae an open
+road for his last traivel."
+
+When the coffin was laid down at the mouth of the grave, the only
+blackness in the white kirkyard, Tammas Mitchell did the most
+beautiful thing in all his life. He knelt down and carefully wiped
+off the snow the wind had blown upon the coffin, and which had
+covered the name, and when he had done this he disappeared behind
+the others, so that Drumsheugh could hardly find him to take a cord.
+For these were the eight that buried Dr. MacLure--Lord Kilspindie at
+the head as landlord and Drumsheugh at the feet as his friend; the
+two ministers of the parish came first on the right and left; then
+Burnbrae and Hillocks of the farmers, and Saunders and Tammas for
+the plowmen. So the Glen he loved laid him to rest.
+
+When the bedrel had finished his work and the turf had been spread,
+Lord Kilspindie spoke:
+
+"Friends of Drumtochty, it would not be right that we should part in
+silence and no man say what is in every heart. We have buried the
+remains of one that served this Glen with a devotion that has known
+no reserve, and a kindliness that never failed, for more than forty
+years. I have seen many brave men in my day, but no man in the
+trenches of Sebastopol carried himself more knightly than William
+MacLure. You will never have heard from his lips what I may tell you
+to-day, that my father secured for him a valuable post in his
+younger days, and he preferred to work among his own people; and I
+wished to do many things for him when he was old, but he would have
+nothing for himself. He will never be forgotten while one of us
+lives, and I pray that all doctors everywhere may share his spirit.
+If it be your pleasure, I shall erect a cross above his grave, and
+shall ask my old friend and companion Dr. Davidson, your minister,
+to choose the text to be inscribed."
+
+"We thank you, Lord Kilspindie," said the doctor, "for your presence
+with us in our sorrow and your tribute to the memory of William
+MacLure, and I choose this for his text:
+
+"'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
+for his friends.'"
+
+Milton was, at that time, held in the bonds of a very bitter
+theology, and his indignation was stirred by this unqualified
+eulogium.
+
+"No doubt Dr. MacLure hed mony natural virtues, an' he did his wark
+weel, but it wes a peety he didna mak mair profession o' releegion."
+
+"When William MacLure appears before the Judge, Milton," said
+Lachlan Campbell, who that day spoke his last words in public, and
+they were in defence of charity, "He will not be asking him about
+his professions, for the doctor's judgment hass been ready long ago;
+and it iss a good judgment, and you and I will be happy men if we
+get the like of it.
+
+"It iss written in the Gospel, but it iss William MacLure that will
+not be expecting it."
+
+"What is't, Lachlan?" asked Jamie Soutar, eagerly.
+
+The old man, now very feeble, stood in the middle of the road, and
+his face, once so hard, was softened into a winsome tenderness.
+
+"'Come, ye blessed of My Father ... I was sick, and ye visited Me.'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
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+Title: Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
+
+Author: Ian Maclaren
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7179]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 22, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH
+
+By IAN MACLAREN
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+  'There grows a bonnie brier bush in our kail-yard,
+   And white are the blossoms on't in our kail-yard.'
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. DOMSIE.
+
+1. A LAD O' PAIRTS,
+
+2. HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+3. IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+4. A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+
+II. A HIGHLAND MYSTIC.
+
+1. WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN,
+
+2. AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS,
+
+
+III. HIS MOTHER'S SERMON,
+
+
+IV. THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL.
+
+1. A GRAND INQUISITOR,
+
+2. HIS BITTER SHAME,
+
+3. LIKE AS A FATHER,
+
+4. AS A LITTLE CHILD,
+
+
+V. THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+VI. A WISE WOMAN.
+
+1. OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+2. THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+
+VII. A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+1. A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+2. THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+3. A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+4. THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+5. THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+
+
+
+DOMSIE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A LAD O' PAIRTS
+
+The Revolution reached our parish years ago, and Drumtochty has a
+School Board, with a chairman and a clerk, besides a treasurer and
+an officer. Young Hillocks, who had two years in a lawyer's office,
+is clerk, and summons meetings by post, although he sees every
+member at the market or the kirk. Minutes are read with much
+solemnity, and motions to expend ten shillings upon a coal-cellar
+door passed, on the motion of Hillocks, seconded by Drumsheugh, who
+are both severely prompted for the occasion, and move uneasily
+before speaking.
+
+Drumsheugh was at first greatly exalted by his poll, and referred
+freely on market days to his "plumpers," but as time went on the
+irony of the situation laid hold upon him.
+
+"Think o' you and me, Hillocks, veesitin' the schule and sittin' wi'
+bukes in oor hands watchin' the Inspector. Keep's a', it's eneuch to
+mak' the auld Dominie turn in his grave. Twa meenisters cam' in his
+time, and Domsie put Geordie Hoo or some ither gleg laddie, that was
+makin' for college, thro' his facin's, and maybe some bit lassie
+brocht her copybuke. Syne they had their dinner, and Domsie tae, wi'
+the Doctor. Man, a've often thocht it was the prospeck o' the Schule
+Board and its weary bit rules that feenished Domsie. He wasna maybe
+sae shairp at the elements as this pirjinct body we hae noo, but
+a'body kent he was a terrible scholar and a credit tae the parish.
+Drumtochty was a name in thae days wi' the lads he sent tae college.
+It was maybe juist as weel he slippit awa' when he did, for he wud
+hae taen ill with thae new fikes, and nae college lad to warm his
+hert."
+
+The present school-house stands in an open place beside the main
+road to Muirtown, treeless and comfortless, built of red, staring
+stone, with a playground for the boys and another for the girls, and
+a trim, smug-looking teacher's house, all very neat and symmetrical,
+and well regulated. The local paper had a paragraph headed
+"Drumtochty," written by the Muirtown architect, describing the
+whole premises in technical language that seemed to compensate the
+ratepayers for the cost, mentioning the contractor's name, and
+concluding that "this handsome building of the Scoto-Grecian style
+was one of the finest works that had ever come from the accomplished
+architect's hands." It has pitch-pine benches and map-cases, and a
+thermometer to be kept at not less than 58° and not more than 62°,
+and ventilators which the Inspector is careful to examine. When I
+stumbled in last week the teacher was drilling the children in Tonic
+Sol-fa with a little harmonium, and I left on tiptoe.
+
+It is difficult to live up to this kind of thing, and my thoughts
+drift to the auld schule-house and Domsie. Some one with the love of
+God in his heart had built it long ago, and chose a site for the
+bairns in the sweet pine-woods at the foot of the cart road to
+Whinnie Knowe and the upland farms. It stood in a clearing with the
+tall Scotch firs round three sides, and on the fourth a brake of
+gorse and bramble bushes, through which there was an opening to the
+road. The clearing was the playground, and in summer the bairns
+annexed as much wood as they liked, playing tig among the trees, or
+sitting down at dinner-time on the soft, dry spines that made an
+elastic carpet everywhere. Domsie used to say there were two
+pleasant sights for his old eyes every day. One was to stand in the
+open at dinner-time and see the flitting forms of the healthy, rosy
+sonsie bairns in the wood, and from the door in the afternoon to
+watch the schule skail till each group was lost in the kindly shadow,
+and the merry shouts died away in this quiet place. Then the Dominie
+took a pinch of snuff and locked the door, and went to his house
+beside the school. One evening I came on him listening bare-headed
+to the voices, and he showed so kindly that I shall take him as he
+stands. A man of middle height, but stooping below it, with sandy
+hair turning to grey, and bushy eye-brow covering keen, shrewd
+grey eyes. You will notice that his linen is coarse but spotless,
+and that, though his clothes are worn almost threadbare, they are
+well brushed and orderly. But you will be chiefly arrested by the
+Dominie's coat, for the like of it was not in the parish. It was a
+black dress coat, and no man knew when it had begun its history; in
+its origin and its continuance it resembled Melchisedek. Many were
+the myths that gathered round that coat, but on this all were agreed,
+that without it we could not have realised the Dominie, and it
+became to us the sign and trappings of learning. He had taken a
+high place at the University, and won a good degree, and I've heard
+the Doctor say that he had a career before him. But something
+happened in his life, and Domsie buried himself among the woods with
+the bairns of Drumtochty. No one knew the story, but after he died I
+found a locket on his breast, with a proud, beautiful face within,
+and I have fancied it was a tragedy. It may have been in substitution
+that he gave all his love to the children, and nearly all his money
+too, helping lads to college, and affording an inexhaustible store
+of peppermints for the little ones.
+
+Perhaps one ought to have been ashamed of that school-house, but yet
+it had its own distinction, for scholars were born there, and now
+and then to this day some famous man will come and stand in the
+deserted playground for a space. The door was at one end, and stood
+open in summer, so that the boys saw the rabbits come out from their
+holes on the edge of the wood, and birds sometimes flew in unheeded.
+The fireplace was at the other end, and was fed in winter with the
+sticks and peats brought by the scholars. On one side Domsie sat
+with the half-dozen lads he hoped to send to college, to whom he
+grudged no labour, and on the other gathered the very little ones,
+who used to warm their bare feet at the fire, while down the sides
+of the room the other scholars sat at their rough old desks, working
+sums and copying. Now and then a class came up and did some task,
+and at times a boy got the tawse for his negligence, but never a
+girl. He kept the girls in as their punishment, with a brother to
+take them home, and both had tea in Domsie's house, with a bit of
+his best honey, departing much torn between an honest wish to please
+Domsie and a pardonable longing for another tea.
+
+"Domsie," as we called the schoolmaster, behind his back in
+Drumtochty, because we loved him, was true to the tradition of his
+kind, and had an unerring scent for "pairts" in his laddies. He
+could detect a scholar in the egg, and prophesied Latinity from a
+boy that seemed fit only to be a cowherd. It was believed that he
+had never made a mistake in judgment, and it was not his blame if
+the embryo scholar did not come to birth. "Five and thirty years
+have I been minister at Drumtochty," the Doctor used to say at
+school examinations, "and we have never wanted a student at the
+University, and while Dominie Jamieson lives we never shall."
+Whereupon Domsie took snuff, and assigned his share of credit to the
+Doctor, "who gave the finish in Greek to every lad of them, without
+money and without price, to make no mention of the higher mathematics."
+Seven ministers, four schoolmasters, four doctors, one professor,
+and three civil service men had been sent out by the auld schule
+in Domsie's time, besides many that "had given themselves to
+mercantile pursuits."
+
+He had a leaning to classics and the professions, but Domsie was
+catholic in his recognition of "pairts," and when the son of
+Hillocks' foreman made a collection of the insects of Drumtochty,
+there was a council at the manse. "Bumbee Willie," as he had been
+pleasantly called by his companions, was rescued from ridicule and
+encouraged to fulfil his bent. Once a year a long letter came to Mr.
+Patrick Jamieson, M.A., Schoolmaster, Drumtochty, N.B., and the
+address within was the British Museum. When Domsie read this letter
+to the school, he was always careful to explain that "Dr. Graham is
+the greatest living authority on beetles," and, generally speaking,
+if any clever lad did not care for Latin, he had the alternative of
+beetles.
+
+But it was Latin Domsie hunted for as for fine gold, and when he
+found the smack of it in a lad he rejoiced openly. He counted it a
+day in his life when he knew certainly that he had hit on another
+scholar, and the whole school saw the identification of George Howe.
+For a winter Domsie had been "at point," racing George through
+Caesar, stalking him behind irregular verbs, baiting traps with
+tit-bits of Virgil. During these exercises Domsie surveyed George
+from above his spectacles with a hope that grew every day in assurance,
+and came to its height over a bit of Latin prose. Domsie tasted it
+visibly, and read it again in the shadow of the firs at meal-time,
+slapping his leg twice.
+
+"He'll dae! he'll dae!" cried Domsie aloud, ladling in the snuff.
+"George, ma mannie, tell yir father that I am comin' up to Whinnie
+Knowe the nicht on a bit o' business."
+
+Then the "schule" knew that Geordie Hoo was marked for college, and
+pelted him with fir cones in great gladness of heart.
+
+"Whinnie" was full of curiosity over the Dominie's visit, and vexed
+Marget sorely, to whom Geordie had told wondrous things in the
+milk-house. "It canna be coals 'at he's wantin' frae the station,
+for there's a fell puckle left."
+
+"And it'll no be seed taties," she said, pursuing the principle of
+exhaustion, "for he hes some Perthshire reds himsel'. I doot it's
+somethin' wrang with Geordie," and Whinnie started on a new track.
+
+"He's been playin' truant maybe. A' mind gettin' ma paiks for
+birdnestin' masel. I'll wager that's the verra thing."
+
+"Weel, yir wrang, Weelum," broke in Marget, Whinnie's wife, a tall,
+silent woman, with a speaking face; "it's naither the ae thing nor
+the ither, but something I've been prayin' for since Geordie was a
+wee bairn. Clean yirsel and meet Domsie on the road, for nae man
+deserves more honour in Drumtochty, naither laird nor farmer."
+
+Conversation with us was a leisurely game, with slow movements and
+many pauses, and it was our custom to handle all the pawns before we
+brought the queen into action.
+
+Domsie and Whinnie discussed the weather with much detail before
+they came in sight of George, but it was clear that Domsie was
+charged with something weighty, and even Whinnie felt that his own
+treatment of the turnip crop was wanting in repose.
+
+At last Domsie cleared his throat and looked at Marget, who had been
+in and out, but ever within hearing.
+
+"George is a fine laddie, Mrs. Howe."
+
+An ordinary Drumtochty mother, although bursting with pride, would
+have responded, "He's weel eneuch, if he hed grace in his heart," in
+a tone that implied it was extremely unlikely, and that her laddie
+led the reprobates of the parish. As it was, Marget's face
+lightened, and she waited.
+
+"What do you think of making him?" and the Dominie dropped the words
+slowly, for this was a moment in Drumtochty.
+
+There was just a single ambition in those humble homes, to have one
+of its members at college, and if Domsie approved a lad, then his
+brothers and sisters would give their wages, and the family would
+live on skim milk and oat cake, to let him have his chance.
+
+Whinnie glanced at his wife and turned to Domsie.
+
+"Marget's set on seein' Geordie a minister, Dominie."
+
+"If he's worthy o't, no otherwise. We haena the means though; the
+farm is highly rented, and there's barely a penny over at the end o'
+the year."
+
+"But you are willing George should go and see what he can do. If he
+disappoint you, then I dinna know a lad o' pairts when I see him,
+and the Doctor is with me."
+
+"Maister Jamieson," said Marget, with great solemnity, "ma hert's
+desire is to see George a minister, and if the Almichty spared me to
+hear ma only bairn open his mooth in the Evangel, I wud hae naething
+mair to ask ... but I doot sair it canna be managed."
+
+Domsie had got all he asked, and he rose in his strength.
+
+"If George Howe disna get to college, then he's the first scholar
+I've lost in Drumtochty ... ye 'ill manage his keep and sic like?"
+
+"Nae fear o' that," for Whinnie was warming, "tho' I haena a steek
+(stitch) o' new claithes for four years. But what aboot his fees and
+ither ootgaeins?"
+
+"There's ae man in the parish can pay George's fees without missing
+a penny, and I'll warrant he 'ill dae it."
+
+"Are ye meanin' Drumsheugh?" said Whinnie, "for ye 'ill never get a
+penny piece oot o' him. Did ye no hear hoo the Frees wiled him intae
+their kirk, Sabbath past a week, when Netherton's sister's son frae
+Edinboro' wes preaching the missionary sermon, expectin' a note, and
+if he didna change a shillin' at the public-hoose and pit in a
+penny. Sall, he's a lad Drumsheugh; a'm thinking ye may save yir
+journey, Dominie."
+
+But Marget looked away from her into the past, and her eyes had a
+tender light. "He hed the best hert in the pairish aince."
+
+Domsie found Drumsheugh inclined for company, and assisted at an
+exhaustive and caustic treatment of local affairs. When the conduct
+of Piggie Walker, who bought Drumsheugh's potatoes and went into
+bankruptcy without paying for a single tuber, had been characterized
+in language that left nothing to be desired, Drumsheugh began to
+soften and show signs of reciprocity.
+
+"Hoo's yir laddies, Dominie?" whom the farmers regarded as a risky
+turnip crop in a stiff clay that Domsie had "to fecht awa in." "Are
+ony o' them shaping weel?"
+
+Drumsheugh had given himself away, and Domsie laid his first
+parallel with a glowing account of George Howe's Latinity, which was
+well received.
+
+"Weel, I'm gled tae hear sic accoonts o' Marget Hoo's son; there's
+naething in Whinnie but what the spune puts in."
+
+But at the next move Drumsheugh scented danger and stood at guard.
+"Na, na, Dominie, I see what yir aifter fine; ye mind hoo ye got
+three notes oot o' me at Perth market Martinmas a year past for ane
+o' yir college laddies. Five punds for four years; my word, yir no
+blate (modest). And what for sud I educat Marget Hoo's bairn? If ye
+kent a' ye wudna ask me; it's no reasonable, Dominie. So there's an
+end o't."
+
+Domsie was only a pedantic old parish schoolmaster, and he knew
+little beyond his craft, but the spirit of the Humanists awoke
+within him, and he smote with all his might, bidding goodbye to his
+English as one flings away the scabbard of a sword.
+
+"Ye think that a'm asking a great thing when I plead for a pickle
+notes to give a puir laddie a college education. I tell ye, man, a'm
+honourin' ye and givin' ye the fairest chance ye'll ever hae o'
+winning wealth. Gin ye store the money ye hae scrapit by mony a hard
+bargain, some heir ye never saw 'ill gar it flee in chambering and
+wantonness. Gin ye hed the heart to spend it on a lad o' pairts like
+Geordie Hoo, ye wud hae twa rewards nae man could tak fra ye. Ane
+wud be the honest gratitude o' a laddie whose desire for knowledge
+ye hed sateesfied, and the second wud be this--anither scholar in
+the land; and a'm thinking with auld John Knox that ilka scholar is
+something added to the riches of the commonwealth. And what 'ill it
+cost ye? Little mair than the price o' a cattle beast. Man, Drumsheugh,
+ye poverty-stricken cratur, I've naethin' in this world but a handfu'
+o' books and a ten-pund note for my funeral, and yet, if it wasna I
+have all my brither's bairns tae keep, I wud pay every penny mysel'.
+But I'll no see Geordie sent to the plough, tho' I gang frae door
+to door. Na, na, the grass 'ill no grow on the road atween the
+college and the schule-hoose o' Drumtochty till they lay me in the
+auld kirkyard."
+
+"Sall, Domsie was roosed," Drumsheugh explained in the Muirtown inn
+next market. "'Miserly wratch' was the ceevilest word on his tongue.
+He wud naither sit nor taste, and was half way doon the yaird afore
+I cud quiet him. An' a'm no sayin' he hed na reason if I'd been
+meanin' a' I said. It wud be a scan'al to the pairish if a likely
+lad cudna win tae college for the want o' siller. Na, na, neeburs,
+we hae oor faults, but we're no sae dune mean as that in
+Drumtochty."
+
+As it was, when Domsie did depart he could only grip Drumsheugh's
+hand, and say Maecenas, and was so intoxicated, but not with strong
+drink, that he explained to Hillocks on the way home that Drumsheugh
+would be a credit to Drumtochty, and that his Latin style reminded
+him of Cicero. He added as an afterthought that Whinnie Knowe had
+promised to pay Drumsheugh's fees for four years at the University
+of Edinburgh.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW WE CARRIED THE NEWS TO WHINNIE KNOWE
+
+Domsie was an artist, and prepared the way for George's University
+achievement with much cunning. Once every Sabbath in the kirk-yard,
+where he laid down the law beneath an old elm tree, and twice
+between Sabbaths, at the post-office and by the wayside, he adjured
+us not to expect beyond measure, and gave us reasons.
+
+"Ye see, he has a natural talent for learning, and took to Latin
+like a duck to water. What could be done in Drumtochty was done for
+him, and he's working night and day, but he'll have a sore fight
+with the lads from the town schools. Na, na, neighbours," said the
+Dominie, lapsing into dialect, "we daurna luik for a prize. No the
+first year, at ony rate."
+
+"Man, Dominie. A'm clean astonished at ye," Drumsheugh used to break
+in, who, since he had given to George's support, outran us all in
+his faith, and had no patience with Domsie's devices, "a' tell ye if
+Geordie disna get a first in every class he's entered for, the
+judges 'ill be a puir lot," with a fine confusion of circumstances.
+
+"Losh, Drumsheugh, be quiet, or ye'll dae the laddie an injury,"
+said Domsie, with genuine alarm. "We maunna mention prizes, and
+first is fair madness, A certificate of honour now, that will be
+aboot it, may be next to the prizemen."
+
+Coming home from market he might open his heart. "George 'ill be
+amang the first sax, or my name is no Jamieson," but generally he
+prophesied a moderate success. There were times when he affected
+indifference, and talked cattle. We then regarded him with awe,
+because this was more than mortal.
+
+It was my luck to carry the bulletin to Domsie, and I learned what
+he had been enduring. It was good manners in Drumtochty to feign
+amazement at the sight of a letter, and to insist that it must be
+intended for some other person. When it was finally forced upon one,
+you examined the handwriting at various angles and speculated about
+the writer. Some felt emboldened, after these precautions, to open
+the letter, but this haste was considered indecent. When Posty
+handed Drumsheugh the factor's letter, with the answer to his offer
+for the farm, he only remarked, "It'll be frae the factor," and
+harked back to a polled Angus bull he had seen at the show. "Sall,"
+said Posty in the kirkyard with keen relish, "ye'll never flurry
+Drumsheugh." Ordinary letters were read in leisurely retirement,
+and, in case of urgency, answered within the week.
+
+Domsie clutched the letter, and would have torn off the envelope.
+But he could not; his hand was shaking like an aspen. He could only
+look, and I read:
+
+"Dear Mr. Jamieson,--The class honour lists are just out, and you
+will be pleased to know that I have got the medal both in the
+Humanity and the Greek."
+
+There was something about telling his mother, and his gratitude to
+his schoolmaster, but Domsie heard no more. He tried to speak and
+could not, for a rain of tears was on his hard old face. Domsie was
+far more a pagan than a saint, but somehow he seemed to me that day
+as Simeon, who had at last seen his heart's desire, and was
+satisfied.
+
+When the school had dispersed with a joyful shout, and disappeared
+in the pine woods, he said, "Ye'll come too," and I knew he was
+going to Whinnie Knowe. He did not speak one word upon the way, but
+twice he stood and read the letter which he held fast in his hand.
+His face was set as he climbed the cart track. I saw it set again as
+we came down that road one day, but it was well that we could not
+pierce beyond the present.
+
+Whinnie left his plough in the furrow, and came to meet us, taking
+two drills at a stride, and shouting remarks on the weather yards
+off.
+
+Domsie only lifted the letter. "Frae George."
+
+"Ay, ay, and what's he gotten noo?"
+
+Domsie solemnly unfolded the letter, and brought down his spectacles.
+"Edinburgh, April 7th." Then he looked at Whinnie, and closed his
+mouth.
+
+"We'll tell it first to his mither."
+
+"Yer richt, Dominie. She weel deserves it. A'm thinking she's seen
+us by this time." So we fell into a procession, Dominie leading by
+two yards; and then a strange thing happened. For the first and last
+time in his life Domsie whistled, and the tune was "A hundred pipers
+and a' and a'," and as he whistled he seemed to dilate before our
+eyes, and he struck down thistles with his stick--a thistle at every
+stroke.
+
+"Domsie's fair carried," whispered Whinnie, "it cowes a'."
+
+Marget met us at the end of the house beside the brier bush, where
+George was to sit on summer afternoons before he died, and a flash
+passed between Domsie and the lad's mother. Then she knew that it
+was well, and fixed her eyes on the letter, but Whinnie, his thumbs
+in his armholes, watched the wife.
+
+Domsie now essayed to read the news, but between the shaking of his
+hands and his voice he could not.
+
+"It's nae use," he cried, "he's first in the Humanity oot o' a
+hundred and seeventy lads, first o' them a', and he's first in the
+Greek too; the like o' this is hardly known, and it has na been seen
+in Drumtochty since there was a schule. That's the word he's sent,
+and he bade me tell his mother without delay, and I am here as fast
+as my old feet could carry me."
+
+I glanced round, although I did not myself see very clearly.
+
+Marget was silent for the space of five seconds; she was a good
+woman, and I knew that better afterwards. She took the Dominie's
+hand, and said to him, "Under God this was your doing, Maister
+Jamieson, and for your reward ye'ill get naither silver nor gold,
+but ye hae a mither's gratitude."
+
+Whinnie gave a hoarse chuckle and said to his wife, "It was frae
+you, Marget, he got it a'."
+
+When we settled in the parlour Domsie's tongue was loosed, and he
+lifted up his voice and sang the victory of Geordie Hoo.
+
+"It's ten years ago at the brak up o' the winter ye brought him down
+to me, Mrs. Hoo, and ye said at the schule-hoose door, 'Dinna be
+hard on him, Maister Jamieson, he's my only bairn, and a wee thingie
+quiet.' Div ye mind what I said, 'There's something ahint that
+face,' and my heart warmed to George that hour. Two years after the
+Doctor examined the schule, and he looks at George. 'That's a likely
+lad, Dominie. What think ye?' And he was only eight years auld, and
+no big for his size. 'Doctor, I daurna prophesy till we turn him
+into the Latin, but a've my thoughts.' So I had a' the time, but I
+never boasted, na, na, that's dangerous. Didna I say, 'Ye hev a
+promisin' laddie, Whinnie,' ae day in the market?"
+
+"It's a fac'," said Whinnie, "it wes the day I bocht the white coo."
+But Domsie swept on.
+
+"The first year o' Latin was enough for me. He juist nippet up his
+verbs. Cæsar could na keep him going; he wes into Virgil afore he
+wes eleven, and the Latin prose, man, as sure as a'm living, it
+tasted o' Cicero frae the beginning."
+
+Whinnie wagged his head in amazement.
+
+"It was the verra nicht o' the Latin prose I cam up to speak aboot
+the college, and ye thocht Geordie hed been playing truant."
+
+Whinnie laughed uproariously, but Domsie heeded not.
+
+"It was awfu' work the next twa years, but the Doctor stood in weel
+wi' the Greek. Ye mind hoo Geordie tramped ower the muir to the
+manse thro' the weet an' the snaw, and there wes aye dry stockings
+for him in the kitchen afore he had his Greek in the Doctor's
+study."
+
+"And a warm drink tae," put in Marget, "and that's the window I pit the
+licht in to guide him hame in the dark winter nichts, and mony a time
+when the sleet played swish on the glass I wes near wishin'--" Domsie
+waved his hand.
+
+"But that's dune wi' noo, and he was worth a' the toil and trouble.
+First in the Humanity and first in the Greek, sweepit the field,
+Lord preserve us. A' can hardly believe it. Eh, I was feared o' thae
+High School lads. They had terrible advantages. Maisters frae
+England, and tutors, and whatna', but Drumtochty carried aff the
+croon. It'll be fine reading in the papers--
+
+_Humanity_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire.
+
+_Greek_.--First Prize (and Medal), George Howe, Drumtochty,
+Perthshire."
+
+"It'll be michty," cried Whinnie, now fairly on fire.
+
+"And Philosophy and Mathematics to come. Geordie's no bad at Euclid,
+I'll wager he'll be first there too. When he gets his hand in
+there's naething he's no fit for wi' time. My ain laddie--and the
+Doctor's--we maunna forget him--it's his classics he hes, every book
+o' them. The Doctor 'ill be lifted when he comes back on Saturday.
+A'm thinkin' we'll hear o't on Sabbath. And Drumsheugh, he'll be
+naither to had nor bind in the kirk-yard. As for me, I wad na change
+places wi' the Duke o' Athole," and Domsie shook the table to its
+foundation.
+
+Then he awoke, as from a dream, and the shame of boasting that shuts
+the mouths of self-respecting Scots descended upon him.
+
+"But this is fair nonsense. Ye'll no mind the havers o' an auld
+dominie."
+
+He fell back on a recent roup, and would not again break away,
+although sorely tempted by certain of Whinnie's speculations.
+
+When I saw him last, his coat-tails were waving victoriously as he
+leaped a dyke on his way to tell our Drumtochty Maecenas that the
+judges knew their business.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+IN MARGET'S GARDEN
+
+The cart track to Whinnie Knowe was commanded by a gable window, and
+Whinnie boasted that Marget had never been taken unawares. Tramps,
+finding every door locked, and no sign of life anywhere, used to
+express their mind in the "close," and return by the way they came,
+while ladies from Kildrummie, fearful lest they should put Mrs. Howe
+out, were met at the garden gate by Marget in her Sabbath dress, and
+brought into a set tea as if they had been invited weeks before.
+
+Whinnie gloried most in the discomfiture of the Tory agent, who had
+vainly hoped to coerce him in the stack yard without Marget's
+presence, as her intellectual contempt for the Conservative party
+knew no bounds.
+
+"Sall she saw him slip aff the road afore the last stile, and wheep
+roond the fit o' the gairden wa' like a tod (fox) aifter the
+chickens.
+
+"'It's a het day, Maister Anderson,' says Marget frae the gairden,
+lookin' doon on him as calm as ye like. 'Yir surely no gaein' to
+pass oor hoose without a gless o' milk?'
+
+"Wud ye believe it, he wes that upset he left withoot sayin' 'vote,'
+and Drumsheugh telt me next market that his langidge aifterwards
+cudna be printed."
+
+When George came home for the last time, Marget went back and
+forward all afternoon from his bedroom to the window, and hid
+herself beneath the laburnum to see his face as the cart stood
+before the stile. It told her plain what she had feared, and Marget
+passed through her Gethsemane with the gold blossoms falling on her
+face. When their eyes met, and before she helped him down, mother
+and son understood.
+
+"Ye mind what I told ye, o' the Greek mothers, the day I left. Weel,
+I wud hae liked to have carried my shield, but it wasna to be, so
+I've come home on it." As they went slowly up the garden walk, "I've
+got my degree, a double first, mathematics and classics."
+
+"Ye've been a gude soldier, George, and faithfu'."
+
+"Unto death, a'm dootin, mother."
+
+"Na," said Marget, "unto life."
+
+Drumtochty was not a heartening place in sickness, and Marget, who
+did not think our thoughts, endured much consolation at her
+neighbour's hands. It is said that in cities visitors congratulate a
+patient on his good looks, and deluge his family with instances of
+recovery. This would have seemed to us shallow and unfeeling,
+besides being a "temptin' o' Providence," which might not have
+intended to go to extremities, but on a challenge of this kind had
+no alternative. Sickness was regarded as a distinction tempered with
+judgment, and favoured people found it difficult to be humble. I
+always thought more of Peter MacIntosh when the mysterious "tribble"
+that needed the Perth doctor made no difference in his manner, and
+he passed his snuff box across the seat before the long prayer as
+usual, but in this indifference to privileges Peter was exceptional.
+
+You could never meet Kirsty Stewart on equal terms, although she was
+quite affable to any one who knew his place.
+
+"Ay," she said, on my respectful allusion to her experience, "a've
+seen mair than most. It doesna become me to boast, but tho' I say it
+as sudna, I hae buried a' my ain fouk."
+
+Kirsty had a "way" in sick visiting, consisting in a certain cadence
+of the voice and arrangement of the face, which was felt to be
+soothing and complimentary.
+
+"Yir aboot again, a'm glad to see," to me after my accident, "but
+yir no dune wi' that leg; na, na, Jeems, that was ma second son,
+scrapit his shin aince, tho' no so bad as ye've dune a'm hearing
+(for I had denied Kirsty the courtesy of an inspection). It's sax
+year syne noo, and he got up and wes traivellin' fell hearty like
+yersel. But he begood to dwam (sicken) in the end of the year, and
+soughed awa' in the spring. Ay, ay, when tribble comes ye never ken
+hoo it 'ill end. A' thocht I wud come up and speir for ye. A body
+needs comfort gin he's sober (ill)."
+
+When I found George wrapped in his plaid beside the brier bush whose
+roses were no whiter than his cheeks, Kirsty was already installed
+as comforter in the parlour, and her drone came through the open
+window.
+
+"Ay, ay, Marget, sae it's come to this. Weel, we daurna complain, ye
+ken. Be thankfu' ye haena lost your man and five sons, besides twa
+sisters and a brither, no to mention cousins. That wud be something
+to speak aboot, and Losh keep's, there's nae saying but he micht
+hang on a whilie. Ay, ay, it's a sair blow aifter a' that wes in the
+papers. I wes feared when I heard o' the papers; 'Lat weel alane,'
+says I to the Dominie; 'ye 'ill bring a judgment on the laddie wi'
+yir blawing.' But ye micht as weel hae spoken to the hills. Domsie's
+a thraun body at the best, and he was clean infatuat' wi' George.
+Ay, ay, it's an awfu' lesson, Marget, no to mak' idols o' our
+bairns, for that's naethin' else than provokin' the Almichty."
+
+It was at this point that Marget gave way and scandalized
+Drumtochty, which held that obtrusive prosperity was an irresistible
+provocation to the higher powers, and that a skilful depreciation of
+our children was a policy of safety.
+
+"Did ye say the Almichty? I'm thinkin' that's ower grand a name for
+your God, Kirsty. What wud ye think o' a faither that brocht hame
+some bonnie thing frae the fair for ane o' his bairns, and when the
+puir bairn wes pleased wi' it tore it oot o' his hand and flung it
+into the fire? Eh, woman, he wud be a meeserable cankered jealous
+body. Kirsty, wumman, when the Almichty sees a mither bound up in
+her laddie, I tell ye He is sair pleased in His heaven, for mind ye
+hoo He loved His ain Son. Besides, a'm judgin' that nane o' us can
+love anither withoot lovin' Him, or hurt anither withoot hurtin'
+Him.
+
+"Oh, I ken weel that George is gaein' to leave us; but it's no
+because the Almichty is jealous o' him or me, no likely. It cam' to
+me last nicht that He needs my laddie for some grand wark in the
+ither world, and that's hoo George has his bukes brocht oot tae the
+garden and studies a' the day. He wants to be ready for his kingdom,
+just as he trachled in the bit schule o' Drumtochty for Edinboro'. I
+hoped he wud hae been a minister o' Christ's Gospel here, but he
+'ill be judge over many cities yonder. A'm no denyin', Kirsty, that
+it's a trial, but I hae licht on it, and naethin' but gude thochts
+o' the Almichty."
+
+Drumtochty understood that Kirsty had dealt faithfully with Marget
+for pride and presumption, but all we heard was, "Losh keep us a'."
+
+When Marget came out and sat down beside her son, her face was
+shining. Then she saw the open window.
+
+"I didna ken."
+
+"Never mind, mither, there's nae secrets atween us, and it gar'd my
+heart leap to hear ye speak up like yon for God, and to know yir
+content. Div ye mind the nicht I called for ye, mother, and ye gave
+me the Gospel aboot God?"
+
+Marget slipped her hand into George's, and he let his head rest on
+her shoulder. The likeness flashed upon me in that moment, the
+earnest deep-set grey eyes, the clean-cut firm jaw, and the tender
+mobile lips, that blend of apparent austerity and underlying romance
+that make the pathos of a Scottish face.
+
+"There had been a Revival man, here," George explained to me, "and
+he was preaching on hell. As it grew dark a candle was lighted, and
+I can still see his face as in a picture, a hard-visaged man. He
+looked down at us laddies in the front, and asked us if we knew what
+like hell was. By this time we were that terrified none of us could
+speak, but I whispered 'No.'
+
+"Then he rolled up a piece of paper and held it in the flame, and we
+saw it burn and glow and shrivel up and fall in black dust.
+
+"'Think,' said he, and he leaned over the desk, and spoke in a
+gruesome whisper which made the cold run down our backs, 'that yon
+paper was your finger, one finger only of your hand, and it burned
+like that for ever and ever, and think of your hand and your arm and
+your whole body all on fire, never to go out.' We shuddered that you
+might have heard the form creak. 'That is hell, and that is where
+ony laddie will go who does not repent and believe.'
+
+"It was like Dante's Inferno, and I dared not take my eyes off his
+face. He blew out the candle, and we crept to the door trembling,
+not able to say one word.
+
+"That night I could not sleep, for I thought I might be in the fire
+before morning. It was harvest time, and the moon was filling the
+room with cold clear light. From my bed I could see the stooks
+standing in rows upon the field, and it seemed like the judgment
+day.
+
+"I was only a wee laddie, and I did what we all do in trouble, I
+cried for my mother.
+
+"Ye hae na forgotten, mither, the fricht that was on me that nicht."
+
+"Never," said Marget, "and never can; it's hard wark for me to keep
+frae hating that man, dead or alive. Geordie gripped me wi' baith
+his wee airms round my neck, and he cries over and over and over
+again, 'Is yon God?'"
+
+"Ay, and ye kissed me, mither, and ye said (it's like yesterday),
+'Yir safe with me,' and ye telt me that God micht punish me to mak
+me better if I was bad, but that he wud never torture ony puir soul,
+for that cud dae nae guid, and was the Devil's wark. Ye asked me:
+
+"'Am I a guid mother tae ye?' and when I could dae naethin' but
+hold, ye said, 'Be sure God maun be a hantle kinder.'
+
+"The truth came to me as with a flicker, and I cuddled down into my
+bed, and fell asleep in His love as in my mother's arms.
+
+"Mither," and George lifted up his head, "that was my conversion,
+and, mither dear, I hae longed a' thro' thae college studies for the
+day when ma mooth wud be opened wi' this evangel."
+
+Marget's was an old-fashioned garden, with pinks and daisies and
+forget-me-nots, with sweet-scented wall-flower and thyme and moss
+roses, where nature had her way, and gracious thoughts could visit
+one without any jarring note. As George's voice softened to the
+close, I caught her saying, "His servants shall see His face," and
+the peace of Paradise fell upon us in the shadow of death.
+
+The night before the end George was carried out to his corner, and
+Domsie, whose heart was nigh unto the breaking, sat with him the
+afternoon. They used to fight the College battles over again, with
+their favourite classics beside them, but this time none of them
+spoke of books. Marget was moving about the garden, and she told me
+that George looked at Domsie wistfully, as if he had something to
+say and knew not how to do it.
+
+After a while he took a book from below his pillow, and began, like
+one thinking over his words:
+
+"Maister Jamieson, ye hae been a gude freend tae me, the best I ever
+hed aifter my mither and faither. Wull ye tak this buik for a
+keepsake o' yir grateful scholar? It's a Latin 'Imitation' Dominie,
+and it's bonnie printin'. Ye mind hoo ye gave me yir ain Virgil, and
+said he was a kind o' Pagan sanct. Noo here is my sanct, and div ye
+ken I've often thocht Virgil saw His day afar off, and was glad.
+Wull ye read it, Dominie, for my sake, and maybe ye 'ill come to
+see--" and George could not find words for more.
+
+But Domsie understood. "Ma laddie, ma laddie, that I luve better
+than onythin' on earth, I'll read it till I die, and, George, I'll
+tell ye what livin' man does na ken. When I was your verra age I had
+a cruel trial, and ma heart was turned frae faith. The classics hae
+been my bible, though I said naethin' to ony man against Christ. He
+aye seemed beyond man, and noo the veesion o' Him has come to me in
+this gairden. Laddie, ye hae dune far mair for me than I ever did
+for you. Wull ye mak a prayer for yir auld dominie afore we pairt?"
+
+There was a thrush singing in the birches and a sound of bees in the
+air, when George prayed in a low, soft voice, with a little break in
+it.
+
+"Lord Jesus, remember my dear maister, for he's been a kind freend
+to me and mony a puir laddie in Drumtochty. Bind up his sair heart
+and give him licht at eventide, and may the maister and his scholars
+meet some mornin' where the schule never skails, in the kingdom o'
+oor Father."
+
+Twice Domsie said Amen, and it seemed as the voice of another man,
+and then he kissed George upon the forehead; but what they said
+Marget did not wish to hear.
+
+When he passed out at the garden gate, the westering sun was shining
+golden, and the face of Domsie was like unto that of a little child.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+A SCHOLAR'S FUNERAL
+
+Drumtochty never acquitted itself with credit at a marriage, having
+no natural aptitude for gaiety, and being haunted with anxiety lest
+any "hicht" should end in a "howe," but the parish had a genius for
+funerals. It was long mentioned with a just sense of merit that an
+English undertaker, chancing on a "beerial" with us, had no limits
+to his admiration. He had been disheartened to despair all his life
+by the ghastly efforts of chirpy little Southerners to look solemn
+on occasion, but his dreams were satisfied at the sight of men like
+Drumsheugh and Hillocks in their Sabbath blacks. Nature lent an
+initial advantage in face, but it was an instinct in the blood that
+brought our manner to perfection, and nothing could be more awful
+than a group of those austere figures, each man gazing into vacancy
+without a trace of expression, and refusing to recognise his nearest
+neighbour by word or look. Drumtochty gave itself to a "beerial"
+with chastened satisfaction, partly because it lay near to the
+sorrow of things, and partly because there was nothing of speculation
+in it. "Ye can hae little rael pleesure in a merrige," explained our
+gravedigger, in whom the serious side had been perhaps abnormally
+developed, "for ye never ken hoo it will end; but there's nae risk
+about a 'beerial.'"
+
+It came with a shock upon townsmen that the ceremony began with a
+"service o' speerits," and that an attempt of the Free Kirk minister
+to replace this by the reading of Scripture was resisted as an
+"innovation." Yet every one admitted that the seriousness of
+Drumtochty pervaded and sanctified this function. A tray of glasses
+was placed on a table with great solemnity by the "wricht," who made
+no sign and invited none. You might have supposed that the
+circumstance had escaped the notice of the company, so abstracted
+and unconscious was their manner, had it not been that two graven
+images a minute later are standing at the table.
+
+"Ye 'ill taste, Tammas," with settled melancholy.
+
+"Na, na; I've nae incleenation the day; it's an awfu' dispensation
+this, Jeems. She wud be barely saxty."
+
+"Ay, ay, but we maun keep up the body sae lang as we're here,
+Tammas."
+
+"Weel, puttin' it that way, a'm not sayin' but yir richt," yielding
+unwillingly to the force of circumstance.
+
+"We're here the day and there the morn, Tammas. She wes a fine
+wumman--Mistress Stirton--a weel-livin' wumman; this 'ill be a
+blend, a'm thinkin'."
+
+"She slippit aff sudden in the end; a'm judgin' it's frae the
+Muirtown grocer; but a body canna discreeminate on a day like this."
+
+Before the glasses are empty all idea of drinking is dissipated, and
+one has a vague impression that he is at church.
+
+It was George Howe's funeral that broke the custom and closed the
+"service." When I came into the garden where the neighbours were
+gathered, the "wricht" was removing his tray, and not a glass had
+been touched. Then I knew that Drumtochty had a sense of the fitness
+of things, and was stirred to its depths.
+
+"Ye saw the wricht carry in his tray," said Drumsheugh, as we went
+home from the kirkyard. "Weel, yon's the last sicht o't ye 'ill get,
+or a'm no Drumsheugh. I've nae objection ma'sel to a nee'bur tastin'
+at a funeral, a' the mair if he's come frae the upper end o' the
+pairish, and ye ken I dinna hold wi' thae teetotal fouk. A'm ower
+auld in the horn to change noo. But there's times and seasons, as
+the gude Buik says, and it wud hae been an awfu' like business tae
+luik at a gless in Marget's gairden, and puir Domsie standing in
+ahent the brier bush as if he cud never lift his heid again. Ye may
+get shairper fouk in the uptak', but ye 'ill no get a pairish with
+better feelin's. It 'ill be a kind o' sateesfaction tae Marget when
+she hears o't. She was aye against tastin', and a'm judgin' her
+tribble has ended it at beerials."
+
+"Man, it was hard on some o' yon lads the day, but there wesna ane
+o' them made a mudge. I keepit my eye on Posty, but he never lookit
+the way it wes. He's a drouthy body, but he hes his feelin's, hes
+Posty."
+
+Before the Doctor began the prayer, Whinnie took me up to the room.
+
+"There's twa o' Geordie's College freends with Marget, grand
+scholars a'm telt, and there's anither I canna weel mak oot. He's
+terrible cast doon, and Marget speaks as if she kent him."
+
+It was a low-roofed room, with a box bed and some pieces of humble
+furniture, fit only for a labouring man. But the choice treasures of
+Greece and Rome lay on the table, and on a shelf beside the bed
+College prizes and medals, while everywhere were the roses he loved.
+His peasant mother stood beside the body of her scholar son, whose
+hopes and thoughts she had shared, and through the window came the
+bleating of distant sheep. It was the idyll of Scottish University
+life.
+
+George's friends were characteristic men, each of his own type, and
+could only have met in the commonwealth of letters. One was of an
+ancient Scottish house which had fought for Mary against the Lords
+of the Congregation, followed Prince Charlie to Culloden, and were
+High Church and Tory to the last drop of their blood. Ludovic Gordon
+left Harrow with the reputation of a classic, and had expected to be
+first at Edinboro'. It was Gordon, in fact, that Domsie feared in
+the great war, but he proved second to Marget's son, and being of
+the breed of Prince Jonathan, which is the same the world over, he
+came to love our David as his own soul. The other, a dark little
+man, with a quick, fiery eye, was a Western Celt, who had worried
+his way from a fishing croft in Barra to be an easy first in
+Philosophy at Edinboro', and George and Ronald Maclean were as
+brothers because there is nothing so different as Scottish and
+Highland blood.
+
+"Maister Gordon," said Marget, "this is George's Homer, and he bade
+me tell you that he coonted yir freendship ain o' the gifts o' God."
+
+For a brief space Gordon was silent, and, when he spoke, his voice
+sounded strange in that room.
+
+"Your son was the finest scholar of my time, and a very perfect
+gentleman. He was also my true friend, and I pray God to console his
+mother." And Ludovic Gordon bowed low over Marget's worn hand as if
+she had been a queen.
+
+Marget lifted Plato, and it seemed to me that day as if the dignity
+of our Lady of Sorrows had fallen upon her.
+
+"This is the buik George chose for you, Maister Maclean, for he aye
+said to me ye hed been a prophet and shown him mony deep things."
+
+The tears sprang to the Celt's eyes.
+
+"It wass like him to make all other men better than himself," with
+the soft, sad Highland accent; "and a proud woman you are to hef
+been his mother."
+
+The third man waited at the window till the scholars left, and then
+I saw he was none of that kind, but one who had been a slave of sin
+and now was free.
+
+"Andra Chaumers, George wished ye tae hev his Bible, and he expecks
+ye tae keep the tryst."
+
+"God helping me, I will," said Chalmers, hoarsely; and from the
+garden ascended a voice, "O God, who art a very present help in
+trouble."
+
+The Doctor's funeral prayer was one of the glories of the parish,
+compelling even the Free Kirk to reluctant admiration, although they
+hinted that its excellence was rather of the letter than the spirit,
+and regarded its indiscriminate charity with suspicion. It opened
+with a series of extracts from the Psalms, relieved by two excursions
+into the minor prophets, and led up to a sonorous recitation of the
+problem of immortality from Job, with its triumphant solution in the
+peroration of the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians. Drumtochty men
+held their breath till the Doctor reached the crest of the hill
+(Hillocks disgraced himself once by dropping his staff at the very
+moment when the Doctor was passing from Job to Paul), and then we
+relaxed while the Doctor descended to local detail. It was understood
+that it took twenty years to bring the body of this prayer to perfection,
+and any change would have been detected and resented.
+
+The Doctor made a good start, and had already sighted Job, when he
+was carried out of his course by a sudden current, and began to
+speak to God about Marget and her son, after a very simple fashion
+that brought a lump to the throat, till at last, as I imagine, the
+sight of the laddie working at his Greek in the study of a winter
+night came up before him, and the remnants of the great prayer
+melted like an iceberg in the Gulf Stream.
+
+"Lord, hae peety upon us, for we a' luved him, and we were a' prood
+o' him."
+
+After the Doctor said "Amen" with majesty, one used to look at his
+neighbour, and the other would shut his eyes and shake his head,
+meaning, "There's no use asking me, for it simply can't be better
+done by living man." This time no one remembered his neighbour,
+because every eye was fixed on the Doctor. Drumtochty was
+identifying its new minister.
+
+"It may be that I hef judged him hardly," said Lachlan Campbell, one
+of the Free Kirk Highlanders, and our St. Dominic. "I shall never
+again deny that the root of the matter is in the man, although much
+choked with the tares of worldliness and Arminianism."
+
+"He is a goot man, Lachlan," replied Donald Menzies, another Celt,
+and he was our St. Francis, for "every one that loveth is born of
+God."
+
+There was no hearse in Drumtochty, and we carried our dead by relays
+of four, who waded every stream unless more than knee deep, the rest
+following in straggling, picturesque procession over the moor and
+across the stepping stones. Before we started, Marget came out and
+arranged George's white silken hood upon the coffin with roses in
+its folds.
+
+She swept us into one brief flush of gratitude, from Domsie to
+Posty.
+
+"Neeburs, ye were a' his freends, and he wanted ye tae ken hoo yir
+trust wes mickle help tae him in his battle."
+
+There was a stir within us, and it came to birth in Drumsheugh of
+all men:
+
+"Marget Hoo, this is no the day for mony words, but there's juist ae
+heart in Drumtochty, and it's sair."
+
+No one spoke to Domsie as we went down the cart track, with the ripe
+corn standing on either side, but he beckoned Chalmers to walk with
+him.
+
+"Ye hae heard him speak o' me, then, Maister Jamieson?"
+
+"Ay, oftentimes, and he said once that ye were hard driven, but that
+ye had trampled Satan under yir feet."
+
+"He didna tell ye all, for if it hadna been for George Howe I wudna
+been worth callin' a man this day. One night when he was workin'
+hard for his honours examination and his disease was heavy upon him,
+puir fellow, he sought me oot where I was, and wouldna leave till I
+cam' wi him.
+
+"'Go home,' I said, 'Howe; it's death for ye to be oot in this sleet
+and cold. Why not leave me to lie in the bed I hae made?'
+
+"He took me by the arm into a passage. I see the gaslicht on his
+white face, and the shining o' his eyes.
+
+"'Because I have a mother...'
+
+"Dominie, he pulled me oot o' hell."
+
+"Me tae, Andra, but no your hell. Ye mind the Roman Triumph, when a
+general cam' hame wi' his spoils. Laddie, we're the captives that go
+with his chariot up the Capitol."
+
+Donald Menzies was a man of moods, and the Doctor's prayer had
+loosed his imagination so that he saw visions.
+
+"Look," said he, as we stood on a ridge, "I hef seen it before in
+the book of Joshua."
+
+Below the bearers had crossed a burn on foot, and were ascending the
+slope where an open space of deep green was fringed with purple
+heather.
+
+"The ark hass gone over Jordan, and George will have come into the
+Land of Promise."
+
+The September sunshine glinted on the white silk George won with his
+blood, and fell like a benediction on the two figures that climbed
+the hard ascent close after the man they loved.
+
+Strangers do not touch our dead in Drumtochty, but the eight of
+nearest blood lower the body into the grave. The order of precedence
+is keenly calculated, and the loss of a merited cord can never be
+forgiven. Marget had arranged everything with Whinnie, and all saw
+the fitness. His father took the head, and the feet (next in honour)
+he gave to Domsie.
+
+"Ye maun dae it. Marget said ye were o' his ain bluid."
+
+On the right side the cords were handed to the Doctor, Gordon, and
+myself; and on the left to Drumsheugh, Maclean, and Chalmers. Domsie
+lifted the hood for Marget, but the roses he gently placed on
+George's name. Then with bent, uncovered heads, and in unbroken
+silence, we buried all that remained of our scholar.
+
+We always waited till the grave was filled and the turf laid down, a
+trying quarter of an hour. Ah me! the thud of the spade on your
+mother's grave! None gave any sign of what he felt save Drumsheugh,
+whose sordid slough had slipped off from a tender heart, and
+Chalmers, who went behind a tombstone and sobbed aloud. Not even
+Posty asked the reason so much as by a look, and Drumtochty, as it
+passed, made as though it did not see. But I marked that the Dominie
+took Chalmers home, and walked all the way with him to Kildrummie
+station next morning. His friends erected a granite cross over
+George's grave, and it was left to Domsie to choose the inscription.
+There was a day when it would have been "Whom the gods love die
+young." Since then Domsie had seen the kingdom of God, and this is
+graven where the roses bloomed fresh every summer for twenty years
+till Marget was laid with her son:
+
+  GEORGE HOWE, M.A., Died September 22nd, 1869, Aged 21.
+
+  "They shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it."
+
+It was a late November day when I went to see George's memorial, and
+the immortal hope was burning low in my heart; but as I stood before
+that cross, the sun struggled from behind a black watery bank of
+cloud, and picked out every letter of the Apocalypse in gold.
+
+
+
+
+A HIGHLAND MYSTIC
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+WHAT EYE HATH NOT SEEN
+
+Strange ministers who came to assist at the Free Kirk Sacrament were
+much impressed with the elders, and never forgot the transfiguration
+of Donald Menzies, which used to begin about the middle of the
+"action" sermon, and was completed at the singing of the last Psalm.
+Once there was no glory, because the minister, being still young,
+expounded a new theory of the atonement of German manufacture, and
+Donald's face was piteous to behold. It haunted the minister for
+months, and brought to confusion a promising course of sermons on
+the contribution of Hegel to Christian thought. Donald never laid
+the blame of such calamities on the preacher, but accepted them as a
+just judgment on his blindness of heart.
+
+"We hef had the open vision," Donald explained to his friend Lachlan
+Campbell, who distributed the responsibility in another fashion,
+"and we would not see--so the veil hass fallen."
+
+Donald sat before the pulpit and filled the hearts of nervous
+probationers with dismay, not because his face was critical, but
+because it seemed non-conducting, upon which their best passages
+would break like spray against a rock. It was by nature the dullest
+you ever saw, with hair descending low upon the forehead, and
+preposterous whiskers dominating everything that remained, except a
+heavy mouth and brown, lack-lustre eyes. For a while Donald crouched
+in the corner of the pew, his head sunk on his breast, a very
+picture of utter hopelessness. But as the Evangel began to play
+round his heart, he would fix the preacher with rapid, wistful
+glances, as of one who had awaked but hardly dared believe such
+things could be true. Suddenly a sigh pervaded six pews, a kind of
+gentle breath of penitence, faith, love, and hope mingled together
+like the incense of the sanctuary, and Donald lifted up his head.
+His eyes are now aflame, and those sullen lips are refining into
+curves of tenderness. From the manse pew I watched keenly, for at
+any moment a wonderful sight may be seen. A radiant smile will pass
+from his lips to his eyes and spread over his face, as when the sun
+shines on a fallow field and the rough furrows melt into warmth and
+beauty. Donald's gaze is now fixed on a window above the preacher's
+head, for on these great days that window is to him as the gate of
+heaven. All I could see would be a bit of blue, and the fretted
+sunlight through the swaying branches of an old plane tree. But
+Donald has seen his Lord hanging upon the Cross for him, and the New
+Jerusalem descending like a bride adorned for her husband more
+plainly than if Perugino's great Crucifixion, with the kneeling
+saints, and Angelico's Outer Court of Heaven, with the dancing
+angels, had been hung in our little Free Kirk. When he went down the
+aisle with the flagon in the Sacrament, he walked as one in a dream,
+and wist not that his face shone.
+
+There was an interval after the Sacrament, when the stranger was
+sent to his room with light refreshments, to prepare himself for the
+evening, and the elders dined with the minister. Before the
+introduction of the Highlanders conversation had an easy play within
+recognized limits, and was always opened by Burnbrae, who had come
+out in '43, and was understood to have read the Confession of Faith.
+
+"Ye gave us a grawnd discoorse this mornin', sir, baith instructive
+and edifyin'; we were juist sayin' comin' up the gairden that ye
+were never heard to mair advantage."
+
+The minister was much relieved, because he had not been hopeful
+during the week, and was still dissatisfied, as he explained at
+length, with the passage on the Colossian heresy.
+
+When these doubts had been cleared up, Burnbrae did his best by the
+minister up stairs, who had submitted himself to the severe test of
+table addresses.
+
+"Yon were verra suitable words at the second table; he's a
+speeritually minded man, Maister Cosh, and has the richt sough."
+
+Or at the worst, when Burnbrae's courage had failed:
+
+"Maister McKittrick had a fine text afore the table. I aye like tae
+see a man gang tae the Song o' Solomon on the Sacrament Sabbath. A'
+mind Dr. Guthrie on that verra subject twenty years syne."
+
+Having paid its religious dues, conversation was now allowed some
+freedom, and it was wonderful how many things could be touched on,
+always from a sacramental standpoint.
+
+"We've been awfu' favoured wi' weather the day, and ought to be
+thankfu'. Gin it hads on like this I wudna say but th'ill be a gude
+hairst. That's a fine pucklie aits ye hae in the laigh park,
+Burnbrae."
+
+"A've seen waur; they're fillin' no that bad. I wes juist thinkin'
+as I cam to the Kirk that there wes aits in that field the Sacrament
+after the Disruption."
+
+"Did ye notice that Rachel Skene sat in her seat through the tables?
+Says I, 'Are ye no gain forrit, Mistress Skene, or hae ye lost yir
+token?' 'Na, na,' says she, 'ma token's safe in ma handkerchief; but
+I cudna get to Kirk yesterday, and I never went forrit withoot ma
+Saiturday yet, and I'm no to begin noo.'"
+
+"She was aye a richt-thinkin' woman, Rachel, there's nae mistake o'
+that; a' wonder hoo her son is gettin' on wi' that fairm he's
+takin'; a' doot it's rack-rented."
+
+It was an honest, satisfying conversation, and reminded one of the
+parish of Drumtochty, being both _quoad sacra_ and _quoad
+civilia_.
+
+When the Highlanders came in, Burnbrae was deposed after one
+encounter, and the minister was reduced to a state of timid
+suggestion. There were days when they would not speak one word, and
+were understood to be lost in meditation; on others they broke in on
+any conversation that was going from levels beyond the imagination
+of Drumtochty. Had this happened in the Auld Manse, Drumsheugh would
+have taken for granted that Donald was "feeling sober" (ill), and
+recommended the bottle which cured him of "a hoast" (cough) in the
+fifties. But the Free Kirk had been taught that the Highlanders were
+unapproachable in spiritual attainments, and even Burnbrae took his
+discipline meekly.
+
+"It wes a mercy the mune changed last week, Maister Menzies, or a'm
+thinkin' it hed been a weet sacrament."
+
+Donald came out of a maze, where he had been wandering in great
+peace.
+
+"I wass not hearing that the moon had anything to do in the matter.
+Oh no, but he wass bound hand and foot by a mighty man."
+
+"Wha was bund? A'm no juist followin' ye, Maister Menzies."
+
+"The Prince of the power of the air. Oh yes, and he shall not be
+loosed till the occasion be over. I hef had a sign." After which
+conversation on the weather languished.
+
+Perhaps the minister fared worse in an attempt to extract a
+certificate of efficiency from Lachlan Campbell in favour of a
+rhetorical young preacher.
+
+"A fery nice speaker, and well pleased with himself. But I would be
+thinking, when he wass giving his images. Oh yes, I would be
+thinking. There was a laddie feeshing in the burn before my house,
+and a fery pretty laddie he wass. He had a rod and a string, and he
+threw his line peautiful. It wass a great peety he had no hook, for
+it iss a want, and you do not catch many fish without a hook. But I
+shall be glad that you are pleased, sir, and all the elders."
+
+These were only passing incidents, and left no trace, but the rebuke
+Donald gave to Burnbrae will be told while an elder lives. One of
+the last of the old mystical school, which trace their descent from
+Samuel Rutherford, had described the great mystery of our Faith with
+such insight and pathos, that Donald had stood by the table weeping
+gently, and found himself afterwards in the manse, he knew not how.
+
+The silence was more than could be borne, and his former
+responsibility fell on Burnbrae.
+
+"It wes wonnerful, and I canna mind hearing the like o' yon at the
+tables; but I wes sorry to see the Doctor sae failed. He wes bent
+twa fad; a' doot it's a titch o' rheumatism, or maybe lumbago."
+
+Johannine men are subject to sudden flashes of anger, and Donald
+blazed.
+
+"Bent down with rheumatism, iss that what you say? Oh yes, it will
+be rheumatism. Hass the sight of your eyes left you, and hef you no
+discernment? Did ye not see that he was bowed to the very table with
+the power of the Word? for it was a fire in his bones, and he was
+baptised with the Holy Ghost."
+
+When the elders gathered in the vestry, the minister asked what time
+the preacher might have for his evening sermon, and Donald again
+burst forth:
+
+"I am told that in towns the Gospel goes by minutes, like the trains
+at the stations; but there iss no time-table here, for we shall wait
+till the sun goes down to hear all things God will be sending by His
+servant."
+
+Good memories differ about the text that Sacrament evening, and the
+length of the sermon, but all hold as a treasure for ever what
+happened when the book was closed. The people were hushed into a
+quiet that might be felt, and the old man, swayed by the spirit of
+the Prophets, began to repeat the blessings and curses in the Bible
+between Genesis and Revelation, and after each pair he cried with
+heart-piercing voice, "Choose this day which ye will take," till
+Donald could contain himself no longer.
+
+"Here iss the man who hass deserved all the curses, and here iss the
+man who chooses all the blessings."
+
+Our fathers had no turn for sensation, but they had an unerring
+sense of a spiritual situation. The preacher paused for five
+seconds, while no man could breathe, and then lifting up his hand to
+Heaven he said, with an indescribable authority and tenderness, "The
+Lord fulfil the desire of your heart both in this world and in that
+which is to come."
+
+Then the congregation sang, after the ancient custom of our parts,
+
+  "Now blessed be the Lord our God,
+   The God of Israel,"
+
+and Donald's face was one glory, because he saw in the soft evening
+light of the upper window the angels of God ascending and descending
+upon the Son of man.
+
+It was after this that the Free Kirk minister occupied six months in
+proving that Moses did not write Deuteronomy, and Lachlan was trying
+for the same period to have the minister removed from Drumtochty.
+Donald, deprived by one stroke of both his friends, fell back on me,
+and told me many things I loved to hear, although they were beyond
+my comprehension.
+
+"It wass not always so with me as it iss this day, for I once had no
+ear for God's voice, and my eyes were holden that I saw not the
+spiritual world. But sore sickness came upon me, and I wass nigh
+unto death, and my soul awoke within me and began to cry like a
+child for its mother. All my days I had lived on Loch Tay, and now I
+thought of the other country into which I would hef to be going,
+where I had no nest, and my soul would be driven to and fro in the
+darkness as a bird on the moor of Rannoch.
+
+"Janet sent for the minister, and he wass fery kind, and he spoke
+about my sickness and my farm, and I said nothing. For I wass hoping
+he would tell me what I wass to do for my soul. But he began upon
+the sheep market at Amulree, and I knew he wass also in the dark.
+After he left I turned my face to the wall and wept.
+
+"Next morning wass the Sabbath, and I said to Janet:
+
+"'Wrap me in my plaid, and put me in a cart, and take me to
+Aberfeldy.' 'And what will ye be doing at Aberfeldy? and you will
+die on the road.' 'There iss,' said I, 'a man there who knows the
+way of the soul, and it iss better to die with my face to the
+light.'
+
+"They set me in a corner of the church where I wass thinking no man
+could see me, and I cried in my heart without ceasing, 'Lord, send
+me--send me a word from Thy mouth.'
+
+"When the minister came into the pulpit he gave me a strange look,
+and this wass his text, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"As he preached I knew I wass Lazurus, with the darkness of the
+grave around me, and my soul straitly bound. I could do nothing, but
+I wass longing with all my strength.
+
+"Then the minister stopped, and he said:
+
+"There iss a man in this church, and he will know himself who it
+iss. When I came in this morning I saw a shadow on his face, and I
+knew not whether it was the wing of the Angel of Life or the Angel
+of Death passing over him, but the Lord has made it plain to me, and
+I see the silver feathers of the Angel of the Covenant, and this
+shall be a sign unto that man, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+"While he wass still speaking I felt my soul carried out into the
+light of God's face, and my grave clothes were taken off one by one
+as Janet would unwind my plaid, and I stood a living man before
+Christ.
+
+"It wass a sweet June day as we drove home, and I lay in sunshine,
+and every bird that sang, and the burnies by the roadside, and the
+rustling of the birch leaves in the wind--oh yes, and the sound of
+the horse's feet were saying, 'Loose him and let him go.'
+
+"Loch Tay looked black angry as we came by its side in the morning,
+and I said to Janet:
+
+"'It iss the Dead Sea, and I shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah;' but in
+the evening it wass as a sea of glass mingled with fire, and I heard
+the song of Moses and the Lamb sweeping over the Loch, but this wass
+still the sweetest word to me, 'Loose him and let him go.'"
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
+
+The powers of darkness had been making a dead set upon Donald all
+winter, and towards spring he began to lose hope. He came to the
+Cottage once a week with news from the seat of war, and I could
+distinguish three zones of depression. Within the first he bewailed
+his inveterate attachment to this world, and his absolute
+indifference to spiritual things, and was content to describe
+himself as Achan. The sign that he had entered the second was a
+recurring reference to apostacy, and then you had the melancholy
+satisfaction of meeting the living representative of Simon Peter.
+When he passed into the last zone of the Purgatorio, Donald was
+beyond speech, and simply allowed one to gather from allusions to
+thirty pieces of silver that he was Judas Iscariot.
+
+So long as it was only Achan or Simon Peter that came to sit with
+me, one was not gravely concerned, but Judas Iscariot meant that
+Donald had entered the Valley of the Shadow.
+
+He made a spirited rally at the Winter Sacrament, and distinguished
+himself greatly on the evening of the Fast day. Being asked to pray,
+as a recognition of comparative cheerfulness, Donald continued for
+five and twenty minutes, and unfolded the works of the Devil in such
+minute and vivid detail that Burnbrae talks about it to this day,
+and Lachlan Campbell, although an expert in this department,
+confessed astonishment. It was a mighty wrestle, and it was perhaps
+natural that Donald should groan heavily at regular intervals, and
+acquaint the meeting how the conflict went, but the younger people
+were much shaken, and the edification even of the serious was not
+without reserve.
+
+While Donald still lingered on the field of battle to gather the
+spoils and guard against any sudden return of the enemy, the elders
+had a hurried consultation in the vestry, and Burnbrae put the
+position with admirable force.
+
+"Naebody can deny that it wes a maist extraordinary prayer, and it
+passes me hoo he kens sae muckle aboot the Deevil. In fac' it's a
+preevilege tae hae sic an experienced hand among us, and I wudna
+offend Donald Menzies for onything. But yon groanin' wes a wee
+thingie discomposin', and when he said, kind o' confidential, 'He's
+losing his grup,' ma ain fouk cudna keep their coontenance. Weel, I
+wes thinkin' that the best plan wud be for Maister Campbell juist
+tae give a bit advice and tell Donald that we're thankfu' to hear
+him at the meeting, and michty lifted wi' his peteetions, but it wud
+be an obleegation gin he wud leave oot the groans and tell us
+aifterwards what wes gaein' on, maybe in the Session."
+
+Lachlan accepted his commission with quite unusual diffidence, and
+offered a very free translation on the way home.
+
+"It wass a mercy to hef you at the meeting this night, Donald
+Menzies, for I saw that Satan had come in great strength, and it iss
+not every man that can withstand him. But you will not be ignorant
+of his devices; oh no, you will be knowing them fery well. Satan had
+not much to say before the prayer wass done, and I will not be
+expecting to see him again at this occasion. It wass the elders
+said, 'Donald Menzies hass trampled Satan under foot.' Oh yes, and
+fery glad men they were, for it iss not given to them. But I would
+be thinking iss it good to let the Devil hear you groaning in the
+battle, and I would be wishing that you had kept all your groans and
+given them to me on the road."
+
+"Iss it the groans you are not liking?" retorted Donald, stung by
+this unexpected criticism. "And what iss wrong with groaning? But I
+hef the Scripture, and I will not be caring what you say, Lachlan
+Campbell."
+
+"If you hef a warrant for groaning, it iss this man that will be
+glad to hear it, for I am not remembering that passage."
+
+"Maybe you hef not read 'Maketh intercession with groanings,' but it
+iss a fery good Scripture, and it iss in my Bible."
+
+"All Scripture iss good, Donald Menzies, but it iss not lawful to
+divide Scripture, and it will read in my Bible, 'groanings which
+cannot be uttered,' and I wass saying this would be the best way
+with your groans."
+
+Donald came in to tell me how his companion in arms had treated him,
+and was still sore.
+
+"He iss in the bondage of the letter these days, for he will be
+always talking about Moses with the minister, and I am not hearing
+that iss good for the soul."
+
+If even Lachlan could not attain to Donald, it was perhaps no
+discredit that the Drumtochty mind was at times hopelessly
+perplexed.
+
+ "He's a gude cratur and terrible gifted in prayer," Netherton
+explained to Burnbrae after a prayer-meeting, when Donald had
+temporarily abandoned Satan and given himself to autobiography, "but
+yon wesna a verra ceevil way to speak aboot his faither and mither."
+
+"A' doot yir imaginin', Netherton. Donald never mentioned his fouk
+the nicht, and it's no likely he wud in the prayer-meeting."
+
+"There's nae imaginin' aboot it; a' heard him wi' ma ain ears say
+twice, 'My father was an Amorite, and my mother a Hittite.' I'll
+take my aith on it. Noo, a' dinna ken Donald's forbears masel, for
+he's frae Tayside, but supposin' they were as bad as bad cud be,
+it's no for him to blacken his ain blood, and him an Elder."
+
+"Toots, Netherton, yir aff it a' thegither. Div ye no see yon's
+Bible langidge oot o' a Prophet, or maybe Kings, and Donald wes
+usin't in a feegurative capaucity?"
+
+"Feegurative or no feegurative, Burnbrae, it disna maitter; it's a
+peetifu' job howking (digging) thro' the Bible for ill words tae
+misca yir fouk wi' afore the public."
+
+Burnbrae gave up the contest in despair, feeling himself that Old
+Testament allusions were risky, and that Donald's quotation was less
+than felicitous.
+
+Donald's prayers were not known outside the Free Kirk circle, but
+his encounters with the evil one were public property, and caused a
+general shudder. Drumtochty was never sure who might not be
+listening, and considered that it was safer not to meddle with
+certain nameless people. But Donald waged an open warfare in every
+corner of the parish, in the Kirk, by the wayside, in his house, on
+the road to market, and was ready to give any one the benefit of his
+experiences.
+
+"Donald Menzies is in yonder," said Hillocks, pointing to the
+smithy, whose fire sent fitful gleams across the dark road, "and
+he's carryin' on maist fearsome. Ye wud think tae hear him speak
+that auld Hornie wes gaein' louse in the parish; it sent a grue
+(shiver) doon ma back. Faigs, it's no cannie to be muckle wi' the
+body, for the Deil and Donald seem never separate. Hear him noo,
+hear him."
+
+"Oh yes," said Donald, addressing the smith and two horror-stricken
+ploughmen, "I hef seen him, and he hass withstood me on the road. It
+wass late, and I wass thinking on the shepherd and the sheep, and
+Satan will come out from the wood below Hillocks' farm-house ('Gude
+preserve us,' from Hillocks) and say, 'That word is not for you,
+Donald Menzies,' But I wass strong that night, and I said, 'Neither
+shall any pluck them out of my hand,' and he will not wait long
+after that, oh no, and I did not follow him into the wood."
+
+The smith, released by the conclusion of the tale, blew a mighty
+blast, and the fire burst into a red blaze, throwing into relief the
+black figure of the smith and the white faces of the ploughmen;
+glancing from the teeth of harrows, and the blades of scythes, and
+the cruel knives of reaping machines, and from instruments with
+triple prongs; and lighting up with a hideous glare the black sooty
+recesses of the smithy.
+
+"Keep's a'," whispered Hillocks, clutching my arm, "it's little
+better than the ill place. I wish to gudeness I wes safe in ma ain
+hoose."
+
+These were only indecisive skirmishes, for one evening Donald came
+to my den with despair written on every feature, and I knew that
+fighting had begun at the centre, and that he was worsted.
+
+It was half an hour before he became articulate, during which time
+he sighed as if the end of all things had come, and I caught the
+word scapegoat twice, but at last he told me that he had resigned
+his eldership, and would absent himself in future from the Free
+Kirk.
+
+"It hass been a weary winter when minister and people hef gone into
+captivity, and on Sabbath the word wass taken altogether from the
+minister's mouth, and he spake a language which we understood not
+[it was the first of three sermons on the Hexateuch, and had treated
+of the Jehovistic and Elohistic documents with much learning], and I
+will be asking all the way back, 'Iss it I?' 'Iss it I?'
+
+"Oh yes, and when I opened my Bible this iss the word I will see,
+'That thou doest do quickly,' and I knew it wass my sins that had
+brought great judgments on the people, and turned the minister into
+a man of stammering lips and another tongue.
+
+"It wass a mercy that the roof did not fall and bury all the people
+with me; but we will not be tempting the Almighty, for I hef gone
+outside, and now there will be peace and blessing."
+
+When we left the lighted room and stood on the doorstep, Donald
+pointed to the darkness. "There iss no star, and you will be
+remembering what John saw when the door opened and Judas went out.
+'It wass night'--oh yes, it iss night for me, but it will be light
+for them."
+
+As weeks went past, and Donald was seen neither at Kirk nor market,
+my heart went out to the lonely man in his soul conflict, and,
+although there was no help in me, I went to ask how it fared with
+him. After the footpath disentangled itself from the pine woods and
+crossed the burn by two fir trees nailed together, it climbed a
+steep ascent to Donald's house, but I had barely touched the foot,
+when I saw him descending, his head in the air, and his face
+shining. Before any words passed, I knew that the battle had been
+fought and won.
+
+"It wass last night, and I will be coming to tell you. Satan hass
+gone like darkness when the sun ariseth, and I hef been delivered."
+
+There are stories one cannot hear sitting, and so we paced the
+meadow below, rich in primroses, with a sloping bank of gorse behind
+us, and the pines before us, and the water breaking over the stones
+at our feet.
+
+"It is three weeks since I saw you, and all that time I hef been
+wandering on the hill by day, and lying in the barn at night, for it
+wass not good to be with people, and Satan wass always saying to me,
+Judas went to 'his own place.' My dog will lay his head on my knee,
+and be sorry for me, and the dumb animals will be looking at me out
+of their great eyes, and be moaning.
+
+"The lads are good singers, and there wass always a sound of Psalms
+on the farm, oh yes, and it was pleasant to come from the market and
+hear the Psalms at the foot of the hill. It wass like going up to
+Jerusalem. But there would be no Psalms these days, for the lads
+could not sing when their father's soul wass going down into the
+pit.
+
+"Oh no, and there wass no prayer last night, but I told the lads to
+go to bed, and I lay down before the fire to wrestle once more
+before I perished.
+
+"Janet will offer this word and the other, and I will be trying them
+all, but Satan wass tearing them away as quick as I could speak, and
+he always said, 'his own place.'
+
+"'There iss no hope for me,' I cried, 'but it iss a mercy that you
+and the lads will be safe in the City, and maybe the Lord will let
+me see you all through the gate.' And that wass lifting me, but then
+I will hear 'his own place,' 'his own place,' and my heart began to
+fail, and I wass nigh to despair.
+
+"Then I heard a voice, oh yes, as plain as you are hearing me, 'The
+blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' It wass
+like a gleam from the Mercy-seat, but I would be waiting to see
+whether Satan had any answer, and my heart was standing still. But
+there wass no word from him, not one word. Then I leaped to my feet
+and cried, 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' and I will look round, and
+there wass no one to be seen but Janet in her chair, with the tears
+on her cheeks, and she wass saying, 'Thanks be to God, which giveth
+us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'
+
+"The lads were not sleeping fery sound when their father was
+fighting for his life, oh no, and I am not saying but maybe they
+would be praying. It wass not fery long before they came down, and
+Hamish will be looking at my face, and then he will get the books,
+and this is the Psalm we sang?
+
+  "I love the Lord, because my voice
+     And prayers He did hear.
+   I, while I live, will call on Him,
+     Who bowed to me His ear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+   God merciful and righteous is,
+     Yea, gracious is our Lord;
+   God saves the meek; I was brought low,
+     He did me help afford."
+
+This was the victory of Donald Menzies, and on reaching home I
+marked that the early roses were beginning to bloom over the door
+through which Donald had gone out into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S SERMON
+
+
+He was an ingenuous lad, with the callow simplicity of a theological
+college still untouched, and had arrived on the preceding Monday at
+the Free Kirk manse with four cartloads of furniture and a maiden
+aunt. For three days he roamed from room to room in the excitement
+of householding, and made suggestions which were received with
+hilarious contempt; then he shut himself up in his study to prepare
+the great sermon, and his aunt went about on tiptoe. During meals on
+Friday he explained casually that his own wish was to preach a
+simple sermon, and that he would have done so had he been a private
+individual, but as he had held the MacWhammel scholarship a
+deliverance was expected by the country. He would be careful and say
+nothing rash, but it was due to himself to state the present
+position of theological thought, and he might have to quote once or
+twice from Ewald.
+
+His aunt was a saint, with that firm grasp of truth, and tender
+mysticism, whose combination is the charm of Scottish piety, and her
+face was troubled. While the minister was speaking in his boyish
+complacency, her thoughts were in a room where they had both stood,
+five years before, by the death-bed of his mother.
+
+He was broken that day, and his sobs shook the bed, for he was his
+mother's only son and fatherless, and his mother, brave and faithful
+to the last, was bidding him farewell.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, John, nor break yir hert, for it's the will
+o' God, and that's aye best."
+
+"Here's my watch and chain," placing them beside her son, who could
+not touch them, nor would lift his head, "and when ye feel the chain
+about yir neck it will mind ye o' yir mother's arms."
+
+"Ye 'ill no forget me, John, I ken that weel, and I'll never forget
+you. I've loved ye here and I'll love ye yonder. Th'ill no be an
+'oor when I'll no pray for ye, and I'll ken better what to ask than
+I did here, sae dinna be comfortless."
+
+Then she felt for his head and stroked it once more, but he could
+not look nor speak.
+
+"Ye 'ill follow Christ, and gin He offers ye His cross, ye 'ill no
+refuse it, for He aye carries the heavy end Himsel'. He's guided yir
+mother a' thae years, and been as gude as a husband since yir
+father's death, and He 'ill hold me fast tae the end. He 'ill keep
+ye too, and, John, I'll be watchin' for ye. Ye 'ill no fail me," and
+her poor cold hand that had tended him all his days tightened on his
+head.
+
+But he could not speak, and her voice was failing fast.
+
+"I canna see ye noo, John, but I know yir there, and I've just one
+other wish. If God calls ye to the ministry, ye 'ill no refuse, an'
+the first day ye preach in yir ain kirk, speak a gude word for Jesus
+Christ, an,' John, I'll hear ye that day, though ye 'ill no see me,
+and I'll be satisfied."
+
+A minute after she whispered, "Pray for me," and he cried, "My
+mother, my mother."
+
+It was a full prayer, and left nothing unasked of Mary's Son.
+
+"John," said his aunt, "your mother is with the Lord," and he saw
+death for the first time, but it was beautiful with the peace that
+passeth all understanding.
+
+Five years had passed, crowded with thought and work, and his aunt
+wondered whether he remembered that last request, or indeed had
+heard it in his sorrow.
+
+"What are you thinking about, aunt? Are you afraid of my theology?"
+
+"No, John, it's no that, laddie, for I ken ye 'ill say what ye
+believe to be true withoot fear o' man," and she hesitated.
+
+"Come, out with it, auntie: you're my only mother now, you know,"
+and the minister put his arm round her, "as well as the kindest,
+bonniest, goodest auntie ever man had."
+
+Below his student self-conceit he was a good lad, and sound of
+heart.
+
+"Shame on you, John, to make a fule o' an auld dune body, but ye'll
+no come round me with yir flattery. I ken ye ower weel," and as she
+caught the likeness in his face, her eyes filled suddenly.
+
+"What's the matter, auntie? Will ye no tell me?"
+
+"Dinna be angry wi' me, John, but a'm concerned aboot Sabbath, for
+a've been praying ever syne ye were called to Drumtochty that it
+micht be a great day, and that I micht see ye comin' tae yir people,
+laddie, wi' the beauty o' the Lord upon ye, according tae the auld
+prophecy: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
+bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace,'" and again she
+stopped.
+
+"Go on, auntie, go on," he whispered; "say all that's in yir mind."
+
+"It's no for me tae advise ye, who am only a simple auld woman, who
+ken's naethin' but her Bible and the Catechism, and it's no that a'm
+feared for the new views, or aboot yir faith, for I aye mind that
+there's mony things the Speerit hes still tae teach us, and I ken
+weel the man that follows Christ will never lose his way in ony
+thicket. But it's the fouk, John, a'm anxious aboot, the flock o'
+sheep the Lord hes given ye tae feed for Him."
+
+She could not see his face, but she felt him gently press her hand,
+and took courage.
+
+"Ye maun mind, laddie, that they're no clever and learned like what
+ye are, but juist plain country fouk, ilka ane wi' his ain
+temptation, an' a' sair trachled wi' mony cares o' this world. They
+'ill need a clear word tae comfort their herts and show them the way
+everlasting. Ye 'ill say what's richt, nae doot o' that, and a'body
+'ill be pleased wi' ye, but, oh, laddie, be sure ye say a gude word
+for Jesus Christ."
+
+The minister's face whitened, and his arm relaxed. He rose hastily
+and went to the door, but in going out he gave his aunt an
+understanding look, such as passes between people who have stood
+together in a sorrow. The son had not forgotten his mother's
+request.
+
+The manse garden lies toward the west, and as the minister paced its
+little square of turf, sheltered by fir hedges, the sun was going
+down behind the Grampians. Black massy clouds had begun to gather in
+the evening, and threatened to obscure the sunset, which was the
+finest sight a Drumtochty man was ever likely to see, and a means of
+grace to every sensible heart in the glen. But the sun had beat back
+the clouds on either side, and shot them through with glory and now
+between piled billows of light he went along a shining pathway into
+the Gates of the West. The minister stood still before that
+spectacle, his face bathed in the golden glory, and then before his
+eyes the gold deepened into an awful red, and the red passed into
+shades of violet and green, beyond painter's hand or the imagination
+of man. It seemed to him as if a victorious saint had entered
+through the gates into the city, washed in the blood of the Lamb,
+and the after glow of his mother's life fell solemnly on his soul.
+The last trace of sunset had faded from the hills when the minister
+came in, and his face was of one who had seen a vision. He asked his
+aunt to have worship with the servant, for he must be alone in his
+study.
+
+It was a cheerful room in the daytime, with its southern window,
+through which the minister saw the roses touching the very glass and
+dwarf apple trees lining the garden walks; there was also a western
+window that he might watch each day close. It was a pleasant room
+now, when the curtains were drawn, and the light of the lamp fell on
+the books he loved, and which bade him welcome. One by one he had
+arranged the hard-bought treasures of student days in the little
+book-case, and had planned for himself that sweetest of pleasures,
+an evening of desultory reading. But his books went out of mind as
+he looked at the sermon shining beneath the glare of the lamp, and
+demanding judgment. He had finished its last page with honest pride
+that afternoon, and had declaimed it, facing the southern window,
+with a success that amazed himself. His hope was that he might be
+kept humble, and not called to Edinburgh for at least two years; and
+now he lifted the sheets with fear. The brilliant opening, with its
+historical parallel, this review of modern thought reinforced by
+telling quotations, that trenchant criticism of old-fashioned views,
+would not deliver. For the audience had vanished, and left one
+careworn, but ever beautiful face, whose gentle eyes were waiting
+with a yearning look. Twice he crushed the sermon in his hands, and
+turned to the fire his aunt's care had kindled, and twice he
+repented and smoothed it out. What else could he say now to the
+people? and then in the stillness of the room he heard a voice,
+"Speak a gude word for Jesus Christ."
+
+Next minute he was kneeling on the hearth, and pressing the
+_magnum opus_, that was to shake Drumtochty, into the heart of
+the red fire, and he saw, half-smiling and half-weeping, the
+impressive words, "Semitic environment," shrivel up and disappear.
+As the last black flake fluttered out of sight, the face looked at
+him again, but this time the sweet brown eyes were full of peace.
+
+It was no masterpiece, but only the crude production of a lad who
+knew little of letters and nothing of the world. Very likely it
+would have done neither harm nor good, but it was his best, and he
+gave it for love's sake, and I suppose that there is nothing in a
+human life so precious to God, neither clever words nor famous
+deeds, as the sacrifices of love.
+
+The moon flooded his bedroom with silver light, and he felt the
+presence of his mother. His bed stood ghostly with its white
+curtains, and he remembered how every night his mother knelt by its
+side in prayer for him. He is a boy once more, and repeats the
+Lord's Prayer, then he cries again, "My mother! my mother!" and an
+indescribable contentment fills his heart.
+
+His prayer next morning was very short, but afterwards he stood at
+the window for a space, and when he turned, his aunt said:
+
+"Ye will get yir sermon, and it will be worth hearing."
+
+"How did ye know?"
+
+But she only smiled, "I heard you pray."
+
+When he shut himself into the study that Saturday morning, his aunt
+went into her room above, and he knew she had gone to intercede for
+him.
+
+An hour afterwards he was pacing the garden in such anxious thought
+that he crushed with his foot a rose lying on the path, and then she
+saw his face suddenly lighten, and he hurried to the house, but
+first he plucked a bunch of forget-me-nots. In the evening she found
+them on his sermon.
+
+Two hours later--for still she prayed and watched in faithfulness to
+mother and son--she observed him come out and wander round the
+garden in great joy. He lifted up the soiled rose and put it in his
+coat; he released a butterfly caught in some mesh; he buried his
+face in fragrant honeysuckle. Then she understood that his heart was
+full of love, and was sure that it would be well on the morrow.
+
+When the bell began to ring, the minister rose from his knees and
+went to his aunt's room to be robed, for this was a covenant between
+them.
+
+His gown was spread out in its black silken glory, but he sat down
+in despair.
+
+"Auntie, whatever shall we do, for I've forgotten the bands?"
+
+"But I've not forgot them, John, and here are six pair wrought with
+my own hands, and now sit still and I'll tie them round my laddie's
+neck."
+
+When she had given the last touch, and he was ready to go, a sudden
+seriousness fell upon them.
+
+"Kiss me, auntie."
+
+"For your mother, and her God be with you," and then he went through
+the garden and underneath the honeysuckle and into the kirk, where
+every Free Churchman in Drumtochty that could get out of bed, and
+half the Established Kirk, were waiting in expectation.
+
+I sat with his aunt in the minister's pew, and shall always be glad
+that I was at that service. When winter lies heavy upon the glen I
+go upon my travels, and in my time have seen many religious
+functions. I have been in Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle, where the
+people wept one minute and laughed the next; have heard Canon Liddon
+in St. Paul's, and the sound of that high, clear voice is still with
+me, "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion;" have seen High Mass
+in St. Peter's, and stood in the dusk of the Duomo at Florence when
+Padre Agostino thundered against the evils of the day. But I never
+realised the unseen world as I did that day in the Free Kirk of
+Drumtochty.
+
+It is impossible to analyse a spiritual effect, because it is largely
+an atmosphere, but certain circumstances assisted. One was instantly
+prepossessed in favour of a young minister who gave out the second
+paraphrase at his first service, for it declared his filial reverence
+and won for him the blessing of a cloud of witnesses. No Scottish man
+can ever sing,
+
+  "God of our fathers, be the God
+   Of their succeeding race."
+
+with a dry heart. It satisfied me at once that the minister was of a
+fine temper when, after a brave attempt to join, he hid his face and
+was silent. We thought none the worse of him that he was nervous, and
+two or three old people who had suspected self-sufficiency took him to
+their hearts when the minister concluded the Lord's prayer hurriedly,
+having omitted two petitions. But we knew it was not nervousness which
+made him pause for ten seconds after praying for widows and orphans,
+and in the silence which fell upon us the Divine Spirit had free access.
+His youth commended him, since he was also modest, for every mother had
+come with an inarticulate prayer that the "puir laddie wud dae weel on
+his first day, and him only twenty-four." Texts I can never remember,
+nor, for that matter, the words of sermons; but the subject was Jesus
+Christ, and before he had spoken five minutes I was convinced, who am
+outside dogmas and churches, that Christ was present. The preacher
+faded from before one's eyes, and there rose the figure of the Nazarene,
+best lover of every human soul, with a face of tender patience such as
+Sarto gave the Master in the Church of the Annunziata, and stretching
+out His hands to old folk and little children as He did, before His
+death, in Galilee. His voice might be heard any moment, as I have
+imagined it in my lonely hours by the winter fire or on the solitary
+hills--soft, low, and sweet, penetrating like music to the secret of
+the heart, "Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest."
+
+During a pause in the sermon I glanced up the church, and saw the
+same spell held the people. Donald Menzies had long ago been caught
+into the third heaven, and was now hearing words which it is not
+lawful to utter. Campbell in his watch-tower at the back had closed
+his eyes, and was praying. The women were weeping quietly, and the
+rugged faces of our men were subdued and softened, as when the
+evening sun plays on the granite stone.
+
+But what will stand out for ever before my mind was the sight of
+Marget Howe. Her face was as white as death, and her wonderful grey
+eyes were shining through a mist of tears, so that I caught the
+light in the manse pew. She was thinking of George, and had taken
+the minister to her heart.
+
+The elders, one by one, gripped the minister's hand in the vestry,
+and, though plain, homely men, they were the godliest in the glen;
+but no man spoke save Burnbrae.
+
+"I a' but lost ae fairm for the Free Kirk, and I wud hae lost ten
+tae be in the Kirk this day."
+
+Donald walked with me homewards, but would only say:
+
+"There was a man sent from God whose name was John." At the cottage
+he added, "The friend of the bridegroom rejoiced greatly because of
+the bridegroom's voice,"
+
+Beneath the honeysuckle at his garden gate a woman was waiting.
+
+"My name is Marget Howe, and I'm the wife of William Howe of Whinnie
+Knowe. My only son wes preparin' for the ministry, but God wanted
+him nearly a year syne. When ye preached the Evangel o' Jesus the
+day I heard his voice, and I loved you. Ye hev nae mither on earth,
+I hear, and I hae nae son, and I wantit tae say that if ye ever wish
+tae speak to ony woman as ye wud tae yir mither, come tae Whinnie
+Knowe, an' I'll coont it ane of the Lord's consolations."
+
+His aunt could only meet him in the study, and when he looked on her
+his lip quivered, for his heart was wrung with one wistful regret.
+
+"Oh, auntie, if she had only been spared to see this day, and her
+prayers answered."
+
+But his aunt flung her arms round his neck.
+
+"Dinna be cast doon, laddie, nor be unbelievin'. Yir mither has
+heard every word, and is satisfied, for ye did it in remembrance o'
+her, and yon was yir mither's sermon."
+
+
+
+
+THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GRAND INQUISITOR
+
+The Free Kirk of Drumtochty had no gallery, but a section of seats
+at the back was raised two feet, and any one in the first pew might
+be said to sit in the "briest o' the laft." When Lachlan Campbell
+arrived from the privileged parish of Auchindarroch, where the "Men"
+ruled with iron hand and no one shaved on Sabbath, he examined the
+lie of country with the eye of a strategist, and seized at once a
+corner seat on the crest of the hill. From this vantage ground, with
+his back to the wall and a clear space left between himself and his
+daughter Flora, he had an easy command of the pulpit, and within six
+months had been constituted a court of review neither minister nor
+people could lightly disregard. It was not that Lachlan spoke hastily
+or at length, for his policy was generally a silence pregnant with
+judgment, and his deliverances were for the most part in parables,
+none the less awful because hard of interpretation. Like every true
+Celt, he had the power of reserve, and knew the value of mystery.
+His voice must not be heard in irresponsible gossip at the Kirk door,
+and he never condescended to the level of Mrs. MacFadyen, our recognised
+sermon taster, who criticised everything in the technique of the pulpit,
+from the number of heads in a sermon to the air with which a probationer
+used his pocket-handkerchief. She lived in the eye of the public, and
+gave her opinions with the light heart of a newspaper writer; but
+Lachlan kept himself in the shadow and wore a manner of studied humility
+as became the administrator of the Holy Office in Drumtochty.
+
+Lachlan was a little man, with a spare, wiry body, iron grey hair
+and whiskers carefully arranged, a keen, old-fashioned face
+sharpened by much spiritual thinking, and eyes that looked at you
+from beneath shaggy eyebrows as from some other world. His face had
+an irresistible suggestion of a Skye terrier, the most serious of
+animals, with the hair reduced, and Drumsheugh carried us all with
+him when, in a moment of inspiration, he declared that "the body
+looks as if he hed juist come oot o' the Ark." He was a shepherd to
+trade, and very faithful in all his work, but his life business was
+theology, from Supralapsarianism in Election to the marks of faith
+in a believer's heart. His library consisted of some fifty volumes
+of ancient divinity, and lay on an old oak kist close to his hand,
+where he sat beside the fire of a winter night. When the sheep were
+safe and his day's labour was over, he read by the light of the fire
+and the "crusie" (oil-lamp) overhead, Witsius on the Covenants, or
+Rutherford's "Christ Dying," or Bunyan's "Grace Abounding," or
+Owen's "130th Psalm," while the collies slept at his feet, and Flora
+put the finishing stroke to some bit of rustic finery. Worship was
+always coloured by the evening's reading, but the old man never
+forgot to pray that they both might have a place in the everlasting
+covenant, and that the backslidings of Scotland might be healed.
+
+As our inquisitor, Lachlan searched anxiously for sound doctrine and
+deep experience, but he was not concerned about learning, and
+fluency he regarded with disgust. When a young minister from
+Muirtown stamped twice in his prayer at the Drumtochty Fast, and
+preached with great eloquence from the words, "And there was no more
+sea," repeating the text at the end of each paragraph, and
+concluding the sermon with "Lord Ullin's Daughter," the atmosphere
+round Lachlan became electric, and no one dared to speak to him
+outside. He never expressed his mind on this melancholy exhibition,
+but the following Sabbath he explained the principle on which they
+elected ministers at Auchindarroch, which was his standard of
+perfection.
+
+"Six young men came, and they did not sing songs in the pulpit. Oh
+no, they preached fery well, and I said to Angus Bain, 'They are all
+goot lads, and there is nothing wrong with their doctrine.'
+
+"Angus wass one of the 'Men,' and saw what wass hidden from me, and
+he will be saying, 'Oh yes, they said their lesson fery pretty, but
+I did not see them tremble, Lachlan Campbell. Another iss coming,
+and seven is a goot number.'
+
+"It wass next Sabbath that he came, and he wass a white man, giving
+out his text, 'Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
+supper of the Lamb,' and I wass thinking that the Lord had laid too
+great a burden on the lad, and that he could not be fit for such a
+work. It wass not more than ten minutes before he will be trying to
+tell us what he wass seeing, and will not hef the words. He had to
+go down from the pulpit as a man that had been in the heavenly
+places and wass stricken dumb.
+
+"'It iss the Lord that has put me to shame this day,' he said to the
+elders, 'and I will nefer show my face again in Auchindarroch, for I
+ought not to have meddled with things too high for me.'
+
+"'You will show your face here every Sabbath,' answered Angus Bain,
+'for the Lord said unto me, "Wait for the man that trembles at the
+Word, and iss not able to speak, and it will be a sign unto you,"'
+and a fery goot minister he wass, and made the hypocrites in Zion to
+be afraid."
+
+Lachlan dealt tenderly with our young Free Kirk minister, for the
+sake of his first day, and passed over some very shallow experience
+without remark, but an autumn sermon roused him to a sense of duty.
+For some days a storm of wind and rain had been stripping the leaves
+from the trees and gathering them in sodden heaps upon the ground.
+The minister looked out on the garden where many holy thoughts had
+visited him, and his heart sank like lead, for it was desolate, and
+of all its beauty there remained but one rose clinging to its stalk,
+drenched and faded. It seemed as if youth, with its flower of
+promise and hope, had been beaten down, and a sense of loneliness
+fell on his soul. He had no heart for work, and crept to bed broken
+and dispirited. During the night the rain ceased, and the north wind
+began to blow, which cleanses nature in every pore, and braces each
+true man for his battle. The morrow was one of those glorious days
+which herald winter, and as the minister tramped along the road,
+where the dry leaves crackled beneath his feet, and climbed to the
+moor with head on high, the despair of yesterday vanished. The wind
+had ceased, and the glen lay at his feet, distinct in the cold,
+clear air, from the dark mass of pines that closed its upper end to
+the swelling woods of oak and beech that cut it off from the great
+Strath. He had received a warm welcome from all kinds of people, and
+now he marked with human sympathy each little homestead with its
+belt of firs against the winter's storms, and its stackyard where
+the corn had been gathered safe; the ploughman and his horses
+cutting brown ribbons in the bare stubble; dark squares where the
+potato stalks have withered to the ground, and women are raising the
+roots, and here and there a few cattle still out in the fields. His
+eye fell on the great wood through which he had rambled in August,
+now one blaze of colour, rich green and light yellow, with patches
+of fiery red and dark purple. God seemed to have given him a sermon,
+and he wrote that evening, like one inspired, on the same parable of
+nature Jesus loved, with its subtle interpretation of our sorrows,
+joys, trust, and hope. People told me that it was a "rael bonnie
+sermon," and that Netherton had forgotten his after-sermon snuff,
+although it was his turn to pass the box to Burnbrae.
+
+The minister returned to his study in a fine glow of body and soul,
+to find a severe figure standing motionless in the middle of the
+room.
+
+"Wass that what you call a sermon?" said Lachlan Campbell, without
+other greeting.
+
+John Carmichael was still so full of joy that he did not catch the
+tone, and explained with college pedantry that it was hardly a
+sermon, nor yet a lecture.
+
+"You may call it a meditation."
+
+"I will be calling it an essay without one bite of grass for
+starving sheep."
+
+Then the minister awoke from a pleasant dream, as if one had flung
+cold water on his naked body.
+
+"What was wrong?" with an anxious look at the stern little man who
+of a sudden had become his judge.
+
+"There wass nothing right, for I am not thinking that trees and
+leaves and stubble fields will save our souls, and I did not hear
+about sin and repentance and the work of Christ. It iss sound
+doctrine that we need, and a great peety you are not giving it."
+
+The minister had been made much of in college circles, and had a
+fair idea of himself. He was a kindly lad, but he did not see why he
+should be lectured by an old Highlandman who read nothing except
+Puritans, and was blind with prejudice. When they parted that
+Sabbath afternoon it was the younger man that had lost his temper,
+and the other did not offer to shake hands.
+
+Perhaps the minister would have understood Lachlan better if he had
+known that the old man could not touch food when he got home, and
+spent the evening in a fir wood praying for the lad he had begun to
+love. And Lachlan would have had a lighter heart if he had heard the
+minister questioning himself whether he had denied the Evangel or
+sinned against one of Christ's disciples. They argued together; they
+prayed apart.
+
+Lachlan was careful to say nothing, but the congregation felt that
+his hand was against the minister, and Burnbrae took him to task.
+
+"Ye maunna be ower hard on him, Maister Campbell, for he's but
+young, and comin' on fine. He hes a hearty word for ilka body on the
+road, and the sicht o' his fresh young face in the poopit is a
+sermon itsel'."
+
+"You are wrong, Burnbrae, if you will be thinking that my heart iss
+not warm to the minister, for it went out unto him from the day he
+preached his first sermon. But the Lord regardeth not the
+countenance of man."
+
+"Nae doot, nae doot, but I canna see onything wrang in his doctrine;
+it wudna be reasonable tae expect auld-fashioned sermons frae a
+young man, and I wud coont them barely honest. A'm no denying that
+he gaes far afield, and taks us tae strange lands when he's on his
+travels, but ye 'ill acknowledge that he gaithers mony treasures,
+and he aye comes back tae Christ."
+
+"No, I will not be saying that John Carmichael does not love Christ,
+for I hef seen the Lord in his sermons like a face through a
+lattice. Oh yes, and I hef felt the fragrance of the myrrh. But I am
+not liking his doctrine, and I wass thinking that some day there
+will be no original sin left in the parish of Drumtochty."
+
+It was about this time that the minister made a great mistake,
+although he was trying to do his best for the people, and always
+obeyed his conscience. He used to come over to the Cottage for a
+ramble through my books, and one evening he told me that he had
+prepared what he called a "course" on Biblical criticism, and was
+going to place Drumtochty on a level with Germany. It was certainly
+a strange part for me to advise a minister, but I had grown to like
+the lad, because he was full of enthusiasm and too honest for this
+world, and I implored him to be cautious. Drumtochty was not anxious
+to be enlightened about the authors of the Pentateuch, being quite
+satisfied with Moses, and it was possible that certain good men in
+Drumtochty might resent any interference with their herditary
+notions. Why could he not read this subject for his own pleasure,
+and teach it quietly in classes? Why give himself away in the
+pulpit? This worldly counsel brought the minister to a white heat,
+and he rose to his feet. Had he not been ordained to feed his people
+with truth, and was he not bound to tell them all he knew? We were
+living in an age of transition, and he must prepare Christ's folk
+that they be not taken unawares. If he failed in his duty through
+any fear of consequences, men would arise afterwards to condemn him
+for cowardice, and lay their unbelief at his door. When he ceased I
+was ashamed of my cynical advice, and resolved never again to
+interfere with "courses" or other matters above the lay mind. But
+greater knowledge of the world had made me a wise prophet.
+
+Within a month the Free Kirk was in an uproar, and when I dropped in
+one Sabbath morning the situation seemed to me a very pathetic
+tragedy. The minister was offering to the honest country folk a mass
+of immature and undigested details about the Bible, and they were
+listening with wearied, perplexed faces. Lachlan Campbell sat grim
+and watchful, without a sign of flinching, but even from the Manse
+pew I could detect the suffering of his heart. When the minister
+blazed into polemic against the bigotry of the old school, the iron
+face quivered as if a father had been struck by his son. Carmichael
+looked thin and nervous in the pulpit, and it came to me that if new
+views are to be preached to old-fashioned people it ought not to be
+by lads who are always heady and intolerant, but by a stout man of
+middle age, with a rich voice and a good-natured manner. Had
+Carmichael rasped and girded much longer, one would have believed in
+the inspiration of the vowel points, and I left the church with a
+low heart, for this was a woeful change from his first sermon.
+
+Lachlan would not be pacified, not even by the plea of the
+minister's health.
+
+"Oh yes, I am seeing that he is ill, and I will be as sorry as any
+man in Drumtochty. But it iss not too much work, as they are saying;
+it iss the judgment of God. It iss not goot to meddle with Moses,
+and John Carmichael will be knowing that. His own sister wass not
+respectful to Moses, and she will not be feeling fery well next
+day."
+
+But Burnbrae added that the "auld man cudna be mair cast doon if he
+hed lost his dochter."
+
+The peace of the Free Kirk had been broken, and the minister was
+eating out his heart, when he remembered the invitation of Marget
+Howe, and went one sweet spring day to Whinnie Knowe.
+
+Marget met him with her quiet welcome at the garden gate.
+
+"Ye hae dune me a great kindness in comin', Maister Carmichael, and
+if ye please we 'ill sit in this sunny corner which is dear tae me,
+and ye 'ill tell me yir troubles."
+
+So they sat down together beside the brier bush, and after one
+glance at Marget's face the minister opened his heart, and told her
+the great controversy with Lachlan.
+
+Marget lifted her head as one who had heard of some brave deed, and
+there was a ring in her voice.
+
+"It maks me prood before God that there are twa men in Drumtochty
+who follow their conscience as king, and coont truth dearer than
+their ain freends. It's peetifu' when God's bairns fecht through
+greed and envy, but it's hertsome when they are wullin' tae wrestle
+aboot the Evangel, for surely the end o' it a' maun be peace.
+
+"A've often thocht that in the auld days baith the man on the rack
+and the inqueesitor himself micht be gude men and accepted o' God,
+and maybe the inqueesitor suffered mair than the martyr. A'm
+thinkin', Maister Carmichael, that it's been hardest on Lachlan."
+
+The minister's head was buried in his hands, but his heart was with
+Marget.
+
+"It's a strange buik the Bible, and no the buik we wud hae made, tae
+judge by oor bit creeds and confessions. It's like a head o' aits in
+the harvest time. There's the ear that hauds the grain and keeps it
+safe, and that's the history, and there's often no mickle nutriment
+in it; then there's the corn lying in the ear, which is the Evangel
+frae Eden tae Revelation, and that is the bread o' the soul. But the
+corn maun be threshed first and the cauf (chaff) cleaned aff. It's a
+bonnie sicht tae see the pure grain fallin' like a rinnin' burn on
+the corn-room floor, and a glint o' the sun through the window
+turning it intae gold. But the stour (dust) o' the cauf room is mair
+than onybody can abide, and the cauf's worth naethin' when the
+corn's awa."
+
+"Ye mean," said the minister, "that my study is the threshin' mill,
+and that some of the chaff has got into the pulpit."
+
+"Yir no offended," and Marget's voice trembled.
+
+Then the minister lifted his head and laughed aloud with joy, while
+a swift flash of humour lit up Marget's face.
+
+"You've been the voice of God to me this day, Mrs. Howe, but if I
+give up my 'course,' the people will misunderstand, for I know
+everything I gave was true, and I would give it all again if it were
+expedient."
+
+"Nae fear, Maister Carmichael, naebody misunderstands that luves,
+and the fouk all luve ye, and the man that hauds ye dearest is
+Lachlan Campbell. I saw the look in his een that canna be mista'en."
+
+"I'll go to him this very day," and the minister leaped to his feet.
+
+"Ye 'ill no regret it," said Marget, "for God will give ye peace."
+
+Lachlan did not see the minister coming, for he was busy with a lamb
+that had lost its way and hurt itself. Carmichael marked with a
+growing tenderness at his heart how gently the old man washed and
+bound up the wounded leg, all the time crooning to the frightened
+creature in the sweet Gaelic speech, and also how he must needs give
+the lamb a drink of warm milk before he set it free.
+
+When he rose from his work of mercy, he faced the minister.
+
+For an instant Lachlan hesitated, and then at the look on
+Carmichael's face he held out both his hands.
+
+"This iss a goot day for me, and I bid you ten thousand welcomes."
+
+But the minister took the first word.
+
+"You and I, Lachlan, have not seen eye to eye about some things
+lately, and I am not here to argue which is nearer the truth,
+because perhaps we may always differ on some lesser matters. But
+once I spoke rudely to you, and often I have spoken unwisely in my
+sermons. You are an old man and I am a young, and I ask you to
+forgive me and to pray that both of us may be kept near the heart of
+our Lord, whom we love, and who loves us."
+
+No man can be so courteous as a Celt, and Lachlan was of the pure
+Highland breed, kindest of friends, fiercest of foes.
+
+"You hef done a beautiful deed this day, Maister Carmichael; and the
+grace of God must hef been exceeding abundant in your heart. It iss
+this man that asks your forgiveness, for I wass full of pride, and
+did not speak to you as an old man should; but God iss my witness
+that I would hef plucked out my right eye for your sake. You will
+say every word God gives you, and I will take as much as God gives
+me, and there will be a covenant between us as long as we live."
+
+They knelt together on the earthen floor of that Highland cottage,
+the old school and the new, before one Lord, and the only difference
+in their prayers was that the young man prayed they might keep the
+faith once delivered unto the saints, while the burden of the old
+man's prayer was that they might be led into all truth.
+
+Lachlan's portion that evening ought to have been the slaying of
+Sisera from the Book of Judges, but instead he read, to Flora's
+amazement--it was the night before she left her home--the thirteenth
+chapter of I Corinthians, and twice he repeated to himself, "Now we
+see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HIS BITTER SHAME
+
+The Free Kirk people were very proud of their vestry because the
+Established Church had none, and because it was reasonably supposed
+to be the smallest in Scotland. When the minister, who touched five
+feet eleven, and the beadle, who was three inches taller, assembled
+for the procession, with the precentor, a man of fair proportions,
+there was no waste ground in that room, and any messenger from the
+church door had to be selected with judgment. "Step up, Airchie man,
+tae the vestry," Burnbrae would say to the one under-sized man in
+Drumtochty, "and tell the minister no tae forget the Jews. Ye can
+birse (push) in fine, but it wud beat me to get by the door. It's a
+bonnie bit room, but three fouk stannin' maks it contrakit for
+another man,"
+
+It was eight feet by eight, and consisted largely of two doors and a
+fireplace, and its chief glory was a portrait of Dr. Chalmers, whose
+face, dimly seen in the light of the lamp, was a charter of
+authority, and raised the proceedings to the level of history.
+Lockers on either side of the mantelpiece contained the church
+library, which abounded in the lives of Scottish worthies, and was
+never lightly disturbed. Where there was neither grate nor door, a
+narrow board ran along the wall, on which it was simply a point of
+honour to seat the twelve deacons, who met once a month to raise the
+Sustentation Fund by modest, heroic sacrifices of hard-working
+people, and to keep the slates on the church roof in winter. When
+they had nothing else to do, they talked about the stove which "came
+out in '43," and, when it was in good humour, would raise the
+temperature in winter one degree above freezing. Seating the court
+was a work of art, and could only be achieved by the repression of
+the smaller men, who looked out from the loopholes of retreat, the
+projection of bigger men on to their neighbours' knees, and the
+absolute elimination of Archie Moncur, whose voice made motions on
+temperance from the lowest depths. Netherton was always the twelfth
+man to arrive, and nothing could be done till he was safely settled.
+Only some six inches were reserved at the end of the bench, and he
+was a full sitter, but he had discovered a trick of sitting sideways
+and screwing his leg against the opposite wall, that secured the
+court as well as himself in their places on the principle of a
+compressed spring. When this operation was completed, Burnbrae used
+to say to the minister, who sat in the middle on a cane chair before
+the tiniest of tables--the living was small, and the ministers never
+grew fat till they left--
+
+"We're fine and comfortable noo, Moderator, and ye can begin
+business as sune as ye like."
+
+As there were only six elders they could sit in state, besides
+leaving a vacant space for any penitents who came to confess their
+sins and receive absolution, or some catechumen who wished to be
+admitted to the sacrament. Carmichael used to say that a meeting of
+Session affected his imagination, and would have made an interior
+for Rembrandt. On one side of the table sat the men who represented
+the piety of the district, and were supposed to be "far ben" in the
+Divine fellowship, and on the other some young girl in her
+loneliness, who wrung her handkerchief in terror of this dreaded
+spiritual court, and hoped within her heart that no elder would ask
+her "effectual calling" from the Shorter Catechism; while the little
+lamp, hanging from the ceiling, and swinging gently in the wind that
+had free access from every airt, cast a fitful light on the fresh,
+tearful face of the girl and the hard, weather-beaten countenances
+of the elders, composed into a serious gravity not untouched by
+tenderness. They were little else than labouring men, but no one was
+elected to that court unless he had given pledges of godliness, and
+they bore themselves as men who had the charge of souls.
+
+The little Sanhedrim had within it the school of Hillel, which was
+swayed by mercy, and its Rabbi was Burnbrae; and the school of
+Shammai, whose rule was inflexible justice, and its Rabbi was
+Lachlan Campbell. Burnbrae was a big-hearted man, with a fatherly
+manner, and had a genius for dealing with "young communicants."
+
+"Weel, Jessie, we're awfu pleased tae think yer gaein' forrit, and
+the Dominie wes tellin' me juist last week that ye did yir work at
+schule graund, and knew yir Bible frae end tae end.
+
+"It'll no be easy to speir (ask) the like o' you questions, but ye
+mind Abraham, Jessie."
+
+"Ou ay," and Jessie is all alert, although she is afraid to look up.
+
+"What was the name o' his wife, noo?"
+
+"Sarah, an' their son was Isaac."
+
+"That's richt, and what aboot Isaac's wife?"
+
+"Isaac mairrit Rebecca, and they hed twa sons, Jacob and Esau," and
+the girl takes a shy glance at the honest elder, and begins to feel
+at home.
+
+"Domsie wesna far wrang, a' see, but it's no possible ye cud tell us
+the names o' Jacob's sons; it's maybe no fair tae ask sic a teuch
+question," knowing all the while that this was a test case of
+Domsie's.
+
+When Jessie reached Benjamin, Burnbrae could not contain himself.
+
+"It's nae use trying to stick Jessie wi' the Bible, neeburs; we 'ill
+see what she can dae wi' the Carritches (Catechism). Yir no the
+lassie that said the questions frae beginning tae end wi' twa
+mistaks, are ye?"
+
+Yes, she was, and dared him to come on, for Jessie has forgotten the
+minister and all the Session.
+
+"The elders wud like tae hear 'What is the Lord's Supper?'"
+
+"That's it; and, Jessie, ma woman, gie's the 'worthy receiving.'"
+
+Jessie achieves another triumph, and is now ready for anything.
+
+"Ye hae the Word weel stored in yir mind, lassie, and ye maun keep
+it in yir life, and dinna forget that Christ's a gude Maister."
+
+"A'll dae ma best," and Jessie declared that Burnbrae had been as
+kind as if she had been "his ain bairn," and that she "wasna feared
+ava." But her trial is not over; the worst is to come.
+
+Lachlan began where Burnbrae ended, and very soon had Jessie on the
+rack.
+
+"How old will you be?"
+
+"Auchteen next Martinmas."
+
+"And why will you be coming to the sacrament?"
+
+"Ma mither thocht it was time," with a threatening of tears as she
+looked at the face in the corner.
+
+"Ye will maybe tell the Session what hass been your 'lawwork' and
+how long ye hef been at Sinai."
+
+"A' dinna ken what yir askin'. I was never oot o' Drumtochty," and
+Jessie breaks down utterly.
+
+"A' dinna think, Moderator, we ocht tae ask sic questions," broke in
+Burnbrae, who could not see a little one put to confusion; "an' I
+canna mind them in the Gospels. There's ae commandment Jessie keeps
+weel, as a' can testeefy, and that's the fifth, for there's no a
+better dochter in Drumtochty. A' move, Moderator, she get her token;
+dinna greet, puir woman, for ye've dune weel, and the Session's rael
+satisfeed."
+
+"It wass Dr. John's mark I wass trying the girl by," explained
+Lachlan after Jessie had gone away comforted. "And it iss a goot
+mark, oh yes, and very searching.
+
+"Ye will maybe not know what it iss, Moderator," and Lachlan
+regarded the minister with austere superiority, for it was the
+winter of the feud.
+
+No, he did not, nor any of the Session, being all douce Scotchmen,
+except Donald Menzies who was at home fighting the devil.
+
+"It iss broken bones, and Dr. John did preach three hours upon it at
+Auchindarroch Fast, and there wass not many went to the Sacrament on
+that occasion.
+
+"Broken bones iss a fine mark to begin with, and the next will be
+doubts. But there iss a deeper," continued Lachlan, warming to his
+subject, "oh yes, far deeper, and I heard of it when I wass North
+for the sheep, and I will not be forgetting that day with Janet
+Macfarlane.
+
+"I knew she wass a professor, and I wass looking for her marks. But
+it wass not for me to hef been searching her; it wass that woman
+that should hef been trying me."
+
+A profound silence wrapt the Session.
+
+"'Janet,' I said, 'hef ye had many doubts?'
+
+"'Doubts, Lachlan? was that what you asked? I hef had desertions,
+and one will be for six months.'
+
+"So I saw she wass far beyond me, for I dare not be speaking about
+desertions."
+
+Two minutes after the minister pronounced the benediction, and no
+one had offered any remark in the interval.
+
+It seemed to the elders that Lachlan dealt hardly with young people
+and those that had gone astray, but they learned one evening that
+his justice had at least no partiality. Burnbrae said afterwards
+that Lachlan "looked like a ghaist comin' in at the door," but he
+sat in silence in the shadow, and no one marked the agony on his
+face till the end.
+
+"If that iss all the business, Moderator, I hef to bring a case of
+discipline before the Session, and ask them to do their duty. It iss
+known to me that a young woman who hass been a member of this church
+hass left her home and gone into the far country. There will be no
+use in summoning her to appear before the Session, for she will
+never be seen again in this parish. I move that she be cut off from
+the roll, and her name iss "--and Lachlan's voice broke, but in an
+instant he recovered himself--"her name iss Flora Campbell."
+
+Carmichael confessed to me that he was stricken dumb, and that
+Lachlan's ashen face held him with an awful fascination.
+
+It was Burnbrae that first found a voice, and showed that night the
+fine delicacy of heart that may be hidden behind a plain exterior.
+
+"Moderator, this is a terrible calamity that hes befaen oor brither,
+and a'm feelin' as if a' hed lost a bairn o' my ane, for a sweeter
+lassie didna cross oor kirk door. Nane o' us want tae know what hes
+happened or where she hes gane, and no a word o' this wull cross oor
+lips. Her faither's dune mair than cud be expeckit o' mortal man,
+and noo we have oor duty. It's no the way o' this Session tae cut
+aff ony member o' the flock at a stroke, and we 'ill no begin with
+Flora Campbell. A' move, Moderator, that her case be left tae her
+faither and yersel, and oor neebur may depend on it that Flora's
+name and his ain will be mentioned in oor prayers, ilka mornin' an'
+nicht till the gude Shepherd o' the sheep brings her hame."
+
+Burnbrae paused, and then, with tears in his voice--men do not weep
+in Drumtochty--"With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is
+plenteous redemption."
+
+The minister took the old man's arm and led him into the manse, and
+set him in the big chair by the study fire. "Thank God, Lachlan, we
+are friends now; tell me about it as if I were your son and Flora's
+brother."
+
+The father took a letter out of an inner pocket with a trembling
+hand, and this is what Carmichael read by the light of the lamp:--
+
+"DEAR FATHER,--When this reaches you I will be in London, and not
+worthy to cross your door. Do not be always angry with me, and try
+to forgive me, for you will not be troubled any more by my dancing
+or dressing. Do not think that I will be blaming you, for you have
+been a good father to me, and said what you would be considering
+right, but it is not easy for a man to understand a girl. Oh, if I
+had had my mother, then she would have understood me, and I would
+not have crossed you. Forget poor Flora's foolishness, but you will
+not forget her, and maybe you will still pray for me. Take care of
+the geraniums for my sake, and give milk to the lamb that you called
+after me. I will never see you again, in this world or the next nor
+my mother ... (here the letter was much blotted). When I think that
+there will be no one to look after you, and have the fire burning
+for you on winter nights, I will be rising to come back. But it is
+too late, too late. Oh, the disgrace I will be bringing on you in
+the glen.--Your unworthy daughter,
+
+FLORA CAMPBELL."
+
+"This is a fiery trial, Lachlan, and I cannot even imagine what you
+are suffering. But do not despair, for that is not the letter of a
+bad girl. Perhaps she was impatient, and has been led astray. But
+Flora is good at heart, and you must not think she is gone forever."
+
+Lachlan groaned, the first moan he had made, and then he tottered to
+his feet.
+
+"You are fery kind, Maister Carmichael, and so wass Burnbrae, and I
+will be thankful you all, but you do not understand. Oh no, you do
+not understand." Lachlan caught hold of a chair and looked the
+minister in the face.
+
+"She hass gone, and there will be no coming back. You would not take
+her name from the roll of the church, and I will not be meddling
+with that book. But I hef blotted out her name from my Bible, where
+her mother's name iss written and mine. She has wrought confusion in
+Israel and in an elder's house, and I ... I hef no danghter. But I
+loved her; she nefer knew how I loved her, for her mother would be
+looking at me from her eyes."
+
+The minister walked with Lachlan to the foot of the hill on which
+his cottage stood, and after they had shaken hands in silence, he
+watched the old man's figure in the cold moonlight till he
+disappeared into the forsaken home, where the fire had gone out on
+the hearth, and neither love nor hope were waiting for a broken
+heart.
+
+The railway did not think it worth while to come to Drumtochty, and
+we, were cut off from the lowlands by miles of forest, so our
+manners retained the fashion of the former age. Six elders, besides
+the minister, knew the tragedy of Flora Campbell, and never opened
+their lips. Mrs. Macfadyen, who was our newspaper, and understood
+her duty, refused to pry into this secret. The pity of the glen went
+out to Lachlan, but no one even looked a question as he sat alone in
+his pew or came down on a Saturday afternoon to the village shop for
+his week's provisions. London friends thought me foolish about my
+adopted home, but I asked them whether they could find such perfect
+good manners in Belgravia, and they were silent. My Drumtochty
+neighbours would have played an awkward part in a drawing-room, but
+never have I seen in all my wanderings men and women of truer
+courtesy or tenderer heart.
+
+"It gars ma hert greet tae see him," Mrs. Macfadyen said to me one
+day, "sae booed an' disjackit, him that wes that snod (tidy) and
+firm. His hair's turned white in a month, and he's awa' tae naething
+in his claithes. But least said is sunest mended. It's no richt tae
+interfere wi' another's sorrow, an' it wad be an awfu' sin tae
+misca' a young lassie. We maun juist houp that Flora 'll sune come
+back, for if she disna Lachlan 'ill no be lang wi's. He's sayin'
+naethin', and a' respeck him for't; but onybody can see that his
+hert is breakin'."
+
+We were helpless till Marget Howe met Lachlan in the shop and read
+his sorrow at a glance. She went home to Whinnie Knowe in great
+distress.
+
+"It wes waesome tae see the auld man githerin' his bit things wi' a
+shakin' hand, and speakin' tae me aboot the weather, and a' the time
+his eyes were sayin', 'Flora, Flora.'"
+
+"Whar div ye think the young hizzie is, Marget?"
+
+"Naebody needs tae know, Weelum, an' ye maunna speak that way, for
+whatever's come ower her, she's dear to Lachlan and tae God.
+
+"It's laid on me tae veesit Lachlan, for a'm thinking oor Father
+didna comfort us withoot expeckin' that we wud comfort other fouk."
+
+When Marget came round the corner of Lachlan's cottage, she found
+Flora's plants laid out in the sun, and her father watering them on
+his knees. One was ready to die, and for it he had made a shelter
+with his plaid.
+
+He was taken unawares, but in a minute he was leading Marget in with
+hospitable words.
+
+"It iss kind of you to come to an old man's house, Mistress Howe,
+and it iss a fery warm day. You will not care for speerits, but I am
+fery goot at making tea."
+
+Marget was not as other women, and she spoke at once.
+
+"Maister Campbell, ye will believe that I hev come in the love of
+God, and because we hev baith been afflickit. I had ae son, and he
+is gone; ye had a dochter, and she is gone. A' ken where George is,
+and am sateesfied. A' doot sairly yir sorrow is deeper than mine."
+
+"Would to God that she wass lying in the kirkyard; but I will not
+speak of her. She iss not anything to me this day. See, I will show
+you what I hef done, for she hass been a black shame to her name."
+
+He opened the Bible, and there was Flora's name scored with wavering
+strokes, but the ink had run as if it had been mingled with tears.
+
+Marget's heart burned within her at the sight, and perhaps she could
+hardly make allowance for Lachlan's blood and theology.
+
+"This is what ye hev dune, and ye let a woman see yir wark. Ye are
+an auld man, and in sore travail, but a' tell ye before God ye hae
+the greater shame. Juist twenty years o' age this spring, and her
+mither dead. Nae woman to watch over her, and she wandered frae the
+fold, and a' ye can dae is to tak her oot o' yir Bible. Waes me if
+oor Father had blotted out oor names frae the Book o' Life when we
+left His hoose. But He sent His ain Son to seek us, an' a weary road
+He cam. A' tell ye, a man wudna leave a sheep tae perish as ye hae
+cast aff yir ain bairn. Yir worse than Simon the Pharisee, for Mary
+was nae kin tae him. Puir Flora, tae hae sic a father."
+
+"Who will be telling you that I wass a Pharisee?" cried Lachlan,
+quivering in every limb, and grasping Marget's arm.
+
+"Forgie me, Lachlan, forgie me. It was the thocht o' the misguided
+lassie carried me, for a' didna come tae upbraid ye."
+
+But Lachlan had sunk into a chair and had forgotten her.
+
+"She hass the word, and God will hef smitten the pride of my heart,
+for it iss Simon that I am. I wass hard on my child, and I wass hard
+on the minister, and there wass none like me. The Lord has laid my
+name in the dust, and I will be angry with her. But she iss the
+scapegoat for my sins, and hass gone into the desert. God be
+merciful to me a sinner." And then Marget understood no more, for
+the rest was in Gaelic, but she heard Flora's name with another she
+took to be her mother's twined together.
+
+So Marget knew it would be well with Lachlan yet, and she wrote this
+letter:
+
+"MY DEAR LASSIE,--Ye ken that I wes aye yir freend, and I am writing
+this tae say that yir father luves ye mair than ever, and is wearing
+oot his hert for the sicht o' yir face. Come back, or he'll dee
+thro' want o' his bairn. The glen is bright and bonny noo, for the
+purple heather is on the hills, and doon below the gowden corn, wi'
+bluebell and poppy flowers between. Naebody 'ill ask ye where ye've
+been, or onything else; there's no a bairn in the place that's no
+wearying tae see ye; and, Flora, lassie, if there will be sic
+gledness in oor wee glen when ye come hame, what think ye o' the joy
+in the Father's Hoose? Start the verra meenute that ye get this
+letter; yir father bids ye come, and I'm writing this in place o'
+yir mother.
+
+MARGET HOWE."
+
+Marget went out to tend the flowers while Lachlan read the letter,
+and when he gave it back the address was written in his own hand.
+
+He went as far as the crest of the hill with Marget, and watched her
+on the way to the post office till she was only a speck upon the
+road.
+
+When he entered his cottage the shadows were beginning to fall, and
+he remembered it would soon be night.
+
+"It iss in the dark that Flora will be coming, and she must know
+that her father iss waiting for her."
+
+He cleaned and trimmed with anxious hand a lamp that was kept for
+show, and had never been used. Then he selected from his books
+Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an angry God," and "Coles on the
+Divine Sovereignty," and on them he laid the large family Bible out
+of which Flora's name had been blotted. This was the stand on which
+he set the lamp in the window, and every night till Flora returned
+its light shone down the steep path that ascended to her home, like
+the Divine Love from the open door of our Father's House.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+LIKE AS A FATHER
+
+It was only by physical force and a free use of personalities that
+the Kildrummie passengers could be entrained at the Junction, and
+the Drumtochty men were always the last to capitulate.
+
+They watched the main line train that had brought them from Muirtown
+disappear in the distance, and then broke into groups to discuss the
+cattle sale at leisure, while Peter, the factotum of the little
+Kildrummie branch, drove his way through their midst with offensive
+pieces of luggage, and abused them by name without respect of
+persons.
+
+"It's maist aggravatin', Drumsheugh, 'at ye 'ill stand there girnin'
+at the prices, as if ye were a puir cottar body that hed selt her ae
+coo, and us twal meenutes late. Man, get intae yer kerridge; he 'ill
+no be fat that buys frae you, a'll wager."
+
+"Peter's in an awfu' feery-farry (excitement) the nicht, neeburs,"
+Drumsheugh would respond, after a long pause; "ye wud think he wes a
+mail gaird tae hear him speak. Mind ye, a'm no gain' tae shove ahint
+if the engine sticks, for I hae na time. He needs a bit nip," and
+Drumsheugh settles himself in his seat, "or else there wud be nae
+leevin' wi' him."
+
+Peter escaped this winged shaft, for he had detected a woman in the
+remote darkness.
+
+"Keep's a', wumman, what are ye stravagin' about there for out o' a
+body's sicht? a' near set aff withoot ye."
+
+Then Peter recognised her face, and his manner softened of a sudden.
+
+"Come awa', lassie, come awa'; a' didna ken ye at the moment, but a'
+heard ye hed been veesitin' in the sooth.
+
+"The third is terrible full wi' thae Drumtochty lads, and ye 'ill
+hear naething but Drumsheugh's stirks; ye 'ill maybe be as handy in
+oor second." And Flora Campbell stepped in unseen.
+
+Between the Junction and Kildrummie Peter was accustomed to wander
+along the footboard, collecting tickets and identifying passengers.
+He was generally in fine trim on the way up, and took ample revenge
+for the insults of the departure. But it was supposed that Peter had
+taken Drumsheugh's withering sarcasm to heart, for he attached
+himself to the second that night, and was invisible to the expectant
+third till the last moment.
+
+"Ye've hed a lang journey, Miss Cammil, and ye maun be nearly dune
+wi' tire; juist ye sit still till the fouk get awa', and the guid
+wife and me wud be prood if ye took a cup o' tea wi's afore ye
+stairted hame. A'll come for ye as sune as a' get the van emptied
+and ma little trokes feenished."
+
+Peter hurried up to his cottage in such hot haste that his wife came
+out in great alarm.
+
+"Na, their's naethin' wrang; it's the opposite way this nicht. Ye
+mind o' Flora Cammil that left her father, and name o' the
+Drumtochty fouk wud say onything aboot her. Weel, she's in the
+train, and a've asked her up tae rest, and she was gled tae come,
+puir thing. Sae gie her a couthy welcome, wumman, and the best in
+the hoose, for oors 'ill be the first roof she 'ill be under on her
+way hame."
+
+Our women do not kiss one another like the city ladies; but the
+motherly grip of Mary Bruce's hand sent a thrill to Flora's heart.
+
+"Noo a' ca' this rael kind o' ye, Miss Cammil, tae come in withoot
+ceremony, and a'd be terrible pleased if ye would dae it ony time
+yer traivellin'. The rail is by ordinar' fateegin', and a cup o' tea
+'ill set ye up," and Mary had Flora in the best chair, and was
+loading her plate with homely dainties.
+
+Peter would speak of nothing but the new engine that was coming, and
+was to place the Kildrummie branch beyond ridicule for ever, and on
+this great event he continued without intermission till he parted
+with Flora on the edge of the pine woods that divided Drumtochty
+from Kildrummie.
+
+"Gude nicht tae ye, Miss Cammil, and thank ye again for yir veesit.
+Bring the auld man wi' ye next time ye're passing, though a'm feared
+ye've been deived (deafened) wi' the engine."
+
+Flora took Peter's hand, that was callous and rough with the turning
+of brakes and the coupling of chains.
+
+"It wass not your new engine you wass thinking about this night,
+Peter Bruce, but a poor girl that iss in trouble. I hef not the
+words, but I will be remembering your house, oh yes, as long as I
+live."
+
+Twice Peter stood on his way home; the first time he slapped his leg
+and chuckled:
+
+"Sall, it was gey clever o' me; a hale kerridge o' Drumtochty lads,
+and no ane o' them ever hed a glint o' her."
+
+At the second stoppage he drew his hand across his eyes.
+
+"Puir lassie, a' houp her father 'ill be kind tae her, for she's
+sair broken, and looks liker deith than life."
+
+No one can desire a sweeter walk than through a Scottish pine wood
+in late September, where you breathe the healing resinous air, and
+the ground is crisp and springy beneath your feet, and gentle
+animals dart away on every side, and here and there you come on an
+open space with a pool, and a brake of gorse. Many a time on market
+days Flora had gone singing through these woods, plucking a posy of
+wild flowers and finding a mirror in every pool, as young girls
+will; but now she trembled and was afraid. The rustling of the trees
+in the darkness, the hooting of an owl, the awful purity of the
+moonlight in the glades, the cold sheen of the water, were to her
+troubled conscience omens of judgment. Had it not been for the
+kindness of Peter Bruce, which was a pledge of human forgiveness,
+there would have been no heart in her to dare that wood, and it was
+with a sob of relief she escaped from the shadow and looked upon the
+old glen once more, bathed from end to end in the light of the
+harvest moon. Beneath her ran our little river, spanned by its
+quaint old bridge; away on the right the Parish Kirk peeped out from
+a clump of trees; half way up the glen the clachan lay surrounded by
+patches of corn; and beyond were the moors, with a shepherd's
+cottage that held her heart. Two hours ago squares of light told of
+warmth and welcome within; but now, as Flora passed one house after
+another, it seemed as if every one she knew was dead, and she was
+forgotten in her misery. Her heart grew cold, and she longed to lie
+down and die, when she caught the gleam of a lighted window. Some
+one was living still to know she had repented, and she knelt down
+among the flowers with her ear to the glass to hear the sound of a
+human voice. Archie Moncur had come home late from a far-away job,
+but he must needs have worship with his sister before they went to
+bed, and well did he choose the psalm that night. Flora's tears
+rained upon the mignonette as the two old people sang:
+
+  "When Sion's bondage God turned back,
+     As men that dreamed were we,
+   Then filled with laughter was our mouth,
+     Our tongue with melody;"
+
+while the fragrance of the flowers went up as incense unto God.
+
+All the way along the glen the last words of the psalm still rang in
+her ears, "Rejoicing shall return," but as she touched the footpath
+to her home, courage failed her. Marget had written for her dead
+mother, but no one could speak with authority for her father. She
+knew the pride of his religion and his iron principles. If he
+refused her entrance, then it had been better for her to have died
+in London. A turn of the path brought her within sight of the
+cottage, and her heart came into her mouth, for the kitchen window
+was a blaze of light. One moment she feared Lachlan might be ill,
+but in the next she understood, and in the greatness of her joy she
+ran the rest of the way. When she reached the door, her strength had
+departed, and she was not able to knock. But there was no need, for
+the dogs, who never forget nor cast off, were bidding her welcome
+with short joyous yelps of delight, and she could hear her father
+feeling for the latch, which for once could not be found, and saying
+nothing but "Flora, Flora."
+
+She had made up some kind of speech, but the only word she ever said
+was "Father," for Lachlan, who had never even kissed her all the
+days of her youth, clasped her in his arms and sobbed out blessings
+over her head, while the dogs licked her hands with their soft,
+kindly tongues.
+
+"It iss a peety you hef not the Gaelic," Flora said to Marget
+afterwards; "it iss the best of all languages for loving. There are
+fifty words for darling, and my father would be calling me every one
+that night I came home."
+
+Lachlan was so carried with joy, and firelight is so hopeful, that
+he had not seen the signs of sore sickness on Flora's face, but the
+morning light undeceived him, and he was sadly dashed.
+
+"You will be fery tired after your long journey, Flora, and it iss
+good for you to rest. There iss a man in the clachan I am wanting to
+see, and he will maybe be comin' back with me."
+
+When Lachlan reached his place of prayer, he lay on the ground and
+cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, and spare her for Thy servant's
+sake, and let me not lose her after Thou hast brought her back and
+hast opened my heart.... Take her not till she hass seen that I love
+her.... Give me time to do her kindness for the past wherein I
+oppressed her.... O, turn away Thy judgment on my hardness, and let
+not the child suffer for her father's sins." Then he arose and
+hastened for the doctor.
+
+It was afternoon before Dr. MacLure could come, but the very sight
+of his face, which was as the sun in its strength, let light into
+the room where Lachlan sat at the bedside holding Flora's hand, and
+making woful pretence that she was not ill.
+
+"Weel, Flora, yeve got back frae yir veesits, and a' tell ye we've
+a' missed ye maist terrible. A' doot thae sooth country fouk haena
+been feeding ye ower weel, or maybe it was the toon air. It never
+agrees wi' me. A'm half chokit a' the time a'm in Glesgie, and as
+for London, there's ower mony fouk tae the square yaird for health."
+
+All the time he was busy at his work, and no man could do it better
+or quicker, although the outside of him was not encouraging.
+
+"Lachlan, what are ye traivellin' in and oot there for with a face
+that wud sour milk? What ails ye, man? ye're surely no imaginin'
+Flora's gaein' to leave ye?
+
+"Lord's sake, it's maist provokin' that if a body hes a bit whup o'
+illness in Drumtochty, their freends tak tae propheseein' deith."
+
+Lachlan had crept over to Flora's side, and both were waiting.
+
+"Na, na; ye ken a' never tell lees like the graund ceety doctors,
+and a'll warrant Flora 'ill be in kirk afore Martinmas, an' kiltin'
+up the braes as hardy as a hielan' sheltie by the new year."
+
+Flora puts an arm round her father's neck, and draws down his face
+to hers, but the doctor is looking another way.
+
+"Dinna fash wi' medicine; gie her plenty o' fresh milk and plenty o'
+air. There's nae leevin' for a doctor wi' that Drumtochty air; it
+hasna a marra in Scotland. It starts frae the Moray Firth and sweeps
+doon Badenoch, and comes ower the moor o' Rannoch and across the
+Grampians. There's the salt o' the sea, and the caller air o' the
+hills, and the smell o' the heather, and the bloom o'mony a flower
+in't. If there's nae disease in the organs o' the body, a puff o'
+Drumtochty air wud bring back a man frae the gates o' deith."
+
+"You hef made two hearts glad this day, Doctor McLure," said
+Lachlan, outside the door, "and I am calling you Barnabas."
+
+"Ye've ca'd me waur names than that in yir time," and the doctor
+mounted his horse. "It's dune me a warld o' guid tae see Flora in
+her hame again, and I'll gie Marget Howe a cry in passin' and send
+her up tae hae a crack, for there's no a wiser wumman in the glen."
+
+When Marget came, Flora told her the history of her letter.
+
+"It wass a beautiful night in London, but I will be thinking that
+there iss no living person caring whether I die or live, and I wass
+considering how I could die, for there iss nothing so hopeless as to
+hef no friend in a great city. It iss often that I hef been alone on
+the moor, and no man within miles, but I wass never lonely, oh no, I
+had plenty of good company. I would sit down beside a burn, and the
+trout will swim out from below a stone, and the cattle will come to
+drink, and the muirfowl will be crying to each other, and the sheep
+will be bleating, oh yes, and there are the bees all round, and a
+string of wild ducks above your head. It iss a busy place a moor,
+and a safe place too, for there iss not one of the animals will hurt
+you. No, the big highlanders will only look at you and go away to
+their pasture. But it iss weary to be in London and no one to speak
+a kind word to you, and I will be looking at the crowd that iss
+always passing, and I will not see one kent face, and when I looked
+in at the lighted windows the people were all sitting round the
+table, but there wass no place for me. Millions and millions of
+people, and not one to say 'Flora,' and not one sore heart if I died
+that night. Then a strange thing happened, as you will be
+considering, but it iss good to be a Highlander, for we see visions.
+You maybe know that a wounded deer will try to hide herself, and I
+crept into the shadow of a church, and wept. Then the people and the
+noise and the houses passed away like the mist on the hill, and I
+wass walking to the kirk with my father, oh yes, and I saw you all
+in your places, and I heard the Psalms, and I could see through the
+window the green fields and the trees on the edge of the moor. And I
+saw my home, with the dogs before the door, and the flowers that I
+planted, and the lamb coming for her mik, and I heard myself singing,
+and I awoke. But there wass singing, oh yes, and beautiful too, for
+the dark church wass open, and the light wass falling over my head
+from the face of the Virgin Mary. When I arose she wass looking down
+at me in the darkness, and then I knew that there wass service in
+the church, and this wass the hymn--
+
+  "'There is a fountain filled with blood.'
+
+"So I went in and sat down at the door. The sermon wass on the
+Prodigal Son, but there iss only one word I remember. 'You are not
+forgotten or cast off,' the preacher said; 'you are missed,' and
+then he will come back to it again, and it wass always 'missed,
+missed, missed.' Sometimes he will say, 'If you had a plant, and you
+had taken great care of it, and it was stolen, would you not miss
+it?' And I will be thinking of my geraniums, and saying 'yes' in my
+heart. And then he will go on, 'If a shepherd wass counting his
+sheep, and there wass one short, does he not go out to the hill and
+seek for it?' and I will see my father coming back with that lamb
+that lost its mother. My heart wass melting within me, but he will
+still be pleading, 'If a father had a child, and she left her home
+and lost herself in the wicked city, she will still be remembered in
+the old house, and her chair will be there,' and I will be seeing my
+father all alone with the Bible before him, and the dogs will lay
+their heads on his knee, but there iss no Flora. So I slipped out
+into the darkness and cried 'Father,' but I could not go back, and I
+knew not what to do. But this wass ever in my ear, 'missed,' and I
+wass wondering if God will be thinking of me. 'Perhaps there may be
+a sign,' I said, and I went to my room, and I saw the letter. It
+wass not long before I will be in the train, and all the night I
+held your letter in my hand, and when I wass afraid I will read
+'Your father loves you more than efer,' and I will say, 'This is my
+warrant.' Oh yes, and God wass very good to me, and I did not want
+for friends all the way home.
+
+"The English guard noticed me cry, and he will take care of me all
+the night, and see me off at Muirtown, and this iss what he will say
+as the train wass leaving, in his cheery English way, 'Keep up your
+heart, lass, there's a good time coming,' and Peter Bruce will be
+waiting for me at the Junction, and a gentle man iss Peter Bruce,
+and Maister Moncur will be singing a psalm to keep up my heart, and
+I will see the light, and then I will know that the Lord hass had
+mercy upon me. That iss all I have to tell you, Marget, for the rest
+I will be saying to God."
+
+"But there iss something I must be telling," said Lachlan, coming
+in, "and it iss not easy."
+
+He brought over the Bible and opened it at the family register where
+his daughter's name had been erased; then he laid it down before
+Flora, and bowed his head on the bed.
+
+"Will you ever be able to forgive your father?"
+
+"Give me the pen, Marget;" and Flora wrote for a minute, but Lachlan
+never moved.
+
+When he lifted his head, this was what he read in a vacant space:--
+
+  FLORA CAMPBELL.
+  Missed April 1873.
+  Found September 1873.
+ "Her father fell on her neck and kissed her."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+AS A LITTLE CHILD
+
+Drumtochty made up its mind slowly upon any new-comer, and for some
+time looked into the far distance when his name was mentioned. He
+himself was struck with the studied indifference of the parish, and
+lived under the delusion that he had escaped notice. Perhaps he
+might have felt uncomfortable if he had suspected that he was under
+a microscope, and the keenest eyes in the country were watching
+every movement at kirk and market. His knowledge of theology, his
+preference in artificial manures, his wife's Sabbath dress, his
+skill in cattle, and his manner in the Kildrummie train, went as
+evidence in the case, and were duly weighed. Some morning the
+floating opinion suddenly crystallized in the kirkyard, and there is
+only one historical instance in which judgment was reversed. It was
+a strong proof of Lachlan Campbell's individuality that he impressed
+himself twice on the parish, and each time with a marked adjective.
+
+Lachlan had been superintending the theology of the glen and
+correcting our ignorance from an unapproachable height for two years
+before the word went forth, but the glen had been thinking.
+
+"Lachlan is a carefu' shepherd and fine wi' the ewes at the lambing
+time, there's nae doot o' that, but a' canna thole (bear) himsel'.
+Ye wud think there was nae releegion in the parish till he came frae
+Auchindarroch. What say ye, Domsie?"
+
+"Campbell's a censorious body, Drumsheugh," and Domsie shut his
+snuff-box lid with a snap.
+
+Drumsheugh nodded to the fathers of our commonwealth, and they went
+into kirk with silent satisfaction. Lachlan had been classified, and
+Peter Bruce, who prided himself on keeping in touch with Drumtochty,
+passed the word round the Kildrummie train next market night.
+
+"Ye haena that censorious body, Lachlan Campbell, wi' ye the nicht,"
+thrusting his head in on the thirds.
+
+"There's naething Peter disna ken," Hillocks remarked with
+admiration afterwards; "he's as gude as the _Advertiser_."
+
+When Flora had come home, and Drumtochty resumed freedom of
+criticism, I noticed for the first time a certain vacillation in its
+treatment of Lachlan.
+
+"He's pluckit up his speerit maist extraordinar," Hillocks
+explained, "and he whuppit by me like a three year auld laist
+Sabbath.
+
+"'I'm glad tae hear the Miss is comin' roond fine,' says I.
+
+"'It's the fouk o' Drumtochty hes made her weel. God bless you, for
+you hev done good for evil,' and wi' that he was aff afore I cud
+fin' a word.
+
+"He's changed, the body, some wy or ither, and there's a kind o'
+warmth aboot him ye canna get ower."
+
+Next day I turned into Mrs. Macfadyen's cottage for a cup of tea and
+the smack of that wise woman's conversation, but was not able to
+pass the inner door for the sight which met my eyes.
+
+Lachlan was sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with
+Elsie, Mrs. Macfadyen's pet child, on his knee, and their heads so
+close together that his white hair was mingling with her burnished
+gold. An odour of peppermint floated out at the door, and Elsie was
+explaining to Lachlan, for his guidance at the shop, that the round
+drops were a better bargain than the black and white rock.
+
+When Lachlan had departed, with gracious words on his lips and a
+very sticky imprint on his right cheek, I settled down in the big
+chair, beyond the power of speech, and Mrs. Macfadyen opened the
+mystery.
+
+"Ye may weel look, for twa month syne I wudna hae believed this day,
+though a' hed seen him wi' ma ain een.
+
+"It was juist this time laist year that he cam here on his elder's
+veesitation, and he catches the bairn in this verra kitchen.
+
+"'Elspeth,' says he--it was Elsie the day, ye mind--'div ye ken that
+ye're an oreeginal sinner?'
+
+"It was nichtfa' afore she got over the fricht, and when she saw him
+on the road next Sabbath, she cooried in ahint ma goon, and cried
+till I thocht her hert wud break.
+
+"'It's meeserable wark for Christ's Elder,' says Jeems, 'tae put the
+fear o' death on a bairn, and a'm thinkin' he wudna get muckle
+thanks frae his Maister if He wes here,' and Jeems wasna far wrong,
+though, of course, a' told him tae keep a quiet sough, and no conter
+the elder.
+
+"Weel, I sees Lachlan comin' up the road the day, and a' ran oot to
+catch Elsie and hide her in the byre. But a' micht hae saved mysel'
+the trouble: afore I got tae the gairden gate they were comin' up as
+chief (friendly) as ye like, and Lachlan wes callin' Elsie his
+bonnie dawtie.
+
+"If he hadna a pock o' peppermints--but it wesna that wiled Elsie's
+hert. Na, na, dogs and bairns can read fouks' faces, and mak nae
+mistakes. As sune as a' saw Lachlan's een a' kent he wes a new man.
+
+"Hoo has it come about? That's easy tae guess. Sax months syne
+Lachlan didna ken what father meant, and the heart wes wizened in
+the breist o' him wi' pride an' diveenity.
+
+"He kens noo, and a'm jalousing that nae man can be a richt father
+tae his ain without being sib (akin) tae every bairn he sees. It wes
+Flora he was dawting (petting) ye see the day, and he's learned his
+trade weel, though it cost him a sair lesson."
+
+Wonderful stories circulated through the glen, and were told in the
+kirkyard of a Sabbath morning, concerning the transformation of
+Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Ane o' ma wee lassies," expatiated Domsie, "fell comin' doon the
+near road frae Whinnie Knowe, and cuttit her cheek on the stones,
+and if Lachlan didna wash her face and comfort her; an' mair, he
+carried her a' the road tae the schule, and says he in his Hieland
+way, 'Here iss a brave little woman that hass hurt herself, but she
+will not be crying,' and he gave her a kiss and a penny tae buy some
+sweeties at the shop. It minded me o' the Gude Samaritan, fouks,"
+and everybody understood that Lachlan had captured Domsie for life.
+
+"It beats a' things," said Whinnie; "a' canna mak' oot what's come
+ower the cratur. There's a puckle o' the upland bairns pass oor wy
+frae schule, and whiles Lachlan 'ill meet them when he's aifter his
+sheep, and as sure as a'm stannin' here, he 'ill lay aff stories
+aboot battles and fairies, till the laddies 'ill hardly gae hame. I
+wes tellin' Marget this verra mornin', and she says, 'Lachlan's
+become as a little child.' I dinna haud wi' her there, but a
+quieter, mair cautious body ye never saw."
+
+Drumtochty was doing its best to focus Lachlan afresh, and felt the
+responsibility lay on Domsie, who accepted it cheerfully.
+
+"Marget's aye richt, neebours, and she's put the word on it noo. His
+tribble hes melted Lachlan's heart, an'--it's in the Evangel, ye
+ken--he's become as a little child."
+
+This language was too figurative and imposing for the parish, but it
+ran henceforward in our modest speech, "He's a cautious body."
+Cautious, with us, meant unassuming, kindly obliging, as well as
+much more; and I still hear Drumsheugh pronouncing this final
+judgment of the glen on Lachlan as we parted at his grave ten years
+later, and adding, "He 'ill be sair missed by the bairns."
+
+While the glen was readjusting itself to Lachlan, I came down from a
+long tramp on the moor, and intended to inquire for Flora. But I was
+arrested on the step by the sound of Lachlan's voice in family
+worship.
+
+"This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
+found. And they began to be merry."
+
+Lachlan's voice trembled as he read, but he went on with much
+firmness:
+
+"Now his elder son was in the field."
+
+"You will not be reading more of that chapter, father," interrupted
+Flora, with a new note of authority.
+
+"And why not?" said Lachlan, quite humbly.
+
+"Because you will be calling yourself the elder son and many more
+bad names, and I will be angry with you."
+
+"But they are true names, and it iss good for me to know myself."
+
+"You hef just one true name, and that iss father.... And now you
+will be singing a psalm."
+
+"There iss a book of himes (hymns) here, and maybe you will be
+liking one of them."
+
+And Lachlan produced the little book Flora got in that London church
+when the preacher told her she was missed.
+
+"We will not sing hymns, father, for I am remembering that you hef a
+conscience against hymns, and I did not know that you had that
+book."
+
+"My conscience wass sometimes better than the Bible, Flora, and if
+God will be sending a hime to bind up your heart when it wass
+broken, it iss your father that will be wanting to sing that hime.
+
+"It iss here," continued Lachlan in triumph, "for I hef often been
+reading that hime, and I am not seeing much wrong in it."
+
+"But each hymn hass got its own tune, father, and you will not know
+the way that it goes, and the doctor will not be wishing me to
+sing."
+
+"You are a good girl, Flora, but you are not so clever as your
+father, oh no, for I hef been trying that hime on the hill, and it
+will sing beautiful to a Psalm tune. You will lie still and hear."
+
+Then Lachlan lifted up his voice in "French,"
+
+  "There is a fountain filled with blood,
+     Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
+   And sinners plunged beneath that flood
+     Lose all their guilty stains."
+
+The singing was fairly good, with a whisper from Flora, till they
+came to that verse:
+
+  "Then in a nobler, sweeter song
+     I'll sing Thy power to save,
+   When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
+     Lies silent in the grave,"
+
+when Lachlan seemed to lose the tune, and be falling into a
+coronach.
+
+"We must not be singing that to-day, father, for God iss fery good
+to us, and I will be stronger every week, and maybe you will be
+saying that we are thankful in your prayer."
+
+Then I realised my baseness, and went off on tiptoe (had the dogs
+been at home it had not been so easy to escape); but first I heard,
+"Our Father." It was a new word for Lachlan; he used to say Jehovah.
+
+The doctor paid his last visit one frosty winter day, and was
+merciless on Lachlan.
+
+"What for are ye cockering up this lassie, and no getting her doon
+tae the kirk? it's clean disgracefu' in an Elder, and if I were yir
+minister a' wud hae ye sessioned. Sall, ye're hard enough on ither
+fouk that are no kirk greedy."
+
+"You will not be speaking that way next Sabbath, for it iss in her
+pew Flora will be sitting with her father," said Lachlan, in great
+spirits.
+
+Flora caught him studying her closely for some days, as if he were
+taking her measure, and he announced that he had business in
+Muirtown on Friday.
+
+When he came up in the market train he was carrying a large paper
+parcel, and attempted a joke with Peter at a window of the third.
+From a critical point of view it was beneath notice, but as
+Lachlan's first effort it was much tasted.
+
+"Ye 'ill believe me noo, Peter, since ye've heard him. Did ye ever
+see sic a change? it's maist astonishin'."
+
+"Man, Hillocks, div ye no see he's gotten back his dochter, and it's
+made him anither man?"
+
+Lachlan showed Flora a new pair of shears he had bought in Muirtown,
+and a bottle of sheep embrocation, but she did not know he had
+hidden his parcel in the byre, and that he opened it four separate
+times on Saturday.
+
+From daybreak on Sabbath Lachlan went in and out till he returned
+with Marget Howe.
+
+"Mrs. Howe iss very kind, and she will be coming to help you with
+your dresses, Flora, for we will be wanting you to look well this
+day, and here iss some small thing to keep you warm," and Lachlan
+produced with unspeakable pride a jacket lined with flannel and
+trimmed with fur.
+
+So her father and Marget dressed Flora for the kirk, and they went
+together down the path on which the light had shone that night of
+her return.
+
+There were only two dog-carts in the Free Kirk Session, and Burnbrae
+was waiting with his for Flora at the foot of the hill.
+
+"I bid ye welcome, Flora, in the name o' oor kirk. It's a gled day
+for your father, and for us a' tae see you back again and strong.
+And noo ye 'ill just get up aside me in the front, and Mistress Hoo
+'ill hap ye round, for we maunna let ye come tae ony ill the first
+day yir oot, or we 'ill never hear the end o't." And so the honest
+man went on, for he was as near the breaking as Drumtochty nature
+allowed.
+
+"A' body's pleased," said Marget to Lachlan as they sat on the back
+seat and caught the faces of the people. "This is the first time I
+have seen the fifteenth of Luke in Drumtochty. It's a bonnie sicht,
+and a'm thinkin' it's still bonnier in the presence o' the angels."
+
+"Flora Cammil's in the kirk the day," and the precentor looked at
+Carmichael with expectation. "The fouk are terrible taen up wi'
+Lachlan and her."
+
+"What do you think of the hundred and third Psalm, Robert? It would
+go well this morning."
+
+"The verra word that was on my lips, and Lachlan 'ill be lookin' for
+Coleshill."
+
+Lachlan had put Flora in his old place next the wall (he would not
+need it again, having retired from the office of inquisitor), and
+sat close beside her, with great contentment on his face. The
+manners of Drumtochty were perfect, and no one turned his head by
+one inch; but Marget Howe, sitting behind in Burnbrae's pew, saw
+Flora's hand go out to Lachlan's as the people sang:
+
+  "All thine iniquities who doth
+     Most graciously forgive,
+   Who thy diseases all and pains
+     Doth heal and thee relieve."
+
+The Session met that week, and a young girl broke down utterly in
+her examination for the Sacrament, so that not even Burnbrae could
+get a correct answer.
+
+She rose in great confusion and sorrow.
+
+"A' see it wudna be fit for the like o' me tae gae forrit, but a'
+had set ma hert on't; it wes the last thing He askit o' His
+freends," and she left before any one could bid her stay.
+
+"Moderator," said Lachlan, "it iss a great joy for me to move that
+Mary Macfarlane get her token, and I will be wishing that we all had
+her warrant, oh yes, for there iss no warrant like love. And there
+iss something that I must be asking of the elders, and it iss to
+forgive me for my pride in this Session. I wass thinking that I knew
+more than any man in Drumtochty, and wass judging God's people. But
+He hass had mercy upon Simon the Pharisee, and you hef all been been
+very good to me and Flora.... The Scripture hass been fulfilled, 'So
+the last shall be first, and the first last.'"
+
+Then the minister asked Burnbrae to pray, and the Spirit descended
+on that good man, of simple heart:
+
+"Almichty Father, we are a' Thy puir and sinfu' bairns, wha wearied
+o' hame and gaed awa' intae the far country. Forgive us, for we
+didna ken what we were leavin' or the sair hert we gied oor Father.
+It wes weary wark tae live wi' oor sins, but we wud never hev come
+back had it no been for oor Elder Brither. He cam' a long road tae
+find us, and a sore travail He had afore He set us free. He's been a
+gude Brither tae us, and we've been a heavy chairge tae Him. May He
+keep a firm haud o' us, and guide us in the richt road, and bring us
+back gin we wander, and tell us a' we need tae know till the
+gloamin' come. Gither us in then, we pray Thee, and a' we luve, no a
+bairn missin', and may we sit doon for ever in oor ain Father's
+House. Amen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Burnbrae said Amen, Carmichael opened his eyes, and had a vision
+which will remain with him until the day break and the shadows flee
+away.
+
+The six elders--three small farmers, a tailor, a stonemason, and a
+shepherd--were standing beneath the lamp, and the light fell like a
+halo on their bent heads. That poor little vestry had disappeared,
+and this present world was forgotten. The sons of God had come into
+their heritage, "for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
+things which are not seen are eternal."
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+
+
+THE CUNNING SPEECH OF DRUMTOCHTY
+
+
+Speech in Drumtochty distilled slowly, drop by drop, and the faces
+of our men were carved in stone. Visitors, without discernment, used
+to pity our dulness and lay themselves out for missionary work.
+Before their month was over they spoke bitterly of us, as if we had
+deceived them, and departed with a grudge in their hearts. When
+Hillocks scandalised the Glen by letting his house and living in the
+bothie--through sheer greed of money--it was taken by a fussy little
+man from the South, whose control over the letter "h" was uncertain,
+but whose self-confidence bordered on the miraculous. As a deacon of
+the Social Religionists,--a new denomination, which had made an 'it
+with Sunday Entertainments,--and Chairman of the Amalgamated Sons of
+Rest,--a society of persons with conscientious objections to work
+between meals--he was horrified at the primeval simplicity of the
+Glen, where no meeting of protest had been held in the memory of
+living man, and the ministers preached from the Bible. It was
+understood that he was to do his best for us, and there was
+curiosity in the kirkyard.
+
+"Whatna like man is that English veesitor ye've got, Hillocks? a'
+hear he's fleein' ower the Glen, yammerin' and haverin' like a
+starlin'."
+
+"He's a gabby (talkative) body, Drumsheugh, there's nae doot o'
+that, but terrible ignorant.
+
+"Says he tae me nae later than yesterday, 'That's a fine field o'
+barley ye've there, Maister Harris,' an' as sure as deith a' didna
+ken whaur tae luik, for it was a puckle aits."
+
+"Keep's a'," said Whinnie; "he's been awfu' negleckit when he wes a
+bairn, or maybe there's a want in the puir cratur."
+
+Next Sabbath Mr. Urijah Hopps appeared in person among the fathers--who
+looked at each other over his head--and enlightened them on supply and
+demand, the Game Laws, the production of cabbages for towns, the
+iniquity of an Established Church, and the bad metre of the Psalms of
+David.
+
+"You must 'ave henterprise, or it's hall hup with you farmers."
+
+"Ay, ay," responded Drumsheugh, after a long pause, and then every
+man concentrated his attention on the belfry of the kirk.
+
+"Is there onything ava' in the body, think ye, Domsie," as Mr. Hopps
+bustled into kirk, "or is't a' wind?"
+
+"Three wechtfu's o' naething, Drumsheugh; a' peety the puir man if
+Jamie Soutar gets a haud o' him."
+
+Jamie was the cynic of the Glen--who had pricked many a wind bag--and
+there was a general feeling that his meeting with Mr. Hopps would not
+be devoid of interest. When he showed himself anxious to learn next
+Sabbath, any man outside Drumtochty might have been deceived, for
+Jamie could withdraw every sign of intelligence from his face, as
+when shutters close upon a shop window. Our visitor fell at once
+into the trap, and made things plain to the meanest capacity, until
+Jamie elicited from the guileless Southron that he had never heard
+of the Act of Union; that Adam Smith was a new book he hoped to buy;
+that he did not know the difference between an Arminian and a Calvinist,
+and that he supposed the Confession of Faith was invented in Edinburgh.
+This in the briefest space of time, and by way of information to
+Drumtochty. James was making for general literature, and had still
+agriculture in reserve, when Drumsheugh intervened in the humanity of
+his heart.
+
+"A' dinna like tae interrupt yir conversation, Maister Hopps, but
+it's no verra safe for ye tae be stannin' here sae lang. Oor air hes
+a bit nip in't, and is mair searchin' than doon Sooth. Jamie 'ill be
+speirin' a' mornin' gin ye 'ill answer him, but a'm thinkin' ye'ill
+be warmer in the kirk."
+
+And Drumsheugh escorted Mr. Hopps to cover, who began to suspect
+that he had been turned inside out, and found wanting.
+
+Drumtochty had listened with huge delight, but without a trace of
+expression, and, on Mr. Hopps reaching shelter, three boxes were
+offered Jamie.
+
+The group was still lost in admiration when Drumsheugh returned from
+his errand of mercy.
+
+"Sall, ye've dune the job this time. Jamie. Ye're an awfu' creetic.
+Yon man 'ill keep a quiet cheep till he gets Sooth. It passes me hoo
+a body wi' sae little in him hes the face tae open his mooth."
+
+"Ye did it weel, Jamie," Domsie added, "a clean furrow frae end tae
+end."
+
+"Toots, fouk, yir makin' ower muckle o' it. It wes licht grund, no
+worth puttin' in a ploo."
+
+Mr. Hopps explained to me, before leaving, that he had been much
+pleased with the scenery of our Glen, but disappointed in the
+people.
+
+"They may not be hignorant," said the little man doubtfully, "but no
+man could call them haffable."
+
+It flashed on me for the first time that perhaps there may have been
+the faintest want of geniality in the Drumtochty manner, but it was
+simply the reticence of a subtle and conscientious people. Intellect
+with us had been brought to so fine an edge by the Shorter Catechism
+that it could detect endless distinctions, and was ever on the watch
+against inaccuracy. Farmers who could state the esoteric doctrine of
+"spiritual independence" between the stilts of the plough, and talked
+familiarly of "co-ordinate jurisdiction with mutual subordination,"
+were not likely to fall into the vice of generalisation. When James
+Soutar was in good fettle, he could trace the whole history of Scottish
+secession from the beginning, winding his way through the maze of
+Original Seceders and Cameronians, Burghers and Anti-Burghers--there
+were days when he would include the Glassites,--with unfaltering step;
+but this was considered a feat even in Drumtochty, and it was admitted
+that Jamie had "a gift o' discreemination." We all had the gift in
+measure, and dared not therefore allow ourselves the expansive language
+of the South. What right had any human being to fling about superlative
+adjectives, seeing what a big place the world is, and how little we
+know? Purple adjectives would have been as much out of place in our
+conversation as a bird of paradise among our muirfowl.
+
+Mr. Hopps was so inspired by one of our sunsets--to his credit let
+that be told--that he tried to drive Jamie into extravagance.
+
+"No bad! I call it glorious, and if it hisn't, then I'd like to know
+what his."
+
+"Man," replied Soutar austerely, "ye 'ill surely keep ae word for
+the twenty-first o' Reevelation."
+
+Had any native used "magnificent," there would have been an uneasy
+feeling in the Glen; the man must be suffering from wind in the
+head, and might upset the rotation of crops, sowing his young grass
+after potatoes, or replacing turnip with beetroot. But nothing of
+that sort happened in my time; we kept ourselves well in hand. It
+rained in torrents elsewhere, with us it only "threatened tae be
+weet"--some provision had to be made for the deluge. Strangers, in
+the pride of health, described themselves as "fit for anything," but
+Hillocks, who died at ninety-two, and never had an hour's illness,
+did not venture, in his prime, beyond "Gaein' aboot, a'm thankfu' to
+say, gaein' aboot."
+
+When one was seriously ill, he was said to be "gey an' sober," and
+no one died in Drumtochty--"he slippit awa."
+
+Hell and heaven were pulpit words; in private life we spoke of "the
+ill place" and "oor lang hame."
+
+When the corn sprouted in the stooks one late wet harvest, and
+Burnbrae lost half his capital, he only said, "It's no lichtsome,"
+and no congratulations on a good harvest ever extracted more from
+Drumsheugh than "A' daurna complain."
+
+Drumsheugh might be led beyond bounds in reviewing a certain potato
+transaction, but, as a rule, he was a master of measured speech. After
+the privilege of much intercourse with that excellent man, I was able
+to draw up his table of equivalents for the three degrees of wickedness.
+When there was just a suspicion of trickiness--neglecting the paling
+between your cattle and your neighbour's clover field--"He's no juist
+the man for an elder." If it deepened into deceit--running a "greasy"
+horse for an hour before selling--"He wud be the better o' anither
+dip." And in the case of downright fraud--finding out what a man had
+offered for his farm and taking it over his head--the offender was "an
+ill gettit wratch." The two latter phrases were dark with theology,
+and even the positive degree of condemnation had an ecclesiastical
+flavour.
+
+When Drumsheugh approved any one, he was content to say, "He micht
+be waur," a position beyond argument. On occasion he ventured upon
+bolder assertions: "There's nae mischief in Domsie;" and once I
+heard him in a white heat of enthusiasm pronounce Dr. Davidson, our
+parish minister, "A graund man ony wy ye tak him." But he seemed
+ashamed after this outburst, and "shooed" the crows off the corn
+with needless vigour.
+
+No Drumtochty man would commit himself to a positive statement on
+any subject if he could find a way of escape, not because his mind
+was confused, but because he was usually in despair for an accurate
+expression. It was told for years in the Glen, with much relish and
+almost funereal solemnity, how a Drumtochty witness had held his own
+in an ecclesiastical court.
+
+"You are beadle in the parish of Pitscouric," began the advocate
+with a light heart, not knowing the witness's birthplace.
+
+"It's a fac'," after a long pause and a careful review of the whole
+situation.
+
+"You remember that Sabbath when the minister of Netheraird
+preached."
+
+"Weel, a'll admit that," making a concession to justice.
+
+"Did ye see him in the vestry?"
+
+"A' canna deny it."
+
+"Was he intoxicated?"
+
+The crudeness of this question took away Drumtochty's breath, and
+suggested that something must have been left out in the creation of
+that advocate. Our men were not bigoted abstainers, but I never
+heard any word so coarse and elementary as intoxicated used in
+Drumtochty. Conversation touched this kind of circumstance with
+delicacy and caution, for we keenly realised the limitations of
+human knowledge.
+
+"He hed his mornin'," served all ordinary purposes, and in cases of
+emergency, such as Muirtown market:
+
+"Ye cud see he hed been tastin'."
+
+When an advocate forgot himself so far as to say intoxicated, a
+Drumtochty man might be excused for being upset.
+
+"Losh, man," when he had recovered, "hoo cud ony richt-thinkin' man
+sweer tae sic an awfu' word? Na, na, a' daurna use that kin' o'
+langidge; it's no cannie."
+
+The advocate tried again, a humbler, wiser man.
+
+"Was there a smell of drink on him?"
+
+"Noo, since ye press me, a'll juist tell ye the hale truth; it wes
+doonricht stupid o' me, but, as sure as a'm livin', a' clean forgot
+tae try him."
+
+Then the chastened counsel gathered himself up for his last effort.
+
+"Will you answer one question, sir? you are on your oath. Did you
+see anything unusual in Mr. MacOmish's walk? Did he stagger?"
+
+"Na," when he had spent two minutes in recalling the scene. "Na, I
+cudna say stagger, but he micht gie a bit trimmil."
+
+"We are coming to the truth now; what did you consider the cause of
+the trimmiling, as you call it?" and the innocent young advocate
+looked round in triumph.
+
+"Weel," replied Drumtochty, making a clean breast of it, "since ye
+maun hae it, a' heard that he wes a very learned man, and it cam
+intae ma mind that the Hebrew, which, a'm telt, is a very contrairy
+langidge, hed gaen doon and settled in his legs."
+
+The parish of Netheraird was declared vacant, but it was understood
+that the beadle of Pitscourie had not contributed to this decision.
+
+His own parish followed the trial with intense interest, and were
+much pleased with Andra's appearance.
+
+"Sall," said Hillocks, "Andra has mair gumption than ye wud think,
+and yon advocat didna mak muckle o' him. Na, na, Andra wesna brocht
+up in the Glen for naethin'. Maister MacOmish may hae taen his gless
+atween the Hebrew and the Greek, and it's no verra suitable for a
+minister, but that's anither thing frae bein' intoxicat."
+
+"Keep's a', if ye were tae pit me in the box this meenut, a' cudna
+sweer a hed ever seen a man intoxicat in ma life, except a puir body
+o' an English bag-man at Muirtown Station. A' doot he hed bin
+meddlin' wi' speerits, and they were wheelin' him tae his kerridge
+in a luggage barrow. It wes a fearsome sicht, and eneugh tae keep
+ony man frae speakin' aboot intoxicat in yon louse wy."
+
+Archie Moncur fought the drinking customs of the Glen night and day
+with moderate success, and one winter's night he gave me a study in
+his subject which, after the lapse of years, I still think admirable
+for its reserve power and Dantesque conclusion.
+
+"They a' begin in a sma' wy," explained Archie, almost hidden in the
+depths of my reading chair, and emphasising his points with a gentle
+motion of his right hand; "naethin' tae mention at first, juist a gless
+at an orra time--a beerial or a merridge--and maybe New Year. That's
+the first stage; they ca' that moderation. Aifter a whilie they tak a
+mornin' wi' a freend, and syne a gless at the public-hoose in the
+evenin', and they treat ane anither on market days. That's the second
+stage; that's 'tastin'.' Then they need it reg'lar every day, nicht an'
+mornin', and they'll sit on at nicht till they're turned oot. They
+'ill fecht ower the Confession noo, and laist Sabbath's sermon, in
+the Kildrummie train, till it's clean reediklus. That's drammin', and
+when they've hed a year or twa at that they hae their first spatie
+(spate is a river flood), and that gies them a bit fricht. But aff
+they set again, and then comes anither spatie, and the doctor hes tae
+bring them roond. They ca' (drive) cannie for a year or sae, but the
+feein' market puts the feenishin' titch. They slip aff sudden in the
+end, and then they juist gang plunk--ay," said Archie in a tone of
+gentle meditation, looking, as it were, over the edge, "juist plunk."
+
+Nothing ever affected my imagination more powerfully than the swift
+surprise and gruesome suggestion of that "plunk."
+
+But the literary credit of Drumtochty rested on a broad basis, and
+no one could live with us without having his speech braced for life.
+You felt equal to any emergency, and were always able to express
+your mind with some degree of accuracy, which is one of the luxuries
+of life. There is, for instance, a type of idler who exasperates one
+to the point of assault, and whom one hungers to describe after a
+becoming manner. He was rare in the cold air of the North, but we
+had produced one specimen, and it was my luck to be present when he
+came back from a distant colony, and Jamie Soutar welcomed him in
+the kirkyard.
+
+"Weel, Chairlie," and Jamie examined the well-dressed prodigal from
+top to toe, "this is a prood moment for Drumtochty, and an awfu'
+relief tae ken yir safe. Man, ye hevna wanted meat nor claithes; a'
+tak it rael neeburly o' ye tae speak ava wi' us auld-fashioned fouk.
+
+"Ye needna look soor nor cock yir nose in the air, for you an' me
+are auld freends, and yir puir granny wes na mair anxious aboot ye
+than a' wes.
+
+"A'm feared that laddie o' Bell's 'ill kill himsel' oot in Ameriky'
+were ma verra words tae Hillocks here; 'he 'ill be slavin' his flesh
+aff his banes tae mak a fortune and keep her comfortable'
+
+"It was a rael satisfaction tae read yir letter frae the backwoods--or
+was't a public-hoose in New York? ma memory's no what it used to
+be--tellin' hoo ye were aye thinkin' o' yer auld granny, and wantin'
+tae come hame and be a comfort tae her if she wud send ye out twenty
+pund.
+
+"The bit that affeckit me maist wes the text frae the Prodigal Son--it
+cam in sae natural. Mony a broken hert hes that story bund up, as we
+ken weel in this Glen; but it's dune a feck o' mischief tae--that gude
+word o' the Maister. Half the wastrels in the warld pay their passage
+hame wi' that Parable, and get a bran new outfit for anither start in
+the far country.
+
+"Noo dinna turn red, Chairlie, for the neeburs ken ye were tae work
+yir wy hame hed it no been for yir health. But there's a pack of
+rascals 'ill sorn on their father as lang as he's livin', and they
+'ill stairve a weedowed mither, and they 'ill tak a sister's wages,
+and if they canna get ony better a dune body o' eighty 'ill serve
+them.
+
+"Man, Chairlie, if a' hed ma wull wi' thae wawfies, I wud ship them
+aff tae a desert island, wi' ae sack o' seed potatoes and anither o'
+seed corn, and let them work or dee. A' ken yir wi' me there, for ye
+aye hed an independent spirit, and wesna feared tae bend yir back.
+
+"Noo, if a' cam across ane o' thae meeserable objects in Drumtochty,
+div ye ken the advice I wud gie him?
+
+"A wud tell the daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch o'
+a cratur tae watch for the first spate and droon himsel' in the
+Tochty."
+
+"What's he aff through the graves for in sic a hurry?" and Jamie
+followed Charlie's retreating figure with a glance of admirable
+amazement; "thae's no very gude mainners he's learned in Americky."
+
+"Thank ye, Jeemes, thank ye; we're a' obleeged tae ye," said
+Drumsheugh. "A' wes ettlin' tae lay ma hands on the whup-ma-denty
+(fop) masel, but ma certes, he's hed his kail het this mornin'. Div
+ye think he 'ill tak yir advice?"
+
+"Nae fear o' him; thae neer-dae-weels haena the spunk; but a'm
+expeckin' he 'ill flee the pairish."
+
+Which he did. Had you called him indolent or useless he had smiled,
+but "daidlin', thowless, feckless, fushionless wratch," drew blood
+at every stroke, like a Russian knout.
+
+We had tender words also, that still bring the tears to my eyes, and
+chief among them was "couthy." What did it mean? It meant a letter
+to some tired townsman, written in homely Scotch, and bidding him
+come to get new life from the Drumtochty air; and the grip of an
+honest hand on the Kildrummie platform whose warmth lasted till you
+reached the Glen; and another welcome at the garden-gate that
+mingled with the scent of honeysuckle, and moss-roses, and thyme,
+and carnations; and the best of everything that could be given you;
+and motherly nursing in illness, with skilly remedies of the olden
+time; and wise, cheery talk that spake no ill of man or God; and
+loud reproaches if you proposed to leave under a month or two; and
+absolute conditions that you must return; and a load of country
+dainties for a bachelor's bare commons; and far more, that cannot be
+put into words, of hospitality, and kindness, and quietness, and
+restfulness, and loyal friendship of hearts now turned to dust in
+the old kirkyard.
+
+But the best of all our words were kept for spiritual things, and
+the description of a godly man. We did not speak of the "higher
+life," nor of a "beautiful Christian," for this way of putting it
+would not have been in keeping with the genius of Drumtochty.
+Religion there was very lowly and modest--an inward walk with God.
+No man boasted of himself, none told the secrets of the soul. But
+the Glen took notice of its saints, and did them silent reverence,
+which they themselves never knew. Jamie Soutar had a wicked tongue,
+and, at a time, it played round Archie's temperance schemes, but
+when that good man's back was turned Jamie was the first to do him
+justice.
+
+"It wud set us better if we did as muckle gude as Archie; he's a
+richt livin' man and weel prepared."
+
+Our choicest tribute was paid by general consent to Burnbrae, and it
+may be partiality, but it sounds to me the deepest in religious
+speech. Every cottage, strangers must understand, had at least two
+rooms--the kitchen where the work was done, that we called the
+"But," and there all kinds of people came; and the inner chamber
+which held the household treasures, that we called the "Ben," and
+there none but a few honoured visitors had entrance. So we imagined
+an outer court of the religious life where most of us made our home,
+and a secret place where only God's nearest friends could enter, and
+it was said of Burnbrae, "He's far ben." His neighbours had watched
+him, for a generation and more, buying and selling, ploughing and
+reaping, going out and in the common ways of a farmer's life, and
+had not missed the glory of the soul. The cynic of Drumtochty summed
+up his character: "There's a puckle gude fouk in the pairish, and
+ane or twa o' the ither kind, and the maist o' us are half and
+between," said Jamie Soutar, "but there's ae thing ye may be sure
+o', Burnbrae is 'far ben.'"
+
+
+
+
+A WISE WOMAN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+OUR SERMON TASTER
+
+A Drumtochty man, standing six feet three in his boots, sat himself
+down one day in the study of a West-end minister, and gazed before
+him with the countenance of a sphinx.
+
+The sight struck awe into the townsman's heart, and the power of
+speech was paralysed within him.
+
+"A'm frae Drumtochty," began a deep solemn voice. "Ye 'ill hae heard
+of Drumtochty, of coorse. A've jined the polis; the pay is no that
+bad, and the work is naethin' tae an able-bodied man."
+
+When these particulars had been digested by the audience--
+
+"It's a crooded place London, and the fouks aye in a tiravie
+(commotion), rinnin' here an' rinnin' there, and the maist feck o'
+them dinna ken whar they're gaein.
+
+"It's officer this and officer that frae mornin' till nicht. It's
+peetifu' tae see the helplessness o' the bodies in their ain toon.
+And they're freevolous," continued the figure, refreshing itself
+with a reminiscence.
+
+"It wes this verra mornin' that a man askit me hoo tae get tae the
+Strand.
+
+"'Haud on,' I says, 'till ye come tae a cross street, and dinna gang
+doon it, and when ye see anither pass it, but whup roond the third,
+and yir nose 'ill bring ye tae the Strand.'
+
+"He was a shachlin bit cratur, and he lookit up at me.
+
+"'Where were you born, officer?' in his clippit English tongue.
+
+"'Drumtochty,' a' said, 'an' we hev juist ae man as sma' as you in
+the hale Glen.'
+
+"He gied awa' lauchin' like tae split his sides, an' the fac' is
+there's no ane o' them asks me a question but he lauchs. They're a
+licht-headed fouk, and no sair educat. But we maunna boast; they
+hevna hed oor advantages."
+
+The minister made a brave effort to assert himself.
+
+"Is there anything I can do?" but the figure simply waved its hand
+and resumed:
+
+"A'm comin' tae that, but a' thocht ye wud be wantin' ma opeenion o'
+London.
+
+"Weel, ye see, the first thing a' did, of coorse, after settlin'
+doon, was tae gae roond the kirks and hear what kin' o' ministers
+they hae up here. A've been in saxteen kirks the last three months,
+an' a' wud hae been in mair had it no bin for ma oors.
+
+"Ay, ay, a' ken ye 'ill be wantin' ma judgment," interpreting a movement
+in the chair, "an' ye 'ill hae it. Some wes puir stuff--plenty o' water
+and little meal--and some wesna sae bad for England. But ye 'ill be
+pleased to know," here the figure relaxed and beamed on the anxious
+minister, "that a'm rael weel satisfied wi' yersel', and a'm thinkin'
+o' sittin' under ye.
+
+"Man," were Drumtochty's last words, "a' wish Elspeth Macfadyen cud
+hear ye, her 'at prees (tastes) the sermons in oor Glen; a' believe
+she wud pass ye, an' if ye got a certeeficat frae Elspeth, ye wud be
+a prood man."
+
+Drumtochty read widely--Soutar was soaked in Carlyle, and Marget
+Howe knew her "In Memoriam" by heart--but our intellectual life
+centred on the weekly sermon. Men thought about Sabbath as they
+followed the plough in our caller air, and braced themselves for an
+effort at the giving out of the text. The hearer had his snuff and
+selected his attitude, and from that moment to the close he never
+moved nor took his eyes off the preacher. There was a tradition that
+one of the Disruption fathers had preached in the Free Kirk for one
+hour and fifty minutes on the bulwarks of Zion, and had left the
+impression that he was only playing round the outskirts of his
+subject. No preacher with anything to say could complain of
+Drumtochty, for he got a patient, honest, critical hearing from
+beginning to end. If a preacher were slightly equipped, the audience
+may have been trying. Well-meaning evangelists who came with what
+they called "a simple Gospel address," and were accustomed to have
+their warmer passages punctuated with rounds of spiritual applause
+in the shape of smiles and nods, lost heart in face of that judicial
+front, and afterwards described Drumtochty in the religious papers
+as "dead." It was as well that these good men walked in a vain show,
+for, as a matter of fact, their hearers were painfully alive.
+
+"Whar did yon wakely body come frae, Burnbrae? it wes licht wark the
+day. There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes
+eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories."
+
+"He lives aboot England, a'm telt, an' dis a feck o' gude in his ain
+place. He hesna muckle in his head, a'll alloo that, Netherton, but
+he's an earnest bit cratur."
+
+"Ou ay, and fu' o' self-conceit. Did ye hear hoo often he said 'I'?
+a' got as far as saxty-three, and then a' lost coont. But a' keepit
+'dear,' it cam tae the hundred neat.
+
+"'Weel?' a' says tae Elspeth Macfadyen. A' kent she wud hae his
+measure.
+
+"'Gruel, Netherton, juist gruel, and eneuch tae scunner (disgust) ye
+wi' sugar.'"
+
+It was the birthright of every native of the parish to be a critic, and
+certain were allowed to be experts in special departments--Lachlan
+Campbell in doctrine and Jamie Soutar in logic--but as an old round
+practitioner Mrs. Macfadyen had a solitary reputation. It rested on
+a long series of unreversed judgments, with felicitous strokes of
+description that passed into the literary capital of the Glen. One
+felt it was genius, and could only note contributing circumstances--an
+eye that took in the preacher from the crown of his head to the sole
+of his foot; an almost uncannie insight into character; the instinct
+to seize on every scrap of evidence; a memory that was simply an
+automatic register; an unfailing sense of fitness; and an absolute
+impartiality regarding subject.
+
+It goes without saying that Mrs. Macfadyen did not take nervous
+little notes during the sermon--all writing on Sabbath, in kirk or
+outside, was strictly forbidden in Drumtochty--or mark her Bible, or
+practise any other profane device of feeble-minded hearers. It did
+not matter how elaborate or how incoherent a sermon might be, it
+could not confuse our critic.
+
+When John Peddie of Muirtown, who always approached two hours, and
+usually had to leave out the last head, took time at the Drumtochty
+Fast, and gave, at full length, his famous discourse on the total
+depravity of the human race, from the text, "Arise, shine, for thy
+light is come," it may be admitted that the Glen wavered in its
+confidence. Human nature has limitations, and failure would have
+been no discredit to Elspeth.
+
+"They were sayin' at the Presbytery," Burnbrae reported, "that it
+hes mair than seeventy heads, coontin' pints, of coorse, and a' can
+weel believe it. Na, na, it's no tae be expeckit that Elspeth cud
+gie them a' aifter ae hearin'."
+
+Jamie Souter looked in to set his mind at rest, and Elspeth went at
+once to work.
+
+"Sit doon, Jamie, for it canna be dune in a meenut."
+
+It took twenty-three minutes exactly, for Jamie watched the clock.
+
+"That's the laist, makin' seeventy-four, and ye may depend on every
+ane but that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it wes the
+'beginnin' o' faith' or 'the origin,' a' canna be sure, for he
+cleared his throat at the time."
+
+Peter Bruce stood helpless at the Junction next Friday--Drumtochty
+was celebrating Elspeth--and the achievement established her for
+life.
+
+Probationers who preached in the vacancy had heard rumours, and
+tried to identify their judge, with the disconcerting result that
+they addressed their floweriest passages to Mistress Stirton, who
+was the stupidest woman in the Free Kirk, and had once stuck in the
+"chief end of man." They never suspected the sonsy motherly woman,
+two pews behind Donald Menzies, with her face of demure interest and
+general air of country simplicity. It was as well for the
+probationers that they had not caught the glint of those black beady
+eyes.
+
+"It's curious," Mrs. Macfadyen remarked to me one day, "hoo the
+pulpit fashions change, juist like weemen's bonnets.
+
+"Noo a' mind when auld Doctor Ferintosh, him 'at wrote 'Judas
+Iscariot the first Residuary,' would stand twa meenutes facing the
+fouk, and no sit doon till he hed his snuff.
+
+"But thae young birkies gie oot 'at they see naebody comin' in, an'
+cover their face wi' ae hand sae solemn, that if ye didna catch them
+keekin' through their fingers tae see what like the kirk is, ye wud
+think they were prayin'."
+
+"There's not much escapes you," I dared to say, and although the
+excellent woman was not accessible to gross flattery, she seemed
+pleased.
+
+"A'm thankfu' that a' can see withoot lookin'; an' a'll wager nae
+man ever read his sermon in Drumtochty Kirk, an' a' didna find him
+oot. Noo, there's the new minister o' Netheraird, he writes his
+sermon on ae side o' ten sheets o' paper, an' he's that carried awa'
+at the end o' ilka page that he disna ken what he's daein', an' the
+sleeve o' his goon slips the sheet across tae the ither side o' the
+Bible.
+
+"But Doctor Ferintosh wes cleverer, sall it near beat me tae detect
+him," and Elspeth paused to enjoy the pulpit ruse. "It cam tae me
+sudden ae Sacrament Monday, hoo dis he aye turn up twal texts,
+naither mair nor less, and that set me thinkin'. Then a' noticed
+that he left the Bible open at the place till anither text was due,
+an' I wunnered a'd been sae slow. It wes this wy: he askit the
+beadle for a gless o' water in the vestry, and slippit his sermon in
+atween the leaves in sae mony bits. A've wished for a gallery at a
+time, but there's mair credit in findin' it oot below--ay, an'
+pleesure tae; a' never wearied in kirk in ma life."
+
+Mrs. Macfadyen did not appreciate prodigal quotations of Scriptures,
+and had her suspicions of this practice.
+
+"Tak the minister o' Pitscourie noo; he's fair fozzy wi' trokin' in
+his gairden an' feedin' pigs, and hesna studied a sermon for thirty
+year.
+
+"Sae what dis he dae, think ye? He havers for a whilie on the errors
+o' the day, and syne he says, 'That's what man says, but what says
+the Apostle Paul? We shall see what the Apostle Paul says.' He puts
+on his glasses, and turns up the passage, and reads maybe ten
+verses, and then he's aff on the jundy (trot) again. When a man hes
+naethin' tae say he's aye lang, and a've seen him gie half an oor o'
+passages, and anither half oor o' havers.
+
+"'He's a Bible preacher, at any rate,' says Burnbrae tae me laist
+Fast, for, honest man, he hes aye some gude word for a body.
+
+"'It's ae thing,' I said to him, 'tae feed a calf wi' milk, and
+anither tae gie it the empty cogie tae lick.'
+
+"It's curious, but a've noticed that when a Moderate gets lazy he
+preaches auld sermons, but a Free Kirk minister taks tae abusin' his
+neeburs and readin' screeds o' the Bible.
+
+"But Maister Pittendreigh hes twa sermons, at ony rate," and Elspeth
+tasted the sweets of memory with such keen relish that I begged for
+a share.
+
+"Well, ye see he's terrible prood o' his feenishes, and this is ane
+o' them:
+
+"'Heaven, ma brethren, will be far grander than the hoose o' ony
+earthly potentate, for there ye will no longer eat the flesh of
+bulls nor drink the blood o' goats, but we shall sook the juicy pear
+and scoop the loocious meelon. Amen.'
+
+"He hes nae mair sense o' humour than an owl, and a' aye haud that a
+man withoot humour sudna be allowed intae a poopit.
+
+"A' hear that they have nae examination in humour at the college;
+it's an awfu' want, for it wud keep oot mony a dreich body.
+
+"But the meelon's naethin' tae the goat, that cowed a'thing, at the
+Fast tae.
+
+"If Jeems wes aboot a' daurna mention 't: he canna behave himsel'
+tae this day gin he hears 'it, though ye ken he's a douce man as
+ever lived.
+
+"It wes anither feenish, and it ran this wy:
+
+"'Noo, ma freends, a' wull no be keepin' ye ony longer, and ye 'ill
+a' gae hame tae yir ain hooses and mind yir ain business. And as
+sune as ye get hame ilka man 'ill gae tae his closet and shut the
+door, and stand for five meenutes, and ask himsel' this solemn
+question, "Am I a goat?" Amen.'
+
+"The amen near upset me masel', and a' hed tae dunge Jeems wi' ma
+elbow.
+
+"He said no a word on the wy back, but a' saw it wes barmin' in him,
+and he gied oot sudden aifter his dinner as if he had been ta'en
+unweel.
+
+"A' cam' on him in the byre, rowing in the strae like a bairn, and
+every ither row he took he wud say, 'Am I a goat?'
+
+"It wes na cannie for a man o' his wecht, besides bein' a married
+man and a kirk member, and a' gied him a hearin'.
+
+"He sobered doon, and a' never saw him dae the like since. But he
+hesna forgot, na, na; a've seen a look come ower Jeems' face in
+kirk, and a've been feared."
+
+When the Free Kirk quarrelled in their vacancy over two
+probationers, Mrs. Macfadyen summed them up with such excellent
+judgment that they were thrown over and peace restored.
+
+"There's some o' thae Muirtown drapers can busk oot their windows
+that ye canna pass withoot lookin'; there's bits o' blue and bits o'
+red, and a ribbon here an' a lace yonder.
+
+"It's a bonnie show and denty, an' no wunner the lassies stan' and
+stare.
+
+"But gae intae the shop, and peety me, there's next tae naethin';
+it's a' in the window.
+
+"Noo, that's Maister Popinjay, as neat an' fikey a little mannie as
+ever a' saw in a black goon.
+
+"His bit sermon wes six poems--five a' hed heard afore--four
+anecdotes--three aboot himsel' and ain aboot a lord--twa burnies, ae
+floo'r gairden, and a snowstorm, wi' the text thirteen times and
+'beloved' twal; that was a'; a takin' window, and Netherton's
+lassies cudna sleep thinkin' o' him.
+
+"There's ither shopmen in Muirtown that fair scunner ye wi' their
+windows--they're that ill set out--and inside there's sic a wrale o'
+stuff that the man canna get what ye want; he's clean smoored wi'
+his ain goods.
+
+"It's a graund shop for the auld fouk that hae plenty o' time and
+can turn ower the things by the 'oor. Ye 'ill no get a young body
+inside the door.
+
+"That's Maister Auchtermuchty; he hes mair material than he kens hoo
+tae handle, and naebody, hearin' him, can mak head or tail o' his
+sermon.
+
+"Ye get a rive at the Covenants ae meenute, and a mouthfu' o'
+justification the next. Yir nae suner wi' the Patriarchs than yir
+whuppit aff tae the Apostles.
+
+"It's rich feedin', nae doot, but sair mixed, an' no verra tasty."
+
+So the old and young compromised, and chose Carmichael.
+
+Elspeth was candid enough on occasion, but she was not indiscreet.
+She could convey her mind delicately if need be, and was a mistress
+of subtle suggestion.
+
+When Netherton's nephew preached the missionary sermon--he was a
+stout young man with a volcanic voice--Mrs. Macfadyen could not
+shirk her duty, but she gave her judgment with care.
+
+"He's a fine lad, and 'ill be sure to get a kirk; he's been weel
+brocht up, and comes o' decent fouk.
+
+"His doctrine soonds richt, and he 'ill no gang aff the track. Ye
+canna ca' him bashfu', and he's sure to be heard."
+
+Her audience still waited, and not in vain.
+
+"But the Lord hes nae pleesure in the legs o' a man," and every one
+felt that the last word had been said on Netherton's nephew.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THE COLLAPSE OF MRS. MACFADYEN
+
+Carmichael used to lament bitterly that he had lost his Gaelic, and
+laboured plans of compensation for our Celts, who were understood to
+worship in English at an immense reduction of profit. One spring he
+intercepted a Highland minister, who was returning from his winter's
+raid on Glasgow with great spoil, and arranged an evening service,
+which might carry Lachlan Campbell back to the golden days of
+Auchindarroch. Mr. Dugald Mactavish was himself much impressed with
+the opportunity of refreshing his exiled brethren, speaking freely
+on the Saturday of the Lowlands as Babylon, and the duty of
+gathering the outcasts of Israel into one. He was weaned with
+difficulty from Gaelic, and only consented to preach in the "other
+language" on condition that he should not be restricted in time. His
+soul had been much hampered in West End churches, where he had to
+appeal for his new stove under the first head, lest he should go
+empty away, and it was natural for one escaping from such bondage to
+put a generous interpretation on Carmichael's concession. So Maister
+Dugald continued unto the setting of the sun. His discourse was so
+rich and varied that Peddie of Muirtown on original sin was not to
+be compared with it in breadth of treatment, and Mrs. Macfadyen
+confessed frankly that she gave up in despair before the preacher
+had fairly entered on his second hour. Besides the encounter of the
+preacher with Mr. Urijah Hopps, which carried the Glen by storm, and
+kept the name of Mactavish green with us for a generation.
+
+Rumours of this monumental pulpit effort, with its stirring
+circumstances, passed from end to end of the Glen during the week,
+and Peter himself recognised that it was an occasion at the Junction
+on Friday.
+
+"Ye may as weel shut aff the steam, Jeems," Peter explained to our
+engine-driver, "an' gie them ten meenuts. It's been by ordinar' at
+Drumtochty Free Kirk laist Sabbath nicht, and Drumsheugh 'ill no
+move till he hears the end o't."
+
+And as soon as the Muirtown train had removed all strangers, that
+worthy man opened the campaign.
+
+"What kin' o' collieshangie (disturbance) is this ye've been
+carryin' on, Hillocks? it's doonricht aggravatin' that ye're no
+content pesterin' oor life oot wi' that English body in the
+kirkyaird, but ye maist needs set him up tae arglebargle wi' a
+stranger minister at the Free Kirk. They say that the puir man cud
+hardly get a word in atween you and yir lodger. Burnbrae here is
+threatenin' ye wi' the Sherra, and a' dinna wonder.
+
+"It's nae lauchin' maitter, a' can tell ye, Drumsheugh; a've never
+been sae black affrontit a' ma life. Burnbrae kens as weel as ye dae
+that a' wasna tae blame.
+
+"Ye 'ill better clear yersel at ony rate, Hillocks, for some o' the
+neeburs threep (insist) 'at it wes you, and some that it wes yir
+freend, an' there's ithers declare ye ran in compt (company) like
+twa dogs worrying sheep; it wes a bonnie like pliskie (escapade)
+onywy, and hardly fit for an Auld Kirk elder"--a sally much enjoyed
+by the audience, who knew that, after Whinnie, Hillocks was the
+doucest man in Drumtochty.
+
+"Weel, ye see it wes this wy," began Hillocks, with the air of a man
+on his trial for fire raising. "Hopps fund oot that a Hielandman wes
+tae preach in the Free Kirk, and naethin' wud sateesfy him but that
+we maun gae. A' micht hae jaloused (suspected) it wesna the sermon
+the wratch wantit, for he hed the impidence tae complain that the
+Doctor was tedious Sabbath a fortnicht when he gied us 'Ruth,'
+though I never minded 'Ruth' gae aff sae sweet a' the times a've
+heard it.
+
+"Gin a' hed imagined what the ettercap (captious creature) wes
+aifter a' wud hae seen ma feet in the fire afore they carried me tae
+the Free Kirk that nicht.
+
+"Says he tae me on the road, 'A'm told the minister will be in his
+national costume.'
+
+"'He 'ill be in his goon and bands,' says I, 'if that's what ye
+mean,' for the head o' him is fu' o' maggots, and nae man can tell
+what he wull be at next.
+
+"'Mister Soutar said that he would wear his kilt, and that it would
+be an interesting spectacle.'
+
+"'Jamie's been drawing yir leg (befooling you),' says I. 'Man,
+there's naebody wears a kilt forbye gemkeepers and tourist bodies.
+Ye 'ill better come awa hame,' and sall, if a' hed kent what wes tae
+happen, a' wud hae taken him aff below ma oxter.
+
+"It's no richt tae mak me responsible, for a' tried tae wile him awa
+tae the back o' the kirk whar naebody cud see him, but he's that
+thrawn and upsettin', if he didna gae tae the verra front seat afore
+the poopit.
+
+"'I want a good position,' says he; 'I'll see everything here;' sae
+a' left him an' gied tae Elspeth Macfadyen's seat.
+
+"'He's anxious tae hear,' she said, 'an' a'm thinkin' he 'ill get
+mair than he expecks. A' wish it wes weel ower masel, Hillocks; it
+'ill be an awfu' nicht.'
+
+"Thae Hielandmen dinna pit aff time wi' the preleeminaries, but they
+were lang eneuch tae let onybody see what kin' o' man Mactavish wes.
+
+"A gruesome carle, neeburs, wi' his hair hangin' roond his face like
+a warlock and his een blazin' oot o' his head like fire; the sicht
+o' him is sure tae sober Hopps, thinks I.
+
+"But no, there's some fouk 'ill tak nae warnin'; there he was,
+sittin' in front o' Mactavish with his thumbs in his airm holes, and
+a watch gaird spread richt across him, and ae leg cocked over the
+ither, the verra eemage of a bantam cock fleein' in the face o'
+judgment."
+
+Drumtochty had never moved during this history, and now they drew
+closer round Hillocks, on whom the mantle of speech had for once
+descended.
+
+"Mactavish lookit at the body aince, and he lookit again juist tae
+gie him fair notis, and then he broke oot in face o' the hale
+congregation:
+
+"'There's nothing in all the world so deceptive as sin, for outside
+it's like a bonnie summer day, and inside it's as black as hell.
+
+"'Now here iss this fat little man sittin' before me with his suit
+o' blue clothes so bonnie and dainty, and a watch guard as thick as
+my finger on his wame, smilin' an' smirkin', and real well contented
+with himself, but if he wass opened up what a sight it would be for
+men and angels. Oh yes, yes, it would be a fearsome sicht, and no
+man here would be able to look.'
+
+"A' tell ye, neeburs, ye micht hae heard a pin fa' tae the ground,
+and ma heart was thumping in ma briest; a' wudna come thro' the like
+o' yon again for half the pleenishin' o' Hillocks."
+
+There was not a sound at the junction save the steam escaping from
+the engine, and Hillocks resumed:
+
+"But the worst's comin'. Hopps jumps up and faces Mactavish--a'll no
+deny there is some spunk in the body.
+
+"'What right have you to speak like that to me? do you know who I
+am?'
+
+"He hed better been quiet, for he wes nae match for yon Hielandman.
+
+"Mactavish glowered at him for maybe a meenut till the puir cratur
+fell back intae his seat.
+
+"'Man,' says Mactavish, 'I do not know who you are, and I do not
+know what you are, and I shall not be asking who you are, and I am
+not caring though you be MacCallummore himsel'. You are just a
+Parable, oh yes, just a Parable.
+
+"'But if ye be convicted of secret sin ye may go out, and if there
+be anybody else whose sins have been laid bare he may go out too,
+and if nobody wants to go out, then I will be going on with the
+sermon, oh yes, for it will not do to be spending all our time on
+Parables.'
+
+"As sure as a'm stannin' here ye cudna see Hopps inside his claithes
+when Mactavish wes dune wi' him."
+
+When the train started Hillocks received the compliments of the
+third with much modesty, and added piquant details regarding the
+utter confusion of our sermon taster.
+
+"'Did ye follow?' a' speirit o' Elspeth afore a' went tae pit Hopps
+thegither.
+
+"'Cud a' follow a bumbee?' was the only word a' got frae her; a' saw
+she was beaten for aince and wes rael mad."
+
+"I'st true Elspeth scuffled wi' her feet at the laist head and gar'd
+him close?"
+
+"A'll neither deny nor affirm, Drumsheugh; but there's nae doot when
+the mune began tae shine aboot nine, and Mactavish started aff on
+the Devil, somebody scrapit aside me. It wesna Jeems; he daurna for
+his life; and it wesna me. A'll no say but it micht be Elspeth, but
+she wes sair provokit. Aifter haddin' her ain twenty years tae be
+maistered by a Hielandman."
+
+It was simply a duty of friendship to look in and express one's
+sympathy with Mrs. Macfadyen in this professional disaster. I found
+her quite willing to go over the circumstances, which were
+unexampled in her experience, and may indeed be considered a
+contribution to history.
+
+"A' wudna hae minded," explained Elspeth, settling down to
+narrative, "hoo mony heads he gied oot, no tho' he hed titched the
+hundred. A've cause tae be gratefu' for a guid memory, and a've kept
+it in fine fettle wi' sermons. My wy is tae place ilka head at the
+end o' a shelf and a' the pints aifter it in order like the plates
+there," and Mrs. Macfadyen pointed with honest pride to her wall of
+crockery, "and when the minister is at an illustration or makin' an
+appeal a' aye rin ower the rack tae see that a've a' the pints in
+their places. Maister Mactavish cud ne'er hae got the wheephand o'
+me wi' his diveesions; he's no fit to haud the can'le tae John
+Peddie. Na, na, a' wesna feared o' that when a' examined yon man
+gieing oot the Psalm, but a' didna like his een.
+
+"'He's ravelled,' a' said tae masel, 'without beginning or end; we
+'ill hae a nicht o't,' and sae we hed."
+
+I preserved a sympathetic silence till Mrs. Macfadyen felt herself
+able to proceed.
+
+"It's easy eneuch, ye see, for an auld hand tae manage ae set o'
+heads gin they come tae ten or a hundred, but it's another business
+when a man hes different sets in ae sermon. Noo hoo mony sets div ye
+think that man hed afore he wes dune?"
+
+It was vain for a mere layman to cope with the possibilities of Mr.
+Mactavish.
+
+"Fower, as a'm a leevin' woman, and that's no a'; he didna feenish
+wi' ae set an' begin wi' the next, but if he didna mix them a'
+thegither. Fower set o' heads a' in a tangle; noo ye hae some kin'
+o' idea o' what a' hed tae face." And Mrs. Macfadyen paused that I
+might take in the situation.
+
+When I expressed my conviction that even the most experienced hearer
+was helpless in such circumstances, Elspeth rallied, and gave me to
+understand that she had saved some fragments from the wreckage.
+
+"A'll juist tell ye the hale hypothic, for sic a discoorse ye may
+never hear a' the days o' yir life.
+
+"Ye ken thae Hielandmen tak their texts for the maist pairt frae the
+Auld Testament, and this was it mair or less, 'The trumpet shall be
+blown, and they shall come from Assyria and the land o' Egypt,' and
+he began by explainin' that there were twa classes in Drumtochty,
+those who were born and bred in the parish, which were oursels, and
+them 'at hed tae stay here owin' tae the mysterious dispensations o'
+Providence, which wes Lachlan Campbell.
+
+"Noo this roosed ma suspicions, for it's against reason for a man
+tae be dividing intae classes till the end o' his sermon. Tak my
+word, it's no chancy when a minister begins at the tail o' his
+subject: he'll wind a queer pirn afore he's dune.
+
+"Weel, he gaed up and he gaed doon, and he aye said, 'Oh yes, yes,'
+juist like the thrashing mill at Drumsheugh scraiking and girling
+till it's fairly aff, an' by-and-by oot he comes wi' his heads.
+
+"'There are fower trumpets,' says he. 'First, a leeteral trumpet;
+second, a heestorical trumpet; third, a metaphorical trumpet;
+fourth, a speeritual trumpet.'
+
+"'I've got ye,' a' said tae masel, and settled doon to hear him on
+the first head, for fear he micht hae pints; but wull ye believe me,
+he barely mentioned leeteral till he was aff tae speeritual, and
+then back tae heestorical, an' in five meenuts he had the hale fower
+trumpets blawing thegither.
+
+"It wes maist exasperatin', and a' saw Jeems watchin' me--but that's
+naethin'.
+
+"'There be many trumpets,' says he, 'oh yes, an' it wes a good
+trumpet Zaccheus heard,' and afore a' knew where a' wes he hed
+startit again wi' fower new heads, as if he had never said trumpet.
+
+"'A big tree' he cries, 'an' a little man, oh yes, an' this is what
+we will be doin'.
+
+"'First. We shall go up the tree wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Second. We shall sit in the branches wi' Zaccheus.
+
+"'Third. We shall come down from the tree wi' Zaccheus; and if time
+permits,
+
+"'Fourth. We shall be going home wi' the publican.'"
+
+It seemed only just to pay a tribute at this point to the wonderful
+presence of mind Mrs. Macfadyen had shown amid unparalleled
+difficulties.
+
+"Hoot awa," she responded; the meenut ony heads cam a' knew ma
+grund: but the times atween I wes fairly lost.
+
+"A'll no deny," and our critic turned aside to general reflections,
+"that Mactavish said mony bonnie and affeckin' things frae time tae
+time, like the glimpses o' the hills ye get when the mist rolls awa,
+and he cam nearer the hert than the feck o' oor preachers; but
+certes yon confusion is mair than us low country fouk cud stand.
+
+"Juist when he wes speakin' aboot Zaccheus as nice as ye please--though
+whether he was up the tree or doon the tree a' cudna for the life o' me
+tell--he stops sudden and looks at us ower the top o' his spectacles,
+which is terrible impressive, and near dis instead o' speakin.'
+
+"We will now come to the third head of this discoorse.
+
+"'The trumpet shall be blown, for,' says he, in a kin' o' whisper,
+'there's a hint o' oppeesition here,' an' a' tell ye honestly a'
+lost hert a'thegither, for here he wes back again amang the
+trumpets, and a'll gie ma aith he never sae much as mentioned that
+head afore.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety that some men dinna ken when tae stop; they
+micht see frae the poopit; if a' saw the tears comin' tae the
+women's een, or the men glowering like wild cats for fear they sud
+brak doon, a'd say Amen as quick as Pittendreigh aifter his goat.
+
+"What possessed Maister Dugald, as Lachlan ca'd him, a'd dinna ken,
+but aboot half nine--an' he begood at six--he sat oot upon the
+trumpets again, an' when he cudna get a haud o' them, he says:
+
+"'It will be getting dark' (the mune was fairly oot), 'an' it is
+time we were considering our last head.
+
+"'We will now study Satan in all his offices and characteristics.'"
+
+"A' see they've been telling ye what happened," and confusion
+covered Mrs. Macfadyen's ingenuous countenance.
+
+"Weel, as sure's deith a' cudna help it, tae be sittin' on peens for
+mair than twa oors tryin' tae get a grup o' a man's heads, an' him
+tae play hide-and-seek wi' ye, an' then tae begin on Satan at nine
+o'clock is mair nor flesh and bluid cud endure.
+
+"A' acknowledge a' scrapit, but a' houp tae gudeness a'll never be
+tempted like yon again.
+
+"It's a judgment on me for ma pride, an' Jeems said that tae me, for
+a' boastit a' cudna be beat, but anither oor o' Mactavish wud hae
+driven me dottle (silly)."
+
+Then I understood that Mrs. Macfadyen had been humbled in the dust.
+
+
+
+
+A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A GENERAL PRACTITIONER
+
+Drumtochty was accustomed to break every law of health, except
+wholesome food and fresh air, and yet had reduced the Psalmist's
+farthest limit to an average life-rate. Our men made no difference
+in their clothes for summer or winter, Drumsheugh and one or two of
+the larger farmers condescending to a topcoat on Sabbath, as a
+penalty of their position, and without regard to temperature. They
+wore their blacks at a funeral, refusing to cover them with
+anything, out of respect to the deceased, and standing longest in
+the kirkyard when the north wind was blowing across a hundred miles
+of snow. If the rain was pouring at the Junction, then Drumtochty
+stood two minutes longer through sheer native dourness till each man
+had a cascade from the tail of his coat, and hazarded the
+suggestion, halfway to Kildrummie, that it had been "a bit scrowie,"
+a "scrowie" being as far short of a "shoor" as a "shoor" fell below
+"weet."
+
+This sustained defiance of the elements provoked occasional
+judgments in the shape of a "hoast" (cough), and the head of the
+house was then exhorted by his women folk to "change his feet" if he
+had happened to walk through a burn on his way home, and was
+pestered generally with sanitary precautions. It is right to add
+that the gudeman treated such advice with contempt, regarding it as
+suitable for the effeminacy of towns, but not seriously intended for
+Drumtochty. Sandy Stewart "napped" stones on the road in his shirt
+sleeves, wet or fair, summer and winter, till he was persuaded to
+retire from active duty at eighty-five, and he spent ten years more
+in regetting his hastiness and criticising his successor. The
+ordinary course of life, with fine air and contented minds, was to
+do a full share of work till seventy, and then to look after "orra"
+jobs well into the eighties, and to "slip awa" within sight of
+ninety. Persons above ninety were understood to be acquitting
+themselves with credit, and assumed airs of authority, brushing
+aside the opinions of seventy as immature, and confirming their
+conclusions with illustrations drawn from the end of last century.
+
+When Hillocks' brother so far forgot himself as to "slip awa" at
+sixty, that worthy man was scandalized, and offered laboured
+explanations at the "beerial."
+
+"It's an awfu' business ony wy ye look at it, an' a sair trial tae
+us a'. A' never heard tell o' sic a thing in oor family afore, an'
+it's no easy accoontin' for't.
+
+"The gudewife was sayin' he wes never the same sin' a weet nicht he
+lost himsel on the muir and slept below a bush; but that's neither
+here nor there. A'm thinkin' he sappit his constitution thae twa
+years he wes grieve aboot England. That wes thirty years syne, but
+ye're never the same aifter thae foreign climates."
+
+Drumtochty listened patiently to Hillocks' apologia, but was not
+satisfied.
+
+"It's clean havers aboot the muir. Losh keep's, we've a' sleepit oot
+and never been a hair the waur.
+
+"A' admit that England micht hae dune the job; it's no cannie
+stravagin' yon wy frae place tae place, but Drums never complained
+tae me as if he hed been nippit in the Sooth."
+
+The parish had, in fact, lost confidence in Drums after his wayward
+experiment with a potato-digging machine, which turned out a
+lamentable failure, and his premature departure confirmed our vague
+impression of his character.
+
+"He's awa noo," Drumsheugh summed up, after opinion had time to
+form; "an' there were waur fouk than Drums, but there's nae doot he
+wes a wee flichty."
+
+When illness had the audacity to attack a Drumtochty man, it was
+described as a "whup," and was treated by the men with a fine
+negligence. Hillocks was sitting in the Post Office one afternoon
+when I looked in for my letters, and the right side of his face was
+blazing red. His subject of discourse was the prospects of the
+turnip "breer," but he casually explained that he was waiting for
+medical advice.
+
+"The gudewife is keepin' up a ding-dong frae mornin' till nicht
+aboot ma face, and a'm fair deaved (deafened), so a'm watchin' for
+MacLure tae get a bottle as he comes wast; yon's him noo."
+
+The doctor made his diagnosis from horseback on sight, and stated
+the result with that admirable clearness which endeared him to
+Drumtochty.
+
+"Confoond ye, Hillocks, what are ye ploiterin' aboot here for in the
+weet wi' a face like a boiled beet? Div ye no ken that ye've a titch
+o' the rose (erysipelas), and ocht tae be in the hoose? Gae hame wi'
+ye afore a' leave the bit, and send a haflin for some medicine. Ye
+donnerd idiot, are ye ettlin tae follow Drums afore yir time?" And
+the medical attendant of Drumtochty continued his invective till
+Hillocks started, and still pursued his retreating figure with
+medical directions of a simple and practical character.
+
+"A'm watchin', an' peety ye if ye pit aff time. Keep yir bed the
+mornin', and dinna show yir face in the fields till a' see ye. A'll
+gie ye a cry on Monday--sic an auld fule--but there's no ane o' them
+tae mind anither in the hale pairish."
+
+Hillocks' wife informed the kirkyaird that the doctor "gied the
+gudeman an awfu' clearin'," and that Hillocks "wes keepin' the
+hoose," which meant that the patient had tea breakfast, and at that
+time was wandering about the farm buildings in an easy undress with
+his head in a plaid.
+
+It was impossible for a doctor to earn even the most modest
+competence from a people of such scandalous health, and so MacLure
+had annexed neighbouring parishes. His house--little more than a
+cottage--stood on the roadside among the pines towards the head of
+our Glen, and from this base of operations he dominated the wild
+glen that broke the wall of the Grampians above Drumtochty--where
+the snows drifts were twelve feet deep in winter, and the only way
+of passage at times was the channel of the river--and the moorland
+district westwards till he came to the Dunleith sphere of influence,
+where there were four doctors and a hydropathic. Drumtochty in its
+length, which was eight miles, and its breadth, which was four, lay
+in his hand; besides a glen behind, unknown to the world, which in
+the night time he visited at the risk of life, for the way thereto
+was across the big moor with its peat holes and treacherous bogs.
+And he held the land eastwards towards Muirtown so far as Geordie,
+the Drumtochty post, travelled every day, and could carry word that
+the doctor was wanted. He did his best for the need of every man,
+woman, and child in this wild, straggling district, year in, year
+out, in the snow and in the heat, in the dark and in the light,
+without rest, and without holiday for forty years.
+
+One horse could not do the work of this man, but we liked best to
+see him on his old white mare, who died the week after her master,
+and the passing of the two did our hearts good. It was not that he
+rode beautifully, for he broke every canon of art, flying with his
+arms, stooping till he seemed to be speaking into Jess's ears, and
+rising in the saddle beyond all necessity. But he could rise faster,
+stay longer in the saddle, and had a firmer grip with his knees than
+any one I ever met, and it was all for mercy's sake. When the
+reapers in harvest time saw a figure whirling past in a cloud of
+dust, or the family at the foot of Glen Urtach, gathered round the
+fire on a winter's night, heard the rattle of a horse's hoofs on the
+road, or the shepherds, out after the sheep, traced a black speck
+moving across the snow to the upper glen, they knew it was the
+doctor, and, without being conscious of it, wished him God speed.
+
+Before and behind his saddle were strapped the instruments and
+medicines the doctor might want, for he never knew what was before
+him. There were no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do
+everything as best he could, and as quickly. He was chest doctor and
+doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon;
+he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist, besides
+being chemist and druggist. It was often told how he was far up Glen
+Urtach when the feeders of the threshing mill caught young Burnbrae,
+and how he only stopped to change horses at his house, and galloped
+all the way to Burnbrae, and flung himself off his horse and
+amputated the arm, and saved the lad's life.
+
+"You wud hae thocht that every meenut was an hour," said Jamie
+Soutar, who had been at the threshing, "an' a'll never forget the
+puir lad lying as white as deith on the floor o' the loft, wi' his
+head on a sheaf, an' Burnbrae haudin' the bandage ticht an' prayin'
+a' the while, and the mither greetin' in the corner.
+
+"'Will he never come?' she cries, an' a' heard the soond o' the
+horse's feet on the road a mile awa in the frosty air.
+
+"'The Lord be praised!' said Burnbrae, and a' slippit doon the
+ladder as the doctor came skelpin' intae the close, the foam fleein'
+frae his horse's mooth.
+
+"'Whar is he?' wes a' that passed his lips, an' in five meenuts he
+hed him on the feedin' board, and wes at his wark--sic wark,
+neeburs--but he did it weel. An' ae thing a' thocht rael thochtfu'
+o' him: he first sent aff the laddie's mither tae get a bed ready.
+
+"'Noo that's feenished, and his constitution 'ill dae the rest,' and
+he carried the lad doon the ladder in his airms like a bairn, and
+laid him in his bed, and waits aside him till he wes sleepin', and
+then says he: 'Burnbrae, yir a gey lad never tae say "Collie, will
+ye lick?" for a' hevna tasted meat for saxteen hoors.'
+
+"It was michty tae see him come intae the yaird that day, neeburs;
+the verra look o' him wes victory."
+
+Jamie's cynicism slipped off in the enthusiasm of this reminiscence,
+and he expressed the feeling of Drumtochty. No one sent for MacLure
+save in great straits, and the sight of him put courage in sinking
+hearts. But this was not by the grace of his appearance, or the
+advantage of a good bedside manner. A tall, gaunt, loosely made man,
+without an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body, his face burned a
+dark brick colour by constant exposure to the weather, red hair and
+beard turning grey, honest blue eyes that look you ever in the face,
+huge hands with wrist bones like the shank of a ham, and a voice
+that hurled his salutations across two fields, he suggested the moor
+rather than the drawing-room. But what a clever hand it was in an
+operation, as delicate as a woman's, and what a kindly voice it was
+in the humble room where the shepherd's wife was weeping by her
+man's bedside. He was "ill pitten thegither" to begin with, but many
+of his physical defects were the penalties of his work, and endeared
+him to the Glen. That ugly scar that cut into his right eyebrow and
+gave him such a sinister expression, was got one night Jess slipped
+on the ice and laid him insensible eight miles from home. His limp
+marked the big snowstorm in the fifties, when his horse missed the
+road in Glen Urtach, and they rolled together in a drift. MacLure
+escaped with a broken leg and the fracture of three ribs, but he
+never walked like other men again. He could not swing himself into
+the saddle without making two attempts and holding Jess's mane.
+Neither can you "warstle" through the peat bogs and snow drifts for
+forty winters without a touch of rheumatism. But they were
+honourable scars, and for such risks of life men get the Victoria
+Cross in other fields. MacLure got nothing but the secret affection
+of the Glen, which knew that none had ever done one-tenth as much
+for it as this ungainly, twisted, battered figure, and I have seen a
+Drumtochty face soften at the sight of MacLure limping to his horse.
+
+Mr. Hopps earned the ill-will of the Glen for ever by criticising
+the doctor's dress, but indeed it would have filled any townsman
+with amazement. Black he wore once a year, on Sacrament Sunday, and,
+if possible, at a funeral; topcoat or waterproof never. His jacket
+and waistcoat were rough homespun of Glen Urtach wool, which threw
+off the wet like a duck's back, and below he was clad in shepherd's
+tartan trousers, which disappeared into unpolished riding boots. His
+shirt was grey flannel, and he was uncertain about a collar, but
+certain as to a tie which he never had, his beard doing instead, and
+his hat was soft felt of four colours and seven different shapes.
+His point of distinction in dress was the trousers, and they were
+the subject of unending speculation.
+
+"Some threep that he's worn thae eedentical pair the last twenty
+year, an' a' mind masel him gettin' a tear ahint, when he was
+crossin' oor palin', and the mend's still veesible.
+
+"Ithers declare 'at he's got a wab o' claith, and hes a new pair
+made in Muirtown aince in the twa year maybe, and keeps them in the
+garden till the new look wears aft.
+
+"For ma ain pairt," Soutar used to declare, "a' canna mak up my
+mind, but there's ae thing sure, the Glen wud not like tae see him
+withoot them: it wud be a shock tae confidence. There's no muckle o'
+the check left, but ye can aye tell it, and when ye see thae breeks
+comin' in ye ken that if human pooer can save yir bairn's life it
+'ill be dune."
+
+The confidence of the Glen--and tributary states--was unbounded, and
+rested partly on long experience of the doctor's resources, and
+partly on his hereditary connection.
+
+"His father was here afore him," Mrs. Macfadyen used to explain;
+"atween them they've hed the countyside for weel on tae a century;
+if MacLure disna understand oor constitution, wha dis, a' wud like
+tae ask?"
+
+For Drumtochty had its own constitution and a special throat
+disease, as became a parish which was quite self-contained between
+the woods and the hills, and not dependent on the lowlands either
+for its diseases or its doctors.
+
+"He's a skilly man, Doctor MacLure," continued my friend Mrs.
+Macfadyen, whose judgment on sermons or anything else was seldom at
+fault; "an' a kind-hearted, though o' coorse he hes his faults like
+us a', an' he disna tribble the Kirk often.
+
+"He aye can tell what's wrang wi' a body, an' maistly he can put ye
+richt, and there's nae new-fangled wys wi' him: a blister for the
+ootside an' Epsom salts for the inside dis his wark, an' they say
+there's no an herb on the hills he disna ken.
+
+"If we're tae dee, we're tae dee; an' if we're tae live, we're tae
+live," concluded Elspeth, with sound Calvinistic logic; "but a'll
+say this for the doctor, that whether yir tae live or dee, he can
+aye keep up a shairp meisture on the skin.
+
+"But he's no verra ceevil gin ye bring him when there's naethin'
+wrang," and Mrs. Macfadyen's face reflected another of Mr. Hopps'
+misadventures of which Hillocks held the copyright.
+
+"Hopps' laddie ate grosarts (gooseberries) till they hed to sit up
+a' nicht wi' him, an' naethin' wud do but they maun hae the doctor,
+an' he writes 'immediately' on a slip o' paper.
+
+"Weel, MacLure had been awa a' nicht wi' a shepherd's wife Dunleith
+wy, and he comes here withoot drawin' bridle, mud up tae the een.
+
+"'What's a dae here, Hillocks?" he cries; 'it's no an accident,
+is't?' and when he got aff his horse he cud hardly stand wi'
+stiffness and tire.
+
+"'It's nane o' us, doctor; it's Hopps' laddie; he's been eatin' ower
+mony berries.'
+
+"If he didna turn on me like a tiger.
+
+"'Div ye mean tae say--'
+
+"'Weesht, weesht,' an' I tried tae quiet him, for Hopps wes comin'
+oot.
+
+"'Well, doctor,' begins he, as brisk as a magpie, 'you're here at
+last; there's no hurry with you Scotchmen. My boy has been sick all
+night, and I've never had one wink of sleep. You might have come a
+little quicker, that's all I've got to say.'
+
+"'We've mair tae dae in Drumtochty than attend tae every bairn that
+hes a sair stomach,' and a' saw MacLure wes roosed.
+
+"'I'm astonished to hear you speak. Our doctor at home always says
+to Mrs. 'Opps, "Look on me as a family friend, Mrs. 'Opps, and send
+for me though it be only a headache."'
+
+"'He'd be mair sparin' o' his offers if he hed four and twenty mile
+tae look aifter. There's naethin' wrang wi' yir laddie but greed.
+Gie him a gude dose o' castor oil and stop his meat for a day, an'
+he 'ill be a' richt the morn.'
+
+"'He 'ill not take castor oil, doctor. We have given up those
+barbarous medicines.'
+
+"'Whatna kind o' medicines hae ye noo in the Sooth?'
+
+"'Well, you see, Dr. MacLure, we're homoeopathists, and I've my
+little chest here, 'and oot Hopps comes wi' his boxy.
+
+"'Let's see't,' an' MacLure sits doon and taks oot the bit bottles,
+and he reads the names wi' a lauch every time.
+
+"'Belladonna; did ye ever hear the like? Aconite; it cowes a'. Nux
+Vomica. What next? Weel, ma mannie,' he says tae Hopps, 'it's a fine
+ploy, and ye 'ill better gang on wi' the Nux till it's dune, and gie
+him ony ither o' the sweeties he fancies.
+
+"'Noo, Hillocks, a' maun be aff tae see Drumsheugh's grieve, for
+he's doon wi' the fever, and it's tae be a teuch fecht. A' hinna
+time tae wait for dinner; gie me some cheese an' cake in ma haund,
+and Jess 'ill tak a pail o' meal an' water.
+
+"'Fee; a'm no wantin' yir fees, man; wi' that boxy ye dinna need a
+doctor; na, na, gie yir siller tae some puir body, Maister Hopps,'
+an' he was doon the road as hard as he cud lick."
+
+His fees were pretty much what the folk chose to give him, and he
+collected them once a year at Kildrummie fair.
+
+"Weel, doctor, what am a' awin' ye for the wife and bairn? Ye 'ill
+need three notes for that nicht ye stayed in the hoose an' a' the
+veesits."
+
+"Havers," MacLure would answer, "prices are low, a'm hearing; gie's
+thirty shillings."
+
+"No, a'll no, or the wife 'ill tak ma ears off," and it was settled
+for two pounds.
+
+Lord Kilspindie gave him a free house and fields, and one way or
+other, Drumsheugh told me, the doctor might get in about £150 a
+year, out of which he had to pay his old housekeeper's wages and a
+boy's, and keep two horses, besides the cost of instruments and
+books, which he bought through a friend in Edinburgh with much
+judgment.
+
+There was only one man who ever complained of the doctor's charges,
+and that was the new farmer of Milton, who was so good that he was
+above both churches, and held a meeting in his barn. (It was Milton
+the Glen supposed at first to be a Mormon, but I can't go into that
+now.) He offered McLure a pound less than he asked, and two tracts,
+whereupon MacLure expressed his opinion of Milton, both from a
+theological and social standpoint, with such vigour and frankness
+that an attentive audience of Drumtochty men could hardly contain
+themselves.
+
+Jamie Soutar was selling his pig at the time, and missed the
+meeting, but he hastened to condole with Milton, who was complaining
+everywhere of the doctor's language.
+
+"Ye did richt tae resist him; it 'ill maybe roose the Glen tae mak a
+stand; he fair hauds them in bondage.
+
+"Thirty shillings for twal veesits, and him no mair than seeven mile
+awa, an' a'm telt there werena mair than four at nicht.
+
+"Ye 'ill hae the sympathy o' the Glen, for a' body kens yir as free
+wi' yir siller as yir tracts.
+
+"Wes't 'Beware o' gude warks' ye offered him? Man, ye chose it weel,
+for he's been colleckin' sae mony thae forty years, a'm feared for
+him.
+
+"A've often thocht oor doctor's little better than the Gude
+Samaritan, an' the Pharisees didna think muckle o' his chance aither
+in this warld or that which is tae come."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+THROUGH THE FLOOD
+
+Doctor MacLure did not lead a solemn procession from the sick bed to
+the dining-room, and give his opinion from the hearthrug with an air
+of wisdom bordering on the supernatural, because neither the
+Drumtochty houses nor his manners were on that large scale. He was
+accustomed to deliver himself in the yard, and to conclude his
+directions with one foot in the stirrup; but when he left the room
+where the life of Annie Mitchell was ebbing slowly away, our doctor
+said not one word, and at the sight of his face her husband's heart
+was troubled.
+
+He was a dull man, Tammas, who could not read the meaning of a sign,
+and laboured under a perpetual disability of speech; but love was
+eyes to him that day, and a mouth.
+
+"Is't as bad as yir lookin', doctor? tell's the truth; wull Annie no
+come through?" and Tammas looked MacLure straight in the face, who
+never flinched his duty or said smooth things.
+
+"A' wud gie onything tae say Annie hes a chance, but a' daurna; a'
+doot yir gaein' tae lose her, Tammas."
+
+MacLure was in the saddle, and as he gave his judgment, he laid his
+hand on Tammas's shoulder with one of the rare caresses that pass
+between men.
+
+"It's a sair business, but ye 'ill play the man and no vex Annie;
+she 'ill dae her best, a'll warrant."
+
+"An' a'll dae mine," and Tammas gave MacLure's hand a grip that
+would have crushed the bones of a weakling. Drumtochty felt in such
+moments the brotherliness of this rough-looking man, and loved him.
+
+Tammas hid his face in Jess's mane, who looked round with sorrow in
+her beautiful eyes, for she had seen many tragedies, and in this
+silent sympathy the stricken man drank his cup, drop by drop.
+
+"A' wesna prepared for this, for a' aye thocht she wud live the
+langest.... She's younger than me by ten years, and never wes
+ill.... We've been mairit twal year laist Martinmas, but its juist
+like a year the day.... A' wes never worthy o' her, the bonniest,
+snoddest (neatest), kindliest lass in the Glen.... A' never cud mak
+oot hoo she ever lookit at me, 'at hesna hed ae word tae say aboot
+her till it's ower late.... She didna cuist up tae me that a' wesna
+worthy o' her, no her, but aye she said, 'Yir ma ain gudeman, and
+nane cud be kinder tae me.'... An' a' wes minded tae be kind, but a'
+see noo mony little trokes a' micht hae dune for her, and noo the
+time is bye.... Naebody kens hoo patient she wes wi' me, and aye
+made the best o' me, an' never pit me tae shame afore the fouk....
+An' we never hed ae cross word, no ane in twal year.... We were mair
+nor man and wife, we were sweethearts a' the time.... Oh, ma bonnie
+lass, what 'ill the bairnies an' me dae withoot ye, Annie?"
+
+The winter night was falling fast, the snow lay deep upon the
+ground, and the merciless north wind moaned through the close as
+Tammas wrestled with his sorrow dry-eyed, for tears were denied
+Drumtochty men. Neither the doctor nor Jess moved hand or foot, but
+their hearts were with their fellow creature, and at length the
+doctor made a sign to Marget Howe, who had come out in search of
+Tammas, and now stood by his side.
+
+"Dinna mourn tae the brakin' o' yir hert, Tammas," she said, "as if
+Annie an' you hed never luved. Neither death nor time can pairt them
+that luve; there's naethin' in a' the warld sae strong as luve. If
+Annie gaes frae the sicht o' yir een she 'ill come the nearer tae
+yir hert. She wants tae see ye, and tae hear ye say that ye 'ill
+never forget her nicht nor day till ye meet in the land where
+there's nae pairtin'. Oh, a' ken what a'm sayin', for it's five year
+noo sin George gied awa, an' he's mair wi' me noo than when he wes
+in Edinboro' and I wes in Drumtochty."
+
+"Thank ye kindly, Marget; thae are gude words and true, an' ye hev
+the richt tae say them; but a' canna dae without seein' Annie comin'
+tae meet me in the gloamin', an' gaein' in an' oot the hoose, an'
+hearin' her ca' me by ma name, an' a'll no can tell her that a' luve
+her when there's nae Annie in the hoose.
+
+"Can naethin' be dune, doctor? Ye savit Flora Cammil, and young
+Burnbrae, an' yon shepherd's wife Dunleith wy, an' we were a sae
+prood o' ye, an' pleased tae think that ye hed keepit deith frae
+anither hame. Can ye no think o' somethin' tae help Annie, and gie
+her back tae her man and bairnies?" and Tammas searched the doctor's
+face in the cold, weird light.
+
+"There's nae pooer in heaven or airth like luve," Marget said to me
+afterwards; "it maks the weak strong and the dumb tae speak. Oor
+herts were as water afore Tammas's words, an' a' saw the doctor
+shake in his saddle. A' never kent till that meenut hoo he hed a
+share in a'body's grief, an' carried the heaviest wecht o' a' the
+Glen. A' peetied him wi' Tammas lookin' at him sae wistfully, as if
+he hed the keys o' life an' deith in his hands. But he wes honest,
+and wudna hold oot a false houp tae deceive a sore hert or win
+escape for himsel'."
+
+"Ye needna plead wi' me, Tammas, to dae the best a' can for yir
+wife. Man, a' kent her lang afore ye ever luved her; a' brocht her
+intae the warld, and a' saw her through the fever when she wes a bit
+lassikie; a' closed her mither's een, and it wes me hed tae tell her
+she wes an orphan, an' nae man wes better pleased when she got a
+gude husband, and a' helpit her wi' her fower bairns. A've naither
+wife nor bairns o' ma own, an' a coont a' the fouk o' the Glen ma
+family. Div ye think a' wudna save Annie if I cud? If there wes a
+man in Muirtown 'at cud dae mair for her, a'd have him this verra
+nicht, but a' the doctors in Perthshire are helpless for this
+tribble.
+
+"Tammas, ma puir fallow, if it could avail, a' tell ye a' wud lay
+doon this auld worn-oot ruckle o' a body o' mine juist tae see ye
+baith sittin' at the fireside, an' the bairns roond ye, couthy an'
+canty again; but it's no tae be, Tammas, it's no tae be."
+
+"When a' lookit at the doctor's face," Marget said, "a' thocht him
+the winsomest man a' ever saw. He wes transfigured that nicht, for
+a'm judging there's nae transfiguration like luve."
+
+"It's God's wull an' maun be borne, but it's a sair wull for me, an'
+a'm no ungratefu' tae you, doctor, for a' ye've dune and what ye
+said the nicht," and Tammas went back to sit with Annie for the last
+time.
+
+Jess picked her way through the deep snow to the main road, with a
+skill that came of long experience, and the doctor held converse
+with her according to his wont.
+
+"Eh, Jess wumman, yon wes the hardest wark a' hae tae face, and a'
+wud raither hae ta'en ma chance o' anither row in a Glen Urtach
+drift than tell Tammas Mitchell his wife wes deein'.
+
+"A' said she cudna be cured, and it wes true, for there's juist ae
+man in the land fit for't, and they micht as weel try tae get the
+mune oot o' heaven. Sae a' said naethin' tae vex Tammas's hert, for
+it's heavy eneuch withoot regrets.
+
+"But it's hard, Jess, that money wull buy life after a', an' if
+Annie wes a duchess her man wudna lose her; but bein' only a puir
+cottar's wife, she maun dee afore the week's oot.
+
+"Gin we hed him the morn there's little doot she wud be saved, for
+he hesna lost mair than five per cent, o' his cases, and they 'ill
+be puir toon's craturs, no strappin' women like Annie.
+
+"It's oot o' the question, Jess, sae hurry up, lass, for we've hed a
+heavy day. But it wud be the grandest thing that was ever dune in
+the Glen in oor time if it could be managed by hook or crook.
+
+"We 'ill gang and see Drumsheugh, Jess; he's anither man sin'
+Geordie Hoo's deith, and he wes aye kinder than fouk kent;" and the
+doctor passed at a gallop through the village, whose lights shone
+across the white frost-bound road.
+
+"Come in by, doctor; a' heard ye on the road; ye 'ill hae been at
+Tammas Mitchell's; hoo's the gudewife? a' doot she's sober."
+
+"Annie's deein', Drumsheugh, an' Tammas is like tae brak his hert."
+
+"That's no lichtsome, doctor, no lichtsome ava, for a' dinna ken ony
+man in Drumtochty sae bund up in his wife as Tammas, and there's no
+a bonnier wumman o' her age crosses oor kirk door than Annie, nor a
+cleverer at her wark. Man, ye 'ill need tae pit yir brains in steep.
+Is she clean beyond ye?"
+
+"Beyond me and every ither in the land but ane, and it wud cost a
+hundred guineas tae bring him tae Drumtochty."
+
+"Certes, he's no blate; it's a fell chairge for a short day's work;
+but hundred or no hundred we 'ill hae him, an' no let Annie gang,
+and her no half her years."
+
+"Are ye meanin' it, Drumsheugh?" and MacLure turned white below the
+tan.
+
+"William MacLure," said Drumsheugh, in one of the few confidences
+that ever broke the Drumtochty reserve, "a'm a lonely man, wi'
+naebody o' ma ain blude tae care for me livin', or tae lift me intae
+ma coffin when a'm deid.
+
+"A' fecht awa at Muirtown market for an extra pund on a beast, or a
+shillin' on the quarter o' barley, an' what's the gude o't? Burnbrae
+gaes aff tae get a goon for his wife or a buke for his college
+laddie, an' Lachlan Campbell 'ill no leave the place noo withoot a
+ribbon for Flora.
+
+"Ilka man in the Kildrummie train has some bit fairin' in his pooch
+for the fouk at hame that he's bocht wi' the siller he won.
+
+"But there's naebody tae be lookin' oot for me, an' comin' doon the
+road tae meet me, and daffin' (joking) wi' me aboot their fairing,
+or feeling ma pockets. Ou ay, a've seen it a' at ither hooses,
+though they tried tae hide it frae me for fear a' wud lauch at them.
+Me lauch, wi' ma cauld, empty hame!
+
+"Yir the only man kens, Weelum, that I aince luved the noblest
+wumman in the glen or onywhere, an' a' luve her still, but wi'
+anither luve noo.
+
+"She hed given her heart tae anither, or a've thocht a' micht hae
+won her, though nae man be worthy o' sic a gift. Ma hert turned tae
+bitterness, but that passed awa beside the brier bush whar George
+Hoo lay yon sad simmer time. Some day a'll tell ye ma story, Weelum,
+for you an' me are auld freends, and will be till we dee."
+
+MacLure felt beneath the table for Drumsheugh's hand, but neither
+man looked at the other.
+
+"Weel, a' we can dae noo, Weelum, gin we haena mickle brichtness in
+oor ain hames, is tae keep the licht frae gaein' oot in anither
+hoose. Write the telegram, man, and Sandy 'ill send it aff frae
+Kildrurnmie this verra nicht, and ye 'ill hae yir man the morn."
+
+"Yir the man a' coonted ye, Drumsheugh, but ye 'ill grant me ae
+favour. Ye 'ill lat me pay the half, bit by bit--a' ken yir wullin'
+tae dae't a',--but a' haena mony pleesures, an' a' wud like tae hae
+ma ain share in savin' Annie's life."
+
+Next morning a figure received Sir George on the Kildrummie
+platform, whom that famous surgeon took for a gillie, but who
+introduced himself as "MacLure of Drumtochty." It seemed as if the
+East had come to meet the West when these two stood together, the
+one in travelling furs, handsome and distinguished, with his strong,
+cultured face and carriage of authority, a characteristic type of
+his profession; and the other more marvellously dressed than ever,
+for Drumsheugh's topcoat had been forced upon him for the occasion,
+his face and neck one redness with the bitter cold; rough and
+ungainly, yet not without some signs of power in his eye and voice,
+the most heroic type of his noble profession. MacLure compassed the
+precious arrival with observances till he was securely seated in
+Drumsheugh's dogcart--a vehicle that lent itself to history--with
+two full-sized plaids added to his equipment--Drumsheugh and
+Hillocks had both been requisitioned--and MacLure wrapped another
+plaid round a leather case, which was placed below the seat with
+such reverence as might be given to the Queen's regalia. Peter
+attended their departure full of interest, and as soon as they were
+in the fir woods MacLure explained that it would be an eventful
+journey.
+
+"It's a' richt in here, for the wind disna get at the snaw, but the
+drifts are deep in the Glen, and th'ill be some engineerin' afore we
+get tae oor destination."
+
+Four times they left the road and took their way over fields, twice
+they forced a passage through a slap in a dyke, thrice they used
+gaps in the paling which MacLure had made on his downward journey.
+
+"A' seleckit the road this mornin', an' a' ken the depth tae an
+inch; we 'ill get through this steadin' here tae the main road, but
+oor worst job 'ill be crossin' the Tochty.
+
+"Ye see the bridge hes been shakin' wi' this winter's flood, and we
+daurna venture on it, sae we hev tae ford, and the snaw's been
+melting up Urtach way. There's nae doot the water's gey big, and
+it's threatenin' tae rise, but we 'ill win through wi' a warstle.
+
+"It micht be safer tae lift the instruments oot o' reach o' the
+water; wud ye mind haddin' them on yir knee till we're ower, an'
+keep firm in yir seat in case we come on a stane in the bed o' the
+river."
+
+By this time they had come to the edge, and it was not a cheering
+sight. The Tochty had spread out over the meadows, and while they
+waited they could see it cover another two inches on the trunk of a
+tree. There are summer floods, when the water is brown and flecked
+with foam, but this was a winter flood, which is black and sullen,
+and runs in the centre with a strong, fierce, silent current. Upon
+the op posite side Hillocks stood to give directions by word and
+hand, as the ford was on his land, and none knew the Tochty better
+in all its ways.
+
+They passed through the shallow water without mishap, save when the
+wheel struck a hidden stone or fell suddenly into a rut; but when
+they neared the body of the river MacLure halted, to give Jess a
+minute's breathing.
+
+"It 'ill tak ye a' yir time, lass, an' a' wud raither be on yir
+back; but ye never failed me yet, and a wumman's life is hangin' on
+the crossin'."
+
+With the first plunge into the bed of the stream the water rose to
+the axles, and then it crept up to the shafts, so that the surgeon
+could feel it lapping in about his feet, while the dogcart began to
+quiver, and it seemed as if it were to be carried away. Sir George
+was as brave as most men, but he had never forded a Highland river
+in flood, and the mass of black water racing past beneath, before,
+behind him, affected his imagination and shook his nerves. He rose
+from his seat and ordered MacLure to turn back, declaring that he
+would be condemned utterly and eternally if he allowed himself to be
+drowned for any person.
+
+"Sit doon," thundered MacLure; "condemned ye will be suner or later
+gin ye shirk yir duty, but through the water ye gang the day."
+
+Both men spoke much more strongly and shortly, but this is what they
+intended to say, and it was MacLure that prevailed.
+
+Jess trailed her feet along the ground with cunning art, and held
+her shoulder against the stream; MacLure leant forward in his seat,
+a rein in each hand, and his eyes fixed on Hillocks, who was now
+standing up to the waist in the water, shouting directions and
+cheering on horse and driver.
+
+"Haud tae the richt, doctor; there's a hole yonder. Keep oot o't for
+ony sake. That's it; yir daein' fine. Steady, man, steady. Yir at
+the deepest; sit heavy in yir seats. Up the channel noo, and ye 'll
+be oot o' the swirl. Weel dune, Jess, weel dune, auld mare! Mak
+straicht for me, doctor, an' a'll gie ye the road oot. Ma word,
+ye've dune yir best, baith o' ye this mornin'," cried Hillocks,
+splashing up to the dogcart, now in the shallows.
+
+"Sall, it wes titch an' go for a meenut in the middle; a Hielan'
+ford is a kittle (hazardous) road in the snaw time, but ye're safe
+noo.
+
+"Gude luck tae ye up at Westerton, sir; nane but a richt-hearted man
+wud hae riskit the Tochty in flood. Ye're boond tae succeed aifter
+sic a graund beginning" for it had spread already that a famous
+surgeon had come to do his best for Annie, Tammas Mitchell's wife.
+
+Two hours later MacLure came out from Annie's room and laid hold of
+Tammas, a heap of speechless misery by the kitchen fire, and carried
+him off to the barn, and spread some corn on the threshing floor and
+thrust a flail into his hands.
+
+"Noo we've tae begin, an' we 'ill no be dune for an' oor, and ye've
+tae lay on withoot stoppin' till a' come for ye, an' a'll shut the
+door tae haud in the noise, an' keep yir dog beside ye, for there
+maunna be a cheep aboot the hoose for Annie's sake."
+
+"A'll dae onythingye want me, but if--if--"
+
+"A'll come for ye, Tammas, gin there be danger; but what are ye
+feared for wi' the Queen's ain surgeon here?"
+
+Fifty minutes did the flail rise and fall, save twice, when Tammas
+crept to the door and listened, the dog lifting his head and
+whining.
+
+It seemed twelve hours instead of one when the door swung back, and
+MacLure filled the doorway, preceded by a great burst of light, for
+the sun had arisen on the snow.
+
+His face was as tidings of great joy, and Elspeth told me that there
+was nothing like it to be seen that afternoon for glory, save the
+sun itself in the heavens.
+
+"A' never saw the marrow o't, Tammas, an' a'll never see the like
+again; it's a' ower, man, withoot a hitch frae beginnin' tae end,
+and she's fa'in' asleep as fine as ye like."
+
+"Dis he think Annie ... 'ill live?"
+
+"Of coorse he dis, and be aboot the hoose inside a month; that's the
+gude o' bein' a clean-bluided, weel-livin'--"
+
+"Preserve ye, man, what's wrang wi' ye? it's a mercy a' keppit ye,
+or we wud hev hed anither job for Sir George.
+
+"Ye're a' richt noo; sit doon on the strae. A'll come back in a
+whilie, an' ye 'ill see Annie juist for a meenut, but ye maunna say
+a word."
+
+Marget took him in and let him kneel by Annie's bedside.
+
+He said nothing then or afterwards, for speech came only once in his
+lifetime to Tammas, but Annie whispered, "Ma ain dear man."
+
+When the doctor placed the precious bag beside Sir George in our
+solitary first next morning, he laid a cheque beside it and was
+about to leave.
+
+"No, no," said the great man. "Mrs. Macfadyen and I were on the
+gossip last night, and I know the whole story about you and your
+friend.
+
+"You have some right to call me a coward, but I'll never let you
+count me a mean, miserly rascal," and the cheque with Drumsheugh's
+painful writing fell in fifty pieces on the floor.
+
+As the train began to move, a voice from the first called so that
+all in the station heard.
+
+"Give's another shake of your hand, MacLure; I'm proud to have met
+you; you are an honour to our profession. Mind the antiseptic
+dressings."
+
+It was market day, but only Jamie Soutar and Hillocks had ventured
+down.
+
+"Did ye hear yon, Hillocks? hoo dae ye feel? A'll no deny a'm
+lifted"
+
+Halfway to the Junction Hillocks had recovered, and began to grasp
+the situation.
+
+"Tell's what he said. A' wud like to hae it exact for Drumsheugh."
+
+"Thae's the eedentical words, an' they're true; there's no a man in
+Drumtochty disna ken that, except ane."
+
+"An' wha's that, Jamie?"
+
+"It's Weelum MacLure himsel. Man, a've often girned that he sud
+fecht awa for us a', and maybe dee before he kent that he hed
+githered mair luve than ony man in the Glen.
+
+"'A'm prood tae hae met ye', says Sir George, an' him the greatest
+doctor in the land. 'Yir an honour tae oor profession.'
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae missed it for twenty notes," said James
+Soutar, cynic-in-ordinary to the parish of Drumtochty.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+A FIGHT WITH DEATH
+
+When Drumsheugh's grieve was brought to the gates of death by fever,
+caught, as was supposed, on an adventurous visit to Glasgow, the
+London doctor at Lord Kilspindie's shooting lodge looked in on his
+way from the moor, and declared it impossible for Saunders to live
+through the night.
+
+"I give him six hours, more or less; it is only a question of time,"
+said the oracle, buttoning his gloves and getting into the brake;
+"tell your parish doctor that I was sorry not to have met him."
+
+Bell heard this verdict from behind the door, and gave way utterly,
+but Drumsheugh declined to accept it as final, and devoted himself
+to consolation.
+
+"Dinna greet like that, Bell wumman, sae lang as Saunders is still
+livin'; a'll never give up houp, for ma pairt, till oor ain man says
+the word.
+
+"A' the doctors in the land dinna ken as muckle aboot us as Weelum
+MacLure, an' he's ill tae beat when he's tryin' tae save a man's
+life."
+
+MacLure, on his coming, would say nothing, either weal or woe, till
+he had examined Saunders. Suddenly his face turned into iron before
+their eyes, and he looked like one encountering a merciless foe. For
+there was a feud between MacLure and a certain mighty power which
+had lasted for forty years in Drumtochty.
+
+"The London doctor said that Saunders wud sough awa afore mornin',
+did he? Weel, he's an authority on fevers an' sic like diseases, an
+ought tae ken.
+
+"It's may be presumptous o' me tae differ frae him, and it wudna be
+verra respectfu' o' Saunders tae live aifter this opeenion. But
+Saunders wes aye thraun an' ill tae drive, an' he's as like as no
+tae gang his ain gait.
+
+"A'm no meanin' tae reflect on sae clever a man, but he didna ken
+the seetuation. He can read fevers like a bulk, but he never cam
+across sic a thing as the Drumtochty constitution a' his days.
+
+"Ye see, when onybody gets as low as puir Saunders here, it's juist
+a hand to hand wrastle atween the fever and his constitution, an' of
+coorse, if he hed been a shilpit, stuntit, feckless effeegy o' a
+cratur, fed on tea an' made dishes and pushioned wi' bad air,
+Saunders wud hae nae chance; he wes boond tae gae oot like the snuff
+o' a candle.
+
+"But Saunders hes been fillin' his lungs for five and thirty year
+wi' strong Drumtochty air, an' eatin' naethin' but kirny aitmeal,
+and drinkin' naethin' but fresh milk frae the coo, an' followin' the
+ploo through the new-turned, sweet-smellin' earth, an' swingin' the
+scythe in haytime and harvest, till the legs an' airms o' him were
+iron, an' his chest wes like the cuttin' o' an oak tree.
+
+"He's a waesome sicht the nicht, but Saunders wes a buirdly man
+aince, and wull never lat his life be taken lichtly frae him. Na,
+na, he hesna sinned against Nature, and Nature 'ill stand by him noo
+in his oor o' distress.
+
+"A' daurna say yea, Bell, muckle as a' wud like, for this is an evil
+disease, cunnin' an' treacherous as the deevil himsel', but a' winna
+say nay, sae keep yir hert frae despair.
+
+"It wull be a sair fecht, but it 'ill be settled one wy or anither
+by sax o'clock the morn's morn. Nae man can prophecee hoo it 'ill
+end, but ae thing is certain, a'll no see deith tak a Drumtochty man
+afore his time if a' can help it.
+
+"Noo, Bell ma wumman, yir near deid wi' tire, an' nae wonder. Ye've
+dune a' ye cud for yir man, an' ye 'ill lippen (trust) him the nicht
+tae Drumsheugh an' me; we 'ill no fail him or you.
+
+"Lie doon an' rest, an' if it be the wull o' the Almichty a'll
+wauken ye in the mornin' tae see a livin' conscious man, an' if it
+be itherwise a'll come for ye the suner, Bell," and the big red hand
+went out to the anxious wife. "A' gie ye ma word."
+
+Bell leant over the bed, and at the sight of Saunders' face a
+superstitious dread seized her.
+
+"See, doctor, the shadow of deith is on him that never lifts. A've
+seen it afore, on ma father an' mither. A' canna leave him, a' canna
+leave him."
+
+"It's hoverin', Bell, but it hesna fallen; please God it never wull.
+Gang but and get some sleep, for it's time we were at oor work.
+
+"The doctors in the toons hae nurses an' a' kinds o' handy
+apparatus," said MacLure to Drumsheugh when Bell had gone, "but you
+an' me 'ill need tae be nurse the nicht, an' use sic things as we
+hev.
+
+"It 'ill be a lang nicht and anxious wark, but a' wud raither hae
+ye, auld freend, wi' me than ony man in the Glen. Ye're no feared
+tae gie a hand?"
+
+"Me feared? No likely. Man, Saunders cam tae me a haflin, and hes
+been on Drumsheugh for twenty years, an' though he be a dour chiel,
+he's a faithfu' servant as ever lived. It's waesome tae see him
+lyin' there moanin' like some dumb animal frae mornin' tae nicht,
+an' no able tae answer his ain wife when she speaks.
+
+"Div ye think, Weelum, he hes a chance?"
+
+"That he hes, at ony rate, and it 'ill no be your blame or mine if
+he hesna mair."
+
+While he was speaking, MacLure took off his coat and waistcoat and
+hung them on the back of the door. Then he rolled up the sleeves of
+his shirt and laid bare two arms that were nothing but bone and
+muscle.
+
+"It gar'd ma very blood rin faster tae the end of ma fingers juist
+tae look at him," Drumsheugh expatiated afterwards to Hillocks, "for
+a' saw noo that there was tae be a stand-up fecht atween him an'
+deith for Saunders, and when a' thocht o' Bell an' her bairns, a'
+kent wha wud win.
+
+"'Aff wi' yir coat, Drumsheugh,' said MacLure; 'ye 'ill need tae
+bend yir back the nicht; gither a' the pails in the hoose and fill
+them at the spring, an' a'll come doon tae help ye wi' the
+carryin'."
+
+It was a wonderful ascent up the steep pathway from the spring to
+the cottage on its little knoll, the two men in single file,
+bareheaded, silent, solemn, each with a pail of water in either
+hand, MacLure limping painfully in front, Drumsheugh blowing behind;
+and when they laid down their burden in the sick room, where the
+bits of furniture had been put to a side and a large tub held the
+centre, Drumsheugh looked curiously at the doctor.
+
+"No, a'm no daft; ye needna be feared; but yir tae get yir first
+lesson in medicine the nicht, an' if we win the battle ye can set up
+for yersel in the Glen.
+
+"There's twa dangers--that Saunders' strength fails, an' that the
+force o' the fever grows; and we have juist twa weapons.
+
+"Yon milk on the drawers' head an' the bottle of whisky is tae keep
+up the strength, and this cool caller water is tae keep doon the
+fever.
+
+"We 'ill cast oot the fever by the virtue o' the earth an' the
+water."
+
+"Div ye mean tae pit Saunders in the tub?"
+
+"Ye hiv it noo, Drumsheugh, and that's hoo a' need yir help."
+
+"Man, Hillocks," Drumsheugh used to moralise, as often as he
+remembered that critical night, "it wes humblin' tae see hoo low
+sickness can bring a pooerfu' man, an' ocht tae keep us frae pride.
+
+"A month syne there wesna a stronger man in the Glen than Saunders,
+an' noo he wes juist a bundle o' skin and bone, that naither saw nor
+heard, nor moved nor felt, that kent naethin' that was dune tae him.
+
+"Hillocks, a' wudna hae wished ony man tae hev seen Saunders--for it
+wull never pass frae before ma een as long as a' live--but a' wish
+a' the Glen hed stude by MacLure kneelin' on the floor wi' his
+sleeves up tae his oxters and waitin' on Saunders.
+
+"Yon big man wes as pitifu' an' gentle as a wumman, and when he laid
+the puir fallow in his bed again, he happit him ower as a mither dis
+her bairn."
+
+Thrice it was done, Drumsheugh ever bringing up colder water from
+the spring, and twice MacLure was silent; but after the third time
+there was a gleam in his eye.
+
+"We're haudin' oor ain; we're no bein' maistered, at ony rate; mair
+a' canna say for three oors.
+
+"We 'ill no need the water again, Drumsheugh; gae oot and tak a
+breath o' air; a'm on gaird masel."
+
+It was the hour before daybreak, and Drumsheugh wandered through
+fields he had trodden since childhood. The cattle lay sleeping in
+the pastures; their shadowy forms, with a patch of whiteness here
+and there, having a weird suggestion of death. He heard the burn
+running over the stones; fifty years ago he had made a dam that
+lasted till winter. The hooting of an owl made him start; one had
+frightened him as a boy so that he ran home to his mother--she died
+thirty years ago. The smell of ripe corn filled the air; it would
+soon be cut and garnered. He could see the dim outlines of his
+house, all dark and cold; no one he loved was beneath the roof. The
+lighted window in Saunders' cottage told where a man hung between
+life and death, but love was in that home. The futility of life
+arose before this lonely man, and overcame his heart with an
+indescribable sadness. What a vanity was all human labour, what a
+mystery all human life.
+
+But while he stood, a subtle change came over the night, and the air
+trembled round him as if one had whispered. Drumsheugh lifted his
+head and looked eastwards. A faint grey stole over the distant
+horizon, and suddenly a cloud reddened before his eyes. The sun was
+not in sight, but was rising, and sending forerunners before his
+face. The cattle began to stir, a blackbird burst into song, and
+before Drumsheugh crossed the threshold of Saunders' house, the
+first ray of the sun had broken on a peak of the Grampians.
+
+MacLure left the bedside, and as the light of the candle fell on the
+doctor's face, Drumsheugh could see that it was going well with
+Saunders.
+
+"He's nae waur; an' it's half six noo; it's ower sune tae say mair,
+but a'm houpin' for the best. Sit doon and take a sleep, for ye're
+needin' 't, Drumsheugh, an', man, ye hae worked for it"
+
+As he dozed off, the last thing Drumsheugh saw was the doctor
+sitting erect in his chair, a clenched fist resting on the bed, and
+his eyes already bright with the vision of victory.
+
+He awoke with a start to find the room flooded with the morning
+sunshine, and every trace of last night's work removed.
+
+The doctor was bending over the bed, and speaking to Saunders.
+
+"It's me, Saunders, Doctor MacLure, ye ken; dinna try tae speak or
+move; juist let this drap milk slip ower--ye 'ill be needin' yir
+breakfast, lad--and gang tae sleep again."
+
+Five minutes, and Saunders had fallen into a deep, healthy sleep,
+all tossing and moaning come to an end. Then MacLure stepped softly
+across the floor, picked up his coat and waistcoat, and went out at
+the door.
+
+Drumsheugh arose and followed him without a word. They passed
+through the little garden, sparkling with dew, and beside the byre,
+where Hawkie rattled her chain, impatient for Bell's coming, and by
+Saunders' little strip of corn ready for the scythe, till they
+reached an open field. There they came to a halt, and Doctor MacLure
+for once allowed himself to go.
+
+His coat he flung east and his waistcoat west, as far as he could hurl
+them, and it was plain he would have shouted had he been a complete
+mile from Saunders' room. Any less distance was useless for adequate
+expression. He struck Drumsheugh a mighty blow that well-nigh levelled
+that substantial man in the dust, and then the doctor of Drumtochty
+issued his bulletin.
+
+"Saunders wesna tae live through the nicht, but he's livin' this
+meenut, an' like to live.
+
+"He's got by the warst clean and fair, and wi' him that's as good as
+cure.
+
+"It' ill be a graund waukenin' for Bell; she 'ill no be a weedow
+yet, nor the bairnies fatherless.
+
+"There's nae use glowerin' at me, Drumsheugh, for a body's daft at a
+time, an' a' canna contain masel, and a'm no gaein' tae try."
+
+Then it dawned upon Drumsheugh that the doctor was attempting the
+Highland fling.
+
+"He's ill made tae begin wi'," Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyard
+next Sabbath, "and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled by
+accidents, sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith,
+o' a' the Hielan' flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.
+
+"A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty years, but a' confess tae a
+turn masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o'
+Bell an' the news that wes waitin' her got the better o' me."
+
+Drumtochty did not laugh. Drumtochty looked as if it could have done
+quite otherwise for joy.
+
+"A' wud hae made a third gin a' hed been there," announced Hillocks,
+aggressively.
+
+"Come on, Drumsheugh," said Jamie Soutar, "gie's the end o't; it wes
+a michty mornin'."
+
+"'We're twa auld fules,' says MacLure tae me, and he gaithers up his
+claithes. 'It wud set us better tae be tellin' Bell.'
+
+"She wes sleepin' on the top o' her bed wrapped in a plaid, fair
+worn oot wi' three weeks' nursin' o' Saunders, but at the first
+touch she was oot upon the floor.
+
+"'Is Saunders deein', doctor?' she cries. 'Ye promised tae wauken
+me; dinna tell me it's a' ower.'
+
+"'There's nae deein' aboot him, Bell; ye're no tae lose yir man this
+time, sae far as a' can see. Come ben an' jidge for yersel'.
+
+"Bell lookit at Saunders, and the tears of joy fell on the bed like
+rain.
+
+"'The shadow's lifted,' she said; 'he's come back frae the mooth o'
+the tomb.
+
+"'A' prayed last nicht that the Lord wud leave Saunders till the
+laddies cud dae for themselves, an' thae words came intae ma mind,
+"Weepin' may endure for a nicht, but joy cometh in the mornin'."
+
+"'The Lord heard ma prayer, and joy hes come in the mornin', an' she
+gripped the doctor's hand.
+
+"'Ye've been the instrument, Doctor MacLure. Ye wudna gie him up,
+and ye did what nae ither cud for him, an' a've ma man the day, and
+the bairns hae their father.'
+
+"An' afore MacLure kent what she was daein', Bell lifted his hand to
+her lips an' kissed it."
+
+"Did she, though?" cried Jamie. "Wha wud hae thocht there wes as
+muckle spunk in Bell?"
+
+"MacLure, of coorse, was clean scandalised," continued Drumsheugh,
+"an' pooed awa his hand as if it hed been burned.
+
+"Nae man can thole that kind o' fraikin', and a' never heard o' sic
+a thing in the parish, but we maun excuse Bell, neeburs; it wes an
+occasion by ordinar," and Drumsheugh made Bell's apology to
+Drumtochty for such an excess of feeling.
+
+"A' see naethin' tae excuse," insisted Jamie, who was in great
+fettle that Sabbath; "the doctor hes never been burdened wi' fees,
+and a'm judgin' he coonted a wumman's gratitude that he saved frae
+weedowhood the best he ever got."
+
+"A' gaed up tae the Manse last nicht," concluded Drumsheugh, "and
+telt the minister hoo the doctor focht aucht oors for Saunders'
+life, an' won, and ye never saw a man sae carried. He walkit up and
+doon the room a' the time, and every other meenut he blew his nose
+like a trumpet.
+
+"'I've a cold in my head to-night, Drumsheugh,' says he; 'never mind
+me.'"
+
+"A've hed the same masel in sic circumstances; they come on sudden,"
+said Jamie.
+
+"A' wager there 'ill be a new bit in the laist prayer the day, an'
+somethin' worth hearin'."
+
+And the fathers went into kirk in great expectation.
+
+"We beseech Thee for such as be sick, that Thy hand may be on them
+for good, and that Thou wouldst restore them again to health and
+strength," was the familiar petition of every Sabbath.
+
+The congregation waited in a silence that might be heard, and were
+not disappointed that morning, for the minister continued:
+
+"Especially we tender Thee hearty thanks that Thou didst spare Thy
+servant who was brought down into the dust of death, and hast given
+him back to his wife and children, and unto that end didst
+wonderfully bless the skill of him who goes out and in amongst us,
+the beloved physician of this parish and adjacent districts."
+
+"Didna a' tell ye, neeburs?" said Jamie, as they stood at the
+kirkyard gate before dispersing; "there's no a man in the coonty cud
+hae dune it better. 'Beloved physician,' an' his 'skill,' tae, an'
+bringing in 'adjacent districts'; that's Glen Urtach; it wes
+handsome, and the doctor earned it, ay, every word.
+
+"It's an awfu' peety he didna hear yon; but dear knows whar he is
+the day, maist likely up--"
+
+Jamie stopped suddenly at the sound of a horse's feet, and there,
+coming down the avenue of beech trees that made a long vista from
+the kirk gate, they saw the doctor and Jess.
+
+One thought flashed through the minds of the fathers of the
+commonwealth.
+
+It ought to be done as he passed, and it would be done if it were
+not Sabbath. Of course it was out of the question on Sabbath.
+
+The doctor is now distinctly visible, riding after his fashion.
+
+There was never such a chance, if it were only Saturday; and each
+man reads his own regret in his neighbour's face.
+
+The doctor is nearing them rapidly; they can imagine the shepherd's
+tartan.
+
+Sabbath or no Sabbath, the Glen cannot let him pass without some
+tribute of their pride.
+
+Jess has recognised friends, and the doctor is drawing rein.
+
+"It hes tae be dune," said Jamie desperately, "say what ye like."
+Then they all looked towards him, and Jamie led.
+
+"Hurrah," swinging his Sabbath hat in the air, "hurrah," and once
+more, "hurrah," Whinnie Knowe, Drumsheugh, and Hillocks joining
+lustily, but Tammas Mitchell carrying all before him, for he had
+found at last an expression for his feelings that rendered speech
+unnecessary.
+
+It was a solitary experience for horse and rider, and Jess bolted
+without delay. But the sound followed and surrounded them, and as
+they passed the corner of the kirkyard, a figure waved his college
+cap over the wall and gave a cheer on his own account.
+
+"God bless you, doctor, and well done."
+
+"If it isna the minister," cried Drumsheugh, "in his goon an' bans;
+tae think o' that; but a' respeck him for it."
+
+Then Drumtochty became self-conscious, and went home in confusion of
+face and unbroken silence, except Jamie Soutar, who faced his
+neighbours at the parting of the ways without shame.
+
+"A' wud dae it a' ower again if a' hed the chance; he got naethin'
+but his due."
+
+It was two miles before Jess composed her mind, and the doctor and
+she could discuss it quietly together.
+
+"A' can hardly believe ma ears, Jess, an' the Sabbath tae; their
+verra jidgment hes gane frae the fouk o' Drumtochty.
+
+"They've heard about Saunders, a'm thinkin', wumman, and they're
+pleased we brocht him roond; he's fairly on the mend, ye ken, noo.
+
+"A' never expeckit the like o' this, though, and it wes juist a wee
+thingie mair than a' cud hae stude.
+
+"Ye hev yir share in't tae, lass; we've hed mony a hard nicht and
+day thegither, an' yon wes oor reward. No mony men in this warld
+'ill ever get a better, for it cam frae the hert o' honest fouk."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+THE DOCTOR'S LAST JOURNEY
+
+Drumtochty had a vivid recollection of the winter when Dr. MacLure
+was laid up for two months with a broken leg, and the Glen was
+dependent on the dubious ministrations of the Kildrummie doctor.
+Mrs. Macfadyen also pretended to recall a "whup" of some kind or
+other he had in the fifties, but this was considered to be rather a
+pyrotechnic display of Elspeth's superior memory than a serious
+statement of fact. MacLure could not have ridden through the snow of
+forty winters without suffering, yet no one ever heard him complain,
+and he never pled illness to any messenger by night or day.
+
+"It took me," said Jamie Soutar to Milton afterwards, "the feck o'
+ten meenuts tae howk him an' Jess oot ae snawy nicht when Drums
+turned bad sudden, and if he didna try to excuse himself for no
+hearing me at aince wi' some story aboot juist comin' in frae Glen
+Urtach, and no bein' in his bed for the laist twa nichts.
+
+"He wes that carefu' o' himsel an' lazy that if it hedna been for
+the siller, a've often thocht, Milton, he wud never hae dune a
+handstroke o' wark in the Glen.
+
+"What scunnered me wes the wy the bairns were ta'en in wi' him. Man,
+a've seen him tak a wee laddie on his knee that his ain mither cudna
+quiet, an' lilt 'Sing a song o' saxpence' till the bit mannie wud be
+lauchin' like a gude ane, an' pooin' the doctor's beard.
+
+"As for the weemen, he fair cuist a glamour ower them; they're
+daein' naethin' noo but speak aboot this body and the ither he
+cured, an' hoo he aye hed a couthy word for sick fouk. Weemen hae
+nae discernment, Milton; tae hear them speak ye wud think MacLure
+hed been a releegious man like yersel, although, as ye said, he wes
+little mair than a Gallic.
+
+"Bell Baxter was haverin' awa in the shop tae sic an extent aboot
+the wy MacLure brocht roond Saunders when he hed the fever that a'
+gied oot at the door, a wes that disgusted, an' a'm telt when Tammas
+Mitchell heard the news in the smiddy he wes juist on the greeting.
+
+"The smith said that he wes thinkin' o' Annie's tribble, but ony wy
+a' ca' it rael bairnly. It's no like Drumtochty; ye're setting an
+example, Milton, wi' yir composure. But a' mind ye took the doctor's
+meesure as sune as ye cam intae the pairish."
+
+It is the penalty of a cynic that he must have some relief for his
+secret grief, and Milton began to weary of life in Jamie's hands
+during those days.
+
+Drumtochty was not observant in the matter of health, but they had
+grown sensitive about Dr. MacLure, and remarked in the kirkyard all
+summer that he was failing.
+
+"He wes aye spare," said Hillocks, "an' he's been sair twisted for
+the laist twenty year, but a' never mind him booed till the year.
+An' he's gaein' intae sma' buke (bulk), an' a' dinna like that,
+neeburs.
+
+"The Glen wudna dae weel withoot Weelum MacLure, an' he's no as
+young as he wes. Man, Drumsheugh, ye micht wile him aff tae the saut
+water atween the neeps and the hairst. He's been workin' forty year
+for a holiday, an' it's aboot due."
+
+Drumsheugh was full of tact, and met MacLure quite by accident on
+the road.
+
+"Saunders 'ill no need me till the shearing begins," he explained to
+the doctor, "an' a'm gaein' tae Brochty for a turn o' the hot baths;
+they're fine for the rheumatics.
+
+"Wull ye no come wi' me for auld lang syne? it's lonesome for a
+solitary man, an' it wud dae ye gude."
+
+"Na, na, Drumsheugh," said MacLure, who understood perfectly, "a've
+dune a' thae years withoot a break, an' a'm laith (unwilling) tae be
+takin' holidays at the tail end.
+
+"A'll no be mony months wi' ye a' thegither noo, an' a'm wanting tae
+spend a' the time a' hev in the Glen. Ye see yersel that a'll sune
+be getting ma lang rest, an' a'll no deny that a'm wearyin' for it."
+
+As autumn passed into winter, the Glen noticed that the doctor's
+hair had turned grey, and that his manner had lost all its
+roughness. A feeling of secret gratitude filled their hearts, and
+they united in a conspiracy of attention. Annie Mitchell knitted a
+huge comforter in red and white, which the doctor wore in misery for
+one whole day, out of respect for Annie, and then hung in his
+sitting-room as a wall ornament. Hillocks used to intercept him with
+hot drinks, and one drifting day compelled him to shelter till the
+storm abated. Flora Campbell brought a wonderful compound of honey
+and whisky, much tasted in Auchindarroch, for his cough, and the
+mother of young Burnbrae filled his cupboard with black jam, as a
+healing measure. Jamie Soutar seemed to have an endless series of
+jobs in the doctor's direction, and looked in "juist tae rest
+himsel" in the kitchen.
+
+MacLure had been slowly taking in the situation, and at last he
+unburdened himself one night to Jamie.
+
+"What ails the fouk, think ye? for they're aye lecturin' me noo tae
+tak care o' the weet and tae wrap masel up, an' there's no a week
+but they're sendin' bit presents tae the hoose, till a'm fair
+ashamed."
+
+"Oo, a'll explain that in a meenut," answered Jamie, "for a' ken the
+Glen weel. Ye see they're juist tryin' the Scripture plan o' heapin'
+coals o' fire on yer head.
+
+"Here ye've been negleckin' the fouk in seeckness an' lettin' them
+dee afore their freends' eyes withoot a fecht, an' refusin' tae gang
+tae a puir wumman in her tribble, an' frichtenin' the bairns--no,
+a'm no dune--and scourgin' us wi' fees, and livin' yersel on the fat
+o' the land.
+
+"Ye've been carryin' on this trade ever sin yir father dee'd, and
+the Glen didna notis. But ma word, they've fund ye oot at laist, an'
+they're gaein' tae mak ye suffer for a' yir ill usage. Div ye
+understand noo?" said Jamie, savagely.
+
+For a while MacLure was silent, and then he only said:
+
+"It's little a' did for the puir bodies; but ye hev a gude hert,
+Jamie, a rael good hert."
+
+It was a bitter December Sabbath, and the fathers were settling the
+affairs of the parish ankle deep in snow, when MacLure's old
+housekeeper told Drumsheugh that the doctor was not able to rise,
+and wished to see him in the afternoon.
+
+"Ay, ay," said Hillocks, shaking his head, and that day Drumsheugh
+omitted four pews with the ladle, while Jamie was so vicious on the
+way home that none could endure him.
+
+Janet had lit a fire in the unused grate, and hung a plaid by the
+window to break the power of the cruel north wind, but the bare room
+with its half-a-dozen bits of furniture and a worn strip of carpet,
+and the outlook upon the snow drifted up to the second pane of the
+window and the black firs laden with their icy burden, sent a chill
+to Drumsheugh's heart.
+
+The doctor had weakened sadly, and could hardly lift his head, but his
+face lit up at the sight of his visitor, and the big hand, which was
+now quite refined in its whiteness, came out from the bed-clothes with
+the old warm grip.
+
+"Come in by, man, and sit doon; it's an awfu' day tae bring ye sae
+far, but a' kent ye wudna grudge the traivel.
+
+"A' wesna sure till last nicht, an' then a' felt it wudna be lang,
+an' a' took a wearyin' this mornin' tae see ye.
+
+"We've been freends sin' we were laddies at the auld schule in the
+firs, an' a' wud like ye tae be wi' me at the end. Ye 'ill stay the
+nicht, Paitrick, for auld lang syne."
+
+Drumsheugh was much shaken, and the sound of the Christian name,
+which he had not heard since his mother's death, gave him a "grue"
+(shiver), as if one had spoken from the other world.
+
+"It's maist awfu' tae hear ye speakin' aboot deein', Weelum; a'
+canna bear it. We 'ill hae the Muirtown doctor up, an' ye 'ill be
+aboot again in nae time.
+
+"Ye hevna ony sair tribble; ye're juist trachled wi' hard wark an'
+needin' a rest. Dinna say ye're gaein' tae leave us, Weelum; we
+canna dae withoot ye in Drumtochty;" and Drumsheugh looked wistfully
+for some word of hope.
+
+"Na, na, Paitrick, naethin' can be dune, an' it's ower late tae send
+for ony doctor. There's a knock that canna be mista'en, an' a' heard
+it last night. A've focht deith for ither fouk mair than forty year,
+but ma ain time hes come at laist.
+
+"A've nae tribble worth mentionin'--a bit titch o' bronchitis--an'
+a've hed a graund constitution; but a'm fair worn oot, Paitrick;
+that's ma complaint, an' its past curin'."
+
+Drumsheugh went over to the fireplace, and for a while did nothing
+but break up the smouldering peats, whose smoke powerfully affected
+his nose and eyes.
+
+"When ye're ready, Paitrick, there's twa or three little trokes a'
+wud like ye tae look aifter, an' a'll tell ye aboot them as lang's
+ma head's clear.
+
+"A' didna keep buiks, as ye ken, for a' aye hed a guid memory, so
+naebody 'ill be harried for money aifter ma deith, and ye 'ill hae
+nae accoonts tae collect.
+
+"But the fouk are honest in Drumtochty, and they 'ill be offerin' ye
+siller, an' a'll gie ye ma mind aboot it. Gin it be a puir body,
+tell her tae keep it and get a bit plaidie wi' the money, and she
+'ill maybe think o' her auld doctor at a time. Gin it be a bien
+(well-to-do) man, tak half of what he offers, for a Drumtochty man
+wud scorn to be mean in sic circumstances; and if onybody needs a
+doctor an' canna pay for him, see he's no left tae dee when a'm oot
+o' the road."
+
+"Nae fear o' that as lang as a'm living Weelum; that hundred's still
+tae the fore, ye ken, an' a'll tak care it's weel spent.
+
+"Yon wes the best job we ever did thegither, an' dookin' Saunders;
+ye 'ill no forget that nicht, Weelum"--a gleam came into the
+doctor's eyes--"tae say naethin' o' the Highlan' fling."
+
+The remembrance of that great victory came upon Drumsheugh, and
+tried his fortitude.
+
+"What 'ill become o's when ye're no here tae gie a hand in time o'
+need? we 'ill tak ill wi' a stranger that disna ken ane o's frae
+anither."
+
+"It's a' for the best, Paitrick, an' ye 'ill see that in a whilie.
+A've kent fine that ma day wes ower, an' that ye sud hae a younger
+man.
+
+"A' did what a' cud tae keep up wi' the new medicine, but a' hed
+little time for readin', an' nane for traivellin'.
+
+"A'm the last o' the auld schule, an' a' ken as weel as onybody thet
+a' wesna sae dainty an' fine-mannered as the town doctors. Ye took
+me as a' wes, an' naebody ever cuist up tae me that a' wes a plain
+man. Na, na; ye've been rael kind an' conseederate a' thae years."
+
+"Weelum, gin ye cairry on sic nonsense ony langer," interrupted
+Drumsheugh, huskily, "a'll leave the hoose; a' canna stand it."
+
+"It's the truth, Paitrick, but we 'ill gae on wi' our wark, for a'm
+failin' fast.
+
+"Gie Janet ony sticks of furniture she needs tae furnish a hoose,
+and sell a' thing else tae pay the wricht (undertaker) an' bedrel
+(grave-digger). If the new doctor be a young laddie and no verra
+rich, ye micht let him hae the buiks an' instruments; it 'ill aye be
+a help.
+
+"But a' wudna like ye tae sell Jess, for she's been a faithfu'
+servant, an' a freend tae. There's a note or twa in that drawer a'
+savit, an' if ye kent ony man that wud gie her a bite o' grass and a
+sta' in his stable till she followed her maister--"
+
+"Confoond ye, Weelum," broke out Drumsheugh; "its doonricht cruel o'
+ye to speak like this tae me. Whar wud Jess gang but tae Drumsheugh?
+she 'ill hae her run o' heck an' manger sae lang as she lives; the
+Glen wudna like tae see anither man on Jess, and nae man 'ill ever
+touch the auld mare."
+
+"Dinna mind me, Paitrick, for a' expeckit this; but ye ken we're no
+verra gleg wi' oor tongues in Drumtochty, an' dinna tell a' that's
+in oor hearts.
+
+"Weel, that's a' that a' mind, an' the rest a' leave tae yersel'.
+A've neither kith nor kin tae bury me, sae you an' the neeburs 'ill
+need tae lat me doon; but gin Tammas Mitchell or Saunders be
+stannin' near and lookin' as if they wud like a cord, gie't tae
+them, Paitrick. They're baith dour chiels, and haena muckle tae say,
+but Tammas lies a graund hert, and there's waur fouk in the Glen
+than Saunders.
+
+"A'm gettin' drowsy, an' a'll no be able tae follow ye sune, a'
+doot; wud ye read a bit tae me afore a' fa' ower?
+
+"Ye 'ill find ma mither's Bible on the drawers' heid, but ye 'ill
+need tae come close tae the bed, for a'm no hearin' or seein' sae
+weel as a' wes when ye cam."
+
+Drumsheugh put on his spectacles and searched for a comfortable
+Scripture, while the light of the lamp fell on his shaking hands and
+the doctor's face, where the shadow was now settling.
+
+"Ma mither aye wantit this read tae her when she wes sober" (weak),
+and Drumsheugh began, "In My Father's house are many mansions," but
+MacLure stopped him.
+
+"It's a bonnie word, an' yir mither wes a sanct; but it's no for the
+like o' me. It's ower gude; a' daurna tak it.
+
+"Shut the buik an' let it open itsel, an' ye 'ill get a bit a've
+been readin' every nicht the laist month."
+
+Then Drumsheugh found the Parable wherein the Master tells us what
+God thinks of a Pharisee and of a penitent sinner, till he came to
+the words: "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up
+so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
+God be merciful to me a sinner."
+
+"That micht hae been written for me, Paitrick, or ony ither auld
+sinner that hes feenished his life, an' hes naethin' tae say for
+himsel'.
+
+"It wesna easy for me tae get tae kirk, but a' cud hae managed wi' a
+stretch, an' a' used langidge a' sudna, an' a' micht hae been
+gentler, and no been so short in the temper. A' see't a' noo.
+
+"It's ower late tae mend, but ye 'ill maybe juist say to the fouk
+that I wes sorry, an' a'm houpin' that the Almichty 'ill hae mercy
+on me.
+
+"Cud ye ... pit up a bit prayer, Paitrick?"
+
+"A' haena the words," said Drumsheugh in great distress; "wud ye
+like's tae send for the minister?"
+
+"It's no the time for that noo, an' a' wud rather hae yersel'--juist
+what's in yir heart, Paitrick: the Almichty 'ill ken the lave (rest)
+Himsel'."
+
+So Drumsheugh knelt and prayed with many pauses.
+
+"Almichty God ... dinna be hard on Weelum MacLure, for he's no been
+hard wi' onybody in Drumtochty.... Be kind tae him as he's been tae
+us a' for forty year.... We're a' sinners afore Thee.... Forgive him
+what he's dune wrang, an' dinna cuist it up tae him.... Mind the
+fouk he's helpit ... the weemen an' bairnies ... an' gie him a
+welcome name, for he's sair needin't after a' his wark.... Amen."
+
+"Thank ye, Paitrick, and gude nicht tae ye. Ma ain true freend,
+gie's yir hand, for a'll maybe no ken ye again.
+
+"Noo a'll say ma mither's prayer and hae a sleep, but ye 'ill no
+leave me till a' is ower."
+
+Then he repeated as he had done every night of his life:
+
+  "This night I lay me down to sleep,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
+   And if I die before I wake,
+   I pray the Lord my soul to take."
+
+He was sleeping quietly when the wind drove the snow against the
+window with a sudden "swish ;" and he instantly awoke, so to say, in
+his sleep. Some one needed him.
+
+"Are ye frae Glen Urtach?" and an unheard voice seemed to have
+answered him.
+
+"Worse is she, an' sufferin' awfu'; that's no lichtsome; ye did
+richt tae come.
+
+"The front door's drifted up; gang roond tae the back, an' ye 'ill
+get intae the kitchen; a'll be ready in a meenut.
+
+"Gie's a hand wi' the lantern when a'm saidling Jess, an' ye needna
+come on till daylicht; a' ken the road."
+
+Then he was away in his sleep on some errand of mercy, and
+struggling through the storm.
+
+"It's a coorse nicht, Jess, an' heavy traivellin'; can ye see afore
+ye, lass? for a'm clean confused wi' the snaw; bide a wee till a'
+find the diveesion o' the roads; it's aboot here back or forrit.
+
+"Steady, lass, steady, dinna plunge; it's a drift we're in, but
+ye're no sinkin'; ... up noo; ... there ye are on the road again.
+
+"Eh, it's deep the nicht, an' hard on us baith, but there's a puir
+wumman micht dee if we didna warstle through; ... that's it; ye ken
+fine what a'm sayin'.
+
+"We 'ill hae tae leave the road here, an' tak tae the muir. Sandie
+'ill no can leave the wife alane tae meet us; ... feel for yersel',
+lass, and keep oot o' the holes.
+
+"Yon's the hoose black in the snaw. Sandie! man, ye frichtened us;
+a' didna see ye ahint the dyke; hoo's the wife?"
+
+After a while he began again:
+
+"Ye're fair dune, Jess, and so a' am masel'; we're baith gettin'
+auld, an' dinna tak sae weel wi' the nicht wark.
+
+"We 'ill sune be hame noo; this is the black wood, and it's no lang
+aifter that; we're ready for oor beds, Jess; ... ay, ye like a clap
+at a time; mony a mile we've gaed hegither.
+
+"Yon's the licht in the kitchen window; nae wonder ye're nickering
+(neighing); ... it's been a stiff journey; a'm tired, lass ... a'm
+tired tae deith," and the voice died into silence.
+
+Drumsheugh held his friend's hand, which now and again tightened in
+his, and as he watched, a change came over the face on the pillow
+beside him. The lines of weariness disappeared, as if God's hand had
+passed over it; and peace began to gather round the closed eyes.
+
+The doctor has forgotten the toil of later years, and has gone back
+to his boyhood.
+
+  "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want,"
+
+he repeated, till he came to the last verse, and then he hesitated.
+
+  "Goodness and mercy all my life
+   Shall surely follow me.
+
+"Follow me ... and ... and ... what's next? Mither said I wes tae
+haed ready when she cam.
+
+"'A'll come afore ye gang tae sleep, Wullie, but ye 'ill no get yir
+kiss unless ye can feenish the psalm.'
+
+"And ... in God's house ... for evermore my ... hoo dis it rin? a'
+canna mind the next word ... my, my--
+
+"It's ower dark noo tae read it, an' mither 'ill sune be comin'."
+
+Drumsheugh, in an agony, whispered into his ear, "'My dwelling-place,'
+Weelum."
+
+"That's it, that's it a' noo; wha said it?
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"A'm ready noo, an' a'll get ma kiss when mither comes; a' wish she
+wud come, for a'm tired an' wantin' tae sleep.
+
+"Yon's her step ... an' she's carryin' a licht in her hand; a' see
+it through the door.
+
+"Mither! a' kent ye wudna forget yir laddie, for ye promised tae
+come, and a've feenished ma psalm.
+
+  "And in God's house for evermore
+   My dwelling-place shall be.
+
+"Gie me the kiss, mither, for a've been waitin' for ye, an' a'll
+sune be asleep."
+
+The grey morning light fell on Drumsheugh, still holding his
+friend's cold hand, and staring at a hearth where the fire had died
+down into white ashes; but the peace on the doctor's face was of one
+who rested from his labours.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+THE MOURNING OF THE GLEN
+
+Dr. MacLure was buried during the great snowstorm, which is still
+spoken of, and will remain the standard of snowfall in Drumtochty
+for the century. The snow was deep on the Monday, and the men that
+gave notice of his funeral had hard work to reach the doctor's
+distant patients. On Tuesday morning it began to fall again in heavy
+fleecy flakes, and continued till Thursday, and then on Thursday the
+north wind rose and swept the snow into the hollows of the roads
+that went to the upland farms, and built it into a huge bank at the
+mouth of Glen Urtach, and laid it across our main roads in drifts of
+every size and the most lovely shapes, and filled up crevices in the
+hills to the depth of fifty feet.
+
+On Friday morning the wind had sunk to passing gusts that powdered
+your coat with white, and the sun was shining on one of those winter
+landscapes no townsman can imagine and no countryman ever forgets.
+The Glen, from end to end and side to side, was clothed in a
+glistering mantle white as no fuller on earth could white it, that
+flung its skirts over the clumps of trees and scattered farm-houses,
+and was only divided where the Tochty ran with black, swollen
+stream. The great moor rose and fell in swelling billows of snow
+that arched themselves over the burns, running deep in the mossy
+ground, and hid the black peat bogs with a thin, treacherous crust.
+Beyond, the hills northwards and westwards stood high in white
+majesty, save where the black crags of Glen Urtach broke the line,
+and, above our lower Grampians, we caught glimpses of the distant
+peaks that lifted their heads in holiness unto God.
+
+It seemed to me a fitting day for William MacLure's funeral, rather
+than summer time, with its flowers and golden corn. He had not been
+a soft man, nor had he lived an easy life, and now he was to be laid
+to rest amid the austere majesty of winter, yet in the shining of
+the sun. Jamie Soutar, with whom I toiled across the Glen, did not
+think with me, but was gravely concerned.
+
+"Nae doot it's a graund sicht; the like o't is no gien tae us twice
+in a generation, an' nae king wes ever carried tae his tomb in sic a
+cathedral.
+
+"But it's the fouk a'm conseederin', an' hoo they 'ill win through;
+it's hard eneuch for them 'at's on the road, an' it's clean
+impossible for the lave.
+
+"They 'ill dae their best, every man o' them, ye may depend on that,
+an' hed it been open weather there wudna hev been six able-bodied
+men missin'.
+
+"A' wes mad at them, because they never said onything when he wes
+leevin', but they felt for a' that what he hed dune, an', a' think,
+he kent it afore he deed.
+
+"He hed juist ae faut, tae ma thinkin', for a' never jidged the waur
+o' him for his titch of rochness--guid trees hae gnarled bark--but
+he thocht ower little o' himsel.
+
+"Noo, gin a' hed asked him hoo mony fouk wud come tae his beerial,
+he wud hae said, 'They 'ill be Drumsheugh an' yersel', an' maybe twa
+or three neeburs besides the minister,' an' the fact is that nae man
+in oor time wud hae sic a githerin' if it werena for the storm.
+
+"Ye see," said Jamie, who had been counting heads all morning,
+"there's six shepherds in Glen Urtach--they're shut up fast; an'
+there micht hae been a gude half dizen frae Dunleith wy, an' a'm
+telt there's nae road; an' there's the heich Glen, nae man cud cross
+the muir the day, an' it's aucht mile roond;" and Jamie proceeded to
+review the Glen in every detail of age, driftiness of road and
+strength of body, till we arrived at the doctor's cottage, when he
+had settled on a reduction of fifty through stress of weather.
+
+Drumsheugh was acknowledged as chief mourner by the Glen, and
+received us at the gate with a labored attempt at everyday manners.
+
+"Ye've hed heavy traivellin', a' doot, an' ye 'ill be cauld. It's
+hard weather for the sheep, an' a'm thinkin' this 'ill be a feeding
+storm.
+
+"There wes nae use trying tae dig oot the front door yestreen, for
+it wud hae been drifted up again before morning. We've cleared awa
+the snow at the back for the prayer; ye 'ill get in at the kitchen
+door.
+
+"There's a puckle Dunleith men--"
+
+"Wha?" cried Jamie in an instant.
+
+"Dunleith men," said Drumsheugh.
+
+"Div ye mean they're here, whar are they?"
+
+"Drying themsels at the fire, an' no withoot need; ane of them gied
+ower the head in a drift, and his neeburs hed tae pu' him oot.
+
+"It took them a gude fower oors tae get across, an' it wes coorse
+wark; they likit him weel doon that wy, an', Jamie man"--here
+Drumsheugh's voice changed its note, and his public manner
+disappeared--"what div ye think o' this? every man o' them hes on
+his blacks."
+
+"It's mair than cud be expeckit," said Jamie; "but whar dae yon men
+come frae, Drumsheugh?"
+
+Two men in plaids were descending the hill behind the doctor's
+cottage, taking three feet at a stride, and carrying long staffs in
+their hands.
+
+"They're Glen Urtach men, Jamie, for ane o' them wes at Kildrummie
+fair wi' sheep, but hoo they've wun doon passes me."
+
+"It canna be, Drumsheugh," said Jamie, greatly excited. "Glen
+Urtach's steikit up wi' sna like a locked door.
+
+"Ye're no surely frae the Glen, lads?" as the men leaped the dyke
+and crossed to the back door, the snow falling from their plaids as
+they walked.
+
+"We're that an' nae mistak, but a' thocht we wud be lickit ae place,
+eh, Chairlie? a'm no sae weel acquant wi' the hill on this side, an'
+there wes some kittle (hazardous) drifts."
+
+"It wes grand o' ye tae mak the attempt," said Drumsheugh, "an' a'm
+gled ye're safe."
+
+"He cam through as bad himsel tae help ma wife," was Charlie's
+reply.
+
+"They're three mair Urtach shepherds 'ill come in by sune; they're
+frae Upper Urtach, an' we saw them fording the river; ma certes, it
+took them a' their time, for it wes up tae their waists and rinnin'
+like a mill lade, but they jined hands and cam ower fine." And the
+Urtach men went in to the fire.
+
+The Glen began to arrive in twos and threes, and Jamie, from a point
+of vantage at the gate, and under an appearance of utter
+indifference, checked his roll till even he was satisfied.
+
+"Weelum MacLure 'ill hae the beerial he deserves in spite o' sna and
+drifts; it passes a' tae see hoo they've githered frae far an' near.
+
+"A'm thinkin'ye can colleck them for the minister noo, Drumsheugh.
+A'body's here except the heich Glen, an' we mauna hike for them."
+
+"Dinna be sae sure o' that, Jamie. Yon's terrible like them on the
+road, wi' Whinnie at their head;" and so it was, twelve in all, only
+old Adam Ross absent, detained by force, being eighty-two years of
+age.
+
+"It wud hae been temptin' Providence tae cross the muir," Whinnie
+explained, "and it's a fell stap roond; a' doot we're laist."
+
+"See, Jamie," said Drumsheugh, as he went to the house, "gin there
+be ony antern body in sicht afore we begin; we maun mak allooances
+the day wi' twa feet o' sna on the grund, tae say naethin' o'
+drifts."
+
+"There's something at the turnin', an' it's no fouk; it's a machine
+o' some kind or ither--maybe a bread cart that's focht its wy up."
+
+"Na, it's no that; there's twa horses, ane afore the ither; if it's
+no a dogcairt wi' twa men in the front; they 'ill be comin' tae the
+beerial."
+
+"What wud ye sae, Jamie," Hillocks suggested, "but it micht be some
+o' thae Muirtown doctors? they were awfu' chief wi' MacLure."
+
+"It's nae Muirtown doctors," cried Jamie, in great exultation, "nor
+ony ither doctors. A' ken thae horses, and wha's ahint them. Quick,
+man Hillocks, stop the fouk, and tell Drumsheugh tae come oot, for
+Lord Kilspindie hes come up frae Muirtown Castle."
+
+Jamie himself slipped behind, and did not wish to be seen.
+
+"It's the respeck he's gettin' the day frae high an' low," was
+Jamie's husky apology; "tae think o' them fechtin' their wy doon
+frae Glen Urtach, and toiling roond frae the heich Glen, an' his
+lordship driving through the drifts a' the road frae Muirtown, juist
+tae honour Weelum MacLure's beerial.
+
+"It's nae ceremony the day, ye may lippen tae it; it's the hert
+brocht the fouk, an' ye can see it in their faces; ilka man hes his
+ain reason, an' he's thinkin' on't, though he's speakin' o' naethin'
+but the storm; he's mindin' the day Weelum pued him oot frae the
+jaws o' death, or the nicht he savit the gude wife in her oor o'
+tribble.
+
+"That's why they pit on their blacks this mornin' afore it wes
+licht, and wrastled through the sna drifts at risk o' life.
+Drumtochty fouk canna say muckle, it's an awfu' peety, and they 'ill
+dae their best tae show naethin', but a' can read it a' in their
+een.
+
+"But wae's me"--and Jamie broke down utterly behind a fir tree, so
+tender a thing is a cynic's heart--"that fouk 'ill tak a man's best
+wark a' his days withoot a word an' no dae him honour till he dees.
+Oh, if they hed only githered like this juist aince when he wes
+livin', an' lat him see he hedna laboured in vain. His reward hes
+come ower late, ower late."
+
+During Jamie's vain regret, the Castle trap, bearing the marks of a
+wild passage in the snow-covered wheels, a broken shaft tied with
+rope, a twisted lamp, and the panting horses, pulled up between two
+rows of farmers, and Drumsheugh received his lordship with evident
+emotion.
+
+"Ma lord ... we never thocht o' this ... an' sic a road."
+
+"How are you, Drumsheugh? and how are you all this wintry day?
+That's how I'm half an hour late; it took us four hours' stiff work
+for sixteen miles, mostly in the drifts, of course."
+
+"It wes gude o' yir lordship, tae mak sic an effort, an' the hale
+Glen wull be gratefu' tae ye, for ony kindness tae him is kindness
+tae us."
+
+"You make too much of it, Drumsheugh," and the clear, firm voice was
+heard of all; "it would have taken more than a few snow drifts to
+keep me from showing my respect to William MacLure's memory."
+
+When all had gathered in a half circle before the kitchen door, Lord
+Kilspindie came out--every man noticed he had left his overcoat, and
+was in black, like the Glen--and took a place in the middle with
+Drumsheugh and Burnbrae, his two chief tenants, on the right and
+left, and as the minister appeared every man bared his head.
+
+The doctor looked on the company--a hundred men such as for strength
+and gravity you could hardly have matched in Scotland--standing out
+in picturesque relief against the white background, and he said:
+
+"It's a bitter day, friends, and some of you are old; perhaps it
+might be wise to cover your heads before I begin to pray."
+
+Lord Kilspindie, standing erect and greyheaded between the two old
+men, replied:
+
+"We thank you, Dr. Davidson, for your thoughtfulness; but he endured
+many a storm in our service, and we are not afraid of a few minutes'
+cold at his funeral."
+
+A look flashed round the stern faces, and was reflected from the
+minister, who seemed to stand higher.
+
+His prayer, we noticed with critical appreciation, was composed for
+the occasion, and the first part was a thanksgiving to God for the
+life-work of our doctor, wherein each clause was a reference to his
+services and sacrifices. No one moved or said Amen--it had been
+strange with us--but when every man had heard the gratitude of his
+dumb heart offered to Heaven, there was a great sigh.
+
+After which the minister prayed that we might have grace to live as
+this man had done from youth to old age, not for himself, but for
+others, and that we might be followed to our grave by somewhat of
+"that love wherewith we mourn this day Thy servant departed." Again
+the same sigh, and the minister said Amen.
+
+The "wricht" stood in the doorway without speaking, and four
+stalwart men came forward. They were the volunteers that would lift
+the coffin and carry it for the first stage. One was Tammas, Annie
+Mitchell's man; and another was Saunders Baxter, for whose life
+MacLure had his great fight with death; and the third was the Glen
+Urtach shepherd for whose wife's sake MacLure suffered a broken leg
+and three fractured ribs in a drift; and the fourth, a Dunleith man,
+had his own reasons of remembrance.
+
+"He's far lichter than ye wud expeck for sae big a man--there wesna
+muckle left o' him, ye see--but the road is heavy, and a'll change
+ye aifter the first half mile."
+
+"Ye needna tribble yersel, wricht," said the man from Glen Urtach;
+"the'll be nae change in the cairryin' the day," and Tammas was
+thankful some one had saved him speaking.
+
+Surely no funeral is like unto that of a doctor for pathos, and a
+peculiar sadness fell on that company as his body was carried out
+who for nearly half a century had been their help in sickness, and
+had beaten back death time after time from their door. Death after
+all was victor, for the man that saved them had not been able to
+save himself.
+
+As the coffin passed the stable door a horse neighed within, and
+every man looked at his neighbour. It was his old mare crying to her
+master.
+
+Jamie slipped into the stable, and went up into the stall.
+
+"Puir lass, ye're no gaein' wi' him the day, an' ye 'ill never see
+him again; ye've hed yir last ride thegither, an' ye were true tae
+the end."
+
+After the funeral Drumsheugh came himself for Jess, and took her to
+his farm. Saunders made a bed for her with soft, dry straw, and
+prepared for her supper such things as horses love. Jess would
+neither take food nor rest, but moved uneasily in her stall, and
+seemed to be waiting for some one that never came. No man knows what
+a horse or a dog understands and feels, for God hath not given them
+our speech. If any footstep was heard in the courtyard, she began to
+neigh, and was always looking round as the door opened. But nothing
+would tempt her to eat, and in the night-time Drumsheugh heard her
+crying as if she expected to be taken out for some sudden journey.
+The Kildrummie veterinary came to see her, and said that nothing
+could be done when it happened after this fashion with an old horse.
+
+"A've seen it aince afore," he said. "Gin she were a Christian
+instead o' a horse, ye micht say she wes dying o' a broken hert."
+
+He recommended that she should be shot to end her misery, but no man
+could be found in the Glen to do the deed, and Jess relieved them of
+the trouble. When Drumsheugh went to the stable on Monday morning, a
+week after Dr. MacLure fell on sleep, Jess was resting at last, but
+her eyes were open and her face turned to the door.
+
+"She wes a' the wife he hed," said Jamie, as he rejoined the
+procession, "an' they luved ane anither weel."
+
+The black thread wound itself along the whiteness of the Glen, the
+coffin first, with his lordship and Drumsheugh behind, and the
+others as they pleased, but in closer ranks than usual, because the
+snow on either side was deep, and because this was not as other
+funerals. They could see the women standing at the door of every
+house on the hillside, and weeping, for each family had some good
+reason in forty years to remember MacLure. When Bell Baxter saw
+Saunders alive, and the coffin of the doctor that saved him on her
+man's shoulder, she bowed her head on the dyke, and the bairns in
+the village made such a wail for him they loved that the men nearly
+disgraced themselves.
+
+"A'm gled we're through that, at ony rate," said Hillocks; "he wes
+awfu' taen up wi' the bairns, conseederin' he hed nane o' his ain."
+
+There was only one drift on the road between his cottage and the
+kirkyard, and it had been cut early that morning.
+
+Before daybreak Saunders had roused the lads in the bothy, and they
+had set to work by the light of lanterns with such good will that,
+when Drumsheugh came down to engineer a circuit for the funeral,
+there was a fair passage, with walls of snow twelve feet high on
+either side.
+
+"Man, Saunders," he said, "this wes a kind thocht, and rael weel
+dune."
+
+But Saunders' only reply was this:
+
+"Mony a time he's hed tae gang roond; he micht as weel hae an open
+road for his last traivel."
+
+When the coffin was laid down at the mouth of the grave, the only
+blackness in the white kirkyard, Tammas Mitchell did the most
+beautiful thing in all his life. He knelt down and carefully wiped
+off the snow the wind had blown upon the coffin, and which had
+covered the name, and when he had done this he disappeared behind
+the others, so that Drumsheugh could hardly find him to take a cord.
+For these were the eight that buried Dr. MacLure--Lord Kilspindie at
+the head as landlord and Drumsheugh at the feet as his friend; the
+two ministers of the parish came first on the right and left; then
+Burnbrae and Hillocks of the farmers, and Saunders and Tammas for
+the plowmen. So the Glen he loved laid him to rest.
+
+When the bedrel had finished his work and the turf had been spread,
+Lord Kilspindie spoke:
+
+"Friends of Drumtochty, it would not be right that we should part in
+silence and no man say what is in every heart. We have buried the
+remains of one that served this Glen with a devotion that has known
+no reserve, and a kindliness that never failed, for more than forty
+years. I have seen many brave men in my day, but no man in the
+trenches of Sebastopol carried himself more knightly than William
+MacLure. You will never have heard from his lips what I may tell you
+to-day, that my father secured for him a valuable post in his
+younger days, and he preferred to work among his own people; and I
+wished to do many things for him when he was old, but he would have
+nothing for himself. He will never be forgotten while one of us
+lives, and I pray that all doctors everywhere may share his spirit.
+If it be your pleasure, I shall erect a cross above his grave, and
+shall ask my old friend and companion Dr. Davidson, your minister,
+to choose the text to be inscribed."
+
+"We thank you, Lord Kilspindie," said the doctor, "for your presence
+with us in our sorrow and your tribute to the memory of William
+MacLure, and I choose this for his text:
+
+"'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
+for his friends.'"
+
+Milton was, at that time, held in the bonds of a very bitter
+theology, and his indignation was stirred by this unqualified
+eulogium.
+
+"No doubt Dr. MacLure hed mony natural virtues, an' he did his wark
+weel, but it wes a peety he didna mak mair profession o' releegion."
+
+"When William MacLure appears before the Judge, Milton," said
+Lachlan Campbell, who that day spoke his last words in public, and
+they were in defence of charity, "He will not be asking him about
+his professions, for the doctor's judgment hass been ready long ago;
+and it iss a good judgment, and you and I will be happy men if we
+get the like of it.
+
+"It iss written in the Gospel, but it iss William MacLure that will
+not be expecting it."
+
+"What is't, Lachlan?" asked Jamie Soutar, eagerly.
+
+The old man, now very feeble, stood in the middle of the road, and
+his face, once so hard, was softened into a winsome tenderness.
+
+"'Come, ye blessed of My Father ... I was sick, and ye visited Me.'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, by Ian Maclaren
+
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