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diff --git a/old/43192.txt b/old/43192.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a17410d..0000000 --- a/old/43192.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8620 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Afterwards, 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: Afterwards - And Other Stories - -Author: Ian Maclaren - -Release Date: September 15, 2013 [EBook #43192] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFTERWARDS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - - -AFTERWARDS - -AND OTHER STORIES - -By Ian Maclaren - -1898 - -TO - -LADY GRAINGER-STEWART - -IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE DAYS OF LONG AGO AND THE FRIENDS WHO ARE FAR AWAY - - - - -AFTERWARDS - - -I - -He received the telegram in a garden where he was gazing on a vision -of blue, set in the fronds of a palm, and listening to the song of the -fishers, as it floated across the bay. - -"You look so utterly satisfied," said his hostess, in the high, clear -voice of Englishwomen, "that, I know you are tasting the luxury of -a contrast. The Riviera is charming in December; imagine London, and -Cannes, is Paradise." - -As he smiled assent in the grateful laziness of a hard-worked man, -his mind was stung with the remembrance of a young wife swathed in the -dreary fog, who, above all things, loved the open air and the shining of -the sun. - -Her plea was that Bertie would weary alone, and that she hated -travelling, but it came to him quite suddenly that this was always the -programme of their holidays--some Mediterranean villa, full of clever -people, for him, and the awful dulness of that Bloomsbury street for -her; or he went North to a shooting-lodge, where he told his best -stories in the smoking-room, after a long day on the purple heather; and -she did her best for Bertie at some watering-place, much frequented on -account of its railway facilities and economical lodgings. Letters of -invitation had generally a polite reference to his wife--"If Mrs. -Trevor can accompany you I shall be still more delighted"--but it was -understood that she would not accept "We have quite a grudge against -Mrs. Trevor, because she will never come with her husband; there is some -beautiful child who monopolises her," his hostess would explain on his -arrival; and Trevor allowed it to be understood that his wife was quite -devoted to Bertie, and would be miserable without him. - -When he left the room, it was explained: "Mrs. Trevor is a hopelessly -quiet person, what is called a 'good wife,' you know." - -"The only time she dined with us, Tottie Fribbyl--he was a Theosophist -then, it's two years ago--was too amusing for words, and told us what -incarnation he was going through. - -"Mrs. Trevor, I believe, had never heard of Theosophy, and looked quite -horrified at the idea of poor Tottie's incarnation. - -"'Isn't it profane to use such words?' she said to me. So I changed to -skirt dancing, and would you believe me, she had never seen it? - -"What can you do with a woman like that? Nothing remains but religion -and the nursery. Why do clever men marry those impossible women?" - -Trevor was gradually given to understand, as by an atmosphere, that he -was a brilliant man wedded to a dull wife, and there were hours--his -worst hours--when he agreed. - -_Cara mia, cara mia_, sang the sailors; and his wife's face in its -perfect refinement and sweet beauty suddenly replaced the Mediterranean. - -Had he belittled his wife, with her wealth of sacrifice and delicate -nature, beside women in spectacles who wrote on the bondage of marriage, -and leaders of fashion who could talk of everything from horse-racing to -palmistry? - -He had only glanced at her last letter; now he read it carefully:-- - -"The flowers were lovely, and it was so mindful of you to send them, -just like my husband. Bertie and I amused ourselves arranging and -rearranging them in glasses, till we had made our tea-table lovely. But -I was just one little bit disappointed not to get a letter--you see -how exacting I am, sir. I waited for every post, and Bertie said, 'Has -father's letter come yet?' When one is on holiday, writing letters is -an awful bore; but please just a line to Bertie and me. We have a map of -the Riviera, and found out all the places you have visited in the yacht; -and we tried to imagine you sailing on that azure sea, and landing among -those silver olives. I am so grateful to every one for being kind to -you, and I hope you will enjoy yourself to the full. Bertie is a little -stronger, I'm sure; his cheeks were quite rosy to-day for him. It was -his birthday on Wednesday, and I gave him a little treat The sun was -shining brightly in the forenoon, and we had a walk in the Gardens, -and made believe that it was Italy! Then we went to Oxford Street, and -Bertie chose a regiment of soldiers for his birthday present He wished -some guns so much that I allowed him to have them as a present from you. -They only cost one-and-sixpence, and I thought you would like him to -have something. Jane and he had a splendid game of hide-and-seek in the -evening, and my couch was the den, so you see we have our own gaiety in -Bloomsbury. - -"Don't look sulky at this long scribble and say, 'What nonsense women -write!' for it is almost the same as speaking to you, and I shall -imagine the letter all the way till you open it in the sunshine. - -"So smile and kiss my name, for this comes with my heart's love from - -"Your devoted wife, - -"Maud Trevor. - -"P.S.--Don't be alarmed because I have to rest; the doctor does not -think that there is any danger, and I'll take great care." - -"A telegram." It was the shattering of a dream. "How wicked of some -horrid person. Business ought not to be allowed to enter Paradise. Let's -hope it's pleasure; perhaps some one has won a lot of money at Monte -Carlo, and wishes us to celebrate the affair. - -"Whom is it for? Oh! Mr. Edward Trevor; then it's a brief by telegraph, -I suppose. Some millionaire's will case, and the Attorney-General can't -manage it alone. What a man he is, to have briefs in holiday time. - -"There it is, but remember, before you open it, that you are bound -to remain here over Christmas at any rate, and help us with our -theatricals. My husband declares that a successful barrister must be a -born actor."... - -An hour later Trevor was in the Paris express, and for thirty hours he -prayed one petition, that she might live till he arrived. He used to -have a berth in the Wagon Lit as a matter of course, and had begun -to complain about the champagne in the dining-car, but the thought -of comfort made him wince on this journey, and he twice changed his -carriage, once when an English party would not cease from badinage -that mocked his ears, and again because a woman had brown eyes with her -expression of dog-like faithfulness. The darkness of the night after -that sunlit garden, and the monotonous roar of the train, and the -face of smiling France covered with snow, and the yeasty waters of the -Channel, and the moaning of the wind, filled his heart with dread. - -Will that procession of luggage at Dover never come to an end? A French -seaman--a fellow with earrings and a merry face--appears and reappears -with maddening regularity, each time with a larger trunk. One had X. Y. -on it in big white letters. Why not Z. also? Who could have such a name? -That is a lady's box, black and brown, plastered with hotel labels. Some -bride, perhaps... they are carrying the luggage over his heart. Have -they no mercy? - -The last piece is in, and the sailors make a merry group at the top -of the gangway. They look like Bretons, and that fellow is laughing -again--some story about a little child; he can just hear _Ma petite._... - -"Guard, is this train never to start? We're half-an-hour late already." - -"Italian mail very heavy, sir; still bringing up bags; so many people at -Riviera in winter, writing home to their friends."... - -How cruel every one is! He had not written for ten days. Something -always happened, an engagement of pleasure. There was a half-finished -letter; he had left it to join a Monte Carlo party. - -"Writing letters--home, of course, to that idolised wife. It's -beautiful, and you are an example to us all; but Mrs. Trevor will excuse -descriptions of scenery; she knows you are enjoying yourself." - -Had she been expecting that letter from post to post, calculating the -hour of each delivery, identifying the postman's feet in that quiet -street, holding her breath when he rang, stretching her hand for a -letter, to let it drop unopened, and bury her face in the pillow? Had -she died waiting for a letter that never came? Those letters that he -wrote from the Northern Circuit in that first sweet year, a letter -a day, and one day two--it had given him a day's advantage over her. -Careful letters, too, though written between cases, with bits of -description and amusing scenes. - -Some little sameness towards the end, but she never complained of that, -and even said those words were the best And that trick he played--the -thought of the postman must have brought it up--how pleasant it was, -and what a success! He would be his own letter one day, and take her -by surprise. "A letter, ma'am," the girl said--quite a homely girl, who -shared their little joys and anxieties--and then he showed his face with -apologies for intrusion. The flush of love in her face, will it be -like that to-night, or... What can be keeping the train now? Is this a -conspiracy to torment a miserable man? - -He thrusts his head out of the window in despair, and sees the guard -trying to find a compartment for a family that had mistaken their train. - -The husband is explaining, with English garrulity, all the station -hearing, what an inconvenience it would have been had they gone in the -Holbom Viaduct carriages. - -"Half an hour's longer drive, you know, and it's very important we -should get home in time; we are expected...." - -For what? Dinner, most likely. What did it matter when they got home, -to-day or next year? Yet he used to be angry if he were made late for -dinner. They come into his compartment, and explain the situation at -great length, while he pretends to listen. - -A husband and wife returning from a month in Italy, full of their -experiences: the Corniche Road, the palaces of Genoa, the pictures -in the Pitti, St Peter's at Rome. Her first visit to the Continent, -evidently; it reminded them of a certain tour round the Lakes in '80, -and she withdrew her hand from her husband's as the train came out -from the tunnel. They were not smart people--very pronounced -middle-class--but they were lovers, after fifteen years. - -They forgot him, who was staring on the bleak landscape with white, -pinched face. - -"How kind to take me this trip. I know how much you denied yourself, -but it has made me young again," and she said "Edward." Were all these -coincidences arranged? had his purgatorio begun already? - -"Have you seen the _Globe_, sir? Bosworth, M.P. for Pedlington, has been -made a judge, and there's to be a keen contest. - -"Trevor, I see, is named as the Tory candidate--a clever fellow, I've -heard. Do you know about him? he's got on quicker than any man of his -years. - -"Some say that it's his manner; he's such a good sort, the juries cannot -resist him, a man told me--a kind heart goes for something even in a -lawyer. Would you like to look.... - -"Very sorry; would you take a drop of brandy? No? The passage was a -little rough, and you don't look quite up to the mark." - -Then they left him in peace, and he drank his cup to the dregs. - -It was for Pedlington he had been working and saving, for a seat meant -society and the bench, perhaps.... What did it matter now? - -She was to come and sit within the cage when he made his first speech, -and hear all the remarks. - -"Of course it will be a success, for you do everything well, and your -wifie will be the proudest woman in London. - -"Sir Edward Trevor, M.P. I know it's foolish, but it's the foolishness -of love, dear, so don't look cross; you are everything to me, and no one -loves you as I do." - -What are they slowing for now? There's no station. Did ever train drag -like this one? - -Off again, thank God... if she only were conscious, and he could ask her -to forgive his selfishness. - -At last, and the train glides into Victoria. No, he had nothing -to declare; would they let him go, or they might keep his luggage -altogether. - -Some vision was ever coming up, and now he saw her kneeling on the floor -and packing that portmanteau, the droop of her figure, her thin white -hands. - -He was so busy that she did these offices for him--tried to buckle the -straps even; but he insisted on doing that It gave him half an hour -longer at the Club. What a brute he had been.... - -"Do anything you like with my things. 'I'll come to-morrow... as fast as -you can drive." - -Huddled in a corner of the hansom so that you might have thought he -slept, this man was calculating every foot of the way, gloating over -a long stretch of open, glistening asphalt, hating unto murder the -immovable drivers whose huge vans blocked his passage. If they had -known, there was no living man but would have made room for him... but -he had not known himself.... Only one word to tell her he knew now. - -As the hansom turned into the street he bent forward, straining his -eyes to catch the first glimpse of home. Had it been day-time the blinds -would have told their tale; now it was the light he watched. - -Dark on the upper floors; no sick light burning... have mercy... -then the blood came back to his heart with a rush. How could he have -forgotten? - -Their room was at the back for quietness, and it might still be well. -Some one had been watching, for the door was instantly opened, but he -could not see the servant's face. - -A doctor came forward and beckoned him to go into the study.... - -It seemed as if his whole nature had been smitten with insensibility, -for he knew everything without words, and yet he heard the driver -demanding his fare, and noticed that the doctor had been reading the -evening paper while he waited; he saw the paragraph about that seat What -work those doctors have to do.... - -"It was an hour ago... we were amazed that she lived so long; with any -other woman it would have been this morning; but she was determined to -live till you came home. - -"It was not exactly will-power, for she was the gentlest patient I ever -had; it was"--the doctor hesitated--a peremptory Scotchman hiding a -heart of fire beneath a coating of ice--"it was simply love." - -When the doctor had folded up the evening paper, and laid it on a side -table, which took some time, he sat down opposite that fixed, haggard -face, which had not yet been softened by a tear. - -"Yes, I'll tell you everything if you desire me; perhaps it will relieve -your mind; and Mrs. Trevor said you would wish to know, and -I must be here to receive you. Her patience and thoughtfulness were -marvellous. - -"I attend many very clever and charming women, but I tell you, Mr. -Trevor, not one has so impressed me as your wife. Her self-forgetfulness -passed words; she thought of every one except herself; why, one of the -last things she did was to give directions about your room; she was -afraid you might feel the change from the Riviera. But that is by the -way, and these things are not my business. - -"From the beginning I was alarmed, and urged that you should be sent -for; but she pledged me not to write; you needed your holiday, she said, -and it must not be darkened with anxiety. - -"She spoke every day about your devotion and unselfishness; how you -wished her to go with you, but she had to stay with the boy.... - -"The turn for the worse? it was yesterday morning, and I had Sir -Reginald at once. We agreed that recovery was hopeless, and I -telegraphed to you without delay. - -"We also consulted whether she ought to be told, and Sir Reginald said, -'Certainly; that woman has no fear, for she never thinks of herself, and -she will want to leave messages.' - -"'If we can only keep her alive till to-morrow afternoon,' he said, -and you will like to remember that everything known to the best man in -London was done. Sir Reginald came back himself unasked to-day, because -he remembered a restorative that might sustain the failing strength. She -thanked him so sweetly that he was quite shaken; the fact is, that both -of us would soon have played the fool. But I ought not to trouble you -with these trifles at this time, only as you wanted to know all.... - -"Yes, she understood what we thought before I spoke, and only asked when -you would arrive. 'I want to say "Good-bye," and then I will be ready,' -but perhaps.... - -"'Tell you everything?' That is what I am trying to do, and I was here -nearly all day, for I had hoped we might manage to fulfil her wish. - -"No, she did not speak much, for we enjoined silence and rest as the -only chance; but she had your photograph on her pillow, and some flowers -you had sent. - -"They were withered, and the nurse removed them when she was sleeping; -but she missed them, and we had to put them in her hands. 'My husband -was so thoughtful.' - -"This is too much for you, I see; it is simply torture. Wait till -to-morrow.... - -"Well, if you insist Expecting a letter... yes... let me recollect... -No, I am not hiding anything, but you must not let this get upon your -mind. - -"We would have deceived her, but she knew the hour of the Continental -mails, and could detect the postman's ring. Once a letter came, and -she insisted upon seeing it in case of any mistake. But it was only an -invitation for you, I think, to some country house. - -"It can't be helped now, and you ought not to vex yourself; but I -believe a letter would have done more for her than... What am I saying -now? - -"As she grew weaker she counted the hours, and I left her at four full -of hope. 'Two hours more and he'll be here,' and by that time she had -your telegram in her hand. - -"When I came back the change had come, and she said, 'It's not God's -will; bring Bertie.' - -"So she kissed him, and said something to him, but we did not listen. -After the nurse had carried him out--for he was weeping bitterly, poor -little chap--she whispered to me to get a sheet of paper and sit down by -her bedside.... I think it would be better... very well, I will tell you -all. - -"I wrote what she dictated with her last breath, and I promised you -would receive it from her own hand, and so you will. She turned her face -to the door and lay quite still till about six, when I heard her say -your name very softly, and a minute afterwards she was gone, without -pain or struggle."... - -She lay as she had died, waiting for his coming, and the smile with -which she had said his name was still on her face. It was the first time -she did not colour with joy at his coming, that her hand was cold to his -touch. He kissed her, but his heart was numbed, and he could not weep. - -Then he took her letter and read it beside that silence. - -"Dearest,-- - -"They tell me now that I shall not live to see you come in and to cast -my arms once more round your neck before we part Be kind to Bertie, and -remember that he is delicate and shy. He will miss me, and you will -be patient with him for my sake. Give him my watch, and do not let him -forget me. My locket with your likeness I would like left on my heart. -You will never know how much I have loved you, for I could never -speak. You have been very good to me, and I want you to know that I am -grateful; but it is better perhaps that I should die, for I might hinder -you in your future life. Forgive me because I came short of what your -wife should have been. None can ever love you better. You will take -these poor words from a dead hand, but I shall see you, and I shall -never cease to love you, to follow your life, to pray for you--my first, -my only love." - -The fountains within him were broken, and he flung himself down by the -bedside in an agony of repentance. - -"Oh, if I had known before; but now it is too late, too late!" - -For we sin against our dearest not because we do not love, but because -we do not imagine. - -II - -Maud Trevor was a genuine woman, and kept her accounts with the aid of -six purses. One was an ancient housewife of her grandmother's, which -used to be equipped with silk and thread and needles and buttons, and -from a secret place yielded to the third generation a bank note -of value. This capacious receptacle was evidently intended for the -household exchequer, whose transactions were innumerable, and whose -monthly budget depended for success on an unfailing supply of copper. -Another had come from her mother, and was of obsolete design--a bag -closed at both extremities, with a long narrow slit in the middle, and -two rings which compressed the gold into one end and the silver into the -other. This was marked out by Providence for charity, since it made -no provision for pennies, and laid a handicap of inconvenience on -threepenny bits. It retained a subtle trace of an old-fashioned scent -her mother loved, and recalled her mother going out on some errand of -mercy--a St Clare in her sacrifices and devotion. Purse three descended -from her father, and was an incarnation of business--made of chamois -leather with a steel clasp that closed with a click, having three -compartments within, one of which had its own clasp and was reserved for -gold. In this bank Maud kept the funds of a clothing society, whose -more masterly bargains ran sometimes into farthings, and she was always -haunted with anxiety lest a new farthing and a half-sovereign should -some day change places. A pretty little purse with ivory sides and -silver hinges--a birthday gift of her girlhood--was large enough to hold -her dress allowance, which Trevor had fixed at a most generous rate when -he had barely four hundred a year, and had since forgotten to increase. -One in sealskin had been a gift of engagement days, and held the savings -of the year against birthday and Christmas presents--whose contents were -the subject of many calculations. A cast-off purse of Trevor's had been -devoted to Bertie, and from its resources came one way or other all he -needed; but it happened that number six was constantly reinforced from -the purse with the ivory sides. - -Saturday afternoon was sacred to book-keeping, and Maud used her bed -as a table for this critical operation, partly because it was so much -larger than an escritoire, but chiefly because you could empty the -purses into little pools with steep protecting banks. Of course if one -sat down hurriedly there was great danger of amalgamation, with quite -hopeless consequences; and Trevor held over Maud's head the chance of -his making this mistake. It was his way, before he grew too busy, to -watch till the anxious face would suddenly brighten and a rapid change -be made in the pools--the household contributing something to presents -and the dress purse to Bertie, while private and public charity would -accommodate each other with change. Caresses were strictly forbidden -in those times of abstruse calculation, and the Evil One who stands at -every man's elbow once tempted Trevor to roll the counterpane into a -bundle--purses, money, and all--but Maud, when he confessed, said that -no human being would be allowed to fall into such wickedness. - -Trevor was obliged to open her wardrobe, fourteen days after the -funeral, and the first thing he lighted upon was the purses. They lay -in a row on an old account-book--a motley set indeed--but so absurd and -tricky a spirit is pathos, they affected him more swiftly than the -sight of a portrait Was ever any one so faithful and conscientious, so -self-forgetful and kind, so capable also and clever in her own sphere? -Latterly he had sneered at the purses, and once, being vexed at -something in a letter, he had told Maud she ought to have done with that -folly and keep her accounts like an educated woman. "A girl of twelve -would be ashamed."... What a merciless power memory wields. She only -drooped her head,... it was on the sealskin purse the tear fell, and at -once he saw the bend of the Wye at Tintern where he had surprised her -with the gift of that purse. He was moved to kiss away that tear, but -his heart hardened. Why could she not be like the women he knew?... -Well, he would not be troubled any longer with her simple ways... he -could do as he pleased now with the purses.... A bitter madness of grief -took possession of him, and he arranged them on the bed. - -One was empty, the present purse, and he understood... the dress purse, -of course, a little silver only... the rest had gone that he might have -something beautiful.... He knew that it must be done sooner or later, -and to-day was best, for his heart could be no sorer.... Yes, here they -were, the ungiven gifts. For every person, from himself to the nurse; -all wrapped in soft white paper and ready in good time.... She used to -arrange everything on Christmas Eve... this year he had intended to stay -at Cannes,... there would just have been Bertie and his mother, now... -But he must open it--an inkstand for his study in solid brass, with pens -and other things complete--he noted every detail as if to estimate its -value. It came back to him how she had cunningly questioned him about -his needs before he left for Cannes, till he grew impatient. "Don't -bother me about ink-bottles," Yes, the very words, and others... the -secret writing of memory came out in this fire of sorrow. "Why won't -women understand that a man can't answer questions about trifles when -he has work on hand?" He could swear to the words, and he knew how Maud -looked, although he did not see. - -"Don't go away; you promised that you would sit beside me when I -worked--hinder me? I suppose you are bidding for a kiss; you know the -sight of your face inspires me."... That was ten years ago... he might -have borne with her presence a little longer.... She never would come -again... he would have no interruptions of that kind.... - -Her gloves, sixes--what a perfect hand it was (smoothes out the glove). -His memory brings up a dinner table. Mrs. Chatterby gives her opinion on -Meredith's last novel, and helps herself to salt--he sees a disgusting -hand, with stumpy fingers, and, for impudence, a street arab of a thumb. -A vulgar little woman through and through, and yet because she picked up -scraps from the monthlies, and had the trick of catch-words, people paid -her court And he had sometimes thought, but he knew better to-day... of -all things in the world a glove is the surest symbol. Mended, too, very -neatly... that he might have his hansoms. - -It was the last thing he ever could have imagined, and yet it must be -a diary--Maud's diary! Turns over the leaves, and catches that woman's -name against whom he has suddenly taken a violent dislike. - -"January 25. Was at Mrs. Chatterby's--how strange one does not say -anything of her husband--yet he is the nicer of the two--and I think -it will be better not to go again to dinner. One can always make some -excuse that will not be quite untrue. - -"'The dinner is in honour of Mr. Fynical, who is leaving his College and -coming to live in London, to do literary work.' as Mrs. Chatterby has -been explaining for weeks, 'and to give tone to the weeklies.' - -"'The younger men are quite devoted to him, and we ought all to be so -thankful that he is to be within reach. His touch reminds one of,'--I -don't know the French writer, but she does not always give the same -name. 'We hope to see a great deal of him. So delightfully cynical, you -know, and hates the bourgeoisie.' - -"I was terrified lest I should sit next Mr. Fynical, but Mrs. Chatterby -was merciful, and gave me Janie Godfrey's father. Edward says that he -is a very able man, and will be Lord Chancellor some day, but he is so -quiet and modest, that one feels quite at home with him. Last summer he -was yachting on the west coast of Scotland, and he described the sunset -over the Skye hills; and I tried to give him a Devonshire sunrise. We -both forgot where we were, and then Mrs. Chatterby asked me quite loud, -so that every one looked, what I thought of 'Smudges.' - -"The dinner-table seemed to wait for my answer, and I wish that the -book had never come from the library, but I said that I had sent it back -because it seemed so bitter and cruel, and one ought to read books which -showed the noble side of life. - -"'You are one of the old-fashioned women,' she replied. 'You believe in -a novel for the young person,' with a smile that hurt me, and I told -her that I had been brought up on Sir Walter Scott I was trying to say -something about his purity and chivalry, when I caught Mr. Fynical's -eye, and blushed red. If I had only been silent,--for I'm afraid every -one was laughing, and Edward did not say one word to me all the way -home. - -"February 20. Another ordeal, but not so unfortunate as the last. The -Browne-Smythes are very kind friends, but I do think they are too much -concerned about having clever people at their house. One evening Mrs. -Browne-Smythe said she was happy because nothing had been talked about -except translations of Homer. A certain guest was so miserable on that -occasion that I begged Edward to leave me at home this time, but he said -it would not be Greek again. It was science, however, and when we came -in Mrs. Browne-Smythe was telling a very learned-looking person that she -simply lived for fossils. A young lady beside me was talking about -gases to a nervous man, who grew quite red, and tried to escape behind -a table. I think she was wrong in her words, and he was too polite to -correct her. To my horror, he was obliged to take me in to dinner, and -there never could have been two people more deserving of pity, for I was -terrified of his knowledge, and he was afraid of my ignorance. We sat -in perfect silence till a fatherly old man, quite like a farmer, on my -left, began to talk to me so pleasantly that I described our country -people, and was really sorry when the ladies had to leave. Edward says -that he is one of the greatest discoverers in the world, and has all -kinds of honours. We became so friendly that he has promised to take tea -with me, and I think he does not despise my simplicity. How I long to be -cleverer for Edward's sake, for I'm sure he must be ashamed of me among -those brilliant women. I cannot blame him: I am proud of my husband. - -"May 15. I am quite discouraged, and have resolved never to go to any -charitable committee again. Miss Tabitha Primmer used shameful language -at the Magdalene meeting to-day, and Mrs. Wood-Ruler showed me that -I had broken Law 43 by giving a poor girl personal aid. It seems -presumptuous on my part to criticise such able and diligent workers, but -my mother never spoke about certain subjects, and it is agony for me to -discuss them. When the vicar insisted on Sunday that thoughtful women -were required for Christian service to-day, and that we must read up all -kinds of books and know all kinds of painful things, my heart sank. It -does not seem as if there was any place left for simple folk like me. -Perhaps it would be better to give up going out altogether, and live for -Edward and Bertie. I can always do something for them, and their love -will be enough reward. - -"Nov. 30 I have not slept all night, for I made a dreadful mistake about -a new book that every one is reading, and Edward was so angry. He did -not mean all he said, but he never called me a fool before. Perhaps he -is right, and it is hard on him, who is so bright Sometimes I wish-" And -then there was no writing, only a tear mark.... - -Afterwards he opened the letters that had come since her death, and this -is what he read: - -"My dear Trevor,-- - -"The intelligence of Mrs. Trevor's death has given me a great shock of -regret, and you will allow me to express my sympathy. Many men not given -to enthusiasm had told me of her face and goodness, and before I had -seen your wife I knew she was a very perfect type of womanliness The few -times I met her, Mrs. Trevor cast a certain spell over me--the nameless -grace of the former days--and I felt myself unworthy in her presence. -Once when a silly woman referred to one of the most miserable examples -of decadent fiction, your wife spoke so nobly of true literature that I -was moved to thank her, but I gathered from her face that this would not -be acceptable. It seemed to me that the mask had fallen from a beautiful -soul, and one man at least, in whom there is too little reverence, took -the shoes from off his feet. Pardon me if I have exceeded, and - -"Believe me, - -"Yours faithfully, - -"Bernard Fynical." - -The next was from the F.R.S. - -"My dear Sir,-- - -"It is quite wrong for me, a stranger, to intrude on your grief, but I -am compelled to tell you that an old fellow who only spoke to your wife -once, had to wipe his spectacles over the _Times_ this morning. It came -about this way. The lady I had taken in to dinner at the Browne-Smythes -gabbled about science till I lost my temper, and told her it would be a -good thing if women would keep to their own sphere. Your wife was on -the other side, and I turned to her in despair. She delighted me by -confessing utter ignorance of my subject, and then she won my heart -by some of the loveliest stories of peasant life in Devonshire I ever -heard, so full of insight and delicacy. If the parsons preached like -that I would be in church next Sunday. She put me in mind of a sister I -lost long ago--who had the same low, soft voice and honest, trusty eyes. -When she found I was a lonely man, your wife had pity on me, and asked -me to call on her. But I had to go to America, and only returned two -days ago. I intended to wish her a Happy New Year, but it's too late. -I cannot get you out of my mind, and I thought it might comfort you to -know how a fossil like myself was melted by that kind heart "Believe me, -my dear sir, - -"Your obedient servant, - -"Archibald Gilmore." - -The third was also from a man, but this time a lad in rooms whom Trevor -had seen at the house. - -"Dear Mr. Trevor,-- - -"You perhaps know that Mrs. Trevor allowed me to spend an hour with her -of an evening, when I felt downhearted or had any trouble, but no one -will ever know how much she did for me. When I came up to London -my faith began to go, and I saw that in a short time I would be an -Agnostic. This did not trouble me so much on my own account as my -mother's, who is dead, and made me promise something on her death-bed. -So I bought books and heard sermons on unbelief till I was quite sick of -the whole business. Mrs. Trevor took me to hear your own clergyman, -who did not help me one bit, for he was too clever and logical; but you -remember I came home with you, and after you had gone to your study I -told Mrs. Trevor my difficulties, and she did me more good than all the -books. She never argued nor preached, but when I was with her one felt -that religion was a reality, and that she knew more about it than any -one I had met since I lost my mother. It is a shame to trouble you with -my story when you are in such sorrow, and no one need tell you how noble -a woman Mrs. Trevor was; but I could not help letting you know that her -goodness has saved one young fellow at least from infidelity and worse. - -"You will not mind my having sent a cross to put on the coffin; it was -all I could do. - -"Yours gratefully, - -"George Benson." - -There was neither beginning nor end to the fourth letter, but it was -written in a lady's hand. - -"I am a clergyman's daughter, who left her father's house, and went -astray. I have been in the Inferno, and have seen what I read in _Dante_ -while I was innocent One day the old rectory rose up before my eyes--the -roses hanging over my bedroom window; the birds flying in and out -the ivy; my father on the lawn, aged and broken through my sin--and I -resolved that my womanhood should no longer be dragged in the mire. My -home was closed years ago, I had no friends, so I went in my desperation -to a certain Institute, and told my case to a matron. She was not -unkindly, but the committee were awful, without either sympathy or -manners; and when an unmarried woman wished to pry into the details of -my degradation--but I can't tell a man the shame they would have put -upon me--my heart turned to flint, and I left the place. I would have -gone back to my life and perished had it not been for one woman who -followed me out, and asked me to go home with her for afternoon tea. Had -she said one word about my past, I had flung myself away; but because -she spoke to me as if I were still in the rectory, I could not refuse. -Mrs. Trevor never once mentioned my sin, and she saved my soul. I am now -a nurse in one of the hospitals, and full of peace. As long as I live -I shall lay white flowers on her grave, who surely was the wisest and -tenderest of women." Trevor's fortitude was failing fast before this -weight of unconscious condemnation, and he was only able to read one -more--an amazing production, that had cost the writer great pains. - -"Honoured Sir,-- - -"Bill says as it's tyking too much on the likes o' me to be addressing -you on your missus' death, but it's not her husband that will despise -a pore working woman oo's lost her best friend. When Bill 'ad the -rumatiks, and couldn't do no work, and Byby was a-growing that thin you -could see thro' 'im, Mrs. Byles says to me, 'Mrs. 'Awkes, you goes to -the Society for the Horganisation of Female Toilers.' Says I, 'Wot is -that?' and she declares, 'It's a set of ladies oo wants to'elp women -to work, and they 'ill see you gets it' So I goes, and I saw a set -of ladies sitting at a table, and they looks at me; and one with -spectacles, and a vice like an 'and-saw, arsks me, 'Wot's yer name?' -and ''Ow old are you?' and ''Ow many children have you?' and 'Are your -'abits temperate?' And then she says, 'If you pay a shilling we 'ill -put your nyme down for work has an unskilled worker.' 'I 'avn't got a -shilling, and Byby's dyin' for want of food.' 'This ain't a Poor 'ouse,' -says she; 'this is a Booro.' When I wos a-going down the stairs, a lady -comes after me. 'Don't cry, Mrs. 'Awkes,' for she had picked up my name. -'I've some charring for you, and we'ill go to get something for Byby.' -If ever there wos a hangel in a sealskin jacket and a plain little -bonnet, but the true lady hall hover, 'er name was Mrs. Trevor. Bill, he -looked up from that day, and wos on his keb in a week, and little Jim is -the biggest byby in the court. Mrs. Trevor never rested till I got three -hoffices to clean, to say nothing of 'elping at cleanings and parties in -'ouses. She wos that kind, too, and free, when she'd come hin with noos -of some hoffice. 'We're horganisin' you, Missus 'Awkes, just splendid,' -with the prettiest bit smile. Bill, he used to say, ''Er 'usband's a -proud man, for I never saw the like o' her for a downright lady in 'er -wys'--and 'e knows, does Bill, being a kebman. When I told 'im he wos -that bad that'e never put a match to 'is pipe the'ole night 'Mariar,' -'e says to me, 'you an' me 'as seen some think of her, but you bet nobody -knew what a saint she wos 'xcept 'er 'usband.'"... - -Trevor could read no more, for it had dawned at last upon him that -Christ had lived with him for more than ten years, and his eyes had been -holden. - - - - -THE MINISTER OF ST. BEDE'S - - -I - -It was in the sixties that a southern distiller, who had grown rich -through owning many public-houses and much selling of bad gin, bought -Glenalder from its poverty-stricken laird, and cleared out the last of -the Macdonalds from Lochaber. They arose and departed on a fine spring -day, when the buds were bursting on the trees, and the thorn was white -as snow, and the birds were bringing forth their young, and the heather -was beginning to bloom. Early in the morning, while the grass was yet -wet with dew and the sun had not come over the hill, Ian Dhu, at the -head of the Glen, with his brothers and their families, their sons and -their sons' wives, began the procession, which flowed as a stream of -sorrow by the side of the Alder, all the day, gathering its rivulets -from every forsaken home. When it reached the poor little clachan, where -were the kirk and the graveyard, the emigrants halted, and leaving -their goods upon the road went in to worship God for the last time in -Glenalder kirk. A very humble sanctuary, with earthen floor and bare -benches, and mightily despised by the kind of southron who visited -the new laird's mansion, but beautiful and holy to those who had been -baptised there, and married there, and sat with their heart's love -there, and who, in that place, but after many years and in old age, had -received the sacrament. When they were all in their places, the minister -of the Glen, who would fain have gone with them, but was now too old, -ascended the pulpit and spake to them from the words, "He went out, not -knowing whither he went," charging them never to forget their native -country nor their fathers' faith, beseeching them to trust in God and do -righteousness, calling them all kinds of tender names in the warm Gaelic -speech, till they fell a-weeping, men and women together, and the place -was full of lamentation. After which Alister Macdonald, who had been -through the Crimean War and the Mutiny, and now was a catechist great -in opening mysteries, committed them to the care of their fathers' God. -They would hardly leave the kirk, and the sun was westering fast when -they came to the elbow of the hill where the traveller gets his last -look of the Glen. There they sang "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let -my right hand forget her cunning," but it was Glenalder they meant, a -parcel of whose earth each family carried with them into exile; and as -the pipes played "Lochaber no more" they went away for ever from the -land they loved and which had cast them forth. For an hour the minister -and Alister, with a handful of old people, watched their kinsfolk till -they could see them no more, and then they went back, no one speaking -with his neighbour, to the empty Glen. - -Besides the huge staring castle, with its lodges, built by the -foreigner, there are only some twenty houses now in all bonnie -Glenalder. Tourists venturing from the main road come, here and there, -across a little heap of stones and the remains of a garden, with some -patches of bright green still visible among the heather. It is the -memorial of a home where generation after generation of well-built, -clean-blooded, God-fearing Highland folk were raised. From those humble -cottages went up morning and evening the psalm of praise to God. From -them also came hardy men to fill the ranks of the Highland regiments, -who had tasted none of the city vices and did not know what fear was. -Nor were they a fierce or morose people, for the Glen sounded of -a summer evening with the sound of the pipes, playing reels and -strathspeys, and in the winter time the minister would lend his barn for -a dance, saying, like the shrewd man he was, "The more dancing the less -drinking." The very names of those desolate homesteads and the people -that lived therein are now passing out of mind in Glenalder, but away -in North-West Canada there is a new Glenalder, where every name has -been reproduced, and the cuttings of the brier roses bloom every year in -memory of the land that is "far awa." And if any man from Lochaber, or -for that matter from any part of Scotland, lights on this place, it will -be hard for him to get away from the warm hearts that are there, and he -must depart a better man after hearing the kindly speech and seeing the -sword dance once more. - -While the exiles halted on the elbow of the hill, each man, woman and -child, according to his size and strength, carried a stone from the -hillside and placed it on a heap that grew before their eyes, till it -made a rough pyramid. This was called the Cairn of Remembrance, and as -often as any one of the scanty remnant left the Glen to go south it was -a custom that his friends should accompany him to this spot and bid him -farewell, where the past pledged him to love and faithfulness. It was -here therefore that Henry Rutherford parted from Magdalen Macdonald as -he went to his last session at the Divinity Hall. - -"It's four years since I came first to Glenalder to teach the school in -the summer-time, Magdalen, an' little I thought then I would ever be so -near the ministry or win my sweetheart in the Glen." They were sitting -on a heather bank below the cairn, and as he spoke his arm slipped -round her waist He was a typical Scot, with bony frame, broad shoulders, -strong face, deep-set eyes of grey, and the somewhat assertive and -self-sufficient manner of his race. She was of the finest type of -Highland beauty, with an almost perfect Grecian face, fair hair dashed -with gold, eyes of the blue of the Highland lochs, and a queenly -carriage of head and body. Deep-bosomed and unfettered by fashionable -city dress, with strong hand and firm foot, she had the swinging gait -and proud independence of the free hill woman. - -"Had it not been for you," he went on, "I had never persevered; it was -your faith put strength in me and hope, and then... the help you gave -me; I can never forget or repay you. To think that you should have -slaved that I should have books and--better food." - -"Hush, I command you, for I will not be hearing another word, and if you -are saying more I will be very angry. It is not good that any man should -be a minister and not keep his word. And the day I gave you the purse -with the two or three pieces of gold you made a promise never to speak -about that day again. It is not many quarrels we have had, Henry, and -some will be good quarrels, for afterward we were loving each other more -than ever. But it was not good when you would lay the bits of gold on -that very stone there--for I am seeing them lie in the hollow--and say -hot words to me." - -"Magdalen, I put the purse itself in my breast, and I loved you more -than ever for your thought of me and your sacrifice, and I wanted -to kiss you, and... you ordered me to stand off, and your eyes were -blazing. Lassie, you looked like a tigress; I was feared of you." - -"It was not for me to have my gifts given back, and if I was driving -home the cows and milking the white milk into the pail, and churning the -sweet yellow butter, all that my love should not be wanting anything, it -is not for him to be so proud and mighty." - -"But I did take your kindness at last, and it was more than two or -three pounds, and so it was you that sent me to Germany. You gave me my -learning, and some day, when we're in our manse together, I'll show you -all my books and try... to repay your love." - -"Henry, it will come over me at times in the twilight, when strange -sights are seen, that we shall never be together in our house. Oh, yes, -I have seen a room with books round the walls, and you will be sitting -there, but I am not seeing any Magdalen. Wait a minute, for there will -be another sight, and I am not understanding it. It is not this land, -but where it will be I do not know; but I will be there in a beautiful -room, and I will be in rich dress, but I am not seeing you. - -"Do not speak." She rose up and looked at Rutherford, holding him at -arm's length, with her hand upon his shoulder. "Have you got the broken -piece?" He thrust his hand into his breast, and showed the jagged half -of a common penny hung round his neck by a blue ribbon. - -"My half will be here"--Magdalen touched her bosom--"but maybe it will -be better for me to give you it, and then... you will be free; each of -us... must drink the cup that is mixed. The visions will be very clear, -though I have not the second sight." - -"What is the meaning of all this talk, Magdalen?" Rutherford's face -was pale, and his voice vibrated. "Are you tired of me because I am not -bonnie of face, but only a plain Scot, or is it that you will not wait -till I win a home for you, or have you seen another man--some glib -English sportsman?" - -"God forgive you, Henry Rutherford, for saying such words; is it Alister -Macdonald's granddaughter that would play her lover false? Then let him -drive the skean dhu into her heart." - -"Then it is me you suspect, and it is not what I have deserved at your -hands, Magdalen. A Scot may seem cold and hard, but he can be 'siccar,' -and if I keep not my troth with you, and deal not by you as you have by -me, then may God be my judge and do unto me as I have done unto you." - -They looked into one another's eyes, and then tears put out the fire in -hers, and she spoke with a wail in her voice. - -"This is all very foolish talk, and it is this girl that will be sorry -after you are gone and I am sitting lonely, watching the sun go down. -But it was a thought that would be coming over my mind, for you will be -remembering that I am a Highlander; but it is not that you will not be -faithful to me or I to you, oh, no, and I have put it away, my love. Now -may God be keeping you"--and she took his hand--"and prospering you -in all your work, till you have your heart's desire in knowledge and -everything... that would be good for you. This is the prayer Magdalen -Macdonald will be offering for you every morning and night and all the -day when it is winter-time and the snow is heavy in Glenalder." Then she -kissed him full upon the lips as in a sacrament, and looking back he saw -her standing against the evening light, the perfect figure of a woman, -and she waved to him, whom he was not to see again for ten long years. - - -II - -"Just ventured to look in for a single minute, Mr. Rutherford, at the -close of this eventful day, to say how thankful we all are that you -were so wonderfully sustained. But you are busy--making notes for next -Sabbath, perhaps--and I must not interrupt you. We must keep ourselves -open to the light; in my small way I find there are times when the -thoughts just drop upon one. If we were more lifted above the world they -would come oftener, far oftener." - -A very "sleekit" personage indeed, as they say in Scotland, with a suave -manner, a sickly voice, and ways so childish that simple people thought -him almost silly; but those who happened to have had deals with him -in business formed quite another opinion, and expressed it in language -bordering on the libellous. - -"Will you be seated?" Rutherford laid aside a letter beginning "Dearest -Magdalen," and telling how it had fared with him on his first Sunday -in St Bede's, Glasgow, W., a kirk which contained many rich people and -thought not a little of itself. "You have a meeting on Sunday evening, I -think you said. I hope it was successful." - -"There was blessing to-night, I am sure. I felt the power myself. Lord -Dunderhead was passing through Glasgow and gave the address. It was -on 'The Badgers' Skins* of the Tabernacle, and was very helpful. And -afterward we had a delightful little 'sing.*' You know his lordship?" - -"No, I never saw him," said Rutherford shortly, with a Scot's democratic -prejudice against religious snobbery, forgetting that people who will -not listen to a reasoned discourse from a clergyman will crowd to the -simplest utterance of a lord. - -"You will allow me to introduce you on Tuesday evening; you got Mrs. -Thompson's card. I hope we may have a profitable gathering. Captain -Footyl, the hussar evangelist, will also be present--a truly delightful -and devoted young man." Rutherford had not forgotten the card-- - - Mr. and Mrs. Thompson - - At Home Tuesday, May 2nd, - - To meet Lord Dunderhead who will give a Bible Reading. - - 8 to 10.30 Evening Dress. - -And had sent it off to his college friend, Carmichael of Drumtochty, -with a running commentary of a very piquant character. - -"Thank you, but I fear that my work will prevent me being with you on -Tuesday; it is no light thing for a man to come straight from college to -St Bede's without even a holiday." - -"So sorry, but by-and-bye you will come to one of our little meetings. -Mrs. Thompson greatly enjoyed your sermon to young men this afternoon; -perhaps just a little too much of works and too little of faith. Excuse -the hint--you know the danger of the day--all life, life; but that's a -misleading test By the way, we are all hoping that you may get settled -in a home as well as in your church," continued Mr. Thompson, with pious -waggery, and then chilling at the want of sympathy on the minister's -face; "but that is a serious matter, and we trust you may be wisely -guided. A suitable helpmeet is a precious gift." - -"Perhaps you may not have heard, Mr. Thompson, that I am engaged"--and -Rutherford eyed the elder keenly,--"and to a girl of whom any man and -any congregation may be proud. I am going north next week to see her and -to settle our marriage day." - -"I am so pleased to hear you say so, and so will all the elders be, -for I must tell you that a rumour came to our ears that gave us great -concern; but I said we must not give heed to gossip, for what Christian -has not suffered in this way at the hand of the world?" - -"What was the gossip?" demanded Rutherford, and there was that in his -tone that brooked no trifling. - -"You must not take this to heart, dear Mr. Rutherford; it only shows -how we ought to set a watch upon our lips. Well that you were to marry a -young woman in Glen--Glen----" - -"Alder. Go on," said Rutherford. "Yes, in Glenalder, where we all -rejoice to know you did so good a work." - -"I taught a dozen children in the summer months to eke out my living. -But about the young woman--what did they say of her?" - -"Nothing at all, except that she was, perhaps, hardly in that position -of society that a clergyman's wife ought to be, especially one in the -west end of Glasgow. But do not let us say anything more of the matter; -it just shows how the great enemy is ever trying to create dissension -and injure the work." - -"What you have heard is perfectly true, except that absurd reference to -Glasgow, and I have the honour to inform you, as I intend to inform the -elders on my return next week, that I hope to be married in a month -or two to Magdalen Macdonald, who was brought up by her grandfather, -Alister Macdonald of the Black Watch, and who herself has a little croft -in Glenalder"--and Rutherford challenged Mr. Thompson, expounder of -Scripture and speculator in iron, to come on and do his worst "Will you -allow me, my dear young friend, to say that there is no necessity -for this... heat, and to speak with you as one who has your... best -Interests at heart, and those of St. Bede's. I feel it to be a special -providence that I should have called this evening." - -"Well?" insisted Rutherford. - -"What I feel, and I have no doubt you will agree with me, is that -Christians must not set themselves against the arrangements of -Providence, and you see we are set in classes for a wise purpose. We -are all equal before God, neither 'bond nor free,' as it runs, but it -is expedient that the minister of St Bede's should marry in his own -position. There are many sacrifices we must make for our work's sake; -and, oh, Mr. Rutherford, what care we have to take lest we cast a -stumbling-block in the way of others! It was only last week that a -valued fellow-worker begged me to invite a young lady to my little -drawing-room meeting who was concerned about spiritual things. 'Nothing -would give me greater pleasure,' I said, 'if it would help her; but it -is quite impossible, and you would not have asked me had you known her -history. Her father was a shopkeeper, and in the present divided state -of society I dare not introduce her among the others, all wholesale -without exception.' You will not misunderstand me, Mr. Rutherford?" - -"You have stated the case admirably, Mr. Thompson, and from your -standpoint in religion, I think, conclusively. Perhaps the Sermon on the -Mount might...; but we won't go into that Before deciding, however, what -is my duty, always with your aid, you might like to see the face of my -betrothed. There, in that light." - -"Really quite beautiful, and I can easily understand; we were all young -once and... impressionable. As good-looking as any woman in St Bede's? -Excuse me, that is hardly a question to discuss. Grace does not go with -looks. We all know that beauty is deceitful. Knows the poets better -than you do, I dare say. There is a nurse of my sister's, a cabman's -daughter--I beg your pardon for dropping the photograph; you startled -me. But you will excuse me saying that it is not this kind of -knowledge... well, culture, which fits a woman to be a minister's wife. -Addressing a mothers' meeting is far more important than reading -poetry. Highland manners more graceful than Glasgow? That is a very -extraordinary comparison, and... can do no good. Really no one can -sympathise with you more than I do, but I am quite clear as to your duty -as a minister of the Gospel." - -"You mean"--and Rutherford spoke with much calmness--"that I ought to -break our troth. It is not a light thing to do, sir, and has exposed -both men and women to severe... criticism." - -"Certainly, if the matter be mismanaged, but I think, although it's not -for me to boast, that it could be arranged. Now, there was Dr. -Drummer--this is quite between ourselves--he involved himself with a -teacher of quite humble rank during his student days, and it was pointed -out to him very faithfully by his elders that such a union would injure -his prospects. He made it a matter of prayer, and he wrote a beautiful -letter to her, and she saw the matter in the right light, and you know -what a ministry his has been. His present wife has been a real helpmeet; -her means are large and are all consecrated." - -"Do you happen to know what became of the teacher? I only ask for -curiosity, for I know what has become of Dr. Drummer." - -"She went to England and caught some fever, or maybe it was consumption, -but at any rate she died just before the Doctor married. It was all -ordered for the best, so that there were no complications." - -"Exactly; that is evident, and my way seems now much clearer.. There -is just one question more I should like to ask. If you can answer it I -shall have no hesitation about my course. Suppose a woman loved a man -and believed in him, and encouraged him through his hard college days, -and they both were looking forward with one heart to their wedding day, -and then he--did not marry her--what would honourable men think of him, -and what effect would this deed of--prudence have on his ministry of the -Gospel?" - -"My dear friend, if it were known that he had taken this step simply -and solely for the good of the cause he had at heart and after prayerful -consideration, there is no earnest man--and we need not care for the -world--who would not appreciate his sacrifice." - -"I do not believe one word you say." Mr. Thompson smiled feebly, and -began to retire to the door at the look in Rutherford's eye. "But -whether you be right or wrong about the world in which you move, I do -not know. In my judgment, the man who acted as you describe would have -only one rival in history, and that would be Judas Iscariot." - - -III - -Southern travellers wandering over Scotland in their simplicity have a -dim perception that the Scot and the Celt are not of one kind, and, as -all racial characteristics go back to the land, they might be helped by -considering the unlikeness between a holding in Fife and a croft in -a western glen. The lowland farm stands amid its neighbours along the -highway, with square fields, trim fences, slated houses, cultivated -after the most scientific method, and to the last inch a very type of a -shrewd, thrifty, utilitarian people. The Highland farm is half a dozen -patches of as many shapes scattered along the hillside, wherever there -are fewest stones and deepest soil and no bog, and those the crofter -tills as best he can--sometimes getting a harvest and sometimes seeing -the first snow cover his oats in the sheaf, sometimes building a rude -dyke to keep off the big, brown, hairy cattle that come down to have -a taste of the sweet green corn, but often finding it best to let his -barefooted children be a fence by day, and at certain seasons to sit up -all night himself to guard his scanty harvest from the forays of the red -deer. Somewhere among the patches he builds his low-roofed house, and -thatches it over with straw, on which, by-and-bye, grass with heather -and wild flowers begins to grow, till it is not easy to tell his home -from the hill. His farm is but a group of tiny islands amid a sea of -heather that is ever threatening to overwhelm them with purple spray. -Any one can understand that this man will be unpractical, dreamy, -enthusiastic, the child of the past, the hero of hopeless causes, the -seer of visions. - -Magdalen had milked her cows at midday and sent them forth to pasture, -and now was sitting before her cottage among wallflower and spring -lilies, reading for the third time the conclusion of Rutherford's last -letter:-- - -"Here I was interrupted by the coming of an elder, a mighty man in -the religious world, and very powerful in St Bede's. He tells me that -something has been heard of our engagement, and I have taken counsel -with him with the result that it seems best we should be married without -delay. After loving for four years and there being nothing to hinder, -why should you be lonely on your croft in Glenalder and I in my rooms -at Glasgow? Answer me that, 'calf of my heart' (I do not attempt the -Gaelic). But you cannot. You will only kiss the letter, since I am not -at your side, and next week I shall come north, and you will fix the -day. - -"My head is full of plans, and I do not think that joy will let me sleep -to-night for thinking of you and all that we shall do together. We'll -be married early in the morning in the old kirk of Glenalder, as soon as -the sun has filled the Glen and Nature has just awaked from sleep. Mona -Macdonald will be your bridesmaid, I know, and she will wear white roses -that shall not be whiter than her teeth. Yes, I have learned to notice -all beautiful things since I knew you, Magdalen. My best man will be -Carmichael of Drumtochy, who is of Highland blood himself and a goodly -man to look upon, and he has his own love-story. All the Glen will come -to our wedding, and will grudge that a Lowland Scot has spoiled the -Glen of the Flower of Dalnabreck--yes, I know what they call you. And we -shall have our breakfast in the manse, for the minister has pledged -us to that, and it is he and John Carmichael that will be making the -wonderful speeches! (You see how I've learned the style.) But you and I -will leave them and catch the steamer, and then all the long June day -we shall sit on the deck together and see distant Skye, and the little -isles, and pass Mull and Ardnamurchan, and sail through Oban Bay and -down Loch Fyne, and thread our way by Tighnabruaich, and come into the -Firth of Clyde when the sun is going down away behind Ben Alder. Won't -it be a glorious marriage day, among lochs and hills and islands the -like of which travellers say cannot be found in all the world? - -"Then I want to take you to Germany, and to show you the old University -town where I lived one summer, and we will have one good day there, too, -my bride and I. Early in the morning we shall stand in the market-place, -where the women are washing clothes at the fountain and the peasants -are selling butter and fruit, and the high-gabled houses rise on three -sides, and the old Rathhaus, on whose roof the storks build their nests, -makes the fourth. We'll go to my rooms near the Kirche, where I used to -write a letter to you every day, and here is what old Frau Hepzacker -will say, 'Mein Gott, der Schottlander und ein wunderschones madchen* -(you will English and Gaelic this for yourself), and we will drink a -glass of (fearfully sour) wine with her, and go out with her blessing -echoing down the street Then we will watch the rafts coming down the -Neckar from the Black Forest, and walk among the trees in the Vorstadt, -where I lay and dreamed of you far away in Glenalder. And we will go to -the University where you sent me... but that is never to be mentioned -again; and the students in their wonderful dress will come and go--red -hats and blue, besides the white, black and gold I used to wear. And -in the evening we will drive through the vines and fruit-trees to -Bebenhausen, the king's hunting-seat. And those will only be two days -out of our honeymoon, Magdalen. It seems too good to be my lot that -I should be minister of Christ's evangel--of which surely I am not -worthy--and that you should be my bride, of which I am as unworthy. -Next Monday I shall leave this smoky town and meet you at the Cairn of -Remembrance on Tuesday morning. - -"Meanwhile and ever I am your faithful lover, - -"Henry Rutherford." - -Magdalen kissed the name passionately and thrust the letter into her -bosom. Then she went to the edge of the heather and looked along the -Glen, where she had been born and lived her twenty-two years in peace, -from which she was so soon to go out on the most adventurous journey of -life. When a pure-bred Highland woman loves, it is once and for ever, -and earth has no more faithful wife, or mother, or daughter. And -Magdalen loved Rutherford with all her heart. But it is not given unto -her blood to taste unmixed joy, and now she was haunted with a sense of -calamity. The past flung its shadow over her, and the people that were -gone came back to their deserted homes. She heard the far-off bleating -of the sheep and the wild cry of the curlew; she crooned to herself a -Gaelic song, and was so carried away that she did not see the stranger -come along the track through the heather till he spoke. - -"Good evening; may I ask whether this is eh... Dalnabreck? and have I -the pleasure of addressing Miss Macdonald?" - -"Yes, I am Magdalen Macdonald"--and as she faced him in her beauty the -visitor was much abashed. "Would you be wanting to see me, sir?" - -"My name is Thompson, and I have the privilege of being an elder in St -Bede's, Glasgow, and as I happened to be passing through Glenalder--just -a few days' rest after the winter's work--how the soul wears the -body!--I thought that it would be... a pleasure to... pay my respects -to one of whom I have... heard from our dear pastor. Perhaps, -however,"--this with some anxiety--"Mr. Rutherford may have mentioned my -humble name." - -"There are so many good people in St Bede's, and they are all so kind -to him, that... Henry"--the flush at her lover's name lent the -last attraction to her face and almost overcame the astute iron -merchant--"will not be able to tell me all their names. But I will be -knowing them all for myself soon, and then I will be going to thank -every person for all that has been done to... him. It is very gracious -of you to be visiting a poor Highland girl, and the road to Dalnabreck -is very steep; you will come in and rest in my house, and I will bring -you milk to drink. You must be taking care of the door, for it is low, -and the windows are small because of the winter storms; but there is -room inside and a heart welcome for our friends in our little homes. -When I am bringing the milk maybe you will be looking at the medals on -the wall. They are my grandfather's, who was a brave man and fought well -in his day, and two will be my father's, who was killed very young and -had not time to get more honour." - -The elder made a hurried survey of the room, with its bits of black -oak and the arms on the wall, and the deer-skins on the floor, and -bookshelves hanging on the wall, and wild flowers everywhere; and, -being an operator so keen that he was said to know a market by scent, he -changed his plan. - -"I took a hundred pounds with me," he explained afterward to a friend of -like spirit, "for a promising ministry was not to be hindered for a -few pounds! I intended to begin with fifty and expected to bring back -twenty-five, but I saw that it would have been inexpedient to offer -money to the young woman. There was no flavour of spirituality at -all about her, and she was filled with pride about war and such-like -vanities. Her manner might be called taking in worldly circles, but -it was not exactly... gentle, and she might have... been rude, quite -unpleasant, if I had tried to buy her... I mean arrange on a pecuniary -basis. Ah, Juitler, how much we need the wisdom of the serpent in this -life!" - -"What a position you are to occupy, my dear friend," began the simple -man, seated before the most perfect of meals--rich milk of cows, fed on -meadow grass, yellow butter and white oat cakes set among flowers. "I -doubt not that you are often weighed down by a sense of responsibility, -and are almost afraid of the work before you. After some slight -experience in such matters I am convinced that the position of a -minister's wife is the most... I may say critical in Christian service." - -"You will be meaning that she must be taking great care of her man, and -making a beautiful home for him, and keeping away foolish people, and -standing by him when his back will be at the wall. Oh, yes, it is a -minister that needs to be loved very much, or else he will become stupid -and say bitter words, and no one will be wanting to hear him"--and -Magdalen looked across the table with joyful confidence. - -"Far more than that, I'm afraid"--and Mr. Thompson's face was full of -pity. "I was thinking of the public work that falls to a minister's wife -in such a church as St Bede's, which is trying and needs much grace. The -receiving of ladies alone--Providence has been very good to our people, -twelve carriages some days at the church door--requires much experience -and wisdom. - -"Mrs. Drummer, who has been much used among the better classes, has -often told me that she considered tact in society one of her most -precious talents, and I know that it was largely owing to her social -gifts, sanctified, of course, that the Doctor became such a power. Ah, -yes"--and Mr. Thompson fell into a soliloquy--"it is the wife that makes -or mars the minister." - -"Glasgow then will not be like Glenalder"--and Magdalen's face was much -troubled--"for if any woman here will tell the truth and speak good -words of people, and help when the little children are sick, and have an -open door for the stranger, then we will all be loving her, and she will -not hurt her man in anything." - -"Be thankful that you do not live in a city, Miss Macdonald, for the -world has much more power there; they that come to work are in the thick -of the battle and need great experience, but you will learn in time and -maybe you could live... quietly for a year or two... you will excuse -me speaking like this... you see it is for our beloved minister I am -anxious." - -Magdalen's face had grown white, and she once or twice took a long, sad -breath. - -"As regards the public work expected of a minister's wife--but I am -wearying you, I fear, and it is time to return to the inn. I cannot tell -you how much I have enjoyed this delicious milk.. - -"Will you tell me about the... the other things... I want to know all." - -"Oh, it was the meetings I was thinking of, for of course, as I am sure -you know, our minister's wife is the head of the mothers' meeting. Mrs. -Drummer's addresses there were excellent, and her liberality in giving -treats--gospel treats, I mean, with tea--was eh, in fact, queenly. And -then she had a Bible-class for young ladies that was mentioned in the -religious papers." - -Magdalen had now risen and was visibly trembling. - -"There is a question I would like to ask, Mister..." - -"Thompson--Jabez Thompson." - -"Mister Thompson--and you will be doing a great kindness to a girl that -has never been outside Glenalder, and... is not wanting to be a sorrow -to the man she loves, if you will answer it Do you know any minister -like... your minister who married a country girl and... what happened?" - -"Really, my dear friend, I... well, if you insist, our neighbour in St -Thomas's--a very fine young fellow--did, and he was a little hindered at -first; but I am sure, in course of time, if he had waited--yes, he left, -and I hear is in the Colonies, and doing an excellent work among the -squatters, or was it the Chinese?... No, no, this is not good-bye. I -only hope I have not discouraged you.... What a lovely glen! How can we -ever make up to you for this heather?" - -For three days no one saw Magdalen, but a shepherd attending to -his lambs noticed that a lamp burned every night in the cottage at -Dalnabreck. When Rutherford arrived at the cairn on Tuesday he looked -in vain for Magdalen. Old Elspeth, Magdalen's foster-mother, was waiting -for him and placed a letter in his hands, which he read in that very -place where he had parted from his betrothed. - -"Dearest of my Heart,-- - -"It is with the tears of my soul that I am writing this letter, and it -is with cruel sorrow you will be reading it, for I must tell you that -our troth is broken and that Magdalen cannot be your wife. Do not be -thinking this day or any day that she is not loving you, for never have -you been so dear to me or been in my eyes so strong and brave and wise -and good, and do not be thinking that I do not trust you, for it is this -girl knows that you would be true to me although all the world turned -against me. - -"Believe me, my beloved, it is because I love you so much that I am -setting you free that you may not be put to shame because you have -married a Highland girl, who has nothing but two cows, and who does not -know the ways of cities, and who cannot speak in public places, and who -can do nothing except love. - -"If it had been possible I would have been waiting for you at the Cairn -of Remembrance, and it is my eyes that ache to see you once more, but -then I would be weak and could not leave you, as is best for you. - -"You will not be seeking after me, for I am going far away, and nobody -can tell you where, and this is also best for you and me. But I will -be hearing about you, and will be knowing all you do, and there will be -none so proud of you as your first love. - -"And, Henry, if you meet a good woman and she loves you, then you must -not think that I will be angry when you marry her, for this would be -selfish and not right I am going away for your sake, and I will be -praying that the sun be ever shining on you and that you become a great -man in the land. One thing only I ask--that in those days you sometimes -give a thought to Glenalder and your faithful friend, - -"Magdalen Macdonald." - - -IV - -"It was a first-rate match, and we were fairly beaten; it was their -forward turned the scale. I had two hacks from him myself"--the captain -of the Glasgow Football Club nursed the tender spots. "It's a mercy -to-morrow's Sunday and one can lie in bed." - -"Olive oil is not bad for rubbing. You deserve the rest, old man. It -was a stiff fight. By-the-way I saw Rutherford of St Bede's there. He -cheered like a good'un when you got that goal. He's the best parson -going in Glasgow." - -"Can't bear the tribe nor their ways, Charlie, they're such hypocrites, -always preaching against the world and that kind of thing and feathering -their own nests at every turn. Do you know I calculated that six of them -in Glasgow alone have netted a hundred and twenty thousand pounds by -successful marriages. That's what sickens a fellow at religion." - -"Well, you can't say that against Rutherford, Jack, for he's not -married, and works like a coal-heaver. He's the straightest man I've -come across either in the pulpit or out of it, besides being a ripping -preacher. Suppose you look me up to-morrow about six, and we'll hear -what he's got to say." - -His friends said that Rutherford was only thirty-four years of age, but -he looked as if he were near fifty, for his hair had begun to turn gray, -and he carried the traces of twenty years' work upon his face. No one -would have asked whether he was handsome, for he had about him an air -of sincerity and humanity that at once won your confidence. His subject -that evening was the "Sanctifying power of love," and, as his passion -gradually increased to white heat, he had the men before him at his -mercy. Women of the world complained that he was hard and unsympathetic; -some elderly men considered his statements unguarded and even unsound; -but men below thirty heard him gladly. This evening he was stirred for -some reason to the depths of his being, and was irresistible. When he -enlarged on the love of a mother, and charged every son present to repay -it by his life and loyalty, a hundred men glared fiercely at the roof, -and half of them resolved to write home that very night. As he thundered -against lust, the foul counterfeit of love, men's faces whitened, -and twice there was a distinct murmur of applause. His great passage, -however, came at the close, and concerned the love of a man for a maid: -"If it be given to any man in his fresh youth to love a noble woman -with all his heart, then in that devotion he shall find an unfailing -inspiration of holy thoughts and high endeavours, a strong protection -against impure and selfish temptations, a secret comfort amid the -contradictions and adversities of life. Let him give this passion full -play in his life and it will make a man of him and a good soldier in the -great battle. And if it so be that this woman pass from his sight or be -beyond his reach, yet in this love itself shall he find his exceeding -reward." As he spoke in a low, sweet, intense voice, those in the -gallery saw the preacher's left hand tighten on the side of the pulpit -till the bones and sinews could be counted, but with his right hand he -seemed to hold something that lay on his breast "Look here, Charlie"--as -the two men stood in a transept till the crowd passed down the main -aisle--"if you don't mind I would like... to shake hands with the -preacher. When a man takes his coat off and does a big thing like that -he ought to know that he has... helped a fellow." - -"I'll go in too, Jack, for he's straightened me, and not for the first -time. You know how I used to live... well, that is over, and it was -Rutherford saved me." - -"He looks as if he had been badly hit some time. Do you know his -record?" - -"There's some story about his being in love with a poor girl and -being determined to marry her, but 'Iron Warrants' got round her and -persuaded her that it would be Rutherford's ruin; so she disappeared, -and they say Rutherford is waiting for her to this day. But I don't give -it as a fact." - -"You may be sure every word of it is true, old man; it's like one of -Thompson's tricks, for I was in his office once, and it's just what that -man in the pulpit would do; poor chap, he's served his time... I say, -though, suppose that girl turns up some day." - -They were near the vestry door and arranging their order of entrance -when a woman came swiftly down the empty aisle as from some distant -corner of the church and stood behind them for an instant. - -"Is this Mr. Rutherford's room, gentlemen"--with a delicate flavour of -Highland in the perfect English accent--"and would it be possible for me -to see him... alone?" - -They received a shock of delight on the very sight of her and did -instant homage. It was not on account of her magnificent beauty--a -woman in the height of her glory--nor the indescribable manner of good -society, nor the perfection of her dressing, nor a singular dignity of -carriage. They bowed before her for the look in her eyes, the pride of -love, and, although both are becoming each day her more devoted slaves, -yet they agree that she could only look once as she did that night. - -It was Charlie that showed her in, playing beadle for the occasion that -this princess might not have to wait one minute, and his honour obliged -him to withdraw instantly, but before the door could be closed he heard -Rutherford cry--"At last, Magdalen, my love!" - -"Do you think, Charlie...?" - -"Rutherford has got his reward, Jack, and twenty years would not have -been too long to wait." - - - - -AN IMPOSSIBLE MAN - - -I - -"We must have Trixy Marsden on the Thursday"--for Mrs. Leslie was -arranging two dinner parties. "She will be in her element that evening; -but what are we to do with Mr. Marsden?" - -"Isn't it rather the custom to invite a husband with his wife? he might -even expect to be included," said John Leslie. "Do you know I'm glad we -came to Putney; spring is lovely in the garden." - -"Never mind spring just now," as Leslie threatened an exit to the lawn; -"you might have some consideration for an afflicted hostess, and give -your mind to the Marsden problem." - -"It was Marsden brought spring into my mind," and Leslie sat down -with that expression of resignation on his face peculiar to husbands -consulted on domestic affairs; "he was telling me this morning in the -train that he had just finished a table of trees in the order of their -budding, a sort of spring priority list; his love for statistics is -amazing. - -"He is getting to be known on the 9 train; the men keep their eye on -him and bolt into thirds to escape; he gave a morning on the influenza -death-rate lately, and that kind of thing spreads. - -"But he's not a bad fellow for all that," concluded Leslie; "he's -perfectly straight in business, and that is saying something; I rather -enjoy half an hour with him." - -"Very likely you do," said his wife with impatience, "because your mind -has a squint, and you get amusement out of odd people; but every one -has not your taste for the tiresome. He is enough to devastate a dinner -table; do you remember that escapade of his last year?" - -"You mean when he corrected you about the length of the American -passage, and gave the sailings of the Atlantic liners since '80," and -Leslie lay back to enjoy the past: "it seemed to me most instructive, -and every one gave up conversation to listen." - -"Because no one could do anything else with that voice booming through -the room. I can still hear him: 'the _Columba_ six days, four hours, -five minutes.' Then I rose and delivered the table." - -"It was only human to be a little nettled by his accuracy; but you ought -not to have retreated so soon, for he gave the express trains of England -a little later, and hinted at the American lines. One might almost call -such a memory genius." - -"Which is often another name for idiocy, John. Some one was telling me -yesterday that quiet, steady men rush out of the room at the sound of -his voice, and their wives have to tell all sorts of falsehoods about -their absence. - -"Trixy is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and it would be a shame -to pass her over; but I will not have her husband on any account." - -"Perhaps you are right as a hostess; it is a little hard for a frivolous -circle to live up to Marsden, and I hear that he has got up the -temperatures of the health resorts; it's a large subject, and lends -itself to detail." - -"It will not be given in this house. What Trixy must endure with that -man! he's simply possessed by a didactic devil, and ought never to have -married. Statistics don't amount to cruelty, I suppose, as a ground of -divorce?" - -"Hardly as yet; by-and-bye incompatibility in politics or fiction will -be admitted; but how do you know, Florence, that Mrs. Marsden does not -appreciate her husband? You never can tell what a woman sees in a man. -Perhaps this woman hungers for statistics as a make-weight She is very -amusing, but a trifle shallow, don't you think?" - -"She used to be the brightest and most charming girl in our set, and I -have always believed that she was married to Mr. Marsden by her people. -Trixy has six hundred a year settled on her, and they were afraid of -fortune-hunters. Mothers are apt to feel that a girl is safe with a man -of the Marsden type, and that nothing more can be desired." - -"Perhaps they are not far wrong. Marsden is not a romantic figure, -and he is scarcely what you would call a brilliant _raconteur_; but he -serves his wife like a slave, and he will never give her a sore heart." - -"Do you think it nothing, John, that a woman with ideals should be tied -to a bore all her days? What a contrast between her brother and her -husband, for instance. Godfrey is decidedly one of the most charming men -I ever met." - -"He has a nice tenor voice, I grant, and his drawing-room comedies are -very amusing. Of course, no one believes a word he says, and I think -that he has never got a discharge from his last bankruptcy; but you -can't expect perfection. Character seems to oscillate between dulness -and dishonesty." - -"Don't talk nonsense for the sake of alliteration, John. Trixy's brother -was never intended for business; he ought to have been a writer, and I -know he was asked to join the staff of the _Boomeller_. Happy thought! -I'll ask him to come with his sister instead of Mr. Marsden." - -And this was the note: - -"My dear Trixy,-- - -"We are making up a dinner party for the evening of June 2nd, at eight -o'clock, and we simply cannot go on without you and Mr. Mars-den. Write -_instantly_ to say you accept; it is an age since I've seen you, and my -husband is absolutely devoted to Mr. Marsden. He was telling me only -a minute ago that one reason why he goes by the 9 train is to get the -benefit of your husband's conversation. With much love, - -"Yours affectionately, - -"Florence Leslie. - -"P.S.--It does seem a shame that Mr. Marsden should have to waste an -evening on a set of stupid people, and if he can't tear himself from his -books, then you will take home a scolding to him from me. - -"P.S.--If Mr. Marsden _will not_ condescend, bring Godfrey to take care -of you, and tell him that we shall expect some music." - - -II - -"Come to this corner, Trixy, and let us have a quiet talk before the men -arrive from the dining-room. I hope your husband is duly grateful to me -for allowing him off this social ordeal. Except perhaps John, I don't -think there is a person here fit to discuss things with him." - -"Oh, Mr. Marsden does not care one straw whether they know his subjects -or not so long as people will listen to him, and I'm sure he was quite -eager to come, but I wanted Godfrey to have a little pleasure. - -"I'm so sorry for poor Godfrey," and Mrs. Marsden settled herself down -to confidences. "You know he lost all his money two years ago through -no fault of his own. It was simply the stupidity of his partner, who was -quite a common man, and could not carry out Godfrey's plans. My husband -might have helped the firm through their difficulty but he was quite -obstinate, and very unkind also. He spoke as if Godfrey had been -careless and lazy, when the poor fellow really injured his health and -had to go to Brighton for two months to recruit." - -"Yes, I remember," put in Mrs. Leslie; "we happened to be at the -Metropole one week end, and Godfrey looked utterly jaded." - -"You have no idea how much he suffered, Florrie, and how beautifully he -bore the trial. Why, had it not been for me, he would not have had money -to pay his hotel bill, and that was a dreadful change for a man like -him. He has always been very proud, and much petted by people. The poor -fellow has never been able to find a suitable post since, although he -spends days in the city among his old friends, and I can see how it is -telling on him. And--Florrie, I wouldn't mention it to any one except -an old friend--Mr. Marsden has not made our house pleasant to poor -Godfrey." - -"You don't mean that he... reflects on his misfortunes." - -"Doesn't he? It's simply disgusting what he will say at times. Only -yesterday morning--this is absolutely between you and me, one must have -some confidant--Godfrey made some remark in fun about the cut of Tom's -coat; he will not go, you know, do what I like, to a proper tailor." - -"Godfrey is certainly much better dressed," said Mrs. Leslie, "than -either of our husbands." - -"Perhaps it was that made Tom angry, but at any rate he said quite -shortly, 'I can't afford to dress better,' and of course Godfrey knew -what he meant. It was cruel in the circumstances, for many men spend far -more on their clothes than Godfrey. He simply gives his mind to the -matter and takes care of his things; he will spend any time selecting a -colour or getting a coat fitted." - -"Is your brother quite... dependent on... his friends, Trixy?" - -"Yes, in the meantime, and that is the reason why we ought to be the -more considerate. I wished to settle half my income on him, but it is -only a third of what it used to be--something to do with investments has -reduced it--and Mr. Marsden would not hear of such a thing; he allows -Godfrey one hundred a year, but that hardly keeps him in clothes and -pocket money." - -"Still, don't you think it's all Godfrey could expect?" and Mrs. Leslie -was inclined for once to defend this abused man. "Few husbands would do -as much for a brother-in-law." - -"Oh, of course he does it for my sake, and he means to be kind. But, -Florrie, Mr. Marsden is so careful and saving, always speaking as if we -were poor and had to lay up for the future, while I know he has a large -income and a sure business. - -"Why, he would not leave that horrid street in Highbury, say what I -could; and I owe it to Godfrey that we have come to Putney. When Tom -went out to Alexandria, my brother simply took our present house and -had it furnished in Mr. Marsden's name, and so when he came home from -Alexandria we were established in The Cottage." - -"John is the best of husbands, but I dare not have changed our house in -his absence," and Mrs. Leslie began to get new views on the situation. -"Was not Mr. Marsden rather startled?" - -"He was inclined to be angry with Godfrey, but I sent the boy off to -Scarborough for a month; and he is never hasty to me, only tiresome--you -can't imagine how tiresome." - -"Is it the statistics?" - -"Worse than that. He has begun the Reformation now, and insists on -reading from some stuffy old book every evening, _Dumas' History_, I -think, till I wish there never had been such a thing, and we were all -Roman Catholics." - -"Very likely he would have read about the Popes, then, or the saints. -My dear girl, you don't wish to have your mind improved. You ought to be -proud of your husband; most men sleep after dinner with an evening paper -in their hands, and are quite cross if they're wakened. But there they -come, and we must have Godfrey's last song." - - -III - -"Nurse will rise at four and bring you a nice cup of tea. Are you sure -you will not weary, being alone for two hours?" and Mrs. Marsden, in -charming outdoor dress, blew eau-de-Cologne about the room. "Don't you -love scent?" - -"Where are you going?" asked Marsden, following her with fond eyes. "You -told me yesterday, but I forget; this illness has made me stupider than -ever, I think. Wasn't it some charity?" - -"It's the new society every one is so interested in, 'The Working Wives' -Culture Union.' What is wanted is happy homes for the working men," -quoting freely from an eloquent woman orator, "and the women must be -elevated; so the East End is to be divided into districts, and two young -women will be allotted to each. Are you listening?" - -"Yes, dear; but it rests me to lie with my eyes closed. Tell me all -about your society. What are the young ladies to do?" - -"Oh, they're to visit the wives in the afternoon and read books to them: -solid books, you know, about wages and... all kinds of things working -men like. Then in the evening the wives will be able to talk with -their husbands on equal terms, and the men will not want to go to the -public-houses. Isn't it a capital idea?" - -A sad little smile touched Marsden's lips for an instant "And where do -you meet to-day? It's a long way for you to go to Whitechapel." - -"Didn't I tell you? The Marchioness of Gloucester Is giving a Drawing -Room at her town house, and Lady Helen wrote an urgent note, Insisting -that I should come, even though it were only for an hour, as her mother -depended on my advice so much. - -"Of course I know that's just a way of putting it; but I have taken lots -of trouble about founding the Union, so I think it would hardly do for -me to be absent You're feeling much better, too, to-day, aren't you, -Thomas?" - -"Yes, much better; the pain has almost ceased; perhaps it will be quite -gone when you return. Can you spare just ten minutes to sit beside me? -There is something I have been wanting to say, and perhaps this is my -only chance. When I am well again I may... be afraid." - -Mrs. Marsden sat down wondering, and her husband waited a minute. - -"One understands many things that puzzled him before, when he lies in -quietness for weeks and takes an after look. I suspected it at times -before, but I was a coward and put the thought away. It seemed curious -that no one came to spend an hour with me, as men do with friends; and I -noticed that they appeared to avoid me. I thought it was fancy, and that -I had grown self-conscious. - -"Everything is quite plain now, and I... am not hurt, dear, and I don't -blame any person; that would be very wrong. People might have been far -more impatient with me, and might have made my life miserable. - -"God gave me a dull mind and a slow tongue; it took me a long time to -grasp anything, and no one cared about the subjects that interested me. -Beatrice... I wish now you had told me how I bored our friends; it would -have been a kindness; but never mind that now; you did not like to give -me pain. - -"What troubles me most is that all these years you should have been -tied to a very tiresome fellow," and Marsden made some poor attempt at -a smile. "Had I thought of what was before you, I would never have asked -you to marry me. - -"Don't cry, dear; I did not wish to hurt you. I wanted to ask your -pardon for... all that martyrdom, and... to thank you for... being my -wife; and there's something else. - -"You see when I get well and am not lying in bed here, maybe I could not -tell you, so let me explain everything now, and then we need not speak -about such things again. - -"Perhaps you thought me too economical, but I was saving for a purpose. -Your portion has not brought quite so much as it did, and I wished -to make it up to you, and now you can have your six hundred a year as -before; if this illness had gone against me, you would have been quite -comfortable--in money, I mean, dear. - -"No, I insist on your going to Lady Gloucester's; the change will do -you good, and I'll lie here digesting the Reformation, you know," and he -smiled, better this time, quite creditably, in fact "Will you give me a -kiss, just to keep till we meet again?" - -When the nurse came down at four to take charge, she was horrified to -find her patient alone, and in the death agony, but conscious and able -to speak. - -"Don't ring... nor send for my wife... I sent... her away knowing the -end was near... made her go, in fact... against her will." - -The nurse gave him brandy, and he became stronger for a minute. - -"She has had a great deal to bear with me, and I... did not wish her to -see death. My manner has been always so wearisome... I hoped that... -nobody would be here. You are very kind, nurse; no more, if you please. - -"Would it trouble you... to hold my hand, nurse? It's a little lonely... -I am not afraid... a wayfaring man though a fool... not err therein..." - -He was not nearly so tedious with his dying as he had been with his -living; very shortly afterwards Thomas Marsden had done with statistics -for ever. - - -IV - -Three days later Leslie came home from the city with tidings on his -face, and he told them to his wife when they were alone that night -"Marsden's lawyer made an appointment after the funeral, and I had an -hour with him. He has asked me to be a trustee with himself in Mrs. -Marsden's settlement." - -"I'm so glad; you must accept, for it will be such a comfort to poor -Beatrice; but I thought Godfrey was her sole trustee." - -"So he was," said Leslie grimly, "more's the pity, and he embezzled -every penny of the funds--gambled them away in card-playing and... other -ways." - -"Godfrey Harrison, Beatrice's brother?" - -"Yes, her much-admired, accomplished, ill-used brother, the victim of -her husband's stinginess." - -"If that be true, then Godfrey is simply a..." - -"You mean an unmitigated scoundrel. Quite so, Florence, and a number -of other words we won't go over. I tell you," and Leslie sprang to his -feet, "there is some use in swearing; if it had not been for one or two -expressions that came to my memory suddenly to-day, I should have been -ill. Curious to say, the lawyer seemed to enjoy them as much as myself, -so it must be a bad case." - -"But I don't understand--if Godfrey spent Trixy's money, how is there -anything to manage? Did he pay it back?" - -"No, he did not, and could not; he has not enough brains to earn -eighteen pence except by cheating, and if by any chance he came into a -fortune, would grudge his sister a pound." - -"Then...?" - -"Don't you begin to catch a glimpse of the facts? Why, Marsden toiled -and scraped, and in the end, so the doctors say, killed himself to -replace the money, and he had just succeeded before his death." - -"How good of him! but I don't see the necessity of all this secrecy on -his part, and all those stories about low interest that he told Trixy." - -"There was no necessity; if it had been some of us, we would have let -Mrs. Marsden know what kind of brother she had, and ordered him out of -the country on threat of jail. - -"It was Marsden's foolishness, let us call it, to spare his wife the -disgrace of her idol and the loss of his company. So her husband was -despised beside this precious rascal every day." - -"Trixy will get a terrible shock when she is told; it would almost have -been kinder to let her know the truth before he died." - -"Mrs. Marsden is never to know," said Leslie; "that was his wish; she's -just to be informed that new trustees have been appointed, and we are to -take care that she does not waste her income on the fellow. - -"People will send letters of condolence to Mrs. Marsden, but they will -say at afternoon teas that it must be a great relief to her, and that -it's quite beautiful to see her sorrow. In two years she will marry some -well-dressed fool, and they will live on Marsden's money," and Leslie's -voice had an unusual bitterness. - -"Did you ever hear of another case like this, John?" - -"Never; when old Parchment described Marsden giving him the -instructions, he stopped suddenly. - -"'Marsden,' he said, 'was the biggest fool I ever came across in the -course of forty-two years' practice,' and he went over to the window." - -"And you?" - -"I went to the fireplace; we were both so disgusted with the man that we -couldn't speak for five minutes." - -After a short while Mrs. Leslie said, "It appears to me that this slow, -uninteresting man, whom every one counted a bore, was in his own way... -almost a hero." - -"Or altogether," replied John Leslie. - - - - -RIGHTEOUS OVER MUCH - - -I - -"How do you do, Crashaw? didn't know you condescended to conversaziones -at the Town Hall, at least when there is no dancing. Their Worships will -be satisfied this evening, for the whole world and his wife seem to -be here, and some people that have never been in the world before, one -would judge." - -"There is just one person I wish particularly to see, and I can't find -her; that is Arkwright's young wife. I passed the old man himself a -minute ago, conversing with Peterson, and lecturing on the effect of the -American tariff on wool. Has he left her at home, Jack, to keep her out -of harm and to tantalise the public?" - -"Not he. Jacob is quite proud of her, to do him justice, and worships -the ground on which she treads, although I doubt whether she knows that -or cares. Mrs. Arkwright is very beautiful In my humble judgment, but -there is a wide gulf between twenty-one and seventy. Besides, she has a -temper, and no sympathy with his religious notions. When December weds -May, it's bound to be either a comedy or a tragedy, and this is half and -between." - -"When you have quite finished your interesting moral reflections, Jack, -and can attend to practical detail, could you do me the pleasure of -pointing Mrs. Arkwright out to me, and, as you seem to have seen a good -deal of her, introducing your unworthy servant? I'll be able then to -judge for myself. We are obliged to Arkwright for creating a piquant -situation." - -"Come to the next room, where the band is playing; Mrs. Arkwright was -there ten minutes ago. But I don't know whether I can intrude on her -at the present moment, even although provided with so good-looking and -well-dressed an excuse. Yes; there, Crashaw, in the alcove, talking to a -parson, that is Jacob's wife. Was I right?" - -"Your taste, Jack, is perfect; but, indeed, a man who admires Mrs. -Arkwright deserves no credit; it is inevitable. There is prettiness, and -there is sweetness, and there is taking-ness, and they are very well, -but this is on another level." - -"I thought you would be astonished, and am pleased to notice that even -so _blase_ a critic of womankind can grow enthusiastic on occasion. -Isn't that a proud head?" - -"Why, Jack, that woman ought to have been a duchess, and a leader of -society in town, instead of Mrs. Jacob Arkwright, wife of a self-made -wool-spinner and a deacon. Her face is the most complete piece of -Grecian beauty I ever saw--nose, eyes, chin, mouth, perfect; forehead -perhaps the slightest bit high--a Greek would have worn a ribbon--and -that glorious hair, brown shot with gold." - -"She is certainly looking splendid to-night Do you notice how she has -put the other women to confusion?" - -"Simply a goddess among a lot of peasants. I say, Jack, how in the world -did that girl, with such a face and such an air, ever marry Arkwright? -Where was she hidden away? Had she no opportunity? Talk about waste, -this is an absolute sin. Do you know her history?" - -"Lived with her mother, and got her living by teaching. Arkwright, who -has all his life been busy with wool and religious affairs, saw her -in chapel, and remembered he was human. Fell in love with her on first -sight, having lived scatheless unto threescore years and ten, and got a -fellow-deacon to negotiate the affair; at least, so it is reported." - -"Most likely, I should say; but, Jack, what an abandoned criminal that -mother of hers must have been, and what did she herself do this thing -for? She has a will of her own, or else I do not know a woman's face." - -"Oh, the old story. Her mother was proud and poor, and considered -Arkwright an excellent suitor. Mrs. Arkwright is not much troubled -about religion, and I fancy has a very different idea of things from her -husband, but she had the chance of a handsome provision for herself and -her mother, and she seized it There could be no romance; but can you -blame the old lady, Crashaw, urging such a marriage, or the daughter -escaping from the dreary governess life?" - -"No, I suppose not. The girl took the veil, and obtained a settlement -at the same time, after a sound Protestant fashion; but it does seem -a crime against nature to sacrifice a beautiful young woman to a hard, -bloodless old Puritan like Arkwright, who is, I grant you, very able -in wool, and perfectly straight in character, but who is perfectly -uncultured and hopelessly bigoted. What a life of dreariness she must -lead in the Arkwright circle!" - -"Well, of course she can't attend concerts, nor dance, nor hunt, nor go -into society, but she has a good home, and a carriage, and as much money -as she can spend. I don't suppose that she cares for Jacob, but she does -her duty as a wife, and does not seem unhappy." - -"Certainly Mrs. Arkwright is not unhappy this evening with her present -companion. I will hazard the guess, Jack, without any reflection on -her wifely character, that she never looked at her worthy, but not very -attractive, husband with the same interest which she is bestowing on -that handsome parson. Who is he, Jack?" - -"Egerton's his name, and he's Arkwright's minister--a Congregationalism -or Baptist; I can never remember the difference. He is a very able -fellow, they say, and a rattling good preacher, quite broad and liberal -in his views, but a perfect ascetic in his life. He must be very much -in Mrs. Arkwright's company, and he's certainly the decentest man she -knows." - -"Arkwright is about seventy, and is not so strong as he looks, Jack; his -wife will have time to console herself, and her second husband will be a -very lucky man, for he will have a fortune and her heart." - - -II - -"You have come quickly, Mr. Egerton, and that was well done," said Jacob -Arkwright, looking very white and worn, propped up with pillows. "I -have much to say, and I'll take a sup o' brandy; them that never touches -drink when they're well get the good when they're ill. - -"That gives me the strength I need for the time, and ma work is nearly -done. Don't go away, Laura; I want you to hear what I say to the pastor. - -"The doctor says 'at ma days are few, mayhap only to-morrow, and it's -best to speak when a man's head is clear, and I thank God mine is that, -though my body be weakened by this sickness." - -His wife stood on one side of the bed, now and then rearranging the -pillows at his back and bathing his forehead with vinegar--for scent -he would not have--and Egerton stood on the other, refusing to sit down -while she stood, and watching her strong white hands at their service, -but only once did he look her straight in the face. - -"You're young, Pastor--thirty, did ye say?--and I'm owd, seventy-two -this month, and I havena' known you long, but there's no mon I've liked -better or could trust more." And he looked steadily at Egerton with a -certain softening of expression. - -"You've been very kind to me and to the chapel, Mr. Arkwright, and I -hope it may be God's will to spare you and raise you up again," and -although the words were formal, the accent was tender and moving. - -"No, no, lad; our times are in His hand, and I have received the -summons, and so we 'ill go to business. And first about ma affairs. I -wish ye to understand everything, that ye may be able to do your duty by -ma widow." - -Egerton was conscious that Mrs. Arkwright straightened herself, and -could feel the silence in the room; but the dying man was not one to -appreciate an atmosphere. - -"It may be that I was too owd for marrying, and ma ways too -old-fashioned. Ma house has no been very bright for a young wife, and ma -conscience did not allow me liberty in worldly amusements. But according -to my nature I can say before God that I loved ye, Laura, and have tried -to do ma part by ye." - -"You married me a poor girl, and have been most... kind to me, Jacob. -Why speak of such things?" and her voice was proud and pained. - -"You have been a faithful wife to me," he went on, as one fulfilling a -plan, "and have put up with my... peculiarities--for I know you do not -think wi' me in things, and do not like some of the men 'at came to the -house. Oh, I said nowt, but I saw aal." - -Mrs. Arkwright laid her hand on her husband's, and it occurred to -Egerton from a slight flush on his face that she had never done this -before. - -"Ma will has been made for a year"--it was plain that Mr. Arkwright was -to go on to the end, and Egerton could not have lifted his eyes for a -ransom--"and I have left aal to my wife without any condition, with -just one legacy. It is to you, Egerton, and I hope you'ill not refuse -it--just something to remind you of me, and... get you books." - -"It was very... good of you, sir, and I am most... grateful, but I... -really can't accept your kindness. It is not likely that I will ever -marry, and I've got enough for myself." - -As he spoke, Mrs. Arkwright shook up the pillows hastily, and went to a -side table for a glass. - -"Well, if you will not, then there's an end of it; but you will grant me -another favour which may be harder," and for a minute Arkwright seemed -to hesitate. - -"Ma wife will be left young and rich, and although I have never said it -to you, ma lass, she is... beautiful." - -"Jacob, this is not seemly." Her voice was vibrant with passion. - -"Blame me not for saying this once, and if another be present, he is our -friend, and I am coming to my point; the brandy again, and I'll soon be -done. - -"You have no brother, and I have no person of my blood to guide you, ma -lass; ye might be persecuted by men 'at would bring you nowt but trouble -and vexation of heart You need an honest man to be your guardian and -give you advice. - -"Ye may never want to marry again, for I doubt ye have had little joy -these years, or again ye may, to taste some joy, and I would count it -unjust to hinder you--peace, lass, till I be done; I was ever rough and -plain--and some one must see that your husband be a right mon. - -"So I turned it over in ma mind, and I sought for a friend 'at was sound -o' heart and faithful. This speaking is hard on me, but it 'ill soon -be done." And as Mrs. Arkwright stooped to give him brandy once more, -Egerton saw that her cheeks were burning. - -"An older mon might have been better, but ye're old for your years, -Pastor, and have parted wi' the foolishness o' youth. You have some -notions I don't hold with, for I'm the owd sort--believe and be saved, -believe not and be damned--but ye're no a mon to say yea and do nay. -Naa, naa, I have seen more than I said; and though some 'at came to the -house had the true doctrine, they were shoddy stuff. - -"George Egerton, as I have done good to you and not ill these years, -will ye count Laura Arkwright as your sister, and do to her a brother's -part, as ye will answer to God at the laast day?" - -The wind lifted the blind and rustled in the curtains; the dying man -breathed heavily, and waited for an answer. Egerton looked across the -bed, but Mrs. Arkwright had withdrawn behind the curtain. Arkwright's -eyes met the minister's with an earnest, searching glance. - -"I will be as a brother to your wife while I live." - -As he spoke, Arkwright grasped his hand and gave a sigh of content; but -when Egerton left the room, Laura refused to touch his hand, and her -face was blazing with anger. - - -III - -"You have been very generous to the chapel, and we thank you very much -for keeping up all Mr. Arkwright's subscriptions those three years. -The work of God would have been much crippled had it not been for your -liberality." - -"Do you know, Mr. Egerton, that when you talk in that grave, approving -fashion, as if I were one of your devout women like poor Mrs. Tootle, -who is really a good creature, although her husband is a sanctimonious -idiot, I feel a perfect hypocrite." - -"Why do you always depreciate yourself..." - -"Do not interrupt me, for I am determined to settle this matter once for -all, and not walk about in a vain show, as if I were a saint You think -me good, and so do the chapel people, I suppose, because I give to -foreign missions and Bible-women, and go to the prayer-meeting, and -attend the special meetings. Do you know why I do those things?" - -"Yes, I think so," said the minister; "but I will hear your reason." - -"Because Mr. Arkwright believed in missions and evangelists, and he -was... a better husband to me than I was wife to him, and because -it would be dishonourable not to use his money for the objects he -approved." - -"And the services? Is that the reason you are always present, and set -such a good example?" And it was plain the minister did not take Mrs. -Arkwright at her value of herself. - -"Oh, this is because... because..." - -"Yes?" And Mr. Egerton smiled as one who is giving checkmate. - -"Because you were Jacob's friend, and the only man he... loved, and -because, although we have quarrelled several times, and I have been very -rude to you once or twice, still"--and a smile brought Mrs. Arkwright's -face to perfection--"we are friends also." - -"You have been... angry with me," said Egerton, "when I could not -understand the reason, but I never doubted your friendship. If I were in -serious trouble, I would come to you rather than to any man." - -"Would you really?" Then her tone changed. - -"I don't believe you, for you would go to some snuffy, maundering old -minister." - -"And you are good," he insisted, taking no notice of her petulance. "You -are honest, and brave, and high-minded, and loyal, and..." - -"Pious, with a gift of prayer, you had better add. How blind you are, -for all your knowledge and... other qualities. You forgot to add -sweet-tempered; but perhaps you were coming to that." - -"No, I would not say that, and I am rather glad you are not -gentle,"--the minister was very bold,--"for you would not be... -yourself." - -"You had your suspicions, then, and are not sure that I am ready for -canonising? Do you know I feel immensely relieved; suppose we celebrate -this confession by tea? Would you ring the bell, Mr. Egerton?" - -"There is something I want to talk about, and as it's rather important, -would you mind, Mrs. Arkwright, giving me a few minutes first? Tea is -rather distracting." - -"Composing, I find it--but as you please; is it the District Visitors, -or the Nurses' Home, or the Children's Holiday, and is it money?" Mrs. -Arkwright for some reason was very gracious. - -"No, it has nothing to do with the chapel. I wish to speak about... -yourself." - -"Yes?" and she looked curiously at him. - -"You remember that day when Mr. Arkwright committed you to my care, and -I gave my word to.. - -"Do your best to look after a very troublesome woman," Mrs. Arkwright -interposed hurriedly; "it was a... risky task, and I thought you were -far too hasty, and just a little presumptuous, in undertaking it, but -you've been a very lenient guardian for your age. Have I done anything -wrong?" - -"No, and you could not at any time in my eyes,"--Mrs. Arkwright made as -though she would curtsey,--"but others might do wrong to you, and I have -been anxious for some time. - -"Mr. Arkwright was afraid lest some unworthy man should admire you or -desire your wealth, and... marry you, and your life be miserable. And he -wished me to save you from this, and I promised to do my best." - -"Well?" and her voice had begun to freeze. "I remember all that." - -"It is difficult to speak about such things, but you know that I... -would do anything to save you pain...." - -"Go on," and now her eyes were fixed on the minister. - -"It came to my ears and I saw for myself that one whom I knew slightly -and did not like was paying you attentions, and it might be, as I also -heard, was favoured by you. So it seemed my duty to make enquiries about -Mr. Crashaw." - -"And?" - -"There is nothing against his character, and I have heard much good of -him--that he has cultured tastes and is very well liked by those who -know him; personally we could never be friends, for various reasons, but -he... is not unworthy to be the husband of... a good woman. That is -all I have to say"; and the saying of it was plainly very hard to the -minister. - -"You recommend me to marry Mr. Crashaw, if that gentleman should do me -the honour to ask my hand, or do you propose to suggest this step to -him, so as to complete your duty as guardian?" Mrs. Arkwright was now -standing and regarding Egerton with fierce scorn. - -"My information seemed to me reliable"--he was also standing, white and -pained--"and I thought it would help you in that case to know what I -have told you, when you came to decide." - -"If I knew who told you such falsehoods, I would never speak to them -again, and I would make them suffer for their words. Mr. Crashaw! and -it was to that cynical, worldly, supercilious tailor's block you were to -marry me. What ill have I done you?" - -"God knows I did not desire.... I mean... do you not see that I tried to -do what was right at a cost?... Why be so angry with me?" - -"Because I do not really care what any person in this town or all -Yorkshire says about me, but I do care and cannot endure that you should -turn against me, and be content to see me Crashaw's wife or any other -man's." And she drove the minister across the room in her wrath--he had -never seen her so beautiful--till he stood with his back to the door, -and she before him as a lioness robbed of her cubs. - -"It has been my mistake, for I understand not women," he said, with -proud humility. "I beg your pardon, and am more than ever... your -servant." - -She looked at him stormily for ten seconds; then she turned away. "If -that is all you have to say, you need not come again to this house." - - -IV - -"You will excuse me sending a verbal message by the doctor, for, as you -see, I am past writing, and... the time is short I wanted to speak with -you, Mrs. Arkwright, once before... I died." And Egerton thought of the -day she had stood by her husband's deathbed as now she stood by his, -only that the nurse had left the room and there was no third person to -be an embarrassment "Do not suppose I forget your words to me the last -time we met in private," he continued, as she did not speak nor look at -him, beyond one swift glance as she came into the room; "and believe -me, I would not have forced myself on you, nor would I have asked this -favour, had it not been that... I have something of which I must deliver -my soul." - -"You are not dying; you were a strong man, and a few days' illness -couldn't... be fatal," she burst out, and it seemed as if Mrs. Arkwright -for once was going to lose control and fall a-weeping. - -Then she mastered herself, and said almost coldly, "Had I known you -were so ill, I would have called to inquire; but nothing was said of -pneumonia, only a bad cold." - -"You forgive me, then, that ill-judged interference, Mrs. Arkwright, and -anything else in which I have offended you or failed in... my brother's -part?" - -"Do not speak like that to me unless you wish to take revenge; it is I -who ask your pardon for my evil temper and insolence that day, and other -times; but you are too... good, else you would have understood." - -"You did not, then, hate me, as I supposed?" and his voice was strained -with eagerness. - -"When you were prepared to approve my engagement to Mr. Crashaw? Yes, -I did, and I could have struck you as you bore witness to his -character--whom you detested. Conscientious and unselfish... on your -part, very. And yet at the same time I... did not hate you; I could -have... you are a dull man, Mr. Egerton, and I am not a saint. Is it -milk you drink?" And when she raised his head, her hands lingered as -they had not done before on her husband's. - -"Are you really dying?" She sat down and looked at him, her head between -her hands. "You and I are, at least, able to face the situation." - -"Yes, without doubt; but I am not a martyr to overwork, or anything -else; my death is not a sentimental tragedy; do not let any one speak of -me in that fashion: I simply caught a cold and did not take care; it's -quite commonplace." When he smiled his face was at its best, the dark -blue eyes having a roguish look as of a boy. - -Mrs. Arkwright leant back on her chair and bit her lower lip. - -"This is good-bye, then, and our friendship--six years long, isn't -it?--is over. Had I known it was to be so short--well, we had not -quarrelled." - -"Not over," and he looked wistfully at her; "this life does not end -all." - -"Ah, you have the old romantic faith, and one would like to share it, -but no one knows; this life is the only certainty." - -"In a few hours," he went on, "I shall know, and I expect to see my -friend Jacob Arkwright, whom I loved, although we only knew one another -for three years, and he... will ask for you." Mrs. Arkwright regarded -Egerton with amazement. - -"He will ask how I kept my trust, and I... will be ashamed, unless you -hear my confession and forgive me. For I... have sinned against you and -your husband." - -"In what?" she asked, with a hard voice. - -"God knows that I had no thought of you he might not have read while -he was here. And afterwards for a year I was in heart your brother; and -then--oh, how can I say it and look you in the face, who thought me a -good and faithful minister of Christ?" and his eyes were large with pain -and sorrow. - -"Say it," she whispered, "say it plain; you must," and she stretched out -her hand in commandment. - -"I loved you as... a man loves a woman whom he would make his wife, till -it came to pass that I made excuses to visit you, till I watched you on -the street, till I longed for the touch of your hand, till I... oh, the -sin and shame--thought of you in the service and... at my prayers; yet I -had been left your guardian and had promised to be as a brother to you; -besides, nor was this the least of my shame, you were rich." - -"And now?" She had risen to her feet "I have finally overcome, but only -within these few months, and my heart is at last single. You are to me -again my friend's wife, and I shall meet him... in peace, if you forgive -me." - -For a few seconds nothing was heard but his rapid breathing, and then -she spoke with low, passionate voice. - -"Your love needs no forgiveness; your silence... I can never forgive." - -He lived for two hours, and he spoke twice. Once he thanked his nurse -for her attentions, and just before he passed away she caught the words, -"through much tribulation... enter the Kingdom... God." - - - - -A PROBATIONER - -One winter I forsook the cottage at Drumtochty, in spite of the pure -white snow and the snell, bracing wind from Ben Urtach, and took rooms -in Edinburgh. It was a poor exchange, for the talk of professors and -advocates, although good enough in its way, was not to be compared with -the wisdom of James Soutar; but there were more books in Edinburgh than -in the Glen, and it was there that I met my probationer. From time to -time we passed upon the stair, when he would shrink into a landing and -apologise for his obstruction, and if in sheer forgetfulness I said -"Fine day," with the rain beating on the windows, he nervously agreed. -With his suspicion of clerical attire, and his deferential manner, he -suggested some helot of the ecclesiastical world, whose chiefs live in -purple and fine linen, and whose subordinates share with tramway men and -sempstresses the honour of working harder and receiving less pay than -any other body in the commonwealth. By his step I had identified him as -the tenant of a single room above my sitting-room, and one wondered how -any man could move so little and so gently. If he shifted a chair, it -was by stealth, and if in poking his fire a coal dropped on the hearth, -he abandoned the audacious attempt. - -One grew so accustomed to these mouse-like movements that it came as -a shock when my neighbour burst into activity. It was on a Friday -afternoon that he seemed to be rearranging his furniture so as to leave -a clear passage from end to end of the room, and then, after he had -adjusted the chairs and table to his satisfaction, he began a wonderful -exercise. Sometimes he would pace swiftly backwards and forwards with -a murmuring sound as one repeating passages by rote, with occasional -sudden pauses, when he refreshed his memory from some quarter. Sometimes -he stood before the table and spoke aloud, rising to a pitch, when -one could catch a word or two, and then he would strike a book, quite -fiercely for him, and once or twice he stamped his foot almost as hard -as a child could. After this outbreak he would rest a while, and then -begin again on the lower key, and one knew when he reached the height by -the refrain, "Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus." It was an amazing -development, and stimulated thought. - -"No," explained our excellent landlady, "he's no daft, though ye micht -think sae. He's a minister without a kirk, an' he's juist learnin' his -sermon; but, Losh keep us, he's by ordinar' the day. - -"He's my cousin's son, ye see"--and Mrs. Macfarlane settled to -historical detail--"an' his mother's a weedow. She focht to get him -through St. Andrew's, an' hoo she managed passes me. Noo he's what is -called a probationer, an', eh, but he earns his livin' hard. - -"His business," continued Mrs. Macfarlane, "is to tak' the pulpit when -a minister is awa' at a Sacrament or on his holiday, and any Sabbath he -micht be at Peterhead and the next at Wigtown. He gets his orders on -Friday, an' he sets aff wi' his bit bag on Saturday, an' a weary body he -is on Monday nicht An' it's little he maks for a' he does, bare twenty -shillin' a week clear; but naebody can stand this colie-shangie, -(disturbance)." For above the landlady's exposition rose the -probationer's voice: "Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus." - -What she said to her cousin once removed I know not, but it was not in -vain, for in the evening this was brought by the servant:-- - -"Dear Sir,-- - -"It affords me sincere regret to learn that you have been disturbed in -the midst of your literary avocations by sounds and movements emanating -from my room. They are unfortunately and unavoidably connected with a -new method of professional work which I have been advised to adopt by -experienced friends. It would, however, be unrighteous that one man -should hinder another in his daily labour, and I would be greatly -obliged if you could indicate any time of absence during which I might -be free to speak aloud and move with energy in my chamber without -offence. Apologising for my unwitting annoyance, - -"I am, - -"Yours respectfully, - -"Hiram Clunas." - -It was written on poor paper and a single sheet, but the handwriting was -that of a scholar, a man accustomed to form Hebrew and Greek characters, -and the very flavour of pedantry was attractive, so that one wanted to -know the writer, and I seized the excuse of a personal answer. - -He was quite unprepared for my coming, and upset a Hebrew lexicon and -four German books on the Prophets before he could get a chair in his -single room below the slates; nor had he any small talk to offer, but -he was ready enough to speak about his own work, and seemed anxious to -explain his recent departure. It also occurred to me that he wanted my -judgment. - -"My work, let me explain," he said, hesitatingly, "is not pastoral or... -devoted to a particular sphere, since my gifts have not yet... commended -themselves to a congregation after such a fashion that they were -inclined to... in short, wished to have me as their minister. Mine is -a vagum ministerium. I am what is called a probationer, that is, I have -been duly educated in profane and sacred learning for the holy ministry, -and have passed certain examinations... without discredit." - -"Of that I am sure," I interpolated with sincerity, whereat the -probationer ought to have bowed and replied, "It is very good of you -to say so," but as it was he only blushed and looked as if he had been -caught boasting. - -"And then?" I suggested. - -"It remains to discover whether I am... fit for the practical work of my -calling--if it be, indeed, I am called at all.. And here the little man -came to a halt. - -"You are examined again," I inquired, tentatively, "or placed under a -chief for a little?" - -"Well, no, although the latter would be an excellent way--but it is not -for me to criticise the rules of my Church; if any congregation has lost -its minister, then such as I, that is, persons in a state of probation, -are sent each Sabbath to... preach, and then the people choose the one -who... And again Mr. Clunas came to a stand for want of fitting words. - -"Who comes out first in the preaching competition," I added, and in an -instant was sorry. - -"It would ill become me to put the matter... in such a form, and if I -have done so it has been an inadvertence, and indeed I did not mean to -complain, but rather to explain the reason of... the noise." - -"Please tell me whatever you please, but it was not noise, for I heard -some words... - -"The rivers of Damascus? I feared so, sir; that was the climax or -point of repetition--but I will relate the matter in order, with your -permission. - -"It has been my habit, after I have duly examined a passage in the -original language and the light of competent scholars, and verified its -lessons by my own reason and conscience--collected the raw material, -if I may so say--to commit the same to writing according to my ability, -using language that can be understood of the people, and yet conforming -as far as may be to the Elizabethan standard." - -In my opinion, I indicated, he had done well. "I judged that I would -have your approval so far, but hereafter comes in a grave question of -expediency, on which I should like your mind as a neutral person and one -given to literary pursuits. My habit is further to read to the people -what I have written in a clear voice, and with such animation as is -natural to me, in the faith that whatsoever may have been given me by -the Spirit of Truth may be witnessed to the hearers by the same Spirit." - -This appeared to me a very reasonable method and a just hope. - -"Others, however, acting according to their nature, commit their message -to memory, and deliver it to the people with many lively and engaging -gestures, which pleases the people and wins their hearts." - -"And so the groundlings prefer the windbags," I interrupted, "and elect -them to be their minister." - -"It is not so that I wished you to infer," and the probationer's voice -was full of reproof, "for I trust my desire is not to obtain a church, -but the confirmation of my calling through the voice of the people; yet -who knoweth his heart?" And the probationer was much distressed. - -It was only my foolish thought, I hastened to explain, and besought him -to continue. - -"A friend of... much shrewdness and, I am sure, of good intention, has -spoken to me at length on my... want of favour with the people, and has -pointed out that the Word must be placed before them after a winsome -fashion." - -"And so?" - -"He urged me to choose texts which could be frequently repeated with -effect, and so lodge their idea in the mind of the people, and that -I should not use any manuscript, but should employ certain arts of -oratory, such as beginning low and raising the voice up to a climax -where it would be good to repeat the text with emphasis. - -"As an example and... inducement he dwelt upon the case of one -probationer who had taken for his text, 'And there shall be no more -sea,' whereon he composed a single sermon, to which he devoted much -pains. This he delivered daily for some hours in his chamber, and at the -end of each paragraph said in a loud voice, 'And there shall be no more -sea.' He was elected to three churches within a short space," concluded -Mr. Clunas. - -"You have therefore thought it desirable to amend your habit." - -"Well, so far," and the probationer was much embarrassed, "it was -impossible for me to handle what my adviser called 'repeaters,' such as -that I have mentioned, for my mind does not incline to them; but as I -had been labouring the tendency to prefer meretricious and sensational -religion to that which is austere and pure from the text, 'Are not Abana -and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? * -it seemed to me that I might for once... make trial... that is, use the -words Abana and Pharpar as a symbol to... fix the truth, as it were. It -is very laborious and... not grateful to me. Do you think that... -I am doing right?" and my probationer fixed me with an anxious eye. - -"Quite so, sir, I understand perfectly," as I was making a blundering -effort to suggest that Providence hardly intended that my probationer -should go round the country like a showman with "repeaters." - -"You have confirmed my own idea and... delivered my feet from falling, -for I had come nearly to unreality in a holy thing, besides ridding me -from an irksome task," and he regarded the sheets--the "rivers" standing -out in half text--with strong dislike. - -"There is another matter," he continued, "on which I would fain have -your mind, since you have shown so much sympathy. It is now, I regret to -say, the custom for a person in my position, that is, on probation, to -print a number of certificates from influential persons and send them -to... the authorities in a vacant church. This I have refused to do; -but there is a special reason why I strongly desire to be settled... -not quite unworthy, I hope," and a faint flush came to the probationer's -face. - -"I understand"--for it was natural to suppose that he was engaged, as -many in his circumstances are, which grows into a pathetic tragedy as a -girl waits for long years till her betrothed is approved in his work and -can offer her a home--"and you have got your certificates." - -"A few, and it may be that I could secure more; here is one which... -I value deeply... count above gold. It's from Prof. Carphin; you know -what he has done, of course. - -"Hebrew scholar"--the probationer rose from his chair and paced the -floor--"that is inadequate, quite inadequate; there are many Hebrew -scholars, thank God, but Prof. Carphin has gone deeper. Why, sir, he has -made a race of scholars, and changed the face of theological thought in -Scotland; he is the modern Erasmus of our land," and the probationer was -very warm. - -"This is what he has written of me, and it is superfluous to say that -from such a man this testimony is the highest praise; I ought hardly to -show such words, but you will not misjudge me." - -"I beg to certify that Mr. Hiram Clunas, Master of Arts and Bachelor of -Divinity, late Fellow of this College, is in my judgment fully competent -to expound the Hebrew Scriptures after an accurate and spiritual fashion -to any body of intelligent people. - -"Zechariah Carphin, - -"D.D., LL.D. - -"Calvin College, Edinburgh." - -"Pardon me, it is my foolishness, but you notice 'fully'; this extremity -of language is, I need not say, undeserved, but that Dr. Carphin should -have written it is... a compensation for many little disappointments," -and the probationer's voice trembled. - -"No, it will not be of material service in the way of gaining me a -hearing, for it is a... moral disgrace to my Church that the word of -this eminent man carries little weight with... committees and such like, -and that many people in this University city do not know his face when -he walks along Princes Street. - -"This is from another kind of man, who is very... acceptable as -a preacher, and has much influence... in vacancies; it was an -indiscretion, I fear, to have asked him for... a certificate, as he has -only seen me once; but when one is pressed he is not always wise." - -"I have had the pleasure of knowing the Rev. Hiram Clunas for a -considerable time, and have much satisfaction in recommending him to -the favourable consideration of selection committees of vacant -congregations, He is a ripe scholar, a profound divine, an eloquent -preacher, a faithful pastor, an experienced Christian, with an -attractive and popular manner, and general knowledge of a varied and -rich character. Any congregation securing Mr. Clunas is certain to -increase both in number and finance, and I anticipate for this talented -young minister a future of remarkable and rapid success. - -"MacDuff MacLeear, D.D." - -"Yes, it is a curious name, and I believe was, so to say, adopted. -Originally he was James MacLeear--MacLeear is his own--and some years -ago he inserted MacDuff, I am credibly informed, and now he has dropped -his Christian name. - -"The reason for the change, it is understood, is for purposes of -advertisement in the public prints, where, I am informed, ordinary names -such as James or John are less... striking, so that preachers who desire -to appeal to the people use two surnames, as it were; it seems to me -doubtful in ethics, but one must not be ready to judge his neighbour in -such straits. - -"No, his degree is not from a Scots University, but from a seat of -learning in a Western State of America--Auroraville, I think it is -called, but I am not sure. Yes, he wrote a little book on the _Maidens -of the Bible_ of a popular cast. - -"You agree with me that no one could use such a testimony with... -self-respect, and I have resolved to print no certificates or make -any personal appeal; but I do not regret the effort I made, for it has -gained me the Professor's letter," and the probationer folded up the -letter carefully and placed it in his desk. - -"I fear that you must think me charged with vain ambition, but... it is -not for my own sake." - -From time to time we spent an hour together, and he told me of his -journeys, many and toilsome. - -"Of course I am not sent to supply in cities, for they require men of -greater... experience; my allotment is always in the country, and I like -that better. - -"When my station comes near I begin to look out of the window and see -whether the district is level or hilly--for though climbing tries one -a little, one has a fair view to refresh the soul, and I like woods -because of the mystery and the rustling of the leaves. - -"Sometimes a farmer will meet me with a dogcart--and there are no men -so kind as farmers--but mostly I walk, and that is nothing unless the -distance be far and it be raining heavily. No, it may be a weakness of -the flesh, but I do not like a night walk, and yet to see the squares of -light in the cottage windows, flashing across a glen or breaking out of -a wood, is very pleasing." - -One snowy morning in February he came into my room in evident -excitement, with a letter in his hand. - -"You have taken such an interest in my affairs that I thought you would -like to know... I have received a letter informing me that I am on -the short leet for Tilliegask... just two, and I am one... and I am to -preach next Sabbath... and the farmer with whom I stayed has sent a very -encouraging letter." - -During the week the probationer was much tried on a question of -conscience, whether he ought to act on a suggestion of his friend at -Tilliegask. - -"It happens," he explained to me, "that the people at Tilliegask are -very conservative in their views of the Bible, while, as you are aware, -I have been led to accept certain modern conclusions regarding the -history of the books, and my good friend desires that I should... make -no allusion to them in my discourse. - -"Now," went on the probationer, "it was not my intention to do so, but -after this advice am I not bound in conscience to indicate, simply to -indicate, my position, that they may not be deceived, and that I may not -obtain a church by guile?" And he read to me the sentence, which I make -no doubt no one understood, but which was to Mr. Clunas a great relief. -He came home from Tilliegask in high spirits, and speculated every -evening on his chances as against the other man who was to preach on -Sabbath. - -"No, he was not what you would call a scholar," and then the probationer -laughed aloud--a rare occurrence; "well, it was a translation in the -Latin class; he rendered _adhuc juvenis_ as 'a still youth,' which was -much tasted, and others, too, as remarkable; but it is not generous to -remember such... failings." - -The good man was indeed so distressed by this disparaging allusion to -his rival that he searched his heart for the sins of pride and jealousy, -which with envy and worldliness, he confessed to me, constantly beset -him. He also impressed upon me that although Mr. Tosh might not be a -scholar in the academic sense, yet he had such gifts of speech that -he would be an excellent minister for Tilliegask if the choice of that -secluded place should fall on Tosh. But the probationer waited anxiously -for the first post on Tuesday, which would give the result, and I was -only less anxious. - -When he did not come down with tidings, and only the faintest sound came -from his room as of a chair occasionally shifted before the fire, I went -up, and found my friend very low and two open letters on the table. - -"It has not been... God's will," and he signed that I should read the -letters. One was from the ecclesiastical functionary who presides over -elections and church courts, and who is called by the suggestive name -of "moderator"; that the vote had been fifty-two for Mr. Clunas and -ninety-three for Mr. Tosh; that Mr. Tosh had been elected; that on -his, the moderator's appeal, the minority had "fallen in"; that he, the -moderator, was sure that Mr. Clunas would be pleased to know that his -supporters had shown so good a spirit, and that there was no doubt that -the Great Head of the Church had something in store for His servant; -and that in the event of Mr. Clunas applying in another vacancy he, the -moderator, would be willing to give him a strong certificate as to -the impression he, Mr. Clunas, had produced on the congregation of -Tilliegask. The second letter was from Wester Tilliegask, my friend's -host, who was full of genuine regret that Mr. Clunas had not won the -poll, who explained that up to Sabbath his chance was excellent, but -that Mr. Tosh had carried all before him by a sermon on "A Rainbow round -about the Throne," with very fetching illustrations and quotations--Mr. -Tosh had also won several votes by shaking hands with the people at -the door, and ingeniously giving it to be understood that his idea of -pastoral duty was to visit his congregation four times a year; that, -notwithstanding all these Tosh attractions, he, Wester Tilliegask, -would have preferred Mr. Clunas; and that as there was a rumour that the -minister of Ballengeich would soon need a colleague, he would arrange -through his, Wester Tilliegask's, wife's brother that Mr. Clunas should -have a hearing. He added that a certificate from MacDuff MacLeear, -placing Mr. Tosh a little lower than St Paul, had told. - -The probationer was very brave and generous, blaming no one, and -acknowledging that Tosh would be a more suitable man for Tilliegask, but -it was evident he was hardly hit. - -"It was not to escape the unrest of this life," he said, "nor for the -position, nor even for the sanction of my work; it was for the sake -of one who... has waited long to see me an ordained minister. She may -not... be spared much longer; my mother is now nearly seventy." So it -was no sweetheart, but his mother of whom he thought. - -"If I had been elected, I had purposed to start this forenoon and carry -the news myself, and I imagined the scene. I never could reach the -cottage unseen, for there is a window in the gable which commands the -road, so that mother is ever waiting at the garden gate for me. - -"Do not count me foolish, but I was to pretend that I had just come to -visit her for a day, and then ask her how she would like to leave the -cottage and live in a manse. - -"By this time she would jalouse something--'tis her word--but I would -tell nothing, only expatiate on the manse and her room in it, and... -and... she would suddenly throw her arms round my neck.... Excuse me, -sir; I will come down in the evening, if you please." - -Before evening he was hurrying down to the cottage, for after all he had -to go to his mother, and when he came back next Monday she was dead and -buried. - -"Your sympathy is very grateful," as we sat together, "and it helps me, -but I think my heart is... broken; although I had to live in Edinburgh -in order to accomplish my railway journeys, and we only saw one another -at intervals, we were all in all to one another.... - -"There were things passed between us I cannot tell, for it seems to me -that a mother's death-bed is a holy place; but she knew that I had lost -Tilliegask, and... she was not cast down, as I was for her sake. - -"'Dinna lose heart, Hiram,' she said, her hand in mine, 'for my faith -will be justified; when I gave ye to the Lord the day your father died I -was sure, a' through the fecht o' education I was sure, an' when you got -your honours I was sure, an' when you got no kirk I was still as sure, -and now my eyes are clear, an' I see that God has savit you for a work -that hath not entered into my heart,' and she blessed me...." - -From that day he began to fail, and although he struggled to fulfil -preaching engagements, he had at last to give up public work. But he -toiled harder than ever at the Semitic languages. - -"It is not that I am deceiving myself with vain hopes," he explained to -me one day, "for I know full well that I am dying, but it seemeth good -that whatsoever talent I have should be cultivated to the end. - -"The future life is veiled, and speculation is vain, but language must -be used, and they who have mastered the ancient roots will be of some -service; it is all I can offer, and I must give of my best." - -The morning he died I looked over his few affairs and balanced his -accounts, which were kept in a small pass-book, his poor fees on one -side and his slender expenses on the other to a halfpenny. - -"The expenditure may seem heavy the last few journeys, but my strength -failed by the way, and I was unable to walk to my destination, but there -may still be enough at the end of the week for what has to be done. - -"There will be L9 15s. 6d. when all is paid. - -"With the sale of my books it will suffice, for I have carefully -enquired, to buy a grave and defray the cost of burial. It is not -possible to be buried beside my mother, for our ground is full, so let -me lie where the sun is shining on the Grange Cemetery." - -Soon after his mind wandered, and I gathered he was in the vestry of -Tilliegask Kirk. - -"Lord, be merciful to me and remember my infirmities... deliver Thy -servant from the fear of man and all doubleness of heart... give me -grace to declare Thy truth and to set Thee before me... bless my mother -and hear her prayers...." - -After a little while he began to preach, but we could make nothing of -the words till he suddenly stopped and raised himself in the bed. - -"Thou, Lord," he cried, with great astonishment, "hearing me... -Forgive... I am not worthy to declare Thy Gospel...." What was said by -the Master none of us heard, but the astonishment passed into joy, -and the light thereof still touched and made beautiful his face as the -probationer fell on sleep. - -It was a spring day when we laid his body to rest, and any one who cares -can find his grave because a weeping willow hangs over it, and this is -the inscription on the stone: - -Hiram Clunas, - -Probationer. - -"It is a very small thing that I should be judged of man's judgment." - - - - - -A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL - - -Never had I met any man so methodical in his habits, so neat in his -dress, so accurate in speech, so precise in manner as my fellow-lodger. -When he took his bath in the morning I knew it was half-past seven, -and when he rang for hot water that it was a quarter to eight Until a -quarter-past he moved about the room in his slow, careful dressing, and -then everything was quiet next door till half-past eight, when the low -murmur of the Lord's Prayer concluded his devotions. Two minutes later -he went downstairs--if he met a servant one could hear him say "Good -morning"--and read his newspaper--he seldom had letters--till nine, when -he rang for breakfast. Twenty-past nine he went upstairs and changed his -coat, and he spent five minutes in the lobby selecting a pair of gloves, -brushing his hat, and making a last survey for a speck of dust One glove -he put on opposite the hat-stand, and the second on the doorstep, -and when he touched the pavement you might have set your watch by -nine-thirty. Once he was in the lobby at five and twenty minutes to ten, -distressed and flurried. - -"I cut my chin slightly when shaving," he explained, "and the wound -persists in bleeding. It has an untidy appearance, and a drop of blood -might fall on a letter." - -The walk that morning was quite broken, and before reaching the corner, -he had twice examined his chin with a handkerchief, and shaken his head -as one whose position in life was now uncertain. - -"It is nothing in itself," he said afterwards, with an apologetic -allusion to his anxiety, "and might not matter to another man. But any -little misadventure--a yesterday's collar or a razor cut, or even an -inky finger--would render me helpless in dealing with people. They would -simply look at the weak spot, and one would lose all authority. Some of -the juniors smile when I impress on them to be very careful about -their dress--quiet, of course, as becomes their situation, but -unobjectionable. With more responsibility they will see the necessity of -such details. I will remember your transparent sticking-plaster--a most -valuable suggestion." - -His name was Frederick Augustus Perkins; so ran the card he left on my -table a week after I settled in the next rooms, and the problem of his -calling gradually became a standing vexation. It fell under the class of -conundrums, and one remembered from childhood that it is mean to be -told the answer, so I might not say to Mister Perkins--for it was -characteristic of the prim little man that no properly constituted -person could have said Perkins--"By the way, what is your line of -things?" or any more decorous rendering of my curiosity. - -Mrs. Holmes, who was as a mother to Mr. Perkins and myself, as well as -two younger men of literary pursuits and irregular habits, had a gift of -charming irrelevance, and was able to combine allusions to Mr. Perkins' -orderly life and the amatory tendencies of a new cook in a mosaic of -enthralling interest. - -"No, Betsy Jane has 'ad her notice and goes this day week; not that her -cookin's bad, but her brothers don't know when to leave. One was 'ere -no later than last night, though if he was her born brother, 'e 'ad a -different father and mother, or my name ain't 'Olmes. 'Your brother, -Betsy Jane,' says I, 'ought not to talk in a strange 'ouse on family -affairs till eleven o'clock.' - -"'E left at 'alf-past ten punctual,' says she, looking as hinnocent as -a child, 'for I 'eard Mr. Perkins go up to 'is room as I was lettin' Jim -out. - -"'Betsy Jane,' I says, quite calm, 'where do you expeck to go to as -doesn't know wot truth is?' for Mr. Perkins leaves 'is room has the 'all -clock starts on eleven, and e's in 'is bedroom at the last stroke. If -she 'adn't brought in Mr. Perkins she might'ave deceived me, gettin' old -and not bein' so quick in my hearing as I was; but that settled her. - -"'Alf-past," went on Mrs. Holmes, scornfully; "and 'im never varied -two minutes the last ten years, except one night 'e fell asleep in 'is -chair, being bad with hinfluenza. - -"For a regular single gentleman as rises in the morning and goes out, -and comes in and takes 'is dinner, and goes to bed like the Medes and -Persians, I've never seen 'is equal; an' it's five-and-twenty years -since 'Olmes died, 'avin' a bad liver through takin' gin for rheumatics; -an' Liz-beth Peevey says to me, 'Take lodgers, Jemima; not that they -pays for the trouble, but it 'ill keep an 'ouse.'... - -"Mr. Perkins' business;" it was shabby, but the temptation came as a -way of escape from the flow of Mrs. Holmes' autobiography; "now that I -couldn't put a name on, for why, 'e never speaks about 'is affairs; just -'Good evening, Mrs.'Olmes; I'll take fish for breakfast to-morrow;' no -more than that, or another blanket on 'is bed on the first of November, -for it's by days, not cold, 'e goes...." - -It was evident that I must solve the problem for myself. - -Mr. Perkins could not be a city man, for in the hottest June he never -wore a white waistcoat, nor had he the swelling gait of one who made an -occasional _coup_ in mines, and it went without saying that he did not -write; a man who went to bed at eleven, and whose hair made no claim -to distinction. One's mind fell back on the idea of law--conveyancing -seemed probable--but his face lacked sharpness, and the alternative of -confidential clerk to a firm of drysalters was contradicted by an air -of authority that raised observations on the weather to the level of a -state document The truth came upon me--a flash of inspiration--as I saw -Mr. Perkins coming home one evening. The black frock-coat and waistcoat, -dark grey trousers, spotless linen, high, old-fashioned collar, and -stiff stock, were a symbol, and could only mean one profession. - -"By the way, Mr. Perkins," for this was all one now required to know, -"are you Income Tax or Stamps?" - -"Neither, although my duty makes me familiar with every department in -the Civil Service. I have the honour to be," and he cleared his throat -with dignity, "a first-class clerk in the Schedule Office." - -"Our work," he explained to me, "is very important, and in fact... vital -to the administration of affairs. The efficiency of practical government -depends on the accuracy of the forms issued, and every one is composed -in our office. - -"No, that is a common mistake," in reply to my shallow remark; "the -departments do not draw up their own forms, and in fact they are not fit -for such work. They send us a memorandum of what their officials wish to -ask, and we put it into shape. - -"It requires long experience and, I may say, some... ability to compose -a really creditable schedule, one that will bring out every point -clearly and exhaustively--in fact, I have ventured to call it a -science"--here Mr. Perkins allowed himself to smile--"and it might be -defined Schedulology. - -"Yes, to see a double sheet of foolscap divided up into some twenty-four -compartments, each with a question and a blank, space for the answer, is -pleasing to the eye, very pleasing indeed. - -"What annoys one," and Mr. Perkins became quite irritable, "is to -examine a schedule after it has been filled and to discover how it has -been misused--simply mangled. - -"It is not the public simply who are to blame; they are, of course, -quite hopeless, and have an insane desire to write their names all over -the paper, with family details; but members of the Civil Service abuse -the most admirable forms that ever came out of our office. - -"Numerous? Yes, naturally so; and as governmental machinery turns on -schedules they will increase every year. Could you guess, now, the -number of different schedules under our charge?" - -"Several hundred, perhaps." - -Mr. Perkins smiled with much complacency. "Sixteen thousand four hundred -and four, besides temporary ones that are only used in emergencies. One -department has now reached twelve hundred and two; it has been admirably -organised, and its secretary could tell you the subject of every form. - -"Well, it does not become me to boast, but I have had the honour of -contributing two hundred and twenty myself, and have composed forty-two -more that have not yet been accepted. - -"Well, yes," he admitted, with much modesty, "I have kept copies of the -original drafts," and he showed me a bound volume of his works. - -"An author? It is very good of you to say so," and Mr. Perkins seemed -much pleased with the idea, twice smiling to himself during the evening, -and saying as we parted, "It's my good fortune to have a large and -permanent circulation." - -All November Mr. Perkins was engaged with what he hoped would be one of -his greatest successes. - -"It's a sanitation schedule for the Education Department, and is, I dare -to say, nearly perfect It has eighty-three questions on every point, -from temperature to drains, and will present a complete view of the -physical condition of primary schools. - -"You have no idea," he continued, "what a fight I have had with our -Head to get it through--eight drafts, each one costing three days' -labour--but now he has passed it. - -"'Perkins,' he said, 'this is the most exhaustive schedule you have -ever drawn up, and I'm proud it's come through the hands of the drafting -sub-department Whether I can approve it as Head of the publishing -sub-department is very doubtful.'" - -"Do you mean that the same man would approve your paper in one -department to-day and... - -"Quite so. It's a little difficult for an outsider to appreciate the -perfect order--perhaps I might say symmetry--of the Civil Service," and -Mr. Perkins spoke with a tone of condescension as to a little child. -"The Head goes himself to the one sub-department in the morning and to -the other in the afternoon, and he acts with absolute impartiality. - -"Why, sir,"--Mr. Perkins began to warm and grow enthusiastic,--"I have -received a letter from the other sub-department, severely criticising -a draft he had highly commended in ours two days before, and I saw his -hand in the letter... distinctly; an able review, too, very able indeed. - -"'Very well put, Perkins,' he said to me himself; 'they've found the -weak points; we must send an amended draft;' and so we did, and got a -very satisfactory reply. It was a schedule about swine fever, 972 in -the department of Agriculture. I have had the pleasure of reading it -in public circulation when on my holidays." - -"Does your Head sign the letters addressed to himself?" - -"Certainly; letters between departments are always signed by the chief -officer." Mr. Perkins seemed to have found another illustration -of public ignorance, and recognised his duty as a missionary of -officialism. "It would afford me much pleasure to give you any -information regarding our excellent system, which has been slowly built -up and will repay study; but you will excuse me this evening, as I am -indisposed--a tendency to shiver which annoyed me in the office to-day." - -Next morning I rose half an hour late, as Mr. Perkins did not take -his bath, and was not surprised when Mrs. Holmes came to my room, -overflowing with concern and disconnected speech. - -"'E's that regular in 'is ways, that when 'Annah Mariar says 'is water's -at 'is door at eight o'clock, I went up that 'urried that I couldn't -speak; and I 'ears him speaking to 'isself, which is not what you would -expect of him, he being the quietest gentleman as ever..." - -"Is Mr. Perkins ill, do you mean?" for Mrs. Holmes seemed now in fair -breath, and was always given to comparative reviews. - -"So I knocks and says, 'Mr. Perkins, 'ow are you feeling?' and all -I could 'ear was 'temperance'; it's little as he needs of that, for -excepting a glass of wine at his dinner, and it might be something 'ot -before going to bed in winter.... - -"So I goes in," resumed Mrs. Holmes, "an' there 'e was sittin' up in'is -bed, with 'is face as red as fire, an' not knowing me from Adam. If it -wasn't for 'is 'abits an' a-catching of 'is breath you wud 'ave said -drink, for 'e says, 'How often have the drains been sluiced last year?'" -After which I went up to Mr. Perkins' room without ceremony. - -He was explaining, with much cogency, as it seemed to me, that unless -the statistics of temperature embraced the whole year, they would -afford no reliable conclusions regarding the sanitary condition of Board -Schools; but when I addressed him by name with emphasis, he came to -himself with a start: - -"Excuse me, sir; I must apologise... I really did not hear... in -fact," and then, as he realised his situation, Mr. Perkins was greatly -embarrassed. - -"Did I forget myself so far as... to send for you?... I was not feeling -well. I have a slight difficulty in breathing, but I am quite able to go -to the office... in a cab. - -"You are most kind and obliging, but the schedule I am... it just comes -and goes... thank you, no more water... is important and... intricate; -no one... can complete it... except myself. - -"With your permission I will rise... in a few minutes... ten o'clock, -dear me... this is most unfortunate... not get down till eleven... I -must really insist..." But the doctor had come, and Mr. Perkins obeyed -on one condition. - -"Yes, doctor, I prefer, if you please, to know; you see I am not a young -person... nor nervous... thank you very much... quite so; pneumonia is -serious... and double pneumonia dangerous, I understand... no, it is -not that... one is not alarmed at my age, but... yes, I'll lie down... -letter must go to office... dictate it to my friend... certain -form... leave of absence, in fact... trouble you too much... medical -certificate." - -He was greatly relieved after this letter was sent by special messenger -with the key of his desk, and quite refreshed when a clerk came up with -the chiefs condolences. - -"My compliments to Mr. Lighthead... an excellent young official, very -promising indeed... and would he step upstairs for a minute... will -excuse this undress in circumstances... really I will not speak any -more. - -"Those notes, Mr. Lighthead, will make my idea quite plain... and I hope -to revise final draft... if God will... my dutiful respect to the Board, -and kind regards to the chief clerk... it was kind of you to come, most -thoughtful." - -This young gentleman came into my room to learn the state of the case, -and was much impressed. - -"Really this kind of thing--Perkins gasping in bed and talking in his -old-fashioned way--knocks one out of time, don't you know? If he had -gone on much longer I should have bolted. - -"Like him in the office? I should think so. You should have seen the -young fellows to-day when they heard he was so ill. Of course we laugh -a bit at him--Schedule Perkins he's called--because he's so dry and -formal; but that's nothing. - -"With all his little cranks, he knows his business better than any man -in the department; and then he's a gentleman, d'y see? could not say -a rude word or do a mean thing to save his life--not made that way, in -fact. - -"Let me just give you one instance--show you his sort Every one knew -that he ought to have been chief clerk, and that Rodway's appointment -was sheer influence. The staff was mad, and some one said Rodway need -not expect to have a particularly good time. - -"Perkins overheard him, and chipped in at once. 'Mr. Rodway'--you know -his dry manner, wagging his eyeglass all the time--'is our superior -officer, and we are bound to render him every assistance in our power, -or,' and then he was splendid, 'resign our commissions.' Rodway, they -say, has retired; but the worst of it is that as Perkins has been once -passed over he 'ill not succeed. - -"Perhaps it won't matter, poor chap. I say," said Lighthead, hurriedly, -turning his back and examining a pipe on the mantel-piece, "do you think -he is going to... I mean, has he a chance?" - -"Just a chance, I believe. Have you been long with him?" - -"That's not it--it's what he's done for a... for fellows. Strangers -don't know Perkins. You might talk to him for a year, and never hear -anything but shop. Then one day you get into a hole, and you would find -out another Perkins. - -"Stand by you?" and he wheeled round. "Rather, and no palaver either: -with money and with time and with... other things that do a fellow more -good than the whole concern, and no airs. There's more than one man in -our office has cause to... bless Schedule Perkins. - -"Let me tell you how he got... one chap out of the biggest scrape he'll -ever fall into. Do you mind me smoking?" And then he made himself busy -with matches and a pipe that was ever going out for the rest of the -story. - -"Well, you see, this man, clerk in our office, had not been long up from -the country, and he was young. Wasn't quite bad, but he couldn't hold -his own with older fellows. - -"He got among a set that had suppers in their rooms, and gambled a bit, -and he lost and borrowed, and... in fact, was stone broke. - -"It's not very pleasant for a fellow to sit in his room a week before -Christmas, and know that he may be cashiered before the holidays, and -all through his own fault. - -"If it were only himself, why, he might take his licking and go to the -Colonies; but it was hard... on his mother--it's always going out, this -pipe--when he was her only son, and she rather... believed in him. - -"Didn't sleep much that night--told me himself afterwards--and he -concluded that the best way out was to buy opium in the City next day, -and take it--pretty stiff dose, you know--next night. - -"Cowardly rather, of course, but it might be easier for the mater down -in Devon--his mother, I mean--did I say he was Devon?--same county as -myself--affair would be hushed up, and she would have... his memory -clean. - -"As it happened, though, he didn't buy any opium next day--didn't get -the chance; for Perkins came round to his desk, and asked this young -chap to have a bit of dinner with him--aye, and made him come. - -"He had the jolliest little dinner ready you ever saw, and he insisted -on the fellow smoking, though Perkins hates the very smell of 'baccy, -and--well, he got the whole trouble out of him, except the opium. - -"D'y think he lectured and scolded? Not a bit--that's not Perkins--he -left the fool to do his own lecturing, and he did it stiff. I'll -tell you what he said: 'Your health must have been much tried by this -anxiety, so you must go down and spend Christmas with your mother, and I -would venture to suggest that you take her a suitable gift. - -"With regard to your debt, you will allow me,' and Perkins spoke as -if he had been explaining a schedule, 'to take it over, on two -conditions--that you repay me by instalments every quarter, and dine -with me every Saturday evening for six months. - -"See what he was after? Wanted to keep... the fellow straight, and cheer -him up; and you've no idea how Perkins came out those Saturdays--capital -stories as ever you heard--and he declared that it was a pleasure to -him. - -"'I am rather lonely,' he used to say, 'and it is most kind of a young -man to sit with me.' Kind!" - -"What was the upshot with your friend? Did he turn over a new leaf?" - -"He 'ill never be the man that Perkins expects, but he's doing his level -best, and... is rising in the office. Perkins swears by him, and that's -made a man of the fellow. - -"He's paid up the cash now, but... he can never pay up the -kindness--confound those wax matches, they never strike--he told his -mother last summer the whole story. - -"She wrote to Perkins--of course I don't know what was in the -letter--but Perkins had the fellow into his room. 'You ought to have -regarded our transaction as confidential. I am grieved you mentioned my -name;' and then as I--I mean, as the fellow--was going out, 'I'll keep -that letter beside my commission,' said Perkins. - -"If Perkins dies"--young men don't do that kind of thing, or else one -would have thought--"it'ill be... a beastly shame," which was a terrible -collapse, and Mr. Geoffrey Light-head, of the Schedule Department, left -the house without further remark or even shaking hands.. - -That was Wednesday, and on Friday morning he appeared, flourishing a -large blue envelope, sealed with an imposing device, marked "On Her -Majesty's Service," and addressed to-- - -"Frederick Augustus Perkins, Esq., - -"First Class Clerk in the Schedule Department, - -"Somerset House, - -"London," - -An envelope any man might be proud to receive, and try to live up to for -a week. - -"Rodway has retired," he shouted, "and we can't be sure in the office, -but the betting is four to one--I'm ten myself--that the Board has -appointed Perkins Chief Clerk," and Lighthead did some steps of a -triumphal character. - -"The Secretary appeared this morning after the Board had met 'There's a -letter their Honours wish taken at once to Mr. Perkins. Can any of -you deliver it at his residence?' Then the other men looked at me, -because--well, Perkins has been friendly with me; and that hansom came -very creditably indeed. - -"Very low, eh? Doctors afraid not last over the night--that's hard -lines... but I say, they did not reckon on this letter. Could not you -read it to him? You see this was his one ambition. He could never be -Secretary, not able enough, but he was made for Chief Clerk. Now he's -got it, or I would not have been sent out skimming with this letter. -Read it to him, and the dear old chap will be on his legs in a week." - -It seemed good advice, and this was what I read, while Perkins lay very -still and did his best to breathe:-- - -"Dear Mr. Perkins,-- - -"I have the pleasure to inform you that the Board have appointed you -Chief Clerk in the Schedule Department in succession to Gustavus Rodway, -Esq., who retires, and their Honours desire me further to express their -appreciation of your long and valuable service, and their earnest hope -that you may be speedily restored to health. I am, - -"Your obedient servant, - -"Arthur Wraxhall, - -"Secretary." - -For a little time it was too much for Mr. Perkins, and then he -whispered:-- - -"The one thing on earth I wished, and... more than I deserved... not -usual, personal references in Board letters... perhaps hardly regular... -but most gratifying... and... strengthening. - -"I feel better already... some words I would like to hear again... thank -you, where I can reach it... nurse will be so good as to read it" - -Mr. Perkins revived from that hour, having his tonic administered at -intervals, and astonished the doctors. On Christmas Eve he had made such -progress that Lighthead was allowed to see him for five minutes. - -"Heard about your calling three times a day... far too kind with all -your work... and the messages from the staff... touched me to heart... -never thought had so many friends... wished been more friendly myself. - -"My promotion, too... hope may be fit for duty... can't speak much, -but think I'll be spared... Almighty very good to me... Chief Clerk of -Schedule Department... would you mind saying Lord's Prayer together... -it sums up everything." - -So we knelt one on each side of Perkins' bed, and I led with "Our -Father"--the other two being once or twice quite audible. The choir of -a neighbouring church were singing a Christmas carol in the street, and -the Christ came into our hearts as a little child. - - - - -THE RIGHT HAND OF SAMUEL DODSON - - -I - -"Smoking, as usual, and wasting your time after luncheon, instead -of hurrying to your offices and coining time into money like old Sam -Dodson, who can give the cash value of every five minutes," and Welsby -sat down beside three other young Liverpool merchants in the club--all -men who had one eye on business and the other on the good of the city. -"Something's happened since I saw you fellows last on 'Change. Guess." -"Cotton up three points? A corn corner at Chicago? A big bear in lard? -Anything to do with fruit?" - -"Nothing whatever to do with such prosaic subjects, and I am ashamed to -notice your mercenary tempers; this is a public affair, and is to be a -profound secret for exactly seventy minutes, after which it will appear -in the fourth edition of the _Evening Trumpet_. - -"It's a pity that the early news could not be used for an operation in -cotton, but I'll take it along to the 'Flags,' and tell it under pledge -of silence to half a dozen brokers. If you are really interested in the -matter, this will give it a wider and more certain circulation than any -_Trumpet_ could." - -"We're all ears, Welsby." - -"Well, to begin at the beginning, you know how our people in Liverpool -are crowded together in courts and rookeries without room or air. It's -hard on the men and women, but it's hardest on the children, who have no -place to play in but the gutter. - -"So a man wrote a letter to the papers about a month ago, pleading for -a fund to put down small playgrounds in the crowded districts, where the -little folk could come of an evening, and the mothers could sit, and the -men might smoke a pipe... - -"I remember the letter," broke in Cotton; "it was signed -'Philanthropist,' and was generally supposed to have been composed in a -moment of inspiration by some proprietor of insanitary property; it was -an elegant letter, and affected me very much--to tears, in fact," - -"It was signed 'Charles Welsby,' and you never read a word of it, -because it had no reference to polo nor the Macfarlane Institute for -Working Lads, the only subjects to which you give any attention. Four -people read it, however, and wrote to me at once. One man denounced the -scheme as another instance of the patronage of the rich. He added that -it was a sop, and that the toilers would soon find open places for -themselves." - -"He would mean your garden, Welsby," suggested Lard. "The Socialist has -two main principles of action: first, to give nothing to any good cause -himself; and second, to appropriate his neighbour's property on the -first opportunity. And your other correspondents?" - -"I had a letter from the inventor of a nonintoxicating beer, offering -L5 on condition that we advertised his beverage, which he discovered by -supernatural guidance and sold for philanthropic ends." - -"All queer beverages and patent medicines are owned by high-class -religious people, as far as I can understand," remarked Com. - -"Go on." - -"A third letter warned me that such spaces would be abused by bad -characters and sap the morals of the people; the writer also wanted to -know whether they would be closed on the Sabbath." - -"A publican evidently," remarked Cotton; "no man is so concerned about -Sabbath observance. And so you got sick of the whole affair?" - -"Rather, till I got this letter. I'll read it, and then you can make -your guesses at the enclosure. - -"'Liverpool, June 9, 189-. - -"'MY DEAR Sir,--Your letter of 7th ult, in the issue of the _Morning -Trumpet_ of May 8, caught my eye and received my most careful attention. -As you appeared to have established a _prima facie_ case for what you -designate "People's Playgrounds," I have occupied my leisure time in -examining the sanitary and social condition of certain parts of our -city which were more or less distinctly indicated in your letter. As -the result of my investigations, I am thoroughly convinced, in the -first place, that you have proved your case as regards the unfortunate -circumstances of the children in such parts, and, in the second place, -that your plan for their relief is practical and wisely considered, - -"'It then became my duty as a citizen of Liverpool to consider what I -could do to further the ends of your scheme, and it seemed to me on -the whole most advisable to place a sum of money at your disposal, on -condition that it be spent with such other sums as may be sent you in -purchasing decaying property and creating playgrounds--said playgrounds -to be vested in the Parks and Gardens Committee of the City Council--and -I would suggest that people interested in each district be allowed -and encouraged to contribute to the furnishing and adornment of the -playgrounds. - -"'I beg therefore to enclose a draft in your favour on Messrs. -Goldbeater & Co., Lombard Street, London, and I have only to add my -sincere approval of the good work you are doing among the poor of -Liverpool, and my wish, which, as a man of honour, you will doubtless -carefully respect, that you will take no steps to discover my name.--I -have the honour to be, your obedient servant, - -"'Zaccheus.'" - -"Satisfactory, very, although a trifle pedantic and long-winded. And the -sum, Welsby? I say L250." - -"L500" said Cotton. - -"L1,000," cried Lard. - -"What do you say to L10,000?" and the draft was handed round. - -"Congratulate you, old man." Com shook hands with Welsby, and so did -they all, for he had worked hard in many a good cause. "You deserve your -luck; think I'll take to writing letters for my pet hospital. Who can he -be? Do you suspect any one?" - -"Half a dozen, but I'm bound not to inquire; and I rather think that the -trail is covered at Goldbeater's beyond finding. But I know who did not -give it--Sam Dodson. - -"No, of course I did not ask him for help. One does not court refusals; -but you know his meddling, ferreting ways. If he didn't stop me in the -street and ask fifty questions till I hinted at a subscription, when he -was off in a minute." - -"Nothing frightens him like a suggestion of that kind. He has raised -meanness to the height of genius. They say that he is worth L200,000, -but I wouldn't change with him," said Lard, "for a million. When he -dies, Dodson will not leave a soul to regret him, and there'll not be -six people at his funeral." - -"You can't be sure, gentlemen," said a quiet voice behind; "I've -overheard you on Dodson, and I hope what you say is not true." - -The speaker was one of those rare souls God sends forth at a time to -establish our faith in goodness; who are believed in by all parties, and -respected by all creeds, and loved by all classes; who sit on all the -charitable boards, and help on every good cause, and make peace in -quarrels; whom old men consult in their perplexities, and young men -turn to in trouble, and people follow with affectionate glances in the -street; who never suspect their own excellence, always take the lowest -seat, and have to be compelled to accept an honour. - -"You have a good word to say for everybody, sir," said Cotton with deep -respect; "but have you, even, ever got a penny from Mr. Dodson far a -charity?" - -"Well, I cannot say that I remember an instance; only I'm sure that he -has his own way of doing good. Every one has, unless he be utterly bad; -and I'm seventy years old, gentle-men, and I never met that kind yet." - -"Greatheart is the only man in Liverpool who would say a word for -Dodson," said Lard a minute later, "and in this case his charity has -rather overshot the mark; but it does one good to hear the old man. He -is a walking Sermon on the Mount, and the best thing about him is that -he believes in everybody; the very sight of his white hair makes me a -better man." - - -II - -"How tired you must be, Fred, after four hours' begging in offices! I'll -bring you a cup of tea in the study at once, and then you are to have a -nice little dinner all to yourself. - -"Oh, no, I've not been extravagant at all, and I've not taken any money -out of our alms-box, and I'm not a wicked parson's wife who gets into -debt; but a hamper came from the country, with lots of good things in -it, and you will have the chicken; the children and I simply rioted in -plenty to-day. Now, I'll not hear a word about your expedition until you -have had some food." - -"There, I feel a perfect glutton, Ethel. I hope you have sent some of -the h-hamper to the sick." - -"I've done nothing of the kind; every single bit is to be eaten in this -Vicarage of St Ambrose; you would starve yourself and your family for -the parish, and I am sure you are the hardest working man in it. Well, -have you got the money to furnish the playground of St Ambrose's?" - -"Do you mean have I come home with L54 in my pocket as the result of -one r-raid by a poor, dull, s-stammering parson, who couldn't make an -eloquent appeal to save his life?" - -"You don't stammer, Fred, and I wish you wouldn't say such things; you -may... hesitate at a time, and I am sure any one would give you money -for a good cause, because you are... so sincere and..." - -"That will do, Ethel; it's a great h-help to an obscure parson in the -poorest of parishes to have a wife who believes in him, and makes four -hundred pounds out of two." - -"And now about the money. Was the asking hard?" - -"It might have been, but every one was so j-jolly. The first man I went -to was Mr. Welsby, and as soon as I came into his room he cried out, -'Was just thinking of you: I hope you're on the w-warpath for that -playground, for I've a five-pound note ready for you.' - -"He sent me on to a cotton b-broker, and he thanked me several times -for coming on such a good errand, and backed up Welsby with five pounds. -Every person had a kind word, and by five o'clock I had... - -"The whole sum?" - -"With six p-pounds over, which will get a little sheltered seat for old -people. How good those city fellows are when they fancy a cause." - -"And when they fancy the man who pleads it, Fred. Did you not get one -refusal?" - -"Well, I was h-hurt by one man, who treated me rather shabbily. He -allowed me to explain the whole scheme--swings, sand-heaps, seats and -all--and he asked me a hundred questions about the parish and my work, -till I think he knew as much about the place as we do ourselves, and -then sent me off without a penny--said he didn't give to subscriptions -on p-principle." - -"What a mean, hypocritical wretch!" - -"I left rather down, for I had lost h-half an hour with him, and I was -afraid I had offended him by some remark, but when I met Welsby again in -the street and told him, he declared that I ought not to have been sent -there, because D-Dodson--that's his name--was the most inquisitive and -hardest man on 'Change." - -"He can't be a gentleman, at any rate, to question you for mere -curiosity; I hope you gave him something to think over." - -"No, I didn't; it's no use, and only frets oneself. He had a big -c-chance and lost it What do you say to inviting the subscribers down -some evening when the playground is in full occupation? They will get -full value for their money at the sight of the girls on the swings, and -the boys at ball, and the b-babies scooping up the sand, and the old -folks sunning themselves on their seats." - -"It will be splendid; but Fred, it goes to my heart that our own boys -can have no holiday, and when their schoolfellows are away in Wales, -will be sweltering in this close house." - -"How much have we in the h-holiday fund?" - -"Just two pounds and sixpence. Save as I would, that is all I could -manage... If we had not given so much away we might..." - -"You are just as r-ready to give as I am, my little wife, and none of us -regret anything we've done for the poor souls around us; but I'm sorry -for the boys. Did you tell them?" - -"No, I hadn't the heart, so I played the coward and said you were -thinking the matter over, and that you would tell them, perhaps, -to-morrow morning." - -"Do you know I rather s-suspected this would be the end of it, and I -was planning how to make the best of things. I made up a series of cheap -trips, personally conducted, to New Brighton, and Cheshire, and Hale; -you'll give us our l-lunch, and we'll have a regular picnic. I have some -old knick-knacks of my schooldays at Shrewsbury, and I'll offer them as -p-prizes for the best account of the day. You'll come with us, too, and -we'll have a particularly jolly time. - -"Letters? The post is late to-night That is about the c-contract for -swings, and this is a diocesan circular, and there is a new company -p-prospectus--rather an irony sending it to me--but here are two unknown -hands; let us see the news. - -"Now isn't this good? L3 for the playground from a Dissenter who -c-complains I didn't call on him, and has a kind word about my hard -work, as he calls it; and I've been often annoyed at that man for the -things he said on Disestablishment. He may say anything he pleases now -on a platform; I know there is a kind heart behind the words. - -"Will this be more money for the s-swings? Hurrah! here is an enclosure -of some sort But what is this...?" - -"What's wrong, Fred? Is any one dead? Are you ill...?" - -"Ethel, you are an excellent m-manager."' The Vicar, very white as to -his cheeks, and somewhat wet as to his eyes, stood on the hearthrug and -waved his wife to a distance. "Be g-good enough to secure a commodious -farmhouse in North Wales, somewhere between Bettws-y-Coed and Llanberis, -for the month of August--with a little f-fishing attached, if possible. - -"Please sit down, Ethel, and don't interrupt. I'm sane, quite sane; much -p-playground and domestic affliction have not made me mad. Now, where -was I? Yes, and arrange quite a s-series of tours round by Festiniog, -and up Snowdon, and down to Llandudno, and another to the Menai -Straits.... - -"You are an extravagant, d-dressy woman, Ethel, so you may get a -n-natty walking dress and three blouses, but keep a trifle for f-fishing -apparatus and special provisions... you are t-throttling me... then read -it yourself, read it aloud, and... I will p-process round the table. I -wish the boys had not gone to bed." - -"'Liverpool, _July_ 16, 189--. - -"'Reverend and Dear Sir,--It has come to my knowledge from various -quarters that you and your devoted partner in life are doing a most -beneficent work, both sacred and secular, in a very necessitous district -of our great city, and that you are discharging this duty to your -fellow-creatures at severe cost to yourselves and your family. - -"'My observation of life leads me to believe that none of our citizens -live harder lives, or make greater sacrifices, than clergymen of limited -means whose sphere of labour lies in poor parishes, and, without being -in any sense a good man--for my whole life is a struggle with one -besetting sin, which often getteth the victory--I have been filled -with respectful admiration, and have wished to assist, after a humble -fashion, in this Christian service. - -"'As you may have some difficulty in securing a suitable holiday for -your family through your notorious charity--for such is the report -concerning you--I venture with much diffidence to enclose a draft -on London, which can be cashed at any bank, for your use, under two -conditions, which I must charge you to observe: (i) that the whole -sum be employed to the last penny in holiday expenses--including such -special outfit as may be judged fit by your wife for you all; and (2) -that you make no effort to discover the name of your unworthy friend. -The endorsement of this draft will be sufficient acknowledgment. - -"'Trusting you will all have a health-giving, happy, and long holiday, - -"'I have the honour to be, - -"'Your humble servant, - -"'Zaccheus'" - -"Your voice is a little shaky, Ethel... don't wonder... such nonsense -about me and such c-compliments to you... yes, it will be g-glorious, -another honeymoon, and those rascals of boys, why won't they... Let us -thank God, wife; it came from Him...." - - -III - -"You will be pleased to hear, mater dear, that corn is up twopence a -cental, and that the market is buoyant; that's the good of new blood -being brought into corn. I would have been lost in medicine. - -"I have been studying the career of a corn prince, and it has five -chapters. He begins a poor boy--from the North of Ireland by preference, -but that is not necessary--then he attracts his chiefs attention, who -sends him out to America, where even the Yankees can't hold their own -with him, and he becomes manager of his firm. His next move is to start -in partnership with some young fellow who has money and no brains; -by-and-bye he discovers by instinct that corn is going to rise, so he -buys it ahead by the cargo, and piles up a gorgeous sum--say one hundred -thousand pounds. Afterwards he buys out Emptyhead, and becomes the -chief of a big house with lots of juniors, and he ends by being a Bank -director and moving resolutions at the Town Hall. - -"Please don't interrupt, mother, for I have not done yet. Long before -the Town Hall level this rising corn man has gone up by stages from the -street off Princes Road to an avenue near the Park, and then into the -Park, and perhaps into the country, whence he appears as High Sheriff. - -"One minute more, you impatient mother. A certain person who will -pretend to be nearly fifty when the corn man comes into his kingdom, but -will remain always at twenty-five exactly, and grow prettier every year, -will have a better set of rooms in each new house, and, at last, will -have her own carriage, and visit whole streets of poor folk, and have -all Liverpool blessing her. This is the complete history of the corn -man and his mother, as it will be expounded to after generations of -schoolboys by informing and moral philanthropists. What do you think of -it?" - -"I think that you are a brave boy, Jack, and your mother is proud of you -and grateful; if it's any reward for you to know this, I can say that -the way you have taken your disappointment has been one of my chief -comforts in our great sorrow." - -"Don't talk as if I were a sort of little tin hero, mater, or else I'll -have to leave the room, for I'm nothing of the sort, really. If you only -saw me at my desk, or fussing round the offices, or passing the time of -day on corn, you would see that I was simply born for business." - -"Jack," said Mrs. Laycock solemnly, "you have not been without faults, -I'm thankful to say, for you've been hot-tempered, hot-headed, -wilful, and lots of things, but this is the first time you have been -deliberately untruthful." - -"Mother, with all respect to you, I will not stand this insult," and so -he slipped down on the floor and caressed his mother's hand. "You think -that I've no commercial ability. Wait for the event It will be swagger, -you bet." - -"I think everything that is good of you, Jack, as I ought, and your -father did; but I know that it was very hard that you could not go back -to Rugby this autumn and finish in the sixth, and go to Cambridge and -study at Caius, your father's college, and get your M.D., and take up -your father's profession and the one you loved, the noblest a man can -live and... die in," and there was a break in the widow's voice. - -"Of course, mater, that is what I would have preferred, and it was a -bit... stiff when I knew that it would all have to be given up; but that -was nothing to... losing father. And besides, I think that I may get on -in business and... help you, mother." - -"Your father had set his heart on your being a doctor, and I don't know -whether he ever spoke to you about it, but he hoped you might become a -specialist--in surgery, I think; he said you had the hands at least for -a good surgeon. - -"It was his own heart's desire, you know, to be a surgeon, pure and -simple, and Mr. Holman, the great consultant, considered him to be -one of the best operators in the provinces, but he was obliged to be a -general practitioner. - -"Why? Oh, because he had no private means, and he had you and me to -support, so he couldn't run any risks; he had to secure a regular -income; and there is something I wish you to understand, in case you -should ever think hardly of your father." - -"Mother--as if I could! The very people in the street admired -father; you know what they said in the _Morning Trumpet_ about his -self-sacrificing life, and his skill being at the disposal of the -poorest, without money and without price." - -"Yes, the papers were very kind, and his patients adored your father; -but I am certain some of our neighbours criticised him because he did -not make better provision for his wife and child. As if he had been -extravagant or improvident, who never spent a farthing on himself, and -was always planning for our welfare." - -"You are just torturing yourself with delusions, I am sure, mater. Did -any single person ever hint that father had not done... his duty by us? -I can't believe it." - -"One man did, at any rate, Jack, and that was our neighbour, Mr. -Dodson." - -"What did he say, the miserable old curmudgeon? Did he dare to bring a -charge against father? I wish I had been with you." - -"No, it was not that he said anything; it was rather what he implied; -he just questioned and questioned in an indirect fashion, all by way -of interest in our affairs, but left the impression on my mind that he -thought the doctor ought to have done better for his family." - -"What business had Mr. Dodson to call at all and to ferret into our -affairs, who was never before in our house? If we needed help--which we -don't--he is the last man in this district to give it. Do you know he's -the hardest, meanest creature in Liverpool? He'll leave a cab thirty -yards from his house when he's coming from the station, to keep -within the shilling limit, and he goes down in the penny 'bus with the -working-women to save twopence." - -"There is a certain young corn-broker," interpolated Mrs. Laycock, "who -walks all the way to save even that penny, and I don't consider him -mean." - -"That is economy, and indicates the beginning of a fortune, which will -be shared with a certain sarcastic mater. But Dodson is a millionaire, -and has nobody depending on him but an old housekeeper. Certainly father -was not economical by his standard." - -"Your father was most careful and thrifty," said the widow eagerly, "and -that is what I want to explain. He had to borrow money to educate -himself, and that he paid back, every penny, with interest Then, you -know, a doctor cannot keep himself for the first few years of his -practice--he only made L32 10s. 6d. the year he began--and when he -reached L200 he did a... foolish thing." - -"Let me guess, mater. Was it not marrying the dearest, sweetest, -prettiest..." - -"Hush, you stupid boy! And we had to keep up a certain appearance and -pay a high rent, and we were very poor--poorer than the public ever -knew. - -"Of course, the doctor had a large practice before he died, and people -used to think he made two and three thousand pounds a year; and Mrs. -Tattler-Jones, who knows everything, said our income was L4,000. - -"His last year, your father earned L1,800 and got in L1,200; the other -L600 will never be paid; and yet he was so pleased because he had -cleared off the last penny of his debt, and thought he would begin to -lay something aside for your education." - -"But why did he not get the other L600? Could the people not pay?" - -"They could pay everybody else--wine merchants, jewellers, and -car-owners--but their doctor's bill was left last, and often altogether, -and your father would never prosecute." - -"And didn't father attend many people for nothing?" - -"No one will ever know how many, for he did not even tell me; he used to -say that if he didn't get often to church, he tried to do as people were -told to do there; his commandment was the eleventh, 'Love one another.'" - -"Did father believe the same as clergymen about things, mater?" - -"No, not quite, and I suppose some people would call him a heretic; but -you and I know, Jack, that if to do good and to be quite selfless, and -to be high-minded, pure, and true, is to be like Christ, then the doctor -was a Christian, the best I ever saw." - -"Very likely he was the same sort of heretic as Christ Himself. I say, -mater, there will be a good lot to speak up for father some day--widows -and orphans and such like. I'm proud to be his son; it's a deal better -to have such a father, of whom every person speaks well, than to come in -for a pot of money. If old Dodson had a son, how ashamed he would be of -his father." - -"Money is not a bad thing, all the same, Jack," and Mrs. Laycock sighed. -"If we had had a little more than the insurance policy, then we would -not have had to come to this house, and you would not have been in an -office." - -"It's a jolly house, I think; and when the Christmas cards are stuck up -the decorations will be complete. I wonder if the advance ones will come -by this post? We'll see who remembers us." - -"That's the bell; and see, six, seven, I declare, ten to begin with! -Here's one in a rare old-fashioned hand. I'll take off the envelope and -you will see the name. Why, it's a letter, and a long screed, and a... -cheque!" - -"Have some of those thieves paid their account? You are crying, mater. -Is it about father? May I see the letter, or is it private?" - -"No, it's about you, too, my son. I wish you would read it aloud; I'm -not... quite able." - -"'Liverpool, _December_ 24, 189--. - -"'Dear Madam,-- - -"'Along with many others in Liverpool, I experienced a feeling of keen -regret that in the inscrutable actings of Providence your respected -husband, Dr. Laycock, was, as it appears, prematurely removed from his -work and family. - -"'It must be a sincere consolation for his widow to know that no man -could have rendered more arduous and salutary service to his fellows, -many of whom he relieved in pain, not a few of whom he was instrumental -in restoring to their families from the portals of death. Without -curiously inquiring into the affairs of private life, many persons were -persuaded that Dr. Laycock was in the custom of attending persons of -limited means as an act of charity, whereby he did much good, won much -affection, and doubtless has laid up for himself great riches in the -world to come, if we are to believe the good Book. - -"'I have not, however, sent you this letter merely to express my -sympathy, shared with so many who have the privilege, denied to me, of -your personal friendship, or to express the admiration felt by all -for the eminent departed. My object is different, and must be its own -excuse. Unless I have been incorrectly informed--and my authority seemed -excellent--the noble life of Dr. Laycock hindered him from making that -complete provision for his family which he would have desired, and which -other men in less unselfish walks of life could have accomplished. This -disability, I am given to understand, has seriously affected the career -of your son, whom every one describes as a promising lad, so that he has -been removed from a public school, and has been obliged to abandon the -hope of entering on the study of medicine. - -"'If my information be correct, it was his father's wish that your son -should follow in his steps, and it is incumbent on those who honoured -Dr. Laycock for his example of humanity, to see that his cherished wish -be fulfilled. Will you, therefore, in the light of the explanation -I have made at some length, accept the draft I have the honour to -send--value L1,000--and use the proceeds in affording to your son a -complete medical education at home and abroad? The thought that the just -desire of a good man has not fallen to the ground, and that a certain -burden will be lifted from his widow's life, will be more than -sufficient recompense to one whom you will never know, but who will, -so long as he may be spared, follow your son's career with sincere -interest.--Believe me, my dear madam, your obliged and grateful servant, - -"'ZACCHEUS.' - -"Hold it up against the light, mater; it's the prettiest Christmas card -we'll ever see.... You ought to be laughing, and not crying.... But I -feel a little--just a tiny wee bit watery myself. - -"He might as well have told us his name; but I suppose he was afraid of -a row. Zaccheus? Why, that's the man who gave the playgrounds. -He must have a pile, and he knows how to use it; he's no Dodson, you -bet At any rate, though we don't know him, we can say, 'God bless him,' -mater." - -"Amen," said Mrs. Laycock. "I hope the father knows." - - -IV - -"How do I know that there is something wrong, Bert? Because we've been -married five years last month, and I can read your face like a book, -or rather a great deal better than most books, for I'm not clever in -following deep books, but I'm quite sure about your face. - -"No, I don't imagine, for you may be able to hide what you feel on the -'Flags,' but you let out the secret at home; and that is one reason why -I love you--because you are not cunning and secretive. Now tell me, is -cotton down, and have you lost? - -"Oh, yes, Bert, I know your principle, that a man ought to bear the -burden outside, and the woman inside the home; but there are exceptions. -You have acted up to your principle splendidly. You have never said -a word all these years, although I know you've had anxious times, and -you've helped me many a time with my little troubles. Let me help you in -yours now." - -"Queenie, if you want to put me to utter shame, you have taken the right -way, for it's your thrift and good management which has given us our -happy home, and I..." - -"Yes, you, Bert, you have idled your time, I suppose, and spent your -money on dress, and generally neglected your family. For shame, sir, -when you have done so well, and every one says that nobody is so much -respected. Don't look like that if you love me. What is it?" - -"It is necessary that you be told, and I was going to speak this -evening, but it is very hard. Queenie, when I kissed the children and -looked at you all so happy, I felt like a... murderer." - -"Have you.. - -"No, on my word of honour, I have done nothing wrong, _that_ I can say; -neither you nor the little ones have any cause to be ashamed of me." - -"If you had, I would have stood by your side, Herbert, but I knew -disgrace would never come by you; then what is it? If it's only the loss -of some money, why, I know half a dozen economies." - -"It's far worse than that, wife, I fear. This will be our last Christmas -in our dear little home, and it's all my blame, and I feel... the basest -of men. As if you had trusted me when I had deceived you all. - -"You are the best wife ever man had.... I feel better, and I'll explain -it all to you. It is not very difficult; it is so easy to be ruined. - -"You know we are brokers, and our business is to buy or sell cotton for -other people, and we are responsible for them, so that if they cannot -pay the losses, we have to find the money. - -"Two of our firms, which have been very kind to us, were sure cotton -would go up--and so it ought to have done, and will in the end--and they -bought so many bales through us. - -"Well, a big house, which can do pretty much as it likes, seized the -opportunity of a fraud to rush in and upset the market, so our friends -and many others have to face declines they cannot meet So unless our -poor little firm can pay L10,000 at least on Monday, we must stop, -and... all our hard work to build up an honourable name is lost. - -"We can scrape L4,000, and my partner and I have L1,000 private means to -put in, and... that's all. L5,000 short - -"Yes, we have tried the Bank, but they can't do anything there. -Goldsworthy, the manager, is the nicest fellow living, and his 'No' is -almost as good as another's 'Yes'; but of course it was 'No'; we had no -security; the cotton may go lower before it turns, and he has told us we -must pay." - -"But surely, Herbert, if the big firms knew how you were situated, they -would help you, because things would come right in a few weeks, you -say." - -"Every man has to look after himself in the market But I did go to -Huddleston, because he has given me so much advice, and wanted me to -take an interest in the Church.... I wish my tongue had been burned -before I crossed his room. - -"No, he wasn't rude--that's not his sin; he might be better if he were -straighter. He hoped that I was prospering in business, and reminded -me that I must not allow the world to get too much hold, and became -eloquent on money being only a stewardship. But when I opened up my -errand, he explained that he made it a principle never to lend money, -and suggested that this was a chastening because we had hasted to be -rich. He hoped that the issue would be sanctified, and... but I rose and -left, quite sick." - -"What a canting old wretch!" Mrs. Ransome was very angry. "I always -hated that man's soft sawder; he's much too pussy to be true." - -"He was not bound to help me unless he pleased. But what riled me was -his religious talk; he might have spared me that at least. And if those -operators who have knocked the market to pieces haul in L30,000, they -will likely give L1,000 to missions. - -"When a man has done his level best, and been fairly prudent, and has -worked hard, and is getting a fair connection, and everything is taken -away by a big, unscrupulous, speculative firm, which sees a chance -of making a pile at the ruin of half a dozen struggling firms, it's a -little hard." - -"They ought to be put in jail; but they'll catch it some day;" and it -was evident Mrs. Ransome, like many other people in her circumstances, -found much satisfaction from the belief in future punishment. - -"It's apt to make one bitter, too," Ransome went on. "When I sat -opposite old Dodson in the 'bus this afternoon--come to the penny 'bus -now, you see, Queenie--looking out from below his shaggy eyebrows like -a Scotch terrier, with meanness written over his shabby clothes, and -almost heard the gold chinking in his pockets, and thought that he -could save our home and secure my future by a cheque, and never miss the -money--suppose he lost it, which he wouldn't if I lived--I declare, -I could have... well, I did not feel as Christian as Huddleston would -desire." - -"Bert, have you ever thought what we would do if we became rich--how we -would send flowers to people who were not well off, and let them use our -carriage, and send overworked teachers and clerks for holidays, and... - -"Help lame dogs in cotton over stiles, eh wifie? Yes, I've had my dreams -too. I'd go in for the poor children's holiday fund, that would be my -extravagance. But we are no better than other people. And were you never -afraid that we would grow selfish and pompous, and mean and pharisaical, -like Huddleston, and maybe end in being Dodsons?" - -"No, no, that is impossible!" cried his wife, "because, for one thing, -we have loved, and, perhaps, Mr. Dodson never was loved, poor soul; and -if things come to the worst, remember there is a good deal left." - -"There is something in that, Queenie; run over the inventory, and I'll -check you." - -"First of all there is you, the truest, kindest, bravest husband in -Liverpool.... - -"Stop; that is your own private property, and we were to go over our -common means; besides, the valuation is ninety per cent too high." - -"You be quiet And there are two children whom every one looks at in -the street, and who are the sweetest... Nobody hears us, so it doesn't -matter, and you know they are. Wouldn't it have been far worse if we had -lost Reggie when he had diphtheria? Well, we have him and Maud, and they -never looked better." - -"That's true, wifie; go on; capital is mounting up." - -"Then there's your good name, which has never been stained. Nobody says -you are mean, or hypocritical, or unmanly, or... anything bad; and if... -you can't pay that money on Monday, every person will know that it was -not your fault, and that you will repay all you owe some day, if you -can." - -"Yes, please God, wife, we will... You think too much of me, but go on." - -"We have half a dozen friends, and, although they're not rich, they're -true; and if we have to go into a smaller house and live very quietly, -they won't mind; they'll just come closer, won't they?" - -"Right again; you are getting on. We've somewhere about L50,000 working -capital now." - -"We have our books and our music, and... five years of love and... -spiritual blessings one doesn't talk about...." - -"One piece of property wanting, which is best of all--yourself, Queenie, -surely the cleverest, loyalest..." - -"You are talking nonsense now, Bert; and are you aware that it is past -eleven o'clock? I'll turn out the gas in the dining-room if you will see -that the door is fastened." - -"Here is a letter which must have come by the last post and been -forgotten; perhaps it's a Christmas card in advance. Let's see. Oh, I -say, you've left me in darkness." - -"Come up to our room; we can open it there; very likely it's a bill. -Well?" - -"I say... Queenie... no, it can't be a hoax... nobody would be -so cruel... and here's an enclosure... letter from London bankers -confirming... sit down here beside me; we'll read it together... so, as -near as you can, and your arm round my neck... just a second before we -begin... my eyes are... all right now." - -"Liverpool, _December_ 22, 189--. - -"Dear Sir,--It has been my practice, as a man engaged for many years in -commercial pursuits, to keep a watchful and, I hope, not unkindly eye -upon young firms beginning their business career in Liverpool. For the -last five years I have observed your progress with much interest, and -you will pardon my presumption and take no offence, when I express my -satisfaction, as an old merchant, with your diligence, caution, ability, -and, most of all, integrity, to which all bear witness. - -"I was therefore greatly grieved to learn that your firm may be hardly -pressed next week, and may be in danger of stoppage--all the more -because I find no charge of folly can be brought against you, but that -you are the indirect victims of one firm's speculative operations. There -is no one, I am also informed, from whom you can readily obtain the -temporary assistance you require and are morally entitled to receive. - -"The only satisfaction I have in life is using such means as Providence -has been pleased to put into my hands for the succour of people who are -in every way better than myself, but who are in some kind of straits. I -have therefore directed my London bankers to open an account for you and -to put L10,000 to your credit. Upon this account you will be pleased to -draw such a sum as will tide you over the present crisis, and such -other sums as will enable you to extend your business along the safe -and honourable lines you have hitherto followed. I do not doubt that -you will repay the said sum or sums to the same account as you may be -able--no interest will be accepted--and I only lay one other obligation -on your honour, that you make no endeavour to discover my name. - -"Be pleased to accept my best wishes of this season for your admirable -wife, your two pleasing children, and my confident hope for your final -and large success in business.--I remain, your faithful friend, - -"Zaccheus." - -"Let us go and kiss the children, hubbie, and then... we might say the -Lord's Prayer together." - - -V - -"A respectable, elderly woman, did you say, Marshall?" said Mr. -Greatheart in his room at the office; "certainly, bring her in. Very -likely a widow wishing to get her son admitted to the Bluecoat School, -or some poor householder in trouble about her taxes." For to this man -came all sorts and conditions of people in their distresses, and to each -he gave patient audience and practical succour. - -"You don't trouble me. If I can be of any use, nothing will please me -better," he said, placing a chair and making a kindly fuss to cover his -visitor's confusion. "Now sit down and tell me all about it" That was -why the respectable poor loved him, from the Catholic Irish of Scotland -Road to the Orangemen of Toxteth. - -"Is it your husband or your son you are so anxious about?"--for she was -much agitated. "I notice that a woman hardly ever comes about herself! -It's we men who are selfish, not the women." - -"No, it's neither, for I am an unmarried woman. It's about my master, -whom I believe you know, sir--Mr. Dodson." - -"Samuel Dodson, you mean; I should think so! Have known him for fifty -years--since we served our time together in Palmer's shipping office. -What, is he ill?" - -"He's dead... this morning. You'll excuse me, I was his housekeeper for -near thirty year, and... I'm a little upset." - -"Good gracious! No wonder. Maria Wilkins, did you say?... You may well -be upset And thirty years with him! Tell me how this happened, for we've -heard nothing in the city. He couldn't have been ill long." - -"No, sir, he was never ill at all--not what you would say proper; but -I've seen him failin' for some time--gettin' thin like and growin' -down--and last night he was that white and shaky, that I wanted him -to see a doctor. But no, he wouldn't If it had been me or the girl, he -would have had a doctor when there was nothing wrong with us, he was -that concerned about other people; but for himself..." - -Mr. Greatheart nodded--indicating that Mr. Dodson's unselfish character -was well known to him. - -"'No, no, Maria,' says he, 'a doctor can do no good to me. I'm a tough -old fellow*--speaking that way to me, being long with him--'I'll be all -right to-morrow.' But I made bold to put a glass of brandy in his room, -and pleaded with him to ring the bell if he was unwell--he was not -easily managed--and that was all I could do, sir." - -Her hearer was of opinion that from what he knew of Mr. Dodson's native -obstinacy, Maria Wilkins had done all in the power of mortal woman, and -possibly, more, than could have been accomplished by any man. - -"Twice during the night I rose and listened at his door--his face, when -he said good-night, lyin' heavy on me, so to say--and I heard nothing; -but when he didn't answer in the mornin' I took it on me to open the -door. Mr. Dodson was a-sittin' up in his bed, and at the sight of his -face I knew how it was, havin' seen death many times. My old master... -was gone," and the housekeeper yielded to her feelings. - -"Dear, dear! So Sam Dodson is gone; an able and successful merchant, one -who always met his obligations, and whose word was as good as his bond; -he had a warmer heart than any person knew. I've seen a look in his face -at a time, and am sure that he did good in his own way." - -"God bless you for that, sir! but it's what I could have looked for from -you, if I may say it without offence. And you never spoke a truer word, -and that I can testify as has lived with master for a lifetime, and -could tell the difference between the outside and the inside." - -"Ah, yes, you saw the real man, Maria; but he was sometimes... well, -hidden from the public." - -"He had his peculiarities, and 'oo hasn't, I say? Now, my wages when I -came to him was just fourteen pounds, and they're just fourteen yet; but -every Christmas, for many a year, master slipped a ten-pound note into -my hand. 'Put that into your bank, Maria,' he would say, 'and never tell -anybody you've got it.' - -"As for food, he was aggravatin', for he would have nothing as was not -plain, and he would check the books to a ha'penny; but if you was ill, -why, he would bring home grapes with his own hand. We dare not for our -lives give a morsel to beggars at the door, but if he heard of a poor -family, nothin' would serve him but he would go and find out all about -them." - -"That's my Dodson, just as I imagined him," cried Mr. Greatheart; "tell -me more, Maria; it's excellent, every word." - -"Do you think he would let any person know he was givin' help? Not he; -and he was artful, was master. Why, I've known him send me with money to -a clergyman, that he might give it, and his words were, 'No name, Maria, -or we part; just a citizen of Liverpool.'" - -"Dodson all over! shrewd and unassuming, and full of charity. Have you -anything else to tell, Maria?" - -"Well, sir, I do not know for certain, and it was not for me to spy on -my master, but I'm much mistaken if many a one in the better class -was not the better of Mr. Dodson in their troubles." - -"How do you think that?" inquired Mr. Great-heart in huge delight "I've -seen him read a letter maybe six times, and he would wipe his eyes -through pleasure as I took it You wouldn't believe, maybe, as master -could be like that" - -"I do, Maria. I declare it's what I expected. And what then?" - -"He would walk up and down the room, and speak to himself, and read -another bit, and rub his hands..." - -"I wish I had been there, Maria." - -"And he would carry a letter like that in his pocket for days, and -then he would put it carefully in the fire; but I saw him take it out, -half-burned, and read a corner again before he burned that letter." - -"Maria, I cannot tell you how much obliged I am to you for coming to me, -and giving me such a touching account of your dear master. Now, is there -anything I can do for you in this loss?" - -"Lord bless me, sir, that I should have been taking up your time like -this, and you a magistrate, and never told you what brought me! It's -more than a month past that master said to me, 'Maria, if anything -happens to me, go to Mr. Greatheart's office, and give him my keys, and -ask him to open my desk. He is a good man, and he's sure to come.'" - -"Did he say so? That was most generous of him, and I appreciate it -highly. I will come instantly, and shall bring a lawyer with me, a -kind-hearted and able man. Good-bye for the present, Maria; you -have fulfilled your charge, as I believe you have all your duty, -excellently... excellently." - -"You see, Welsby," as they went up to the house, "Dodson had left his -firm, and had few friends, perhaps none--a reserved man about himself, -but a true man at the bottom." - -"So you have always said, Mr. Greatheart Well know now; my experience -as a lawyer proves that, as a rule, a man's papers reveal him, and there -are some curious surprises." - -"If you look through that safe, and note the contents, Welsby, I'll read -this letter addressed to me. I gather that I must be executor, and -there seems to be no lawyer; very like Dodson, very--do everything for -himself. - -"Liverpool, April 15th, 188--. - -"Barnabas Greatheart, Esq. - -"My dear Sir,--You will peruse this letter after my death, and you will -be pleased to consider it as intended for your eyes alone, since it is -in the nature of a confession. - -"My early career was a continuous struggle with narrow and arduous -circumstances, and I suffered certain disappointments at the hands -of friends which I considered undeserved. In consequence of these -experiences I grew penurious, cynical, merciless, hopeless, and, let me -say it plainly, a sour, hard man, hating my neighbours, and despised of -them. May the Almighty forgive me! - -"This year in which I write, a great change has come over me, and my -heart has been softened and touched at last with human sympathy. The -force which has affected me is not any book nor sermon, but your example -of goodness and your charity towards all men. In spite of the general -judgment on me, which has been fully merited, I have seen that you do -not shun me, but rather have gone out of your way to countenance me, -and I have heard that you speak kindly of me. It is not my nature to say -much; it is not yours to receive praise; but I wish you to know you have -made me a new man. - -"It seemed to me, however, dangerous that I should begin to distribute -my means openly among charities, as I was inclined to do, since I might -pass from hardness to pride and be charged with ostentation, as I had -been once with miserliness, with sad justice in both cases. - -"So it came to me that, still retaining and maintaining my character for -meanness--as a punishment for my past ill-doing and a check on vanity--I -would gradually use my capital in the private and anonymous aid of -respectable people who are passing through material adversity, and the -help of my native city, so that my left hand should not know what my -right was doing. This plan I have now, at this date, pursued for six -months, and hope to continue to my death, and I did not know so great -joy could be tasted by any human being as God has given to me. And now, -to all the goodness you have shown me, will you add one favour, to wind -up my affairs as follows:-- - -"(1) Provide for my housekeeper generously. - -"(2) Give a liberal donation to the other servant. - -"(3) Bury me quietly, without intimation to any one. - -"(4) Distribute all that remains, after paying every debt, as you -please, in the help of widows, orphans, and young men. - -"(5) Place a packet, marked 'gilt-edged securities,' in my coffin. - -"And consider that, among all your good works, this will have a humble -place, that you saved the soul of--Your grateful friend, - -"Samuel Dodson." - -"What Dodson has done with his money, Mr. Greatheart I don't know; all -the securities together don't amount to L5,000. He seems to have been -living on an annuity." - -"His wealth is here, Welsby, in this packet of cancelled cheques, two -hundred and eighty-seven, which go with him to the other side; and I -tell you, Welsby, I know no man who has invested his money so securely -as Samuel Dodson. See, read that top check." - -"To Goldbeater, London, L10,000. Why, the draft I got for playgrounds -was on that bank, and the date corresponds. Curious. - -"Eh? What? You don't mean to say that this man we slanged and... looked -down on was...." - -"Yes, Zaccheus was Sam Dodson." - - - - -SAVED BY FAITH - - -I - -"So you have agreed to accept seven-and-six-pence in the pound from -Hatchard?" Oxley said in his slow, quiet manner, as he smoked with his -two friends after luncheon at the Club. "I could not attend the meeting, -but I hear that the affairs showed badly." - -"Yes, we took the sum he offered, and of course it would have done -no good to put him in the Bankruptcy Court, as far as the dividend is -concerned: very likely we should only have netted half-a-crown; but I -had a good mind to refuse a composition." And in his excitement Beazley -established himself for oratorical purposes on the hearthrug,--he had -recently taken to municipal politics. - -"You mean that Hatchard has acted foolishly, and ought not to have got -into such a hole. I suppose you are right: Tommy was always a sanguine -chap." - -"Sanguine has nothing to do with it, Oxley, and I fancy you know that -there's more than want of judgment at Hatchard's door. Of course the -longest-headed men in the corn trade may make a mistake and be caught -by a falling market, but that is no reason why a fellow should take in -every friend he could lay hands on. What do you say, Macfarlane?" - -That most phlegmatic and silent of Scots never said anything unless -speech was absolutely necessary; and as the proposition that a man ought -not to cheat his friends was one no person could deny, Macfarlane gave -no sign. - -"I'm afraid that it is a rather bad case," Oxley admitted with -reluctance, "but I'm sorry for Tommy: when a man is at his wits' end -he's apt to... forget himself, in fact, and do things he would be the -first to condemn at other times. A man loses his moral presence of -mind." - -Macfarlane indicated, after consideration, his agreement. - -"That sounds very fine, Oxley," burst in Beaz-ley, "but it's very -dangerous doctrine and would cover some curious transactions. Hatchard -knew quite well that when he was hopelessly bankrupt he ought not to -have borrowed a thousand from Macfarlane and you and five hundred from -me: our business losses were enough." - -"Had none," murmured Macfarlane to himself. - -"I was so angry," continued Beazley, "that I got hold of him afterwards -in Fenwick Street and gave him as sound a talking to as ever a man got -in this city: he'll not forget it in a hurry. You see he is a friend, -and that makes me sore." - -"Can you give us an idea what you said?" inquired Oxley drily, while -Macfarlane showed that he was listening. - -"Well, I said various things; but the gist was that his friends were -ashamed of him--not about the cash, you know, but about the conduct, and -that he was little better than a swindler: yes, I did." - -Macfarlane smoked furiously. - -"No, Oxley, he made no reply. Not one word of defence: he simply turned -round and walked away. I suppose you think that I ought not to have been -so hard on him?" - -"Well, no doubt you did what seemed right, and Hatchard has not been -quite straight; but I now understand what I saw two hours ago, and what -gave me a shock. You favoured him with your mind about eleven, I should -guess? Yes: then at twelve he came out of a restaurant in Dale Street as -if he had been drinking. That is the first time Hatchard ever did that -kind of thing, I believe, but it will not be the last: his face was -quite changed--half woe-begone and half desperate." - -"If Thomas takes to tasting"--Macfarlane was much moved--"it's all over -with him: he's such a soft-hearted chap." - -"Nonsense, you're making too much of it; but I was a trifle sharp, -perhaps: he's been very provoking, and any other man would have said the -same except you two fellows, and the one of you is so charitable that he -would find an excuse for a pickpocket, and the other is so cannie that -he can't make up his mind to say anything." - -After which there was a pause. - -"Yes," began Oxley again, falling into ancient history, "he has gone off -form a bit--the best may do so at a time--but Tommy wasn't half a bad -fellow once: he got a study at Soundbergh before me, and he was very -decent with it, letting me do 'prep.' in it before exams.; and I never -counted him sidey, did you, B.?" - -"I should think not; I'll say that for him at any rate, there wasn't -one scrap of humbug in Tommy: why, he was a prefect when I was in the -fourth, and he didn't mind although a chap 'ragged' and chaffed him; he -was the jolliest 'pre.' in the whole school. It was perhaps rather hard -lines to slang him to-day,--I half wish I hadn't." - -"If Tommy got a grub-box from home every chap in Buttery's house -knew,"--Oxley was bent on reminiscences,--"it was shared round in three -days, and his raspberry jam was not to be despised. I hear him yet: 'All -right, Ox., dig in, there's lots left' Now there's By les, who makes -speeches about hospitals: he was mean if you please." - -"Mean ain't the word for Byles," and in his enthusiasm Freddie Beazley -dropped into school slang, which no public-schoolboy ever forgets, -and which lasts from generation to generation, like the speech of the -Gypsies: "Byles was a beastly gut, and a sneak too; why, for all his -cheek now he isn't fit to black Tommy's shoes. Tommy wasn't what you -would call 'pie,' but he was as straight as a die. I'd give ten pounds -not to have called him that word to-day." Freddie was breaking down. - -"Poor old Tommy!" went on Oxley: "one never expected him to come such a -cropper; he was a good all-round man--cricket, football, sports, Tommy -did well for his house; he was a double-colour man." - -"Do ye mind the ten miles, lads?" and Macfarlane chuckled. - -"Rather," and Freddie could not sit still: "he did it in one hour twelve -minutes and was it fifteen seconds?" - -"Thirteen and three-fifths seconds." Macfarlane spoke with decision. - -"And he could have walked back to Buttery's, as if he had never run a -yard; but didn't the fellows carry him?" - -"I had a leg myself." Macfarlane was growing loquacious. - -"Yes, and he didn't swagger or brag about it,"--Oxley took up the -running,--"not he, but was just as civil as if he had won some footling -little race at the low-country schools, where they haven't a hill within -twenty miles, instead of running round Baughfell in the Soundbergh -ten-mile." - -"What did old Tommy do it for?" and Freddie Beazley almost wept at the -thought that the crack of Soundbergh had played foul: "it couldn't be -money; he was never selfish--as open-handed a chap as ever I saw." - -"Wife and kids" answered Macfarlane, smoking thoughtfully. - -"The Scot has it," said Oxley. "Tommy doesn't care one straw for -himself, but he wanted, I take it, to keep that dear little wife of his -comfortable and get a good education for his boys, and so he got deeper -and deeper, trying to retrieve himself for their sakes. Mind you, I -don't defend him, but that was his excuse; and now Tommy has gone -under." - -"Not if I can help it, boys," and Beazley's face flushed. "And I say, -here are three of us: why shouldn't we join and--and--tighten the rope -and haul Tommy on his feet again?" Macfarlane took the briar root out of -his mouth and regarded Freddie with admiration. - -"We were all in the same house, and Tommy likes us, and we could do... -that sort of thing when he wouldn't take it from others; and I say, -it would be a jolly decent thing to do." - -"You're all right, Freddie,"--Oxley was evidently pleased,--"and we're -with you" ("shoulder to shoulder," said Macfarlane, lighting his pipe -with ostentatious care). "Now the first step is to let Tommy know that -we have not turned our backs on him: my idea is that if he knows we -three are going to stand by him he'll not throw up the sponge." - -"Look here," cried Beazley, "I'll go round this minute, and I'll beg his -pardon for what I said, and I'll tell him that we haven't forgotten the -old days among the hills, and that we know he's a white man, and... in -fact he'll take the cup yet." - -"That will help mightily; and now let us make up our plans," said Oxley. - -And that was how three men joined in a conspiracy for the business and -social and personal salvation of Thomas Hatchard. - - -II - -"How late you are, Tom--eight o'clock--and how tired you look, poor -fellow! I've been thinking about you all day. Was it very trying this -morning, or were they nice? They ought to have been, for everybody must -know that it wasn't your fault." - -"No, I don't think everybody could know that, Amy dear, for I don't know -it myself, and some men have good reason to know the opposite. Well, -yes, I was... rather sick at the meeting, and worse afterwards." - -"Did they dare to insult you, Tom? If they had had one spark of -gentlemanly feeling they would have pitied you. Do you mean that -they... said things? Tell me, for I want to share every sorrow with you, -darling." - -"One man was very hard on me, and I didn't expect it from him--no, I -won't tell you his name, for he behaved very handsomely in the end. -Perhaps I didn't deserve all the sharp words, but I am sure I haven't -deserved any of the kind words that were said before the day was done. -But never mind about me just now: tell me how you got on. Wasn't it your -visiting day? did... any one call?" - -"So you were thinking about me in all your troubles!"--his wife put her -arm round Hatch-ard's neck--"and you were afraid I should be deserted -because you were victimised by those speculators! Now confess." - -"Well, you know, Amy, society is not very merciful, and I think women -are the crudest of all. What hits a man, if he is unfortunate, or... -worse, is that his poor wife is made to suffer. If her husband has -done... I mean has acted foolishly, well, say, has lost money, his wife -is neglected and cut and made to feel miserable. It's a beastly shame, -and I was afraid that..." - -"I would be sitting all alone to-day, because we are poor. Do you know, -Tom, I was just a tiny bit nervous too, although I would not have told -you this morning for worlds. And now I have splendid news to give you: -our friends are as true as steel. Now answer a question, Tom, to see -whether you and I agree about the difference between acquaintances and -friends. Mention the names of the three families you would expect to -stand by us in our trial." - -"The Oxleys, of course, wife, and... I would have said the Beazleys, -and, let me see, yes, the Macfarlanes, although their manner doesn't -allow them to show what they feel. Am I right?" - -"To a man (and woman), they all called today--the women, I mean: I -daresay the men called on you. And they all said the nicest things, and -what is best, they said the nicest things about you: yes, they did, and -if you doubt my word we shall separate... do you really think I would -chaff to-day? - -"Sit there, just where I can lay my head on your shoulder, and I shall -describe everything. It was half-past two when I began to watch the -clock and wonder whether any one would come: have other people had the -same feeling? About a quarter to three the bell rang, and my heart beat: -who would it be? It was nothing--a tax paper; and I began to think -what I would have done if the same thing had happened to one of our -friends--how I would have simply rushed along and been in the house the -first decent minute after lunch, and how I would..." - -"I know you would, Pet, and that is why they did it to you. Well, drive -on." - -"Exactly at eight minutes to three--oh, I know the time to-day without -mistake--the door opened, and in came Mrs. Macfarlane; and do you know -what she did?" - -"She didn't!" cried Hatchard--"not kissed you?" - -"Yes, she did, and a real kiss; and she took me in her arms, and I saw -tears in her eyes, and--and... I cried for a minute; I couldn't help it, -and it was quite a comfort. She hadn't said a word all this time, and -that was just right, wasn't it?" - -"I'll never say a word against the Scots' manner again," said Tom -huskily. - -"But she spoke quite beautifully afterwards, and told me of some trials -no one knows, which they had ten years ago, and how they had never -loved one another so much before. When reticent people give you their -confidence it touches your heart, and we used to think her voice harsh, -and to laugh at her accent." - -"God forgive me!" said Thomas: "I'm a fool." - -"She said: 'You know how quiet Ronald is, and how he hardly ever gets -enthusiastic. Well, it would have done you good to have heard him speak -about Mr. Hatchard this morning. He said...'" - -"Don't tell me, Amy--it... hurts; but I'm grateful all the same, and -will never forget it. And who came next?" - -"Mrs. Oxley; and what do you think? We are to have their house at -Hoylake for August, so the chicks will have their holiday. Mr. Oxley -has been quite cast down, she says, about you, for he has such a -respect----" - -"It's good of them to think about the children, but never mind about -me." - -"You are very unfeeling, Tom, to stop me at the best bits, when I had -saved them up and committed them to memory: perhaps you would get -vain, however, and become quite superior. What do you think of your -'kindness.' and your 'generosity,' and your 'popularity,' and your -'straightness'? You are shivering: are you cold?" - -"No, no; but you haven't told me if Mrs. Beazley was kind to you: did -she call between four and five?" - -"Yes: how did you know the hour?" - -"Oh, I.. guessed, because she... was last, wasn't she?" - -"She apologised for being so late; indeed, she was afraid that she might -not get round at all, but I'm so glad she came, for no one was more -glowing about you: I saw, of course, that she was just repeating Mr. -Beazley's opinion, for every one can see how he admires... - -"Tom, you are very ungrateful, and for a punishment I'll not tell -you another word. What is wrong? has any one injured you? Was it Mr. -Beazley?" - -"Beazley said kinder things in my office to me, in difficult -circumstances too, than I ever got from any man: some day, Amy, I'll -tell you what he said, but not now--I cannot--and he spent two hours -canvassing for business to start me as a corn broker, and he... got it." - -"It could not be Mr. Oxley." - -"Oxley has given me a cargo to dispose of, and I never had any of his -broking before; and he told me that some of my old friends were going -to... to... in fact, see me through this strait, speaking a good word -for me and putting things in my way. - -"Yes, of course Macfarlane came to the office, and said nothing for -fifteen minutes: just gripped my hand and smoked, and then he rose, and -as he was leaving, he merely mentioned that Beazley and Oxley had become -securities for L5,000 at the bank; he is in it, too, you may be sure." - -"How grateful we ought to be, Tom dear; and how proud I am of you!--for -it's your character has affected every person, because you are so -honourable and high-minded. Tom, something is wrong; oh, I can't bear -it: don't cry... you are overstrung... lie down on the couch, and I'll -bathe your forehead with eau de Cologne." - -"No, I am not ill, and I don't deserve any petting; if you knew how mean -I have been you would never speak to me again. If they had scolded me I -would not have cared; but I can't bear their kindness. - -"Amy, you must not send for the doctor, else you will put me to shame; -my mind is quite right, and it isn't overwork: it's... conscience: I am -not worthy to be your husband, or the friend of these men." - -"You will break my heart if you talk in this way. You unworthy! when -you are the kindest, truest, noblest man in all the world--don't say a -word--and everybody thinks so, and you must let us judge. Now rest here, -and I'll get a nice little supper for you," and his wife kissed him -again and again. - -"It's no use trying to undeceive her," Hatchard said to himself when she -was gone; "she believes in me, and those fellows believe in me--Freddie -more than anybody, after all he said; and please God they will not be -disappointed in the end." - - -III - -"You've got here before me, Mac.," cried Freddie Beazley, bursting into -Oxley's private room, "and I simply scooted round. Oh, I say, you've -broken every bone in my hand, you great Scotch ruffian: take the ruler -out of his fist, Ox., for heaven's sake, or else he'll brain us. - -"Ox., you old scoundrel, read that letter aloud. Mac wasn't a -creditor--he wishes he was this day--and he doesn't know it verbatim, -and I'm not sure about a word or two. Stand up, old man, and do the -thing properly. There now we're ready." - -_July 7_, 1897. - -"Dear Sir,-- - -"It will be in your recollection that in July, 1887, I was obliged to -make a composition with my creditors while trading as a corn merchant -under the style of Thomas Hatchard & Co., and that they were good enough -to accept the sum of seven shillings and sixpence in the pound. - -"Immediately thereafter, as you may be aware, I began business as a corn -broker, and owing to the kind assistance of certain of my creditors and -other friends, have had considerable success. - -"Having made a careful examination of my affairs, I find that I can -now afford to pay the balance of twelve shillings and sixpence which -is morally due to my creditors of 1887, and it affords me much personal -satisfaction to discharge this obligation. - -"I therefore beg to enclose a cheque for the amount owing to you, with -5 per cent compound interest, and with sincere gratitude for your -consideration ten years ago. - -"I have the honour to remain, - -"Your obedient servant, - -"Thomas Hatchard." - -"Isn't that great, young gentlemen?" and Beazley took a turn round the -room: "it's the finest thing done in Liverpool in our time. Tommy -has come in again an easy first on the ten miles--just skipped round -Baughfell: there's nothing like the old school for rearing hardy fellows -with plenty of puff in them for a big hill." - -"Thomas 'ill be a proud man the night," remarked Macfarlane, "and his -wife will be lifted." - -"What about the Hatchard securities and encouragement company? isn't it -a booming concern, and aren't the three men lucky dogs who took -founders' shares? Oxley, old chap," and Freddie grew serious, "it was -you who put Tommy on his legs, and helped him on to this big thing." - -"Nonsense! we all had a share in the idea; and now that I remember, it -was you, Beazley, who sang his praises that day till Macfarlane allowed -his pipe to go out, and I had to join the chorus. Isn't that so, Mac.?" - -Macfarlane was understood to give judgment of strict impartiality--that -the one was as bad as another, and that he had been a victim in their -hands, but that the result had not been destructive of morality in -Liverpool, nor absolutely ruinous to the character of Thomas Hatchard, -beyond which nothing more could be said. - -He offered the opinion on his own account that the achievement of Thomas -had been mighty. - -"You can put your money on that, Mac.," and Beazley went off again: -"to pay up the balance of that composition and every private loan with -interest, compound too, is simply A1. T. H. has taken the cake. And -didn't he train for it, poor chap! - -"No man enjoyed a good cigar more than Tommy--could not take him in with -bad tobacco. Well, I happen to know that he hasn't had one smoke since -July 7th, *87. Of course he could have had as much 'baccy as he wanted; -but no, it was a bit of the training--giving up every luxury, d'ye see?" - -"I wish I was Thomas the night," remarked Macfarlane. "He 'ill have a -worthwhile smoke." - -"He rather liked a good lunch, and did justice to his grub, too," -continued Beazley. "Well, for ten years he's taken his midday meal -standing, on milk and bread--not half bad all the same--at the Milk-Pail -in Fenwick Street, and he wouldn't allow himself a cup of tea. You saw -how he lived at Heswall, Oxley?" - -"Yes, he found out that he could get a little house, with a bit of -garden, for forty pounds, taxes included, and so he settled there and -cut the whole concern here. There was one sitting-room for the children -and another for themselves, and the garden was the drawing-room; but I -don't believe Hatchard was ever happier, and Mrs. Hatchard has turned -out a heroine." - -"Tommy played up well," broke in Beazley, "and he never missed a chance. -There has not been any brokerage lying loose in the corn market these -ten years, you bet; and what he got he did well. Do you hear that -MacConnell of Chicago has given him his work to do? Tommy is steaming -down the deep-water channel now, full speed. What's to be done? that's -the question. We simply must celebrate." - -"Well," replied Oxley, "I suppose the creditors will be giving him a -dinner at the Adelphi and that sort of thing. But there's something -Hatchard would like far better than fifty dinners. He has never entered -the corn exchange since his failure, and I know he never would till -he could look every man in the face. What do you say to ask Barnabas -Greatheart to call at his office and take him?" - -"Oxley, you are inspired, and ought to take to politics: it's just -the thing Greatheart would like to do, and it will please the men -tremendously. I bet you a new hat there will be a cheer, and I see them -shaking hands with Tommy: it will touch up two or three scallawags on -the raw first-rate, too, who have made half a dozen compositions in -their time. But what about ourselves, Ox.?" - -"Aye," said Macfarlane; "we're not common shareholders in this concern: -we're founders, that's what we are." - -"I was thinking before you men came in that a nice piece of silver for -their dinner-table--they will come up to town now--say a bowl with some -little inscription on it..." - -"The very thing: we'll have it this afternoon; and Ox., you draw up -the screed, but for my sake, as well as Tommy's, put in something about -honour, and, old fellow, let it be strong; it'll go down to his boys, -and be worth a fortune to them, for it will remind them that their -father was an honest man." - -It is not needful to describe, because everybody in the Liverpool Corn -Market knows, how Barnabas Greatheart came into the room arm in arm -with Thomas Hatchard, and how every single man shook hands with Thomas -because he had gone beyond the law and done a noble deed, and was a -credit to the corn business; and how Tommy tried to return thanks for -his health a week after at the Adelphi, and broke down utterly, but not -before he had explained that he wasn't at all the good man they thought -him, but that he happened to have had better friends than most men. - -What is not known is that on the very evening of the great day a special -messenger brought over to the cottage at Heswall a parcel, which, being -opened, contained a massive silver bowl, with this inscription:-- - -TO - -MRS. THOMAS HATCHARD, - -From Three Friends, - -In Admiration of her Husband's - -Business Integrity and Stainless Honour. - -July 7, 1897. - -and that on the first anniversary of the great day the Hatchards gave a -dinner-party in their new house at Mossley Hill, where six guests were -present, whose names can be easily supplied, and the bowl, filled with -roses, stood in the centre of the table so that all could read the -writing thereon; that without any direct allusion to the circumstances, -or any violation of good taste, the bowl came into conversation eleven -times: once in praise of the roses; once in discussion of the pattern -(Queen Anne); once with reference to the pedestal of Irish bog-oak; once -in verification of the fact that "honour" was spelt with a "u" (it was -Freddie who, with much ingenuity, turned the search-light on honour); -and seven times in ways too subtle and fleeting for detection. When the -ladies left the room there was a look between the host and his wife as -he held the door; and when the other men's cigars were fully lit, Tommy -made and finished, with some pauses, a speech which may not sound very -eloquent on paper, but which the audience will never forget "There's a -text somewhere in the Bible," he said, pretending that his cigar was not -drawing--"which runs something like this, 'saved by faith,' and when -I look at that bowl I remember that I... was saved that way; but it -wasn't... my faith: it was the faith... of you three men." - - - - -THE LAST SACRIFICE - - -I - -Firelight casts a weird enchantment over an old-fashioned room in the -gloaming, and cleanses it from the commonplace. Distant comers are -veiled in a shadow full of mystery; heavy curtains conceal unknown -persons in their folds; a massive cabinet, full of Eastern curios, -is flung into relief, so that one can identify an Indian god, who -distinctly grins and mocks with sardonic humour, although in daylight -he be a personage of awful solemnity; a large arm-chair, curiously -embroidered, grows into the likeness of a stout elderly gentleman of -benevolent heart but fierce political prejudices; the flickering flames -sketch on the ceiling scenes of past days which can never return; and on -a huge mirror the whole interior is reflected as in a phantasmagoria. - -"It is, I do honestly believe, the dreariest room in Bloomsbury, and -one can hardly go farther," said a young woman, lying at her ease on -the white bearskin before the fire; "and yet it has a beauty of its -own--sober, of course, but kindly; yes, that is the word, and true. My -room at Kensington, that Reggie and his artist friends have been doing -up in their best style, as Maples say, does not look prettier to-night, -nor your lovely black oak at the Rectory." - -"If you had got your will, Frances," answered a sister some six years -older from the couch, "every stick of this furniture would have been -sold long ago, and the walls draped in pale green. You are full of -sentiment to-night." - -"It's the double wedding and the departure from the ancestral mansion -which is casting shadows over my too susceptible heart and a glamour -over this prosaic old room with its solid Philistine furniture," and -Frances pretended to conceal her rising emotion behind a fan. "Your -already matronly staidness, Gerty, is incapable of entering into -such moods. It is a mercy one daughter, at least--I think there are -two--reproduces mother, and can never be accused of sentiment--and such -a blessing for the Rector! It is a rule, one would say from observation, -that clergymen choose matter-of-fact and managing wives, as a check, -I suppose, on their own unworldliness and enthusiasm. As for me, -so frivolous and... affectionate, poor papa must have the entire -responsibility," and Frances sighed audibly. - -"Are you really deceived by mother's composure and reserve?" Gertrude's -quiet tone emphasized the contrast between her refined face and Frances' -Spanish beauty. "Strangers count her cold as marble, and I can excuse -them, for they judge her in society. We ought to know better, and she -has always seemed to me the very type of loyalty and faithfulness." - -"Of course she is the dearest mater ever was, and far too unselfish, and -she has been most patient with her wayward youngest daughter; but she -is--well, I could not say that she is a creature of emotion." - -"You believe, I suppose,"--Gertrude was slightly nettled--"in women who -kiss frantically on meeting, first one cheek and then the other, and -sign themselves 'with a thousand remembrances and much love, yours most -affectionately,' who adopt a new friend every month, and marry three -times for companionship." - -"Gertrude, I am ashamed of you; you are most provoking and unjust; my -particular detestations, as you know very well, are a couple of girls' -arms round each other's waists--studying one another's dresses all the -time--and a widow who marries again for protection,--it's a widower who -says companionship,--but I enjoy your eloquence; it will be a help to -Fred when he is sermon-making. You will collaborate--that is the correct -word, isn't it?" - -"None of us will ever know how deep and strong is the mater's love," -continued Gertrude, giving no heed to her sister's badinage; "she cannot -speak, and so she will always be misunderstood, as quiet people are. Did -you ever notice that she writes her letters on that old desk, instead of -using the escritoire? that is because it was father's; and although she -never mentions his name, I believe mother would rather starve than leave -this house or part with a chair that was in it when he was living. - -"Frances, I'll tell you something I once saw and can never forget. When -I slept in mother's room, I woke one night, and found she had risen. She -opened a drawer that was always kept locked, and took out a likeness of -father. After looking at it again and again--can you believe that?--she -laid it on a chair, and, kneeling down, prayed to God for us all, and -that they might meet again; and then she looked at him once more, and -put the picture in its place. - -"Pray God, Frances, that you and I, who are to be married on Tuesday, -may love as she has done, once for ever; do you know I've often thought -that Grace is the only one of us that has mother's power of affection, -and yet we are to be married and she is to be left." - -"Yes, Grace is like mother, and yet I don't think mother understands her -one bit What a wife she would make to some man, Gerty; only it would -be bad for him. She would serve him like a slave, and he would be -insufferable. - -"But there is no fear of that calamity," Frances went on, "for Grace -will never marry. She is beginning to have the airs of an old maid -already, a way of dressing and a certain primness which is alarming." - -"It passes me," said Gertrude, "how no man has seen her excellence and -tried to win her; do you know I've sometimes thought that Mr. Lennox -admired her; they would certainly make a perfect pair." - -"You are the dearest old stupid, Gertrude. Of course George Lennox -adores Grace, as he would do a saint in a painted window; and Grace -appreciates him because he teaches astronomy or conchology or something -to working men in the East End. Neither of them knows how to make love; -their conversation is a sort of religious exercise," and Frances' eyes -danced with the delight of a mistress in her art "Why, I once did my -best with him just to keep my hand in, and Gertrude, you might as well -have flirted with that wretched god. I would rather have the god, for he -winked to me just now quite distinctly, the reprobate old scoundrel." - -"Perhaps you're right, and Grace does not wish to marry. But it will be -lonely in this big, empty house for mother and her when we are gone." - -"Dull! Gerty, you do not understand the situation. It will be a relief -for the two of them to have this love traffic over, and no more men -about the house. Grace simply endures it, as a nun might, and the mater -resents any of her daughters being married. They have their programme -fixed. Grace will visit her sick people in the forenoon, and the -mater will do her tradesmen; in the afternoon the two will attend the -Committee for the Relief of Decayed Washerwomen, and after dinner Gracie -will read to mother out of Hallam's _Middle Ages_. - -"I'll box that creature's ears," and Frances jumped to her feet, a -very winsome young woman indeed; "he's grinning from ear to ear on his -pedestal at some wicked joke, or as if he knew a family secret He's an -old cynic, and regards us as a pair of children prattling about life." - - -II - -"My work at Court was finished a little earlier to-day, and I have done -myself the pleasure of calling to inquire for Mrs. Leconte and you after -the marriage. Will you accept a few roses?" The manner was grave and a -trifle formal, but George Lennox was one in whom any woman might safely -put her trust--tall and well built, with a strong face and kindly -eyes--a modest and courteous gentleman. - -"It is good of you to remember us, but, indeed, you have always been -most kind," said Miss Leconte, with the faintest flush on her cheek. -"Mother is out, and will be sorry to have missed you. Will you not sit -down, and I'll order tea." - -The London sun, which labours hard, with many ingenuities, to do his -part by every home and give to each its morsel of brightness, found -the right angle at that moment, and played round Grace's face with soft -afternoon light She was not beautiful like her sisters, but one man out -of a thousand would learn to love her for the loyalty that could be read -in the grey eyes, and the smile, a very revelation of tenderness, as if -her soul had looked at you. - -"Yes, mother and I have settled down to our quiet round after the -festivities; mother needs a rest, for you know how little she thinks of -herself; her unselfishness puts one to shame every day." - -Mr. Lennox looked as if he knew another unselfish person, and Grace -continued hurriedly: "Every one thought the marriage went off so well, -and the day was certainly perfect Didn't Gertrude and Frances make -lovely brides, each in her own way?" - -"So the people said, and I know how they would look; but it happened -that I stood where I could only see the bridesmaids." - -"Will you excuse me putting the roses in water? they are the finest I've -seen this summer, and I want to keep them fresh," and she escaped for -the moment He watched her place one dish on the end of the grand piano -and another on a table near her mother's chair, and a yearning look came -over his face. - -They talked of many things, but both were thinking of one only, and then -it was she, In her kindness, that provoked the catastrophe. - -"You will come again and see mother; she misses Gerty and Frances, and -it is very pleasant to have a talk with old friends." - -"And you, Grace--Miss Leconte, I mean--may I not come to visit you?" - -"You know that I am glad when you come, and always will be; you are my -friend also," and she looked at him with frank, kind eyes. - -"Nothing more than friend after all these years--seven now since first -we met Do you not guess what I was thinking as your sisters stood beside -their bridegrooms in church?" But she did not answer. - -"Can you give me no hope, Grace? If you told me to come back in five -years, I would count them days for the joy of hearing you call me by my -name at the end, as a woman speaks to the man she loves." - -"You ought not to open this matter again" but she was not angry, "for -my mind is made up, and cannot be changed. There is no man living whom -I respect more; none to whom I would rather go in time of trouble; there -is nothing I would not do for you, Mr. Lennox, except one..." - -"But it is the one thing I desire;" and then Lennox began to plead. "No -man is worthy of you, Grace, and I least of all. The world counts me -proud and cold, and I regret my manner every day, but I can love, and -I love you with all my heart You know I can give you a house and every -comfort of life--perhaps I may be able to bring you honour and rank some -day; but these are not the arguments I would urge or you would care to -hear. Love is my plea--that I never loved before I saw you, and if you -refuse me that I will not love any other. - -"Do not speak yet" His face was white, and he stretched out his hands in -appeal. "Have we not the same... faith and the same ideals? Could not we -work together for a lifetime, and serve the world with our love? -Perhaps I ought to have spoken years ago, but the Bar is an uncertain -profession, and my position was not made. It seemed to me cowardly to -ask a woman's love before one could offer her marriage, so I kept -silent till last spring, when I saw your sisters' lovers and their -happiness--and then I could not help telling you that one man hoped to -win your heart Now I ask for your answer. - -"If you love another man," he went on, "or feel that you can never love -me, tell me at once, Grace, for this were better for us both. I would -never cease to love you, for we slow, cold men do not change, and if you -had need I would serve you, but never again would I... trouble you," and -the ablest of the junior counsel at the Chancery Bar broke down before a -girl that had no other attraction than the goodness of her soul. - -Grace Leconte was the calmer of the two when she spoke, but her face was -set like a martyr's in his agony. - -"I had hoped, Mr. Lennox, that you would not have followed up what you -said in March, but yet so selfish is a woman, I am not sorry to be told -that I... am loved by such a man. - -"Believe me, it is I that am unworthy. You have made too much of a very -ordinary woman But I am proud of... your love, and in after years, when -I find the strain too heavy, will often say, 'God has been good to me. -George Lennox loved me." - -He was waiting anxiously, not knowing how this would end. - -"You have spoken frankly to me, and have laid bare your heart," she went -on. "I do not see why I should be hindered by custom from telling you -the truth also," and then she hesitated, but only for a little. "For -years--I do not know how long--I have... loved you, and have followed -your career as only a woman who loves could--gathering every story of -your success, and rejoicing in it all as if you had been mine. Wait, for -I have not yet done. - -"If I could say 'Yes,' I would, George--may I call you this, only -to-day?--without any delay but I must say 'No' instead, although it may -break my heart I can never be your wife." - -"What do you mean...?" - -"Bear with me, and I will tell you all. You know now it is not because I -do not want to marry you--I do; I also can love, and I do not wish to be -an old maid--no woman does. I will not pretend indifference, but it is -not possible for me to leave my mother." - -"Is that all?" cried Lennox, as one who has cast off a great dread. "I -would never ask Mrs. Leconte to part from the last of her daughters. She -will come with you, and we shall strive to make her life peaceful and -glad...." - -"Please do not go on, for this can never be. No power could induce -mother to change her way or live with us. She will live and die alone, -or I must stay with her. My duty is clear, and, George, you must... -accept this decision as final." - -"You will let me speak to her and put our case...?" - -"No, a thousand times no. She must never know our secret. It would still -be the same between you and me, but mother would fret every year because -I had made this sacrifice. As it is she knows nothing, and will never -guess the truth. Promise me you will say nothing; that is one favour I -have to ask, and there is another, that... you do not call again, for I -could not bear to see you for a little... for some years. You will do so -much for me, will you not?" - -He had sat down, his head on his breast, a figure of utter dejection, -when she laid her hand on his arm. - -"Things cannot end after this fashion," and Lennox sprang to his feet; -"does not the Book say that a man will forsake father and mother for -love's sake, and should it not be so with a woman also? What right have -you to deny your love and blight two lives?" - -"Many would say that I am wrong, but my mind is made up. Do not try -me farther, George; God knows how hard it is to obey my conscience. My -duty, as I see it, and that is all one can go by, is to mother, and if -I made it second even to love, I should be inwardly ashamed, and you... -you could not respect me. - -"Say you understand," and her lips trembled; "say that you forgive me -for the sorrow I have brought upon you, and let us say farewell." - -He made as though he would have clasped her in his arms and compelled -her to surrender, and then he also conquered. - -"God keep and bless you, Grace; if I cannot have you in my home, none -can keep me from carrying you in my heart," and he was gone. - -She watched him till he disappeared round the corner of the square, and -noticed that he walked as one stricken with age. One of their windows -commanded a corner of the square garden, where the trees were in their -first summer greenery, and she could hear the birds singing. As she -turned away, the sunlight lingered on the white roses which George -Lennox had brought as the token of his love, and then departed, leaving -the faded room in the shadow. - - -III - -"This frame seems to have been made for our purpose, Grace," and Mrs. -Leconte arranged in order Gertrude with her two girls and Frances with -her two boys. "It seems only a few months, instead of four years, since -the wedding day. - -"They have good husbands and happy homes. I only wish their father..." -This was so unusual that Grace looked at her mother, and Mrs. Leconte -checked herself. "You are going down to the Rectory, I hope, next week; -Gertrude is always anxious to have you, and August in London is very -trying." - -"Certainly; but on one condition, mother, that you go too; it would be -such a joy to Gerty, and you must have some change." - -"Perhaps I will, a little later, but I never leave London in August. I -have always been very strong, and I like a... quiet time then." - -"Mother," and Mrs. Leconte turned at the passion in her daughter's -voice, "why will you not allow any of us to share your remembrance and -your grief? We know why you shut yourself up alone in August, and now, -when there are just you and I, it hurts me that I may not be with you, -if it were only to pray... or weep. Would it not be some help?" and -Grace took her mother's hand, a very rare caress. - -"You are a good daughter, Grace," she spoke with much difficulty, -"but... God made me to be alone, and silent I was not able to tell -either joy or sorrow even to your father. You spoke of weeping; do you -know I've never shed a tear since I was a child--not often then. - -"When he died, my eyes were dry.... Oh, Grace, you are most like me: may -God deliver you from a tearless grief; but it must be so with me to the -end." - -"Dearest mother," said Grace, but she did not kiss her. - -"You are often in my thoughts, Grace," after a long silence, "and I am -concerned about you, for you have aged beyond your years. Are you... -well?" - -"What a question, mater; you know that I have the health of a -donkey--save a headache now and then that gives me an interesting -pallor. You forget that I am getting to be an old maid, nearly thirty." - -"Is it really that... I mean, do you not feel lonely?--it is a contrast, -your sisters' lot and yours, and a woman's heart was made for love, but -if it be so do not sorrow over-much... I can't explain myself--there are -many in this world to love, and, at any rate... you will never know the -sense of loss." - -"That is the postman's ring," and Grace made an errand to obtain the -letters, and lingered a minute on the way. - -"Only one letter, and it's for you, mother. I think I know the -handwriting." - -"Of course you do; it's from Mrs. Archer, George Lennox's aunt. She is -a capital correspondent, and always sends lots of news. Let me see. Oh, -they've had Gertrude and her husband staying a night with them for a -dinner. - -"'Everything went off well'... 'Gerty looked very distinguished, and -has just the air of a clergyman's wife. Gerty was always suited for that -part, just as Frances does better among the painters.... I wish all the -same they were both here, Grace, but I suppose that's a wrong feeling, -for marriage is a woman's natural lot... that is in most cases, some -have another calling.' - -"Do you know who has been staying with the Archers? Why, you might guess -that--George Lennox; he's Jane Archer's favourite nephew, and I don't -wonder; no woman, I mean sensible woman, could help liking him; he's -so reliable and high-toned, as well as able, and do you know, I always -thought Mr. Lennox good-looking. - -"What's this? 'You will be sorry to hear that George is looking very ill -indeed, and just like an old man, and he's not forty yet. Are you there, -Grace? Oh, I thought perhaps you had left the room. Isn't that sad about -Mr. Lennox? - -"Mrs. Archer goes on to say that he overworks shockingly, and that he is -bound to break down soon; he will take no advice, and allows himself no -pleasure. What a pity to see a man throwing away his life, isn't it?" - -"Perhaps he finds his... satisfaction in work, mother." - -"Nonsense; no man ought to kill himself. Mr. Lennox ought to have -married years ago, and then he would not have been making a wreck of -himself; I don't know any man who would have made a better husband, or -of whom a woman would have been prouder." And Mrs. Leconte compelled a -reply. - -"He is a good man, and I think you are right, mother." Something in her -tone struck Mrs. Leconte's ear. - -"Grace, Mr. Lennox used to come frequently to this house, and now I have -noticed he never calls." - -Her daughter said nothing. - -"It was after your sisters' wedding that he ceased to call. Do you -think... I mean, was he in love with Gerty? Frances it couldn't be. I -never thought of that before, for I am not very observant. Nothing would -have given me more pleasure, if my daughters were to be married, than -to have George Lennox for a son-in-law. Can it be, Grace, that Gerty -refused him, and we have never known?" - -"I am sure she did not, mother;" and again Mrs. Leconte caught a strange -note in her daughter's voice. - -"Do you know, I suspect that if you had given him any encouragement, -George Lennox would have been a happy man to-day. Is that so, Grace? - -"Pardon me, Grace, perhaps I ought not to ask such a question; it came -suddenly into my mind. Whatever you did was no doubt right; a woman -cannot give her hand without her heart even to the best of men. If it -be as I imagine, I do not blame you, Grace, but... I am sorry for George -Lennox." - -Grace wept that night over the saddest of all the ironies of life--a -sacrifice which was a mistake and which had no reward. - - - - -AN EVANGELIST - - -His private business was lard, which he bought for the rise and sold for -the fall--being a bull or a bear without prejudice--and with a success -so distinguished that his name was mentioned in highly complimentary -terms on the American market When the famous lard corner of 1887 had -been wound up, and every man had counted his gains (or losses), old -man Perkins, of Chicago, did justice to his chief opponent, like the -operator of honour that he was. - -"No, sir, I ain't a slouch, and the man who says that I don't know -lard is a mining expert; but Elijah Higginbotham, of Victoria Street, -Liverpool, Great Britain, has come out on top: he's a hustler from way -back, is Elijah." - -Mr. Perkins' opinion, which was a deduction based on the results of at -least six first-class encounters, was generally accepted on both sides -of the Atlantic, and it was conceded that what Mr. Elijah Higginbotham -did not know about that capricious and volatile instrument of -speculation was not knowledge. As a matter of principle he was opposed -to gambling, and denounced it with much eloquence and perfect sincerity -at conferences of a religious character,--warning his audience, composed -mainly of old ladies, against the Derby,--but if this evil and ruinous -spirit should happen to enter his market, where it seemed quite at home, -Elijah was prepared to overthrow gambling with its own weapons, and on -such occasions it was worldly wisdom to bet on Elijah's side. His ideas -regarding the date of unfulfilled prophecy might be crude, but his -foresight regarding the future of lard was an instinct. - -His public business was religion, and especially the work of an -evangelist, and to this Elijah gave himself with incredible courage and -diligence. When he was not manipulating lard or asleep, he was inquiring -into the condition of his neighbour's soul, and none could escape him. -It was freely told on 'Change how he had fallen on an alderman, who had -responded too generously to the loyal toasts at a municipal banquet, -and so impressed him with the shortness of life and the awfulness of the -future, that the worthy man was bathed in tears, and promised if spared -to join the Plymouth Brethren next day. Bishops of the Church, who are -awful beings to ordinary people, and with whom some of us hardly dare -to speak about the weather, were to Elijah a chosen prey in railway -carriages, so that he would hunt a train to travel with one for a long -journey, and he has been known to reduce one pompous prelate to the -verge of apoplexy by showing before a (secretly) delighted company of -"firsts" that this successor to the Apostles did not really know wherein -conversion consisted, and, by not very indirect inference, that the -Bishop was himself still unconverted. Unto Elijah belongeth also the -doubtful and perilous distinction of having been the unwilling and (as -he would himself say) unworthy means of stopping a London express when -going at full speed. It was, of course, an old and perhaps over-nervous -gentleman who actually pulled the cord and waved to the guard, and -it was Elijah who offered immediate and elaborate explanations; but -Elijah's fellow-passenger held a strong position when he laid the blame -on the evangelist. - -"It's well enough for him to say that he was speaking spiritually, but -he told me plainly that I was going to Hell, and not to London, and -I put it to you, guard,"--by this time there was a large jury of -interested passengers,--"when the only other man in the compartment -uses language of that kind, and he much younger and stronger, whether I -wasn't justified in calling for assistance." - -Quiet men, not prone to panics, just breaking upon their luncheon at the -Club, rose and fled when Elijah sat down at the same table, knowing well -that not only would a forbidding silence be no protection, but that even -ingenious and ensnaring allusions to the critical condition of the lard -market would be no protection against personal inquiries of the most -searching character. He was always provided with portable religious -literature of a somewhat startling character, and was in this way -able to supply his fellow-passengers in the evening 'bus; and it was -stimulating to any one with a sense of humour to see commercial magnates -handling one of Elijah's tracts as if it were dynamite, and late-comers -taking in the interior at a glance from the step, and hurriedly climbing -to the top--willing to risk bronchitis rather than twenty minutes of -Elijah. His conscientious opinion was that the limited number of persons -who held his particular opinions would go to heaven, and the large -number who did not would go elsewhere, and in these circumstances no one -could blame him for being urgent No doubt Elijah--for indeed this was -almost an official title--was very insistent, and had no tact; but -then when you are pulling people out of fires, and handing them out -of burning houses--these were his favourite illustrations of the -situation--one does not pay much attention to ceremony or even manners. -It was often said that he alienated people from religion, and so -defeated his own ends; but I suppose that his reply would be that he -left them no worse than he found them, and if it was asserted that he -influenced no one, he very likely had some cases of success among that -class of persons who are never utterly persuaded until they are felled -by a blow between the eyes. Very likely he was not concerned about -success or failure, approval or disapproval, but simply was determined -to do his duty, which was to hold back as many of his neighbours as he -could from going to Hell. This duty he discharged with all his might and -with undeniable courage, and Elijah had his reward by universal consent -in that no one accused him of canting, for he never said anything he -did not believe with the marrow of his bones, or of hypocrisy, for he -certainly made no gain of godliness. - -When Elijah entered my room one morning--his clean-shaven, heavy-jawed -face more determined than ever--I was certain that he had not come to -talk over the weather, and prepared myself for faithful dealing. - -"It is not my custom," he began, "to read fiction, and I believe that -the more people read novels the less will they want to read their -Bibles; but I was recommended to read a book of yours, called _The Days -of Auld Lang Syne_, by a friend, in whose judgment I have usually placed -confidence, and I feel it my duty to call and remonstrate with you about -that book." - -Was it the literary form that he wished to criticise, or the -substance? In either case I hoped he would speak with all frankness, an -encouragement which Mr. Higginbotham perhaps hardly needed. - -"Well, I don't know anything about literature, for I thank God that my -Bible and the _Pilgrim's Progress_ are enough for me; but I did once -read Scott--long ago before I knew the value of time--and your book is -certainly not up to that sample." This, I assured Elijah, was my own -fixed and unalterable opinion, and I ventured to congratulate Elijah on -the acuteness of his literary judgment--which compliment was passed over -without acknowledgment--and then I pressed for his farther criticism. - -"What I have to say is just this, that there are characters in the book -who ought not to be introduced to a Christian family, and views which -are sure to injure religion." - -Now it happened that I had been reading that morning an interesting and -very caustic review, in which it was pointed out that no people had ever -lived or ever would live so good as the inhabitants of Drumtochty: -that I had confused together the (mythical) garden of Eden with a -Scots village; that the places were really very different in morals and -general environment; that it was a pity that the author did not know the -limits of true art; that what was wanted was reality, not sentimental -twaddle, and that in short--but this is not how the critic put it--let -the writer of fiction stick to the ash-pit in a house, and not attempt -the picture gallery. The critic--a young gentleman, I should say--was -very severe on my London doctor, who had taken a servant girl to his -own house that she might die there in peace, and assured me that such -extravagant unrealities showed my hopeless ignorance, and proved my -unfitness to be an artist in life. Up to this point I had been much -humbled, and had been trying to profit by every word of wisdom; but now -I laid down the paper and had a few moments of sinless enjoyment, for -this incident had been lifted bodily out of life, with only some -change in names, and was the only fact in the book. A poor puling -idealist!--yet even in my most foolish flights I had kept some hold on -life--but here was Elijah Higginbotham sitting calmly in my study and -suggesting that I was a realist of such a pronounced and shameless -character that my books were not fit for family reading. - -When I pressed him for some evidence of his charge, he cited "Posty," -and spoke briefly but strongly about that unfortunate man's taste for -alcoholic liquors. - -"Could I reconcile it with my conscience to introduce such a man to -the Christian public, and was I not aware of the injury which drink was -doing in our country?" - -"Mr. Higginbotham," I said, "my business was to represent life in a -Scots parish, within limits, as I had seen it, and although I say it -with deep regret, and hope the matter will never be mentioned outside -this room, every Scot is not a rigid and bigoted abstainer--a few, I -hope fewer every year, do 'taste.'" - -"We are all perfectly aware of that, and more than a few,"--which was -not generous on his part,--"but that is not the question. It is whether -you, as a respectable--and I would fain believe in spite of what I have -read--Christian man, ought deliberately to condone and countenance this -conduct." - -"Surely, sir, you do not suppose for one moment that I have the -slightest sympathy with intemperance, or that I did not deeply regret -the habits into which Posty had fallen! Had I known that you or any -intelligent person would have imagined such a thing, I would have added -footnotes, whenever Posty forgot himself, such as (1) The author deeply -regrets Posty's conduct; (2) The author repudiates Posty's language with -all his heart." - -"It might have saved misunderstanding." Elijah regarded me dubiously. -"I would certainly not have judged that you felt so strongly from the -book." - -"Ah, there you are wrong, for again and again I simply wrestled with -Posty to take the blue ribbon; but you know one should not boast, and -it would have sounded egotistical to obtrude these efforts, unhappily -unsuccessful, in the book. - -"It is," I ventured to add with some pathos, "very hard that I should -first of all have had to suffer from my association, even in a literary -sense, with Posty, and then afterwards to be treated by religious and -philanthropic persons as if I had been his boon companion." - -"No, no; don't put words in my mouth," broke in Elijah. "I said nothing -of the kind; but you have not been careful to convey your own position." - -"Mr. Higginbotham, if I might give you a word of advice, do not meddle -with fiction, for you never can tell into what company you may come. -Why, I may tell you that 'Posty,' before his lamented death, used to -haunt this room--in a literary sense, of course--and some evenings I was -terrified. - -"If he were (comparatively) sober he would confine himself to the news -of the district, and the subject of her Majesty's mails; but if he had -been tasting he always took to theology, as Scots generally do, and then -he grew so profound and eloquent on the doctrine of election that if you -had come in my character would have been worth nothing: you would -have jumped to the conclusion, not without reason, that he had got his -refreshments here." - -"You will excuse me," said Elijah, who had lost his customary expression -of cocksureness during the last few minutes, "I am out of touch with the -market: am I not right in understanding that the Postman was never -alive?" - -"Well, I'm sorry you have thought so, for it would be rather a severe -reflection on his author; but I think he must have had some life, else -you would not have done him (and me) the honour of so much attention." - -"He was your manufacture or creation, in fact done for the book; put -it as you please--you know what I mean"--and my visitor grew impatient. -"Then, if that be so, you could make him say and do what you pleased." - -"In fact, take the blue ribbon and become an example for temperance -speeches." - -"Why not?" replied Elijah stoutly; "it might have done good." - -"Mr. Higginbotham," I said with much solemnity, "be thankful that in -your busy and blameless life you have never meddled with fiction, save, -I fancy, in commercial transactions; for you have escaped trials of -anxiety and disappointment beyond anything in the markets. You suppose, -I notice, that because a story-teller creates certain characters, he -can do with them as he pleases, putting words into their mouths and -dictating their marriages." - -"Well, naturally I do." - -"Nothing of the kind, sir. Once these characters are fairly started on -their career, and come of age, as it were, they go their own way, -and the whole of their author's time is taken up following them, -remonstrating with them, and trying, generally in vain, to get them -to work out his plan. Now you would say, I fancy, that the poor author -could at least settle their marriages." - -"I would do so," said Elijah grimly, "if I were writing." - -"Unfortunately that is one of the most difficult and delicate parts of -a poor novelist's work, and he fails as often as he succeeds. The -man marries the wrong woman, and _vice versa_, till the author is in -despair, and sometimes wishes he had never called such a set of rebels -into existence." - -Elijah looked incredulous. - -"I can assure you, you never know what secret they may have in their -past lives, or what love affairs are going on behind your back. I'll -give you an illustration, if I may quote from very simple fiction. -A lady wrote me, after the publication of the _Brier Bush_, that she -believed Drumsheugh was in love with Marget Howe, and wished to know -whether this was the case? I replied that this suspicion had crossed my -own mind, and that I was watching events. And as you have done me the -honour of reading _Auld Lang Syne_, you will remember that Drumsheugh -had been a faithful, although undeclared lover of Marget since early -manhood. Yet it came on me as a surprise; and if any one had said, Why -did not you tell this sooner? my answer would have been, I did not know. -If I am not wearying you, Mr. Higginbotham--I am on my defence, and I -should like to have your good opinion--I may confess that I tried to -arrange, in a book, a girl's love affairs, and she married the wrong -man, one quite unsuited for her, and the result was--although this is -again a secret--they have had many unnecessary trials. No, no, we are -helpless creatures, we so-called authors; poor mother hens, beseeching -from the edge of the pond and lamenting, while the brood of ducklings -swim away in all directions." - -"That's all very well; and, as writing is not in my line, you may be -right; but I have not come to my most serious ground of complaint, and -that is the Postman's--er--judgment and future lot." - -"Yes," I said, and waited for the indictment u Here, according to your -own description, is a man"--and Elijah checked off the list of my -poor gossip's sins on his fingers--"who makes no profession of -religion--vital religion, I mean, for theology is a mere matter of the -head--who indulged in spirituous liquors to excess, who refused tracts, -when they were offered, with contempt, who to all appearance had never -known any saving change. He dies suddenly, and bravely, I admit, but -with no sign of repentance, and this man, dying in his sin, is sent to -Heaven as if he were a saint If that is what happened with the Postman," -summed up Elijah with uncompromising decision, "then I do not know the -Gospel. 'He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not -shall be damned,' is plain enough. He wasn't saved here--no one could -say that 'As the tree falleth, so shall it lie.' - -He couldn't be saved there. Yes, it may sound severe, but it is the -truth, and there is no room for sentiment in religion; your story is -grossly misleading, and may do injury to many precious souls." - -"By moving people, do you mean, to give their lives for others and to -forget themselves?" I dared to ask. - -"I don't deny that it was a gallant deed to jump into the river and save -the girl's life," replied Elijah hastily. "I appreciate that; but it's -not by works that any one can be saved. What right had you to send that -man to Heaven?" - -"Mr. Higginbotham, you are still making me the scapegoat for other men's -acts. I was only the historian. It was Jamie Soutar and Carmichael, the -Free Kirk minister, who held a council on the road one day, and decided -that it must be well with Posty because he died to save a little -child. Jamie has always been a trial to me, and a ground of criticism, -especially because he used to cloak his good deeds with falsehood to -escape praise instead of proclaiming them at the corners of the streets -as the good people used to do. So little sympathy have I with Jamie, -that before the proof sheets of the book left this room I sent for Jamie -(in a literary sense), and he came (in the same sense), and I placed him -just where you are sitting and spoke to him (always in the same sense) -very seriously. May I tell you--as it will further vindicate me--what I -said? - -"Thank you, sir, for your patience. 'James,' I said--for if any one -is usually called Jamie and on some occasion you say James, it is very -impressive--'if these sheets are printed as they stand, I'm afraid both -you and I will suffer at the hands of the good people, and, with your -permission, there is one passage at least I would like to amend.' - -"'What is it?* said Jamie quickly, but, I felt, unresponsively. - -"'It's where you go up to London solely to visit the poor servant lass, -and then say you are in charge of Drumsheugh's cattle; where you assure -Lily that her mistress had been enquiring for her, when you had just -rated her mistress for cruel carelessness; where you give Lily twenty -pounds as from her mistress, while it is your own money: all to cheer a -poor dying lassie, James, I admit, but not true, not true.' - -"'What wud ye hev me to say?' enquired Jamie, but very drily indeed. - -"'Well, I have written a sentence or two, James, which I hope you will -allow me to insert, and I am sure our critics will be quite satisfied; -it's what they would say themselves.' - -"'Read on,' said Jamie, looking very hard. - -"'Here I am, Lily, a' the way frae Drumtochty, ane's errand to see ye--a -matter o' five pounds outlay, I reckon, but what's that 'atween friends? -And here's twenty punds o' ma hard-earned savin's a've brocht ye; ye'll -pay me back gin ye be spared; an' gin things come to the worst, yir -grandmother's honest; interest needna be mentioned unless ye insist, and -ye maunna tell onybody what a've done for ye, except a friend or two in -the Glen.' - -"'Are ye prood o' that passage?' enquired Jamie, and his tone was -distinctly disagreeable; 'd'ye think it a credit to you or me?' - -"'It's safe, James, and will be acceptable.' - -"Mr. Higginbotham, you will have some idea what sort of men I've had to -deal with, and will be more merciful to me when I tell you that Jamie -walked to the door without a word and then gave me his answer: 'Ye hev -ae Pharisee in yer book; an' gin ye want two, a'm no the man.' You can -see yourself what a man of Jamie Soutar's peculiar disposition would -do, if he had the power, with poor Posty, who gave his life for a little -maid." - -"More than Jamie Soutar would... in fact, let Posty off"--Elijah spoke -with some feeling--"and it's a mercy that such decisions are not in -our hands. We must just go by Revelation, and I do not see any way of -escape. As regards Jamie, I cannot approve of deliberate falsehood, -and I wish to say so distinctly, but I understand and... appreciate his -motive." - -As Elijah said this, certain stories came suddenly into my mind: how he -would have a hot altercation with some man on religion, but afterwards -would do him a good turn in business; how a young fellow had insulted -him in a 'bus, and in a great strait, had been helped by some unknown -person, and he always believed himself that the person was Elijah. It -seemed to me as if the evangelist's face had relaxed a little, and that -beneath this casing of doctrine a heart might be beating. So I went on -with my defence. - -"The other judge who took upon him to reward 'Posty' in the next world -was the Free Kirk minister, and I always regarded Carmichael as a -heady young man, too much inclined to take up with new views, and not -sufficiently respectful to the past But young men have generous impulses -and I suppose Carmichael's heart got the better of his head as he -thought of Posty giving all he had--his life--for the drowning lassie." - -"He would have been unworthy the name of a man, let alone a minister," -broke in Elijah, "if he had not admired that deed. Do you think I -don't... appreciate the devotion of such a man? It was admirable, and -Mr. Carmichael is to be excused if he... did go too far." - -So Elijah really was the "Produce Broker" who headed the subscription -for the widows and orphans of the gallant lifeboats-men. Some had -laughed the idea to scorn, saying that he would never give L100 to -any object except tracts or missions. They did not know my evangelist. -Whatever he compelled himself to think the Almighty would do with men, -Posty had been very well off indeed with Elijah as judge. - -"Mr. Higginbotham," I said, taking a rapid resolution, "it does not -matter what I think, for a humble story-teller is no theologian, and it -matters as little what my friends of the book thought: let me tell the -story over again in brief, and I shall leave you to pronounce 'Posty's' -doom." - -"It's far later than I supposed," and Elijah rose hastily, "and I'm -afraid I must go: the market is very sensitive at present. Some other -day we can talk the matter over. I have no wish to be uncharitable, -whatever people may think of me, but we must obey the truth. Well, if -you insist--just ten minutes.... It is not by our feelings, however, -that such things are to be decided." Elijah sat down again, looking just -a shade too stern, as if he were afraid of his own integrity, and not -perfectly sure that the Bible would back him. - -"It was Mrs. Macfadyen's youngest daughter, you remember, who fell into -the Tochty, and Elsie was everybody's favourite. She was a healthy and -winsome child, with fair hair and bright laughing eyes... - -"Blue?" suddenly enquired Elijah, and then added in some confusion, "I -beg your pardon; I was thinking of a child I once knew, and... loved. Go -on." - -"Yes, blue, about the colour of a forget-me-not...." - -"Hers were darker, like the sea, you know, and in her last illness they -were as deep... I interrupt you." - -"People liked Elsie because she was such a merry soul: coming to meet -you on the road, nodding to you over a hedge, or giving you a kiss if -you wished." - -Elijah nodded as one who understood; yet he was a wifeless, childless -man. Some child friendship most likely; and now, even as I glance at -him from the corner of my eyes, his friend is putting her arms round his -neck. Would they recognise him in the 'bus at this moment? - -"Her mother was washing blankets by the edge of the river, which was in -flood, and rising, and the lassie was playing beside her with a doll. -She was singing at the very time in gladness of hear and thinking of no -danger." - -"Poor little woman!" It gave one a start, for this was a new voice, -unknown in the lard market or the religious meeting. What had become of -Elijah Higginbotham? - -"When she either stooped too near the flood, or a larger wave had caught -her where she sat, and at the sound of a scream her mother looked round, -and saw the wee lassie disappear in the black cauldron which whirled -round and round within the rocks." - -"Ah!" groaned Elijah, visibly moved, who had spoken calmly of the -everlasting damnation of the greater portion of the human race times -without number. - -"Her mother, in her agony, cried to God to save Elsie." - -"She could not have done better," cried Elijah; "and He answered her -prayer." - -"While she prayed, Posty was coming down the footpath behind, and he -heard her cry." - -"Posty was the instrument," and Elijah rapped the floor with his stick. -"He obeyed the Divine command within, and he cannot go without some -reward." - -"He tore off his coat in an instant, and then--I suppose if you had been -there you would have besought him to bethink himself: and to remember -that he was a man unfit to die! Is not that so?" - -"Sir," said Elijah, "you do me less than justice, and... insult me. What -right have you to ask me such a question? I have preached, and I will -preach again; but there's a time for preaching, and a time to refrain -from preaching. I can swim, and I have saved two lives in my time. I am -a fool for boasting, but I would..." - -"I believe you would, Mr. Higginbotham"--I saw an able-bodied man -without fear--"and I beg your pardon..." - -Elijah waved his hand. I was to go on to the end without delay. - -"It seemed fifteen minutes, it was only one, while the mother hung over -the edge of the black seething whirlpool, and then he came up, bleeding -from a wound in the forehead, without Elsie." - -"I take you to witness," declared Elijah solemnly, "that I said he was -a brave man. Yes, he had the natural virtues, and some who make a -profession have none." - -"For a few seconds he hung on to the edge to get breath, and Mrs. -Macfadyen herself besought him not to risk his life, for he was a -husband and father; but he only answered: 'I'll hae Elsie oot'." - -"They forgot themselves,--do you mark that?--both of them," cried -Elijah. "Whose Spirit was that? Didn't they keep the commandment of -Love, which is the chief commandment? and--answer me--can any one keep -that commandment without grace?" - -It was not with me but with himself the evangelist was arguing, and I -went on: - -"He came up again, this time with Elsie in one arm, a poor, little limp -bundle of clothes, her yellow hair spread over her face, and her eyes -closed, I was afraid, for ever." - -"But she lived, didn't she?" There was no Elijah Higginbotham anywhere -to be found now, only an excited man, concerned about the saving of a -little maid. "Excuse me, I didn't read that part about the saving so -carefully as I ought I was more concerned about... the judgment." - -"Yes, Elsie was all right in a day or two, but Posty had not strength to -do more than hand her to her mother, and then, exhausted by the struggle -with the water, he fell back, and was dead when he was found." - -"What were you doing that you did not lay hold of Posty and pull him -out?" thundered Elijah; "you seem to have been there." - -"Only in a literary sense," I hastened to explain, for it now seemed -likely that the evangelist having come to condemn Posty, was about to -take up the cudgels on his behalf. - -"I wish to Heaven you had been there in a physical sense; you would have -been far more useful!" replied Elijah. "And so he died and Elsie was -saved?" - -"Yes, Posty died and went to his account; that was how he lived, and -that was how he died." And I waited. - -Elijah sprang out of his seat and stood on the hearthrug, his face -flushed, and his eyes shining. - -"It's a pity that he tasted; I wish he hadn't It's a pity he did not -think more about his own soul; I wish he had. But Posty was a hero, and -played the man that day. Posty will have another chance. Posty loved, -and God is Love; if there's such a thing as justice, it's all right with -Posty." - -We did not look at one another for a full minute--a print of Perugino's -Crucifixion over the mantelpiece interested me, and Elijah's eye seemed -to be arrested by the _Encyclopedia Britannica_ on the other side of the -room--a minute later we shook hands upon the basis of the Divine Love -and our common humanity, and nothing more passed between us. - -From my window I could see him go along the street He stopped and -slapped his leg triumphantly. I seemed to hear the evangelist say again -with great joy: "It's all right with Posty!" I said, "And it's all right -with Elijah Higginbotham." - - - - -THE COLLECTOR'S INCONSISTENCY - -There were many capable men in the session of the North Free Kirk, -Muirtown--such as Bailie MacCallum, from whom Drumsheugh bought Kate -Carnegie's wedding present after a historical tussle--but they were all -as nothing beside the Collector, and this was so well known in Muirtown -that people spoke freely of the Collector's kirk. When he arrived in -Muirtown, it was understood that he sampled six kirks, three Established -and three Free--the rumour about the Original Seceders was never -authenticated--and that the importance of his visits was thoroughly -appreciated. No unseemly fuss was made on his appearance; but an -ex-bailie, or the Clerk to the Road Trustees, or some such official -person, happened to meet him at the door, and received him into his pew -with quiet, unostentatious respect; and when he left, officious deacons -did not encompass his exit, rubbing their hands and asking how he liked -their place, but an elder journeying in the same direction entered into -general conversation and was able to mention with authority next day -what the Collector had said. Various reasons were canvassed for his -settlement in the North Kirk, where old Dr. Pitten-driegh was then -drawing near to the close of his famous exposition of the Epistle to the -Romans, published after the Doctor's death, and sold to the extent of -fifty-seven copies among the congregation. It was, for one thing, a -happy coincidence that on that occasion the Doctor, having taken an -off day from Romans, had preached from the text "Render unto Caesar the -things which are Caesar's," and had paid a high tribute to the character -of a faithful servant of the Crown. Some importance, no doubt, also -attached to the fact that the Procurator Fiscal sat in the "North Free," -austere and mysterious, whose power of detecting crime bordered on the -miraculous, and whose ways were veiled in impenetrable darkness, so -that any one with a past felt uncomfortable in his presence; and it was -almost synonymous with doom to say of a man, "The Fiscal has his eye on -him." Perhaps it was not without influence that the Supervisor, who was -the Collector's subordinate, with power also of official life and death, -had long sat under Dr. Pittendriegh--the Doctor and the Collector were -indeed the only persons the Supervisor did sit under. He had admirable -opportunities of enlarging to the Collector on the solid and edifying -qualities of Dr. Pittendriegh's ministry, and the unfortunate defects -in the preaching and pastoral gifts of neighbouring ministers, in the -intervals of business, when the two of them were not investigating into -the delinquencies of some officer of excise, who had levied a tax on the -produce of Dunleith Distillery not only in money but also in kind; or -concocting cunning plans for the detection of certain shepherds who were -supposed to be running an entirely unlicensed still in the recesses of -Glen Urtach. It was at least through this official, himself an elder, -that the Collector's decision was intimated to the Doctor and the other -authorities of the North Kirk, and they lost no time in giving it -proper and irrevocable effect The Supervisor set an example of patriotic -sacrifice by surrendering his pew in the centre of the church and -retiring to the modest obscurity of the side seats, so that the -Collector could be properly housed; for it was not to be thought of for -a moment that he should sit anywhere except in the eye of the public, -or that ordinary persons--imagine for instance young children--should be -put in the same pew with him. So he sat there alone, for he had neither -wife nor child, from January to December, except when on his official -leave--which he took not for pleasure but from a sense of duty--and he -gave a calm, judicial attention to all the statements put before him -by the preacher. Very soon after this arrangement the Doctor discovered -that the Deacons' Court required strengthening, and, as a man of -affairs, the Collector was added at the head of the list; and when -a year later a happy necessity compelled an election of elders, the -Collector was raised to this higher degree, and thereafter was "thirled" -to the North Free, and the history of that kirk and of the Collector -became one. - -What exactly the great man collected, or what functions and powers might -be included in his office, were not matters Muirtown pretended to define -or dared to pry into. It was enough that he was, in the highest and -final sense of the word, Collector--no mere petty official of a -local body, but the representative of the Imperial Government and -the commissioned servant of Her Majesty the Queen, raised above -principalities and powers in the shape of bailies and provosts, and -owning no authority save, as was supposed, the Chancellor of the -Exchequer. For any one to confound him with the collector of, say, water -rates was either abysmal ignorance or, it might be, although one hoped -not, a piece of Radical insolence and a despising of dignities. It was -good manners to call him by his title--many would have had difficulty in -mentioning his private name, which was, I believe, Thomas Richard Thome, -just as the Queen's, I believe, is Guelph--and it was pleasing to hear -a porter at the station shout, amid a crowd of tourists going to the -Kilspindie Arms, "Collector's cab"; or Bailie MacCallum on the street, -"Fine morning, Collector"; and one did not wonder that the session of -the "North Free" exalted its head when this kind of thing went on at -its meetings: "Moderator, with your permission, I would like to have -the mind of the Collector"; and then in reply, "Moderator, my views -practically coincide with those of the Fiscal" And there were dinner -tables, such as old Peter MacCash's, the manager of the Muirtown Bank, -where conversation reached a very high level of decoration, and nothing -could be heard save "Sheriff," "Provost," "Collector," "Town Clerk," -"Fiscal," "Banker," "Doctor," "Dean of Guild," and such like, till an -untitled person hardly dared to defend his most cherished opinion. - -As the movements of Government officials were always mysterious, no one -could tell whence the Collector had come, but it was known to a few -that he was not really of Scots blood, and had not been bred in the -Presbyterian Kirk. When his hand in the way of Church rule was heavy -on the "North Free" and certain sought anxiously for grounds of revolt, -they were apt to whisper that, after all, this man, who laid down the -ecclesiastical law with such pedantic accuracy and such inflexible -severity, was but a Gentile who had established himself in the true -fold, or at most a proselyte of the gate. They even dared to ask what, -in the matter of churches, he had been before he was appointed to -Muirtown; and so unscrupulous and virulent are the mongers of sedition, -as every student of history knows, that some insinuated that the -Collector had been a Nonconformist; while others, considering that -this violence could only overreach itself, contented themselves with -allusions to Swedenborg. Most of his brethren treated him as if he had -been within the covenant from the beginning, and had been granted the -responsible privilege of Scots birth either because in course of time -they had forgotten the fact of alien origin in face of every appearance -to the contrary, or because, as we all need mercy, it is not wise to -search too curiously into the dark chapters of a man's past. - -Upon his part the Collector had wonderfully adapted himself to the new -environment, and it defied the keenest critic to find in him any trace -of a former home. It is true that he did not use the Scots dialect, -merely employing a peculiarly felicitous word at a time for purposes -of effect, but he had stretched his vowels to the orthodox breadth, and -could roll off the letter "r" with a sense of power. "Dour" he could -say in a way that deceived even the elect Sometimes he startled the -Presbytery with a sound like "Yah, yah," which indicates the shallow -sharpness of the English, instead of "He-e-er, he-e-er," which reveals -as in a symbol the solidity of the Scot; but then one cannot live in -London for years--as an official must--and be quite unscathed; and -an acute observer might mark a subdued smartness in dress--white tie -instead of stock on sacrament Sabbaths--which was not indigenous; but -then it must be allowed that one in his position was obliged to be, to -a certain degree, a man of the world. No one ever caught him quoting a -clause from the Prayer-Book on the rare occasions when he was heard at -his family devotions, or breaking into a riotous "Hallelujah" in the -midst of a sermon. If misfortune had thrown him into Episcopalian or -Methodist folds in earlier years, he had since been thoroughly purged -and cleansed. He had a way of alluding to "the Disruption principles -laid down in 1843," or "my younger brethren will allow me to say that -the Disruption," which was very convincing; and on the solitary occasion -when he made a set speech in public--for his strength lay in silence -rather than eloquence--he had a peroration on our "covenanted -forefathers" which left an indelible impression. It was understood that -he spent his holidays in visiting remote districts of the Highlands -where the people took strong peppermints in church without scruple or -apology, and preserved the primeval simplicity of Presbyterian worship -entire; and it was supposed that he was looking for a birthplace which -would finally establish his position as an elder of the Kirk. - -What gave the Collector his supreme influence in the session of the -Free North, and extended his sphere of ecclesiastical influence to the -Presbytery of Muirtown, was an amazing knowledge of Church law and a -devouring love for order. The latter may have been the natural outcome -of his professional training, wherein red-tape has been raised to a -science, but the former was an acquired accomplishment Dr. Pittendriegh -remembered almost painfully that on the day of his election to the -eldership the Collector enquired the names of the most reliable -authorities on Church law, and that he (Dr. Pittendriegh) had not only -given him a list, but had urged him to their study, judging from past -experience that no man was likely to go too far in the pursuit of this -branch of knowledge. For a while the Collector sat silent and observant -at the meetings of Session, and then suddenly one evening, and in the -quietest manner, he inquired whether a certain proceeding was in order. - -"Well, at any rate, that is how we have done here for twenty years," -said the Doctor, with just a flavour of indignation, and the startled -Fiscal confirmed the statement. - -"That may be so, Moderator, and I am obliged to Mr. Fiscal for his -assurance, but you will pardon me for saying, with much respect, that -the point is not whether this action has been the custom, but whether it -is legal. On that, Moderator, I should like your deliverance." - -He took the opportunity, however, of showing that only one deliverance -could be given by long quotations from Church law, supported by -references which extended back to the seventeenth century. Every one -knew that, unlike his distinguished colleague in Muirtown Dr. Dowbiggin, -the minister of the Free North was more at home in Romans than in Canon -Law; but, like every true Scot, he loved a legal point, and he not only -announced at next Session meeting that the Collector was quite right, -but expressed his satisfaction that they had such a valuable addition -to their number in the Collector. His position from that evening was -assured beyond dispute; and when the Clerk of Session resigned on the -ground of long service, but really through terror that there might be -a weak place in his minutes, the Collector succeeded, and made the -proceedings of the Free North Session to be a wonder unto many. It was -a disappointment to some that, when the Collector was sent to the -Presbytery, he took no part for several meetings; but others boldly -declared that even in that high place he was only biding his time, which -came when the Presbytery debated for one hour and ten minutes whether a -certain meeting had been _pro re nata_ or _in hunc effectum_, while the -learned Clerk listened with delight as one watches the young people at -play. - -"Moderator," said the Collector, "I have given the most careful -attention to the arguments on both sides, and I venture to suggest that -the meeting was neither _pro re nata_ nor _in hunc effectum_, but was a -meeting _per saltum_"; and, after referring to Pardovan's Institutes, -he sat down amid a silence which might be felt Several ministers openly -confessed their ignorance one to another with manifest chagrin, and one -young minister laughed aloud: "_Per saltum_, I declare--what next?" as if -it were a subject for jesting. - -"The Collector is quite right, Moderator," said the Clerk with his -unspeakable air of authority; "the meeting referred to was undoubtedly -_per saltum_, but I did not wish to interfere prematurely with the -debate"; and from that date the Clerk, who used to address his more -recondite deliverances to Dr. Dowbiggin as the only competent audience, -was careful to include the Collector in a very marked and flattering -fashion. - -While it was only human that his congregation should be proud of the -Collector, and while there is no question that he led them in the paths -of order, they sometimes grumbled--in corners--and grew impatient under -his rule. He was not only not a man given to change himself, but he -bitterly resented and resisted to the uttermost any proposal of change -on the part of other people. What was in the Free North, when he, so -to say, mounted the throne, was right, and any departure therefrom he -scented afar off and opposed as folly and mischief. There are men whom -you can convince by argument; there are others whom you can talk round -on trifles; but whether the matter were great or small--from Biblical -criticism, on which the Collector took a liberal line, to the printing -of the congregational report, where he would not allow a change -of type--once his mind was made up he remained unchangeable and -inaccessible. He prevented the introduction of hymns for ten years, and -never consented to the innovation on the ground of the hold which the -metrical psalms had upon Presbyterians from their earliest days, and -he did succeed in retaining that remarkable custom of the Scots Kirk -by which a communicant cannot receive the Sacrament without first -presenting a leaden token, and his argument was again the sacred -associations of the past He did certainly agree to the recovering of -the pulpit cushions, which the exposition of Romans had worn bare, only -however on the assurance of Bailie MacCallum, given officially, that he -had the same cloth in store; but a scheme for a ventilating chamber in -the roof--an improvement greatly needed in a church which was supposed -to have retained the very air of the Disruption--he denounced as an -irresponsible fad. - -He gave much watchful attention to the Sabbath schools--"Sunday" was -a word he abhorred--and between the Collector and the younger people -engaged in that work there was almost constant conflict, which extended -to every detail, and came to a head over the matter of entertainments. -It was their belief that once a year it was necessary for the success -and well-being of a Sabbath school that the children should be gathered -on an evening and fed with tea and buns, and afterwards elevated -by magic slides representing various amusing situations in life and -concluding with a vivid picture of rats disappearing into a gaping man's -mouth, which opened to receive them with a jerk. The fact that this -festivity was opened and closed with a hymn in no way sanctified it in -the eyes of the Collector, who declared it to be without any Scripture -warrant and injurious to true religion, as well as--and this was hardly -less important--quite without sanction by the laws of the Kirk. By sheer -force of will--the weight of a silent, obstinate uncompromising nature, -he brought the "treats"--very modest, innocent, if not particularly -refined efforts to give some brightness to the life of the poor children -in Muirtown--to an end, and in place thereof he provided, at his own -expense, views of the mission stations of the world, with a gratuitous -distribution of missionary literature. This was endured for three years -with much discontent and with sudden and disorderly demands for the -rats in place of the interesting although somewhat monotonous faces of -Chinese Christians, and then the rebellion was organized which had so -unexpected and felicitous a result The party of the Juniors, some of -them approaching forty years of age, took a covenant that they would -stand by one another, and they made their plan that upon a certain -evening in March they would gather together their corps of Muirtown -Arabs and feed them with dainties even unto the extent of raisins and -oranges. They were not unconscious that oranges, on account of their -pronounced colour, would be an offence to the Collector, and that that -estimable man had already referred to this fruit, as a refreshment at a -religious meeting, in terms of deep contempt; and there would not only -be a magic lantern with scenes of war and sport, to say nothing of -amusement, but also a sacred cantata to be sung by the children. When -the Collector heard of the programme, he grasped the situation at once, -and knew that in the coming battle quarter could not be given--that the -"Reds" would be completely reduced to subordination, or that a severely -constitutional monarchy would be finally closed. This was indeed the -general opinion; and when the Juniors appeared before the Session to -present their ultimatum, nothing but a sense of decency prevented the -Free North attending in a body, and Bailie MacCallum took a gloomy view -of the issue. - -"Oranges and the what-ye-call-it," alluding to the cantata, "the -Collector 'll never stand, and ye couldna expect him." - -Dr. Pittendriegh was now _emeritus_3, which means that he had retired -from the active duty of the ministry and was engaged in criticising -those who were still in the yoke; and many pitied young Mr. Rutherford, -brother of Rutherford of Glasgow, who had to preside over so critical a -meeting. His prayer was, however, favourably received by both sides, and -his few remarks before calling on the leader of the "Reds" were full of -tact and peace. As for that intrepid man--grocer by trade and full of -affability, but a Radical in politics and indifferent to the past--he -discharged a difficult duty with considerable ability. For himself and -his friends he disclaimed all desire to offend any one, and least of all -one whom every one respected so much for his services both to Church and -State--both the Bailie and Fiscal felt bound to say "hear, hear," and -the Collector bowed stiffly--but they must put the work they had carried -on in the Vennel before any individual: they were dealing with a poor -and neglected class of children very different from the children in -grand houses--this with some teethiness. They must make religion -attractive, and show that they were interested in the children's lives -as well as their souls. None of them could see anything wrong in a cup -of tea or a bit of music; and if the Session was to forbid this small -pleasure, he and his friends would respectfully resign the position they -had held for many years, and allow the elders to carry on the work on -any plan they pleased. - -There was a faint rustle; the Bailie gave a low whistle, and then the -Collector rose from the table, where he sat as clerk, removed the gold -eyeglass from his nose with much deliberation, coughed slightly, and -waving his eyeglass gently with his left hand, gave his deliverance. -He acknowledged with somewhat cold courtesy the generous expressions -regarding any slight services he had been allowed to render in his dual -capacity, and he desired to express his profound sense of the devotion -with which his friends on the other side, if he might just for -the occasion speak of sides, carried on their important work. -His difficulty, however, was this--and he feared that it was -insuperable--Christian work must be carried on in accordance with sound -principles, by the example of the Bible and according to the spirit of -the Scots Kirk. He was convinced that the entertainments in question, -with the accompaniments to which he would not further allude in this -place, were quite contrary to the sound and solid traditions which were -very dear to some of them, and from which he ventured to hope the Free -North Church of Muirtown would never depart. If the Session should take -another view than that of his humble judgment, then nothing would remain -for him but to resign his position as Session Clerk and Elder. There was -general consternation on the faces of his brethren, and even the Juniors -looked uncomfortable, and the Moderator did wisely in adjourning the -meeting for a week. - -The idea was some kind of compromise; but no one was particularly -hopeful, and the first essays were not very encouraging. It was laid -on the Bailie to deal with the leader of the insurgents, for the sound -reason that, as every class has its own freemasonry, one tradesman was -likely to know how to deal with another. No man had a more plausible -tongue, as was well known in municipal circles, and the Bailie plied -the grocer with the arguments of expediency: that the Collector was an -ornament to the Free North; that any disruption in their congregation -would be a sport to the Philistines; that if you offended the Collector, -you touched the Fiscal and the other professional dignitaries; that it -would be possible to go a good way in the direction that the insurgents -desired without attracting any notice; and that the Collector... "Well, -ye see, Councillor"--for the grocer had so far attained--"there's bound -to be changes; we maun be prepared for that. He's failin' a wee, an' -there's nae use counterin' him." So, with many shrugs and suggestions, -the astute politician advised that the insurgents should make a nominal -submission and wait their time. Then the Councillor informed the Bailie -that he would fight the battle to the end, although the Collector should -join the Established Kirk, and Bailie MacCallum knew that his labour had -been all in vain. - -It was the Fiscal who approached the Collector, as was most meet, and -he considered that the best time was after dinner, and when the two were -discussing their second glass of port "That's a sound wine, Collector, -and a credit to a Muirtown firm. Remarkable man, old Sandeman; -established a good port in Scotland and invented a new denomination, -when to save my life I couldn't have thought of another." - -"So far as I can judge, I do not think that Sandemanianism is any credit -to Muirtown. How any Scots Kirkman can sink down into that kind of thing -passes me. But the wine is unexceptionable, and I never tasted any -but good wine at your table; yet I suppose young men would prefer -claret--not the rich claret Scots gentlemen used to drink, but that -feeble Gladstone stuff," and the Collector wagged his head in sorrow -over the decadent taste of the day. - -"I quite agree with you, Collector, but you know _de gustibus_; and when -the young fellows do me the honour of dining with me, I let them have -their claret: there must be give and take between the seniors and -juniors, eh, Collector?"--this with some adroitness. - -"There I venture to disagree with you, Fiscal," and the Collector's face -hardened at once. "It is the young who ought to yield to the old; I see -no reason why the old should give in to the young; if they do, the end -will be anarchy in Church and State." - -"There is a great deal in what you say, Collector; but have you never -been afraid that if we of the old school refuse to make any concessions, -we shall simply lose our influence, and things will be done foolishly, -which, with our help, might have been done wisely?" - -"If there be one word I detest, it is 'concessions'; they are ruinous, -both in the Civil Service and in the Church; and it just comes to -this, Fiscal: if you yield an inch, you must yield a yard. Nothing will -preserve order save resistance from the beginning, _obsta principiis_, -yes, _obsta principiis._." - -The Fiscal recognised the expression on the Collector's face, and knew -that it was useless to continue the subject, and so his labour was also -in vain. - -It only now remained that the minister should try his hand upon this -inflexible man, and one of the urgent duties of his pastoral office -hindered him until the evening before the meeting. During the last -few days Rutherford had been trying to get the key to this type of -character, and had been touched by the Collector's loneliness. Without -wife or child, engaged in routine year by year, moving in a narrow set -of officials or ecclesiastics, he had withered and contracted till he -had become a mere pedant. People spoke of his narrowness and obstinacy. -They were angry with him, and would not be sorry to teach him a lesson. -The minister's heart was full of pity and charity; and, so optimistic is -youth, he believed that there must be springs of emotion and romance -in the old man; but this faith he did not mention to the Bailie or the -Fiscal, considering, with some reason, that they would put it down as -a foolish dream, and be inwardly much amused. As he stood before the -Collector's residence, as it was called in the _Muirtown Advertiser_, -his pity deepened, and he seemed to be confirmed in his compassion. -The Collector did not live in rooms or in a small "house as did other -bachelors, for this would be unworthy of his position, and a reflection -on the State; but he must needs live in a house on the North Meadow. -The large drawing-room lay unused and empty, since no ladies came to -the house; and of the bedrooms only three were furnished--one for his -servants, one for himself, and another a guest-room, which was never -occupied save by some Government official from London on inspection, or -a minister attending the Presbytery. The Collector was eager to secure -Rabbi Saunderson, but that learned man, of absent mind, was apt to -forget that he had been invited. The dining-room was a bare, sombre -room, where the Collector took his meals in solitary state and -entertained half a dozen men to simple but well-cooked dinners, after -which the tablecloth was removed from the polished dark mahogany, and -the sound old port coasted round in silver slides. As the minister -entered the dimly lit lobby everything seemed to him significant and -eloquent: the middle-aged housekeeper with her air of severe propriety; -the hat-stand, with no careless, unkempt exuberance of undress hats, -shooting caps country sticks, but with two silk hats only--one for good -weather and Sundays, one for bad and funerals; a bamboo cane, with -an ivory and silver head of straight and unadorned pattern; and two -coats--one for cold, one for milder temperature. His sitting-room, where -he spent his unofficial time, seemed to the minister that evening the -very embodiment of the man--a physical shape, as it were, revealing his -character. There was no comfortable disorder of papers, books, pipes, -which sets one at ease in some rooms. Everything had its place; and -the daily paper, after having been read, was sent down to the kitchen, -unless there was some news of an unedifying description, in which case -it was burned. Instead of a couch whereon one could lie and -meditate after dinner on the problems of existence, there were two -straight-backed armchairs, one on each side of the fireplace. The -bookcase had glass doors, and one could read the titles on one shelf: -_The Incidence of the Income Tax, The Abolition of the Malt Duty, Rules -for the Collectors of H.M. Inland Revenue, Practice of the Free Church -of Scotland, Abstract of the Acts of Assembly 1700 to 1840, and The -Elders Manual_. The Collector was reading another book of the same -genial and exhilarating class, and the minister noticed its contents -with some dismay, _The Authority of Kirk Sessions_; but the Collector -was quite cordial (for him). - -"I am much pleased to see you, Mr. Rutherford, and should be gratified -if your onerous duties allowed you to call more frequently; but I never -forget that while our hours in the service of the Queen are, as a rule, -fixed, yours, in a higher service, have no limit Do not, I pray you, sit -there; that is in the draught between the door and the fire: here, -if you will be so good, opposite me. Well, sir, how is your work -prospering?" - -The minister explained that he had intended to call sooner, but had been -occupied with various cases of sickness, one of which had touched him -closely. The people were not in the Collector's district; but perhaps he -might have noticed them: they sat before him in church. - -"Do you refer to a couple who have come quite recently, within a year, -and who, as I judge, are newly married; they are interesting young -people, it seemed to me, and most attentive, as I can testify to their -religious duties." - -"Yes, the same. They were engaged for many years--a love affair of -childhood, and they have been married less than eight months. They -have a beautiful little home at Craigie, and they simply lived one for -another." - -"I can believe that, Mr. Rutherford; for I may mention that on one -occasion, when you touched on love in appropriate and... somewhat moving -terms, I happened to notice, without espionage I trust, that the wife -slipped her hand into her husband's, and so they sat until the close -of the sermon. Has trouble come to them?" and the Collector looked -anxiously at the minister over his spectacles. - -"Very dangerous and sudden trouble, I am sorry to say. Last Monday Mrs. -Fortune was prematurely confined, and I... don't understand about these -things; but the doctor considered it a very bad case." - -"There had been complications, I fear; that sometimes happens, and, I -don't know why, often with those whose lives are most precious. How is -she? I earnestly hope that she... that he has not lost his bride." And -Rutherford was struck by the anxiety and sadness in the Collector's -voice. - -"It was feared he might, and I have never seen any man so utterly broken -down; and yet he kept calm for her sake. On Wednesday I stayed with him -all the afternoon, and then I returned for the night after the prayer -meeting." - -"You were never more needed, be sure of that, sir; and is there hope -of her recovery? I pray God, if it be His will, that the young wife be -spared. Sitting before me has given me... an interest in the case." The -Collector felt as if he must apologise for his unusual emotion. - -"Their own doctor took a gloomy view, but they called in Dr. Manley. If -there's real danger of death in Muirtown, or a radius of twenty miles, -people must have Manley. And when he came into the parlour--you know his -brusque, decided way--Manley turned to poor Fortune, who couldn't say -one word, only look." - -"It is, Mr. Rutherford, I will dare to say, the bitterest hour in all -human sorrow"--the Collector spoke with strong feeling--"and Dr. Manley -said?" - -"'You thought you were going to lose your wife. No wonder; very bad -case; but you're not, please God you're not. Dr. Gellatly knows his -business. Mrs. Fortune will get better with care, mark me, immense -care.' That's his way, you know, Collector; then Fortune... well, lost -command of himself. So Manley went on,--'with care and skill; and -Gellatly will see to that.'" - -"God be praised!" exclaimed the Collector. "How many Dr. Manley has -comforted in Muirtown! yet all medical skill is of no avail sometimes. -But you have said nothing of the child." - -"Manley was very doubtful about it--a girl, I think--and that is the -only danger now with Mrs. Fortune. She is always asking for the child, -which she has not seen; and so long as the news are good she is -satisfied; but if the baby dies, it will go hard with the mother. -Collector," cried Rutherford suddenly, "what mothers suffer, and how -they love!" - -The Collector took off his spectacles and examined them carefully, and -then he wiped his eyes. - -"When can the doctors be certain about the child, Mr. Rutherford?" - -"Dr. Manley is going again this evening, and we hope he will be able to -give a good report I intended to call after seeing you; for if all be -well, we would return thanks to God; and if... the child is not to live, -there will be the more need of prayer. You will excuse me, Collector?" - -"Go at once, sir, and... do you mind me going with you--just to the -door, you know? I would sleep better to-night if I knew mother and child -were safe." And the Collector was already moving to the door as one in -haste. - -"It is very good of you, Collector, and Fortune will value your -sympathy; but there is something I called to talk about and in my -concern about Mrs. Fortune I... quite forgot it. It's about that -unfortunate Sabbath-school entertainment." - -"It's of no importance beside this trial--none whatever. Let us not -delay, and I'll hear you on the other matter as we cross the South -Meadow." - -So Rutherford was hustled out of the house in growing amazement. - -"Let me say, first of all, Collector, that we are all much concerned... - -"Who could be otherwise, my good sir, if he had a heart in his -bosom--only eight months married, and in danger of being separated. -Mother and child taken, and the husband... left desolate... desolate for -life!" - -"If you could see your way," resumed Rutherford, after a respectful -pause, and still harking back to the dispute, "to do anything..." - -"Why did you not say that before? Only tell me; and if it be in my -power, it shall be done. May I undertake the doctor's fees, or arrange -with the nurse--through you of course, and in any way that will be in -keeping with their feelings? Command me; I shall count it more than a -privilege--a duty of pity and... love." - -"It was not the Fortunes I was thinking of," said Rutherford; "but -that can be left over. It is kind of you to offer help; they are not, -however, in need of pecuniary assistance. Fortune has a good post in the -railway. He's a first-rate engineer and a rising man. But if you cared -to send flowers..." - -"I am obliged to you for the hint, and I'll attend to this to-morrow -morning." (The invalid had a fresh bouquet every day for a month.) -"No, I will not go in. Just present my compliments and sympathy to Mr. -Fortune. Here is my card, and... I'll just wait for the bulletin, if you -would be so good as to come with it to the door." - -"Baby's going to live too, and Manley says she will be a thumping big -child in a few months!" - -"Thank God, Mr. Rutherford! You cannot imagine how this incident has -affected me. I'll go home now, and as I cross through the dark-ness of -the Meadow my humble thanksgiving will mingle with yours, that in this -home it has been God's pleasure to turn the darkness... into light." -The voice of the Collector was charged with emotion, and Rutherford -was confirmed in his romantic belief, although it seemed as if he had -laboured in vain in the affair of the Sabbath school. - -It was known before the meeting of that evening that no compromise had -been effected; and when the Collector rose to speak, his face and manner -charged with solemnity, it was felt that a crisis in the Free North had -arrived. He began by saying that the subject of last meeting had never -been long out of his thoughts, and that he had now arrived at a decision -which commended itself to his judgment, and which he would submit with -all brevity. - -"Moderator"--for the Collector's historical utterance must be given -in his own words--"if a man lives alone for many years, through the -providence of God, and has come almost to the limit of ordinary human -life as set down by the Psalmist, he is apt to become censorious and -to be out of sympathy with young people; and if I have erred in this -respect, you will kindly assign it to the habits of my life, not to the -feelings of my heart." - -There was so much gracious tenderness and unaffected humility in the -Collector's tone that the grocer--unless roused, himself the most -generous of men--wished to rise and withdraw the oranges instantly, -and to leave the other details of tea and cantata absolutely to the -Collector's decision, but was checked by the Moderator. - -"So far, therefore, as I am concerned, I beg, Moderator, to withdraw all -opposition to the programme of my excellent friends, and I do so with -all my heart; but, with your permission, I must annex one condition, -which I hope my good friends will see their way to grant." - -"Whatever the Collector wants shall be done!" burst in the Councillor, -with chorus of applause from his side. - -"Mr. Councillor must not be too rash lest he be caught in a snare," -resumed the Collector facetiously, "for I am contemplating an -innovation. However agreeable an evening entertainment in winter may be -to the Vennel children, it appears to me that it would be even better -for them to go to the country and admire the works of the Creator. -There is a beautiful spot, only some twelve miles from here, which few -Muirtown people have seen. I refer to the Tochty woods, where are the -graves of Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, and my condition is that in the -height of summer our poor Muirtown children be driven there and spend a -long summer's day on the grass and by the river. I have only to add -that if this proposal should meet with my friends' and my colleagues' -approval, I shall count it a privilege and, er... honour to defray the -cost." And for the first time in his public life the Collector sat down -covered with confusion as with a garment The Tochty excursion came off -on midsummer day, and is now a chapter of ancient history, to which what -remains of the "Old Guard" turn back with fond recollection; for though -the things reported were almost incredible in Muirtown, yet were they -all less than true. How there had been preparation in the unsavoury -homes of the Vennel for weeks before, with the result that the children -appeared in such spotless cleanliness and varied gaiety of attire that -the Councillor was filled with pride, and the Collector declared that -they looked like ladies and gentlemen. How the Collector was himself -dressed in a light-grey summer suit, with a blue tie and a soft -hat--this was never believed in his "Collection," but could any one have -invented it?--and received many compliments on his appearance from all -sides. How he had provided a barouche from the Kilspindie Arms for the -Councillor and his wife, as chiefs of the school, and for his guests the -Fortunes, whose baby crowed triumphantly half the way, and smiled in her -sleep the other half; but the Collector travelled on the box-seat of the -first break with the children--I tremble while I write--through the main -streets of Muirtown. How the Collector had arranged with Bumbrae, the -Free Kirk elder of Drumtochty, to supply every one on arrival with a -pint of sweet, fresh milk; and how a quarrel arose in the end of the -days between the town and country elders because Bumbrae gave the bairns -a pint and a half at the price of a pint, and was never brought to a -state of repentance. How almost every game known to children in ancient -and modern times was played that day in Tochty woods, and the Collector -patronised them all, from "tig" to "jingo-ring," with great access -of popularity, if not conspicuous proficiency. How they all gathered -together in front of the Lodge before leaving, and the Councillor--he -has since risen to be Lord Provost--made the great speech of his life in -proposing a vote of thanks to the Collector; and the Collector, to save -himself from breaking down, called for three cheers in honour of the -Councillor, and led them himself. And how they drove back past Kilbogie -in the pleasant evening-time, and at the dispersing half the children -of the Vennel shook hands with H.M. Collector of Inland Revenue for -Muirtown. - -The Collector returned home, his heart full of peace, and went to a -certain closet of his bedroom, wherein was a box he had not opened for -forty years. Within it lay a bridal dress, and an unfinished set of baby -clothes, with a needle still fastened in the hem of a garment And the -Collector wept; but his tears were half sorrow and half joy, and he did -not sorrow as one who had no hope. - - - - -FATHER JINKS - - -I - -When I give him this title, I am perfectly aware that his right to -it was at the best very doubtful, and that the Romans at St. Francis -Xavier's laughed openly at his conceit; but he was always greatly -encouraged by any one calling him "Father"; and now that he is gone -I, for one, who knew both his little eccentricities and his hard -sacrifices, will not throw stones at his grave--plenty were thrown at -himself in his lifetime--nor shall I wound his memory by calling him -Mr. Jinks. My opinion, as a layman, unattached and perhaps not even -intelligent, is of very small account, but it is that of many other -laymen; and to us it is of no importance what the servant of the Master -is called, whether, like my dear old friend Father Pat Reilly, who has -brought back more prodigals from the far country and rescued more waifs -from the streets than any man I can hear of, or after the fashion of -that worthy man, Pastor John Jump, as he delights to describe himself, -who attends to business all the week--something in tinned meats, I -think--and on Sunday preaches to a congregation of "baptized believers" -with much force and earnestness, also without money or price. Both -the Father and the Pastor had some doubts about my salvation--the one -because I was not a member of the Anglican Communion, and the other -because I was not a "strait Baptist"; but I never had any doubt about -theirs--much less indeed than they had of one another's--and of the two -I liked... but no, there is no use of comparisons, especially as the -Pastor, as well as the Father, has gone to the land where, doubtless, -many surprises are waiting for us all. - -Nor does it seem of grave concern to some of us--but here again we may -only be displaying our own ignorance of ecclesiastical subtleties--how a -minister of religion is set apart to his office, if so be that he is -an educated man and does the work put to his hand faithfully. Jinks was -priested--I think that was what he called it, but he is not responsible -for my mistakes--in a cathedral by a Right Rev. Father in God, and he -used often to insist that only through such a channel could the grace of -Orders come; but when the successor of the apostles advised Jinks in -a most kindly, fatherly spirit to cease from some of his amiable -extravagances--he had added a bran-new chasuble to his other bravery, -which greatly pleased his female devotees--"the dear Father do look so -pretty in his new chalice," one of his admirers said--Jinks repaid the -Episcopal counsel with thinly-veiled scorn, and preached a sermon which -ran to the unwonted length of twenty minutes to show that the bishop -was himself a law-breaker and little better than a Protestant My friend -Carmichael, again, was ordained in the little Free Kirk of Drumtochty by -the Presbytery of Muirtown,--that heavy body of Church Law and Divinity, -Dr. Dowbiggin, being Moderator,--and I cannot recollect Carmichael once -referring to his Orders but he regarded his spiritual superiors with -profound respect, and was very much relieved when his heresy case was -dismissed--knowing very well that if they took it into their heads he -would be turned out of his Church without delay and deposed from the -ministry beyond human remedy. Carmichael was in the custom of denouncing -priestcraft, and explaining that he had no claim to be a priest; but -he administered a ghostly discipline so minute and elaborate, with sins -which could be loosed by him, and reserved sins which could only be -loosed by a higher authority, that the Father would have regarded it -with envy. And Carmichael exercised an unquestioned authority among the -hard-headed and strong-willed people of Drumtochty which Jinks would -have cheerfully given ten years of his life to possess in the parish of -St Agatha's. Between the two there was this difference, that the vicar -of St Agatha's had the form of authority without the power, and the -minister of Drumtochty had the power of authority without the form; and, -as no man could be personally more humble or in heart more sincere than -Jinks, this was the weary pity of the situation for my little Father. - -Had St. Agatha's been in the West End, where his ritualism would have -been accepted with graceful enthusiasm because it was fashionable--which -would, however, have caused him much searching of heart: or in the East -End, where it would have been condoned with a wink on account of his -almsgiving, which would have wounded him deeply--Father Jinks had not -been a subject of mockery and reproach. As it was Providence had -dealt severely with the good man in sending him to the obdurate and -stiff-necked parish of St Agatha's, where the people were anything but -open soil for his teaching. The houses ranged from twenty pounds of -rent up to forty, and were inhabited by foremen artisans, clerks, -shopkeepers, single women letting lodgings, and a few people retired on -a modest competence. The district had not one rich man, although it was -wonderful what some of the shopkeepers gave to special efforts at -their chapels, nor any person in the remotest contact with society, but -neither were there any evil livers or wastrels. Every one worked hard, -lived frugally--with a special Sunday dinner--paid his taxes promptly, -as well as his other debts, and lived on fairly good terms with his -neighbours. The parish had certainly no enthusiasms, and would not -have known what an ideal was, but it had a considerable stock of common -sense, and most people possessed a traditional creed which they were -prepared to defend with much obstinacy. St. Agatha's parish was a very -home of Philistinism, and, as everybody knows, the Philistines have -always had an instinctive dislike to Catholic usages and teachings. - - -II - -The congregation of St Agatha's were a prejudiced people, and had -long been established in their own ways. The previous vicar, who had a -certain fame as an orator of the florid order and rose to be an honorary -canon, was a churchman of the lowest depths, and did things which Father -Jinks used to mention with a shudder. He preached in a black gown, and -delighted to address religious meetings in unlicensed places without any -gown at all; he administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper once a -month, and preferred to do so at evening service; he delighted to offer -an extempore prayer before sermon, and never concluded a discourse -without witnessing against the errors of the Church of Rome; he -delighted in a three-decker pulpit, and would occasionally, in visiting -the church for a baptism, leave his hat on the communion table where -there was no other ornament. In his early days the music was led by a -barrel organ, which was turned by the clerk, and later, when a large -harmonium was introduced, the Psalms were read--the clerk leading the -congregation with a stentorian voice--and Moody and Sankey's hymns were -freely used. It was understood that the Canon had received a sudden call -to the ministry while engaged in commercial pursuits, and had not found -time for a University education--the hood which he wore at marriages was -an invention of his wife's--and he was therefore very careful to -correct the inaccuracies of the accepted versions, saying, with much -impressiveness, "In the original Hebrew of this Gospel," or, "The Greek -of Isaiah has it," although, in order to prevent monotony he would next -Sunday reverse the order of languages and again conform to traditional -belief. Critical persons, connected by blood with the families of St -Agatha's and attending services there on occasion, declared openly -that the Canon was a preposterous personage and a wind-bag; but he had -without doubt a certain vein of genuine piety, which unsympathising -people were apt to call unctuous, but which was, at any rate, warm; and -a turn for rhetoric--he was of Irish birth--which might not be heavily -charged with thought, but was very appetizing to the somewhat heavy -minds of St Agatha's parish. While he did not allow excessive charity to -interfere with comfortable living, and while he did not consider it -his duty to risk a valuable life by reckless visitation of persons with -contagious diseases, the Canon, by his popular religious manner--his -funeral addresses which he delivered at the grave, wearing a tall -hat and swaying an umbrella, moved all to open grief,--and by his -sermons,--an hour long and rich in anecdotes--held the parish in his -hand and kept St Agatha's full. People still speak of a course of -lectures on "The Antichrists of the Bible," in which Rome was compared -to Egypt, Samaria, Nineveh, and Babylon, and the strangers sat in the -aisles; and there can be no doubt that the Canon convinced the parish -that a High Churchman was a Jesuit in disguise, and that a priest was -(probably) an immoral person. So far as I could gather, the worthy man -believed everything he said--although his way of saying it might savour -of cant--and he was greatly impressed by an anonymous letter threatening -his life and telling him that the eye of Rome was on him. He had -been guided to marry three times--possibly as a protest against -celibacy--with cumulative financial results of a fairly successful -character, and his last wife mourns her loss at Cheltenham, where she -subscribes freely to "escaped nuns," and greedily anticipates the field -of Armageddon. - -When the new patron, who had bought his position for missionary -purposes, appointed the Rev. John James Jinks to be vicar of St -Agatha's, there was a rebellion in the parish, which, of course, came -to nothing, and an appeal to the Bishop, which called forth a letter -exhorting every person to peace and charity. Various charges were made -against the new vicar, ranging from the fact that he had been curate in -a church where the confessional was in full swing, and that the morals -of the matrons of St Agatha's would be in danger, to the wicked calumny -that he was an ex-Primitive Methodist, and was therefore, as is natural -in such circumstances, very strong on the doctrine of apostolical -succession. As the last insinuation cut Jinks to the quick, and was, -indeed, almost the only attack he really felt, it is due to his memory -to state that he was the son (and only child) of a country rector, whose -living was worth L129, and who brought up his lad in the respectable, if -somewhat arid, principles of the historical High Church school, which in -the son blossomed rapidly into the luxuriance of Ritualism. It was only -by the severest economy at the Rectory that Jinks could be sent to one -of the cheaper Halls at Oxford, and it was the lasting sorrow of his -blameless life that the Rector and his wife both died before he secured -his modest pass degree. His mother used to call him John James, and had -dreams that he would be raised to the Episcopate long after she had -been laid to rest; but he knew very well from the beginning that his -intellectual gifts were limited, and that his career would not be -distinguished. While he magnified his priestly office beyond bounds, and -was as bold as a lion for the Church in all her rights and privileges, -he had no ambition for himself and was the most modest of men. Because -he was only five feet four in height, and measured thirty-two inches -round the chest, and had a pink and white boyish face, and divided his -hair down the middle, and blushed when he was spoken to by women and -dons, and stammered slightly in any excitement, they called him Jinksy -at Tommy's Hall, and he answered cheerfully; and when our big Scots -doctor availed himself on occasion of the same familiar form of address -he showed no resentment No one, however, could say, when he was with us -in St Agatha's, that he forgot his position, not only as a priest with -power to bind and loose, but also as the disciple of his Lord; for if -any clergyman ever did, our little Father adorned the doctrine of Christ -by his meekness and lowliness of character, and by a self-sacrifice -and self-forgetfulness which knew no limits. He wore a low-crowned, -broad-brimmed hat, and in winter a garment resembling a Highland cloak, -which gave him as he imagined a certain resemblance to a continental -abbe; and as he skimmed at all hours along our sombre, monotonous -streets on errands which were often very poorly requited, and in many -cases may have been quite uncalled for, he was, if you pleased to see -him from a certain angle, a rather absurd figure; but as his simple, -boyish face grew thinner and paler every month, and his eyes grew -brighter and more spiritual, one's smile rather passed into the tears -of the heart And now that he is gone, and no one in St Agatha's is vexed -either by his chasuble or his kindness, it comes to us that Father Jinks -followed the light given to him without flinching, and has rendered in a -good account. - - -III - -When Father Jinks read himself into St Agatha's, the church seemed to -him little better than a conventicle, a mere preaching-house, and it -was his business to change it into a place fit for Catholic worship. His -success in this direction was marvellous. Before his death there was a -chancel with screen and choir stalls, a side pulpit of carved stone with -scenes from the Gospels thereon, a reredos, and an altar with cross and -candlesticks, besides other pieces of ecclesiastical furniture of lesser -importance and beyond the lay intelligence. There was also an organ, -for which so many pews were removed, and a font near the door, for which -other pews were removed, and an east window, containing the life and -death of our patron saint, about whom nobody knew anything before, and -for which a magnificent geometrical design in red and blue, greatly -admired by the parish, had to be removed. The very plaster, with ornate -pattern of roses, he had stripped from the roof, and had the oak laid -bare; and although the walls had been tastefully decorated by a local -firm with a mixed border on a ground of green, so fierce and unrelenting -was the Vicar's iconoclastic passion that this also was sacrificed, and -nothing was to be seen in St Agatha's save stone and wood. "It was -the 'omeliest church you ever see," that excellent woman Mrs. Judkin -remarked to me, "in the old Canon's time, with the bits of colour, and -'im a looking down at you in 'is black gown; and now it chills your 'art -to sit there, let alone that you're hexpected to bow 'alf the time;" and -so Mrs. Judkin, with many of like mind, went off to Ebenezer, where -the firmament was represented on the roof and the service was decidedly -warm. The structural reformation (or deformation, as it was generally -considered) was a very achievement of persevering and ingenious begging, -in which he taxed the patron and all the patron's friends, as well as -every old lady or ecclesiastical layman with the reputation of highness, -obtaining a pulpit from one and a font from another, picking up crosses, -candlesticks, stools, altar-cloths in all quarters, and being mightily -cheered by every addition to the full equipment of this neglected -edifice. Nor did Father Jinks ask from other people what he would not -give himself, for he dispensed with a curate that he might repair -the chancel, and, as appeared afterwards, he expended all his little -patrimony on the apocryphal life of St Agatha, whose doings and -appearance as represented on that window were a subject of derision -to the wits of the parish. When Jinks held his first festival in her -honour, and preached a discourse eleven minutes in length on St Agatha's -example and miracles, an interesting correspondence followed in the -local paper, in which it was asserted that the church, then in -the country and a chapel of ease to the famous church of St -Paul's-in-the-Fields, was named in the evil Laudian times, and ought to -have been rechristened by the name of Wycliffe or Latimer in the days of -the late lamented Canon; that St. Agatha never existed; that if she did, -she was a Papist; that if we knew enough, we should likely find that her -antecedents were very doubtful. - -This correspondence, in which my friend himself was freely handled, did -not in the least disturb him, for the Festival of St Agatha was a height -to which he had been working for the three years, and it was the last -function of his public ministry. When the procession came out of -the vestry, with a cross-bearer--Jack Storgiss, the grocer, to whose -deformed little boy Jinks had been very kind--the banners of the Guild -of St Agatha, a choir of six men and twelve boys in varied garments, -Father Jinks himself with everything on he knew, attended by -acolytes--two little monkeys on whose ingenuous countenances -self-importance struggled with mischief--and, having marched round the -church singing "Onward, Christian soldiers," re-entered the chancel, so -far as outward things went, the Father's heart was almost satisfied; and -as, in his stall, he thought of the desolation of the past he was as one -that dreamed. - -If Jinks allowed himself to be proud of anything, it was of his -choir; and when people spoke of my friend as a weakling because he was -insignificant in appearance and a feeble preacher--he himself thanked -God daily that he was a priest, to whom Pastor Jumps' oratorical gifts -were unnecessary--one could always point to the choir, for the qualities -which created and held together that remarkable body were peculiar to -Jinks and were quite wanting in the Pastor. Three years before this -advertisement had appeared in the _Anglo-Catholic_:-- - -"Wanted, an organist and choirmaster, who will be prepared, for the -glory of God and the love of sacred music, to assist a priest in -affording Catholic worship to a neglected parish." - -This unworldly invitation caught the eye (and fancy) of Harold de -Petre--his original name was Henry Peter--about whom his friends were -much concerned because he had a small competency and would do nothing -except work at music; because he wore a brown velvet coat and a loose -red bow, and three ancient gems on his left hand, and his hair falling -over his ears; and because he practised a certain luxurious softness of -life which might pass any day into positive vice. Two more different men -could not have been found in a day's journey, but they became friends -at once. The priestly instinct detected at-once in Petre a gift whose -consecration would be the salvation of a soul and an assistance to the -Church of God; and the humility and sincerity of the little priest were -very attractive to the aesthete. From that time the curiously assorted -pair worked together in perfect harmony and ever-growing affection, with -one common desire to beautify the worship and edifice of St Agatha's. - -In order to secure an organ Petre sacrificed one-third of his means, and -was daily designing some improvement in his loved instrument; for her -help he had even learned some organ handicraft, and could be seen almost -any day toiling in his shirt-sleeves. As he watched the life of the -Vicar, Petre began also to make many personal sacrifices, giving up -his wine--used to spend a good deal on Chateau Lafitte--to defray choir -expenses; teaching the piano in the more ambitious homes of the parish, -and with the proceeds providing two tenors and two basses of distinction -for the choir. One year he took no holiday that the altar might be -becomingly dressed according to the season of the Church year, whether -of joy or sorrow. Working with Jinks, a certain change even came over -Petre's outer man; with every year he shed a gem; black velvet replaced -the brown, and his hair became almost decorous; and one evening, -when the two were having a lemon squash after hard work at the Easter -decorations, Petre made a confession to his friend. - -"There is something I wanted to tell you Jinks," lighting his pipe -slowly. "My name is not really Harold de Petre: it's... just Henry -Peter. Didn't sound very artistic, you know, and I just... improved it -in fact. Rather think that I should go back to old signature." - -"My own name," said the Vicar with much simplicity, "isn't a high-class -name, and I was once tempted to change it--it lends itself too easily to -abbreviations--but it seemed unreal to do that kind of thing." - -"Do you know, Father, I expect that anthem to go well to-morrow; that -little rascal Bags took the high notes magnificently to-night I told him -so, and he was awfully pleased: he's as keen as mustard at practice." - -Nothing further was said about fancy pseudonyms, but next time the -Father saw the organist's signature it was Henry Peter. - -The boys in St. Agatha's choir were not angels, but they were Jinks' -particular friends, and would do more for him than for their own -parents. He had picked them up one by one in the parish as he -visited--for he had no school--upon the two qualifications that each -one had an ear, and each was an out-and-out boy. Because he was so good -himself Jinks would have nothing to do with prigs and smugs; and because -he did nothing wrong himself he delighted in the scrapes of his boys. It -was to him they went in trouble, and he somehow found a way of escape. -Every one knew who paid for the broken glass in the snowball fight -between Thackeray and Dickens Streets, in which Bags and another -chorister, much admired for his angelic appearance, led their -neighbourhood; and it was asserted by the Protestant party that the -Papist Vicar was seen watching the fray from the corner. When an -assistant School Board master bullied his boys beyond endurance and -they brought him to his senses with pain of body, it was the Vicar of -St Agatha's who pled the case of the rebels before the Board, and saved -them from public disgrace and the Police Court The Vicarage and all its -premises were at the disposal of the boys, and they availed themselves -freely of their privileges. Bags kept his rabbits in the yard--his -parents allowed no such tenants at home--and his fellow-warrior of the -snowball fight had a promising family of white mice in one of the empty -rooms, where another chorister had a squirrel, and _his_ friend -housed four dormice. There was a fairly complete collection of -pigeons--tumblers, pouters, fantails; you could usually have your choice -in pigeons at the Vicarage of St Agatha's. The choir did elementary -gymnastics in what was the Canoness's drawing-room, and learned their -lessons, if they were moved that way, in the dining-room. Every Friday -evening, after practice, there was a toothsome supper of sausages and -mashed potatoes, with stone ginger. Ye gods, could any boy or man feed -higher than that? On Saturdays in summer the Vicar took the whole gang -to the nearest Park, where, with some invited friends, they made two -elevens and played matches, with Jinks, who was too short-sighted to -play himself, but was the keenest of sportsmen, as consulting umpire; -and on chief holidays they all made excursions into the country, when -Harold de Petre became Henry Peter with a vengeance. And this was how -there was no difficulty in getting boys for the choir, and people began -to come to hear the music at St Agatha's. - - -IV - -It is not to be supposed that Father Jinks achieved his heart's desire -without opposition, and he verified in his experience the fact that a -man's bitterest foes are those of his own household. He was opposed by -the people's churchwarden, who would not go elsewhere, declaring that -he had been in St Agatha's before Jinks was born--which was not the -case--and would be after Jinks had gone, which turned out sadly true. He -was harassed by "aggrieved parishioners," who declared by petitions in -all quarters that they could no longer worship in St Agatha's, and that -what with daily services, fine music, and decorations, the place was -little better than a Papist chapel. His breakfast-table had daily one -or two anonymous letters reminding Jinks of his ordination vows, and -accusing him of perjury, insinuating charges against his moral character -and threatening exposure, quoting texts regarding the condition of the -unconverted and the doom of hypocrites. He was dragged before all kinds -of Courts, this one little man, and received every form of censure and -admonition; he was ordered to prison, and left the Vicarage one evening -in a cab, while the choir boys, led by Bags, wanted to fight the -officer. And when all these measures produced no effect, more -forcible measures were taken to express the mind of the people and to -re-establish the Reformation in the parish of St Agatha's. A leader -was raised up in a gentleman who had earned an uncertain living by -canvassing for the _Kings of England_ in forty-two parts, in selling a -new invention in gas-burners, in replying to infidels in Hyde Park, and -in describing the end of the world with the aid of a magic lantern. This -man of varied talents saw it to be his duty--and who can judge -another man's conscience?--to attend St Agatha's one Sunday forenoon, -accompanied by a number of fellow-Protestants, who, owing to the -restriction of the licensing laws, were out of employment at that hour, -and they expressed their theological views during service in a very -frank and animated fashion. Bigger men than Jinks might have been upset -by the turmoil and menaces; but it shows what a spirit may dwell in -small bulk, that this shy modest man did not stutter once that morning, -and seemed indeed unconscious of the "Modern Luther's" presence; -and after the floor of the church had been washed on Monday no trace -remained that a testimony had been lifted up against the disguised -Jesuit who was corrupting St Agatha's. Once only did Jinks publicly -reply to the hurricane of charges which beat upon him during his short, -hard service, and that was when he was accused of having introduced the -confessional, with results which it was alleged were already well known -in the district, and which would soon reduce its morality to the social -level of the south of Ireland. A week afterwards Jinks explained in -a sermon which he had rewritten three times: (1) That the practice of -confession was, in his poor judgment, most helpful to the spiritual life -by reminding us of the sins which do most easily beset us, and their -horrible guilt before God; (2) That it was really the intention of the -Church of England that her children should have this benefit; and (3) -That he, John James Jinks, a duly ordained priest of the same Church, -had power, under conditions, to hear confessions and declare the -forgiveness of sins to all true penitents. Thereafter, he went on -to state that he had not introduced confession as a practice in St -Agatha's, because he had never been trained in confessional theology, -because a confessor required authority from his bishop, and this the -bishop would not give; and, finally, it seemed to him that any confessor -must be a priest with a special knowledge of life, and of conspicuous -holiness; and, as they knew well, he was neither, but only an ignorant -and frail man, who was more conscious of his deficiencies every day, -and who earnestly besought the aid of their prayers. This sermon was -reported in the _Islington Mercury_, which circulated largely amongst -us, and called forth an ingenious reply from the "Modern Luther," who -pointed out that if Mr. Jinks had not set up a confessional box in St -Agatha's Church, it was only because his (the "Modern Luther's") eye -was upon him; that the confessional could likely be discovered in the -Vicarage; that in so far as Mr. Jinks was not telling the truth he would -receive absolution from the Jesuits, and that he very likely had already -received a licence to tell as many lies as he saw would help his cause. -Men, however, do count for something even in religious controversy, -and the very people who had no belief in Jinks' doctrine could see some -difference between his patient, charitable self-sacrificing life and the -career of a windbag like the "Modern Luther," and no one in the last year -of his life accused Jinks of falsehood. - -During all these troubled days he never lost his temper, or said bitter -things: he believed, as he once told me in all modesty, that if he -suffered it was for his sins, and that persecution was only a call to -harder labour; and it appeared afterwards that he had gone out of his -way to do a good turn to certain of his bitterest enemies. Indeed, I am -now certain that they did not injure him at all; but one is also quite -as certain that he was hindered and made ridiculous by certain of -his own supporters. Certain young women of uncertain age who had been -district visitors and carried tracts under the revered Canon, or had -been brought up in various forms of Dissent, responded with enthusiasm -to the Catholic Reformation. They wore large gold (or gilt) crosses, and -were careful to use heavily crossed prayer-books; they attended early -celebration, and were horrified at people taking the sacrament not -fasting; they not only did obeisance to the altar, where there was no -sacrament, and bowed at the name of Jesus, and crossed themselves in a -very diligent and comprehensive fashion, but invented forms of devotion -which even Jinks could not comprehend, and so scandalized the old clerk, -who stuck by St. Agatha's, that he asked them one day during service if -they were ill, and suggested that they should leave the church before -things came to the worst Personally, as a close observer of this drama, -I had no sympathy with the ill-natured suggestion that these devout -females were moved by the fact that the priest of St Agatha's was -unmarried, because no man was ever more careful in his intercourse with -the other sex than my friend, and because this kind of woman--till she -marries, and with modifications afterwards--has a mania for ritual and -priests. This band, who called themselves the Sisters of St Agatha, and -severely tried our unsentimental district, were a constant embarrassment -to Jinks. They made the entire attendance at the daily services; they -insisted on cleaning the chancel on their knees; they fluttered round -the confused little man in the street; they could hardly be kept out of -the Vicarage; they talked of nothing but saints' days and offices and -vestments, till Jinks, the simplest and honestest of men, was tempted, -for his sake and their own salvation, to entreat them to depart and -return whence they had come. - - -V - -The strongest and most honourable opponent the Vicar had was my other -friend, Pastor Jump, who would not condescend to the methods or company -of the "Modern Luther," but who was against both Jinks and Jinks' Church, -whether it was Low, High, Broad, or anything else, on grounds of reason -and conscience. He did not believe in creeds, whether they were made in -Rome or Geneva, and considered a Presbyter just a shade better than -a priest His one book of theology was the Bible, which he knew from -Genesis to Revelation in the English Version (he also knew far more -about the Hebrew and Greek than the Canon did), and he found his -ecclesiastical model in the Acts of the Apostles. It was indeed the -Pastor's firm conviction that the Christian Church had only had two -periods of purity in her history--one under the charge of the Apostle -Paul, and the other under the Puritans; and that if, during her whole -history, bishops and such-like people had been replaced by Puritan -ministers, it would have been much better for Christianity and for the -world. His idea of a Christian was a person who knew the day that he had -been converted, and who afterwards had been baptized; and of the Church, -that it was so many of these people with a pastor to teach them. He -detested Established Churches, priests, and liturgies, as well as the -House of Lords, capitalists, and all privileged persons. His radicalism -was however tempered by a profound belief in himself and his own -opinions. He was fond of insisting on the rights of the masses; but -when the working people wished to have the Park open on Sunday that they -might walk there with their children, the Pastor fought them tooth and -nail, and he regarded their desire to see pictures on Sunday as the -inspiration of Satan. No man was ever more eloquent upon the principles -of religious liberty, but he would have put an infidel into prison -without compunction and he drave forth a deacon from his own -congregation with contumely, who held unsound views on the Atonement The -tyranny of the Papacy was a favourite theme at Ebenezer, as well as the -insolence of priests; but every one knew that Pastor Jump as Pope was -infallible without the aid of any Council, and that his little finger -was heavier in personal rule than both Jinks' arms. When the Pastor, -who had the voice of a costermonger and the fist of a prize-fighter, -was carried away at a Liberation Society meeting by his own undoubted -eloquence, and described himself as a conscientious Dissenter, despised -by the proud priests of the Anglican Church, and next day one saw Jinks, -thinner than ever, hurrying along the street, and concealing beneath -his shabby cloak some dainty for a sick child, then one had a quite -convincing illustration of the power and utility of rhetoric. - -Upon occasion the Pastor felt it his duty to depart from his usual -course of evangelical doctrine, and to enlighten his people on some -historical subject and the district was once shaken by a discourse on -Oliver Cromwell, whom he compared to Elijah, and whose hatred of the -Baal worship was held up for imitation in our own day. Jinks committed -the one big mistake of his ministry by replying with a sermon on St. -Charles the Blessed Martyr--I think he said St.--which was a very weak -performance, and left the laurels altogether with Ebenezer. It must -indeed be admitted that Jump exactly expressed the mind of an Englishman -of the lower middle class, who understands the Evangelical system and -no other, and likes extempore prayer, with its freedom, variety, warmth, -and surprises, who suspects priests of wishing to meddle with his family -affairs, and dislikes all official pretensions, although willing to be -absolutely ruled by a strong man's personality. Both were extreme -men, and both were needed to express the religious sense of an English -parish. Jump considered the Canon an indefensible humbug, neither one -thing nor another, and the Canon used to pass Jump on the street; but -the Sunday after Jinks' death the Pastor, who had a warm heart in his -big body, and testified of things he had seen, passed a eulogium on the -late Vicar of St Agatha's, so generous and affecting, that beside it -the peeping little sermon preached in St Agatha's by a "Father" of -the "Anglican Friars" was as water to wine. The Pastor declared that -although he did not agree with his doctrine, he knew no man who had -lived nearer his Lord, or had done more good works than the Vicar of St -Agatha's; and that if every priest had been like him, he would never say -a word against the class. The people heard his voice break as he spoke, -and two deacons wiped their eyes, and the angels set down the sermon in -that Book where the record of our controversies is blotted out by their -tears, and our deeds of charity are written in gold. - -Perhaps, however, our poor priest suffered most in some ways at the -hands of a handful of Scots who had settled in the parish. They did not -oppose any of his proceedings, for they never condescended to cross the -door of St. Agatha's, and they accepted any extravagances of ritual as -things to be expected of an Episcopalian. Nor had they, like the Pastor, -a hereditary feud with the Anglican Church, for neither they nor their -fathers ever had anything to do with it They were indeed inclined to -believe that the Prayer-Book, where the officiating clergyman is called -a Minister and a Priest alternately, is admirably suited to the English -mind, to which the Almighty has been pleased to deny the gift of logic. -What touched, and (almost) nettled, the little Father was the tacit and -immovable superiority of the Scots, which made conversion impossible, -and even pastoral conversation difficult. It was Jinks' conscientious -conviction that he was responsible for the spiritual charge of all the -people in the parish, and so he visited laboriously among the Scots -schismatics, if haply he might bring them to the true faith, with -mortifying results. Old Andrew MacKittrick seemed to Jinks' innocent -mind a promising case, because Andrew had retired on a pension after -keeping the books of a drysalter's firm for forty years, and now had -nothing to do but argue. In fact, on the Vicar's first visit, the -bookkeeper fairly smacked his lips, seeing whole afternoons of -intellectual diversion before him; and Jinks, who was ever optimistic, -already imagined the responsible-looking figure of the Scot sustaining -a procession. It turned out a lamentable instance of cross-purposes, for -Jinks was burning to prove, with all tenderness, that the Kirk had no -Orders; while the idea that Dr. Chalmers was not a real minister and -Archbishop Sharpe was, seemed to Andrew unworthy of discussion by any -sane person; and Andrew, on his part, was simply longing for some one -to attack Jonathan Edward's _Freedom of the Will,_ while Jinks had never -heard of the book, and was quite blameless of philosophy. After two -conferences, Andrew was sadly convinced of their futility, and would not -waste time on a third. - -"Jess wumman," he said to his housekeeper, rolling himself hurriedly up -in a plaid and lying down on the sofa, "there's that curate body at the -door again; a've nae satisfaction arguin' wi' him, for he's no fit to -tak' up ony serious subject Just say that a'm no feelin' verra weel the -day, and, see here, slip ten shillings into his hand to gie awa', for -he's a fine bit craturie amang the poor, but he's no head for argument." - -With Mrs. Gillespie, who kept lodgings, and was as a mother to two Scots -bank clerks pushing their way up to be managers, Father Jinks was not -more successful, but his discomfiture was of another kind. - -"Come in, come in; it's an awfu' day to be oot, an' ye dinna look -strong; na, na, a dinna gang to Saint Agatha's, for ye ken we've a Kirk -o' oor ain, an' a properly ordained minister, but a'm gled to see ye; -a'm thankfu' for my ain preevileges, but a'm no bigoted. - -"Sit doon there by the fire an' dry yersel; a cudna manage wi' a -prayer-book masel, but we've had mony advantages in Scotland, and it -suits the English fouk. A hed a cousin' at married an Episcopalian, -and she gied wi' him as long as he lived, though of course it was a -deprivation. - -"'A schismatic?'--a've heard the word: they used to misca' the English -bishops that way in the North--an' ye called to warn me. Noo that was -kind, and, of coorse, ye did na know that a sit under Mr. McCaw; but -Losh keep us! ye're juist dreeping; a'll get ye a pair o' the lad's -slippers an' mak ye a warm cup o' tea. - -"A hed a laddie juist your age, an' ma heart warms to young men that -are na verra strong. Say awa'; a'll hear ye though a'm in the next room. -There noo, drink up your tea, an' that's short-bread frae Edinburgh, -Let's hear noo aboot yer Kirk; somebody was sayin' that ye carried -on the same antics as the Papists; but a'm no believin' that. Are ye -feelin' warmer noo, ma puir wee mannie?" and the good woman encompassed -Jinks with motherly attentions, but refused to take seriously his -efforts to convert her from the Kirk to the Church. Nor did he think it -an encouraging sign that Mrs. Gillespie pressed him to give her "a -cry" every time he was in the street, and sent him three pots of black -currant jam for his chest The most disappointing encounter was with our -Scots doctor, who had looked into St Agatha's one evening in passing and -found Jinks warning Dissenters of all kinds, among whom the Doctor found -to his amusement that he was included of their doom if they died in -schism. The Doctor's delight reached its height when Jinks, standing -at his full height of five feet four, and looking more than ever like a -dear little boy, opened his arms and invited every wandering prodigal to -return to the bosom of Mother Church. - -"Jinksy"--and the Doctor laid hold of the Father next day on the -street--"what sort of nonsense was yon ye were talking in your kirk last -night? - -"Hurt my feelings"--as Jinks was explaining that he had only been -declaring the truth, and that he did not wish to offend any one--"it -would take three men of your size to offend me. But I say, Jinksy, do -you ever take a holiday in Scotland? You hope to do some day. Then I'll -give ye a bit of advice: if you ever feel a turr-murring in your inside, -take the first train for Carlisle. Why? Because if you die in Scotland, -you'll die a Dissenter; and then, my little man, you know where you'll -go to"; for the Doctor's hand in humour was heavy, and his style was -that of an elephant crashing through a wood. - - -VI - -Next time the Anglican and the Scot met it was in circumstances where -differences of creed are forgotten and good men stand shoulder to -shoulder. In one room of the house a clerk's wife was seriously ill -with influenza, and in another the Doctor was examining her husband--a -patient, hard working, poorly paid drudge, who had come home from the -City very ill. "My wife thinks that it's nothing but a bad 'eadache. -Don't tell 'er, Doctor, else it might go bad with 'er, an* she 'asn't -much strength; but I say, tell me, 'aven't I got diphtheria?" - -"What makes everybody that gets a sore throat think he has diphtheria? -Well, I believe you have some grit in you, and don't want to be treated -like a child. You have, I'm sorry to say, and pretty bad; but you have -the spirit to make a fight, and I'll do my best. - -"Yes, I'll see that no one in this house comes near you, and I'll try -to get a nurse for to-night, but they're hard to get just now. I'll come -back with medicine in half an hour; and, look here, Holmes, mind your -wife and bairns, and keep up your heart. - -"No, Jinks, you must not come into this house: it's more than influenza. -Holmes has got diphtheria very bad; ought to have been in bed two days -ago, but the stupid ass stuck to his work. The mischief is that I can't -get a nurse, and he should not be left alone at night." - -"You, man alive, you're no fit for such work, and you would maybe catch -it.. I know you're not afraid, but... well, it's real gude o' ye, an' -I'll see ye settled for the night about eight." - -"That's the medicine, every three hours"--the doctor was giving his -directions to Nurse Jinks in the sick-room--"and let him have some -brandy and water when he's thirsty. Toots, Holmes, I know you could get -a bottle for yourself, but this is a special brand for sick folk. Oh, -yes, it'll go in the bill, risk me for that: every Scot looks after -himself. The minister is to stay all night with you, and what between -the two of us well see ye through. - -"Here's a cordial for yourself, Jinks"--this outside the door--"and for -ony sake keep clear of his breath. If he takes a turn for the worse, -send the servant lass for me. I may be out, but they will know where to -get me. And, Jinks, old man, I withdraw that about Carlisle.... Ye'll go -to Heaven from either side o' the Tweed. God bless you, old man; you're -doin' a good turn the night... - -"Yes, he's much worse than he was last morning; but it's not the blame -of your nursing: there's just one chance, and I'll try it. How do you -know about it? Well, yes, if you must know, I am going to use suction. -Get diphtheria myself? Maybe I may, and why should I not run the risk as -well as you, Mr. Jinks?... It's all right, man. I'm not angry. Neither -you nor me are cowards," said the Doctor; "neither is Holmes, and he -must have his chance, poor chap. Yes, I would be glad of your help. - -"No, you will not be needed at Holmes's to-night, and you've had enough -of it, Jinks. I've got a nurse, and Holmes is coming round first rate. -It's all right about paying the nurse; I'll see to that Man, ye would -pay for all the nurses in the district, if ye were allowed. - -"Me, I'm as fit as a fiddle. Doctors can't afford to be ill; but you're -no the thing, Jinks. Come back to the manse with me this minute, I want -to have a look at ye. Yon were three hard nichts ye had"--the Doctor -dropped into Scots when he was excited.... - -"Sir Andrew's gone, and I wish we had better news for you and ourselves. -Don't thank me for telling the truth; no man would tell you a lie. -... You're all right, whatever happens, Jinks," and he dropped his hand -within reach of the Father's, on whose face the shadow was fast falling. - -"It will not be for some hours, may be not till morning, and I hope -you'll not suffer much... I'll come back after the minister has left and -stay with you till, till..." - -"Daybreak," said Jinks. - -"Doctor," Jinks whispered, during the night as they watched by his bed, -the Scot on one side and Peter, who would allow no nurse, on the other, -"the Scots kirk has seemed to me... as Samaria, but the Lord chose... a -Samaritan in His parable, and you are...that Samaritan," and the Father -looked at the Doctor with eyes full of love. Just before sunrise he -glanced at the Doctor enquiringly. - -"Yes, it's no far off now, an' the worst's past. Ye'll have an easy -passage." They passed each an arm round his neck, and each took one of -his hands. - -"Till Jesus comes Himself," whispered Jinks, thanking them with his -eyes. - -"O Saviour of the world, who by Thy cross and precious blood hast -redeemed us, save us, and help us, we humbly beseech Thee, O Lord." This -which he had often offered for others, he now prayed for himself -very slowly. The light stole into the room and woke him from a brief -unconsciousness. - -"I believe"... he said, "in the Life Everlasting," and the soul of the -faithful servant was with the Lord, Whom, not having seen, he had loved. - -When the Doctor left the Vicarage, although still very early, Bags, the -choir-boy, was on the doorstep and was weeping bitterly. - - - - -THE PASSING OF DOMSIE - - -It was an ancient custom that Domsie and Drumsheugh should dine with -Doctor Davidson in the Manse after the distribution of prizes at the -school, and his companions both agreed afterwards that the Dominie was -never more cheerful than on those days. There was always a review of -stories when the Doctor and Domsie brought out their favourites, with -Drumsheugh for an impartial and appreciative audience, and every little -addition or improvement was noted in a spirit of appreciative criticism. - -During the active operations of dinner, talk was disjointed and -educational, hinging on the prospects of the calf crop in the school, -and the golden glories of the past, ever better than the present, when -the end of each University session showered medals on Drumtochty. When -the Doctor had smacked his first glass of port, having examined it -against the light, and the others had prepared their toddy in a -careful silence, broken only by wise suggestions from the host, it was -understood that genuine conversation might begin. - -"Aye, aye," Domsie would remark, by way of intimating that they, -being now in an open and genial mind, were ready to welcome one of the -Doctor's best stories, and Drumsheugh became insistent, "A'm no wantin' -tae tribble ye, Docter, but ave never got ower that sermon on the -turtle. Docter. Ye micht let's hear it again. A'm no sure gin the -Dominie ever herd it" May Drumsheugh be forgiven! - -Whereupon Domsie went on the back trail, and affected to search his -memory for the traces of the turtle, with no satisfaction. May he also -be forgiven! - -"Toots, Drumsheugh, you are trying to draw my leg. I know you well, eh? -As for you, Dominie, you've heard the story twenty times. -Well, well, just to please you; but mind you, this is the last time. - -"It was the beginning of a sermon that old MacFee, of Glenogil, used to -preach on the Monday after the Sacrament from the text, 'The voice of -the turtle is heard in the land,' and this was the introduction. - -"There will be many wonders in the latter day; but this is the greatest -of them all--the voice of the turtle shall be heard in the land. This -marvel falls into two parts, which we shall consider briefly and in -order. - -"I. A new posture evidently implied, when an animal that has gone upon -its belly for ages shall arise on its hind legs and walk majestically -through the land, and - -"II. A new voice distinctly promised, when a creature that has kept -silence from generation to generation will at last open its mouth and -sing melodiously among the people." - -"It's michty," summed up Drumsheugh, after the exposition had been fully -relished, "Ye'll no hear the like o' that noo-a-days in a coonty. It's -weel telt also, and that's important, for the best story is no worth -hearin' frae a puir hand The corn needs to be cleaned afore ye tak it -tae market." - -"The story is not without merit," and the Doctor's modesty was all the -more striking as he was supposed to have brought the turtle into its -present form out of the slenderest materials, "but the Dominie has some -far neater things." Anything Domsie had was from Aberdeen, and not to be -compared, he explained, with Perthshire work, being very dry and wanting -the fruity flavour of the Midland County; but he could still recall -the divisions of the action sermon given every year before the winter -Sacrament in Bourtrie-Lister: - -I. "Let us remember that there is a moral law in the universe." - -II. "Let us be thankful there is a way of escape from it" - -And then Domsie would chuckle with a keen sense of irony at the theology -underneath. "For the summer Sacrament," he would add after a pause, -"we had a discourse on sin wi' twa heads, 'Original Sin' and 'Actual -Transgressions'; and after Maister Deuchar finished wi' the first, he -aye snuffed, and said with great cheerfulness: 'Now let us proceed to -actual transgressions.'" - -Although Domsie's tales had never in them the body of the Doctor's, yet -he told them with such a pawkie humour, that Drumsheugh was fain between -the two to cry for mercy, being often reduced to the humiliation of open -laughter, of which he was afterwards much ashamed. - -On that day, however, when Domsie made his lamentable announcement, it -was evident to his friends that he was cast down, and ill at ease. He -only glanced at a Horace which the Doctor had been fool enough to buy in -Edinburgh, and had treasured up for Domsie's delectation at the close -of the school year--the kind of book he loved to handle, linger over, -return to gaze at, for all the world like a Catholic with a relic. - -"Printed, do you see, by Henry Stephen, of Paris; there's his trademark, -a philosopher gathering twigs from the tree of knowledge--and bound by -Boyet--old French morocco. There is a coat of arms--I take it of a -peer of France;" and the Doctor, a born book-collector, showed all its -points, as Drumsheugh would have expatiated on a three-year-old bullock. - -Domsie could not quite resist the contagious enthusiasm; putting on his -spectacles to test the printing; running his hand over the gold tooling -as one strokes a horse's glossy skin, and tasting afresh one or two -favourite verses from a Horace printed and bound by the master craftsmen -of their day. But it was only a brief rally, and Domsie sank again into -silence, from which neither kindly jest nor shrewd country talk could -draw him, till at last the Doctor asked him a straight question, which -was going far for us, who thought it the worst of manners to pry into -one's secrets: "What ails you, Dominie? Are any of your laddies going -back on you?" and the Doctor covered the inquiry by reminding Drumsheugh -that his glass was low. - -"Na, na; they are fechting hard wi' body and mind, an' daein' their -verra best, accordin' tae their pairts. Some o' the Drumtochty scholars -lived and some dee'd in the war at the University, but there wasna ane -disgraced his pairish." - -"They have made it known in every University of Scotland," broke in the -Doctor, "and also their master's name." - -"Ye've aye made ower mickle o' my wark, but a'm grateful this nicht an' -content to tak' a' ye say in yir goodness, for a've sent oot ma last -scholar," and Domsie's voice broke. - -"Not a bit of it Man alive, you're fit for ten years yet, and as for -laddies, I know four in the school that'll do you credit, or I'm not -minister of Drumtochty." - -"If it's the siller for their fees," began Drums-heugh, inwardly -overcome by Domsie's unexpected breakdown. - -Domsie waved his hand. "The laddies are there, and the twa or three -notes 'ill be gotten as afore, but it 'ill no be me that 'ill feenish -them." - -"What is the meaning of this, Mister Jamieson?" demanded the Doctor -sternly, for the woeful dejection of Domsie was telling on him also. - -"It's been on ma mind for years to retire, an maybe I should hae dune -it lang syne; but it was hard on flesh an' blude. I hev taught ma last -class, and ye will need to get another Dominie," and Domsie, who was -determined to play the man, made a show of filling his glass, with a -shaking hand. - -"Ye're an Aiberdeenshire man, a ken, though maist fouk hae forgotten -that ye're no ain' o' oorsels, but div ye tell me that ye're gain' -tae leave us after a' thae years an' a' the bairns ye've educat?" and -Drumsheugh grew indignant "Dinna be feared, Drumsheugh, or think me -ungrateful. I may gang north tae see ma birthplace aince mair, an' the -graves o' ma fouk, an' there's another hoose in Aberdeen I would like -tae see, and then I'm comin' back to Drumtochty to live an' dee here -among the friends that hev been kind to me." - -"This has come suddenly, Domsie, and is a little upsetting," and -Drumsheugh noticed that the Doctor was shaken. "We have worked side by -side for a long time, church and school, and I was hoping that there -would be no change till--till we both retired altogether; we're about -the same age. Can't you think over it--eh, Dominie?" - -"God kens, Doctor, a dinna lik' the thocht o't, but it's for the gude -o' the schule. A'm no hearing sae weel as aince a did, an' ma hands are -shakin' in the writin'. The scholars are gettin' their due, for a'm -no failin' in humanity (Latin), but the ither bairns are losing their -share, and ma day's dune. - -"Ye'ill just say that a'm retirin' an' thank a' body for their -consideration, and, Doctor, a've juist a favour tae ask. Gin a new -schule an' maister's hoose be built, will ye lat me get the auld ane; it -'ill no be worth much, an'... I wud like tae end ma days there." - -"Whate'er you want, Domsie, and ye 'ill come to the Manse till it be -free, and we 'ill have many a night among the classics, but... this is -bad news for the Glen, come who may in your place," and then, though -each man did his part bravely, it was a cheerless evening. - -Next day Domsie left to make his pious pilgrimage, and on the Sabbath -there was only one subject in the kirkyard. - -"Div ye no think, neebours," said Hillocks, after a tribute had been -paid to Domsie's services, "that he oucht tae get some bit testimonial? -It wudna be wiselike tae let him slip oot o' the schule withoot a word -frae the Glen." - -Hillocks paused, but the fathers were so much astonished at Hillocks -taking the initiative in expenditure that they waited for further -speech. - -"Noo, Pitscothrie is no a pairish tae pit beside Drumtochty for ae -meenut, but when their Dominie gied up his post, if the bodies didna -gather fifty pund for him; they ca'd it a purse o' sovereigns in the -_Advertiser_, but that was juist a genteel name for't. - -"A'm no sayin*," continued Hillocks, "that it wud be safe tae trust -Domsie wi' as mickle siller at a time; he wud be off tae Edinburgh an' -spend it on auld bukes, or may be divide it up amang his students. He's -careless, is Domsie, an' inclined to be wastefu'; but we micht gie him -somethin' tae keep." - -"What wud ye say," suggested Whinnie, when the kirkyard was revolving -the matter, "if we got him a coo 'at wud gie him milk and be a bit troke -tae occupy his time? What he didna need cud be made into butter and sent -tae Muirtown; it wud be a help." - -"Ye have an oreeginal mind," said Jamie, who always on those occasions -pitied the woman that was married to Whinnie, "an' a'm sure yir -perposal 'll be remembered. Domsie feedin' his coo on the road-side, -wi' a Latin buke in his hand, wud be interestin'." - -"It's most aggravatin'," broke in Hillocks, who was much annoyed at the -turn things had taken, "that ye winna gie me time tae feenish, an' 'ill -set Domsie stravaging the roads at the tail o' a coo for his last days." - -"It was Jamie," remonstrated Whinnie. - -"Haud yir tongue." Hillocks felt the time was short, and he had an idea -that must be ventilated. "A was considerin' that Domsie's snuff-box is -gey far thro' wi't A'm judjin' it has seen thirty years, at on y rate, -and it was naethin tae boast o' at the beginnin'. A've seen fresh hinges -pit on it twice masel. - -"Now, gin we bocht a snod bit silver boxie ain pit an inscription on't -wi' - - Presented To - - MR PATRICK JAMIESON, - - Late Schoolmaster Of Drumtochty, - - By A Few Friends, - -it wud be usefu' for ae thing, it wud be bonnie for anither, aye, an' -something mair," and Hillocks grew mysterious. - -"A legacy, div ye mean," inquired Jamie, "or what are ye aifter?" - -"Weel, ye see," exclaimed Hillocks with much cunning, "there's a man in -Kildrummie got a box frae his customers, an' it's never oot o' his hand. -When he taps the lid ye can see him reading the inscription, and he's a -way o' passin' it tae ye on the slant that's downricht clever. Ye canna -help seein' the words." - -"Gin we were thinkin' aboot a present tae a coal agent or a potato -dealer," said Jamie, "I wud hae the box wi' the words, but Domsie's a -queer body, an' a'm jalousin' that he wud never use yir grand silver box -frae the day he got it, an' a'm dootin' it micht be sold fer some laddie -to get him better keep at the college. - -"Besides," continued Jamie thoughtfully, "a'm no sure that ony man can -tak up wi' a new box after fifty. He's got accustomed tae the grip o' -the auld box, and he kens whar tae pit in his thumb and finger. A coont -that it taks aboot fifteen year tae grow into a snuff-box. - -"There's juist ae thing Domsie cares aboot, an' it's naither meat nor -drink, nor siller snuffboxes; it's his college laddies, gettin' them -forrit and payin' their fees, an' haudin' them in life till they're -dune." - -By this time the kirkyard was listening as one man and with both ears, -for it was plain Jamie had an idea. - -"Ca' on, Jamie," encouraged Drumsheugh, who had as yet given no sign. - -"He's hed his ain time, hes Domsie, gaein' roond Muirtown market -collectin' the bank notes for his scholars an' seein' they hed their -bukes' A'm no denyin* that Domsie was greedy in his ain way, and gin the -Glen cud gither eneuch money tae foond a bit bursary for puir scholars -o' Drumtochty, a wudna say but that he micht be pleased." - -The matter was left in Drumsheugh's hands, with Doctor Davidson as -consulting counsel, and he would tell nothing for a fortnight. Then -they saw in the Dunleith train that he was charged with tidings, and a -meeting was held at the junction, Peter being forbidden to mention time, -and commanded to take the outcasts of Kildrummie up by themselves if -they couldn't wait. - -"The first man a mentioned it tae was oor Saunders, an' he said naethin' -at the time, but he cam up in the forenicht, and slippit a note in ma -hand. 'He didna pit mickle intae me,' says he, 'but he's daein' fine wi' -the bairns. Neebur, a kent that meenut that the Glen wud dae something -handsome. - -"Next morning a gied a cry at the Free Manse, and telt Maister -Carmichael. If he was na oot o' the room like a man possessed, and he -gied me every penny he hed in the hoose, ten pund five shilling. And at -the gate he waved his hat in the air, and cries, 'The Jamieson Bursary.' - -"It was ae note from one man an' three frae his neebur, an' twa shilling -frae the cottars. Abody has dune his pairt, one hundred an' ninety-two -pounds frae the Glen. - -"We sent a bit letter tae the Drumtochty fouk in the Sooth, and they've -sent fifty-eight pounds, wi' mony good wishes, an' what na think ye hev -the auld scholars sent? A hundred and forty pounds. An' last nicht we -hed three hundred and ninety pounds." - -"Ma word!" was all Hillocks found himself able to comment; "that wad get -a richt snuffbox." - -"Ye hev mair tae tell, Drumsheugh," said Jamie; "feenish the list" - -"Ye're a wratch, Jamie," responded the treasurer of the Jamieson Bursary -Fund. "Hoo did ye ken aboot the Doctor? says he tae me laist nicht, -'Here's a letter to Lord Kilspindie. Give it to him at Muirtown, and I -would not say but he might make the sum up to four hundred.' So a saw -his lordship in his room, and he wrote a cheque and pit in a letter, an' -says he, 'Open that in the Bank, Drumsheugh,' an' a did. It was for ten -pounds, wi' a hundred on tae't, making up L500. Twenty pund a year tae a -Drumtochty scholar for ever. Jamie," said Drumsheugh, "ye've gotten yir -bursary." - -It was arranged that the meeting of celebration should be held in the -parish kirk, which in those days was used for nothing except Divine -worship; but the Doctor declared this to be no exception to his rule. - -"Kirk and school have been one in Scotland since John Knox's day, and -one they shall be while I live in Drumtochty; we 'ill honour him in -the kirk, for the good the Dominie has done to the bairns, and to pure -learning." - -The meeting was delayed till Professor Ross had come home from -Australia, with his F.R.S. and all his other honours, for he was marked -out to make the presentation; and every Drumtochty scholar within reach -was enjoined to attend. - -They came from Kildrummie at various hours and in many conveyances, and -Hillocks checked the number at the bridge with evident satisfaction. - -"Atween yesterday and the day," he reported to Jamie, in the afternoon, -"aucht and twenty scholars hae passed, no including the Professor, and -there's fower expected by the next train; they'll just be in time," -which they were, to everybody's delight. - -"It's a gude thing, Hillocks," said Jamie, "that bridge was mended; -there's been fifty degrees gane over it the day, Hillocks! to say -naithin' o' a wecht o' knowledge." - -The Doctor had them all, thirty-three University men, with Domsie and -Carmichael and Weelum MacLure, as good a graduate as any man, to dinner, -and for that end had his barn wonderfully prepared. Some of the guests -have written famous books since then, some are great preachers now, some -are chief authorities to science, some have never been heard of beyond -a little sphere, some are living, and some are dead; but all have done -their part, and each man that night showed, by the grip of his hand, and -the look on his face, that he knew where his debt was due. - -Domsie sat on the Doctor's right hand, and the Professor on his left, -and a great effort was made at easy conversation, Domsie asking the -Professor three times whether he had completely recovered from the fever -which had frightened them all so much in the Glen, and the Professor -congratulating the Doctor at intervals on the decorations of the dinner -hall. Domsie pretended to eat, and declared he had never made so hearty -a dinner in his life, but his hands could hardly hold the knife and -fork, and he was plainly going over the story of each man at the table, -while the place rang with reminiscences of the old school among the -pines. - -Before they left the barn, Doctor Davidson proposed Domsie's health, -and the laddies--all laddies that day--drank it, some in wine, some in -water, every man from the heart, and then one of them--they say it was -a quiet divine--started, In face of Doctor Davidson, "For he's a jolly -good fellow," and there are those who now dare to say that the Doctor -joined in with much gusto, but in these days no man's reputation is -safe. - -Domsie was not able to say much, but he said more than could have been -expected. He called them his laddies for the last time, and thanked -them for the kindness they were doing their old master. There was not an -honour any one of them had won, from a prize in the junior Humanity to -the last degree, he could not mention. - -Before sitting down he said that they all missed George Howe that day, -and that Marget, his mother, had sent her greetings to the scholars. - -Then they went to the kirk, where Drumtochty was waiting, and as Domsie -came in with his laddies round him the people rose, and would have -cheered had they been elsewhere and some one had led. The Doctor went -into the precentor's desk and gave out the hundredth psalm, which is -ever sung on great days and can never be sung dry. After which one of -the thirty-three thanked the Almighty for all pure knowledge, all good -books, all faithful teachers, and besought peace and joy for "our dear -master in the evening of his days." - -It was the Professor who read the address from the scholars, and this -was the last paragraph: - -"Finally, we assure you that none of us can ever forget the parish -school of Drumtochty, or fail to hold in tender remembrance the master -who first opened to us the way of knowledge, and taught us the love -thereof. - -"We are, so long as we live, - -"Your grateful and affectionate - -"Scholars." - -Then came the names with all the degrees, and the congregation held -their breath to the last M.A. - -"Now, Drumsheugh," said the Doctor, and that worthy man made the great -speech of his life, expressing the respect of the Glen for Domsie, -assigning the glory of a brilliant idea to Jamie Soutar, relating -its triumphant accomplishment, describing the Jamieson Bursary, and -declaring that while the parish lasted there would be a Jamieson scholar -to the honour of Domsie's work. For a while Domsie's voice was very -shaky when he was speaking about himself, but afterwards it grew strong -and began to vibrate, as he implored the new generation to claim their -birthright of learning and to remember that "the poorest parish, though -it have but bare fields and humble homes, can yet turn out scholars to -be a strength and credit to the commonwealth." - -The Professor saw Domsie home, and noticed that he was shaking and did -not wish to speak. He said good-bye at the old schoolhouse, and Ross -caught him repeating to himself: - - "Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, - Labuntur anni;" - -but he seemed very content Ross rose at daybreak next morning and -wandered down to the schoolhouse, recalling at every step his boyhood -and early struggles, the goodness of Domsie, and his life of sacrifice, -The clearing looked very peaceful, and the sun touched with beauty -the old weather-beaten building which had been the nursery of so many -scholars, but which would soon be deserted for ever. He pushed the door -open and started to see Domsie seated at the well-known desk, and in his -right hand firmly clasped the address which the scholars had presented -to him. His spectacles were on his forehead, his left elbow was resting -on the arm of the chair, and Ross recognised the old look upon his -face. It used to come like a flash when a difficult passage had suddenly -yielded up its hidden treasure, and Ross knew that Domsie had seen the -Great Secret, and was at last and completely satisfied. - - - - - -DR. DAVIDSON'S LAST CHRISTMAS - - -Christmas fell on a Sunday the year Dr. Davidson died, and on the -preceding Monday a groom drove up to the manse from Muirtown Castle. - -"A letter, Doctor, from his lordship"--John found his master sitting -before the study fire in a reverie, looking old and sad--"and there's a -bit boxie in the kitchen." - -"Will you see, John, that the messenger has such food as we can offer -him?" and the Doctor roused himself at the sight of the familiar -handwriting; "there is that, eh, half-fowl that Rebecca was keeping for -my dinner to-day; perhaps she could do it up for him. I... do not feel -hungry to-day. And, John, will you just say that I'm sorry that... owing -to circumstances, we can't offer him refreshment?" On these occasions -the Doctor felt his straitness greatly, having kept a house in his -day where man and beast had of the best "What dis for the minister of -Drumtochty an' his... hoose 'ill dae for a groom, even though he serve -the Earl o' Kilspindie, an' a ken better than say onything tae Becca -aboot the chuckie;" this he said to himself on his way to the kitchen, -where that able woman had put the messenger from the castle in his -own place, and was treating him with conspicuous and calculated -condescension. He was a man somewhat given to appetite, and critical -about his drink, as became a servant of the Earl; but such was the -atmosphere of the manse and the awfulness of the Doctor's household that -he made a hearty dinner off ham and eggs, with good spring water, and -departed declaring his gratitude aloud. - -"My dear Davidson,-- - -"Will you distribute the enclosed trifle among your old pensioners in -the Glen as you may see fit, and let it come from you, who would have -given them twice as much had it not been for that confounded bank. The -port is for yourself, - -Sandeman's '48--the tipple you and I have tasted together for many a -year. If you hand it over to the liquidators, as you wanted to do with -the few bottles you had in your cellar, I'll have you up before the -Sheriff of Muirtown for breach of trust and embezzlement as sure as my -name is "Your old friend, - -"Kilspindie." - -"P.S.--The Countess joins me in Christmas greetings and charges you to -fail us on New Year's Day at your peril. We are anxious about Hay, who -has been ordered to the front." - -The Doctor opened the cheque and stroked it gently; then he read the -letter again and snuffed, using his handkerchief vigorously. After which -he wrote:-- - -"Dear Kilspindie,-- - -"It is, without exception, the prettiest cheque I have ever had in my -hands, and it comes from as good a fellow as ever lived. You knew that -it would hurt me not to be able to give my little Christmas gifts, and -you have done this kindness. Best thanks from the people and myself, and -as for the port, the liquidators will not see a drop of it Don't believe -any of those stories about the economies at the manse which I suspect -you have been hearing from Drumtochty. Deliberate falsehoods; we -are living like fighting cocks. I'm a little shaky--hint of gout, I -fancy--but hope to be with you on New Year's Day. God bless you both, -and preserve Hay in the day of battle. - -"Yours affectionately, - -"Alexander Davidson." - -"Don't like that signature, Augusta," said the Earl to his wife; "'yours -affectionately' it's true enough, for no man has a warmer heart, but he -never wrote that way before. Davidson's breaking up, and... he 'ill be -missed. I must get Manley to run out here and overhaul him when Davidson -comes down on New Year's Day. My belief is that he's been starving -himself. Peter Robertson, the land steward, says that he has never -touched a drop of wine since that bank smashed; now that won't do at our -age, but he's an obstinate fellow, Davidson, when he takes a thing into -his head." - -The Doctor's determination--after the calamity of the bank failure--to -reduce himself to the depths of poverty was wonderful, but Drumtochty -was cunning and full of tact. He might surrender his invested means and -reserve only one hundred pounds a year out of his living, but when he -sent for the Kildrummie auctioneer and instructed him to sell every -stick of furniture, except a bare minimum for one sitting-room and a -bedroom, Jock accepted the commission at once, and proceeded at eleven -miles an hour--having just bought a new horse--to take counsel with -Drumsheugh. Next Friday, as a result thereof, he dropped into the -factor's office--successor to him over whom the Doctor had triumphed -gloriously--and amid an immense variety of rural information, mentioned -that he was arranging a sale of household effects at Drumtochty Manse. -Jock was never known to be so dilatory with an advertisement before, and -ere he got it out Lord Kilspindie had come to terms with the liquidator -and settled the Doctor's belongings on him for life. - -The Doctor's next effort was with his household, and for weeks the -minister looked wistfully at John and Rebecca, till at last he called -them in and stated the situation. - -"You have both been... good and faithful servants to me, indeed I may -say... friends for many years, and I had hoped you would have remained -in the Manse till... so long as I was spared. And I may mention now that -I had made some slight provision that would have... made you comfortable -after I was gone." - -"It wes kind o' ye, sir, an' mindfu'." Rebecca spoke, not John, and her -tone was of one who might have to be firm and must not give herself away -by sentiment. - -"It is no longer possible for me, through... certain events, to live as -I have been accustomed to do, and I am afraid that I must... do without -your help. A woman coming in to cook and... such like will be all I can -afford." The expression on the housekeeper's face at this point was such -that even the Doctor did not dare to look at her again, but turned to -John, whose countenance was inscrutable. - -"Your future, John, has been giving me much anxious thought, and I hope -to be able to do something with Lord Kilspindie next week. There are -many quiet places on the estate which might suit..." then the Doctor -weakened, "although I know well no place will ever be like Drumtochty, -and the old Manse will never be the same... without you. But you see how -it is... friends." - -"Doctor Davidson," and he knew it was vain to escape her, "wi' yir -permission a wud like tae ask ye ane or twa questions, an' ye 'ill -forgie the leeberty. Dis ony man in the Pairish o' Drumtochty ken yir -wys like John? Wha 'ill tak yir messages, an' prepare the fouk for the -veesitation, an' keep the gairden snod, an' see tae a' yir trokes when -John's awa? Wull ony man ever cairry the bukes afore ye like John?" - -"Never," admitted the Doctor, "never." - -"Div ye expect the new wumman 'ill ken hoo mickle stairch tae pit in yir -stock, an' hoo mickle butter ye like on yir chicken, an' when ye change -yir flannels tae a day, an' when ye like anither blanket on yir bed, an' -the wy tae mak the currant drink for yir cold?" - -"No, no, Rebecca, nobody will ever be so good to me as you've been"--the -Doctor was getting very shaky. - -"Then what for wud ye send us awa, and bring in some handless, useless -tawpie that cud neither cook ye a decent meal nor keep the Manse wise -like? Is't for room? The Manse is as big as ever. Is't for meat? We'ill -eat less than she 'ill waste." - -"You know better, Rebecca," said the Doctor, attempting to clear his -throat; "it's because... because I cannot afford to..." - -"A ken very weel, an' John an' me hev settled that For thirty year -ye've paid us better than ony minister's man an' manse hoosekeeper in -Perthshire, an' ye wantit tae raise oor wages aifter we mairrit. Div ye -ken what John an' me hev in the bank for oor laist days?" - -The Doctor only shook his head, being cowed for once in his life. - -"Atween us, five hundred and twenty-sax pund." - -"Eleven an' sevenpence," added John, steadying his voice with -arithmetic. - -"It's five year sin we askit ye tae py naethin' mair, but juist gie's -oor keep, an' noo the time's come, an' welcome. Hev John or me ever -disobeyed ye or spoken back a' thae years?" - -The Doctor only made a sign with his hand. "We' ill dae't aince, at ony -rate, for ye may gie us notice tae leave an' order us oot o' the manse; -but here we stop till we're no fit tae serve ye or ye hae nae mair need -o' oor service." "A homologate that"--it was a brave word, and one of -which John was justly proud, but he did not quite make the most of it -that day. - -"I thank you from my heart, and... I'll never speak of parting again," -and for the first time they saw tears on the Doctor's cheek. - -"John," Rebecca turned on her husband--no man would have believed it -of the beadle of Drumtochty, but he was also..."what are ye stoiterin' -roond the table for? it's time tae set the Doctor's denner; as for -that chicken--" and Rebecca retired to the kitchen, having touched her -highest point that day. - -The insurrection in the manse oozed out, and encouraged a conspiracy of -rebellion in which even the meekest people were concerned. Jean Baxter, -of Bumbrae, who had grasped greedily at the dairy contract of the manse, -when the glebe was let to Netherton, declined to render any account to -Rebecca, and the Doctor had to take the matter in hand. - -"There's a little business, Mrs. Baxter, I would like to settle with -you, as I happen to be here." The Doctor had dropped in on his way back -from Whinny Knowe, where Marget and he had been talking of George for -two hours. "You know that I have to be, eh... careful now, and I... -you will let me pay what we owe for that delicious butter you are good -enough to supply." - -"Ye 'ill surely tak a 'look roond the fields first, Doctor, an' tell's -what ye think o' the crops;" and after that it was necessary for him to -take tea. Again and again he was foiled, but he took a firm stand by -the hydrangea in the garden, where he had given them Lord Kilspindie's -message, and John Baxter stood aside that the affair might be decided in -single combat. - -"Now, Mrs. Baxter, before leaving I must insist," began the Doctor with -authority, and his stick was in his hand; but Jean saw a geographical -advantage, and seized it instantly. - -"Div ye mind, sir, comin' tae this gairden five year syne this month, -and stannin' on that verra spot aside the hydrangy?" - -The Doctor scented danger, but he could not retreat. - -"Weel, at ony rate, John an' me dinna forget that day, an' never wull, -for we were makin' ready tae leave the home o' the Baxters for mony -generations wi' a heavy heart, an' it wes you that stoppit us. Ye'ill -maybe no mind what ye said tae me." - -"We 'ill not talk of that to-day, Mrs. Baxter... that's past and over." - -"Aye, it's past, but it's no over, Doctor Davidson; na, na, John an' me -wesna made that wy Ye may lauch at a fulish auld wife, but ilka kirnin' -(churning) day ye veesit us again. When a'm turnin' the kirn a see ye -comin' up the road as ye did that day, an' a gar the handle keep time -wi' yir step; when a tak oot the bonnie yellow butter ye're stannin' in -the gairden, an' then a stamp ae pund wi' buttercups, an' a say, 'You're -not away yet, Bumbrae, you're not away yet'--that wes yir word tae the -gude man; and when the ither stamp comes doon on the second pund and -leaves the bonnie daisies on't, 'Better late than never, Bumbrae; better -late than never, Bumbrae.' Ye said that afore ye left, Doctor." Baxter -was amazed at his wife, and the Doctor saw himself defeated. - -"Mony a time hes John an' me sat in the summer-hoose an' brocht back -that day, an' mony a time hev we wantit tae dae somethin' for him that -keepit the auld roof-tree abune oor heads. God forgie me, Doctor, but -when a heard ye hed gien up yir glebe ma hert loupit, an' a said tae -John, 'The 'ill no want for butter at the manse sae lang as there's a -Baxter in Bumbrae.' - -"Dinna be angry, sir," but the flush that brought the Doctor's face unto -a state of perfection was not anger. "A ken it's a leeberty we're takin* -an' maybe a'm presumin' ower far, but gin ye kent hoo sair oor herts -were wi' gratitude ye wudna deny us this kindness." - -"Ye 'ill lat the Doctor come awa noo, gude wife, tae see the young -horse," and Doctor Davidson was grateful to Burnbrae for covering his -retreat. - -This spirit spread till Hillocks lifted up his horn, outwitting the -Doctor with his attentions, and reducing him to submission. When the -beadle dropped in upon Hillocks one day, and, after a hasty review of -harvest affairs, mentioned that Doctor Davidson was determined to walk -in future to and from Kildrummie Station, the worthy man rose without a -word, and led the visitor to the shed where his marvellous dog-cart was -kept. - -"Div ye think that a' cud daur?" studying its general appearance with -diffidence. - -"There's nae sayin' hoo it micht look wi' a wash," suggested John. - -"Sall, it's fell snod noo," after two hours' honest labour, in which -John condescended to share, "an* the gude wife 'ill cover the cushions. -Dinna lat on, but a'll be at the gate the morn afore the Doctor starts," -and Peter Bruce gave it to be understood that when Hillocks convoyed the -Doctor to the compartment of the third rigidly and unanimously reserved -for him, his manner, both of walk and conversation, was changed, and it -is certain that a visit he made to Piggie Walker on the return journey -was unnecessary save for the purpose of vain boasting. It was not, -however, to be heard of by the Doctor that Hillocks should leave his -work at intervals to drive him to Kildrummie, and so there was a war of -tactics, in which the one endeavoured to escape past the bridge without -detection, while the other swooped down upon him with the dog-cart. On -the Wednesday when the Doctor went to Muirtown to buy his last gifts to -Drumtochty, he was very cunning, and ran the blockade while Hillocks -was in the corn room, but the dog-cart was waiting for him in the -evening--Hillocks having been called to Kildrummie by unexpected -business, at least so he said--and it was a great satisfaction -afterwards to Peter Bruce that he placed fourteen parcels below the seat -and fastened eight behind--besides three which the Doctor held in his -hands, being fragile, and two, soft goods, on which Hillocks sat for -security. For there were twenty-seven humble friends whom the Doctor -wished to bless on Christmas Day. - -When he bade the minister good-bye at his gate, Hillocks prophesied a -storm, and it was of such a kind that on Sunday morning the snow was -knee-deep on the path from the manse to the kirk, and had drifted up -four feet against the door through which the Doctor was accustomed to -enter in procession. - -"This is unfortunate, very unfortunate," when John reported the state -of affairs to the Doctor, "and we must just do the best we can in the -circumstances, eh?" - -"What wud be yir wull, sir?" but John's tone did not encourage any -concessions. - -"Well, it would never do for you to be going down bare-headed on such a -day, and it's plain we can't get in at the front door. What do you say -to taking in the books by the side door, and I'll just come down in my -top-coat, when the people are gathered"; but the Doctor did not show a -firm mind, and it was evident that he was thinking less of himself than -of John. - -"All come for ye at the usual 'oor," was all that functionary deigned to -reply, and at a quarter to twelve he brought the gown and bands to the -study--he himself being in full black. - -"The drift 'ill no tribble ye, an' ye 'ill no need tae gang roond; na, -na," and John could not quite conceal his satisfaction, "we 'ill no -start on the side door aifter five and thirty years o' the front." So -the two old men--John bare-headed, the Doctor in full canonicals and -wearing his college cap--came down on a fair pathway between two banks -of snow three feet high, which Saunders from Drumsheugh and a dozen -plowmen had piled on either side. The kirk had a severe look that day, -with hardly any women or children to relieve the blackness of the men, -and the drifts reaching to the sills of the windows, while a fringe of -snow draped their sides. - -The Doctor's subject was the love of God, and it was noticed that he -did not read, but spoke as if he had been in his study. He also dwelt so -affectingly on the gift of Christ, and made so tender an appeal unto his -people, that Drumsheugh blew his nose with vigour, and Hillocks himself -was shaken. After they had sung the paraphrase-- - - "To Him that lov'd the souls of men, - And washed us in His blood," - -the Doctor charged those present to carry his greetings to the folk at -home, and tell them they were all in his heart After which he looked -at his people as they stood for at least a minute, and then lifting his -hands, according to the ancient fashion of the Scottish Kirk, he blessed -them. His gifts, with a special message to each person, he sent by -faithful messengers, and afterwards he went out through the snow to make -two visits. The first was to blind Marjorie, who was Free Kirk, but -to whom he had shown much kindness all her life. His talk with her was -usually of past days and country affairs, seasoned with wholesome humour -to cheer her heart, but to-day he fell into another vein, to her great -delight, and they spoke of the dispensations of Providence. - -"'Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,' Marjorie, is a very instructive -Scripture, and I was thinking of it last night You have had a long and -hard trial, but you have doubtless been blessed, for if you have not -seen outward things, you have seen the things... of the soul." The -Doctor hesitated once or twice, as one who had not long travelled this -road. - -"You and I are about the same age, Marjorie, and we must soon... depart -My life was very... prosperous, but lately it has pleased the Almighty -to... chasten me. I have now, therefore, some hope also that I may be -one of His children." - -"He wes aye gude grain, the Doctor," Marjorie said to her friend after -he had left, "but he's hed a touch o' the harvest sun, and he's been -ripening." - -Meanwhile the Doctor had gone on to Tochty Lodge, and was standing in -the stone hall, which was stripped and empty of the Camegies for ever. -Since he was a laddie in a much-worn kilt and a glengarry bonnet without -tails, he had gone in and out the Lodge, and himself had seen four -generations--faintly remembering the General's grandfather. Every inch -of the house was familiar to him, and associated with kindly incidents. -He identified the spaces on the walls where the portraits of the -cavaliers and their ladies had hung; he went up to the room where the -lairds had died and his friend had hoped to fall on sleep; he visited -the desolate gallery where Kate had held court and seemed to begin -a better day for the old race; then he returned and stood before the -fireplace in which he had sat long ago and looked up to see the stars -in the sky. Round that hearth many a company of brave men and fair -women had gathered, and now there remained of this ancient stock but two -exiles--one eating out his heart in poverty and city life, and a girl -who had for weal or woe, God only knew, passed out of the line of her -traditions. A heap of snow had gathered on the stone, where the honest -wood fire had once burned cheerily, and a gust of wind coming down the -vast open chimney powdered his coat with drift It was to him a sign that -the past was closed, and that he would never again stand beneath that -roof. - -He opened the gate of the manse, and then, under a sudden impulse, went -on through deep snow to the village and made a third visit--to Archie -Moncur, whom he found sitting before the fire reading the _Temperance -Trumpet_. Was there ever a man like Archie?--so gentle and fierce, so -timid and fearless, so modest and persevering. He would stoop to lift a -vagrant caterpillar from the cart track, and yet had not adjectives to -describe the infamy of a publican; he would hardly give an opinion on -the weather, but he fought the drinking customs of the Glen like a lion; -he would only sit in the lowest seat in any place, but every winter he -organised--at great trouble and cost of his slender means--temperance -meetings which were the fond jest of the Glen. From year to year -he toiled on, without encouragement, without success, hopeful, -uncomplaining, resolute, unselfish, with the soul of a saint and the -spirit of a hero in his poor, deformed, suffering little body. He -humbled himself before the very bairns, and allowed an abject like -Milton to browbeat him with Pharisaism, but every man in the Glen knew -that Archie would have gone to the stake for the smallest jot or tittle -of his faith. - -"Archie," said the Doctor, who would not sit down, and whose coming -had thrown the good man into speechless confusion, "it's the day of -our Lord's birth, and I wish to give you and all my friends of the Free -Kirk--as you have no minister just now--hearty Christmas greeting. May -peace be in your kirk and homes... and hearts. - -"My thoughts have been travelling back of late over those years since I -was ordained minister of this parish and the things which have happened, -and it seemed to me that no man has done his duty by his neighbour or -before God with a more single heart than you, Archie." - -"God bless you." Then on the doorstep the Doctor shook hands again and -paused for a minute. "You have fought a good fight, Archie--I wish we -could all say the same... a good fight." - -For an hour Archie was so dazed that he was not able to say a word, -and could do nothing but look into the fire, and then he turned to his -sisters, with that curious little movement of the hand which seemed to -assist his speech. - -"The language wes clean redeeklus, but it wes kindly meant... an' it -maks up for mony things.... The Doctor wes aye a gentleman, an' noo... -ye can see that he's... something mair." - -Drumsheugh dined with the Doctor that night, and after dinner John -opened for them a bottle of Lord Kilspindie's wine. - -"It is the only drink we have in the house, for I have not been using -anything of that kind lately, and I think we may have a glass together -for the sake of Auld Lang Syne." - -They had three toasts, "The Queen," and "The Kirk of Scotland," and "The -friends that are far awa," after which--for the last included both the -living and the dead--they sat in silence. Then the Doctor began to speak -of his ministry, lamenting that he had not done better for his people, -and declaring that if he were spared he intended to preach more -frequently about the Lord Jesus Christ. - -"You and I, Drumsheugh, will have to go a long journey soon, and give an -account of our lives in Drumtochty. Perhaps we have done our best as men -can, and I think we have tried; but there are many things we might have -done otherwise, and some we ought not to have done at all. - -"It seems to me now, the less we say in that day of the past the -better.... We shall wish for mercy rather than justice, and"--here the -Doctor looked earnestly over his glasses at his elder--"we would be none -the worse, Drums-heugh, of a friend to... say a good word for us both in -the great court." - -"A've thocht that masel"--it was an agony for Drumsheugh to speak--"mair -than aince. Weelum MacLure wes... ettlin' (feeling) aifter the same -thing the nicht he slippit awa, an' gin ony man cud hae stude on his ain -feet... yonder, it was... Weelum." - -The Doctor read the last chapter of the Revelation of St John at prayers -that evening with much solemnity, and thereafter prayed concerning those -who had lived together in the Glen that they might meet at last in the -City. - -"Finally, most merciful Father, we thank Thee for Thy patience with -us and the goodness Thou hast bestowed upon us, and for as much as Thy -servants have sinned against Thee beyond our knowledge, we beseech Thee -to judge us not according to our deserts, but according to the merits -and intercession of Jesus Christ our Lord." He also pronounced the -benediction--which was not his wont at family worship--and he shook -hands with his two retainers; but he went with his guest to the outer -door. - -"Good-bye, Drumsheugh... you have been... a faithful friend and elder." - -When John paid his usual visit to the study before he went to bed, the -Doctor did not hear him enter the room. He was holding converse with -Skye, who was seated on a chair, looking very wise and much interested. - -"Ye're a bonnie beastie, Skye"--like all Scots, the Doctor in his tender -moments dropped into dialect--"for a'thing He made is verra gude. Ye've -been true and kind to your master, Skye, and ye 'ill miss him if he -leaves ye. Some day ye 'ill die also, and they 'ill bury ye, and I doubt -that 'ill be the end o' ye, Skye. - -"Ye never heard o' God, Skye, or the Saviour, for ye're juist a puir -doggie; but your master is minister of Drumtochty, and... a sinner -saved... by grace." - -The Doctor was so much affected as he said the last words slowly -to himself that John went out on tiptoe, and twice during the night -listened--fancying he heard Skye whine. In the morning the Doctor was -still sitting in his big chair, and Skye was fondly licking a hand that -would never again caress him, while a miniature of Daisy--the little -maid who had died in her teens, and whom her brother had loved to -his old age--lay on the table, and the Bible was again open at the -description of the New Jerusalem. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Afterwards, by Ian Maclaren - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFTERWARDS *** - -***** This file should be named 43192.txt or 43192.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/1/9/43192/ - -Produced by David Widger - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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