ed Maggie, dancing wildly around,
"Let's go an' ask him how Miss
Thingy-me-bob-with-the-stroke-in-the-middle-of-her-name is!"

"For pity's sake!" cried Mrs. Hamilton, an ejaculation of no particular
meaning, but one she always used under unusual excitement.

"Bella, run an' show him into the settin' room, while I wash my hands
out o' this bread. Who'd a' thought of him comin' here this mornin'
an' us jist talkin' about him!"

"Mercy me, mother! I can't go to the door in this wrapper. Send
somebody else; Jess, you look all right."

"Yes, Jess, you trot out an' show him in. Tell him the President of
the Ladies' Aid's here, in a most pious frame of mind, and she'd like
to hear him play the bangjo and sing the other Joe--'Old Black Joe,' or
whatever you call him, and maybe he'll dance the 'Highland Fling,' too!"

"Maggie!" implored her mother. "He'll hear you! There's the knocker!"

The minister's sudden appearance put an abrupt termination to Miss
Cotton's gossip, but the story did not end there. Jessie concluded for
the time, that, though a minister, Mr. Egerton must be something of a
flirt, and as Donald was now repentant she soon found no time to bestow
upon his rival. The young minister missed the girl's pleasant
companionship, but he soon discovered that there was much greater
trouble ahead of him. The story of his musical attainments in his
college days rolled through Glenoro, gaining in bulk as it progressed.
For, contrary to Miss Cotton's warning but quite in accord with her
expectations, the tale leaked out. Bella told it to Wee Andra, who
told "the boys" at the corner. Syl Todd rehearsed it before Coonie the
next morning, and that was all that was necessary. Coonie embellished
it to suit himself, and produced such a work of art that he shocked
Mrs. Fraser beyond speech when he delivered it to her at the top of the
hill.

By the time it reached the Oa it was to the effect that in his college
days Mr. Egerton had been a very wild and dissolute youth. Glenoro
might not have objected to a thoroughly reformed villain, but this
young man's gay conduct left them in doubt whether at heart he was any
better now than in the past. Old Andrew Johnstone, who had been
somewhat mollified by the young man's action in regard to the organ,
was once more aroused. At first he paid no heed to the story, for his
son had told it to him. Wee Andra did not think it necessary to repeat
it verbatim; he was rather va