"of twa men trying to sort a love affair, when there was a woman
within call to seek counsel o'."

"But we couldna hae done better, Jenny."

"Ye couldna hae done warse, deacon. Once the lad asked ye for money,
and ye wouldna trust him wi' it; and now ye are in sic a hurry to send
him after a wife that he maun neither eat nor sleep. Ye ken which is
the maist dangerous. And you, wi' a' your years, to play into auld
Strang's hand sae glibly! Deacon, ye hae made a nice mess o' it. Dinna
ye see that Strang knew you twa fiery Hielandmen would never tak
'No,' and he sent Isabel awa on purpose for our Davie to run after her.
He kens weel they will be sure to marry, but he'll say now that his
daughter disobeyed him; sae he'll get off giving her a bawbee o' her
fortune, and he'll save a' the plenishing and the wedding expenses.
Deacon, I'm ashamed o' you. Sending a love-sick lad on sic a fool's
errand. And mair, I'm not going to hae Isabel Strang, or Isabel
Callendar here. A young woman wi' bridish ways dawdling about the
house, I canna, and I willna stand. You'll hae to choose atween Deacon
Strang's daughter and your auld cousin, Jenny Callendar."

John had no answer ready, and indeed Jenny gave him no time to make
one: she went off with a sob in her voice, and left the impulsive old
matchmaker very unhappy indeed. For he had an unmitigated sense of
having acted most imprudently, and moreover, a shrewd suspicion that
Jenny's analysis of Deacon Strang's tactics was a correct one. For the
first time in many a year, a great tide of hot, passionate anger swept
away every other feeling. He longed to meet Strang face to face, and
with an hereditary and quite involuntary instinct he put his hand to
the place where his forefathers had always carried their dirks. The
action terrified and partly calmed him. "My God!" he exclaimed,
"forgive thy servant. I hae been guilty in my heart o' murder."

He was very penitent, but still, as he mused the fire burned; and he
gave vent to his feelings in odd, disjointed sentences thrown up from
the very bottom of his heart, as lava is thrown up by the
irrepressible eruption: "Wha shall deliver a man from his ancestors?
Black Evan Callendar was never much nearer murder than I hae been this
night, only for the grace of God, which put the temptation and the
opportunity sae far apart. I'll hae Strang under my thumb yet. God
forgie me! what hae I got to do wi' sorting my ain wrongs? What for
couldna D