ss as quickly as he
had lost it.

"Forgive me, my dear Mr Burnett," he said earnestly, yet always with
the rich jolly note in his voice. "I must have seemed a perfect
maniac. The truth is, between ourselves, I had a terrible suspicion
you were going to offer my good James whisky!"

"Oh," said the minister. "Is he then--er--an abstainer?"

Mr Taylor laughed pleasantly.

"I wish he were! A wee drappie is his one failing; ha, ha! I never
allow my chauffeur to touch a drop while I'm on the road, Mr
Burnett--never, sir!"

Mr Burnett was slow to suspect ill of any one, but he was just as slow
in getting rid of a suspicion. With all his simplicity, he could not
but think that Mr Taylor jumped extraordinarily quickly to conclusions
and got excited on smaller provocation than any one he had ever met.
Over his first cup of tea he sat very silent.

In the meantime the sociable Mary had been suffering from a sense of
disappointment. Surely the beautiful liveried figure in the car would
require his tea and eggs like his master? For a little she sat
awaiting his arrival in the kitchen, with her cap neatly arranged, and
an expectant smile. But gradually disappointment deepened. She
considered the matter judicially. Clearly, she decided, Mr Burnett had
forgotten the tradition of hospitality associated with that and every
other manse. And then she decided that her own duty was plain.

She went out of the back door and round the house. There stood the
car, with the resplendent figure leaning back in his seat, his cap
still over his eyes, and his face now resting on his hand, so that she
could barely see more than the tip of his nose. He heard nothing of
her approach till she was fairly at his side, and in her high and
penetrating voice cried--

"Will ye not be for a cup of tea and an egg to it, eh?"

The chauffeur started, and Mary started too. She had seen his face for
an instant, though he covered it quickly, but apparently quite
naturally, with his hand.

"No, thanks," he said brusquely, and turned away his eyes.

Mary went back to the kitchen divided between annoyance at the rebuff
and wonder. The liveried figure might have been the twin-brother of
the minister.

III.

ON THE CLIFF.

Gradually Mr Burnett recovered his composure. His guest was so genial
and friendly and appreciative of the scones and the currant cake that
he began to upbraid himself for churlishness in allowing anything like