marriage between
us. What would Angus do with a girl like me for a wife?"

"You are gude enou' for any man."

"We are friends. We arena lovers. The lad has been friendly with the
hale village. You mustna think wrang o' him."

"I do think vera wrang o' him. He is just one kind o' a scoundrel."

"You hurt me, Mither. Angus is my friend. I'll think nae wrang o' him.
If he was wrang, I was wrang, and you should hae told me I was
wrang."

"I was feared o' hurting Neil's chances wi' him."

"Sae we baith had a second motive."

"Ay, few folk are moved by a single one."

"Angus came, and he went, he liked me, and I liked him, but neither o'
us will fret o'er the parting. It had to be, or it wouldn't hae been.
Them above order such things. They sort affairs better than we
could."

"I don't understand what you're up to, but I think you are acting vera
unwomanly."

"Na, na, Mither! I'll not play 'maiden all forlorn' for anyone. If
Angus can live without me, there isna a woman i' the world that can
live without Angus as weel as Christine Ruleson can. Tuts! I hae you,
Mither, and my dear feyther, and my six big brothers, and surely their
love is enough for any soul through this life; forbye, there is the
love beyond all, and higher than all, and truer than all--the love of
the Father and the Son."

"I see ye hae made up your mind to stand by Ballister. Vera weel! Do
sae! As long as he keeps himsel' in foreign pairts, he'll ne'er fret
me; but if he comes hame, he'll hae to keep a few hundred miles atween
us."

"Nonsense! We'll a' be glad to see him hame."

"Your way be it. Get your eating done wi', and then awa' to the manse,
and get me thae powders. I'm restless and feared if I have none i' the
house."

"I'll be awa' in ten minutes now. Ye ken the Domine doesna care for
seeing folk till after ten o'clock. He says he hes ither company i'
the first hours o' daybreak."

"Like enou', but he'll be fain to hear about the doings last night,
and he'll be pleased concerning Faith getting a sweetheart. I doubt if
she deserves the same."

"Mither! Dinna say that. The puir lassie!"

"Puir lassie indeed! Her feyther left her forty pounds a year, till
she married, and then the principal to do as she willed wi'. I dinna
approve o' women fretting and fearing anent naething."

"But if they hae the fret and fear, what are they to do wi' it,
Mither?"

"Fight it. Fighting is better than fearing. Weel, tak' care o'
yoursel' an