y, but the lad is only seeking his ain good. If he still foregathered
wi' our rough fisher-lads, we wouldn't like it. And we would tell him
sae."

"He might hae found time to rin down, and see us for an hour or twa,
and gie us the reasons for this, and that."

"He looked like he was courting the young lady--and we know of auld
times, wife, that when our lads began courting, we hed to come after.
I was wrang to gie in to his studying the law. Studying the gospels,
he wad hae learned that there are neither rich nor poor, in God's
sight. We gave the lad to God, and then we took him awa' frae God, and
would mak' a lawyer and a gentleman o' him. Weel, as far as I can see,
he is going to be a' we intended. We are getting what we hae worked
for. There's nane to blame but oursel's."

This reasoning quite silenced Margot. She considered it constantly,
and finally came to her husband's opinion. Then she would not talk
about Neil, either one way, or the other, and it soon fell out that
the lad's name was never mentioned in the home where he had once ruled
almost despotically. Only Christine kept her faith in Neil. She wrote
him long letters constantly. She told him all that was going on in the
village, all about his father and mother, the Domine and the school
house. She recalled pleasant little incidents of the past, and
prefigured a future when she would see him every day. And she seldom
named little Jamie. She divined that Neil was jealous of the position
the child had gained in the household. And Christine was no
trouble-maker. Her letters were all messages of peace and good will,
and without any advice from her father she had personally come to very
much the same conclusion that he had arrived at. "There has been a
great mistake," she said softly to herself, "and we be to mak' the
best o' it. It isna beyond God's power to sort it right yet."

So Neil was seldom named unless a letter came from him, which was not
a frequent occurrence. The boxes filled with home delicacies were no
longer sent, nor was their absence noted, nor their presence
requested. Neil was making money as a coach to younger and wealthier
students. He now dined at the best hotel, and had a very good
breakfast in his comfortable rooms. But Christine felt that the
breaking of this tie of "something good to eat" was a serious thing.
Home was a long way further off to Neil, when the motherly baskets of
homemade dainties ceased coming to him, and all Christin