not quite give it a name. The warper
must have noticed it himself.

"I've heard him saying something o' the kind to Elspeth," was Aaron's
reply.

"But sometimes he is like a boy inspired," said the school-mistress.
"You must have seen that?"

"When he was thinking o' himsel'," answered Aaron.

"He has such noble sentiments."

"He has."

"And I think, I really think," said Miss Ailie, eagerly, for this was
what she had come to say, "that he has got great gifts for the
ministry."

"I'm near sure o't," said Aaron, grimly.

"Ah, I see you don't like him."

"I dinna," the warper acknowledged quietly, "but I've been trying to do
my duty by him for all that. It's no every laddie that gets three years'
schooling straight on end."

This was true, but Miss Ailie used it to press her point. "You have done
so well by him," she said, "that I think you should keep him at school
for another year or two, and so give him a chance of carrying a bursary.
If he carries one it will support him at college; if he does not--well,
then I suppose he must be apprenticed to some trade."

"No," Aaron said, decisively; "if he gets the chance of a college
education and flings it awa', I'll waste no more siller on his keep.
I'll send him straight to the herding."

"And I shall not blame you," Miss Ailie declared eagerly.

"Though I would a hantle rather," continued the warper, "waur my money
on Elspeth."

"What you spend on him," Miss Ailie argued, "you will really be spending
on her, for if he rises in the world he will not leave Elspeth behind.
You are prejudiced against him, but you cannot deny that."

"I dinna deny but what he's fond o' her," said Aaron, and after
considering the matter for some days he decided that Tommy should get
his chance. The school-mistress had not acted selfishly, for this
decision, as she knew, meant that the boy must now be placed in the
hands of Mr. Cathro, who was a Greek and Latin scholar. She taught Latin
herself, it is true, but as cautiously as she crossed a plank bridge,
and she was never comfortable in the dominie's company, because even at
a tea-table he would refer familiarly to the ablative absolute instead
of letting sleeping dogs lie.

"But Elspeth couldna be happy if we were at different schools," Tommy
objected instantly.

"Yes, I could," said Elspeth, who had been won over by Miss Ailie; "it
will be so fine, Tommy, to see you again after I hinna seen you for
three hours."

Tommy