time I may forgive him, Andrew. I'm not sure of myself where he is
concerned, but we canna receive the girl. 'Tis not in reason that we
should."

"I believe I'll cough twice," Daney murmured musingly.

And the following day being Sunday, he did! He sat two rows behind the
McKaye family pew but across the aisle, and in a cold fury The Laird
turned to squelch him with a look. What he saw in the Daney pew,
however, chilled his fury and threw him into a veritable panic of
embarrassment. For to the right of the incomprehensible general
manager sat the young ex-laird of Port Agnew; at Daney's left the old
Laird beheld his new daughter-in-law, while further down the pew as
far as she could retreat, Mrs. Daney, with face aflame, sat rigid, her
bovine countenance upraised and her somewhat vacuous glance fixed
unblinkingly at a point some forty feet over Mr. Tingley's pious head.
Donald intercepted the old man's amazed and troubled glance, and
smiled at his father with his eyes--an affectionate overture that was
not lost on The Laird ere he jerked his head and eyes once more to the
front.

Mrs. McKaye and her two daughters were as yet unaware of the horror
that impended. But not for long. When the congregation stood to sing
the final hymn, Nan's wondrous mezzo-soprano rose clear and sweet over
the indifferent-toned notes of every other woman present; to the most
dull it would have been obvious that there was a trained singer
present, and Mrs. McKaye and her daughters each cast a covert glance
in the direction of the voice. However, since every other woman in the
church was gazing at Nan, nobody observed the effect of her presence
upon the senior branch of the McKaye family, for which small blessing
the family in question was duly grateful.

At the conclusion of the service old Hector remained in his pew until
the majority of the congregation had filed out; then, assuring himself
by a quick glance, that his son and the latter's wife had preceded
him, he followed with Mrs. McKaye and the girls. From the church steps
he observed Donald and Nan walking home, while Mr. Daney and his
outraged spouse followed some twenty feet behind them. Quickly The
Laird and his family entered the waiting limousine; it was the first
occasion that anybody could remember when he had not lingered to shake
hands with Mr. Tingley and, perchance, congratulate him on the
excellence of his sermon.

They were half way up the cliff road before anybody spo