el had died at home, and he had had the
howking of his grave; you may therefore, in the meantime, give Willy a
crown, and be sure to warn him well no to get fou with it, for I'll be
very angry if he does. But what in this matter will need all your skill,
is the giving of the remaining five pounds to auld Miss Betty Peerie;
being a gentlewoman both by blood and education, she's a very slimmer
affair to handle in a doing of this kind. But I am persuaded she's in as
great necessity as many that seem far poorer, especially since the muslin
flowering has gone so down. Her bits of brats are sairly worn, though
she keeps out an apparition of gentility. Now, for all this trouble, I
will give you an account of what we have been doing since my last.

When we had gotten ourselves made up in order, we went, with Andrew
Pringle, my son, to the counting-house, and had a satisfactory vista of
the residue; but it will be some time before things can be
settled--indeed, I fear, not for months to come--so that I have been
thinking, if the parish was pleased with Mr. Snodgrass, it might be my
duty to my people to give up to him my stipend, and let him be appointed
not only helper, but successor likewise. It would not be right of me to
give the manse, both because he's a young and inexperienced man, and
cannot, in the course of nature, have got into the way of visiting the
sick-beds of the frail, which is the main part of a pastor's duty, and
likewise, because I wish to die, as I have lived, among my people. But,
when all's settled, I will know better what to do.

When we had got an inkling from Mr. Argent of what the colonel has
left,--and I do assure you, that money is not to be got, even in the way
of legacy, without anxiety,--Mrs. Pringle and I consulted together, and
resolved, that it was our first duty, as a token of our gratitude to the
Giver of all Good, to make our first outlay to the poor. So, without
saying a word either to Rachel, or to Andrew Pringle, my son, knowing
that there was a daily worship in the Church of England, we slipped out
of the house by ourselves, and, hiring a hackney conveyance, told the
driver thereof to drive us to the high church of St. Paul's. This was
out of no respect to the pomp and pride of prelacy, but to Him before
whom both pope and presbyter are equal, as they are seen through the
merits of Christ Jesus. We had taken a gold guinea in our hand, but
there was no broad at the door; and, inst