e Cairn Edward Cameronian kirk.

Now, Walter could be a quiet boy in church for a certain time. He did
not very much enjoy the service, except when they sang "Old Hundred" or
"Scarborough," when he would throw back his head and warble delightedly
with the best. But he listened attentively to the prayers, and tracked
the minister over that well-kenned ground. Walter was prepared for his
regular stint, but he did not hold with either additions or innovations.
He liked to know how far he was on in the prayer, and it was with an
exhausted gasp of relief that he caught the curious lowering of the
preacher's voice which tells that the "Amen" is within reasonable
distance.

The whole congregation was good at that, and hearers began to relax
themselves from their standing postures as the minister's shrill pipe
rounded the corner and tacked for the harbour; but Walter was always
down before them. Once, however, after he had seated himself, he was put
to shame by the minister suddenly darting off on a new excursion, having
remembered some other needful supplication which he had omitted. Walter
never quite regained his confidence in Mr. Cameron after that. He had
always thought him a good and Christian man hitherto, but thereafter he
was not so sure.

Once, also, when the minister visited the farm of Drumquhat, Walter,
being caught by his granny in the very act of escaping, was haled to
instant execution with the shine of the soap on his cheeks and hair. But
the minister was kind, and did not ask for anything more abstruse than
"Man's Chief End." He inquired, however, if the boy had ever seen him
before.

"Ou ay," said Walter, confidently; "ye're the man that sat at the back
window!"

This was the position of the manse seat, and at the Fast Day service Mr.
Cameron usually sat there when a stranger preached. Not the least of
Walter's treasures, now in his library, is a dusky little squat book
called _The Peep of Day_, with an inscription on it in Mr. Cameron's
minute and beautiful backhand: "To Walter Carmichael, from the Man at
the Back Window."

The minister was grand. In fact, he usually _was_ grand. On this
particular Sunday he preached his two discourses with only the interval
of a psalm and a prayer; and his second sermon was on the spiritual
rights of a Covenanted kirk, as distinguished from the worldly
emoluments of an Erastian establishment. Nothing is so popular as to
prove to people what they already believe and