ried so vigorously that her shamed godmother had to
rush with her to the vestry. Now things are not as they should be when
an Auld Licht infant does not quietly sit out her first service.

Bell tried for a time to carry her head high; but Sandy ceased to
whistle at his loom, and the scandal was a rolling stone that soon
passed over him. Briefly it amounted to this: that a bairn born within
two hours of midnight on Saturday could not have been ready for
christening at the kirk next day without the breaking of the Sabbath.
Had the secret of the nocturnal light been mine alone all might have
been well; but Betsy Munn's evidence was irrefutable. Great had been
Bell's cunning, but Betsy had outwitted her. Passing the house on the
eventful night, Betsy had observed Marget Dundas, Bell's sister, open
the door and creep cautiously to the window, the chinks in the outside
shutters of which she cunningly closed up with "tow." As in a flash
the disgusted Betsy saw what Bell was up to, and, removing the tow,
planted herself behind the dilapidated dyke opposite, and awaited
events. Questioned at a special meeting of the office-bearers in the
vestry, she admitted that the lamp was extinguished soon after twelve
o'clock, though the fire burned brightly all night. There had been
unnecessary feasting during the night, and six eggs were consumed
before breakfast-time. Asked how she knew this, she admitted having
counted the egg-shells that Marget had thrown out of doors in the
morning. This, with the testimony of the persons from whom Sandy had
sought condolence on the Saturday night, was the case for the
prosecution. For the defence, Bell maintained that all preparations
stopped when the clock struck twelve, and even hinted that the bairn
had been born on Saturday afternoon. But Sandy knew that he and his
had got a fall. In the forenoon of the following Sabbath the minister
preached from the text, "Be sure your sin will find you out;" and in
the afternoon from "Pride goeth before a fall." He was grand. In the
evening Sandy tendered his resignation of office, which was at once
accepted. Wobs were behindhand for a week owing to the length of the
prayers offered up for Bell; and Lang Tammas ruled in Sandy's stead.

CHAPTER IV

LADS AND LASSES

With the severe Auld Lichts the Sabbath began at six o'clock on
Saturday evening. By that time the gleaming shuttle was at rest, Davie
Haggart had strolled into the village