some blin' delusion. Up I cuist my e'en
aboon--an' eh, there was the h'aven as God made it--awfu'!--big an'
deep, ay faddomless deep, an' fu' o' the wan'erin' yet steady lichts
'at naething can blaw oot, but the breath o' his mooth! Awa' up an' up
it gaed, an' deeper an' deeper! an' my e'en gaed traivellin' awa' an'
awa', till it seemed as though they never could win back to me. A' at
ance they drappit frae the lift like a laverock, an' lichtit upo' the
horizon, whaur the sea an' the sky met like richteousness an' peace
kissin' ane anither, as the psalm says. Noo I canna tell what it was,
but jist there whaur the earth an' the sky cam thegither, was the
meetin' o' my earthly sowl wi' God's h'avenly sowl! There was bonny
colours, an' bonny lichts, an' a bonny grit star hingin' ower 't a',
but it was nane o' a' thae things; it was something deeper nor a', an'
heicher nor a'! Frae that moment I saw--no hoo the h'avens declare the
glory o' God, but I saw them declarin' 't, an' I wantit nae mair.
Astronomy for me micht sit an' wait for a better warl', whaur fowk
didna weir oot their shune, an' ither fowk hadna to men' them. For what
is the great glory o' God but that, though no man can comprehen' him,
he comes doon, an' lays his cheek til his man's, an' says til him, 'Eh,
my cratur!'"

While the cobbler was thus talking, they had gone the length of the
avenue, and were within less than two trees of the door of the
fruit-garden, when it opened, and was hurriedly shut again--not,
however, before Donal had caught sight, as he believed, of the form of
Eppy. He called her by name, and ran to the door, followed by Andrew:
the same suspicion had struck both of them at once! Donal lifted the
latch, and would have opened the door, but some one held it against
him, and he heard the noise of an attempt to push the rusty bolt into
the staple. He set his strength to it, and forced the door open. Lord
Forgue was on the other side of it, and a little way off stood Eppy
trembling. Donal turned away from his lordship, and said to the girl,

"Eppy, here's your grandfather come to see you!"

The cobbler, however, went up to lord Forgue.

"You're a young man, my lord," he said, "an' may regard it as folly in
an auld man to interfere between you an' your wull; but I warn ye, my
lord, excep' you cease to carry yourself thus towards my granddaughter,
his lordship, your father, shall be informed of the matter. Eppy, you
come home with me."

"