the Lord."

"You are a good woman," cried Kate, in her impulsive way, so quick to
be pleased or offended. "May I come to see you some day?"

"Dinna think me better than I am: a woman who had many sins tae fecht
and needit many trials tae chasten her; but ye will be welcome at
Whinny Knowe for yir ain sake and yir people's, an' gin it ever be in
ma pooer tae serve ye, Miss Carnegie, in ony wy, it wull be ma joy."

Twice as she came through the woods Kate stopped; once she bit her lip,
once she dashed a tear from her eye.

"Where did you go to, lassie?" and the General met Kate at the gateway.
"Lord Hay came to the drive with me, and was quite disappointed not to
meet you--a very nice lad indeed, manly and well-mannered."

"Never mind Lord Hay, dad; I 've been with the most delightful woman I
've ever seen."

"Do you mean she was in kirk?"

"Yes, sitting across the table--she is a farmer's wife, and a better
lady than we saw in India.

"Oh, dad," and Kate kissed her father, "I wish I had known my mother;
it had been better for me, and . . . happier for you."

CHAPTER XV.

JOINT POTENTATES.

Among all the houses in a Scottish parish the homeliest and kindliest
is the manse, for to its door some time in the year comes every
inhabitant, from the laird to the cottar woman. Within the familiar
and old-fashioned study, where the minister's chair and writing-table
could not be changed without discomposing the parish, and where there
are fixed degrees of station, so that the laird has his chair and the
servant lass hers, the minister receives and does his best for all the
folk committed to his charge. Here he consults with the factor about
some improvement in the arrangements of the little commonwealth, he
takes counsel with a farmer about his new lease and promises to say a
good word to his lordship, he confirms the secret resolution of some
modest gifted lad to study for the holy ministry, he hears the
shamefaced confession of some lassie whom love has led astray, he gives
good advice to a son leaving the Glen for the distant dangerous world,
he comforts the mother who has received bad news from abroad.
Generations have come in their day to this room, and generations still
unborn will come in their joys and sorrows, with their trials and their
affairs, while the manse stands and human life runs its old course.
And when, as was the case with Dr. Davidson in Drumtochty, the minister
is ordained to the paris