e getting on wi' the repairs"--it was the
joiner of Kilbogie; "it's no a licht job, for there 's nae doot the
hoose hes been awfu' negleckit. The Doctor wes a terrible scholar, but
he wudna hae kent that the slates were aff the roof till the drap cam
intae his bed.

"Ou aye, the manse is tae be papered an' pented for the new minister;
a' cud show ye the papers; juist as ye please; they're verra tasty an'
showy. He's tae be married at once, a 'm hearin', an' this is tae be
the drawin'-room; he wes here ten days syne--the day after he wes
eleckit: they 're aye in a hurry when they 're engaged--an' seleckit a
sma' room upstairs for his study; he didna think he wud need as lairge
a room for bukes, an' he thocht the auld study wud dae fine for
pairties.

"There 's juist ae room feenished, an' ye micht like tae see the paper
on 't; it's a yellow rose on a licht blue grund; a 'm jidgin' it wes
the Doctor's ain room. Weel, it's a gude lang wy tae Drumtochty, an'
ye 'll no be wantin' tae pit aff time, a' daresay."

It was a terrible douche of prose, and Carmichael was still shivering
when he reached the kindly shade of Tochty woods. He had seen the
successful candidate at the Presbytery arranging about his "trial
discourses" with the clerk--who regarded him dubiously--and he had
heard some story about his being a "popular hand," and bewitching the
young people with a sermon on the "good fight," with four heads "the
soldier," "the battle-field," "the battle," and "the crown"--each with
an illustration, an anecdote, and a verse of poetry. Carmichael
recognised the type, and already saw the new minister of Kilbogie, smug
and self-satisfied, handing round cream and sugar in the Rabbi's old
study, while his wife, a stout young woman in gay clothing, pours tea
from a pot of florid design, and bearing a blazing marriage
inscription. There would be a _soiree_ in the kirk, where the Rabbi
had opened the mysteries of God, and his successor would explain how
unworthy he felt to follow Doctor Saunderson, and how he was going to
reorganise the congregation, and there would be many jocose allusions
to his coming marriage; but Carmichael would by that time have left the
district.

No one can walk a mile in Tochty woods, where there are little glades
of mossy turf, and banks of violets and geraniums, and gentle creatures
on ground and branch, and cool shade from the summer sun, and the sound
of running water by your side, without bei