reverence.

The father seemed accustomed to such homage, profound as it was; he
turned his person a little way first towards one sister, and then
towards the other, while, with a gracious inclination of his person,
which certainly did not amount to a bow, he acknowledged their curtsy.
But he passed forward without addressing them, and seemed by doing so to
intimate that their presence in the apartment was unnecessary.

They accordingly glided out of the room, retreating backwards, with
hands clasped and eyes cast upwards, as if imploring blessings on the
religious man whom they venerated so highly. The door of the apartment
was shut after them, but not before Fairford had perceived that there
were one or two men in the gallery, and that, contrary to what he had
before observed, the door, though shut, was not locked on the outside.

'Can the good souls apprehend danger from me to this god of their
idolatry?' thought Fairford. But he had no time to make further
observations, for the stranger had already reached the middle of his
apartment.

Fairford rose to receive him respectfully, but as he fixed his eyes on
the visitor, he thought that the father avoided his looks. His reasons
for remaining incognito were cogent enough to account for this, and
Fairford hastened to relieve him, by looking downwards in his turn;
but when again he raised his face, he found the broad light eye of the
stranger so fixed on him that he was almost put out of countenance by
the steadiness of his gaze. During this time they remained standing.

'Take your seat, sir,' said the father; 'you have been an invalid.'

He spoke with the tone of one who desires an inferior to be seated in
his presence, and his voice was full and melodious.

Fairford, somewhat surprised to find himself overawed by the airs of
superiority, which could be only properly exercised towards one over
whom religion gave the speaker influence, sat down at his bidding, as
if moved by springs, and was at a loss how to assert the footing of
equality on which he felt that they ought to stand. The stranger kept
the advantage which he had obtained.

'Your name, sir, I am informed, is Fairford?' said the father.

Alan answered by a bow.

'Called to the Scottish bar,' continued his visitor, 'There is, I
believe, in the West, a family of birth and rank called Fairford of
Fairford.'

Alan thought this a strange observation from a foreign ecclesiastic,
as his name intimated Fath