o have patience with me.
There are some who say I am hard, and ower-full of myself, and whiles I
have thought it of myself. But, Allie, if I am ever hard with you, or
forgetful, or if I ever hurt you by word or deed, it will not be because
I do not love you dearly. And you will ay have patience with me, dear,
and trust me?"

"I am not afraid, John."

The happy day came, and the marriage in the manse parlour was a very
quiet affair, as those who were most concerned desired it to be. But in
the opinion of Nethermuir generally, a great mistake had been made. The
marriage should have been in the kirk, it was said, so that all the town
might have seen it.

Robert was best-man, and Marjorie was best-maid. Mrs Esselmont and her
daughter and son-in-law were there, and one other guest.

"Think of it!" folk said. "Only one asked to the marriage out of the
whole town, and that one auld Saunners Crombie!"

There was a good reason for that in John's esteem, and in Allison's.
Saunners appreciated the honour which was done him. He also did honour
to the occasion--pronouncing with unction over the bride and bridegroom
the blessings so long ago spoken at the gate of Bethlehem.

It was not quite springtime yet, but the day was like a spring day, with
a grey sky, and a west wind blowing softly, when John and Allison came
in sight of the kirk of Kilgower. Only the voice of the brown burn
broke the stillness, murmuring its way past the manse garden, and the
kirkyard wall, and over the stepping-stones on which Allison had not
dared to rest her tired feet, on the morning when she saw it last, and
she said in her heart:

"Oh! can it be that I am the same woman who would fain have died on that
day?"

They went into the kirkyard first. The tears which fell on the white
headstone were not all tears of sorrow. They told of full submission,
of glad acceptance of God's will in all the past, and of gratitude for
all that the future promised.

"John," said she softly. But her voice failed her to say more.

"We will come again, dear," said he gently, and he led her away.

And so they went on to the manse, and Allison bowed her head while the
good old man blessed her, and was glad, though the tears were very near
her eyes. John had much to tell the minister about his son and his
happy family, and of their way of life, and the good which they did in
the town; and after a little Allison smiled as she met her husband's
kind eyes,