in producing this conviction than anything he had said.
As he passed out, she looked up reverently at him, as one to whom deep
things lay open, Thomas had a kind of gruff gentleness towards children
which they found very attractive; and this meek maiden he could not
threaten with the vials of wrath. He laid his hard heavy hand kindly on
her head, saying:

"Ye'll be ane o' the Lord's lambs, will ye no? Ye'll gang into the fold
efter him, will ye no?"

"Ay will I," answered Annie, "gin He'll lat in Alec and Curly too."

"Ye maun mak nae bargains wi' him; but gin they'll gang in, he'll no
haud them oot."

And away, somewhat comforted, the honest stonemason strode, through the
darkness and the rain, to his own rather cheerless home, where he had
neither wife nor child to welcome him. An elderly woman took care of
his house, whose habitual attitude towards him was one half of awe and
half of resistance. The moment he entered, she left the room where she
had been sitting, without a word of welcome, and betook herself to the
kitchen, where she prepared his plate of porridge or bowl of brose.
With this in one hand, and a jug of milk in the other, she soon
returned, placing them like a peace-offering on the table before him.
Having completed the arrangement by the addition of a horn spoon from a
cupboard in the wall, she again retired in silence. The moment she
vanished Thomas's blue bonnet was thrown into a corner, and with folded
hands and bent head he prayed a silent prayer over his homely meal.

By this time Alec and Curly, having received sufficient instruction
from George Macwha, were in full swing with their boat-building. But
the moment Thomas went, Alec, had taken Annie to the forge to get her
well-dried, before he would allow her to occupy her old place in the
heap of spales.

"Wha's preachin' at the missionar-kirk the morn, Willie?" asked the
boy's father, For Willie knew everything that took place in Glamerton.

"Mr Broon," answered Curly.

"He's a guid man that, ony gait," returned his father. "There's nae
mony like him. I think I'll turn missionar mysel', for ance and awa',
and gang and hear him the morn's nicht."

At the same instant Annie entered the shop, her face glowing with the
heat of the forge and the pleasure of rejoining her friends. Her
appearance turned the current, and no more was said about the
missionar-kirk.--Many minutes did not pass before she had begun to
repeat to the eager listeners