Kate Carnegie and Those Ministers | Page 7

to Mrs.
Macfadyen, 'hesna hed muckle money spent on his eddication. "A
graund field o' barley," he says, and as sure as a 'm stannin' here, it wes
the haugh field o' aits.'

"'He 's frae Glaisgie,' was all Elspeth answered, 'and by next Friday we
'll hae his name an' kirk. He said he wes up for a walk an' juist dropped
in, the wratch.'
"Some drove from Muirtown, giving out that they were English tourists,
speaking with a fine East Coast accent, and were rebuked by Lachlan
Campbell for breaking the Sabbath. Your men put up their trap at the
last farm in Netheraird--which always has grudged Drumtochty its
ministers and borne their removal with resignation--and came up in
pairs, who pretended they did not know one another.
"Jamie was hearing the Professor's last lecture on Justification, and our
people asked him to take charge of the strangers. He found out the town
from their hats, and escorted them to the boundaries of the parish,
assisting their confidences till one of your men--I think it was the
Provost--admitted that it had taken them all their time to follow the
sermon.
"'A 'm astonished at ye,' said Jamie, for the Netheraird man let it out;
'yon wes a sermon for young fouk, juist milk, ye ken, tae the ordinar'
discoorses. Surely,' as if the thought had just struck him, 'ye werena
thinkin' o' callin' Maister Cunningham tae Muirtown.
"'Edinboorgh, noo; that micht dae gin the feck o' the members be
professors, but Muirtown wud be clean havers. There's times when the
Drumtochty fouk themsels canna understand the cratur, he 's that deep.
As for Muirtown'--here Jamie allowed himself a brief rest of enjoyment;
'but ye've hed a fine drive, tae say naethin' o' the traivel.'"
Then, having begun, Carmichael retailed so many of Jamie's most
wicked sayings, and so exalted the Glen as a place "where you can go
up one side and down the other with your dogs, and every second man
you meet will give you something to remember," that the city dignitary
doubted afterwards to his wife "whether this young man was . . . quite
what we have been accustomed to in a Free Church minister."
Carmichael ought to have had repentances for shocking a worthy man,
but instead thereof laughed in his room and slept soundly, not knowing
that he would be humbled in the dust by mid-day to-morrow.

It seemed to him on the platform as if an hour passed while he, who
had played with a city father, stood, clothed with shame, before this
commanding young woman. Had she ever looked upon a more abject
wretch? and Carmichael photographed himself with merciless accuracy,
from his hair that he had not thrown back to an impress of dust which
one knee had taken from the platform, and he registered a resolution
that he would never be again boastfully indifferent to the loss of a
button on his coat. She stooped and fed the dogs, who did her homage,
and he marked that her profile was even finer--more delicate, more
perfect, more bewitching--than her front face, but he still stood holding
his shapeless hat in his hand, and for the first time in his life had no
words to say.
"They are very polite dogs," and Miss Carnegie gave Carmichael one
more chance; "they make as much of a biscuit as if it were a feast; but I
do think dogs have such excellent manners, they are always so
un-self-conscious."
"I wish I were a dog," said Carmichael, with much solemnity, and
afterwards was filled with thankfulness that the baggage behind gave
way at that moment, and that an exasperated porter was able to express
his mind freely.
"Dinna try tae lift that box for ony sake, man. Sall, ye 're no' feared," as
Carmichael, thirsting for action, swung it up unaided; and then,
catching sight of the merest wisp of white, "A' didna see ye were a
minister, an' the word cam oot sudden."
"You would find it a help to say Northumberland, Cumberland,
Westmoreland, and Durham," and with a smile to Carmichael, still
bareheaded and now redder than ever, Miss Carnegie went along the
platform to see the Hielant train depart. It was worth waiting to watch
the two minutes' scrimmage, and to hear the great man say, as he took
off his cap with deliberation and wiped his brow, "That's anither year
ower; some o' you lads see tae that Dunleith train." There was a day
when Carmichael would have enjoyed the scene to the full, but now he
had eyes for nothing but that tall, slim figure and the white bird's wing.

When they disappeared into the Dunleith train, Carmichael had a wild
idea of entering the same compartment, and in the end