"The Domine----"

"Says many a thing you ta' nae heed to. Just sae. You needna heed him on this point. Are not we twa one and the same? Speak out, man."

"The Domine----"

"Wha's minding the Domine here? Are you mair feared for him, than for your wife?"

Then Ruleson, with his great hearty laugh, pulled a chair to his side, and said, "Sit down, Margot. I'm mair afraid of you, than I am of any man living. I'm trem'ling wi' fear o' you, right now, and I'm just going to disobey the Domine, for your sake. What will ye gie me, if I break a promise for your sake?"

"I'll keep my promise to you, and say naething anent your transgression.

What kind o' a prize could they gie to them babies i' the infant cla.s.s--nane o' them five years auld? Did you see it?"

"Ay, I unpacked it."

"Was it a rattle, set wi' wee bells?"

"Naething o' the kind. It was a big doll, bonnily dressed, and a little trunk fu' o' mair claes, and a full set o' doll cheena, and a doll bed and night claes; wonderfu', complete. My goodness! Whoever gets it will be the proud wee la.s.sie."

"Little Polly Craig will be getting it, o' course. Who chose the presents?"

"I'm thinking it was the Domine and the schoolmaster's wife."

"Then they would be knowing wha' they were buying for?"

"That goes without the saying. I didna hear onyone say the doll was for Polly Craig."

"Nor I, but Polly's mother hasna been to hold, nor to bind, anent the infant's progress. The hale village is weary o' the story o' Polly's remarkable intimacy wi' her alphabet and spelling. The bairn may be a'

her mither says, but I'm thinking she's getting her abilities too aerly to be reliable. Weel, then, who gets the next prize?"

"Willie Tamsen."

"I dinna ken the Tamsens."

"They're nice folk, from the south o' Fife. Willie is seven years auld, or thereby. He's clever, the schoolmaster says, in figures and geography, and weel-behaved, and quiet-like. The Domine says he's first in his catechism cla.s.s, and vera attentive to a' that concerns his lessons--a good little lad, wi' an astonishing power o' ken in him."

"Weel, what will you gie sae remarkable a bairn?"

"A gold guinea."

"A gold guinea! I ne'er heard o' such wild extravagance. It's fair sinfu'. Whate'er will a lad o' seven years auld do wi' a guinea? Buy sweeties wi' it. I dinna think the Domine can sanction a bit o'

nonsense like that."

"I'm maist sure the Domine gave the guinea out o' his ain pocket. The Tamsens are vera poor, and the laddie is the warst-dressed lad i' the village, and he is to go and get a nice suit o' claes for himsel' wi'

it. The Domine knew what he was doing. The laddie will be twice as bright, when he gets claes for his little arms and legs."

"Weel, I hae naething against Willie Tamsen. He never meddled wi' my flowers, or stole my berries. I hope he'll get the claes. And there was to be three prizes?"

"Ay, one for the lads and la.s.ses from eight to eleven years old, that takes in a large pairt o' the school. The bigger lads and la.s.ses will come in the autumn, when the herrin' hae been, and gane."

"I'm not asking anything anent that cla.s.s. I dinna envy the schoolmaster and mistress that will hae them to manage. They'll hae their hands fu', or my name isna Margot Ruleson. Wha will get the third prize?"

"Our Jamie. And he has weel won it. Jamie isna a lad o' the common order. The Domine says he'll mak' the warld sit up and listen to him, when he comes to full stature."

"The Domine is as silly anent the bairn, as you are. After my ain lad, Neil, I'm expecting naething oot o' the Nazareth o' Culraine. We were a' going to shout o'er Neil Ruleson--weel, we hae had our cry, and dried our eyes, and hae gane on our way again."

"Neil has done weel--considering."

"Gudeman, we hae better drop that 'consideration.' I was talking o'

our Jamie. What are they going to gie our second wonder o' a bairn?"

"The maist beautiful book you ever saw--a big copy of Robinson Crusoe fu' o' pictures, and bound in blue wi' gold lettering. The bairn will hae wonder after wonder wi' it."

"Did you buy the book?"

"Not I. What mak's you ask that information?"

"Naething. Jamie should hae had something he could hae halfed wi'

Christine. She has spent the best o' her hours teaching the bairn. Few or nane o' the lads and la.s.ses would hae the help o' any hame lessons.

It was really Christine put Neil Ruleson among her Majesty's lawyers."

"Weel, then, she'll do her pairt in putting James Ruleson among the ministers o' the everlasting G.o.d. That will be a great honor, and pay her handsome for a' her love and labor."

"Gudeman, ministers arena honored as they were when we were young. If preaching were to go oot o' fashion, we----"

"What are you saying, Margot Ruleson? The preacher's license is to the 'end o' the warld.' The Word o' the Lord must be gien to men, as long as men people the earth."

"Vera weel! The Word o' the Lord is in everybody's hands the now; and everyone is being taught to read it. Maist folk can read it as weel as the minister."

"The Word must be made flesh! Nae book can tak' the place o' the face-to-face argument. Preaching will last as long as men live."

"Weel, weel, I'm not going to get you to arguing. You arena in the clubroom, and I'm too tired to go into speculations wi' you. I'm obliged to you, gudeman, for the information you hae imparted. I wad, however, advise the Domine to gie his next secret into the keeping o'

some woman, say mysel'. Women arena sae amiable as men, and whiles they can keep a secret, which is a thing impossible to men-folk."

"If they are married, I'll admit there are difficulties."

"Gude night, and gude dreams to you, James Ruleson."

"Ye ken weel, Margot, that I never dream."

"Sae you lose the half o' your life, James. I'm sorry for you. I shall dream o' the three happy bairns, and their prizes. Say, you might hae picked out another la.s.sie; twa lads to one la.s.s is o'erganging what's fair. I'm awa' to sleep--you needna answer."

It was trying to the village that Sabbath had to come and go, before the school examination. But everything waited for arrives in its time.

And this was a Monday worth waiting for. It was a perfect June day, and the sea, and the sun, and the wind held rejoicing with the green earth and the mortals on it. If there was envy, or jealousy, or bad temper among the villagers, they forgot it, or put it aside for future consideration. Everyone was in his best clothes, the boys and girls being mostly in white, and the little place looked as if there were a great wedding on hand. Christine had made an attempt to decorate the room a little. The boys cut larch boughs and trailing branches, the men loaned the flags of the boats, the women gave the few flowers from their window pots, and strips of garden, and Margot, a little sadly, cut her roses, and gave permission to Christine to add to them a few laburnum branches, now drooping with their golden blossoms.

The room looked well. The flowers and the flags did not hide the globe and the maps. And the blackboard kept its look of authority, though a branch of laburnum bent over it. The schoolmaster was playing a merry Fantasia as the company gathered, but at a given signal from Christine he suddenly changed it to the children's marching song, and the rapid, orderly manner in which it led each cla.s.s to its place was a wonderful sight to the men and women who had never seen children trained to obedience by music.

The Domine opened the examination by reading, in the intense silence that followed the cessation of the music, three verses from the eighteenth chapter of St. Luke:

"And they brought unto him infants that he would touch them, but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.