"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."
"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 lasses 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 God. 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 lassie; twa lads to one lass 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.
