harply, "ye should mak the day day and the night night, and ye
would if ye had a three weeks' ironing to do the morn. It has chappit
twelve, sir."

"Jenny, I'm not sleeplike to-night. There hae been ill words between
David and me."

"And I am mair than astonished at ye, deacon. Ye are auld enough to
ken that ill words canna be wiped out wi' a sponge. Our Davie isna an
ordinar lad; he can be trusted where the lave would need a watcher. Ye
ken that, deacon, for he is your ain bringing up."

"But, Jenny, L2,000 for his share o' Hastie's mill! Surely ye didna
encourage the lad in such an idea?"

"Oh, sae it's money," thought Jenny. "What is L2,000 to you, deacon?
Why should you be sparing and saving money to die wi'? The lad isna a
fool."

"I dinna approve o' the partner that is seeking him, Jenny. I hae
heard things anent Robert Leslie that I dinna approve of; far from
it."

"Hae ye _seen_ anything wrong?"

"I canna say I hae."

"Trust to your eyes, deacon; they believe themselves, and your ears
believe other people; ye ken which is best. His father was a decent
body."

"Ay, ay; but Alexander Leslie was different from his son Robert. He
was a canny, cautious man, who could ding for his ain side, and who
always stood by the kirk. Robert left Dr. Morrison's soon after his
father died. The doctor was too narrow for Robert Leslie. Robert
Leslie has wonderfu' broad ideas about religion now. Jenny, I dinna
like the men who are their ain Bibles and ministers."

"But there are good folk outside Dr. Morrison's kirk, deacon, surely."

"We'll trust so, surely, we'll trust so, Jenny; but a man wi' broad
notions about religion soon gets broad notions about business and all
other things. Why, Jenny, I hae heard that Robert Leslie once spoke o'
the house o' John Callendar & Co. as 'old fogyish!'"

"That's no hanging matter, deacon, and ye must see that the world is
moving."

"Maybe, maybe; but I'se never help it to move except in the safe,
narrow road. Ye ken the Garloch mill-stream? It is narrow enough for a
good rider to leap, but it is deep, and it does its wark weel summer
and winter. They can break down the banks, woman, and let it spread
all over the meadow; bonnie enough it will look, but the mill-clapper
would soon stop. Now there's just sae much power, spiritual or
temporal, in any man; spread it out, and it is shallow and no to be
depended on for any purpose whatever. But narrow the channel, Jenny,
narrow the