p wi' the lads. I maist
forgot mysel', listening to their troubles and adventures."

"Very good, Margot. What is she reading to you now?"

"A book by a Mr. Thackeray. His picture is in the book. It's what they
ca' a frontispiece. He has a big head, and he isna handsome, but he
looks like he could mak' up a good story."

"Is the book called 'Vanity Fair'?"

"That's the very name. I dinna see yet the meaning o' it."

"Do you like it?"

"Weel, I like the folks best that I shouldna like. There's an auld
woman in it, that I wad gie a cup o' tea and an hour's crack to, any
day, and be glad o' the pleasure o' it; and there's the girl, called
Becky, that isna at a' a kirklike girl, but I canna help liking her
weel. I think I wad hae been her marrow, if I had been born and
brought up as she was. I'm sure it must be gey hard for men to mak' up
the likeness o' a real good woman--they mak' them too good, you feel
as if they should be in heaven, and mostly I find they send them there
by early death, or some other disease, or mischance."

"So you like Becky?"

"I do. There's circumstances, Sir! They alter cases. They do that! If
a woman has the fight wi' the warld on her hands, she'll be requiring
a little o' the deil in her, just to keep the deil out o' her. I hope
the man Thackeray has had sense enou' to mak' Becky come a' right at
the lang end."

"I believe she becomes very respectable, and joins the Church of
England."

"That would be the right thing for her. I hae heard that it is a vera
broad church, and that its deacons----"

"Wardens, Margot."

"Wardens be it. I hae heard that they dinna dog its members round
Sunday and work days, as our deacons do. Your ain deacons are vera
officious, sir."

"Elder James Ruleson, while he lived, saw that every kirk officer did
his duty."

"Thank you, Domine! It is good to hear his name. Everyone seems to
have forgotten him--everyone."

"He is not forgotten, Margot. His name is on nearly every page o' the
kirk books, and the school will keep his memory green. I am going to
propose a Ruleson Day, and on it give all the children a holiday.
Weel, Margot, here comes Christine, and I believe she has Becky in
hand." Then he turned to Christine and said, "You have taken steps on
a fair road, go straight forward." And she smiled, and her smile was
like sunshine, and the Domine felt the better for it. He lifted his
head higher, and took longer steps, and walked home with a new and