he
mass."

"I am deeply pained," said the minister gravely. "I knew not that my
brother had been a pervert from the communion of our church."

"Papa was not a Catholic," said Coquette. "Mamma and I were. But it
matters nothing. I will go to your church--it is the same to me. I only
try to be kind to the people around me--that is all."

"She has got the best part of all religions if she does her best for the
people about her," said the Whaup.

"Thomas," remonstrated the minister severely, "you are not competent to
judge of these things."

Coquette's second error was to play the piano on a Sabbath morning. She
was stopped in this hideous offence by the housekeeper, Leezibeth.

"Is the Manse to be turned topsalteery, and made a byword a' because o'
a foreign hussy?" asked Leezibeth.

"Look here," said the Whaup, trying to comfort his weeping cousin, "you
can depend on me. When you get into trouble, send for me, and if any man
or woman in Airlie says a word to you, by jingo I'll punch their head!"

The discovery of a crucifix over the head of the maiden's bed filled
full the cup of Leezibeth's wrath and indignation.

"I thought the Cross was a symbol of all religions," said Coquette
humbly. "If it annoys you, I will take it down. My mother gave it to
me--I cannot put it away altogether."

"You shall not part with it," said the Whaup. "Let me see the man or
woman who will touch that crucifix, though it had on it the woman o'
Babylon herself!"

But the Whaup himself was troubled by the acquaintance of Coquette with
Lord Earlshope, which, from a casual meeting, developed with startling
rapidity.

His lordship's reputation in the parish was far from good. He never
attended the kirk; was seen walking about with his dogs and smoking on
the Sabbath; and even, it was said, read novels on that holy day. His
appearance in church on the first Sunday after Coquette's arrival in
Airlie was not difficult to explain, and it was followed by interchanges
of visits between the Manse and Earlshope House.

Soon the young lord and Coquette began to meet when she was taking her
early walk, a form of "carrying on" which outraged the sentiments of the
parish, and caused the Whaup to announce his intention of "giving her
up" and going to sea.

The alienation of the Whaup made Coquette very miserable, and when her
uncle discovered her walking alone with Lord Earlshope, she tearfully
requested to be allowed to go back to France.