herefore, both as a man and a minister, Mr. Cardross was equally and
wholly reliable: charitable, because he felt his own infirmities;
placing himself at no higher level than his neighbor, he was always
calmly and scrupulously just. Though a learned, he was not exactly a
clever man: probably his sermons, preached every Sunday for the last ten
years in Cairnforth Kirk, were neither better nor worse than the
generality of country sermons; but that matters little. He was a wise
man and a good man, and all his parishioners, scattered over a parish of
fourteen Scotch miles, deeply and dearly loved him.

"I think," said Mr. Cardross, "that this plan has many advantages, and
is, under the circumstances, the best that could have been devised.
True, I should like to have had the poor babe under my own eye and my
wife's, that we might try to requite in some degree the many kindnesses
we have received from his poor father and mother; but he will be better
off in Edinburg. Give him every possible chance of life and health, and
a sound mind, and then we must leave the rest to Him, who would not have
sent this poor little one into the world at all if He had not had some
purpose in so doing, though what that purpose is we can not see. I
suppose we shall see it, and many other dark things, some time."

The minister lifted his grave, gentle eyes, and sat looking out upon the
familiar view--the sunshiny loch, the green shore, and the far-away
circle of mountains--while the other two gentlemen discussed a few
other business matters. Then he invited them both to return with him
and dine at the Manse, where he and his wife were accustomed to offer to
all comers, high and low, rich and poor, "hospitality without grudging."

So the three walked through Cairnforth woods, now glowing with full
spring beauty, and wandered about the minister's garden till
dinner-time. It was a very simple meal--just the ordinary family
dinner, as it was spread day after day, all the year round: they could
afford hospitality, but show, with the minister's limited income was
impossible, and he was too honest to attempt it. Many a time the earl
himself had dined, merrily and heartily, at that simple table, with the
mistress--active, energetic, cheerful, and refined--sitting at the
head of it, and the children, a girl and boy, already admitted to take
their place there, quiet and well-behaved--brought up from the first
to be, like their parents, gentlemen and