e he did not want to give Little Tilly and the
Established minister the satisfaction of knowing that he was not devout
to-day, and it is even conceivable that had Little Tilly had a
telescope and an intellect as well as his neighbour, he would have
spied on the dominie in return. He sent the teacher a load of potatoes
every year, and the recipient rated him soundly if they did not turn
out as well as the ones he had got the autumn before. Little Tilly was
rather in awe of the dominie, and had an idea that he was a
Freethinker, because he played the fiddle and wore a black cap.

The dominie was a wizened-looking little man, with sharp eyes that
pierced you when they thought they were unobserved, and if any visitor
drew near who might be a member of the Board, he disappeared into his
house much as a startled weasel makes for its hole. The most striking
thing about him was his walk, which to the casual observer seemed a
limp. The glen in our part is marshy, and to progress along it you
have to jump from one little island of grass or heather to another.
Perhaps it was this that made the dominie take the main road and even
the streets of Thrums in leaps, as if there were boulders or puddles in
the way. It is, however, currently believed among those who knew him
best that he jerked himself along in that way when he applied for the
vacancy in Glen Quharity school, and that he was therefore chosen from
among the candidates by the committee of farmers, who saw that he was
specially constructed for the district.

In the spring the inspector was sent to report on the school, and, of
course, he said, with a wave of his hand, that this would never do. So
a new school was built, and the ramshackle little academy that had done
good service in its day was closed for the last time. For years it had
been without a lock; ever since a blatter of wind and rain drove the
door against the fireplace. After that it was the dominie's custom, on
seeing the room cleared, to send in a smart boy--a dux was always
chosen--who wedged a clod of earth or peat between doorpost and door.
Thus the school was locked up for the night. The boy came out by the
window, where he entered to open the door next morning. In time grass
hid the little path from view that led to the old school, and a dozen
years ago every particle of wood about the building, including the door
and the framework of the windows, had been burned by travelling tinkers.

The Boa