ch, but
had had no chance of speaking to her. For, in the sudden dispersion
of its agglomerate particles, a Scotch congregation is--or was in
Gibbie's time--very like the well-known vitreous drop called a
Prince Rupert's tear, in which the mutually repellent particles are
held together by a strongly contracted homogeneous layer--to
separate with explosion the instant the tough skin is broken and
vibration introduced; and as Mrs. Sclater generally sat in her
dignity to the last, and Gibbie sat with her, only once was he out
in time to catch a glimpse of the ultimate rank of the retreating
girls. He was just starting to pursue them, when Mrs. Sclater,
perceiving his intention, detained him by requesting the support of
his arm--a way she had, pretending to be weary, or to have given her
ankle a twist, when she wanted to keep him by her side. Another
time he had followed them close enough to see which turn they took
out of Daur-street; but that was all he had learned, and when the
severity of the winter arrived, and the snow lay deep, sometimes for
weeks together, the chances of meeting them were few. The first
time the boys went out together, that when they failed to find
Mistress Croale's garret, they made an excursion in search of the
girls' school, but had been equally unsuccessful in that; and
although they never after went for a walk without contriving to pass
through some part of the region in which they thought it must lie,
they had never yet even discovered a house upon which they could
agree as presenting probabilities.

Mr. Galbraith did not take Miss Kimble into his confidence with
respect to his reasons for so hurriedly placing his daughter under
her care: he was far too reticent, too proud, and too much hurt for
that. Hence, when Mrs. Sclater's invitation arrived, the
schoolmistress was aware of no reason why Miss Galbraith should not
be one of the girls to go with her, especially as there was her
cousin, Sir Gilbert, whom she herself would like to meet again, in
the hope of removing the bad impression which, in the discharge of
her duty, she feared she must have made upon him.

One day, then, at luncheon, Mrs. Sclater told Gibbie that some
ladies were coming to tea, and they were going to have supper
instead of dinner. He must put on his best clothes, she said. He
did as she desired, was duly inspected, approved on the whole, and
finished off by a few deft fingers at his necktie, and a gentle push