ion to have another talk with
Mr Cupples. He might not be a Christian man, but he was an honest and
trustworthy man, and might be able from his scholarship to give him
some counsel. So he walked to Howglen the next day, and found him with
Alec in the harvest-field. And Alec's reception of Thomas showed what a
fine thing illness is for bringing people to their right minds.

Mr Cupples walked aside with Thomas, and they seated themselves on two
golden sheaves at the foot of a stook.

"What ye said to me the ither day, sir," began Thomas, "has stucken
fest i' my crap, ever sin' syne. We maun hae him oot."

"Na, na; ye better lat him sit. He'll haud doon yer pride. That man's a
judgment on ye for wantin' to be better nor yer neebors. Dinna try to
win free o' judgment. But I'll tell ye what I wad hae ye do: Mak muckle
o' 'm. Gie him tether eneuch. He'll gang frae ill to waur, ye may
depen'. He'll steal or a' be dune."

"To the best o' my belief, sir, that's no to come, He's stolen already,
or I'm sair mista'en."

"Ay! Can ye pruv that? That's anither maitter," returned Cupples,
beginning to be interested.

"I dinna ken whether I oucht to hae mentioned it to ane that wasna a
member, though; but it jist cam oot o' 'tsel' like."

"Sae the fac' that a man's a member wha's warst crime may be that he is
a member, maks him sic precious gear that he maunna be meddlet wi' i'
the presence o' an honest man, wha, thank God, has neither pairt nor
lot in ony sic maitter?"

"Dinna be angry, Mr Cupples. I'll tell ye a' aboot it," pleaded Thomas,
than who no man could better recognize good sense.

But the Cosmo Cupples who thus attracted the confidence of Thomas Crann
was a very different man from the Cosmo Cupples whom first Alec Forbes
went to the garret to see at his landlady's suggestion. All the
flabbiness had passed from his face, and his eyes shone clearer than
ever from a clear complexion. His mouth still gave a first impression
of unsteadiness; no longer, however, from the formlessness of the loose
lips, but from the continual flickering of a nascent smile that rippled
their outline with long wavy motions of evanescent humour. His dress
was still careless, but no longer neglected, and his hand was as steady
as a rifleman's.

Nor had he found it so hard to conquer his fearful habit as even he had
expected; for with every week passed in bitter abstinence, some new
well would break from the rich soil of his intellect, and i