side her; Jamie
stared fixedly over the back of his pew, till Rose thought his round
eyes would drop out of his head; George fell over a stool and dropped
three books in his excitement; Will drew sailors and Chinamen on his
clean cuffs, and displayed them, to Rose's great tribulation; Steve
nearly upset the whole party by burning his nose with salts, as he
pretended to be overcome by his joy; even dignified Archie disgraced
himself by writing in his hymn book, "Isn't he blue and brown?" and
passing it politely to Rose.

Her only salvation was trying to fix her attention upon Uncle Mac
a portly, placid gentleman, who seemed entirely unconscious of the
iniquities of the Clan, and dozed peacefully in his pew corner. This was
the only uncle Rose had met for years, for Uncle Jem and Uncle Steve,
the husbands of Aunt Jessie and Aunt Clara, were at sea, and Aunt Myra
was a widow. Uncle Mac was a merchant, very rich and busy, and as quiet
as a mouse at home, for he was in such a minority among the women folk
he dared not open his lips, and let his wife rule undisturbed.

Rose liked the big, kindly, silent man who came to her when papa died,
was always sending her splendid boxes of goodies at school, and often
invited her into his great warehouse, full of teas and spices, wines and
all sorts of foreign fruits, there to eat and carry away whatever she
liked. She had secretly regretted that he was not to be her guardian;
but since she had seen Uncle Alec she felt better about it, for she did
not particularly admire Aunt Jane.

When church was over, Dr. Alec got into the porch as quickly as
possible, and there the young bears had a hug all round, while the
sisters shook hands and welcomed him with bright faces and glad hearts.
Rose was nearly crushed flat behind a door in that dangerous passage
from pew to porch; but Uncle Mac rescued her, and put her into the
carriage for safe keeping.

"Now, girls, I want you to come and dine with Alec; Mac also, of course.
But I cannot ask the boys, for we did not expect this dear fellow till
tomorrow, you know, so I made no preparations. Send the lads home, and
let them wait till Monday, for really I was shocked at their behaviour
in church," said Aunt Plenty, as she followed Rose.

In any other place the defrauded boys would have set up a howl; as it
was, they growled and protested till Dr. Alec settled the matter by
saying,

"Never mind, old chaps, I'll make it up to you to-morrow, if