260 The Little Minister

Then Babbie went away. The boy watched
her across the hill. He climbed the Standing
Stone and gazed after her until she was but a
coloured ribbon among the broom. When she
disappeared into Windyghoul he ran home joy-
fully, and told his father what a good day’s work
he had done. Rob struck him for a fool for
taking a gypsy’s word, and warned him against
speaking of the woman in Thrums.

But though Dow believed that Gavin con-
tinued to meet the Egyptian secretly, he was
wrong. A sum of money for Nanny was sent
to the minister, but he could guess only from
whom it came. In vain did he search for Babbie.
Some months passed and he gave up the search,
persuaded that he should see her no more. He
went about his duties with a drawn face that
made many folk uneasy when it was stern, and
pained them when it tried to smile. But to
Margaret, though the effort was terrible, he
was as he had ever been, and so no thought
of a woman crossed her loving breast.