Defence of the Manse 383

think I would hae seen that if ill had come ower
the minister?”

“Not if Margaret knew of it,” I said to my-
self, and wondered at Whamond’s forbearance.

“She had a skein o’ worsted stretched out on
her hands,” Sanders continued, “and a young
leddy was winding it. I didna see her richt, but
she wasna a Thrums leddy.”

“‘ Effie McBean says she’s his intended, come
to call him to account,” Nanny said; but I hardly
listened, for I saw that I must hurry to Tammas
Whamond’s. Nanny followed me to the gate
with her gown pulled over her head, and said,
excitedly :

“Oh, dominie, I warrant it’s true. It'll be
Babbie. Sanders doesna suspect, because I’ve
telled him nothing about her. Oh, what’s to be
done? They were baith so good to me.”

I could only tell her to keep what she knew
to herself.
~ “Fas Rob Dow come back?” I called out
after I had started.

“Whaur frae?”? she replied; and then I
remembered that all these things had happened
while Nanny was at Tilliedrum. In this life
some of the seven ages are spread over two
decades, and others pass as quickly as a stage
play. Though a fifth of a season’s rain had
fallen in a night and a day, it had scarcely kept
pace with Gavin.

I hurried to the town by the Roods. That
brae was as deserted as the country roads, except
where children had escaped from their mothers to
wade in it. Here and there dams were keeping