"There is a measure of respect in the word sir; and I wouldna care to drop
it altogether with my nearest and dearest; I like it for myself whiles.
But I am fain of the brotherhood, Allan; and I will give you with all my
heart a brother's love and honor."
Then David surrendered himself to the pleasure of the hour. He had never
been in that part of Scotland before, but he knew every historical and
literary landmark better than Allan did. And when he drove through the
fine part of Drumloch, and came in sight of the picturesque and handsome
pile of buildings, he said with a queer smile, "The Promotors don't flit
for a bare shelter, Maggie found a bonnie hiding place."
He was quite as much delighted and astonished at his sister's appearance
and improvement, but he did not express it. He kissed her kindly, but his
first words had the spirit of the reproof he thought she well deserved:
"Maggie Promoter, you did not behave well to me yonder day I sent you
home, as it was my duty to do. If the Lord hadna undertaken the guiding o'
you, you wad hae made a sair mistake, my lassie! But I'll say nae mair,
seeing that He has brought gude out o' evil and right out o' wrang."
"I am sorry, Davie, very sorry, but--"
"That is enough. And you are like to do weel to yourself; and we may baith
say, that He has aye carried the purse for us, ever since the day He took
our father and bread-winner from us. And though you have been whiles a
sair thought to me, yet now you are going to be an honor and a rejoicing
and I am a very proud and happy brother this day, Maggie."
John Campbell was still at Drumloch, and David and he "sorted" from the
first moment of their meeting. They had ecclesiastical opinions in
common, especially in regard to the "Freedom of the Kirk" from all lay
supremacy;--a question then simmering in every Scotch heart, and destined
a little later to find its solution in the moral majesty of the "Free Kirk
Movement." David's glowing speech stirred him, as speech always stirs the
heart, when it interprets persuasion and belief ripened into faith: and
faith become a passionate intuition. That he was the master spirit of the
company was shown by the fact that he kept the conversation in his own
groove, and at his own will. Mrs. Leslie made him her deepest courtesy,
and the old butler threw into all his services an amount of respect only
given by him to his spiritual masters and teachers.
And David took all with that unconscious adaptation of attention which
indicates those born to authority and to honor. When asked after dinner if
he would pay his respects to the mistress of Drumloch, he rose calmly and
with a real unconcern. He had sat with doctors of divinity, and faced
learned professors with a thesis or an exegesis that touched the roots of
the most solemn propositions; an interview with a lady a little younger
than himself was not likely to disturb his equanimity. For he was yet in
that callow stage of sentient being, which has not been inspired and
irradiated by "the light that lies in woman's eyes."