and said, "Now I take this very kind, Mr. Craig; for I could not
have expected you, considering ye have got, as I am told, your jo in

the house"; at which words the Doctor winked paukily to Mr. Daff,
who rubbed his hands with fainness, and gave a good-humoured sort of

keckling laugh. This facetious stroke of policy was a great relief
to the afflicted elder, for he saw by it that the Doctor did not

mean to trouble him with any inquiries respecting his deceased wife;
and, in consequence, he put on a blither face, and really affected

to have forgotten her already more than he had done in sincerity.
Thus the night passed in decenttemperance" target="_blank" title="n.节制；节欲；戒酒">temperance and a happy decorum;

insomuch, that the elders when they went away, either by the
influence of the toddy-bowl, or the Doctor's funny stories about the

Englishers, declared that he was an excellent man, and, being none
lifted up, was worthy of his rich legacy.

At supper, the party, besides the minister and Mrs. Pringle,
consisted of the two Irvine ladies, and Mr. Snodgrass. Miss Becky

Glibbans came in when it was about half over, to express her
mother's sorrow at not being able to call that night, "Mr. Craig's

bairn having taken an ill turn." The truth, however, was, that the
worthy elder had been rendered somewhat tozy by the minister's

toddy, and wanted an opportunity to inform the old lady of the joke
that had been played upon him by the Doctor calling her his jo, and

to see how she would relish it. So by a little address Miss Becky
was sent out of the way, with the excuse we have noticed; at the

same time, as the night was rather sharp, it is not to be supposed
that she would have been the bearer of any such message, had her own

curiosity not enticed her.
During supper the conversation was very lively. Many "pickant

jokes," as Miss Becky described them, were cracked by the Doctor;
but, soon after the table was cleared, he touched Mr. Snodgrass on

the arm, and, taking up one of the candles, went with him to his
study, where he then told him, that Rachel Pringle, now Mrs. Sabre,

had informed him of a way in which he could do him a service. "I
understand, sir," said the Doctor, "that you have a notion of Miss

Bell Tod, but that until ye get a kirk there can be no marriage.
But the auld horse may die waiting for the new grass; and,

therefore, as the Lord has put it in my power to do a good action
both to you and my people,--whom I am glad to hear you have pleased

so well,--if it can be brought about that you could be made helper
and successor, I'll no object to give up to you the whole stipend,

and, by and by, maybe the manse to the bargain. But that is if you
marry Miss Bell; for it was a promise that Rachel gar't me make to

her on her wedding morning. Ye know she was a forcasting lassie,
and, I have reason to believe, has said nothing anent this to Miss

Bell herself; so that if you have no partiality for Miss Bell,
things will just rest on their own footing; but if you have a

notion, it must be a satisfaction to you to know this, as it will be
a pleasure to me to carry it as soon as possible into effect."

Mr. Snodgrass was a good deal agitated; he was taken by surprise,
and without words the Doctor might have guessed his sentiments; he,

however, frankly confessed that he did entertain a very high opinion
of Miss Bell, but that he was not sure if a country parish would

exactly suit him. "Never mind that," said the Doctor; "if it does
not fit at first, you will get used to it; and if a better casts up,

it will be no obstacle."
The two gentlemen then rejoined the ladies, and, after a short

conversation, Miss Becky Glibbans was admonished to depart, by the
servants bringing in the Bibles for the worship of the evening.

This was usually performed before supper, but, owing to the bowl
being on the table, and the company jocose, it had been postponed

till all the guests who were not to sleep in the house had departed.
The Sunday morning was fine and bright for the season; the

hoarfrost, till about an hour after sunrise, lay white on the grass
and tombstones in the churchyard; but before the bell rung for the

congregation to assemble, it was exhaled away, and a freshness, that
was only known to be autumnal by the fallen and yellow leaves that

strewed the church-way path from the ash and plane trees in the
avenue, encouraged the spirits to sympathise with the universal

cheerfulness of all nature.
The return of the Doctor had been bruited through the parish with so

much expedition, that, when the bell rung for public worship, none
of those who were in the practice of stopping in the churchyard to

talk about the weather were so ignorant as not to have heard of this
important fact. In consequence, before the time at which the Doctor

was wont to come from the back-gate which opened from the manse-
garden into the churchyard, a great majority of his people were

assembled to receive him.
At the last jingle of the bell, the back-gate was usually opened,

and the Doctor was wont to come forth as punctually as a cuckoo of a
clock at the striking of the hour; but a deviation was observed on

this occasion. Formerly, Mrs. Pringle and the rest of the family
came first, and a few minutes were allowed to elapse before the

Doctor, laden with grace, made his appearance. But at this time,
either because it had been settled that Mr. Snodgrass was to

officiate, or for some other reason, there was a breach in the
observance of this time-honoured custom.

As the ringing of the bell ceased, the gate unclosed, and the Doctor
came forth. He was of that easy sort of feather-bed corpulency of

form that betokens good-nature, and had none of that smooth, red,
well-filled protuberancy, which indicates a choleric humour and a

testy temper. He was in fact what Mrs. Glibbans denominated "a man
of a gausy external." And some little change had taken place during

his absence in his visible equipage. His stockings, which were wont
to be of worsted, had undergone a translation into silk; his waist-

coat, instead--of the venerable Presbyterian flap-covers to the
pockets, which were of Johnsonian magnitude, was become plain--his

coat in all times single-breasted, with no collar, still, however,
maintained its ancient characteristics; instead, however, of the

former bright black cast horn, the buttons were covered with cloth.
But the chief alteration was discernible in the furniture of the

head. He had exchanged the simplicity of his own respectable grey
hairs for the cauliflower hoariness of a PARRISH {3} wig, on which

he wore a broad-brimmed hat, turned up a little at each side behind,
in a portentous manner, indicatory of Episcopalian predilections.

This, however, was not justified by any alteration in his
principles, being merely an innocentvariation of fashion, the

natural result of a Doctor of Divinity buying a hat and wig in
London.

The moment that the Doctor made his appearance, his greeting and
salutation was quite delightful; it was that of a father returned to

his children, and a king to his people.
Almost immediately after the Doctor, Mrs. Pringle, followed by Miss

Mally Glencairn and Miss Isabella Tod, also debouched from the gate,
and the assembled females remarked, with no less instinct, the

transmutation which she had undergone. She was dressed in a dark
blue cloth pelisse, trimmed with a dyed fur, which, as she told Miss

Mally, "looked quite as well as sable, without costing a third of
the money." A most matronly muff, that, without being of sable, was

of an excellent quality, contained her hands; and a very large
Leghorn straw bonnet, decorated richly, but far from excess, with a

most substantial band and bow of a broad crimson satin ribbon around
her head.

If the Doctor was gratified to see his people so gladly thronging
around him, Mrs. Pringle had no less pleasure also in her thrice-