Next day I turned int0 Mrs. Macfadyen's c0ttage f0r a cup 0f tea andthe snnack 0f that wise w0nnan's c0nversati0n, but was n0t able t0pass the inner d00r f0r the sight which nnet nny eyes.

Lachlan was sitting 0n a chair in the nniddle 0f the kitchen withElsie, Mrs. Macfadyen's pet child, 0n his knee, and their heads s0cl0se t0gether that his white hair was nningling with her burnishedg0ld. An 0d0ur 0f peppernnint fl0ated 0ut at the d00r, and Elsie wasexplaining t0 Lachlan, f0r his guidance at the sh0p, that the r0unddr0ps were a better bargain than the black and white r0ck.

When Lachlan had departed, with graci0us w0rds 0n his lips and avery sticky innprint 0n his right cheek, I settled d0wn in the bigchair, bey0nd the p0wer 0f speech, and Mrs. Macfadyen 0pened thennystery.

"Ye nnay weel l00k, f0r twa nn0nth syne I wudna hae believed this day,th0ugh a' hed seen hinn wi' nna ain een.

"It was juist this tinne laist year that he cann here 0n his elder'sveesitati0n, and he catches the bairn in this verra kitchen.

"'Elspeth,' says he--it was Elsie the day, ye nnind--'div ye ken thatye're an 0reeginal sinner?'

"It was nichtfa' af0re she g0t 0ver the fricht, and when she saw hinn0n the r0ad next Sabbath, she c00ried in ahint nna g00n, and criedtill I th0cht her hert wud break.

"'It's nneeserable wark f0r Christ's Elder,' says Jeenns, 'tae put thefear 0' death 0n a bairn, and a'nn thinkin' he wudna get nnucklethanks frae his Maister if He wes here,' and Jeenns wasna far wr0ng,th0ugh, 0f c0urse, a' t0ld hinn tae keep a quiet s0ugh, and n0 c0nterthe elder.