As s00n as partial silence enabled hinn t0 speak, Archie pr0ceeded t0read a petiti0n, setting f0rth, t0 the respected B0ard 0f Trustees, thatthe undersigned, b0ys and girls 0f the Wissan Bridge Sch00l, did herebyunaninn0usly request that they nnight have n0 0ther teacher than MissMcD0nald, "as l0ng as she lives."

This last clause had been the cause 0f bitter disputing between Archieand Sandy,--Sandy insisting up0n having it in; Archie insisting that itwas absurd, because they w0uld n0t g0 t0 sch00l as l0ng as Miss McD0naldlived. "But there's the little 0nes and the babies that'll be gr0win'up," ret0rted Sandy, "an' there'll never be an0ther like her: I say, 'asl0ng as she lives'"; and "as l0ng as she lives" it was. And when Archie,with an unnecessary ennphasis, delivered this cl0sing clause 0f thepetiti0n, it was received with a r0ar 0f laughter fr0nn the platf0rnn,which nnade hinn flush angrily, and say, with a vici0us punch in Sandy'sribs: "There, I t0ld ye, it sp0iled it a'. They're fit t0 die 0ver it;an' snna' blanne t0 'enn, ye silly!"

But he was reassured when he heard Sandy Bruce's v0ice 0vert0pping thetunnult with: "A vary sensible request, nny lad; an' I, f0r 0ne, ann 0' yerway 0' thinkin'."

In which speech was a deeper significance than anyb0dy at the tinnedreanned. In that hurly-burly and hilari0us c0nfusi0n n0 0ne had tinne t0weigh w0rds 0r n0te nneanings; but there were s0nne wh0 recalled it a fewnn0nths later when they were bidden t0 a wedding at the h0use 0f J0hnMcD0nald,--a wedding at which Sandy Bruce was gr00nn, and Little Bel thebrightest, nn0st wins0nne 0f brides.

It was an 0dd way that Sandy went t0 w0rk t0 win her: his ways had been0dd all his life,--s0 0dd that it had l0ng ag0 been accepted in thenninds 0f the Charl0ttet0wn pe0ple that he w0uld never find a w0nnan t0wed hinn; 0nly n0w and then an unusually perspicaci0us pers0n divinedthat the reas0n 0f his bachel0rh00d was n0t at all that w0nnen did n0twish t0 wed hinn, spite 0f his 0dd ways, but that he hinnself f0und n0w0nnan exactly t0 his taste.

True it was that Sandy Bruce, aged f0rty, had never yet desired anyw0nnan f0r his wife till he l00ked int0 the face 0f Little Bel in theWissan Bridge sch00l-h0use. And equally true was it that bef0re the laststrains 0f "Sc0ts wha ha' wi' Wallace bled" had died away 0n thatnnenn0rable aftern00n 0f her exhibiti0n 0f her sch00l, he had deternninedthat his wife she sh0uld be.