Inspector was informed of the turn affairs had taken, and lost no time
in releasing Farquharson. The unfortunate man did not dare to return
to the district for some time. When he at last ventured to appear,
McConnachie had long left the place and was dead and almost forgotten,
and neighbors were too glad to welcome Farquharson back among them to
remind him of his humiliation.

"Things is gey different now, sir," was Willy's summing-up on the
subject of education. "The bairns get mair teechin' noo, and less o'
the beltin', an' I'm no sure but they learn a' the better for it!"




VI

BILDY


"'Tis not the whole of life to live;
Nor all of death to die."
(_Montgomery--"Issues of Life and Death"_)


Old Widow Lamont and her spinster daughter, Robina, lived in a bit of a
house on the edge of the pine wood that sheltered our presbytery from
the east winds; they were consequently our nearest neighbors with the
exception of Willy and Bell. They possessed a cow and a few hens, and
Robina, who was a sturdy woman of forty, did the work of their small
croft with occasional help from one of the males of the community. For