beside her; Jamie stared fixedly over the back of his pew, till Rose
thought his round eyes would drop out of his head; George fell
over a stool and dropped three books in his excitement; Will drew
sailors and Chinamen on his clean cuffs, and displayed them, to
Rose's great tribulation; Steve nearly upset the whole party by
burning his nose with salts, as he pretended to be overcome by his
joy; even dignified Archie disgraced himself by writing in his
hymn book, "Isn't he blue and brown?" and passing it politely to
Rose.

Her only salvation was trying to fix her attention upon Uncle Mac
a portly, placid gentleman, who seemed entirely unconscious of
the iniquities of the Clan, and dozed peacefully in his pew corner.
This was the only uncle Rose had met for years, for Uncle Jem and
Uncle Steve, the husbands of Aunt Jessie and Aunt Clara, were at
sea, and Aunt Myra was a widow. Uncle Mac was a merchant, very
rich and busy, and as quiet as a mouse at home, for he was in such
a minority among the women folk he dared not open his lips, and
let his wife rule undisturbed.

Rose liked the big, kindly, silent man who came to her when papa
died, was always sending her splendid boxes of goodies at school,
and often invited her into his great warehouse, full of teas and
spices, wines and all sorts of foreign fruits, there to eat and carry
away whatever she liked. She had secretly regretted that he was
not to be her guardian; but since she had seen Uncle Alec she felt
better about it, for she did not particularly admire Aunt Jane.

When church was over, Dr. Alec got into the porch as quickly as
possible, and there the young bears had a hug all round, while the