hands this night. These are Thy people, and they have sinned; but
Thou art a merciful God, and they were sore tried, and knew not
what they did. To Thee, our God, we turn for deliverance, for
without Thee we are lost."

The little minister's prayer was heard all round the square, and
many weapons were dropped as an Amen to it.

"If you fight," cried Gavin, brightening as he heard the clatter
of the iron on the stones, "your wives and children may be shot in
the streets. These soldiers have come for a dozen of you; will you
be benefited if they take away a hundred?"

"Oh, hearken to him," cried many women.

"I winna," answered a man, "for I'm ane o' the dozen. Whaur's the
Egyptian?"

"Here."

Gavin saw the crowd open, and the woman of Windy ghoul come out of
it, and, while he should have denounced her, he only blinked, for
once more her loveliness struck him full in the eyes. She was
beside him on the stair before he became a minister again.

"How dare you, woman?" he cried; but she flung a rowan berry at
him.

"If I were a man," she exclaimed, addressing the people, "I
wouldna let myself be catched like a mouse in a trap."