But his aunt flung her arms round his neck.

"Dinna be cast doon, laddie, nor be unbelievin'. Yir mither has
heard every word, and is satisfied, for ye did it in remembrance o'
her, and yon was yir mither's sermon."




THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACHLAN CAMPBELL




I


A GRAND INQUISITOR

The Free Kirk of Drumtochty had no gallery, but a section of seats
at the back was raised two feet, and any one in the first pew might
be said to sit in the "briest o' the laft." When Lachlan Campbell
arrived from the privileged parish of Auchindarroch, where the "Men"
ruled with iron hand and no one shaved on Sabbath, he examined the
lie of country with the eye of a strategist, and seized at once a
corner seat on the crest of the hill. From this vantage ground, with
his back to the wall and a clear space left between himself and his
daughter Flora, he had an easy command of the pulpit, and within six
months had been constituted a court of review neither minister nor
people could lightly disregard. It was not that Lachlan spoke hastily