“All come for ye at the usual 'oor,” was all that functionary deigned to reply, and at a quarter to twelve he brought the gown and bands to the study--he himself being in full black. “The drift 'ill no tribble ye, an' ye 'ill no need tae gang roond; na, na,” and John could not quite conceal his satisfaction, “we 'ill no start on the side door aifter five and thirty years o' the front.” So the two old men--John bare-headed, the Doctor in full canonicals and wearing his college cap--came down on a fair pathway between two banks of snow three feet high, which Saunders from Drumsheugh and a dozen plowmen had piled on either side. The kirk had a severe look that day, with hardly any women or children to relieve the blackness of the men, and the drifts reaching to the sills of the windows, while a fringe of snow draped their sides. The Doctor's subject was the love of God, and it was noticed that he did not read, but spoke as if he had been in his study. He also dwelt so affectingly on the gift of Christ, and made so tender an appeal unto his people, that Drumsheugh blew his nose with vigour, and Hillocks himself was shaken. After they had sung the paraphrase-- “To Him that lov'd the souls of men, And washed us in His blood,” the Doctor charged those present to carry his greetings to the folk at home, and tell them they were all in his heart After which he looked at his people as they stood for at least a minute, and then lifting his hands, according to the ancient fashion of the Scottish Kirk, he blessed them. His gifts, with a special message to each person, he sent by faithful messengers, and afterwards he went out through the snow to make two visits. The first was to blind Marjorie, who was Free Kirk, but to whom he had shown much kindness all her life. His talk with her was usually of past days and country affairs, seasoned with wholesome humour to cheer her heart, but to-day he fell into another vein, to her great delight, and they spoke of the dispensations of Providence. “'Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,' Marjorie, is a very instructive Scripture, and I was thinking of it last night You have had a long and hard trial, but you have doubtless been blessed, for if you have not seen outward things, you have seen the things... of the soul.” The Doctor hesitated once or twice, as one who had not long travelled this road. “You and I are about the same age, Marjorie, and we must soon... depart My life was very... prosperous, but lately it has pleased the Almighty to... chasten me. I have now, therefore, some hope also that I may be one of His children.” “He wes aye gude grain, the Doctor,” Marjorie said to her friend after he had left, “but he's hed a touch o' the harvest sun, and he's been ripening.”