Tibbie's husband had been a gamekeeper on the Inchbracken property, her daughter had been employed there as seamstress, and she herself was in some sort a client of the great house. Therefore it was a point of loyalty or policy with her to keep aloof from the Free Church, and occasionally to attend at Kilrundle, but that was not very often, the church being three miles off, and she herself, as she admitted, 'no kirk greedy.' Roderick had not therefore considered her a member of his flock, and knew little of herself or her daughter or their circumstances. She was poor, but not more so than her neighbours, or much more so now than she had always been, and she had no claim to be described as she had been by Joseph Smiley either in the matter of her poverty or her high principle. She had expected a visit from the minister, and although she had no intention of devolving on him the burden of her support, which she destined for his beadle's shoulders, still she was not averse to profiting by his bounty, and had indeed arranged her little scene so as to justify any touching appeal Joseph might have made on her behalf. She had watched Joseph from the thicket after they parted, and observed his closeting with the minister at the close of the service, and knowing Roderick's eager charity, she had thought it not improbable he might visit her that very evening, and accordingly had arranged the tableau of a scanty supper as more effective than anything she could say; besides that, being honest after her fashion and shrewd, she was unwilling to lie unnecessarily. Tibbie had risen and followed the minister into the house, looking deprecatingly at her mother over his shoulder. She revolted at the idea of charity-getting, and dreaded the references to her own affairs, which her mother might be led into. 'Here Tibbie!' said the elder woman, 'tak' the stoup an' fesh some water frae the spring on the muir, the minister micht be for a drink; ye hae nae sic water down by in the Glen, sir, sae cauld an' sae caller!' Tibbie took the stoup, well pleased to get away from whatever conversation might follow. 'I hear you are not very well off, Mrs. Tirpie,' said Roderick, 'and I have come to see if I can give you any help.' 'A' weel, sir! It's thankin' ye kindly a' the same, but I winna complain. Ye can see for yersel'--Some folk can mak oot to live whaur ithers wad starve. But I'm no beggin'.' 'I never heard that you had got relief from the parish, and I know that you have got nothing from us. You know we have a fund, though not a large one, for our poor brethren, and I think it is often quite as usefully employed when we look about for those who are bearing their lot in silence, as when we give to those who claim our help.'