But Bob was not down-hearted: he was wonderfully hopeful, as, by the Providence which makes the back fit for the burden, it was his nature to be. He was ready to praise to the skies the cleverness and kindness of his young doctor--Bob having affectionately appropriated his medical man, with a certain proud admiration and tenderness for his gifts and his youth, much as Jean had appropriated her young mistresses, dwelling with fond delight on their graces. Bob proclaimed with unstinted gratitude the generosity of his master, who was paying in full a term’s wages which the servant had not earned, and only putting an orra (extra man) man into Bob’s place, till it could be ascertained whether he should recover from the effects of his accident, as Bob was well assured he would in time, if it were the Lord’s will--he used the expression without the slightest affectation. Eppie was a good sister to him, while all his neighbours were richt kind. He could better thole the pain of his arm now, that he had the comfort of trusting it was not to be sawn off. Bob said the words without shrinking and with manly fortitude. He had been in worse straits and seen far greater ‘trouble,’ and he had much to be thankful for. There was no more pretence in the acknowledgment of thankfulness than in the reference to his Maker’s will. Bob was one of those wayfaring men who, though a fool, was prevented, in part by his very simplicity, from erring in his judgment of the way he had to go through life and death.