“And we will be glad to see you, too, Mr. Macdonald, if it would not be too much for you, and if you do not scorn a woman's teaching.” “Indeed, I would be proud,” said Macdonald Dubh, courteously, “as far as that is concerned, for I hear there are better men than me attending.” “I am sure Mrs. Murray will be glad to see you, Mr. Macdonald,” said the minister. “I will be thinking of it,” said Macdonald Dubh, cautiously. “And you are both very kind, whatever,” he said, losing for a time his habitual gloom. “Well, then, I will look for you both,” said Mrs. Murray, as they were about to drive off, “so do not disappoint me.” “Good by, Ranald,” said Maimie, offering Ranald her hand. “Good by,” said Ranald, holding her hand for a moment and looking hard into her eyes, “and I hope you will enjoy your ride, whatever.” Then Maimie understood Ranald's savage manner, and as she thought it over she smiled to herself. She was taking her first sips of that cup, to woman's lips the sweetest, and she found it not unpleasant. She had succeeded in making one man happy and another miserable. But it was when she said to herself, “Poor Ranald!” that she smiled most sweetly. CHAPTER XIV SHE WILL NOT FORGET If Mrs. Murray was not surprised to see Macdonald Dubh and Yankee walk in on Sabbath evening and sit down in the back seat, her class were. Indeed the appearance of these two men at the class was considered an event so extraordinary as to give a decided shock to those who regularly attended, and their presence lent to the meeting an unusual interest, and an undertone of excitement. To see Macdonald Dubh, whose attendance at the regular Sabbath services was something unusual, present at a religious meeting which no one would consider it a duty to attend, was enough in itself to excite surprise, but when Yankee came in and sat beside him, the surprise was considerably intensified. For Yankee was considered to be quite outside the pale, and indeed, in a way, incapable of religious impression. No one expected Yankee to be religious. He was not a Presbyterian, knew nothing of the Shorter Catechism, not to speak of the Confession of Faith, and consequently was woefully ignorant of the elements of Christian knowledge that were deemed necessary to any true religious experience. It was rumored that upon Yankee's first appearance in the country, some few years before, he had, in an unguarded moment, acknowledged that his people had belonged to the Methodists, and that he himself “leaned toward” that peculiar sect. Such a confession was in itself enough to stamp him, in the eyes of the community, as one whose religious history must always be attended with more or less uncertainty. Few of them had ever seen a Methodist in the flesh. There were said to be some at Moose Creek (Mooscrick, as it was called), but they were known only by report. The younger and more untraveled portion of the community thought of them with a certain amount of awe and fear.