And the sight of the pair touched the people. An old man leaning upon his child is always a touching sight, and Margaret’s pretty, slim figure, in her white frock, her head raised to him, a look of wistful half-anxiety in her eyes, mixed with her pleasure in having him by her, made a great impression upon the kindly neighbors. Some of the women unfolded the handkerchiefs which they carried with their Bibles and put them to their eyes. He was “sore failed” since he had been last seen at the kirk--failed and frail, and no long for this world. And ah, how well the Doctor had set his duty before him! The father and daughter went softly round the east end of the old church; and it was when they were passing the Leslie vault again, that Sir Ludovic suddenly stumbled. It was not “a stroke,” nor any fainting on his part, as at first the trembling yet eager spectators thought, but only a projecting stone in his way, against which his foot caught. Margaret gave a cry of distress. “It is nothing, my Peggy, nothing,” said the old man. But the shock and the shake affected him, and he turned very pale, and tottered as he went on. “Will he take my arm?--ask him to take my arm,” said some one close by. Sir Ludovic did not wait to be entreated; he put forth his hand eagerly and grasped the strong young arm, which he felt, without knowing whom it belonged to, to be sustaining and steady. “That is right, that is all I want,” he said, and walked along the rest of the path to the carriage, leaning upon Rob Glen. Margaret was at his other side. He smiled at her, and bade her not be frightened. “This is all I want,” he said, leaning upon the young man. As for Margaret, she, in her fright and anxiety, thought nothing of the words he was saying; but who can describe with what a thrill the repeated assurance went through the ambitious heart and glowing imagination of Rob Glen? CHAPTER XVI. There were a great many spectators of this scene in the church-yard. Mrs. Burnside, the minister’s wife, had been detained most unwillingly by some importunate “poor bodies” from the “laigh toun,” and was hurrying round from the other end of the church, with her son Randal, to speak to “the Earl’s-hall family,” when Rob Glen thus made himself conspicuous. There were various people who held the opinion that he had made himself conspicuous, and none more than Mrs. Burnside, who thought the group very incongruous. Margaret on one side, and a young country lad, Janet Glen’s son, on the other! It was quite out of the question. But an old man was an ill guide for a young girl. She hastened round, calling Randal to follow, and reached the gate just as John was putting up the carriage steps. “Margaret, my dear Margaret, will you not come to the Manse and get a glass of wine? And, Sir Ludovic, I hope you’re not hurt. The Doctor will be quite disappointed if he does not see you.” Rob Glen stood at the carriage-door, but Mrs. Burnside took no notice of him.