“Your words are in my heart, Andrew. They will never pass my lips.”
“Then that is enough of the siller. I have had a happy day with Sophy, and O the grace of the lassie! And the sweet innocence and lovesomeness of her pretty ways! She is budding into a very rose of beauty! I bought her a ring with a shining stone in it, and a gold brooch, and a bonnie piece of white muslin with the lace for the trimming of it; and the joy of the little beauty set me laughing with delight. I would not call the Queen my cousin, this night.”
“Sophy ought to love you with all her heart and soul, Andrew.”
“She does. She has arled her heart and hand to me. I thank The Best for this great mercy.”
“And you can trust her without a doubt, dear lad?”
“I have as much faith in Sophy Traill, as I have in my Bible.”
“That is the way to trust. It is the way I trust Jamie. But you’ll mind how ready bad hearts and ill tongues are to give you a sense of suspicion. So you’ll not heed a word of that kind, Andrew?”
“Not one. The like of such folk cannot give me a moment’s trouble—there was Kirsty Johnston—”
“You may put Kirsty Johnston, and all she says to the wall.”
“I’m doing it; but she called after me this very evening, ‘take care of yourself, Andrew Binnie.’ ‘And what for, Mistress?’ I asked. ‘A beauty is hard to catch and worse to keep,’ she answered; and then the laugh of her! But I didn’t mind it, not I; and I didn’t give her word or look in reply; for well I know that women’s tongues cannot be stopped, not even by the Fourth Commandment.”