"My nurse used to call the lark 'Our Lady's hen,'" said Kate.
"How pretty!" answered Alec, and had no more to say.
"Are the people of Glamerton very wicked, Alec?" asked Kate, making another attempt to rouse a conversation.
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Alec. "I suppose they're no worse than other people."
"I thought from Mr Turnbull's sermon that they must be a great deal worse."
"Oh! they all preach like that—except good Mr Cowie, and he's dead."
"Do you think he knew better than the rest of them?"
"I don't know that. But the missionars do know something that other people don't know. And that Mr Turnbull always speaks as if he were in earnest."
"Yes, he does."
"But there's that fellow Bruce!"