“Na, na, a' said tae them,” and Jamie refused to listen, “ye needna tell me ony sic stories. Milton is no an ordinary professor, an' he kens his Bible. Div ye think he's forgotten the passage aboot robbin' the widow?”
“Ye're makin' a mistak—”
“Ma verra words, Milton, 'It's been a mistak,' a' said, 'an' the meenut he finds it oot, Milton 'ill gie back the money. What richt hae ye tae consider him little better than a twa-faced heepocrite?'”
“There's no a man in the Glen wud hae got Mary's notes back frae Milton but yersel, Jamie,” said Drumsheugh, celebrating the achievement in the kirkyard next Sabbath. “There's a michty poor in a nippy tongue.”
Milton lost his second wife shortly after he came to the Glen, and it fell to Jamie to explain the widower's feelings to the fathers.
“'It 's a sair dispensation,' he said tae me, 'an' comes heavy when the calves are young; but we maunna complain. There's aye mercy mingled wi' judgment. She micht hae been taken afore she hed got the hoose in order.
“'A 'm houpin' for the best, an' a' think the root o' the maitter wes in her; there wes times a' wud hae liked tae hear a clearer testimony, but we hevna a' the same gifts, an' there's nae doot she wes savin' wi' the gear.
“'She expressed hersel as thankfu' for oor merridge, an' considered it a priveelege; but ma first wes mair experienced in doctrine, and hed a gift o' prayer, though fractious in temper at a time. Ye canna get a'thing, ye ken.'
“He hes a photograph o' the laist ane abune the fireplace in a frame wi' an inscription, an' he wipit his eyes an' says, 'We maun look up, ma freend, an' be resigned; it's an awfu' job tae ideelize the creature.'
“'Ye'ill no dae weel withoot a wife here, Milton,' says I; 'hoosekeepers are dear, an' ye 'ill never get the wark o' yir wife oot of ane; it wes maybe a peety ye lat her trachle (fatigue) hersel when she wesna strong, but gin a man be busy wi' speeritual affairs he disna notice,' an' a' askit him if he wes thinkin' o' a third.”