The Egyptian obeyed demurely, pretending to wipe her eyes every time Gavin looked at her. He frowned at this, and then she affected to be too overcome to go on with her work.
“Tell me, Nanny,” she asked presently, “what sort of man this Enoch is, from whom I bought the things?”
“He is not very regular, I fear,” answered Gavin, who felt that he had sat silent and self-conscious on his stool too long.
“Do you mean that he drinks?” asked Babbie.
“No, I mean regular in his attendance.”
The Egyptian’s face showed no enlightenment.
“His attendance at church,” Gavin explained.
“He’s far frae it,” said Nanny, “and as a body kens, Joe Cruickshanks, the atheist, has the wite o’ that. The scoundrel telled Enoch that the great ministers in Edinbury and London believed in no hell except sic as your ain conscience made for you, and ever since syne Enoch has been careless about the future state.”
“Ah,” said Babbie, waving the Church aside, “what I want to know is whether he is a single man.”
“He is not,” Gavin replied; “but why do you want to know that?”