“And, Davie, should all this make you less careful to do his will, or more, both as to the spirit and the letter?”
“But, Mr Maxwell, it was not that I thought I was doing wrong, only I hoped grandfather might not come; and even grannie has whiles to—to—No, I won’t say it. Grannie is as true as steel. And I was wrong to do anything to encourage Hooker and Piatt to stay, and I am sorry.”
“Davie,” said the minister kindly and solemnly, “be always loyal in word and deed, as I know you are in heart, to your grandparents. You are everything to them. I know of no nobler work than you have been doing all winter. I beg your pardon if I have been hard on you; but it hurt me dreadfully to see that doubtful look on your face. I did not mean to be hard.”
Davie told all this to Katie a few nights afterward, as they were going home through the fields together. But he did not tell her that he made an errand round behind the camp lest Mr Maxwell should see the tears that came rushing to his eyes; nor did he tell her anything that was said after that.
Indeed, there was but a word or two about the Lord and Master, whose claims to a loving loyalty are supreme, words which Davie never forgot, and only alluded to long afterward, when he and Katie found it easier to talk together about such things. And that the minister had not put their friendship in jeopardy, Katie plainly saw.
Chapter Eighteen.
Mr Fleming’s Troubles.
A few days after the minister’s talk with Davie, the squire and Miss Elizabeth came to pay a visit at Ythan Brae. The squire’s visits were rare now, and his coming gave them all pleasure; and as the day was fine, and the old man expressed a wish to go to the sugar-place, they lost no time after dinner in setting out.