"The abjectness of this apology caused me to blush to the eyes, but it was made, as I thought, to serve my heart-dear girl, and gulping down my chagrin and wounded pride, I turned to go away.
"'Well, well, Dominie, I forgive you, man, and I believe there is nothing wrong between you two after all. I only spoke in jest, man, and am in turn sorry to have given you pain; so gie's your hand—there—and I must have a kiss from Miss Miller, the darling, or I never shall believe that you have both really and truly forgiven me.'
"We returned together to the village. I would willingly have shaken off the youngster, but he insisted on seeing Jessy home, and as I had no plea to prevent him, I submitted in great bitterness of spirit.
"The next day he departed for London, to my great solace, and we heard nothing of him for several months, so I once more buckled to my schoolmaster's labours with a light heart; and if my friends did not flatter me, I also greatly improved in my preaching.
"At first, before I had confidence in my ain power and presence of mind, I slavishly wrote down all my sermons, and read them still more servilely, never trusting my finger neb off the manuscript, as if I had been frichtened it would have ta'en wing and flown away from under my nose; but I gradually began to trust mysell away in a wee bit flicht now and then, like a half-fledged shillfa[[2]] with the puddock-hair on, hopping about its nest, but always ready to drop into it again, as I was into the written discourse.
[[2]] Chaffinch.
"I soon found that the parts of my preachments that were maist liked were generally the very bits thus struck off extempore; so in time I took heart of grace, and only wrote down the heads. Before autumn I even gave this up, and began to preach even on and boldly, without scrap or note of any kind or description whatever.
"That there are many eloquent men who cannot trust their memories, and have all their lives to preach written sermons, is most true; but where a man of talent can preach extempore, rely upon it, he will be more eloquent and impressive than if he had undergone the drudgery of inditing the discourse before hand.
"And so it was with me, even me Saunders Skelp; for, from the very first, when per force I had to write down my sermons, still even then I found my genius cribbed and confined, and held down in its soarings and highest aspirations by the written thread of my discourse, like a string round the leg of a tame pyot; or if, in a moment of inspiration, I did break away, it was at the peril of getting into another vein of thocht a'thegither, which I aften found cruel kittle to dovetail cleverly into the plain jog-trot of what lay beneath my nose on the pulpit cushion; so, finding I made but a botched business of it so long as I halted between the two opinions, I resolutely determined to write nae mair for ever.
"But in the pride of my heart at my early success, I will not conceal that I grew about this time rather overly energetic, and my feelings whiles outran my discretion; but I had a good friend and excellent Mentor in auld Earl M——, the principal heritor in the parish.