The Taylors accompanied them part of the way home. Mr. Taylor's humour was at its brightest, and with many sly glances at Mr. Townshend he adjured Elizabeth to be a "good wee miss" and not think of leaving "Papa." Finding the response to his witticisms somewhat disappointing, he changed the subject, and laying a hand on Buff's shoulder said, "Ye'll be glad to hear, Mr. Townshend, that this boy is going to follow his Papa and be a minister."
Buff had been "stotting" along the road, very far away from Glasgow and Mr. Taylor and the Sabbath Day. He had been Cyrano de Bergerac, and was wiping his trusty blade after having accounted for his eighty-second man, when he was brought rudely back to the common earth.
He turned a dazed eye on the speaker. What was he saying? "This boy is going to be a minister."
And he had been Cyrano! The descent was too rapid.
"Me?" cried Buff. "Not likely! I'm going to fight, and kill hundreds of people."
"Oh, my, my," said Mrs. Taylor. "That's not a nice way for a Christian little boy to speak. That's like a wee savage!"
Buff pulled his sister's sleeve.
"Was Cyrano a savage?" he whispered.
Elizabeth shook her head.
"Well," said Buff, looking defiantly at Mrs. Taylor, "Cyrano fought a hundred men one after another and he wasn't a savage."