Simeon Gleg stood by, looking up and clasping his hands in ecstasy.
"O Lord," he said, "help me keep mind o' it! It's just like the kingdom o' heaven! Greek an' Laitin's the thing! There's nae mistak', Greek and Laitin's the thing!"
Then on the doorstep he turned, after Betsy had reclad him in his dry clothes and lent him the minister's third best umbrella.
This was Simeon Gleg's good-bye to the minister—
"Twunty pound is a dreadfu' heap o' siller; but, O minister, my mind 'ill stand an awfu' sicht o' impruvement! It'll no' be a penny owre muckle!"
IV
KIT KENNEDY, NE'ER-DO-WELL
"Now I wonder," with a flicker
Of the Old Ford in his eyes
As he watched the snow come thicker,
"Are the angels warm and rosy
When the snow-storms fill the skies,
As in summer when the sun
Makes their cloud-beds warm and cosy?
And I wonder if they're sleeping
Through this bitter winter weather
Or aloft their watches keeping,
As the shepherds told of them,
Hosts and hosts of them together,
Singing o'er the lowly stable,
In that little Bethlehem!"
"Ford Bereton."
"Kit Kennedy, ye are a lazy ne'er-do-weel—lyin' snorin' there in your bed on the back o' five o'clock. Think shame o' yoursel'!"