His voice quavered, and he turned away from his nephew. "Your da was my hero," he said. "I'd have shed my heart's blood for him. It was hard that him that was the best of us should be the first to go!"
John stood by his uncle's side, very moved by his distress, but not knowing what to do to comfort him.
"My da would be queer and proud of you, Uncle William," he said at last, "queer and proud if he could see you!"
But Uncle William did not answer nor did he look round.
V
It was understood, after that conversation between John and his Uncle William, that the boy should remain at school for a year or two longer, working as a monitor, not in order that he might become a schoolmaster, but so that he might equip his mind with knowledge. Mrs. MacDermott wished her son to become a minister. It would be the proudest day of her life, she said, if she could see John standing in a pulpit, preaching a sermon. Who knew but that he might be one day be the minister of the Ballyards First Presbyterian Church itself, the very church in which his family had worshipped their God for generations.
John, however, had no wish to be a minister.
"You have to be queer and good to be one," he said, "and I'm not as good as all that!"
"Well, mebbe, you'll get better as you get older," Mrs. MacDermott insisted.
"I might get worse," he replied. "It would be a fearful thing to be a minister, and then find out you wanted to commit a sin!"