It took, however, all the grace out of his declining, that Mr.Finch remarked in gruff pleasantry, "What would a boy want with tea!" The supper was a very solemn meal.

They were all too busy to talk, at least so Hughie felt, and as for himself, he was only afraid lest the others should "push back" before he had satisfied the terrible craving within him.
After supper the books were taken, and in Gaelic, for though Donald Finch was perfectly able in English for business and ordinary affairs of life, when it came to the worship of God, he found that only in the ancient mother tongue could he "get liberty." As Hughie listened to the solemn reading, and then to the prayer that followed, though he could understand only a word now and again, he was greatly impressed with the rhythmic, solemn cadence of the voice, and as he glanced through his fingers at the old man's face, he was surprised to find how completely it had changed.

It was no longer the face of the stern and stubborn autocrat, but of an earnest, humble, reverent man of God; and Hughie, looking at him, wondered if he would not be altogether nicer with his wife and boys after that prayer was done.

He had yet to learn how obstinate and even hard a man can be and still have a great "gift in prayer." From the old man's face, Hughie's glance wandered to his wife's, and there was held fascinated.

For the first time Hughie thought it was beautiful, and more than that, he was startled to find that it reminded him of his mother's.