CHAPTER XIII.
"Hast any philosophy in thee ?" _As You Like It_.
Miss Bella Bathgate was a staunch supporter of the Parish Kirk.

She had no use for any other denomination, and no sympathy with any but the Presbyterian form of worship.

Episcopalians she regarded as beneath contempt, and classed them in her own mind with "Papists"-- people who were more mischievous and almost as ignorant as "the heathen" for whom she collected small sums quarterly, and for whom the minister prayed as "sitting in darkness." Miss Bathgate had developed a real, if somewhat contemptuous, affection for Mawson, her lodger's maid, but she never ceased to pour scorn on her "English ways" and her English worship.

If Mawson had not been one of the gentlest of creatures she would not have tolerated it for a day.
One wet and windy evening Bella sat waiting for Mawson to come in to supper.

She had gone to a week-night service at the church, greatly excited because the Bishop was to be present.