"They are not there, John, nor yet i' thy kist." "I thought sae." "Then God help me, sister! I know not where they are." Even Bailie Inkster looked doubtful and troubled at this circumstance.
Silence, cold and suspicious, fell upon them, and poor John went away half-bereft of all the comfort his mother's trust and Christine's look had given him.
The next day being Sabbath, no one felt at liberty to discuss the subject; but as the little groups passed one another on their way to church their solemn looks and their doleful shakes of the head testified to its presence in their thoughts.

The dominie indeed, knowing how nearly impossible it would be for them not to think their own thoughts this Lord's day, deemed it best to guide those thoughts to charity.

He begged every one to be kind to all in deep affliction, and to think no evil until it was positively known who the guilty person was.
Indeed, in spite of the almost overwhelming evidence against John Sabay, there was a strong disposition to believe him innocent.

"If ye believe a' ye hear, ye may eat a' ye see," said Geordie Sweyn.

"Maybe John Sabay killed old Peter Fae, but every maybe has a may-not-be." And to this remark there were more nods of approval than shakes of dissent.
But affairs, even with this gleam of light, were dark enough to the sorrowful family.