"Sae weak and womanish is thae time we live in!" He flashed at his great-nephew.

"Sae poetical! It wasna sae when the Malignants drove us and we fled to the hills and were fed on the muirs with the word of the Lord! It wasna sae in the time when Gawin Elliot that Glenfernie draws frae was hanged for gieing us that word! Then gin a sin-blasted ane was found amang us, his road indeed was shawn him! Aye, were't man or woman! _'For while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry!'_" He pushed back his heavy chair; he rose from table and went forth, tall, ancient, gray, armored in belief.

They heard him take his Bible from where it lay, and knew that he was back under the fir-tree, facing from the house toward moor and hill and mountain.
"Eh-h," groaned Thomas, "the elder is a mighty witness!" The family at White Farm ate in silence.

Elspeth slipped from her place.
"Where are ye gaeing, hinny ?" asked Jenny.

"Ye hae eaten naething." "I've finished," said Elspeth.