CHAPTER VII.
A WOMAN OF THE NEW DISPENSATION.
Carmichael's aunt, who equipped his house, was determined on one point, and would not hear of a clerical housekeeper for her laddie.

Margaret Meiklewham--a woman of a severe countenance, and filled with the spirit of the Disruption--who had governed the minister of Pitscowrie till his decease, and had been the terror of callow young probationers, offered herself, and gave instances of her capability.
"Gin ye leave yir nephew in my hands, ye needna hae ony mair concern.
A 'll manage him fine, an' hand him on the richt road.

Ye may lippen tae 't, a' wesna five and thirty year wi' Maister MacWheep for naethin'.
"He wes a wee fractious and self-willed at the off-go, an' wud be wantin' this an' that for his denner, but he sune learned tae tak' what wes pit afore him; an' as for gaein' oot withoot tellin' me, he wud as sune hae thocht o' fleein'; when he cam' in he keepit naethin' back at his tea.
"Preachin' wes kittle wark in Pitscoorie, for the fouk were awfu' creetics, though they didna maybe think sae muckle o' themselves as Drumtochty.

A' aye githered their jidgment through the week, an' gin he hed made a slip meddling wi' warks or sic-like in his sermon, it wes pit richt next Sabbath, and sovereignty whuppit in at the feenish.
"Ye ken the Auld Kirk hes tae be watchit like a cat wi' a moose, an' though a' say it as sudna, Maister MacWheep wud hae made a puir job o' the business himsel'.

The pairish meenister wes terrible plausible, an' askit oor man tae denner afore he wes settled in his poopit, an' he wes that simple, he wud hae gaen," and Margaret indicated by an uplifting of her eyebrows the pitiable innocence of MacWheep.
"Ye guidit him, nae doot ?" inquired Carmichael's aunt, with interest.
"'Maister MacWheep,' says I," and Miss Meiklewham's lips were very firm, "'a 'll no deny that the Auld Kirk is Christian, an' a've never said that a Moderate cudna be savit, but the less trokin' (trafficking) ye hae wi' them the better.