Chapter 33

WHILE THE TEN O'CLOCK BELL WAS RINGING.

In the square and wynds--weavers in groups:

"No, no, Davit, Mr. Dishart hadna felt the blow the piper gave him
till he ascended the pulpit to conduct the prayer-meeting for
rain, and then he fainted awa. Tammas Whamond and Peter Tosh
carried him to the Session-house. Ay, an awful scene."

"How did the minister no come to the meeting? I wonder how you
could expect it, Snecky, and his mother taen so suddenly ill; he's
at her bedside, but the doctor has little hope."

"This is what has occurred, Tailor: Mr. Dishart never got the
length of the pulpit. He fell in a swound on the vestry floor.
What caused it? Oh, nothing but the heat. Thrums is so dry that
one spark would set it in a blaze."

"I canna get at the richts o' what keeped him frae the meeting,
Femie, but it had something to do wi' an Egyptian on the hill.
Very like he had been trying to stop the gypsy marriage there. I
gaed to the manse to speir at Jean what was wrang, but I'm
thinking I telled her mair than she could tell me."

"Man, man, Andrew, the wite o't lies wi' Peter Tosh. He thocht we
was to hae sic a terrible rain that he implored the minister no to
pray for it, and so angry was Mr. Dishart that he ordered the
whole Session out o' the kirk. I saw them in Couthie's close, and
michty dour they looked."

"Yes, as sure as death, Tammas Whamond locked the kirk-door in Mr.
Dishart's face."

"I'm a' shaking! And small wonder, Marget, when I've heard this
minute that Mr. Dishart's been struck by lichtning while looking
for Rob Dow. He's no killed, but, woe's me! they say he'll never
preach again."

"Nothing o' the kind. It was Rob that the lichtning struck dead in
the doctor's machine. The horse wasna touched; it came tearing
down the Roods wi' the corpse sitting in the machine like a living
man."

"What are you listening to, woman? Is it to a dog barking? I've
heard it this while, but it's far awa."

In the manse kitchen:

"Jean, did you not hear me ring? I want you to--Why are you
staring out at the window, Jean?"

"I--I was just hearkening to the ten o'clock bell, ma'am."

"I never saw you doing nothing before! Put the heater in the fire,
Jean. I want to iron the minister's neckcloths. The prayer-meeting
is long in coming out, is it not?"

"The--the drouth, ma'am, has been so cruel hard."

"And, to my shame, I am so comfortable that I almost forgot how
others are suffering. But my son never forgets, Jean. You are not
crying, are you?"

"No, ma'am."