"An'
'deed I cud wuss," she added, "'at in oor ain kirk we had mair
opportunity, for ance i' the twalmonth 's no verra aften to tak up
the thouchts 'at belang to the holy ordnance."
The next day, after a powerful sermon from a man who, although
in high esteem, was not for moral worth or heavenly insight to
be compared with him whose place he took, they proceeded to the
celebration of the Lord's supper, after the fashion of that portion
of the church universal.
The communicants sat in several long pews facing the communion
table, which was at the foot of the pulpit. After the reading of St
Paul's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, accompanied
by prayers and addresses, the deacons carried the bread to the
people, handing a slice to the first in each pew; each person in
turn broke off a portion, and handed what remained to the next:
thus they divided it among themselves.
It so happened that, in moving up to the communion seats, Miss
Forsyth and Miss Horn were the last to enter one of them, and Miss
Horn, very needlessly insisting on her custom of having her more
capable ear towards her friend, occupied the place next the passage.
The service had hardly commenced, when she caught sight of the
face of the mad laird peeping in at the door, which was in the side
of the building, near where she sat. Their eyes met. With a half
repentant, half apologetic look, he crept in, and, apparently to
get as near his protectress as he could, sat down in the entrance
of an empty pew, just opposite the one in which she was seated, on
the other side of the narrow passage.
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