As he sat down, Grace Hutchison looked at her father.  The Doctor was conscious of her look, and withdrew his motion.  The meetings were opened with prayer in all time coming.

There was a murmur of rejoicing among the Kers outside, and thighs were quietly slapped with delight at the management of the question by the minister and Saunders.  It was, with reason, considered masterly.

“Ye see their drift, dinna ye, man?” said one Ker to another.  “What, no?—­ye surely maun hae been born on a Sabbath.  D’ye no see that ilka time the Doctor is awa, eyther aboot his ain affairs or aboot the concerns o’ the General Assembly, or when he’s no weel, they’ll be obleeged to vote either Saunders or oor minister into the chair—­for, of coorse, the ither two can pray nane, bein’ elders o’ the Establishment?  An’ the chairman has aye the castin’ vote!”

“Dod, man, that’s graund—­heard ye ever the like o’ that!”

The Kers rejoiced in first blood, but they kept their strategical theories to themselves, so as not to interfere with the designs of Saunders and Mr. Calvin.

Little else was done that day.  A clerk of school-board was appointed—­the lawyer factor of the Laird of Howpaslet and a strong member of the State Church.

Mr. Calvin proposed the young Radical lawyer from the next town, but simply for form’s sake, and to lull the other side with the semblance of victory.

“The clerk has nae vote,” Saunders explained quietly through the window to the nearest Ker.  This satisfied the clan, which was a little inclined to murmur.

It was then decided that a new teacher was to be appointed, and applications were to be advertised for.  This was really the crux of the situation.  The old parochial dominie had retired on a comfortable allowance.  The company inside the school wanted him to get the allowance doubled, because he was precentor in the parish kirk, till they heard that it was to come out of the rates.  Then they wanted him to have none at all.  He should just have saved his siller like other folk.  Who would propose to support them with forty-five pounds a year off the rates when they came to retire?—­a fresh strong man, too, and well able for his meat, and said to be looking out for his third wife.  The idea of giving him forty-five of their pounds to do nothing at all the rest of his life was a preposterous one.  Some said they would have voted for the Seceders if they had known what the minister had in his head.  But, in spite of the murmurs, the dominie got the money.

The next meeting was to be held on Tuesday fortnight—­public intimation whereof having been made, the meeting was closed with the benediction, pronounced by Dr. Hutchison in a non-committal official way to show the Kers that he was not to be coerced into prayer by them.

Applications for the mastership poured in thick and fast.  The members of the school-board were appealed to by letter and by private influence.  They were treated at the market and buttonholed on the street—­all except Saunders and his minister.  These two kept their counsel sternly to themselves, knowing that they had no chance of carrying their man unless some mysterious providence should intervene.