He had sacrificed a great deal toward this end all his own life, nor were his sacrifices complete with the resignation of his only child to the same purpose.  To a man of more than sixty years of age it is a great trial to have an unusual and unhappy atmosphere in his home; and though Mrs. Lockerby was now tearful and patient under her disappointment, everyone knows that tears and patience may be a miserable kind of comfort.  Then, though Janet had as yet preserved a dour and angry silence, he knew that sooner or later she would begin a guerilla warfare of sharp words, which he feared he would have mainly to bear, for Janet, though his housekeeper, was also “a far-awa cousin,” had been forty years in his house, and was not accustomed to withhold her opinions on any subject.

Fortunately for Andrew Lockerby, Janet finally selected Mary Moir as the Eve specially to blame in this transgression.  “A proud up-head lassie,” she asserted, “that cam o’ a family wha would sell their share o’ the sunshine for pounds sterling!”

From such texts as this the two women in the Lockerby house preached little daily sermons to each other, until comfort grew out of the very stem of their sorrow, and they began to congratulate each other that “puir Davie was at ony rate outside the glamour o’ Mary Moir’s temptations.”

“For she just bewitched the laddie,” said Janet, angrily; and, doubtless, if the old laws regarding witches had been in Janet’s administration it would have gone hardly with pretty Mary Moir.

PART II.

“God’s work is soon done.”

It is a weary day when the youth first discovers that after all he will only become a man; and this discovery came with a depressing weight one morning to David, after he had been counting bank notes for three hours.  It was noon, but the gas was lit, and in the heavy air a dozen men sat silent as statues, adding up figures and making entries.  He thought of the college courts, and the college green, of the crowded halls, and the symposia, where both mind and body had equal refection.  There had been days when he had a part in these things, and when to “strive with things impossible,” or “to pluck honor from the pale-faced moon,” had not been unreasonable or rash; but now it almost seemed as if Mr. Buckle’s dreary gospel was a reality, and men were machines, and life was an affair to be tabulated in averages.

He had just had a letter from Willie Caird, too, and it had irritated him.  The wounds of a friend may be faithful, but they are not always welcome.  David determined to drop the correspondence.  Willie was going one way and he another.  They might never see each other again; and—­

          If they should meet one day,
          If both should not forget
    They could clasp hands the accustomed way.