"It was not Ranald's fault, mother," he declared. "You know Peter would not let him alone, and Ranald hit him in the nose, and served him right, too. But they made it all up, and they were just going into the church again, when that Aleck McRae pulled Ranald back, and Ranald did not want to fight at all, but he called Ranald a liar, and he could not help it, but just hit him.""Who hit who?" said Maimie. "You're not ****** it very clear, Hughie.""Why, Ranald, of course, hit Aleck, and knocked him over, too,"said Hughie, with much satisfaction; "and then Aleck--he is an awful fighter, you know--jumped on Ranald and was pounding him just awful, the great big brute, when out came papa. He stepped up and caught Aleck by the neck and shook him just like a baby, saying, all the time, 'Would ye? I will teach you to fight on the Sabbath day! Here! in with you, every one of you!' and he threw him nearly into the door, and then they all skedaddled into the church, I tell you, Don said. They were pretty badly scart, too, but Don did not know what papa did to Ranald, and he did not know where Ranald went, but he is pretty badly hurted, I am sure. That great big Aleck McRae is old enough to be his father. Wasn't it mean of him, mother?"Poor Hughie was almost in tears, and his mother, who sat listening too eagerly to correct her little boy's ethics or grammar, was as nearly overcome as he. She wished she knew where Ranald was. He had not appeared at the evening Bible class, and Murdie had reported that he could not find him anywhere.
She put Hughie to bed, and then saw Maimie to her room. But Maimie was very unwilling to go to bed.
"Oh, auntie," she whispered, as her aunt kissed her good night, "Icannot go to sleep!" And then, after a pause, she said, shyly, "Do you think he is badly hurt?"Then the minister's wife, looking keenly into the girl's face, made light of Ranald's misfortune.
"Oh, he will be all right," she said, "as far as his hurt is concerned. That is the least part of his trouble. You need not worry about that. Good night, my dear." And Maimie, relieved by her aunt's tone, said "good night" with her heart at rest.
Then Mrs. Murray went into the study, determined to find out what had passed between her husband and Ranald. She found him lying on his couch, luxuriating in the satisfaction of a good day's work behind him, and his first pipe nearly done. She at once ventured upon the thing that lay heavy upon her heart. She began by telling all she knew of the trouble from its beginning in the church, and then waited for her husband's story.
For some moments he lay silently smoking.
"Ah, well," he said, at length, knocking out his pipe, "perhaps Iwas a little severe with the lad. He may not have been so much to blame.""Oh, papa! What did you do?" said his wife, in an anxious voice.
"Well," said the minister, hesitating, "I found that the young rascal had struck Aleck McRae first, and a very bad blow it was.
So I administered a pretty severe rebuke and sent him home.""Oh, what a shame!" cried his wife, in indignant tears. "It was far more the fault of Peter and Aleck and the rest. Poor Ranald!""Now, my dear," said the minister, "you need not fear for Ranald.
I do not suppose he cares much. Besides, his face was not fit to be seen, so I sent him home. Well, it--""Yes," burst in his wife, "great, brutal fellow, to strike a boy like that!""Boy?" said her husband. "Well, he may be, but not many men would dare to face him." Then he added, "I wish I had known--I fear Ispoke--perhaps the boy may feel unjustly treated. He is as proud as Lucifer.""Oh, papa!" said his wife, "what did you say?""Nothing but what was true. I just told him that a boy who would break the Lord's Day by fighting, and in the very shadow of the Lord's house, when Christian people were worshiping God, was acting like a savage, and was not fit for the company of decent folk."To this his wife made no reply, but went out of the study, leaving the minister feeling very uncomfortable indeed. But by the end of the second pipe he began to feel that, after all, Ranald had got no more than was good for him, and that he would be none the worse of it; in which comforting conviction he went to rest, and soon fell into the sleep which is supposed to be the right of the just.
