One evening as Mr.Snodgrass was taking a solitary walk towards Irvine, for the purpose of calling on Miss Mally Glencairn, to inquire what had been her latest accounts from their mutual friends in London, and to read to her a letter, which he had received two days before, from Mr.Andrew Pringle, he met, near Eglintoun Gates, that pious woman, Mrs.Glibbans, coming to Garnock, brimful of some most extraordinary intelligence.The air was raw and humid, and the ways were deep and foul; she was, however, protected without, and tempered within, against the dangers of both.Over her venerable satin mantle, lined with cat-skin, she wore a scarlet duffle Bath cloak, with which she was wont to attend the tent sermons of the Kilwinning and Dreghorn preachings in cold and inclement weather.Her black silk petticoat was pinned up, that it might not receive injury from the nimble paddling of her short steps in the mire; and she carried her best shoes and stockings in a handkerchief to be changed at the manse, and had fortified her feet for the road in coarse worsted hose, and thick plain-soled leather shoes.
Mr.Snodgrass proposed to turn back with her, but she would not permit him."No, sir," said she, "what I am about you cannot meddle in.You are here but a stranger--come to-day, and gane to-morrow;-- and it does not pertain to you to sift into the doings that have been done before your time.Oh dear; but this is a sad thing-- nothing like it since the silencing of M'Auly of Greenock.What will the worthy Doctor say when he hears tell o't?Had it fa'n out with that neighering body, James Daff, I wouldna hae car't a snuff of tobacco, but wi' Mr.Craig, a man so gifted wi' the power of the Spirit, as I hae often had a delightful experience! Ay, ay, Mr.Snodgrass, take heed lest ye fall; we maun all lay it to heart; but I hope the trooper is still within the jurisdiction of church censures.She shouldna be spairt.Nae doubt, the fault lies with her, and it is that Iam going to search; yea, as with a lighted candle."Mr.Snodgrass expressed his inability to understand to what Mrs.Glibbans alluded, and a very long and interesting disclosure took place, the substance of which may be gathered from the following letter; the immediate and instigating cause of the lady's journey to Garnock being the alarming intelligence which she had that day received of Mr.Craig's servant-damsel Betty having, by the style and title of Mrs.Craig, sent for Nanse Swaddle, the midwife, to come to her in her own case, which seemed to Mrs.Glibbans nothing short of a miracle, Betty having, the very Sunday before, helped the kettle when she drank tea with Mr.Craig, and sat at the room door, on a buffet-stool brought from the kitchen, while he performed family worship, to the great solace and edification of his visitor.
The Rev.Z.Pringle, D.D., to Mr.Micklewham, Schoolmaster and Session-Clerk, GarnockDear Sir--I have received your letter of the 24th, which has given me a great surprise to hear, that Mr.Craig was married as far back as Christmas, to his own servant lass Betty, and me to know nothing of it, nor you neither, until it was time to be speaking to the midwife.To be sure, Mr.Craig, who is an elder, and a very rigid man, in his animadversions on the immoralities that come before the session, must have had his own good reasons for keeping his marriage so long a secret.Tell him, however, from me, that I wish both him and Mrs.Craig much joy and felicity; but he should be milder for the future on the thoughtlessness of youth and headstrong passions.Not that I insinuate that there has been any occasion in the conduct of such a godly man to cause a suspicion; but it's wonderful how he was married in December, and I cannot say that I am altogether so proud to hear it as I am at all times of the well-doing of my people.Really the way that Mr.Daff has comported himself in this matter is greatly to his credit; and I doubt if the thing had happened with him, that Mr.Craig would have sifted with a sharp eye how he came to be married in December, and without bridal and banquet.For my part, I could not have thought it of Mr.Craig, but it's done now, and the less we say about itthe better; so I think with Mr.Daff, that it must be looked over; but when I return, I will speak both to the husband and wife, and not without letting them have an inkling of what I think about their being married in December, which was a great shame, even if there was no sin in it.But I will say no more; for truly, Mr.Micklewham, the longer we live in this world, and the farther we go, and the better we know ourselves, the less reason have we to think slightingly of our neighbours; but the more to convince our hearts and understandings, that we are all prone to evil, and desperately wicked.For where does hypocrisy not abound? and I have had my own experience here, that what a man is to the world, and to his own heart, is a very different thing.
