THE DISRUPTION, A SCOTTISH TALE OF RECENT TIMES. "Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES. GLASGOW DAVID ROBERTSON. LONDON DAVID BOGUE. M.DCCC.XLVI THE DISRUPTION. CHAPTER I. "If a' tales be true that the neebours can tell, The college session of 1841-2 had just ended, when Simon M'Quirkie and James Duncanson, fellow students of divinity, left Edinburgh to pass the vacation at home. They both belonged to the same district, though the native village of the one was at a short distance from the birth-place of the other. They had been acquainted with each other from infancy, and had passed much of their time together in maturer years, from the circumstance of being both attached to the venerable Church of Scotland, and both bred to the clerical profession in the same university; but strictly speaking, they were not intimate friends. There was a difference of some years between their ages, and their dispositions were so dissimilar as to render them little suited to sympathise with each other. But this will become apparent enough as our tale proceeds, so we shall not spend time in describing their distinctive characters. A The affairs of the Kirk were, at that particular time, exciting intense interest throughout the country, and it may be supposed they would form the chief subject of conversation between the two students. This, however, was not the case. Whether it was that they had discussed the questions of Non-intrusion and Spiritual Independence till they had nothing further to say on them, or that the thoughts of home for the time absorbed all others, we shall not undertake to say. This, however, is certain; they talked of little else but home, and what they anticipated enjoying there. They travelled by coach, and, the day being fine, were outside passengers. Mr M'Quirkie, after looking over the notes of engagements he had entered in his memorandum book, began to calculate how he should be able to get through all the visits he had promised, and find time for indulging himself in his favourite amusement of trout-fishing. "I am afraid," he said, "I have promised more than I can well perform; for here I have more than a dozen visits to pay, all within the next week; and how I am to get decently through them all, and yet find time to have a turn up the burns this fine weather for the rod, I cannot see.” "There is one of your engagements," said Duncanson, "which you must not break, whatever you may do as to the rest. Mind, you promised to come over to my aunt's house on Wednesday afternoon, and I intend to hold you to your word. If nothing but fishing will please you, I will whip the water with you for an hour or two up the glen, and I dare say you will get as many nibbles there as any place; but at all events you must make your appearance at Whinnyside, at the time appointed.” Mr M'Quirkie renewed his promise to do so on the condition stipulated, and his companion soon after left the coach at a cross-road which led direct to the farm of his managing maiden aunt, Deborah Renshaw. His luggage, though it was neither very bulky nor heavy, he left at the stage-house, to be brought home by the Whinnyside milk-cart, which passed that way daily. Thus unencumbered, our hero strode lightly forward, and would have reached the end of his journey in little time, though it was two miles off, had he continued at the same rate. But at a turn of the road he slackened his pace, and good reason why. Just at that spot, as had been previously arranged by letter, he met a young lady with whom our readers will become acquainted by-and-bye, but whom we shall not at present attempt to describe. The truth is, James Duncanson had committed the folly of falling in love before he had completed his curriculum, which is looked upon by prudent people as the worst of all the follies which a clergyman in embryo can commit. But James was not of a calculating nature, and his heart had yielded to an attachment as pure and disinterested as ever existed in the breast of man. The lovers met at a shady, secluded part of the road. Nobody observed them, and no record exists of the soft words or fond looks which passed between them on this occasion; so we must skip over the tender scene, in the full assurance that it was very tender, as all the meetings of true lovers are. After the first flush of joy at meeting with the desire of his eyes, James Duncanson became somewhat grave and thoughtful. He recollected that he was wholly dependent on his aunt, and felt some misgivings regarding the reception she might give to the sweet girl he intended to introduce to her as his affianced bride. He knew his aunt's peculiarities of temper, and was also aware that she had been informed of his amour; but he thought it possible to carry her acquiescence in his choice by a coup de main, and with this view he ventured to introduce Miss Agnes He had Montgomery to her on the present occasion. hopes that the youth, beauty, and gentleness of Agnes would not only reconcile his aunt to the attachment he had formed, but would interest her warmly in forwarding |