“Ay, ay! I jist want to say that you had the word for me the day. I see it better the noo. A'm mair content that ma mon sud be sleepin' oot yonder.” She held Barry's hand while she spoke, her tears falling on it, then kissed it and turned away.
“And this,” said the minister's wife, “is Mrs. Murray, who has given three sons, and who has just sent her last son away this week.”
“Three sons,” echoed Barry, gazing at the strong face, beaten and brown with the winds and suns of fifty years, “and you sent away your last. Oh, I wonder at you. How could you?”
“A cudna haud him back wi' his three brithers lyin' oot there, and,” she added, with a proud lift of her head, “and wudna.”
It took some minutes for Barry to make his way through to the door. He wanted to greet them all. He had a feeling that he was there not in his own person but as a representative standing between two noble companies of martyrs, those who had gone forth to die, and those who had sent them.
“You have done us a great service to-day, sir,” said the minister in bidding Barry good-bye.
“It was a privilege to do it,” said Barry as he shook hands with the minister and his wife. “I shall tell the men about you and your people.”
“My dear, my dear, is he your man?” asked the minister's wife as she held Phyllis' hand.
“He is,” said Phyllis, glancing at Barry with shy pride.
“In two days,” replied the girl, with a quick breath.
“Don't let him away till you give yourself wholly to him. Why not to-morrow? It's a mother's word.”
“That's what I say,” cried Paula impulsively, seeking to cover the girl's blushing confusion. “Neil,” she added, turning to him, “I should love to be married in just such a dear little church as this.”
“All right,” said Neil. “I know another just like it, and I shall show it to you next week.”
They wandered down by the loch's side. Passing a boat-renting establishment, Paula suddenly exclaimed,
“A canoe,” she cried, running toward it. “A Canadian canoe!”
“A genuine Peterboro,” he cried, following her. “Where did you get this?” he inquired, turning to the boatman.
“My boy brought it with him from Canada, sir. He is an engineer. I have his whole outfit in the house--tent, camp things and all. He is at the war himself.”