"I am to fling this to you. You will give it to Mr. Ogilvy, the
schoolmaster, as a token of the love I bear him."
The watch was caught by James Langlands, and handed to Peter Tosh, the
chief elder present.
"To Mr. Ogilvy," Gavin continued, "you will also give the chain. You
will take it off my neck when you find the body.
"To each of my elders, and to Hendry Munn, kirk officer, and to my
servant Jean, I leave a book, and they will go to my study and choose
it for themselves.
"I also leave a book for Nanny Webster, and I charge you, Peter Tosh,
to take it to her, though she be not a member of my church.
"The pictorial Bible with 'To my son on his sixth birthday' on it, I
bequeath to Rob Dow. No, my mother will want to keep that. I give to
Rob Dow my Bible with the brass clasp.
"It is my wish that every family in the congregation should have some
little thing to remember me by. This you will tell my mother.
"To my successor I leave whatsoever of my papers he may think of any
value to him, including all my notes on Revelation, of which I meant
to make a book. I hope he will never sing the paraphrases.
"If Mr. Carfrae's health permits, you will ask him to preach the
funeral sermon; but if he be too frail, then you will ask Mr. Trail,
under whom I sat in Glasgow. The illustrated 'Pilgrim's Progress' on
the drawers in my bedroom belongs to Mr. Trail, and you will return it
to him with my affection and compliments.
"I owe five shillings to Hendry Munn for mending my boots, and a
smaller sum to Baxter, the mason. I have two pounds belonging to Rob
Dow, who asked me to take charge of them for him. I owe no other man
anything, and this you will bear in mind if Matthew Cargill, the
flying stationer, again brings forward a claim for the price of
Whiston's 'Josephus,' which I did not buy from him.
"Mr. Moncur, of Aberbrothick, had agreed to assist me at the
Sacrament, and will doubtless still lend his services. Mr. Carfrae or
Mr. Trail will take my place if my successor is not elected by that
time. The Sacrament cups are in the vestry press, of which you will
find the key beneath the clock in my parlor. The tokens are in the
topmost drawer in my bedroom.
"The weekly prayer-meeting will be held as usual on Thursday at eight
o'clock, and the elders will officiate.
"It is my wish that the news of my death be broken to my mother by Mr.
Ogilvy, the schoolmaster, and by no other. You will say to him that
this is my solemn request, and that I bid him discharge it without
faltering and be of good cheer.
"But if Mr. Ogilvy be not now alive, the news of my death will be
broken to my mother by my beloved wife. Last night I was married on
the hill, over the tongs, but with the sanction of God, to her whom
you call the Egyptian, and despite what has happened since then, of
which you will soon have knowledge, I here solemnly declare that she
is my wife, and you will seek for her at the Spittal or elsewhere till
you find her, and you will tell her to go to my mother and remain with
her always, for these are the commands of her husband."
It was then that Gavin paused, for Lord Rintoul had that to say to him
which no longer could be kept back. All the women were crying sore,
and also some men whose eyes had been dry at the coffining of their
children.
"Now I ken," said Cruickshanks, who had been an atheist, "that it's
only the fool wha' says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"