A fifth said, "That's our minister. He's the minister o' the Auld
Licht Kirk o' Thrums. Woe is me, we're to lose him."
Many cried, "Our hearts was set hard against him. O Lord, are you
angry wi' your servants that you're taking him frae us just when we
ken what he is?"
Gavin did not hear them, and again he spoke:
"My brethren, God is good. I have just learned that my wife is with my
dear mother at the manse. I leave them in your care and in His."
No more he said of Babbie, for the island was become very small.
"The Lord calls me hence. It is only for a little time I have been
with you, and now I am going away, and you will know me no more. Too
great has been my pride because I was your minister, but He who sent
me to labor among you is slow to wrath; and He ever bore in mind that
you were my first charge. My people, I must say to you, 'Farewell.'"
Then, for the first time, his voice faltered, and wanting to go on he
could not. "Let us read," he said, quickly, "in the Word of God in the
fourteenth of Matthew, from the twenty-eighth verse."