Was she too, like his old friend Alec, forgetting the splendour
of her high calling?
Such was the thought that passed through Thomas's mind; but the truth
was that, under the genial influences of home tenderness and early
womanhood, a little spring of gentle humour had begun to flow softly
through the quiet fields of her childlike nature.
The mason gazed at her doubtfully, and was troubled. Annie saw his
discomposure, and taking his great hand in her two little ones, looked
full into his cold grey eyes, and said, still smiling,
"Eh, Thomas! wadna ye hae a body mak' a grainy fun whiles whan it comes
o' itsel' like?"
But Thomas, anxious about the state of mind that produced the change,
did not show himself satisfied.
"We dinna hear 'at the Saviour himsel' ever sae muckle as smiled," said
he.
"Weel, that wad hae been little wonner, wi' what he had upo' 'm. But
I'm nae sure that he didna, for a' that. Fowk disna aye tell whan a
body lauchs. I'm thinkin' gin ane o' the bairnies that he took upo' 's
knee,--an' he was ill-pleased wi' them 'at wad hae sheued them
awa',--gin ane o' them had hauden up his wee timmer horsie, wi' a
broken leg, and had prayed him to work a miracle an' men' the leg, he
wadna hae wrocht a miracle maybe, I daursay, but he wad hae smilet, or
maybe lauchen a wee, and he wad hae men't the leg some gait or ither to
please the bairnie.
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