Of course they had not treated him
well; but what would his congregation, some of whom might have been
lingering in the churchyard, have thought, to see him leave them as he
did? His only thought, however, was to take precautions against their
natural judgment of his behaviour.
After his breakfast, he set out, his custom of a Monday morning, for what
he called a quiet stroll; but his thoughts kept returning, ever with fresh
resentment, to the soutar's insinuation--for such he counted it--on the
Saturday. Suddenly, uninvited, and displacing the phantasm of her father,
arose before him the face of Maggie; and with it the sudden question, What
then was the real history of the baby on whom she spent such an irrational
amount of devotion. The soutar's tale of her finding him was too
apocryphal! Might not Maggie have made a slip? Or why should the
pretensions of the soutar be absolutely trusted? Surely he had, some time
or other, heard a rumour! A certain satisfaction arose with the suggestion
that this man, so ready to believe evil of his neighbour, had not kept his
own reputation, or that of his house, perhaps, undefiled.
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