O. Douglas

“ I'm very certain you would never let love-making become 'stawsome.' ... There are hot things in that dish—or would you rather have a sandwich? This is the first time we've ever had tea alone, Jean."
"I know. Isn't it heavenly to think that we shall be together now all the rest of our lives? Biddy, I was thinking ... if—if ever we have a son I should like to call him Peter Reid. ”

“ No matter how kind and generous a man is, to be dependent on him for every penny can't be nice. It's different, I think, when the man is poor. Then they both work, the man earning, the woman saving and contriving.... But what's the good of talking about money? Money only matters when you haven't got any. ”

“ And at the wedding-feast Tommy Sprott suddenly pointed at me and said, 'Put that girl out; she's eating all the shortbread.' Me—his new-made bride!"
The whole village turned out to see the newly-married couple leave, including the blacksmith and three dogs. It hurt Mhor afresh to see the dogs barking happily while Peter, who would so have enjoyed a fight with them, was spending a boring day in the stable-yard, but Jean comforted him with the thought of Peter's delight at Mintern Abbas.
"Will Richard Plantagenet mind if he chases rabbits?" ”

“ It was silly of whoever built it to put it so far away."
"When Mintern Abbas was built railways hadn't been invented."
"I'm glad I wasn't invented before railways," said Mhor. "I would have been very dull."
"You'll have a pony at Mintern Abbas. Won't that be nice?"
"Yes. Oh! there's the signal down at last. That'll be the express to London. I can hear the roar of it already."
Pamela's idea of a wedding garment for Jean was a soft white cloth coat and skirt, and a close-fitting hat with Mercury wings. Everything was simple, but everything was exquisitely fresh and dainty. ”

“ It will be like old times to have Jock and Mhor to look after."
Mhor went in the car with Jean and Pamela and Mrs. Macdonald. The others had gone on in Lord Bidborough's car, as Mr. Macdonald wanted to see the vicar before the service. The vicar had asked Jean about the music, saying that the village schoolmistress who was also the organist, was willing to play. "I don't much like 'The Voice that breathed o'er Eden,'" Jean told him, "but anything else would be very nice. It is so very kind of her to play."
Mhor mourned all the way to church about Peter being left behind. ”

“ The schoolmistress had played the wedding march from Lohengrin, and was prepared to play Mendelssohn as the party left the church, but when the service was over Mrs. Macdonald whispered fiercely in Jean's ear, "You can't be married without 'O God of Bethel,'" and ousting the schoolmistress from her place at the organ she struck the opening notes.
They knew it by heart—Jean and Davie and Jock and Mhor and Lewis Elliot—and they sang it with the unction with which one sings the songs of Zion by Babylon's streams.
"Through each perplexing path of life
Our wandering footsteps guide ”