Mr. Scott," said the Story Girl. "You know, I told you he was very angry because the Presbytery made him retire. There were two ministers in particular he blamed for being at the bottom of it. One time a friend of his was trying to console him, and said to him,
"'You should be resigned to the will of Providence.'
"'Providence had nothing to do with it,' said old Mr. Scott. ''Twas the McCloskeys and the devil.'"
"You shouldn't speak of the—the—devil," said Felicity, rather shocked.
"Well, that's just what Mr. Scott said."
"Oh, it's all right for a minister to speak of him. But it isn't nice for little girls. If you have to speak of—of—him—you might say the Old Scratch. That is what mother calls him."
"''Twas the McCloskeys and the Old Scratch,'" said the Story Girl reflectively, as if she were trying to see which version was the more effective. "It wouldn't do," she decided.
"I don't think it's any harm to mention the—the—that person, when you're telling a story," said Cecily. "It's only in plain talking it doesn't do. It sounds too much like swearing then."
"I know another story about Mr. Scott," said the Story Girl. "Not long after he was married his wife wasn't quite ready for church one morning when it was time to go. So, just to teach her a lesson, he drove off alone, and left her to walk all the way—it
155
