What lord Morven really had in his
mind, he could not surmise; but not the less to take Davie to his
father and mother was a delightful idea. The boy was growing fast,
and had revealed a faculty quite rare in one so young, for looking
to the heart of things, and seeing the relation of man to man;
therefore such a lesson as the earl proposed would indeed be
invaluable to him! Then again, this faculty had been opened in him
through a willing perception of those eternal truths, in a still
higher relation of persons, which are open only to the childlike
nature; whence he would be especially fitted for such company as
that of his father and mother, who could now easily receive the boy
as well as himself, since their house and their general worldly
condition had been so much bettered by their friend, sir Gibbie!
With them Davie would see genuine life, simplicity, dignity, and
unselfishness--the very embodiment of the things he held constantly
before him! There might be some other reason behind the earl's
request which it would be well for him to know; but he would sooner
discover that by a free consent than by hanging back: anything bad
it could hardly be! He shrank indeed from leaving lady Arctura while
she was yet so far from well, but she was getting well much faster
now: for a fortnight there had been no necessity for his presence to
soothe her while she slept.
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