But he could
not help the thought that the galleries were a little too gaudily
painted, while the high pews in them astonished him. Peter's nature,
however, was one of those calm, slow ones which, when occupied by
an idea or a belief, are by no means ready to doubt its correctness,
and are even ingenious in reducing all apparent contradictions to
theoretic harmony with it--whence it came that to him all this
was only part of the church furniture according to the taste and
magnificence of London. He sat quite tranquil, therefore, until the
curtain rose, revealing the ship's company in all the confusion of
the wildest of sea storms.
Malcolm watched him narrowly. But Peter was first so taken by surprise,
and then so carried away with the interest of what he saw, that
thinking had ceased in him utterly, and imagination lay passive
as a mirror to the representation. Nor did the sudden change from
the first to the second scene rouse him, for before his thinking
machinery could be set in motion, the delight of the new show
had again caught him in its meshes. For to him, as it had been to
Malcolm, it was the shore at Portlossie, while the cave that opened
behind was the Bailie's Barn, where his friends the fishers might
at that moment, if it were a fine night, be holding one of their
prayer meetings.
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