The Little Minister

"That's true," agreed Snecky. "But what puzzles me is how he managed to keep it so quiet. You would think the whole town would have been buzzing with it." "Maybe he was just biding his time," suggested Tibbie. "Waiting for the right moment to announce it." "Or maybe," said Chirsty, "he was afraid of what the congregation would say. You know how they can be." "Ay," said Birse, "but if she's a Glasgow lady, she must be something special. They say the Glasgow women are grand." "Well, whoever she is," said Rob Dow, "I hope she's good enough for him. He's a fine minister, and he deserves the best." The conversation continued, with each person offering their own theories and opinions, but no one could say for certain who the mysterious woman was. The speculation only added to the intrigue, and the people of Thrums were left to wonder and gossip about the minister's secret love.

By James M. Barrie · First published 1891 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Drama · 45 chapters

Contents

• The Love-Light
• Runs Alongside the Making of a Minister
• The Night-Watchers
• First Coming of the Egyptian Woman
• A Warlike Chapter, Culminating in the Flouting of the Minister by the Woman
• In which the Soldiers Meet the Amazons of Thrums
• Has the Folly of Looking into a Woman's Eyes by Way of Text
• 3 a. M. -Monstrous Audacity of the Woman
• The Woman Considered in Absence-Adventures of a Military Cloak
• First Sermon against Women
• Tells in a Whisper of Man's Fall during the Curling Season
• Tragedy of a Mud House
• Second Coming of the Egyptian Woman
• The Minister Dances to the Woman's Piping
• The Minister Bewitched-Second Sermon against Women
• Continued Misbehaviour of the Egyptian Woman
• Intrusion of Haggart into these Pages against the Author's Wish
• Caddam-Love Leading to a Rupture
• Circumstances Leading to the First Sermon in Approval of Women
• End of the State of Indecision
• Night-Margaret-Flashing of a Lantern
• Lovers
• Contains a Birth, which is Sufficient for One Chapter
• The New World, and the Woman who May not Dwell Therein
• Beginning of the Twenty-Four Hours
• Scene at the Spittal
• First Journey of the Dominie to Thrums during the Twenty-Four Hours
• The Hill before Darkness Fell-Scene of the Impending Catastrophe
• Story of the Egyptian
• The Meeting for Rain
• Various Bodies Converging on the Hill
• Leading Swiftly to the Appalling Marriage
• While the Ten o'Clock Bell was Ringing
• The Great Rain
• The Glen at Break of Day
• Story of the Dominie
• Second Journey of the Dominie to Thrums during the Twenty-Four Hours
• Thrums during the Twenty-Four Hours-Defence of the Manse
• How Babbie Spent the Night of August Fourth
• Babbie and Margaret-Defence of the Manse Continued
• Rintoul and Babbie-Breakdown of the Defence of the Manse
• Margaret, the Precentor, and God between
• Rain-Mist-The Jaws
• End of the Twenty-Four Hours
• Talk of a Little Maid Since Grown Tall

More by James M. Barrie

• Peter Pan (1911)
• The Little White Bird (1902)
• What Every Woman Knows (1908)
• L'Uccellino bianco (1902)
• Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
• Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
• All works by James M. Barrie