It did not take long to discover that Archie "Gairdener"
was a man out of the common.
That Archie was a good Christian was self-evident. No weather, however
tempestuous, could keep him from Sunday Mass, and I noticed with some
surprise that he received Holy Communion at least once and sometimes
more frequently every week, but always on a week-day, when our
congregation consisted chiefly of our household and Bell.
"I suppose Archie 'Gairdener' finds it more convenient to come to the
Sacraments on a week-day," I remarked one day to Val, "because of the
late hour of Mass on Sunday."
"Scarcely that," was his quiet answer. "I happen to know from other
sources that he still keeps up the old practice he found in use when he
first came here. In those days no one dreamed of breaking fast on a
Sunday until the priest himself did. Every one came to Mass fasting,
as Archie still does--though I believe he is the only one nowadays."
During the two or three years that followed I saw a good deal of
Archie. We became such cronies, indeed, that Val was considerably
amused that I should take so much pleasure in the company of one with
whom I could have few ideas in common. But there was something that
attracted me to the old fellow from the first, which I can not define
in words.
A severe winter made it almost impossible for the old man to get to
Sunday Mass at all; he would do his best, but it was evident, as I
could see more plainly in my visits, that he was growing very feeble.
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