Free Friend & Foe by Shirley McKay

were not in a class, but this brusqueness was unlike him, even so. Hew played the part assigned to him, and did as he was told.
    ‘It is a prayer against the wicked, where the psalmist prays for vengeance against those who have accused him, whereupon he curses them, with many bitter words.’
    Andrew urged him, ‘Aye? And how do you translate them?’
    Hew glanced at the verse. ‘In as much as I recall . . .’
    ‘You must not recall,’ the pedagogue said sharply, as though he were the schoolmaster, and Hew the errant child. ‘Translate for me, in plainer words, the places underlined.’
    ‘Set thou the wicked over him . . . and let the . . . the opponent . . . stand at his right hand,’ Hew continued carefully.
    Melville nodded. ‘Aye. That, now, that is good. You do not follow the Greek, and translate ha-satan as Diabolos , or Satan. He is the adversary; here the prosecutor, in the court of judgement. Hisreference is the law, as you understand. But then you are a lawyer, so tis likely you would see that. Go to, now, go on.’
    ‘Where he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayers be turned into sin.’ Here, Hew paused and frowned. Melville had no quarrel with a vengeful God, for he prompted earnestly, ‘Aye, go on, go on!’
    ‘. . . let his days be few, and another take his charge . . . let there be none to extend mercie unto him, neither let there be any to show mercie unto his fatherless children. Let his posterity be destroyed, and in the generation following let their name be put out.’
    Hew set the paper down. ‘I find it hard to come to terms with the singer’s want of charity. And I will confess to you, tis not my favourite psalm. What purpose has it here?’
    ‘I have no idea. Did I not explain to you? I found it on a placard, posted at my door.’

Chapter 6
    A Box of Tricks
    Melville read no threat in the paper at his door, and he made no connection with the bleeding tree.
    ‘They are not the same at all. For the one may be considered an attempt to unsettle, and to undermine our faith, by the devil’s magic, or some other wickedness. The other is to strengthen and make solid our resolve, through the pure voice of the liturgy, by which we all affirm the feeling of our hearts. I took it as a sign.’
    He helped Hew to a collop of some cold grey meat, whose colour had leached out into the cooking pot. The flesh was limp and soft, and with a little flavour might have been digestible. It turned out to have none. Hew explored it glumly. ‘As a sign of what?’
    ‘That I should be more temperate and thoughtful in my actions, none so quick to judge. Yet where the cause is just – for you maun be aware, Hew, the psalmist’s cause was just – I should not fear to act. We should strike down our enemies.’
    Hew was not convinced, on either count. ‘You say that this paper was pinned on your door, when you came back from the General Assembly? And that no one in the college owns to having left it there?’
    ‘Just so. And the timing of the missive had a singular effect. Now, do not mistake me,’ Andrew hurried to assure him, ‘I do not suppose this comes to me straight from the hand of God; rather, I am persuaded it was written by one of my own students. Dod Auchinleck is one such comes to mind.’
    Dod Auchinleck, again. And it occurred to Hew that Dod had made his presence felt both in the lecture and outside it. Perhaps hehad more cunning than had first appeared. ‘Have you not asked him, then?’
    The principal confessed, ‘I have not liked to put the question more directly, since he did not admit it when I raised it in the school. He is a modest soul. Whoever it may be, has cause to feel well pleased with it, for it was neatly done.’
    Hew accepted, ‘Aye, perhaps.’ He felt uneasy still, for if the psalm contained a message that was backed up by the hawthorn tree, it did not augur well.
    ‘Whoever left it,’ Andrew argued, ‘for whatever purpose, has