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"Extraordinary!" murmured Lady Olivia, as the door "What prejudices people do take! What could have set him against this charming little abode ? Inaccessible? I don't see that at all. Perhaps it is a little inaccessible; but to call it 'among the bedrooms!' A boudoir may be anywhere anywhere. Such a cosy nest as I could have made this! It looked quite snug, with even Kate's untidy things all about; but as I would have had it,—oh, it is a pity!" Of course she gave in, however.

Evelyn was not to be found until evening, but then he had the assurance of his success from her own lips. He seemed pleased for the moment, but there was no permanent improvement in a mood which was incomprehensible, and which she could hardly ever remember to have witnessed before. She coaxed him, hung upon him, fidgeted round him; was by turns sure he was tired or hungry—and finally settled on the idea that his head ached.

She felt that he found the house dull and the evening long, that he did not hear a word of Alice's songs or her own conversation, and—what vexed her more than all besides that his humour was observed by all. That they should see her neglected was provoking indeed.

Gradually she grew moody herself, packed Bertha off to bed before her time, and begged Alice to shut the piano. The piano or Alice's voice was out of tune, she protested she could not tell which, but they were not together. What a pity it was that Mr Newbattle would sleep in that way after dinner; she was sure it was bad for him-unwholesome, unrefreshing. How unsociable of dear Rupert to read to himself the whole evening. Would he not at least let them share his pleasure by reading aloud? They all knew the book, could take him up at any point, if he would only begin. It was too plain it was not for her own delectation she made the request.

However, he begged off, and to hide his absent-mindedness, still affected study till the welcome hour of breaking up arrived.

For the next ten days matters went on much the same. In vain did Lady Olivia, who concluded that her son pined for noise and company, endeavour industriously to collect such guests as might be induced to favour a quiet Scotch country-house in the last days of October. She was nice in her choice, and those she desired to have would not come.

Day after day she assured her dolorous guest that things would brighten, that any post might bring acceptations of her invitations, and that he need not fear that they should be by themselves much longer; but to no purpose. She could not fulfil her predictions, and to this she attributed the weight upon Evelyn's spirits.

He seemed to drag through each day.

He idled, and lounged, and hung about the doors without any apparent object for hours together, and she expected every morning to hear that he could stand the stagnation no longer.

At length the anticipated words were spoken, he bade them " Good-bye," and could not say when he should next see them again.

The evening of the same day the little party at the Muirland Farm were startled by a step in the passage, just as the farmer was replacing on its shelf the large old Family Bible which was used at evening worship.

"See wha's at the door, Lizzie," said he; "and, mind you, the door suld hae been steekit at this hoor o' the nicht, and Hallowe'en nicht tae, when a' the folks are stravagin up and doun."

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'Hey !-wha's yon? Captain Evelyn?" as the latch was lifted ere Lizzie could cross the floor, and there stood in the doorway a laughing, handsome face.

They were round him in a moment, exclaiming, questioning, wondering, and welcoming, as though he had been their own son and brother.

CHAPTER XII.

THREE, FOUR, FIVE DAYS PASSED.

"O days remembered well! remembered all!
The bitter-sweet, the honey, and the gall.

Those garden rambles in the dusky light,
Those trees so shady, and that moon so bright.

And then the hopes that came, and then were gone,
Quick as the clouds beneath that moon passed on."

-CRABBE.

"An' this on Hallowe'en nicht!" cried the farmer. "An' we that wadna gang a step to keep it, though twa or three's

been in to bid us! I tell ye, Captain, that the gudewife and me were fain to hae oor nuts to crack, and oor apples to roast, as we did lang syne, for a' we're auld and oor day's gane by; but no a hait could we get either o' thae twa young leddies to fin' it worth their while! E'en let them be, quo' I, but it's an unco thing to sit and hear naethin' but the sough o' the wund owerheed on Auld Hallowe'en nicht. Aiblins they'll think the same 'ore the nicht's done," slily.

"Of course they will. Here have I walked thirty miles to keep it. I am ready to begin

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"No till you've had your supper, sir; a hungry man's no fit for junketin'. Lizzie," continued her mother, but Lizzie had already slipped away, on hospitable thoughts intent. "She'll see to't," said Mrs Comline, contentedly subsiding on the discovery.

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"Thairty miles! A' the road frae Carnochan, that is," Isaid the farmer. "Ay, ay, he'll hae been thinkin' mair o' his supper than o ony auld-warld daffin' as he cam' trampin' ower the Moss o' Glenkens, I'se warrant him. It's a weary lang tramp, yon."

"To tell you the truth," said Evelyn, looking up with a glowing eye, "I thought of neither. I could think of nothing else than the poet's glorious 'Scots wha hae,' that found its birth upon that barren moor, and of Kate's voice repeating it. I had a fall in consequence, Kate," turning to her; "I came down among some wet stones while I stood by a stream that reminded me of ours here, hearkening to your 'Let him turn and flee.' You haunted me cruelly all through the Moss; but as you have allowed me to land here at last, I'll forgive you."

"There's a glitt upon thae burn-stanes that's dangerous," observed Mr Comline. "Ye micht hae hurt yersel'."

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Rain,

"If I had, my spirit would still have found its way to the Muirland Farm. Dead or drowned, as they say, I would have kept the tryst I had promised myself to-night. or hail, or fire, or snow' should not have hindered me." "And glad we are, sir, to see ye—and sae sune forbye." The worthy farmer thought such haste must surely bode good news.

"Soon?" replied Evelyn. "Do you call it soon? The past ten days have seemed to me the longest I ever endured. I have not come too soon, have I, Kate?"

"Deed no," cried the tender-hearted Mrs Comline, shocked that he should even think of such a thing. "Come ower sune! Wi'oot it's to tak' frae us oor Missy, there's nae ither way he could come ower sune-is there, Miss Kate? Eh, my dear, you're rosy red! But gif ye hae ony messenges, Captain, they'll keep. Maybe we'll no be sac blythe to hear them as we micht, shame on me that I suld say sae, for a sair thing it is to

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"Yes, yes," said Evelyn, hurriedly. "You are right -perfectly right. We'll talk about those matters by-and-by. How is the burn, Kate? And is there a 'brugh about the moon' to-night, farmer?"

The farmer laughed. "Neither brugh nor moon," he said. "But ye'll no need t'ane nor t'ither. The burn's full, and the wife's just wearyin' for a bonnie troot to put i' the pan. Ye'll no' hae mony mair days, though; the fushin's maist ower for the season. Come ower sune, quo' he? I ken what she's sayin'," indicating his gudewife with his forefinger. "Come ower sune? The Captain mun be o' anither pirn afore he could come ower sune, gang whaur he may.' Ay, ay, sir; welcome, welcome. And as for the water, did ye no hear the noise o' the falls as ye cam' by? They hae been a- rummelin' and whummelin' these twa days, till I'm deaved with their dirdums." "Is my rod in order, Kate?"

"In order, Captain? Ye may tak' yer aith o' that," said Mr Comline, who had got into the habit of answering for the party generally. "It's been reeled, an' unreeled, an' rubbit,-ta'en doun and putten up again, and I dinna ken a' what! Ilka day it bit to hae something done at it. Tak' my advice, sir, and leavena the keepin' o' a gude troot-rod to be the ploy o' a young leddy anither time. Ha, ha, ha!"

"I have not spoilt it-indeed I have not," protested Kate. "Mr Comline does not know what he is talking about," saucily. "Mrs Comline showed me how to polish up the brass, and I spread the line to dry in the sun, and that was all. You will find it quite right to-morrow, Rupert." He had taught her to say his name, and it now came out quite easily, in the pleasantry of the moment.

"If I do not," said Rupert, with a laugh of intelligence, "it will not have been Kate's fault. She took such care of my watch

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"Oh, for shame! "

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Ay, ay, we heerd o' that," cried the farmer, rubbing his knees in ecstasy,-"we heerd o' that, Captain. Lord, to think o' a gude gowd watch lyin' at the bottom o' the burn! 'Twas weel it was whaur it glinted i' the sun, or ye micht ne'er hae seen its face mair-or been drooned seekin' it, maist like. It's nane the better for its doukin', I'll daur to say, either."

"Well, no. It hasn't gone since"Gudesakes! No gaen since!"

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"That does not signify. Here the time flies-I am glad not to know how fast; at Carnochan it drags-I am glad not to know how slowly." The last sentence was for one ear alone.

He had Kate all to himself the next day, and was obliged to own that in her cause he had done nothing. Her sittingroom certainly had been regained, but such a trifle was made light of; he owned-he did not mince matters-but owned honestly that he had not advanced her interests a step. It might almost have seemed as if a little more reticence might have been practised, as if he needed not to have reiterated his conviction that there was no relenting on the part of the oppressor; but if so, his companion showed no signs of finding fault with that, or with anything else he said or did. She gave the subject the go-by. Yes; she, who only a week or two previously could not think, and could scarcely speak of any other, now dismissed it without a sigh; nor did he find her a whit less lively and light-hearted, after cutting down all her hopes, than she had been before. To a bystander the whole would have been inexplicable.

The two went off to other topics which had been started and partially discussed on his last visit, and which it seemed one at least, if not both, had been thinking over ever since. This recluse of seventeen had read and reflected on many points whereof her companion was absolutely ignorant; and the pleasure it evidently afforded her to be allowed to open out her mind on these—to find, in her so-called brother, an answering, responsive mind, and to be drawn on and encouraged, instead of being chidden and laughed at-gave alike to herself and her conversation a fresh charm in

Evelyn's eyes. She knew nothing of the world, but she was learned in other lore. She recited to him, with an enthusiasm that was as novel as it was bewitching, poetic pieces, phantasies, dramatic scenes; and whenever a noble or heart

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