Mirren and Archie had done for them, my heart swelled in
thanking God that filial piety still cast luster on humanity. After an
early dinner I left and reached Allan's in time to share in the
after-feast of the fragments of Christmas good things. Many a visit I
have since that day paid to Archie, and many he has to me. It may be
that neither of us having a brother we crept so close together that we
are supremely happy in each others company even if we utter not a word.

CHAPTER XI.

MIRREN AND ARCHIE

A shepherd's wage is small, and grows smaller as age creeps on. The
young and active get the preference and the old have to take a lower fee
at each hiring fair to secure employment. That was the experience of
Archie's father. At the best, it had been only with thrift ends could be
got to meet, but as he aged it was a struggle. The children had to help.
Archie hired with a farmer and in time rose to be ploughman; Mirren
after learning to be a dressmaker, found to be in service was
preferable. What they could spare of their earnings it was their pride
to give in order to keep a home for their parents. While still a boy
Archie had shaped in his little head a plan of going to Canada, where
there was a possibility of becoming independent, and had begun early to
try and save enough to take him across the Atlantic. He had fixed on $50
as the sum he must have, but found, with all the self-denial he could
exercise, difficult to scrape together. Emergencies arose that required
his breaking in on his little hoard of savings, and spring after spring
he was disappointed in being unable to sail. His sister encouraged him.
Like him, she was determined to break with the conditions that bound
them in the chain of poverty. On Sunday afternoons, when they met, their
talk was of the future that awaited them across the sea. It was not for
themselves they planned and saved. Their ambition was to give a
comfortable home to their parents, for they foresaw that, unless Archie
carved a farm out of the Canadian bush, they would end in becoming a
charge to the parish, which was revolting to them and which they knew
would break their parents' hearts. Of all misfortunes that can overtake
them, to the independent-minded Scot the acceptance of poor relief is
the lowest degradation conceivable. It was in the month of March, the
time when ships were getting ready for the St Lawrence, that brother and
sister had an anxious consultation. Archie ha