t
seemed as if something within her were moving her in a kind of dream.
She felt herself going on through the forest, she did not know where.
Deeper into the wood she went, and now it grew so dark that she saw
scarce anything; only she felt the fragrance of briar roses, and it
seemed to her that she was guided towards these roses. Then she knew
there was a hand in her hand, though she saw nobody, and the hand seemed
to lead her on. And she came to an open place in the forest, and there
the silver light fell clear from the sky, and she saw a great shadowy
rose tree, covered with white wild roses.

The hand was still in her hand, and Jeanie began to wish for nothing so
much in the world as to gather some of these roses. She put out her hand
and she plucked one, and there before her stood a strange creature--a
dwarf, dressed in yellow and red, with a very angry face.

"Who are you," he cried, "that pluck my roses without my will?"

"And who are _you?_" said Jeanie, trembling, "and what right have you
on the hills of this world?"

Then she made the holy sign of the cross, and the face of the elf grew
black, and the light went out of the sky.

She only saw the faint glimmer of the white flowers, and a kind of
shadow standing where the dwarf stood.

"I bid you tell me," said Jeanie, "whether you are a Christian man, or
a spirit that dreads the holy sign," and she crossed him again.

Now all grew dark as the darkest winter's night. The air was warm and
deadly still, and heavy with the scent of the fairy flowers.

In the blackness and the silence, Jeanie made the sacred sign for the
third time. Then a clear fresh wind blew on her face, and the forest
boughs were shaken, and the silver light grew and gained on the
darkness, and she began to see a shape standing where the dwarf had
stood. It was far taller than the dwarf and the light grew and grew,
and a star looked down out of the night, and Jean saw Randal standing by
her. And she kissed him, and he kissed her, and he put his hand in hers,
and they went out of the wood together. They came to the crest of the
hill and the cairn. Far below them they saw the Tweed shining through
an opening among the trees, and the lights in the farm of Peel, and
they heard the nightbirds crying, and the bells of the sheep ringing
musically as they wandered through the fragrant heather on the hills.

[Illustration: Page 287]

[Illustration: Chapter Ten]

CHAPTER X.--_Out of fai