t idea!" said Jane.

"I knew you would sympathize with this plan, and with another which I
have also in my head--to build new cottages for all the agricultural
labourers on the estate. It is shameful that while the proprietors'
houses, and the farmers' houses, have been enlarged and improved so
much during the last century, the cottage of the hind and the cotter
should still be of the same miserable description; the partitions to be
made at the labourer's own expense, and too generally done by the
enclosed beds, which are not right things in a sanitary point of view.
The money value of the rent is increased, too, for so many weeks of
reaping in harvest time is worth more now than a century back. I have
got plans for the cottages which I wanted you to look at this morning;
I think they will do."

"You must let Peggy see them; she was brought up in one of those
cottages you speak of, and will know all their deficiencies. It will
set a good example to the neighbourhood," said Jane.

"And, after all, it will not cost me more to build these cottages, and
make thirty families more comfortable and more self-respecting, than it
would to enlarge Cross Hall, as Mr. Chalmers advises me strongly to
do--by building a new wing and adding a conservatory in the place of
your modest little greenhouse. Every one knows I have come to the
estate with money in hand instead of encumbrances to clear off, as so
many proprietors have, so they can think of my spending it in nothing
but in increasing my own comfort or importance. Another reason for my
trying these experiments and improvements is to see if we cannot keep
some of our best people in Scotland. Our picked men, and many of our
picked women, emigrate to America and Australia. The recent emigration
to Australia since the gold-diggings were discovered has been enormous.
It must hurt the general character of the nation that we lose our best
and our ablest as they grow up. I confess that if I were in their place
I should do the same; but let my experiment succeed, it may be
imitated."

"Whether it is imitated or not, it is right to try it. I will watch the
result with the greatest interest. You know nothing could give me
greater pleasure than your success in such a noble work," said Jane,
with sparkling eyes. "My uncle's will is to turn out no mistake."

"We must go over together the names of those I mean to give the
allotments to. You know the people better than I do," said Francis.