e, and they wouldna do so if you
were only coming and going. And as for Mr Arthur, Miss Graeme, I put
it to yourself, if he were left alone with that bonny, wee wife of his,
would his home be to him what it is now? Would the companionship of yon
bairn suffice for his happiness?"

"It ought to do so. A man's wife ought to be to him more than all the
rest of the world, when it is written, `A man shall leave all, and
cleave to his wife.' Married people ought to suffice for one another."

"Well, it may be. And if you were leaving your brother's house for a
house of your own, or if you were coming with us, as my husband seems to
have set his heart on, I would think it different. Not that I am sure
of it myself, much as it would delight me to have you. For your brother
needs you, and your bonny new sister needs you. Have patience with her,
and with yourself, and you will make something of her in time. She
loves you dearly, though she is not at all times very considerate of
you."

Graeme was silent. What could she say after this, to prove that she
could not stay, that she must go away. Where could she turn now? She
rose with a sigh.

"It is growing dark. I will get a light. But, Janet, you must let me
say one thing. You are not to think it is because of Fanny that I want
to go away. At first, I was unhappy--I may say so, now that it is all
over. It was less for myself and Rose than for Arthur. I didn't think
Fanny good enough for him. And then, everything was so different, for a
while it seemed impossible for me to stay. Fanny was not so considerate
as she might have been, about our old friends, and about household
affairs, and about Nelly, and all that. Arthur saw nothing, and Rosie
got vexed sometimes. Will preached patience to us both; you know,
gentlemen cannot understand many things that may be vexatious to us; and
we were very uncomfortable for a while. I don't think Fanny was so much
to blame; but her mother seemed to fancy that the new mistress of the
house was not to be allowed to have her place without a struggle.
Arthur saw nothing wrong. It was laughable, and irritating, too,
sometimes, to see how blind he was. But it was far better he did not.
I can see that now."

"Well, we went on in this way a while. I daresay a good deal of it was
my fault. I think I was patient and forbearing, and I am quite sure I
gave Fanny her own place from the very first. But I was not cheerful,
partly b