trouble yourself) about that, I 'll
carry you in my twa arms," said Hughie; and the sturdy little fellow
took her and carried her to the cottage.

After having had her foot bound up, and her face bathed in cream, for
that was also burned, her pretty wreath having proved a very poor
protection from the sun, Bertha was invited to share the midday meal of
the children. Being very hungry, she gladly sat up to the table and
took her share of milk and oatmeal cakes, or bannocks. She liked the
milk, but the bannocks scratched her throat and almost brought the
tears to her eyes. She wondered how the others could eat them so
ravenously.

After dinner the children did their best to amuse their visitor, by
playing games, running, leaping, and tumbling about, all very kindly
meant, but rough, noisy, and almost terrifying to Bertha, who was not
sorry when the younger ones ran out of the house to play under the
trees. Hughie sat by her side on the settle, and told her stories,
till she fell asleep. She was very weary, and slept a long while,
against some cushions which Hughie placed behind her. When she awoke,
she looked around wonderingly, and, missing the dear faces of her
mother and nurse, burst into tears.

"What's the matter wi' my bonnie bairn?" asked Mrs. MacWillie, tenderly.

"I--want--to--go--home!" sobbed Bertha.

"And ye shall gae hame; sae dinna greet (weep), my lammie," said the
good woman.

In a very few minutes the gamekeeper, who, by the way, had watched the
children all the morning, from behind some thick bushes by the loch, to
see that no harm befell them, came to the door with the family
carriage,--a two-wheeled vehicle, called a "dog-cart," drawn by a
shaggy old pony. Bertha was helped into this, and, having taken a kind
but rather hasty leave of her rustic friends, was driven, in a little
lazy, shuffling trot, towards the Castle. About half-way, who should
they meet but Lady Blantyre, driving Lilly MacWillie home in her
pony-phaeton! She did not seem to see the dog-cart at all, but dashed
by it at a furious rate.

Little Lilly had scarcely had a better day than Bertha. From the first
hour of her visit to the Castle she had felt ill at ease, and almost
homesick. Everything there was so strange and magnificent, that all
the kindness she met with failed to make her feel happy and
comfortable. Lady Blantyre devoted herself to her amusement; she
showed her the conservatories and the aviaries, a