eld within it the strange
possibility of pain through sheer excess of longing;--to be enjoyed
like the glory of a fleeting dream;--to be looked back upon with
touches of regret at opportunities missed;--to be dwelt upon for days
and nights with alternate hope and misgiving, with the rapturous
recalling of every tone of the sweet voice, of every word it had
uttered, of every gracious gesture, and every most minute and subtle
change in the sweetest face and the frankest and most charming eyes in
the world.

VI

Their acquaintance had blossomed thus far, when a dire disaster
happened and justified all his fears.

He ran gaily up the steps of Lady Elspeth's house one afternoon,
brimming with hope that kindly fortune might bring Margaret that way
that day, and was hurled into deepest depths of despair by old Hamish
as soon as he opened the door.

"Ech, Mr. Graeme!" said the old man, with his grizzled old face tuned
to befitting concern. "Her leddyship's awa' to Inverstrife at a
moment's notice. She had a tailegram late last night saying the little
leddy--the Countess, ye ken--was very bad, and would she go at once.
And she and Jannet were off by the first train this morning. They aye
send for us, ye ken, when anything by-ordinar's to the fore. It's the
little leddy's first, ye understand, and ye'll mind that her own
mother died two years ago."

"Well, well! I'm sorry you've had such an upsetting, Hamish. And
there's no knowing when Lady Elspeth will return, I suppose?"

"It a' depends on the little leddy, Mr. Graeme. Her leddyship will
stay till everything's all right, ye may depend upon that. She told me
to give you her kindest regairds and beg you to excuse her not
writing. They were all on their heads, so to speak, as ye can
understand."

"Yes, of course. Well, we must just hope the little lady will pull
through all right. If I don't hear from Lady Elspeth I will call now
and again for your latest news."

"Surely, sir. Jannet'll be letting me know, if her leddyship's too
busy. Miss Brandt was here about hauf an hour ago," he added, with
unmoved face;--to think of any man, even so ancient a man as old
Hamish, being able to state a fact so great as that with unmoved face!
And there was actually no sign of reminiscent and lingering after-glow
perceptible in him!--but Graeme was not at all sure that there was not
a veiled twinkle away down in the depths of his little blue-gray eyes.

"Ah! Miss Brandt has been h