l round. I 'll have my five Precious Stones
sleeping again under my roof; and your food will be prepared by that
maid of ours, Alison, of whom you have always been so fond; and old Mrs
Cheke will be the housekeeper and look after your wants. And for
foreign languages Mrs Macintyre will send over at certain hours each
day some of her governesses. Now then, children, I think we are all
going to be as happy as happy. It was decided by a wise woman that Mrs
Macintyre's mixed school would eventually prove a mistake, for a good
many mothers object to sending their girls to such places, although I
myself see no harm in them whatsoever. But, my dear boys, we must
think of Mrs Macintyre, who will have a very large school of girls. On
Monday next you will see many new faces at Ardshiel, and the
arrangement that you, my little loves, are to spend Saturday till
Monday all together is to continue. So now do let us sing a fresh song
of that wondrous bard, Robbie Burns, because I feel so absolutely Scots
of the Scots to-day that I simply cannot stand any one else.

'Hark, the mavis' evening sang
Sounding Clouden's woods amang;
Then a-faulding let us gang,
My bonnie Dearie.

'Ca' the yowes to the knowes,
Ca' them whare the heather grows,
Ca' them whare the burnie rowes
My bonnie Dearie.

We'll gae down by Clouden side,
Through the hazels spreading wide,
O'er the waves, that sweetly glide
To the moon sae clearly.

'Yonder Clouden's silent towers,
Where at moonshine midnight hours,
O'er the dewy bending flowers,
Fairies dance sae cheery.

'Ghaist nor bogle shalt thou fear;
Thou 'rt to Love and Heaven sae dear,
Nocht of ill may come thee near,
My bonnie Dearie.

Fair and lovely as thou art,
Thou hast stown my very heart;
I can die--but canna part,
My bonnie Dearie.

'While waters wimple to the sea,
While day blinks i' the lift sae hie,
Till clay-cauld death shall blin' my e'e
Ye shall be my Dearie!'

'Oh, mother, mother!' cried one boy after another, as they clustered
round her, 'indeed we are happy now, since _you_ are the "lady."'

'We didn't rightly understand at first,' continued Jasper.--'But come
for a walk, Hollyhock; come along; I have a lot to say to you.'

So Hollyhock and Jasper went out together into the old grounds in the
old way, and the sweet, yet sorrowful, week--so maddening to poor
Hollyhock