persistence that was most annoying, she kept it turned from me; but in
that brief second the lustre of her long, blue eyes won my very soul,
and boy as I was I felt, like the hero in song, that I would, for my
bonnie ghost, in very deed, "lay me doon and dee."

Her eyes are still firmly impressed on my memory; I shall never
forget them, any more than I shall forget the dainty curves of her
full red lips and the snowy whiteness of her perfect teeth. Nothing, I
thought, either on earth or in heaven could have been half so lovely,
and I was so enraptured that it was not until she was directly beneath
me that I perceived she was not alone, that walking by her side, with
one arm round her waist, his face and figure illuminated with the
light from her body, was Sir E.C. But how changed! Gone were the deep
black scowl, the savage tightening of the jaws, and the intensely
disagreeable expression that had earned for him the nickname of "The
laird deil," and in their stead I saw _love_--nothing but blind,
infatuated, soul-devouring _love_--love for which no words can find an
adequate description.

Throwing discretion to the wind--for my excitement and curiosity had
risen to the highest pitch--I now thrust more than half my body out of
the hole in the trunk. The next instant, with a cry of dismay, I
pitched head first on to the ground.

It would seem that boys, like cats, cannot in ordinary circumstances
be killed, and, instead of breaking my neck, I merely suffered that
most immaterial injury--immaterial, at least, in my case--a temporary
disendowment of the senses. On regaining the few wits I could lay
claim to, I fully expected to find myself in the hands of the irate
laird, who would seize me by the scruff of the neck and belabour me to
pieces. Consequently, too frightened to move, I lay absolutely still
with my eyes shut. But as the minutes glided by and nothing happened,
I picked myself up. All was quiet and pitch dark--not a vestige of the
"Lady in White"--not a vestige of Sir E.C.

It did not take me very long to get out of the wood and home. I ran
all the way, and as it was still early--far too early for any of the
household to be astir, I crept up to my bedroom unobserved. But not to
sleep, oh dear me, no! not to sleep, for the moment I blew the candle
out and got into bed, reaction set in, and I suffered agonies of fear!

When I went to school in the morning, my equilibrium restored, and,
bubbling over with excite