broken-hearted.
May I write to you?"

"If you'll tell me about a' the wonderfuls you see, I'll be gey glad
to hear from you."

"Then farewell, my love! Do not forget me!"

"It's not likely I'll forget you," and her voice trembled, as she
whispered "Farewell!" and gave him her hand. He stooped, and kissed
it. Then he turned away.

She watched him till in the dim distance she saw him raise his hat and
then disappear. Still she stood, until the roll of the carriage wheels
gradually became inaudible. Then she knew that she was weeping, and
she wiped her eyes, and turned them upon the light in the cottage
burning for her. And she thought tenderly of her lover, and whispered
to her heart--"If he had only come back! I might hae given him a kiss.
Puir laddie! Puir, dear laddie! His uncle has heard tell o' the
fisher-lassie, and he's ta'en him awa' from Christine--but he's his
ain master--sae it's his ain fault! Christine is o'er gude for anyone
who can be wiled awa' by man, or woman, or pleasure, or gold. I'll be
first, or I'll be naething at a'!"

She found her father alone, and wide awake. "Where is Mither?" she
asked.

"I got her to go to bed. She was weary and full o' pain. Keep a close
watch on your mither, Christine. The trouble in her heart grows warse,
I fear. Wha was wi' you in your hame-comin'?"

"Angus Ballister."

"Weel, then?"

"It is the last time he will be wi' me."

"Is that sae? It is just as weel."

"He is awa' wi' his Uncle Ballister, for a year or mair."

"Is he thinking you'll wait, while he looks o'er the women-folk in the
rest o' the warld?"

"It seems sae."

"You liked him weel enough?"

"Whiles--weel enough for a lover on trial. But what would a lass do
wi' a husband wha could leave her for a year on his ain partic'lar
pleasure."

"I kent you wad act wiselike, when the time came to act. There's nae
men sae true as fishermen. They hae ane dear woman to love, and she's
the only woman in the warld for them. Now Cluny----"

"We willna speak o' Cluny, Feyther. Both you and Mither, specially
Mither, are far out o' your usual health. What for did God gie you a
daughter, if it wasna to be a comfort and help to you, when you
needed it? I'm no carin' to marry any man."

"Please God, you arena fretting anent Angus?"

"What for would I fret? He was a grand lover while he lasted. But when
a man is feared to honor his love with his name, a lass has a right to
despise him."

"Just sae! B