shine: Archie was growing strong again. Before May was out, his
crutches occupied a permanent place behind the cottage-door, and he was
away on the hill without them, drinking in life and health with every
breath of balmy air. He was no longer the little cripple, painfully
following the footsteps of his sister, slackened to suit his lagging
pace. Lame he was still, and always might be, and a slender
"willow-wand of a laddie," as Mrs Stirling still declared; but there
was a tinge of healthy colour on cheek and lip, and instead of the look
that reminded Lilias of the shadow creeping round to the gate of the
kirk-yard, there came back to his face and blithe look of earlier days.
His very voice and smile seemed changed; and his laughter, so seldom
heard for many a weary month, was music to his sister's ear.

Her joy in his returning health was altogether unmingled. Sometimes,
when weary of the noise and confinement of school, it quite rested and
refreshed her to remember that he was out in the air and sunshine. She
never murmured that he enjoyed it all without her; and when he came home
at night, telling, triumphantly, of the miles and miles he had walked
and the new sights he had seen among the hills, her delight was quite as
great as his.

At first Archie had no other interest in his wanderings than that which
pleasant sights and sounds and a consciousness of returning strength
gave him. It was happiness enough to lie down in some quiet valley,
with only his beloved book as his companion, or, seated on some
hill-side, to gaze on a landscape whose loveliness has been the theme of
many a poet's song.

But pleasant sights and sounds, and even his beloved book, did not
always suffice him for companionship; and he soon found his way to more
than one shieling among the hills; and more than one solitary shepherd
soon learnt to look for the coming of the lad, "so old-fashioned, yet so
gladsome." Sometimes he read to them from his favourite books; but
oftener they talked, and Archie heard many a legend of the countryside
from the lips that could tell them best.

His father and grandfather were well remembered by many whom they had
befriended in time of need; and the lad listened with delight to their
praises, and with equal delight repeated them to his aunt and Lilias
when he came home.

But there were other things, which Archie spoke of in whispers to his
sister when they were away together among the hills,--mysteriou