can settle all this without him," she
added imploringly; "need he know of this? I can't bear that he should."

"Nor I," said Colonel Keith, "it was the reason that I am glad you are
here alone."

"Oh, thank you! No one need ever know," added Rachel.

"I fear my brother must see the accounts, as they have to be paid, but
that need not be immediately."

"Is there anything else that is dreadful?" said Rachel, looking at the
remaining papers, as if they were a nest of adders. "I don't like to
take them home now, if they will grieve Alick."

"You need not be afraid of that packet," said the Colonel; "I see his
father's handwriting. They look like his letters from India."

Rachel looked into one or two, and her face lighted up. "Oh!" she
exclaimed, "this is enough to make up for all. This is his letter to
tell about Alick's wound. Oh how beautifully he speaks of him," and
Rachel, with no voice to read, handed the thin paper to her companion,
that he might see the full commendation, that had been wrung from the
reserved father's heart by his son's extremity.

"You must be prepared to hear that all is over," wrote the father to
his daughter; "in fact, I doubt whether he can live till morning, though
M'Vicar declares that nothing vital has been touched. Be it as it may,
the boy has been in all respects, even more than I dared to wish,
and the comfort he has been ever since he came out to me has been
unspeakable. We must not grudge him such a soldier's death after his
joyous life. But for you, my poor girl, I could only wish the same for
myself to-morrow. You will, at least, if you lose a brother's care, have
a memory of him, to which to live up. The thought of such a dead brother
will be more to you than many a living one can ever be to a sister."

Rachel's heart beat high, and her eyes were full of tears of exultation.
And the Colonel was well pleased to compensate for all the pain he
had inflicted by giving her all the details he could recollect of her
husband's short campaign. They had become excellent friends over their
mournful work, and were sorry to have their tete-a-tete interrupted when
a message was brought that his Lordship was ready, if Mrs. Keith would
be so good as to come into his sitting-room.

She wiped away the tears, and awe-struck and grave, followed the
Colonel; a great contrast to Lord Keith's more frequent lady-visitor, as
she silently received the polished greeting, its peculiar stateliness of
c