he others?" asked Barrie, catching her
breath in that engaging way she has when she is excited and trying to
control emotion.

"I shall go on--sooner or later," replied Somerled. "But--I shall have a
look round Edinburgh first, and see what has happened to my old haunts."

I thought her face brightened.

"Aline and I must 'do' Edinburgh too, of course," said I.

She smiled, but as if she were thinking of something else. And it was
then that suddenly, for the first time, I felt capable of developing
into an able-bodied villain--in fact, committing any crime which could
transfer from him to me the kind of look she had given Somerled.

"I must of course go back to Carlisle and my work, as soon as I have
paid my respects to Mrs. Ballantree MacDonald," remarked Mrs. James.

"We'll talk of all that to-morrow," said Somerled, who, I suppose,
engaged her at so much a thousand words--I mean, so much a day--as
chaperon for his "ward." "Whatever happens, you must see Edinburgh while
you're here. And besides, it's on the cards that I may be able to give
you a pleasant little surprise before you leave Scotland. I rather hoped
for details of it to-day; but there's nothing interesting in the mail
they handed me at the desk" (he said this like a native-born American),
"so we must have patience till to-morrow."

"A surprise!" echoed Mrs. James, looking quite pretty and young, as she
surprisingly does sometimes. "Does Barrie know?"

"No," said Somerled. "Barrie doesn't know."

There was just time to go to our new rooms and make ourselves
respectable for church, no light thing in Scotland. Aline and the
Vannecks hadn't turned up yet, but, knowing them and knowing
Blunderbore, I thought nothing strange of the delay. Aline's game was,
of course, to make Somerled jealous of George Vanneck, her old and
well-worn chattel, whom she at heart despises, and to seem not too eager
for his (Somerled's) society, while I, attached to his party by special
arrangement, could protect her interests--and my own.

Somerled had ordered Vedder to wait with the Dragon when the luggage
had been taken down, and thus we saved ourselves some minutes
which we should have lost in walking. We left the car as soon as
possible, however, and plunged into the beauty and squalor of the High
Street on foot. I annexed Barrie as a companion, and Somerled did not
fight for her. Quietly he contented, or seemed to content, himself
with Mrs. James, and my impression wa