rself.

And Isabel certainly was a handful. In Captain Herbert's niece one
surely might have looked for a model, but the young lady did not
conduct herself with the exact propriety her hostess expected. Mrs.
Cameron was quietly proud of the fact that she had been very well
brought up herself and knew what was due one's station in life. But
Miss Isabel was an anomaly. She belonged to one of the best families
in the County of Simcoe and had been educated in a select school for
young ladies; but, in spite of these advantages, she would much rather
tear around the house with the dog, her hair flying in the wind, than
sit in the parlour with her crocheting, as a young lady should.
Moreover, if she could be persuaded to settle for a moment with a piece
of sewing, at the sound of a horse's hoofs at the gate, or the whirl of
a buggy up the driveway, she would jump from her seat, scattering
spools, scissors and thimble in every direction and go dancing out to
the door, joyfully announcing to everyone within the house that here
was "dear old Scotty!"

And yet, she was so charmingly deferential, and, in spite of her high
spirits, so anxious to please, that her hostess had not the heart to
chide her. Her whole-hearted innocence had begun to disarm the lady's
suspicions when, at the end of a week, the watchful eye noted signs of
an alarming change in her troublesome charge. Isabel ceased entirely
to mention Scotty's name. She did not talk, either, as had been her
wont, of the delightful times they had had together in their childhood.
Neither did she run to meet him any more when he came, but would sit
demurely at her sewing until he entered, or even fly upstairs when his
horse appeared at the gate.

These were the worst possible symptoms, and Mrs. Cameron appealed to
the minister. But he, good man, was not at all perturbed. He saw
nothing to worry about, he declared. Probably the young lady had
discovered that she did not care for her old comrade as much as when
they were children and was taking this tactful way of showing him the
fact. Mrs. Cameron was in a state of mingled indignation and despair
over such masculine obtuseness, and vowed that if young MacDonald were
not politely requested to discontinue his attentions to Captain
Herbert's niece, she would feel it her duty to send the aforesaid niece
home.

But the minister would consider neither project. When he had a man's
soul in view everything else must be mad