n who
befriended us when we were children shall never be too small for us.'"

"Did he say that? Ay, but, Elspeth, I would rather hear what you
said."

"I said it was to dear, good Aaron Latta I was going back, and to no
one else."

"God bless you for that, Elspeth."

"And Tommy," she went on, "must have his old garret room again, to
write as well as sleep in, and the little room you partitioned off the
kitchen will do nicely for me."

"There's no a window in it," replied Aaron; "but it will do fine for
you, Elspeth." He was almost chuckling, for he had a surprise in
waiting for her. "This way," he said excitedly, when she would have
gone into the kitchen, and he flung open the door of what had been his
warping-room. The warping-mill was gone--everything that had been
there was gone. What met the delighted eyes of Elspeth and Tommy was a
cozy parlour, which became a bedroom when you opened that other door.
"You are a leddy now, Elspeth," Aaron said, husky with pride, "and
you have a leddy's room. Do you see the piano?"

He had given up the warping, having at last "twa three hunder'" in the
bank, and all the work he did now was at a loom which he had put into
the kitchen to keep him out of languor. "I have sorted up the garret,
too, for you," he said to Tommy, "but this is Elspeth's room."

"As if Tommy would take it from me!" said Elspeth, running into the
kitchen to hug this dear Aaron.

"You may laugh," Aaron replied vindictively, "but he is taking it frae
you already"; and later, when Tommy was out of the way, he explained
his meaning. "I did it all for you, Elspeth; 'Elspeth's room,' I
called it. When I bought the mahogany arm-chair, 'That's Elspeth's
chair,' I said to mysel'; and when I bought the bed, 'It's hers,' I
said. Ay; but I was soon disannulled o' that thait, for, in spite of
me, they were all got for him. Not a rissom in that room is yours or
mine, Elspeth; every muhlen belongs to him."

"But who says so, Aaron? I am sure he won't."

"I dinna ken them. They are leddies that come here in their carriages
to see the house where Thomas Sandys was born."

"But, Aaron, he was born in London!" "They think he was born in this
house," Aaron replied doggedly, "and it's no for me to cheapen him."

"Oh, Aaron, you pretend----"

"I was never very fond o' him," Aaron admitted, "but I winna cheapen
Jean Myles's bairn, and when they chap at my door and say they would
like to see the room Thomas Sandys w