ine, Aphra! Let her be, Sis, or
you and me will quarrel. Ay, ay, and maybe ye will find oot what the
blade o' my gully knife is for. We will see if ye hae ony bluid o'
your ain in your veins, Sis--you that's sae fond o' seein' the colour
o' ither folks'!"

"Never--never! You lie, Jeremy!" cried Aphra. "I know nothing about
that. I swear I am ignorant. As to Elsie Stennis, I did but jest. At
any rate, she must not see her grandfather. He is in a foolish mood,
and might take us from house and manor, roof and shelter, house and
bedding--ay, all that by right belongs to us. Besides"--here she moved
up closer to her brother--"she knows too much. She might prove a
telltale, and then you, Jeremy, would be hanged--hanged by the neck
till you were dead!"

She repeated the words with a space between each, sinking her voice
till it ended in a hoarse whisper.

"Na, na!" cried Jeremy. "I but helpit the puir craiturs oot o' their
misery. They cried na long. And then they wad be that pleased to hae
nae mair trouble, but juist to lie doon agang the lily beds and forget
a' the cares o' the warl'!"

"Hush, hush, Jeremy!" cried Aphra. "Think what you are saying,
brother. But bethink yourself, brother dear, you must make an end now.
The girl has heard too much, and that from your own lips."

Mad Jeremy ran his fingers through his long, glossy ringlets with
something like a smirk.

"Na, na," he said, "I can better that! She shall bide in the cove
behind the muckle oven, where three times a week Jeremy bakes the
bread. She will be fine and warm there. Nothing to do but set her
soles against the waa', and in a trice she will be as comfortable as a
ha'penny breakfast roll. No like yin I could name--ha, ha!--freezin'
in the----"

But this time Aphra fairly sprang upon him, putting her hand over his
mouth to stop his speech.

"Oh, that I should be troubled with fools that know not their own
folly," she cried--"I, that have given more than my life, almost my
soul, for these poor things, my sisters and my brother, yet who will
not be guided by me!"

Mad Jeremy laughed cunningly, or rather, perhaps, emitted a cackling
sound.

"Be guided by you, Aphra?" he said. "No, and I don't think! Jeremy
may be mad, but he kens a trick worth two of that. He will keep this
little ladybird safe--oh, very safe, till the wedding dress is ready!
Heiress if you like, sister. But then Jeremy will be the heir. And a
bonnie, bonni