uth is
not to be thought of. Because a woman has a pretty face she is to be
allowed to say that black is white, and white pea-green. And if you
say anything to the contrary, you are a brute, and had better go and
bellow by yourself in a wilderness."

"Sheila is quite right," said old Mackenzie at a venture.

"Oh, do you think so?" Ingram asked coolly. "Then I can understand how
her moral sentiment has been destroyed, and it is easy to see where
she has got a set of opinions that strike at the very roots of a
respectable and decent society."

"Do you know," said Sheila seriously, "that it is very rude of you to
say so, even in jest? If you treat Mrs. Lorraine in this way--"

She suddenly stopped. Her father had not heard, being busy among
his pipes. So the subject was discreetly dropped, Ingram reluctantly
promising to pay some attention to Sheila's precepts of politeness.

Altogether, it was a pleasant evening they had, but when Ingram had
left, Mr. Mackenzie said to his daughter, "Now, look at this, Sheila.
When Mr. Ingram goes away from London, you hef no friend at all then
in the place, and you are quite alone. Why will you not come to the
Lewis, Sheila? It is no one there will know anything of what has
happened here; and Mairi she is a good girl, and she will hold her
tongue."

"They will ask me why I come back without my husband," Sheila said,
looking down.

"Oh, you will leave that all to me," said her father, who knew he
had surely sufficient skill to thwart the curiosity of a few simple
creatures in Borva. "There is many a girl hass to go home for a time
while her husband he is away on his business; and there will no one
hef the right to ask you any more than I will tell them; and I will
tell them what they should know--oh yes, I will tell them ferry
well--and you will hef no trouble about it. And, Sheila, you are a
good lass, and you know that I hef many things to attend to that is
not easy to write about--"

"I do know that, papa," the girl said, "and many a time have I wished
you would go back to the Lewis."

"And leave you here by yourself? Why, you are talking foolishly,
Sheila. But now, Sheila, you will see how you could go back with me;
and it would be a ferry different thing for you running about in the
fresh air than shut up in a room in the middle of a town. And you are
not looking ferry well, my lass, and Scarlett she will hef to take the
charge of you."

"I will go to the Lewis with you