came
down from him bringing a letter from Sir Hugh--a very affectionate
farewell letter.

Fitzclarence had acted on impulse as usual, and he and Sir Hugh had
started that very night, leaving Powis and Egerton to follow them.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE MANSE AT ROWAN-GLEN.

Weary I am, and all so fair,
Longing to clasp a hand;
For thou art very far, sweet love,
From my mountain land.

Dear are the clouds yon giant bens
Fold o'er their rugged breasts,
Grandly their straggling skirts lift up
Over the snow-flecked crests.

Dear are the hill-side glooms and gleams,
Their varied purple hue,
This opal sky, with distant peak
Catching its tender blue.

Dear are the thousand streams that sing
Down to the sunny sea,
But dearer to my longing heart
Were one bright hour with thee.

HELEN MARION BURNSIDE.

It was toward evening, at the close of a lovely September day, that a
rough equipage laden with luggage, with a black retriever gamboling
joyously beside it, crept rather slowly down the long lovely road by
the Deeside leading to Rowan-Glen, one of those rare gems of Highland
scenery that are set so ruggedly in the Cairngorm Mountains.

Fay had just sheltered her sleeping baby from the rays of the setting
sun; and sat wearily in the jolting carriage, trying to recall all the
familiar landmarks that greeted her eyes.

There were the grounds and preserves of Moncrieff, with their lovely
fringes of dark pine-trees and silvery birches, and a little further
on the wicket gate that led down to the falls or linn of Rowan-Glen.

By and by came a few low cottages built of graystone, and thatched
with heather fastened down with a rough network of ropes. One or two
of them were covered with honeysuckle and clematis, and had tiny
gardens filled with vegetables and flowers, pinks and roses mingling
in friendly confusion with gooseberry bushes and cabbages.

A narrow planked passage ran through the cottages, with a door at the
other end opening on to a small field, with the usual cow-house, peat
and straw stacks, and a little shed inhabited by a few scraggy cocks
and hens which, with "ta coo" herself, are the household property of
all, even the poorest, of the Highland peasants.

Fay looked eagerly past them, and for a moment forgot her trouble and
weariness; for there, in the distance, as they turned the corner,
stretched the l