d?" he would ask; "the Manse can not hold us all."

"Eh, lad, that is what Jean and me often say; but then the summer is
not here yet, and may be we can find a cottage in Rowan-Glen, and
there is Mrs. Dacre over at Corrie that would house them for a bit.
Mrs. St. Clair was speaking to me about it yesterday. 'Where do they
mean to live when they are married?' she says, quite sensible-like.
'Is there anywhere else I can go to make room for them?' And then she
cried, poor bairn, and said she would like to stay in Rowan-Glen."

"Mrs. St. Clair," observed Fergus one day, looking up from his
writing, "don't you think people will be talking if you stay away from
your husband any longer?" for he had once before said a word to her on
the subject, only Fay had been hysterical and had begged him not to go
on.

"Oh," she said, turning very pale, and dropping her work, "why will
you speak to me of my husband, Mr. Fergus?"

"Because I think you ought to go back to him," he replied, in a quiet,
business-like tone; "it is a wife's duty to forgive--and how do you
know that your husband has not bitterly repented driving you away from
him. Would you harden your heart against a repentant man?"

"My husband does not want me," she returned, and a spasm crossed her
face. "Should I have left him if he wanted to keep me? 'One of us must
go,' that is what he said."

"Are you sure you understood him?" asked Fergus, but he felt at the
moment as though it would relieve his feelings to knock that fellow
down; "a man can say a thing when he is angry which he would be sorry
to mean in his cooler moments."

"I saw it written," was the low answer; then, with an effort to
silence him, "Mr. Fergus, you do not know my husband--you can not
judge between us. I was right to leave him; I could not do otherwise."

"Was his name St. Clair?" he asked, somewhat abruptly; and as Fay
reddened under his scrutinizing glance, he continued, rather sternly,
"please do not say 'Yes' if it be untrue; you do not look as though
you could deceive any one."

"My husband's name is St. Clair," replied Fay, with as much
displeasure as she could assume. "I am not obliged to tell you or any
one else that it is only his second name. I have reasons why I wish to
keep the other to myself."

"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair," answered Fergus, moved to admiration by
this frankness and show of spirit; "believe me, it is through no
feeling of idle curiosity I put this question, but