sister; I lee'd to ye. It's been a heavy sin on my soul an' ye
may well thank the Lord it's no been on yer ain. But hark ye noo. It's
all come back to me. Here's the twenty pun' I gave him. It's come back
wi' interest." Proudly Jean drew from her bosom an envelope containing
forty pounds in bank notes. "Look ye, hoo he's doubl't it?" Again she
laughed through her tears.

"And you know where he is--and can find him?"

"Yes, Hester, dear, I know. He took a new name. It was Robert Kater he
called himsel'. So, there he's been pentin' pictures. Go, Hester, an'
find yer son, an' I'll find Richard. Ellen, ye'll have to do wi'
Tillie for a week an' a bit,--I'm going to Paris to find Richard."

"Ye'll do nae sic' thing. Ye'll find him by post."

"I'll trust to nae letter the noo, Ellen. Letters aften gang astray,
but I'll no gang astray."

"Oh, child, child! It's a sorrowful thing I'm lame an' can na' gang
wi' ye. What are ye doin', Hester?"

"I'm hunting for the newspaper. Don't they put the railroad
time-tables in the paper over here, or must I go to the station to
inquire about trains?"

"Ye'd better ask at the station. I'll go wi' ye. Ye might boggle it by
yersel'. Ring for Tillie, Jean. She can help me oot o' my chair an'
get me dressed, while ye're lookin' after yer ain packin', Jean."

So the masterful old lady immediately began to superintend the
hasty departure of both Hester and Jean. The whole procedure was
unprecedented and wholly out of the normal course of things, but if
duty called, they must go, whether she liked the thought of their
going or not. So she sent Tillie to call a cab, and contented
herself with bewailing the stubbornness of Peter, her nephew.

"It was aye so, whan he was a lad playin' wi' Jean an' Katherine,
whiles whan his feyther lat his mither bring Katherine and him back to
Scotland on a veesit. Jean and Katherine maun gie in til him if they
liket it or no. I've watched them mony's the time, when he would haud
them up in their play by the hour together, arguyin' which should be
horse an' which should be driver, an' it was always Peter that won his
way wi' them. Is the cab there, Tillie? Then gie me my crutch. Hester,
are you ready? Jean, I'll find oot for ye all aboot the trains for
Dover. Ye maun gang direc' an' no loiter by the way. Come, Hester. I
doot she ought not to be goin' aboot alone. Paris is an' awfu' like
place for a woman body to be goin' aboot alone. But it canna' be
hel