he sheltered nooks, for there were little
dells white as snow at that season in Tochty woods, and Kate, hearing
that I had passed, came of her kindness to take me back to luncheon.
She had on a jacket of sealskin that we greatly admired, and a felt hat
with three grouse feathers on the side, and round her throat a red
satin scarf. The sun was shining on the bend of the path, and she came
into the light singing "Jack o' Hazeldean," walking, as Kate ever did
in song, with a swinging step like soldiers on a march. It seemed to
me that day that she was born to be the wife either of a noble or a
soldier, and I still wish at times within my heart she were Countess of
Kilspindie, for then the Lodge had been a fair sight to-day, and her
father had died in his own room. And other times I have imagined
myself Kilspindie, who was then Lord Hay, and questioned whether I
should have ordered Tochty to be dismantled and left a waste as it is
this day, and would have gone away to the wars, or would not have loved
to keep it in order for her sake, and visited it in the springtime when
the primroses are out, and the autumn when the leaves are blood-red.
Then I declare that Hay, being of a brave stock, and having acted as a
man of honour--for that is known to all now--ought to have put a good
face on his disappointment; but all the time I know one man who would
have followed Lord Hay's suit, and who regrets that he ever again saw
Tochty Lodge.

[Illustration: One gardener who . . . works for love's sake.]

"First of all," said the General as they sallied forth, "we shall go to
the Beeches, and see a view for which one might travel many days, and
pay a ransom."

So they went out into the court with its draw-well, from which they
must needs have a draught. Suddenly the General laid down the cup like
a man in sudden pain, for he was thinking of Cawnpore, and they passed
quickly through the gateway and turned into a path that wound among
great trees that had been planted, it was said, by the Carnegie who
rode with Montrose. They were walking on a plateau stretching out
beyond the line of the Lodge, and therefore commanding the Glen, if one
had eyes to see and the trees were not in the way. Kate laid her hand
on the General's arm beneath an ancient beech, and they stood in
silence to receive the blessing of the place, for surely never is the
soul so open to the voice of nature as by the side of running water and
in the heart of a wood