fallen pears, and we laugh again. As we sit, they are singing in the
chapel, and I hear 'Ave Maria, ora pro nobis.' Then I think of you,
and the tears will come to my eyes, and I try to hide my face, but the
Sister understands and comforts me. 'Your father is a gallant
gentleman, and the good God pities you, and will keep him in danger,'
and I fondle the Sister, and wonder whether any more pears have fallen.
How peaceful it is within that high wall, which is rough and forbidding
outside, but inside it is hung with greenery, and among the leaves I
see pears and peaches. But I missed you, dad," and Kate touched her
father, for they had a habit of just touching each other gently when
together.

"Do you really think we have been in India, and that you have a dozen
medals, and I am . . . an old maid?"

"Certainly not, Kit, a mere invention--we are boy and girl, and . . .
we 'll go on to the view."

Suddenly they came out from the shade into a narrow lane of light,
where some one of the former time, with an eye and a soul, had cleared
a passage among the trees, so that one standing at the inner end and
looking outwards could see the whole Glen, while the outstretched
branches of the beeches shaded his eyes. Morning in the summer-time
about five o'clock was a favourable hour, because one might see the
last mists lift, and the sun light up the face of Ben Urtach, and
evening-tide was better, because the Glen showed wonderfully tender in
the soft light, and the Grampians were covered with glory. But it was
best to take your first view towards noon, for then you could trace the
Tochty upwards as it appeared and reappeared, till it was lost in woods
at the foot of Glen Urtach, with every spot of interest on either side.
Below the kirk it ran broad and shallow, with a bank of brushwood on
one side and a meadow on the other, fringed with low bushes from behind
which it was possible to drop a fly with some prospects of success,
while in quite unprotected situations the Drumtochty fish laughed at
the tempter, and departed with contemptuous whisks of the tail. Above
the haughs was a little mill, where flax was once spun and its lade
still remained, running between the Tochty and the steep banks down
which the glen descended to the river. Opposite this mill the Tochty
ran with strength, escaping from the narrows of the bridge, and there
it was that Weelum MacLure drove across Sir George in safety, because
the bridge was not