. "In memory of a little maid,"
appeared in various subscription lists; but the reference thereof was
only known after the Doctor's death.

"The Western Counties Bank did not open its doors yesterday, and it was
officially announced at the head-office, Glasgow, that the bank had
stopped. It is impossible as yet to forecast the debts, but they are
known to be enormous, and as the bank is not limited, it is feared that
the consequences to the shareholders will be very serious. This
failure was quite unexpected, the Western Counties Bank having been
looked on as a prosperous and stable concern."

He read the paragraph twice word by word--it did not take long--he
folded the paper carefully and put it in his pocket, and he stood in
the spot for five minutes to take in the meaning in its length and
breadth. A pleasant spring sun was shining upon him through a break in
the leafy arch, a handful of primroses were blooming at his feet, a
lark was singing in the neighbouring field. Sometimes the Doctor used
to speculate how he would have liked being a poor man, and he concluded
that he would have disliked it very much. He had never been rich, and
he was not given to extravagance, but he was accustomed to easy
circumstances, and he pitied some of his old friends who had seen it
their duty to secede at the Disruption, and had to practise many little
economies, who travelled third class and had to walk from the station,
and could not offer their friends a glass of wine. This was the way he
must live now, and Daisy's fund would have to be closed, which seemed
to him the sweetest pleasure of his life.

"And Jack! Would to God I had never mentioned this wretched bank to
him. Poor Jack, with the few hundreds he had saved for Kit!"

For some five minutes more the Doctor stood in the place; then he
straightened himself as one who, come what may, would play the man, and
when he passed Janet's cottage, on his way to the Lodge, that honest
admirer of able-bodied, good-looking men came out and followed him with
her eyes for the sight of his firm unbroken carriage.

"Miss Kate will be grieving very much about Doctor Saunderson's death,"
Donald explained at the Lodge, "and she went down this forenoon with
the General to put flowers on his grave; but they will be coming back
every minute," and the Doctor met them at the Beeches.

[Illustration: "To put flowers on his grave."]

"May I have as fair hands to decorate my grave, Miss