pon which Elizabeth had insisted in
Italy could be maintained in Scotland. The only wonder was that he
should live, as he did live, for five whole days at Strathleckie without
discovering the truth. Perhaps Elizabeth took pains to keep it from him!

She had been determined to keep another secret, even if she could not
hide the fact, that she was a rich woman. She would not have her
engagement to Percival made public. For two whole years, she said, she
would wait: for two whole years neither she nor her cousin should
consider each other as bound. But that she herself considered the
engagement morally binding might be inferred from the fact of her
allowing Percival to kiss her--she surely would not have permitted that
kiss if she had not meant to marry him! So Percival himself understood
it; so Elizabeth knew that he understood.

She was not quite like herself in the first days of her residence in
Scotland. She was graver and more reticent than usual: little inclined
to talk, and much occupied with the business that her new position
entailed upon her. Mr. Colquhoun, her solicitor, was astonished at her
clear-headedness; Stewart, the factor, was amazed at the attention she
bestowed upon every detail; even the Herons were surprised at the
methodical way in which she parcelled out her days and devoted herself
to a full understanding of her position. She seemed to shrink less than
heretofore from the responsibilities that wealth would bring her, and
perhaps the added seriousness of her lip and brow was due to her resolve
to bear the burden that providence meant her to bear instead of trying
to lay it upon other people's shoulders.

A great deal of this necessary business had been transacted before Mr.
Stretton made his appearance at Strathleckie. He had been offered a
fortnight's holiday, and had accepted it, seeing that his absence was to
some extent desired by Mrs. Heron, who was always afraid lest her dear
children should be overworked by their tutor. Thus it happened that he
did not reach Strathleckie until the very day on which Hugo also arrived
on his way to Netherglen. They had seen each other at the station, where
Brian incautiously appeared without the blue spectacles which he relied
upon as part of his disguise. From the white, startled horror which
overcast Hugo's face, this young man saw that he had been almost, if not
quite, recognised; and he expected to be sought out and questioned as to
his identity. But Hug