"And whenever," said Lady Carse, with a solemnity which froze up the
children's tears, and made them look in her face, "whenever, in this
world or the next, you see a quiet angel keeping watch over a sinful,
unhappy mortal, you may think of Widow Fleming and me. Will you?"

The awe-struck children promised, with a sincerity and warmth which
touched Lady Carse with a keen sense of humiliation; not the less keen
because she had brought it upon herself by a good impulse.

The pastor and his family were presently gone; and without Lady Carse.
The steward guarded against that by bringing Macdonald to fasten her
into her house, and guard it, till the boat should be out of reach.

Annie did not intrude upon her unhappy neighbour for the first few
hours. She thought it better to wait till she was wished for.

"Our pastor gone!" thought she, as she sat alone. "No more children's
voices in this dwelling! No more worship in the church on sabbaths!
Thus is our Father always giving and taking away, that we may fix our
expectations on Him alone. But He always leaves us enough. He leaves
us our duty and our sabbaths, whether the church be open or in ruins.
And He has left me also an afflicted neighbour to comfort and
strengthen. Now that she thinks she depends on me alone, I may be the
better able to lead her to depend on Him."

And she was presently absorbed in meditating how best to do this most
needful work.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THE LAMP BURNS.

Annie had supposed that her life would be almost as quiet an one as it
used to be when the minister and his family were gone. Lady Carse was
her neighbour, to be sure; but every day showed more and more that even
to such restless beings as Lady Carse, a time of quiet must come. Her
health and strength had been wasting for some months, and now a change
came over her visibly from week to week. She rarely moved many yards
from the house, spending hours of fine weather in lying on the grass
looking over the sea; and when confined to the house by the cold, in
dozing on the settle.

This happened just when her prison was, as it were, thrown open, or, at
least, much less carefully guarded than ever before. Prince Charlie's
successes were so great as to engross all minds in this region, and
almost throughout the whole of the kingdom. Wherever the Macdonalds and
the Macleods had influence, there was activity, day and night. Every
man in either clan, every youth capable o