spend
her days here, beyond the westerly Skye, where she had just learned that
this island lay.

The anxious business of entering the harbour was accomplished by slow
degrees, under the guidance of the spark on the hill-side. At dawn the
little vessel was moored to a natural pier of rock, and the lady was
asked whether she would proceed to Macdonald's house immediately or take
some hours' rest first.

Here ended her fears of being secluded from popular sympathy. She was
weary of the sea and the vessel, and made all haste to leave them.

Her choice lay between walking and being carried by Highlanders. She
chose to walk; and with some fatigue, and no little internal
indignation, she traversed a mile and a half of rocky and moorland ways,
then arriving at a sordid and dreary looking farmhouse, standing alone
in a wild place, to which Macdonald proudly introduced her as Sir
Alexander's estate on this island, of which he was the tenant.

CHAPTER SIX.

THE STEADFAST

It was a serene evening when, the day after her landing, Lady Carse
approached Widow Fleming's abode. The sun was going down in a clear
sky; and when, turning from the dazzling western sea, the eye wandered
eastwards, the view was such as could not but transport a heart at ease.
The tide was low, and long shadows from the rocks lay upon the yellow
sands and darkened, near the shore, the translucent sea. At the
entrance of the black caverns the spray leaped up on the advance of
every wave,--not in threatening but as if at play. Far away over the
lilac and green waters arose the craggy peaks of Skye, their projections
and hollows in the softest light and shadow. As the sea-birds rose from
their rest upon the billows, opposite the sun, diamond drops fell from
their wings. Nearer at hand there was little beauty but what a
brilliant sunset sheds over every scene. There were shadows from the
cottage over the dull green sward, and from the two or three goats which
moved about on the ledges and slopes of the upper rocks. The cottage
itself was more lowly and much more odd than the lady had conceived from
anything she had yet seen or heard of. Its walls were six feet thick,
and roofed from the inside, leaving a sort of platform all round, which
was overgrown with coarse herbage. The outer and inner surfaces of the
wall were of stones, and the middle part was filled in with earth; so
that grass might well grow on the top. The roof was of thatch--pa