strong man, and he put great
constraint upon himself, and said calmly:--

"`I am at a loss to understand what you would be at, sir. You heard the
banns published. Was there any in the kirk that day who had a word to
say against it? I think you can hardly refuse to do your part.'

"I said, `Allie, where is your brother? What does he say to all this?
What says he to his sister's marriage to a man old enough to be her
father?'

"Brownrig's face was an ill thing to see, but he said quietly enough,
`Yes, Allie, my woman, tell him where your brother is,--if ye ken, and
where he is like to be soon if he gets his deserts. Speak, lassie.
Tell the minister if you are going to draw back from your word now.'

"A great wave of colour came over her face, and it was not till this had
passed, leaving it as white as death, that she said hoarsely that it had
to be, and there was no use to struggle against it more.

"`He has promised one thing,' said she, `and he shall promise it now in
your presence. I am to go straight home to my father's house, and he is
not to trouble me nor come near me till my mother is safe in her grave.'

"And then she turned to him: `You hear? Now you are to repeat the
promise in the minister's hearing, before we go out of this room.'

"He would fain have refused, and said one thing and another, and hummed
and hawed, and would have taken her hand to lead her away; but she put
her hands behind her and said he must speak before she would go.

"`And is not a promise to yourself enough? And will you draw back if I
refuse?' But he did not persist in his refusal to speak, for she looked
like one who was fast losing hold of herself, and he must have been
afraid of what might happen next. For he said gently, always keeping a
great restraint upon himself, `Yes, I have promised. You shall stay in
your father's house while your mother needs you. I promise--though I
think you might have trusted to what I said before.'

"Alex, my lad, I would give all I have in the world if I had but held
out another hour. For the words that made them man and wife, were
hardly spoken, when that happened which might have saved to them both a
lifetime of misery. They had only passed through the gate on their way
home, when down the hillside, like a madman, came Willie Bain. And far
and hard he must have run, for he was spent and gasping for breath when
he came and put his hand upon his sister. `Allie!' he said, `Allie!'