ght easily lose themselves in
it, and so pass out of the sight and out of the thoughts of all who had
known them in their happy youth, before trouble had come! Might it not
be? And how could it be? Might she not set Brownrig and his wicked
wiles at naught, and go with her brother to save him?

And then the minister's voice was heard: "Fret not thyself because of
evildoers." And so on: "Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in
Him and He shall bring it to pass."

"Bring it to pass!" In the midst of her trouble and longing, Allison
had almost uttered the words aloud, as though they had been spoken to
her alone of all the listening people, and then Marjorie stirred in her
slumber and brought her to herself again.

"Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for Him. Fret not thyself because of
him who prospereth in the way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass."

Surely those words were for her! And she heard no more till he came to
the good man whose "steps are ordered of God."

"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord
upholdeth him with His hand.

"I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

And then Robin touched his mother's hand. For Allison had drawn her big
black bonnet over her face to hide from the folk in the kirk the tears
which were falling fast on the bright hair of the little sleeper. Mrs
Hume made no sign that she saw them, but she prayed silently for the
sorrowful woman who all the long winter had kept her sorrow to herself.

"Say nothing, Robin," said she, when they rose to go out together. "She
will be the better for her tears, or rather for that which made them
flow."

To herself Robin's mother said:

"She will surely speak now, and open her heart to comfort."

She had a while to wait for that, but a change came over Allison as the
summer days went on. She was restless sometimes, and anxious and
afraid. She had an air of expectation as though she were waiting for
something, and sometimes she had the look of one eager to be up and
away.

One night when Mrs Hume went up to see her little daughter in her bed,
she found Allison writing. She said nothing to her and did not seem to
see, and waited in expectation of hearing more. But she never did.

For Allison's courage failed her and the letter was never sent. It was
written to Dr Fleming, who had been kind to her in the infirma