trying to smile, "because ye
have a kind heart, though folk say ye're a wee hard whiles. But I ken
what you have been to the lads at the manse to win them, and to warn
them, and to keep them out of _mischief_. It would be the saving o' my
Willie if you would but take him in hand."

"I would gladly help him, or any one in trouble," said John, "but how
could I do it in secret?"

"But you needna do it in secret. It's not Willie that needs to hide.
When the prison-door opens to him he will be free to go where he likes--
to his own house, and his own land, to bide there at his pleasure. But
he will have a sore heart in going to a desolate house. And the thought
of going alone to a far-off land will dismay him. The help of such a
friend as you is what he needs, though it may seem a strange thing in me
to ask it from you."

"You have a right to all the help that I can give you, as has any one in
trouble. But why should you not go to him yourself?"

"But that is what I cannot tell you. I would never be suffered to go
with him if I were to be found. I have been asking you to help my
Willie, but indeed it is myself that you will help most. I cannot go
with him for both our sakes, but I will follow him. He will be watched
through every step of the Way, and I would be brought back again from
the ends of the earth. And then," added Allison her face falling into
the gloom of which John had seen but little, but which his mother had
seen often during the first days of their acquaintance, "then I should
just lie down and die."

John made a sudden, impatient movement, and then he said:

"And what am I to say to this man from you?"

"Willie his name is--Willie Bain," said Allison, smiling faintly. "Oh!
ye'll ken what to say to him when ye see him. And ye are not to let him
know that ye are sent from me till ye are sure of him. He is a lad who
is moved by the first thought that comes, and his first thought when he
hears of me will be to try to see me. And he must not try," repeated
she, "for he will be watched, and then we will be parted forever."

There was a pause, and then John said:

"I will go to him, at any rate, and do what I can. I will faithfully
help him, if he will let me--so help me God."

"I'm not feared for him now. You're strong and wise, and you can do
what you like with Willie."

John did not seem to see the hand she held out to him. Allison went on:

"When he speaks of me, as he'll be sure