t one of the doors of the long, low
outbuildings of the manse. He had been in the place before with the
lads, and knew it well. There was no one there; but the foaming
milk-buckets indicated that some one would be there soon, and he waited.

He did not wait long. A light step came quickly over the round stones
of the causey, and Allison entered, carrying the great earthen
milk-dishes in her arms. It was a dark little place, and she had set
them safely down before she saw the intruder. Then she did not utter a
word, but stood looking at him with all her heart in her eyes. John
held out his hand and took hers in a firm clasp, and "like a fool," as
he told himself afterward, said that which it had never come into his
mind to say until he saw her face.

"Allison," said he, with his eyes on hers, "why did you not tell me that
it was your brother for whom your heart was sore?"

Her look changed to one of wonder.

"Surely I told you it was my brother. Who else could it be but my
Willie?"

She grew pale, and would have withdrawn her hand, but he held it fast.

"I did not see him, but I have good news for you. Your brother has been
a free man for two months and more. It must have been that they
repented of their hard sentence, and when the summer came again he
wearied, and was like to fall sick, and they let him go home. The man I
saw had only good words to say of him. After the first he was patient
and quiet. It was hard on him at first."

"My poor Willie!" said Allison.

"It seems that a friend went to see him in the early summer, a year ago,
and he took heart after that and waited patiently."

"That must have been Mr Hadden," said Allison. "It was kind of him,
and Willie would take hear when he heard that I had gotten safe away."

"You have not heard from your brother since?"

"Oh! no. How could I hear? He does not even know where I am."

"But you will write to him now?"

Allison's face fell.

"I darena do it. No letter can reach him but may first pass through our
enemy's hand. He will be on the watch more than ever now. No, it will
be ill waiting, but we can only wait."

"Do you mean that you must wait till you see him in America?" said John
wondering.

"Yes, that must be the way. He will go to Alexander Hadden, and I will
find him there. Yes, it may be a long time," and Allison's eyes filled
with tears. "But now that I have heard that he is free, and that it is
well with him, I can w