d acknowledged his name, John thought it right that
Mr Hadden should be informed of his arrival in the town, and next
morning he went again to see him, at his place of business. He was a
good deal surprised at the manner in which Mr Hadden received him. It
was not at all as one receives a stranger, he thought, but the reason
was soon made clear to him.

John Beaton was not altogether a stranger to Mr Hadden. His name had
been mentioned in both letters which Allison had written, as one who had
been willing to befriend her brother while he was in prison, and who
wished still to befriend him since he was set free. John told of his
meeting with the lad, of his illness, and his good fortune in falling
into the hands of the kind people out at the farm.

"It must be the Strongs you are speaking of. Certainly he could be in
no better hands, if he still needs to be taken care of. And the longer
he is there, the better it will be for him."

"I would like well to leave him there for a while, if they were willing
to keep him. I will see how things look when I go out for him
to-night."

Of his own affairs or intentions John said nothing. He spent the rest
of the morning in looking about him, in order to ascertain what sort of
work there was to be done in the town, to which he might put his hand
with a hope of success. There was building going on, and he came at
last to a wide yard, where stone-cutting was done, and he said to
himself, that if they would but give him a chance, he would fall to, and
do his best for a while at least.

But he did not go to inquire at once. He stood thinking of the day when
he first tried his hand on the granite of Aberdeen, and earned his
shilling before he laid the hammer down again.

"I might have done better, but then I might have done worse," he
admitted with not unreasonable satisfaction. "And if I take it up
again, it need not be `for a continuance,' as auld Crombie would say. I
must see the lad fairly set to honest work, and then I may go my way."

He offered himself at the place, and was taken on at once. His wages
were to be decided upon when his first day's work should be done, and it
need not be said that his wages were of the best.

When he went to the Strong farm that night, he found that Mr Hadden had
been there before him. Willie Bain's first word to him was:

"Why did you never tell me that ye had seen our Allie?"

"Do ye no' mind that, till last night you never