ll just put the whusky near by my
haund. I thank ye, lassie. Winna ye tak' a wee soopie?"

Mrs McCray declined; and after refreshing himself with a goodly
draught, the old Scot continued:

"Ye're reet, lassie; the gairden has got its breet floors aifter all;
and I think I'll e'en stay as I am. Heaven bless them! And there's
that gudely vine of the Captain's coming to them, leuking as she
desairves. Gude-sake, Jenny, I believe gif there's a better woman on
this airth than thee, it's Mrs Norton; but she's na ye're equal in soom
things, lassie. She mak's a gudely lady, but she wad ne'er ha' fitted
in your station."

There was another sip of "whusky" before McCray spoke again, when, as
two fresh figures passed slowly by the window:

"Eh, lassie!" cried Sandy; "but leuk there--that's the thing that wairms
my hairt better than e'en the whusky or the glint o' yer twa e'en. It
mak's me think o' whaat Dauvid says aboot brethren living together in
unity. Leuk hoo the puir laird hangs on the Captain's airm, and hoo he
listens to his wards. They're like brithers indeed noo; and the
Captain's always reading to him. Boot--eh, lassie?--it strikes me
they're gaun doon to the church again."

McCray was right, for, arm in arm--Captain Norton, upright of bearing,
Sir Murray Gernon bent and feeble, walking with the shuffling step
induced by his last seizure--they were bound on the frequent pilgrimage
they made, a visit never paid by either alone--a pilgrimage to a shrine
most holy in their eyes--for it was to the grave of the woman they had
both loved.

The stormy epoch was past; and a gentle time of calm had come. Brace
Norton had just returned from a two years' cruise, an impatient time,
but one which he had passed in peace, for at every station he knew that
long and loving letters awaited him. But now he was returned, and but
few days more were to elapse before words were to be pronounced that
should make two hearts one.

But Merland village was greatly dissatisfied; the couple, they said,
were capitally matched, and young Lieutenant Norton would be 'most as
wealthy as Sir Murray himself; but it did seem hard on the poor lord,
who was said to be picking up a living anyhow at the foreign
gaming-tables. Then, too, there were no grand preparations, and the
wedding was to be quiet as quiet, and no open house at the Castle; and
the general opinion seemed to be that times were not as they used to
be--a declaration to whi