neighbour Jarrett to
look in an' see ye all right, an' that your wants are supplied." Then
she bade them adieu, and departed.

They walked as far as Dunster, calling at the farm on their way, then
hired a vehicle to convey them to Killochrie, the nearest place to which
the trains ran--not by the circuitous route that Elsie and Duncan had
found their way there, but by a direct road.

That night Mrs. MacDougall was in Edinburgh, and was mightily amazed and
confused with the grandeur and bustle of the place, which she had never
seen before. How her children could have found their way here, and still
more, how they could ever have been discovered and identified in such a
teeming, bustling, bewildering city, she could not imagine. She had yet
to see London, to which Edinburgh could not compare for teeming
multitudes, labyrinths of streets, and all the gigantic bustle and
confusion of a vast city.

"Ah! but it's a right wicked place," she exclaimed in horror, as she
passed by some of the foul-smelling closes, or courts, as we call them,
where dishevelled hag-like old women sat on door-steps, and filthy,
squalid children played in the gutter, where ill-favoured young people
of both sexes hung idly about the entrances, chaffing or quarrelling
with each other. "Ye police people must be a poor set out, an' ye can no
do away with such dens as these!" Mrs. MacDougall cried in righteous
indignation. "And the country folk are all for sending their girls into
the towns to get high wages and such gear. I would not have one of mine
come to such a Babylon as this!"

But Mrs. MacDougall had not time for more observations, for they were
soon at the hospital where sick children were received. They were at
once admitted. A kind-looking woman came forward, and asked if it was
necessary to see the child.

"Are ye no aware, ma'am, that he is my ain bairn?" Mrs. MacDougall
began; but her companion interrupted her.

"Our business is to identify the little laddie," he said, with a tone of
authority.

"Then I warn you to be careful," the woman replied. "He is just in a
critical condition, and must not be spoken to."

"Ye mean well to say his life is in danger?" Mrs. MacDougall asked
quickly.

"I cannot deny it," the matron replied; "but you must not despair.
Children make wonderful recoveries," she added, kindly.

She led them to the door of the ward, where a nurse came forward to
conduct them to the proper bed.

"It is my ain little