ffinch

It was the happiest afternoon I ever spent. James grat, and I grat. I
got a scolding frae my faither and my mother when I gaed hame, and they
demanded to ken where I had been; but the words that James had spoken to
me bore me up against their reproaches.

Weel, it was very shortly (I daresay not six months after my faither's
death), that James called at my mother's, and as he said, to bid us
_farewell!_ He took my mother's hand--I mind I saw him raise it to his
lips, while the tears were on his cheeks; and he was also greatly put
about to part wi' my sisters; but to me he said--

'Ye'll set me down a bit, Diana.'

He was to take the coach for Liverpool--or at least, a coach to take him
on the road to that town, the next day; and from there he was to proceed
to the West Indies, to meet an uncle who was to make him his heir.

I went out wi' him, and we wandered away down by our auld walks; but,
oh, he said little, and he sighed often, and his heart was sad. But mine
was as sad as his, and I could say as little as him. I winna, I canna
write a' the words and the vows that passed. He took the chain frae his
watch, and it was o' the best gold, and he also took a pair o' Bibles
frae his pocket, and he put the watch chain and the Bibles into my hand,
and--'Diana,' said he, 'take these, dear--keep them for the sake o' your
poor James, and, as often as ye see them, think on him.' I took them,
and wi' the tears running down my cheeks--'O James,' cried I, 'this is
hard!--hard!'

Twice, ay thrice, we bade each other '_farewell_,' and thrice, after he
had parted frae me, he cam running back again, and, throwing his arms
round my neck, cried--

'Diana! I canna leave ye!--promise me that ye will never marry onybody
else!'

And thrice I promised him that I wouldna.

But he gaed awa, and my only consolation was looking at the Bibles, on
one o' the white leaves o' the first volume o' which I found written, by
his own hand, '_James Laidlaw and Diana Darling vowed, that, if they
were spared, they would become man and wife; and that neither time,
distance, nor circumstances, should dissolve their plighted troth.
Dated, May 25th, 17--_.'

These were cheering words to me; and I lived on them for years, even
after my younger sisters were married, and I had ceased to hear from
him. And, during that time, for his sake, I had declined offers which my
friends said I was waur than foolish to reject. At least half a dozen
good m