g out her health and spirits; and it needed
all Shenac's strength and courage to get through some of these summer
days. It was worse when Hamish went again for a few weeks to his
uncle's. He must go, Shenac said, to be strong and well to welcome
Allister; and much as it grieved him to leave his sister, he knew that a
few weeks of the baths would give him the best chance to be able to help
her should this sad suspense change to sadder certainty and Allister
never come home again. So he went away.

Often and often, during the long days that followed his going away,
Shenac used to wonder at herself for ever having been weary of the
labour that had fallen to her during the last two years. Now, when her
mother had a better day than usual, when little Flora could do all that
was needed for her, so that Shenac could go out to the field, she was
comparatively at peace. The necessity for bodily exertion helped her
for the time to set aside the fear that was growing more terrible every
day. But, when the days came that she could not leave her mother, when
she must sit by her side, or wander with her into the garden or fields,
saying the same hopeful words or answering the same questions over and
over again, it seemed to her that she could not very long endure it. A
fear worse than the fear of death grew upon her--the fear that her
mother's mind would give way at last, and that she would not know her
son when he came. Even the fear that he might never come seemed easier
to bear than this.

Shenac Dhu helped her greatly at this time. Not that she was very
cheerful herself, poor girl; but the quick, merry ways she would assume
with her aunt did her good. She would speak of the coming home of
Allister as certain and near at hand, and she would tell of all that was
to be done and said, of the house that he was to build, and of the gowns
that Shenac Bhan was to wear, while her aunt would listen contentedly
for a while. And when the old shadow came back, and the old moan rose,
she would just begin and go over it all again.

She was needed at home during the day; but all the time that Hamish was
away she shared with Shenac Bhan the task of soothing the weary, wakeful
nights of the mother. She sat one night in the usual way, speaking
softly, and singing now and then, till the poor weary mother had dropped
asleep. Rising quietly and going to the door, she found Shenac Bhan
sitting on the step, with her head on her hands.