death; and you must be kind to
him and to them all for my sake."

"And then," said Shenac Dhu, "there is his name, written as if he had
been blind; and that is all."

The three young people sat looking at one another in silence. Shenac
Bhan's heart beat so strongly that she thought her mother must hear it
in her bed; but she could not put her thought in words--"Allister is
coming home." Shenac Dhu spoke first.

"Hamish--Shenac, I told my father that Allister would never leave our
Evan alone to die among strangers."

She paused, looking eagerly first at one and then at the other.

"No," said Hamish; "he would never do that, if he knew it in time to
stay. We can but wait and see."

"Wait and see!" Shenac Bhan echoed the words in her heart. If they had
heard that he was to stay for months, or even for years, she thought she
could bear it better than this long suspense.

"Shenac," said her cousin, reading her thought, "you would not have
Allister come and leave him? It will only be a little longer whether
Evan lives or dies."

"No," said Shenac; "but my mother."

"We will not tell her for a little while," said Hamish. "If Allister is
coming it will be soon; and if he has stayed, it will give my mother
more hope of his coming home at last to hear that he is well and that he
is waiting for Evan."

"And my father," said Shenac Dhu. "Oh! if you had seen how he grasped
at the hope when I said Allister was sure to stay, you would not grudge
him for a day or two. Think of the poor lad dying so far from home and
from us all!" And poor Shenac clung to her cousin, bursting into sobs
and bitter tears.

"Whisht, Shenac, darling," said her cousin, her own voice broken with
sobs; "we can only have patience."

"Yes," said Hamish; "we can do more than that--we can trust and pray.
And we will not fear for the mother, Shenac. She will be better, now
that there is a reason for Allister's stay.--And, Cousin Shenac, you
must take hope for your brother. No wonder he was downcast thinking of
being left. You must tell your father that there is no call to give up
hope for Evan."

"O Hamish, my father loved Evan dearly, though he was hard on him. He
has grown an old man since he went away; and to-day,--oh, I think to-day
his heart is broken."

"The broken and contrite heart He will not despise," murmured Hamish.
"We have all need of comfort, Shenac, and we'll get it if we seek it."

And the two girls were startled f