he was more needed at
home, and partly for other reasons, Shenac Dhu did not run into their
house so often as she used to do. But Evan was often there. He and
Hamish were much together, for neither of them was strong, and much help
was not expected from them on the land or elsewhere. Evan was hardly
what he had been before his departure from home. He was improved, they
thought, on the whole; but his health was not firm, and his spirits and
temper were variable, and, as Shenac said, he was as different from
Allister as weakness is from strength, or as darkness is from the day.
But they were always glad to see him, and his intercourse with these
healthy, cheerful young people did him much good.

The new house progressed rapidly. There was a fair prospect that they
might get into it before winter, and already Shenac was planning ways
and means towards the furnishing of it. The wool was sorted and dyed
with reference to the making of such a carpet as had never been seen in
those parts before; and every pound of butter that was put down was
looked upon as so much security for a certain number of things for use
or for adornment in the new house. For Shenac had a natural love for
pretty things, and it was pleasant to feel that she might gratify her
taste to a reasonable degree without hazarding the comfort of any one.

She made no secret of her pleasure in the prospect of living in a nice
house with pretty things about her, and discussed her plans and
intentions with great enjoyment with her cousin Shenac, who did not
laugh at her little ambitions as much as might have been expected.
Indeed, she was rather grave and quiet about this time, and seemed to
shun, rather than to seek, these confidences. She was too busy now that
Mary and Annie were both gone, to leave home often, and when our Shenac
wished to see her she had to go in search of her. It was not quite so
formidable an affair as it used to be to go to Angus Dhu's house now,
and Shenac and her brother often found themselves there on summer
evenings. But at home, as elsewhere, Shenac Dhu was quiet and staid,
and not at all like the merry Shenac of former times.

This change was not noticed by Shenac Bhan so quickly as it would have
been if she had been less occupied with her own affairs; but she did
notice it at last, and one night, drawing her away from the door-step
where the rest were sitting, she told her what she was thinking, and
entreated to know what a