d they could never get their living from the land. They must
give it up, he thought; and it was far better that it should fall into
his hands than into the hands of a stranger. Had his cousin lived, he
would never have wished for the land; and he said to himself that he
would do much for them all, and that the widow and orphans should never
suffer while he could befriend them.

At the same time, he could not deny that he would be glad to get the
land. When Evan came home, it might keep the lad near him to have this
farm ready for him. He had allowed himself to think a great deal about
this of late. He would not confess to himself that any part of the
uncomfortable feelings that Shenac's outbreak had stirred within him
sprang from disappointment. But he was mistaken. For when the girl
planted her foot on the other side of the new fence, and looked back at
him defiantly, he felt that she would make good her word, and hold the
land, at least, until Allister came home.

He did not care much what the neighbours might say about him; but he
told Elder McMillan that he cared, and that doubtless yon wild girl
would have plenty: to say about things she did not understand, and that
she would get ill-minded folks enough to hearken to her and to urge her
on. And he tried to make himself believe that it was this, and nothing
else, that vexed him in the matter.

"And what's to be done?" asked the elder uneasily, as Shenac and the
rest disappeared.

"Done!" repeated his friend angrily. "_I_ shall do nought. If they can
go on by themselves, all the better. I shall be well pleased. Why
should I seek to have the land?"

"Why, indeed?" said the elder.

"I shall neither make nor meddle in their affairs, till I am asked to do
it," continued Angus Dhu; but the look on his face said, as plainly as
words could have done, "and it will not be very long before that will
happen."

But he made a mistake, as even wise men will sometimes do.

CHAPTER THREE.

I am glad to say that Shenac did not let the sun go down on her wrath.
Indeed, long before sunset she was heartily ashamed of her outbreak
towards Angus Dhu, and acknowledged as much to Hamish. Not that she
believed he had acted justly and kindly in his past dealings with her
father; nor was she satisfied that the future interests of the family
would be safe in his hands. Even while acknowledging how wrong and
foolish she had been in speaking as she had done, she decla