emed much pleased. As long as the carriages were in sight he
stood watching them, and then ran after his grandfather into the
cottage.

As soon as the party reached Glen Tulloch, Norman was carried up to bed.
It was evident that he was very ill, he had been heated by scrambling
about the rocks, and the cold water had given him a sudden chill.
Before the next morning he was in a high fever. A doctor was sent for,
but some hours elapsed before he arrived. He looked very grave and said
that the little boy required the greatest care and watching.

Mrs Leslie and her mamma insisted that Fanny should go to bed, and as
she was always obedient, she did as they wished, but she could not go to
sleep. All night long she thought of her little brother, and of the
danger he was in, and oh! how earnestly she prayed that he might
recover.

Either his granny or mamma sat by his bedside throughout the night. He
tumbled and tossed, his limbs and his head aching again and again, he
saw little birds flitting backwards and forwards in the room.

"Ah! ah! naughty boy, I am Pecksy's brother, you killed him; you know
you did!" said one nodding its head, as it perched on the back of a
chair, at the end of his bed. Then it flew away, and another came and
said, "I am Pecksy's sister, naughty boy, you killed him, you know you
did!" and it too nodded its head.

A third and a fourth and a fifth came and chirped in plaintive tones,
"Oh, why did you kill our dear little friend? you say you did not kill
him; you know you did, you naughty boy!" and so they went on flying
backwards and forwards, now concealed in the dark part of the room, and
now appearing in the light of the lamp.

In vain Norman tried to raise his voice--he could not even whisper--all
he could do was to watch them with his aching eyes as they flitted to
and fro. Oh! how he longed to get rid of them. Would they never go
away? No; back they came, and twittered in the same mournful strain.
"You killed our brother, you killed our friend; you know you did,
naughty, naughty boy!"

At length he could bear it no longer, and with a scream he exclaimed,
"Oh, put them out of the room--catch them! catch them! take them away!
I will be a good boy, indeed I will. I will never do such a thing
again."

Though he did not speak very distinctly, his mamma understood his words.

"Take what away, dear? There is nothing in the room--there is nothing
to hurt you."

"The birds! the bird