u please, Sir?" said I; for
I wanted to get to know all I could about these strange fathers of ours.

"Idolatry, my dear, as you might suppose," answered Mr Cameron. "They
worshipped the sun, which they identified with the serpent; and they
had, moreover, a sacred tree--all, doubtless, relics of Eden. They
would appear also to have had some sort of woman-worship, for they held
women in high honour, loved female sovereignty, and practised
polyandry--that is, each woman had several husbands."

"I never heard of such queer folks!" said I. "And what became of them,
Sir?"

"The Iberians and Celts together," he answered, "made up the people we
call Britons. When the Saxons invaded the country, they were driven
into the remote fastnesses of Wales, Cumberland, and Cornwall. Some
antiquaries think the Picts had the same original, but this is one of
the unsettled points of history."

"I wish it were possible to settle all such questions!" said Flora.

"So do the antiquaries, I can assure you," returned Mr Cameron, with a
smile. "But it is scarce possible to come to a conclusion with any
certainty as to the origin of a people of whom we cannot recover the
language."

"If you please, Sir," said I, "what has the language to do with it?"

"It has everything to do with it, Miss Caroline. You did not know that
languages grew, like plants, and could be classified in groups after the
same manner?"

"Please explain to us, Mr Cameron," said Flora. "It all sounds so
strange."

"But it is very interesting," I said. "I want to know all about it."

"If you want to know _all_ about it," answered our friend, "you must
consult some one else than me, for I do not know nearly all about it.
In truth, no one does. For myself, I have only arrived at the stage of
knowing that I know next to nothing."

"That's easy enough to know, surely," said Angus.

"Not at all, Angus. It is one of the most difficult things to ascertain
in this world. No man is so ready to give an off-hand opinion on any
and every subject, as the man who knows absolutely nothing. But we must
not start another hare while the young ladies' question remains
unanswered. Languages, my dears, are not made; they grow. The first
language--that spoken in Eden--may have been given to man ready-made, by
God; but I rather imagine, from the expressions of Holy Writ, that what
was granted to Adam was the inward power of forming a tongue which
should be rational and co