th
earnest remonstrances, to her cousin, and would have him drink some hot
whiskey and water; and when Hamish arrived, went straight to him too,
and told him the story in such a way that he said,--

"Ay, ay, it wass the poor little lad! And he will mek a good sailor yet.
And it was not much dancher for him when Sir Keith wass in the boat; for
there is no one in the whole of the islands will sweem in the water as
he can sweem; and it is like a fish in the water that he is."

That was about the only incident of note, and little was made of it,
that disturbed the monotony of life at Castle Dare at this time. But by
and by, as the days passed, and as eager eyes looked abroad, signs
showed that the beautiful summer-time was drawing near. The deep blue
came into the skies and the seas again; the yellow mornings broke
earlier. Far into the evening they could still make out the Dutchman's
Cap, and Lunga, and the low-lying Coll and Tiree, amidst the glow at the
horizon after the blood-red sunset had gone down. The white stars of the
saxifrage appeared in the woods; the white daisies were in the grass. As
you walked along the lower slopes of Ben-an-Sloich, the grouse that rose
were in pairs. What a fresh green this was that shimmered over the young
larches! He sent her a basket of the first trout he caught in the loch.

The wonderful glad time came nearer and nearer. And every clear and
beautiful day that shone over the white sands of Iona and the green
shores of Ulva, with the blue seas all breaking joyfully along the
rocks, was but a day thrown away that should have been reserved for her.
And whether she came by the _Dunara_ from Greenock, or by the _Pioneer_
from Oban, would they hang the vessel in white roses in her honor, and
have velvet carpetings on the gangways for the dainty small feet to
tread on? and would the bountiful heavens grant but one shining blue day
for her first glimpse of the far and lonely Castle Dare? Janet, the
kind-hearted, was busy from morning till night; she herself would place
the scant flowers that could be got in the guests' rooms. The steward of
the _Pioneer_ had undertaken to bring any number of things from Oban;
Donald, the piper-lad, had a brand-new suit of tartan, and was
determined that, short of the very cracking of his lungs, the English
lady would have a good salute played for her that day. The _Umpire_, all
smartened up now, had been put in a safe anchorage in Loch-na-Keal; the
men wore