people were talking about this regiment and that regiment,
Keith would not tell me what was sore at his heart; and never once did
he say, 'Mother, I must go away like the rest,' though it was in his
blood to go away. And what have I done now?--and what am I to say to his
brothers when they come to ask me? I will say to them, 'Oh yes, he was
the handsomest of all my six lads; and he had the proudest heart, too;
but I kept him at home--and what came of it all?' Would it not be better
now that he was lying buried in the jungle of the Gold Coast, or at
Koniggratz, or in the Crimea?"

"Oh, surely not, auntie! Keith will come back to us soon; and when you
see him well and strong again, and when you hear his laugh about the
house, surely you will not be wishing that he was in his grave? Why,
what is the matter with you to-day, auntie?"

"The others did not suffer much, Janet, and to three of them, anyway, it
was only a bullet, a cry, and then the death sleep of a brave man and
the grave of a Macleod. But Keith, Janet--he is my youngest--he is
nearer to my heart than any of them: do you not see his face?"

"Yes, auntie," Janet Macleod said, in a low voice; "but he will get over
that. He will come back to us strong and well."

"Oh yes, he will come back to us strong and well!" said the old lady,
almost wildly, and she rose, and her face was pale. "But I think it is a
good thing for that woman that my other sons are all away now; for they
had quick tempers, those lads; and they would not like to see their
brother murdered."

"Murdered, auntie!"

Lady Macleod would have answered in the same wild, passionate way; but
at this very moment her son entered. She turned quickly; she almost
feared to meet the look of this haggard face. But Keith Macleod said,
quite cheerfully,--

"Well now, Janet, and will you go round to-day to look at the _Umpire?_
And will you come too, mother? Oh, she is made very smart now; just as
if we were all going away to see the Queen."

"I cannot go to-day, Keith," said his mother; and she left the room
before he had time to notice that she was strangely excited.

"And I think I will go some other day, Keith," his cousin said, gently,
"just before you start, that I may be sure you have not forgotten
anything. And, of course, you will take the ladies' cabin, Keith, for
yourself; for there is more light in that, and it is farther away from
the smell of the cooking in the morning. And how can you be go