as well; but, oh, laddie, there was a dreadful
lack o' livin' joy such as I should expect from the woman whom my boy had
chosen for his wife--and at the marriage coupling, too! And no wonder,
when all is said; for though the marriage veil o' love was fine, an' the
garland o' flowers was fresh-gathered, underneath them a' was nane ither
than a ghastly shroud. As I looked in my veesion--or maybe dream--I
expectit to see the worms crawl round the flagstane at her feet. If
'twas not Death, laddie dear, that stood by ye, it was the shadow o'
Death that made the darkness round ye, that neither the light o' candles
nor the smoke o' heathen incense could pierce. Oh, laddie, laddie, wae
is me that I hae seen sic a veesion--waking or sleeping, it matters not!
I was sair distressed--so sair that I woke wi' a shriek on my lips and
bathed in cold sweat. I would hae come doon to ye to see if you were
hearty or no--or even to listen at your door for any sound o' yer being
quick, but that I feared to alarm ye till morn should come. I've counted
the hours and the minutes since midnight, when I saw the veesion, till I
came hither just the now."

"Quite right, Aunt Janet," I said, "and I thank you for your kind thought
for me in the matter, now and always." Then I went on, for I wanted to
take precautions against the possibility of her discovery of my secret.
I could not bear to think that she might run my precious secret to earth
in any well-meant piece of bungling. That would be to me disaster
unbearable. She might frighten away altogether my beautiful visitor,
even whose name or origin I did not know, and I might never see her
again:

"You must never do that, Aunt Janet. You and I are too good friends to
have sense of distrust or annoyance come between us--which would surely
happen if I had to keep thinking that you or anyone else might be
watching me."

RUPERT'S JOURNAL--_Continued_.

_April_ 27, 1907.

After a spell of loneliness which has seemed endless I have something to
write. When the void in my heart was becoming the receptacle for many
devils of suspicion and distrust I set myself a task which might, I
thought, keep my thoughts in part, at any rate, occupied--to explore
minutely the neighbourhood round the Castle. This might, I hoped, serve
as an anodyne to my pain of loneliness, which grew more acute as the
days, the hours, wore on, even if it sho