them with sparkling eyes and
outstretched hands.

"And ye'll say to him from ME that a more honorable, noble, and generous
man, and a kinder, truer, and better friend than he, cannot be found
anywhere! And that the foolishest and most extravagant thing he ever did
is better than the wisest and most prudent thing that anybody else ever
did, could, or would do! And if he was a bit overproud--it was only
because those about him were overproud and foolish. And you'll tell him
that we're wearying for him! And when you give him that daft letter from
father you'll give him this bit line from me," she went on rapidly as
she laid a tiny note in his hand. "And," with wicked dancing eyes that
seemed to snap the last bond of repression, "ye'll give him THAT too,
and say I sent it!"

There was a stir in the official apartment! The portraits of Lincoln and
Washington rattled uneasily in their frames; but it was no doubt only a
discreet blast of the north wind that drowned the echo of a kiss.

"Ailsa!" gasped the shocked Mr. Callender.

"Ah! but, father, if it had not been for HIM we would not have known
Robin."

*****

It was the last that the consul saw of Ailsa Callender; for the next
summer when he called at Loch Dour she was Mrs. Gray.

THE SHERIFF OF SISKYOU.

I.

On the fifteenth of August, 1854, what seemed to be the entire
population of Wynyard's Bar was collected upon a little bluff which
overlooked the rude wagon road that was the only approach to the
settlement. In general appearance the men differed but little from
ordinary miners, although the foreign element, shown in certain Spanish
peculiarities of dress and color, predominated, and some of the men
were further distinguished by the delicacy of education and sedentary
pursuits. Yet Wynyard's Bar was a city of refuge, comprised among its
inhabitants a number who were "wanted" by the State authorities, and
its actual attitude at that moment was one of open rebellion against the
legal power, and of particular resistance to the apprehension by warrant
of one of its prominent members. This gentleman, Major Overstone, then
astride of a gray mustang, and directing the movements of the crowd,
had, a few days before, killed the sheriff of Siskyou county, who had
attempted to arrest him for the double offense of misappropriating
certain corporate funds of the State and the shooting of the editor who
had imprudently exposed him. The lesser crime of homicide