uld have,
an' I doot neither your faither nor your mither wad consent to such a
thing."

"But I won't ask them," he replied. "I am a man for myself, and do not
see why they should be asked to approve my actions in this."

"Ay, that's a' richt; but what aboot your ain feelings in the matter?
Am I the lass you wad hae ta'en, Peter, if this hadna happened?" and
there was a world of hungry appeal in her voice as she finished. It was
as if she wanted to be assured that it was for herself alone that he
really wanted to marry her.

"Why should you not?" he enquired.

"That's no' the question," she said, noting the evasion. "You ken as
weel as I dae that it wad be an ill match for you. You've been brought
up differently. You've had eddication, an' an easy life. You've been
trained faur differently, an' you canna say that you'd no' tire o' me. I
have not as muckle learning as wad make me spell my ain name, an' I
could never fill the position o' your wife with the folk I'd have to mix
with."

"That's all right, Mysie," he said, ready to counter her argument. "You
have not been educated, that is true, but it is only a question of
having you trained. If one woman can be educated and trained so can
another. This is what I propose to do: I go back to Edinburgh in a
fortnight to finish my last year. My father has put the colliery into a
company, and he has a large part of the management on his shoulders. He
expects when I come home next year to gradually retire. I shall be the
controlling power then, and he will slip out of the business and end his
days in leisure."

"Ay, but you are thinking a' the time aboot the disgrace," she said.
"Your whole thought is about your position, an' you hae never a real
thought aboot me." She was somewhat mollified; but there was still a
hard note in her voice, and not a little distrust too. "Are you sure you
are no' proposin' this just because o' the trouble? I don't want peety!
I am pairtly to blame too," this with a softer note creeping into her
voice, and making it more resigned. "If it's no' oot o' peety for me, I
could bear it better. But I'll no' hae peety. I can look after mysel'
an' face the whole thing, even though I ken it'll break my mither's
heart."

"I know what it is for you, Mysie," he said. "I am trying to look at the
whole thing from your point of view. That's why I have planned to give
you some sort of a training, and make it as easy for you as possible. It
is for your posi