wade through the dirty water. Many of the boys dashed
through it at once, shoes and all; but some of the boys, and almost all
the girls, took off their shoes and stockings. When Annie got a peep of
the water, writhing and tumbling in the passage, it looked so ugly,
that she shrunk from fording it, especially if she must go in with her
bare feet. She could not tell what might be sweeping about in that
filthy whirlpool. She was still looking at it as it kept rising, in
pale perplexity and dismay, with the forgotten tears still creeping
down her checks, when she was caught up from behind by a boy, who, with
his shoes and stockings in one hand, now seated her on the other arm.
She peeped timidly round to see who it was, and the brave brown eyes of
Alec Forbes met hers, lighted by a kind, pitying smile. In that smile
the cloudy sky of the universe gently opened, and the face of God
looked out upon Annie. It gave her, for the moment, all that she had
been dying for want of for many weeks--weeks long as years. She could
not help it--she threw her arms round Alec Forbes's neck, laid her wet
cheek against his, and sobbed as if her heart would break. She did not
care for the Bruces, or the rats, or even the schoolmaster now. Alec
clasped her tighter, and vowed in his heart that if ever that brute
Malison lifted the tag to her, he would fly at his throat. He would
have carried her all the way home, for she was no great weight; but as
soon as they were out of the house Annie begged him to set her down so
earnestly, that he at once complied, and, bidding her good night, ran
home barefoot through the flooded roads.

The Bruces had gone on with the two umbrellas, one of which, more to
her discomfort than protection, Annie had shared in coming to the
school; so that she was very wet before she got home. But no notice was
taken of the condition she was in; the consequence of which was a
severe cold and cough, which however, were not regarded as any
obstacles to her going to school the next day.

That night she lay awake for a long time, and when at last she fell
asleep, she dreamed that she took Alec Forbes home to see her
father--out the street and the long road; over the black moor, and
through the fields; in at the door of the house, and up the stair to
her father's room, where he lay in bed. And she told him how kind Alec
had been to her, and how happy she was going to be now. And her father
put his hand out of the bed, and laid it