g anxiously to the murmurs that broke
through the veil of his dreams. The feeling with which she had received
the prodigal home into her heart, spread its roots deeper and wider,
and bore at length a flower of a pale-rosy flush--Annie's love revealed
to herself--strong although pale, delicate although strong. It seemed
to the girl she had loved him so always, only she had not thought about
it. He had fought for her and endured for her at school; he had saved
her life from the greedy waters of the Glamour at the risk of his own:
she would be the most ungrateful of girls if she did not love him.--And
she did love him with a quiet intensity peculiar to her nature.

Never had she happier hours than those in which it seemed that only the
stars and the angels were awake besides herself. And if while watching
him thus at night she grew sleepy, she would kneel down and pray God to
keep her awake, lest any harm should befall Alec. Then she would wonder
if even the angels could do without sleep always, and fancy them lying
about the warm fields of heaven between their own shadowy wings. She
would wonder next if it would be safe for God to close his eyes for one
minute--safe for the world, she meant; and hope that, if ever he did
close his eyes, that might not be the one moment when she should see
his face. Then she would nod, and wake up with a start, flutter
silently to her feet, and go and peep at the slumberer. Never was woman
happier than Annie was during those blessed midnights and cold grey
dawns. Sometimes, in those terrible hours after midnight that belong
neither to the night nor the day, but almost to the primeval darkness,
the terrors of the darkness would seize upon her, and she would sit
"inhabiting trembling." But the lightest movement of the sleeper would
rouse her, and a glance at the place where he lay would dispel her
fears.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

One night she heard a rustling amongst the bushes in the garden; and
the next moment a subdued voice began to sing:

I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear;
At length to me he did incline, my voice and cry to hear.
He took me from a fearful pit, and from the miry clay,
And on a rock he set my feet, establishing my way.

The tune was that wildest of trustful wailings--_Martyrs_'.

"I didna ken that ye cared aboot psalm-tunes, Mr Cupples," murmured
Alec.

The singing went on and he grew restless.

It was an _eerie_ thing to go