ently been made
to tidy things a little, for papers had been collected into bundles,
pipes had been thrust into corners, and bowls of chrysanthemums stood
about to sweeten the tobacco-laden atmosphere.

A large fire burned on the hearth, and Lewis pulled up some
masculine-looking arm-chairs and asked the ladies to sit in them, but
Jean along with Jock and Mhor were already engrossed in books, and their
neglected host looked at them with disgust.

"Such are the primitive manners of the Jardine family," he said to
Pamela. "If you want a word out of them you must lock up all printed
matter before they approach. Thank goodness, that's the gong! They can't
read while they're feeding."

"Honourable," said Mhor, as they ate their excellent luncheon. "Isn't
Laverlaw a lovely place?"

Pamela agreed. "I never saw anything so indescribably green. It wears
the fairy livery. I can easily picture True Thomas walking by that
stream."

"Long ago," said Jock in his gruff voice, "there was a keep at Laverlaw
instead of a house, and Cousin Lewis' ancestors stole cattle from
England, and there were some fine fights in this glen. Laverlaw Water
would run red with blood."

"Jock," Jean protested, "you needn't say it with such relish."

Pamela turned to her host.

"Priorsford seems to think you find yourself almost too contented at
Laverlaw. Mrs. Hope says you are absorbed in sheep."

Lewis Elliot looked amused. "I can imagine the scorn Mrs. Hope put into
her voice as she said 'sheep.' But one must be absorbed in
something--why not sheep?"

"I like a sheep," said Jock, and he quoted:

"'Its conversation is not deep,
But then, observe its face.'"

"You may be surprised to hear," said Lewis, "that sheep are almost like
fine ladies in their ways: they have megrims, it appears. I found one
the other day lying on the hill more or less dead to the world, and I
went a mile or two out of my way to tell the shepherd. All he said was,
'I ken that yowe. She aye comes ower dwamy in an east wind.' ... But
tell me, Jean, how is Miss Reston conducting herself in Priorsford?"

"With the greatest propriety, I assure you," Pamela replied for herself.
"Aren't I, Jean? I have dined with Mrs. Duff-Whalley and been
introduced to 'the County.' You were regrettably absent from that august
gathering, I seem to remember. I have lunched with the Jowetts, and left
the table without a stain either on the cloth or my character, but it
was a great n