the raised lid sheltering the flame from the wind.

Never was a happier boy. And when the Advocate looked in, the surprising
boyishness of Boyd rubbed off even on him. We did not inform our old
friend of the high place which "the Advocate" held in the judicial
hierarchy of his country. For we knew well that nothing Boyd said in our
house would ever be used as evidence against him.

But no doubt my lord gained a great deal of useful information as to the
habits of smugglers, their cargoes, destinations, ports of call and
sympathizers. Boyd crowned his performances by inviting the Advocate
down to undertake the defence of the next set of smugglers tried at the
assizes, a task which the Advocate accepted with apparent gratitude and
humility. For from the little man's snuff-taking and easy-going, idling
ways, Boyd had taken him for a briefless advocate.

"Faith, sir, come to Galloway," he cried open-heartedly--"there's the
place to provide work for the like of you lads. And it's Boyd Connoway
will introduce you to all the excise-case defendants from Annan Port to
Loch Ryan. It's him that knows every man and mother's son of them! And
who, if ye plaise, has a better right?"

CHAPTER XXXV

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

"The strongest mental tonic in the world is solitude, but it takes a
strong mind, fully equipped with thoughts, aims, work, to support it
long without suffering. But once a man has made his best companion of
his own mind, he has learned the secret of living."

So I had written in an essay on Senancour during the days when the
little white house was but a dream, and Irma had never come to me across
the cleared space in front of Greyfriars Kirk amid the thud of mallets
and the "chip" of trowels. But Irma taught me better things. She knew
when to be silent. She understood, also, when speech would slacken the
tension of the mind. As I sat writing by the soft glow of the lamp I
could hear the rustle of her house-dress, the sharp, almost inaudible,
_tick-tick_ of her needle, and the soft sound as she smoothed out her
seam. Little things that happen to everybody, but--well, I for one had
never noticed them before.

It seemed as if this period of contentment would always continue. The
present was so good that, save a little additional in the way of income,
I asked for no better.

But one day the Advocate rudely shook my equanimity.

"You must have some of your family--some good woman--to be with Irma.
Wr