With these words Mr. Purdie placed five notes in his astonished
nephew's hand and bade him begone.

'Ye maun tell yer mither instanter. I canna understan' what way ye
didna tell her first.'

'I--I was feart I wud maybe be ower wee for the Glesca Hielanders,'
Macgregor explained.

'Ye seem to me to be a heid taller since yesterday. Weel, weel.
God bless ye an' so forth. Come back an' see me in the efternune.'

Macgregor went out with a full heart as well as a well-filled
pocket. It is hardly likely that the very first 'accidental
expense' which occurred to him could have been foreseen by Aunt
Purdie--yet who shall discover the secrets of that august lady's
mind?

On his way home he paused at sundry shop windows--all jewellers'.
And he entered one shop, not a jeweller's, but the little
stationery and fancy goods shop owned by Miss M. Tod, and managed,
with perhaps more conscience than physical toil, by the girl he had
been courting for two years without having reached anything that
could be termed a definite understanding, though their relations
were of the most friendly and confidential nature.

'Mercy!' exclaimed Christina, at his entrance at so unusual an
hour; 'is the clock aff its onion, or ha'e ye received the sack?'