reliable qualities that the little household had not long ago been told
to move on, and to make way for more money-making tenants. Farmer Gowrie
was one of the oldest residents on the estate, and he had frequently, as
he used daily to inform Granny Baxter, put in a good word for her with
the agent, and begged him to let the little cottage stand during the old
woman's lifetime; for where could he get a boy like Geordie at the same
money, as he remarked to his wife, so handy, so careful, so fearless of
Blackie, "the ill-natertest bull in all the country-side," who, under
his guidance, was meek as a lamb.

But notwithstanding Gowrie's assurances that their home was safe,
Geordie knew that his grandmother would be very much pleased to know, if
he could make her understand the fact, that he had, that afternoon,
talked with a lady from the "big hoose" itself. She seemed kind and
"pleasant-spoken," and not at all the terrible ogre that Geordie always
imagined the lady of Kirklands to be. As the rent day came round, and he
went to the inn-parlour where the agent sat to receive the rents, he
used to lay the money on the table and then turn away quickly with a
beating heart, in case granny's oft-repeated prophecy should prove
true, and the dreaded notice to quit should really be coming at last.
But instead of any such terrible communication, after he had stood the
penetrating glance of the bald-headed factor, a kindly nod used
generally to follow, and presently Geordie was galloping home at the top
of his speed to assure his grandmother that there was no word of "a
flittin'" this Martinmas. And now he felt that their home was more
secure than ever, for had not the lady said that she was sure nobody
wanted to turn them out of it?

Geordie's chief source of delight during his walk home was the thought
of what a pleasant outing the walk to Kirklands would be for Jean, for