and flitting away from the table and about the room Miss Hazel
sang--


' "The lady stude on the castle wa',
"Beheld baith date and down;
"Then she was ware of a host of men
"Came ryding towards the town.
"O see ye not, my merry men a',
"O see ye not what I see?
"Methinks I see a host of men:
"I marvel wha' they be." '


And thereupon, finding she had suddenly come rather close to
the subject, Miss Hazel dashed out of the room.

The day proved warm. The air, losing its morning dew and
freshness, moved listlessly about among the leaves; the sky
looked glassy; the cattle stood panting in the shade, or
mused, ankle deep, in the brooks; only the birds were
stirring.

With thought and action as elastic as theirs, the young
mistress of Chickaree prepared for her visit to the poor
woman; afraid neither of the hot sunbeams nor of certain white
undulations of cloud that just broke the line of the western
horizon. Mr. Falkirk had walked down to his cottage; there was
no one to counsel or hinder. And over the horses there was
small consultation needed; the only two nags found being a