because the river afforded the means of carriage down to the sea, and
the mill had been so constructed that the sugar hogsheads could be
lowered from the buildings into the river boats. Here Mrs. Heathcote
and Kate Daly found the old lady sitting at work, all alone, in the
veranda. She was a handsome old woman, with gray hair, seventy years
of age, with wrinkled face, and a toothless mouth, but with bright
eyes, and with no signs of the infirmity of age.

"This is gey kind of you to run so far to see an auld woman," she
said.

Mrs. Heathcote declared that they were used to the heat, and that
after the rain the air was pleasant.

"You're two bright lassies, and you're hearty," she said. "I'm auld,
and just out of Cumberland, and I find it's hot enough--and I'm no
guid at horseback at all. I dinna know how I'm to get aboot."

Then Mrs. Heathcote explained that there was an excellent track for a
buggy all the way to Gangoil.

"Giles is aye telling me that I'm to gang aboot in a bouggey, but I
dinna feel sure of thae bouggeys."

Mrs. Heathcote, of course, praised the country carriages, and the
country roads, and the country generally. Tea was brought in, and the
old lady was delighted with her guests. Since she had been at the
mill, week had followed week, and she had seen no woman's face but
that of the uncouth girl who waited upon her. "Did ye ever see rain
like that!" she said, putting up her hands. "I thought the Lord was