Urtach, and toiling roond frae the heich Glen, an' his Lordship driving
through the drifts a' the road frae Muirtown, juist tae honour Weelum
MacLure's beerial.

[Illustration: "TWA HORSES, ANE AFORE THE ITHER"]

"It's nae ceremony the day, ye may lippen tae it; it's the hert brocht
the fouk, an' ye can see it in their faces; ilka man hes his ain
reason, an' he's thinkin' on't though he's speakin' o' naethin' but the
storm; he's mindin' the day Weelum pued him out frae the jaws o' death,
or the nicht he savit the gude wife in her oor o' tribble.

"That's why they pit on their blacks this mornin' afore it wes licht,
and wrastled through the sna drifts at risk o' life. Drumtochty fouk
canna say muckle, it's an awfu' peety, and they 'ill dae their best tae
show naethin', but a' can read it a' in their een.

"But wae's me"--and Jamie broke down utterly behind a fir tree, so
tender a thing is a cynic's heart--"that fouk 'ill tak a man's best wark
a' his days without a word an' no dae him honour till he dees. Oh, if
they hed only githered like this juist aince when he wes livin', an' lat
him see he hedna laboured in vain. His reward has come ower late".

During Jamie's vain regret, the castle trap, bearing the marks of a wild
passage in the snow-covered wheels, a broken shaft tied with rope, a
twisted lamp, and the panting horses, pulled up between two rows of
farmers, and Drumsheugh received his lordship with evident emotion.

"Ma lord ... we never thocht o' this ... an' sic a road."