The herald., 1896-04-26
PART V.

She watched him at first with total sus-
nension of thought. She held her thought
as a person holds his breathing. Then she
consented to recognize him. He'll no be
coming here, he cannae be, it's no possible
And there began to grow upon her SUBJ
dued choking suspense. He was coming;
his hesitations had quite ceased, his step
grew firm and swift; no doubt remained;
and the question loomed up before her in
slant; what was she to do? 1t was all
verv well to say that her brother was
laird himself: it was all very we'll to speak
of casual intermarriages and to count cou-
sinship like Auntie Kirstie. The difference
in their social station was trechant; pro-
priety. prudence, all that she had ever
learned. all that she knew, bade her flee.
But on the other hand the cup of life now
offered to her was too enchanting. For one
moment, she saw the question clearly, and
definitely made her choice. She stood up
and showed herself an instant in the gap
relieved upon the sky line; and the next
fled trembling and sat down glowing with
excitement on the weaver's stone. She shut
he. eyes, seeking, praying for compoSure
Her hand shook in her lap, and her mind
was full of incongruous and futile speech
es What was there to make work
about? She could take care of herself, she
supposed, There was no harm in seeing
the laird 1t was the best thing that could
happen. She would mark a proper distance
to him at once and for all. Gradually the
wheels OF her nature ceased to go round so
madly, and she sat in passive expectation,
q quiet solitary figure in the midst of the
gray moss. / have said she was no hypo-
critic but here am at fault She never ad-
mitted to herself that she had come up the
hill to look for Archie. And perhaps after
ell she did not know, perhaps came as a
stone falls. For the steps of love i'll the
young, and especially in girls, are instinct
i've and unconscious.
In the meantime Archie was drawing
rapidly near, and he at least was conscious
ly seeking her neighborhood. The after
noon had turned to ashes in his mouth; the
memory of the girl had kept him from
reading and drawn him as with cords; and
at last, as the cool of the evening began
to come one he had taken his hat and set
forth, with a smothered ejaculation, by the
moor path of Craftsmanship He had no
hope to find her; he took the off chance
without expectation of result and to relieve
his uneasiness. The greater was his sur
prise, as he surmounted the slope and came
into the hollow of the Deil's Hays, to see
there, like an answer to his wishes, the
little womanly figure in the grey dress and
the pink kerchef sitting little, and low,
and lost, and acutey solitary, in these DESC
late surroundings and on the weather bea-
ten stone of the dead weaver. Those things
that still smacked of winter were all rus
ty about her. and those things that already
relished of the spring had put forth the
tender and lively colors of the season. Even
in the unchanging face of the death-stone,
changes were to be remarked: and in the
ehannelsd lettering. the moss began to re-
new Itself in jewels Of green. By an after
thought that was a stroke Of art, she had
turned up over her head the back of the
kerchef; so that it now framed beeomingly
(, her vivacious and yet pensive face Her
geet we're gathered under her on the one
side. and she leaned on her bare arm, which
showed out strong and round. tapered to a
slim wrist, and shmmered in the fading
light
Noung Hermiston was struck with a
certain chill. He was reminded that he
now dealt in serious matters Of life and