The herald., 1897-12-26

their husbands year after year; who
fear and serve them; who tend them
in life and minister to them in death;
who die, before or after, with slay-
ing thirst, a consuming hunger. OF
these unhappy housemates, of desolate
hearts and unfrequented lips, my Aunt
Elspeth was one.
| 1t was on a dull Sunday afternoon
that the dark hour came of which
have spoken. The rain fell among the
| hills. There was none on the north
| side of Strathglas, where Teenabrae
stood solitary. The remembrance Is
| on me keen just now; how l at there,
| on the bench in front of the house,
| side by side with Morag, in the hot,
August damp. with the gnats pinging
overhead, and not sound else, save
| the loud raucous surge of Gorromalt
water, thirty years away. In chair
near us sat my Aunt Elspeth. Beyond
her on milking stool, with his chin
in his hands and h elbows on his
knees, was her husband. There was
a gloom upon us all. The day before,
| as soon as Gorromalt had returned
from Castle Avale, high up on Strath-
| NOR, we had seen the black east wind
in his eyes. But he had said nothing.
We guessed that his visit to the Ed
glishman at Castle Avale, who had
bought the Three Straths from Sir
EVAN Campbell Of Drumdoon, had
proved fruitless, or at least unsatis-
factory. 1t was at the porridge on
the Sabbath morning that he told us.
"And-and-we must go, Archibald?"
asked his wife, her lips white, and the
deep withered creases on her neck
ashy gray.
lie did not answer, but the tumbler
cracked in his grip, and the splintered
glass fell into his plate. The split
milk trickled off the table on to the
end of his plaid, and so to the floor
Luath, the collie, slipped forward, with
her tongue lolling greedily; but her
eye caught the stare of the silent man,
and with whine and sudden in
sweep of her tail, she skunk back.
1t must have been nigh an hour later,
that he spoke.
mo, Elspeth,' he said. "There will!
be no going away from here for you
and me till we go feet foremost"
Before the afternoon we had heard
all; how he had gone to see this En-
glish lord who had "usurped" Drum
doom; how he had not gained an In
terview, and had seen no other than
Mr.. Laing, the East-Lothian factor.
He had had to accept bitter hard
terms. Sir Evan Campbell was in
Madras with his regiment, a ruined
man; he would never be home again.
and, If homo, would be a stranger in
the Three Straths, where he and his
had lived and where his kindred had
been born and had died during six CEN
turies back. There was no hope This
Lord Greyshott wanted more rent,
and he also wanted Strathgorm for q
| leer-run.
We were sitting, brooding on these
things-in our ears the fierce words
that Gorromalt had said, with bitter
;urses upon the selling of the ancient
and and the betrayal of the people
Morag was in one of her strange
| moods. I saw her with her shining
| eyes, looking at the birch that over
lung the small foaming linn beyond
IS, just as though she saw the soul of
t, and the soul with strange speech
| % it.
Where is Muireall?" she said to
me. suddenly, in a low voice.
| "Muireall?" I repeated. "Muireallo
am not for knowing, Morag. Why
do you ask? Do you want her?"
| She did not answer, but went on.
Have you seen him again!'
Him? Whom?"
Jasper Morgan, this English lords
son."
| "No"
long silence followed. Suddenly
Aunt Elspeth started. Pointing to n
figure coming from the peat-moss at
the hither end of Strathmor, she asked
who it was, as she could not see with
out her spectacles. Her husband
rose. staring eagerly. He gave a
grunt Of disappointment when he
recognized Mr.. Allen Stewart, the
minister of Strathmor parish.
| AS the old man drew near we
watched him steadfastly I have the
thought that each one of lis knew he
was coming to tell us evil news:
though none guessed why or what. I'M
less Morag mayhap.
| When he had shaken hands and
blessed the house and those within it.
Mr.. Stewart sat down on the bench
beside Morag and me. I am thinking
he wanted not to see the eyes of Cor
romalt, not to see the white face of
Aunt Elsr eth.
| / heard him whisper to nv dear
that he wanted her to go into the
house for a little. But she would NOT
The birdeen knew that sorrow was
upon them. He saw mo- in her ewes
and forbore.
"And what is the thing that is on
your lips to tell, Mr. Stewart?" said
Gorromalt at last, half mockinglv
half sullenly.
"And how are you for knowing that
1 have anything to tell, Gorromalt?"
Sure, man. if kite can see the
shadow of mouse mile away, it can
see black cloud on a hill near by."
It's black cloud bring, Archi-
bald Campbell; alas, even SO. Ay,
sure. 1T is black cloud it is. God
melt the pain of it,"
"Speak, mani"
There is no good in wading in
heather. Gorromalt, and you Mrs
Campbell, and you my poor Morag,
and you, too, Mary Cameron, must lust
be brave. 1t is Gods WILL"
"Speak, man, and don't be winding
the shroud all the time. Let us be
hearing and seeing the thing you have
brought to tell U.S."
1t was at this moment that Aunt
Elspeth half rose, and abruptly re-
seated herself raising the while a de-
predatory feeble hand.
"Is it about Muireall?" she asked.
quiveringly. "She went away. to the
church at Kilbrennan, at sunrise; and
the waters in Spate all down Strath-