s fields like a mere labourer."
After dinner they all walked out together, and had a row on the lake
under his guidance; and in the evening they unexpectedly met Mr Hector
Macdonald, who was proprietor of the estate on which the White House
stood, and who dwelt in another white house of much larger size at the
head of the loch, distant about two miles. Mrs Sudberry had expected
to find this Highland gentleman a very poor and proud sort of man, with
a rough aspect, a superabundance of red hair, and, possibly, a kilt.
Judge, then, her surprise when she found him to be a young gentleman of
refined mind, prepossessing manners, elegant though sturdy appearance,
and clad in grey tweed shooting-coat, vest, and trousers, the cut of
which could not have been excelled by her own George's tailor, and
George was particular in respect to cut.

Mr Macdonald, who carried a fishing-rod, introduced himself; and
accompanied his new friends part of the way home; and then, saying that
he was about to take a cast in the river before sunset, offered to show
the gentlemen the best pools. "The gentlemen" leaped at the offer more
eagerly than ever trout leaped at an artificial fly; for they were
profoundly ignorant of the gentle art, except as it is practised on the
Thames, seated on a chair in a punt, and with bait and float.

Hector Macdonald not only showed his friends where to fish, but _how_ to
fish; and the whole thing appeared so easy as practised and explained by
him, that father and sons turned their steps homeward about dusk,
convinced that they could "do it" easily, and anticipating triumph on
the morrow.

On the way home, after parting from Hector, they passed a solitary hut
of the rudest description, which might have escaped observation had not
a bright stream of light issued from the low doorway and crossed their
path.

"I would like to peep into this cottage, father," said Fred, who
cherished strong sympathies with poor people.

"Come then," cried Mr Sudberry, "let us explore."

Jacky, who was with them, felt timid, and objected; but being told that
he might hang about outside, he gave in.

They had to bend low on entering the hovel, which was mean and
uncomfortable in appearance. The walls were built of unhewn stones,
gathered from the bed of the river hard by; and the interstices were
filled up with mud and straw. Nothing graced these walls in the shape
of ornament; but a few mugs and tin pots and several culinary i