ine. Little use they would be
there. I'll send to Glasgow for some Irish bodies."

"And then you will have more fighting than working on the place; and
you'll have to build a Roman-catholic chapel, and have a Roman priest
in Crawford, and you ken whether the Crawfords will thole _that_ or
not."

"As to the fighting, I'll gie them no chance. I'm going to send the
Crawfords to Canada. I hae thought it all out. The sheilings will do
for the others; the land I want for sheep grazing. They are doing
naething for themsel's, and they are just a burden to me. It will be
better for them to gang to Canada. I'll pay their passage, and I'll
gie them a few pounds each to start them. You must stand by me in this
matter, for they'll hae to go sooner or later."

"That is a thing I cannot do, father. There is not a Laird of Crawford
that was not nursed on some clanswoman's breast. We are all kin. Do
you think I would like to see Rory and Jean Crawford packed off to
Canada? And there is young Hector, my foster-brother! And old Ailsa,
your own foster-sister! Every Crawford has a right to a bite and a sup
from the Crawford land."

"That is a' bygane nonsense. Your great-grandfather, if he wanted
cattle or meal, could just take the clan and go and harry some
Southern body out o' them. That is beyond our power, and it's an unca
charge to hae every Crawford looking to you when hunting and fishing
fails. They'll do fine in Canada. There is grand hunting, and if they
want fighting, doubtless there will be Indians. They will hae to go,
and you will hae to stand by me in this matter."

"It is against my conscience, sir. I had also plans about these poor,
half-civilized, loving kinsmen of ours. You should hear Selwyn talk of
what we might do with them. There is land enough to give all who want
it a few acres, and the rest could be set up with boats and nets as
fishers. They would like that."

"Nae doubt. But I don't like it, and I wont hae it. Mr. Selwyn may hae
a big parish in London, but the Crawfords arena in his congregation. I
am king and bishop within my ain estate, Colin." Then he rose in a
decided passion and locked up again the precious parchment, and Colin
understood that, for the present, the subject was dismissed.

CHAPTER II.

At the very time this conversation was in progress, one strangely
dissimilar was being carried on between George Selwyn and Helen
Crawford. They were sitting in the sweet, old-fashioned garden an