e between them,--a belief which was perhaps justifiable in the
existing condition of Scottish laws of marriage. But he counted without
his host; for instead of accepting it as a manly endeavor to shield the
reputation of his daughter and divert scandal from his family, the
hot-headed father of Jean denounced it and demanded its destruction,--a
foolish proceeding to which his foolish daughter consented. Whether its
destruction could destroy his obligation need not be curiously
considered; it is enough to know that he believed that it did, and that
it was a proof of perfidy on the part of Jean. But they should see! She
had forsaken him, and he would forsake her. So, the old love being off,
he was straightway on with a new one. Of this new love little is known,
except that she was, or had been, a servant in the family of one of his
friends,--a nurserymaid or something of the sort,--and that she was of
Highland parentage. Her name was Mary Campbell. He transferred his
affections from Jean to Mary, and his fascination was so strong that
she promised to become his wife. They met one Sunday in a sequestered
spot on the banks of the Ayr, where, standing on each side of a little
brook, they laved their hands in its limpid waters, plighted their
troth, and exchanged Bibles,--she giving him her copy, which was a small
one, he giving her his copy, which was a large one in two volumes, on
the blank leaves of which he had written his name and two quotations
from the sacred text, one being the solemn injunction to fidelity in
Leviticus:--"And ye shall not swear by my name falsely. I am the Lord."
They parted. She returned to her relatives, among whom she died a few
months afterward of a malignant fever; he returned to his troubles at
Mossgiel. They were not all of his own making. It was not his fault that
the farm was an unproductive one; he could not impart fertility to
barren acres nor compel the sun to ripen scanty crops. In the hope of
bettering his fortunes he resolved to expatriate himself, and entered
into negotiations with a man who had an estate in the West Indies, and
who agreed to employ him as his factor. He had no money and no means of
getting any, except by the publication of his poems, none of which had
yet appeared in print. He issued a prospectus for their publication by
subscription; and such was the reputation they had made for him through
their circulation in manuscript, and the activity of his friends, that
the nece