rry, sorry, Mither."

"Sae am I, Christine, but when things hae come to 'I'm sorry,' there's
nae gude left i' them."

"Do you think he is engaged to Roberta Rath?"

"I canna say. I don't think he kens himsel'."

"Did you see her?"

"He pointed her out to me. She was getting into a carriage, and----"

"Weel?"

"O, she was a little body; I saw naething o' her but a blue silk
dress, and a white lace bonnet. It would be ordinary, nae doubt. She
waved a white-gloved hand to Neil, and the lad's face was like an
illumination. She seemed vera sma' and thin--just a handfu' o' her.
Naething like yoursel' and our ain full-statured, weel-finished
women."

"I feel as if I had lost Neil."

"You may do sae, for a man can be lost by a woman, quite as completely
as by the North Sea."

Then Ruleson entered the cottage. He was wet through, but his face was
red with health, and radiant with excitement. He had been in the new
schoolhouse, and seen three large boxes unpacked. "Margot! Christine!"
he cried joyfully, "you'll be to come down the hill--the baith o'
you--and see the wonderfu' things that hae come for ordering and
plenishing o' our school. There's a round ball as big as that table,
set in a frame--and it turns round, and round, and shows a' the
countries and seas i' the wide warld. The Maister said it was called a
globe. There's maps o' Scotland, and England and a' other nations to
hang on the walls, and they are painted bonnily; and there's nae end
o' copy books and slates, and bundles o' pencils, and big bottles o'
ink, and, Margot, I ne'er saw sae many school books i' a' my born
days. Naething has been forgotten. The maister said sae, and the
Domine said sae."

"Was the Domine there?"

"Ay, was he. He and the maister unpacked the boxes. Forbye, there is
three prizes for the three best scholars--the bairns will go wild o'er
them."

"What are they?"

"I canna tell you. The Domine forbade me."

"You'll hae to tell me, gudeman. I'll hae nae secrets between us twa,
and I'm mair than astonished at the Domine, throwing a married man
into such a temptation."

"I'll go wi' you how, Feyther. I want to see the wonderfuls."

"They are locked by for today. We are going to fix the school room
Monday, and hae a kind o' examination Tuesday. I hope to goodness the
herrin' will keep to the nor'ard for a few days."

"Listen to your feyther, Christine! Wishing the herrin' awa' for a lot
o' school bairns."

"Weel, Margot