d.

And before all these, with Helen sitting as mistress at the foot of the
table, and Helen's father at his right hand, the Earl of Cairnforth
introduced, in a few simple words, his chosen heir.

"Deliberately chosen," he added; "not merely as being my cousin and my
nearest of kin, but because he is his mother's son, and Mr. Cardross's
grandson, and worthy of them both--also because, for his own sake, I
respect him, and I love him. I give you the health of Alexander
Cardross Bruce-Montgomerie."

And then they all wished the young man joy, and the dining-hall of
Cairnforth Castle rang with hearty cheers for Mr. Bruce-Montgomerie.

No more speeches were made, for it was noticed that Lord Cairnforth
looked excessively wearied; but he kept his place to the last. Of the
many brilliant circles that he had entertained at his hospitable board,
none were ever more brilliant than this; none gayer, with the genial,
wholesome gayety which the earl, of whom it might truly be said,

"A merrier man, never spent an hour's talk withal,"

knew so well how to scatter around him. By what magic he did this, no
one ever quite found out; but it was done, and especially so on this
night of all nights, when, after his long absence, he came back to his
own ancestral home, and appeared again among his own neighbors and
friends. They long remembered it--and him.

At length the last carriage rolled away, and shortly afterward the wind
began suddenly to rise and howl wildly round the Castle. There came on
one of those wild winter-storms, common enough in these regions--
brief, but fierce while they last.

"You can not go home," said the earl to Mrs. Bruce, who remained with
him, the minister having departed with his son Duncan early in the
evening. "Stay here till to-morrow. Cardross, persuade your mother.
You never yet spent a night under my roof. Helen, will you do it his
once? I shall never ask you again."

There was an earnest entreaty in his manner which Helen could not
resist; and hardly knowing why she did it, she consented. Her son went
off to his bed, fairly worn out with pleasurable excitement, and she
staid with Lord Cairnforth, as he seemed to wish, for another half hour.
They sat by the library fire, listening to the rain beating and the wind
howling--not continuously, but coming and going in frantic blasts,
which seemed like the voices of living creatures borne on its wings.

"Do you mind, Helen, it was just su