oursels, and--"

He broke down, "Oh, Elspeth," he cried, "it was ill-done of me no to
stick to my books, and get a bursary, and it was waur o' me to bother
about that word. I'm a scoundrel, I am, I'm a black, I'm a--"

But she put her hand on his mouth, saying, "I'm fonder o' you than ever,
Tommy, and I'll like the Dubb o' Prosen fine, and what does it matter
where we are when we're thegither?" which was poor comfort for him, but
still he could not tell her the truth, and so in the end Aaron had to
tell her. It struck her down, and the doctor had to be called in during
the night to stop her hysterics. When at last she fell asleep Tommy's
arm was beneath her, and by and by it was in agony, but he set his teeth
and kept it there rather than risk waking her.

When Tommy was out of the way, Aaron did his clumsy best to soothe her,
sometimes half shamefacedly pressing her cheek to his, and she did not
repel him, but there was no response. "Dinna take on in that way,
dawtie," he would say, "I'll be good to you."

"But you're no Tommy," Elspeth answered.

"I'm not, I'm but a stunted tree, blasted in my youth, but for a' that I
would like to have somebody to care for me, and there's none to do't,
Elspeth, if you winna. I'll gang walks wi' you, I'll take you to the
fishing, I'll come to the garret at night to hap you up, I'll--I'll
teach you the games I used to play mysel'. I'm no sure but what you
might make something o' me yet, bairn, if you tried hard."

"But you're no Tommy," Elspeth wailed again, and when he advised her to
put Tommy out of her mind for a little and speak of other things, she
only answered innocently, "What else is there to speak about?"

Mr. McLean had sent Tommy a pound, and so was done with him, but Ailie
still thought him a dear, though no longer a wonder, and Elspeth took a
strange confession to her, how one night she was so angry with God that
she had gone to bed without saying her prayers. She had just meant to
keep Him in suspense for a little, and then say them, but she fell
asleep. And that was not the worst, for when she woke in the morning,
and saw that she was still living, she was glad she had not said them.
But next night she said them twice.

And this, too, is another flash into her dark character. Tommy, who
never missed saying his prayers and could say them with surprising
quickness, told her, "God is fonder of lonely lassies than of any other
kind, and every time you greet it makes