nd be well again. Her next was that
Mrs Stirling's golden sovereigns might stay with the other
nine-and-twenty in the china teapot; and a curious feeling of regret
mingled itself with the pleasure of the thought.

"I almost wish that I had taken them,--just to show her that it wasn't
pride; but I dare say Hugh would be better pleased as it is. I wonder
if he is strong and ready at doing things? He doesn't look very strong;
but he is a man and will know how to manage things; and my aunt will not
be anxious and cast down any more. And now I see how foolish I was to
vex myself with what was to happen to us. I might have known that the
Lord was caring for us all the time. `Yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.'" Lilias repeated the words with
a sudden gush of happy tears, hiding her face in the pillow, lest her
aunt should see.

Hugh and Archie went over the hills to the kirk at Dunmoor that day; but
Lilias dreaded the long walk a little, and she dreaded a great deal the
wondering looks and curious questioning which the sight of the stranger
would be sure to call forth. So she went to the kirk close at hand,
saying nothing to the people who spoke to her of her cousin's return,
lest their coming and going might break the Sabbath quiet of her aunt.
And a very quiet afternoon they had together. Her aunt sat silent,
thinking her own thoughts; and Lilias sat "resting," she said, with her
cheek on her little Bible, and her eyes fixed on the faraway clouds,
till the cousins came home again.

As for Archie, it was with a radiant face, indeed, that he went into the
full kirk, holding the hand of his cousin Hugh. Some in the kirk
remembered him, others guessed who he might be; and many a doubtful
glance was sent back to the days of his wayward youth, and many an
anxious thought was stirred as to whether his coming home was to be for
good or for ill.

It was well for him that he had learnt to hide his thoughts from his
fellow-men, to suffer and give no sign of pain, or he would have
startled the Sabbath quiet of the kirk that day by many a sigh and
bitter groan. Sitting in his old familiar place, and listening to the
voice which had taught and warned his childhood, it came very clearly
and sharply before him how impossible it is to undo an evil deed.
Closing his eyes, he could see himself sitting there a child, as his
young cousin sat now at his side; and between this time and that lay