sel," she
declared wonderingly.

"No, you didn't, you would jist be saying 'fisel.'"

She stared a moment, then laughed aloud, a clear little bubbling
irresistible laugh, and this time Scotty laughed with her.

He seated himself cross-legged upon the grass and proceeded to
catechise her.

"Your name will be Isabel, won't it?"

"Imph--n--n," the blue bonnet nodded emphatically, "Isabel Douglas
Herbert, an' my mamma was Scotch, an' my Uncle Walter says I'm his
Scotch lassie."

Scotty nodded approval. He could not quite understand, however, how
she could be Scotch and live with the English gentry on the shores of
Lake Oro instead of in the Oa.

"Where does your mother live?" he inquired dubiously.

"In heaven," said the little one simply, "an' my papa lives there too."

"Oh," said Scotty, "an' my father and mother will be living there too,
whatever." He was not to be outdone by her in the matter of ancestry.

"Do they? Oh, isn't that nice? I guess they visit each other every
day. An' you live with your granma, don't you?"

Scotty nodded. "Have you got a Granny too?"

"No, only Granma MacDonald here, but I've got an auntie an' an uncle,
an' a cousin. His name's Harold. Have you got a cousin?"

"No." Scotty's face fell. "No, I don't think I will be having any,
unless mebby Callum an' Rory an' Hamish would be my cousins, whatever."

"Who's Callum?" Scotty sat up straight, his eyes shining. Callum!
Why, he was the most wonderful man in all the township of Oro; and
thereupon he proceeded to give her a detailed account of the wonderful
achievements of "the boys"; how Callum was so big and so strong and
could run the logs down the river better than anyone else; how Rory
could play the fiddle and dance; and, oh, the stories Hamish could tell!

The blue eyes opposite him grew bigger. "Oh," their owner exclaimed
delightedly, "I'm going over to your place to see you some day, an'
we'll get Hamish to tell us 'bout fairies an' things, won't we? You'll
let me come, won't you?"

Scotty hesitated. A girl at home might be a great inconvenience and at
best would certainly be an embarrassment; but his whole life's training
had taught him that one's home must ever be at the disposal of all who
would enter, and anyone who would not must be urged, even though that
person were the niece of Captain Herbert. So he answered cordially,
"Oh, yes, 'course, if you want to come."

Miss Isabel sighed happily. "Oh, I