be right: do not have any fear of that. And I will come
round when you want me--oh yes, I will come round at any time--but my
daughter, she is a ferry young thing, and she would be of no use to
you whatever--none whatever. And when Mr. Ingram comes you will send
him round to the place where my daughter is, for we will want to
see him, if he hass the time to come. Where is Shei--where is my
daughter?"

Sheila had quietly left the room and stolen into the silent chamber
in which the dead woman lay. They found her standing close by the
bedside, almost in a trance.

"Sheila," said her father, taking her hand, "come away now, like a
good girl. It is no use your waiting here; and Mairi--what will Mairi
be doing?"

She suffered herself to be led away, and they went home and had
luncheon; but the girl could not eat for the notion that somewhere or
other a pair of eyes were looking at her, and were hideously laughing
at her, as if to remind her of the prophecy of that old woman, that
her friends would sit down to a comfortable meal and begin to wonder
what sort of mourning they would have.

It was not until the evening that Ingram called. He had been greatly
surprised to hear from Mrs. Paterson that Mr. Mackenzie had been
there, along with his daughter; and he now expected to find the old
King of Borva in a towering passion. He found him, on the contrary, as
bland and as pleased as decency would admit of in view of the tragedy
that had occurred in the morning; and indeed, as Mackenzie had never
seen Mrs. Lavender, there was less reason why he should wear the
outward semblance of grief. Sheila's father asked her to go out of
the room for a little while; and when she and Mairi had gone, he said
cheerfully, "Well, Mr. Ingram, and it is a rich man you are at last."

"Mrs. Paterson said she had told you," Ingram said with a shrug. "You
never expected to find me rich, did you?"

"Never," said Mackenzie frankly. "But it is a ferry good thing--oh
yes, it is a ferry good thing--to hef money and be independent of
people. And you will make a good use of it, I know."

"You don't seem disposed, sir, to regret that Lavender has been robbed
of what should have belonged to him?"

"Oh, not at all," said Mackenzie, gravely and cautiously, for he did
not want his plans to be displayed prematurely. "But I hef no quarrel
with him; so you will not think I am glad to hef the money taken away
for that. Oh no: I hef seen a great many men and w