pose so. They seem to wish it very much.'

'And you want to go, of course. They are very grand West End swells. I
know their house--a big mansion looking over the Kelvin,' he said, not
bitterly, but in the same even, indifferent voice.

'I don't know anything about them. If that is true, it is still kinder
of them to think of such a poor girl as I.'

To the astonishment of Gladys, Walter broke into a laugh, not a
particularly pleasant one.

'Six months after this you'll maybe take a different view,' he said
shortly.

'Why, Walter, what has come to you? You have so many moods now I never
know quite how to talk to you.'

'That's true,' he answered brusquely. 'I'm a fool, and nobody knows it
better than I.'

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XV.

HER INHERITANCE.

In the cheerful sunshine, the following afternoon, a small funeral party
left the house in Colquhoun Street, and drove to the railway station. It
consisted of Mr. Fordyce the lawyer, the minister of the parish, Walter
Hepburn, and Gladys. It was her own desire that she should go, and they
did not think it necessary to dissuade her. She was a sincere mourner
for the old man, and he had not so many that they should seek to prevent
that one true heart paying its last tribute to his memory. So for the
first time for many years the burying-ground of the Bourhill Grahams was
opened, somewhat to the astonishment of Mauchline folks. The name was
almost forgotten in the place; only one or two of the older inhabitants
remembered the widow and her two boys, and these found memory dim.
Nevertheless, a few gathered in the old churchyard, viewing with
interest the short proceedings, and with very special interest the
unusual spectacle of a young fair girl standing by the grave. They did
not dream how soon her name was to become a household word, beloved from
one end of Mauchline to the other.

The two elderly gentlemen were very kind and tender to her, and the
clergyman regarded her with a curious interest, having had a brief
outline of her story from Mr. Fordyce. But it was noticeable that she
preferred Walter's company, that she spoke oftenest to him; and when the
lawyer and the minister went into the inn to have some refreshment while
waiting for the train, the two young people walked up the road to
Mossgiel. Walter was very gloomy and downcast, and she, quick to notice
it, asked the cause.

'You know it quite well,' he said abruptly. 'I suppose you are going