ing miserably ahead, then
turning resolutely to the left, came face to face with the Chieftain
returning from the village with his pockets bulging with papers.

His sudden appearance at this moment of depression had a peculiar
significance to the girl's mind. Doubt crystallised into resolution;
with a rapid beating of the heart she determined to grasp her courage in
both hands, and boldly make the plunge which she had been meditating for
some days past.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

REVELATIONS.

At sight of Margot the Chieftain first beamed delight, and then screwed
his chubby face into an expression of concern.

"Halloa! What's up? You look pretty middling doleful!" cried he,
casting an eloquent glance towards the inn windows, then lowering his
voice to a stage whisper, "Macalisteritis, eh? Too much stuffy parlour
and domestic reminiscences? Never mind! Pack clouds away, and welcome
day! The sun is shining, and I have a packet of bull's eyes for you in
one pocket and a budget of letters in another. No, you don't! Not one
single one of them to read in the house--come and sit on a stone by the
tarn, and we'll suck peppermints and read 'em together. Wonderful how
much better you'll feel when you've had a good blow of fresh air. I was
prancing mad when I went out this afternoon, but now--a child might play
with me!"

He threw out his short arms with his favourite sweeping gesture, his
coat flapped to and fro in the breeze, he stepped out with such a jaunty
tread on his short broad feet, that at sight of him Margot's depression
vanished like smoke, and she trotted along by his side with willing
footsteps.

"That's better! That's better! Never saw you look melancholy before,
and never want to again... `Shocking disappearance of dimples! A young
lady robbed of her treasures! Thief still at large! Consternation in
the neighbourhood!' Eh! How's that? Young women who have been endowed
with dimples should never indulge in low spirits. It's a criminal
offence against their neighbours. Where's your brother?"

Margot laughed at the suddenness of the question. It was one of the
Chieftain's peculiarities to leap upon one like this, taking one
unawares, and surprising thereby involuntary revelations.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "Over the hills and far away,
I suppose--studying them in a new aspect. He loved them yesterday in
the rain; to-day he felt sure that it would clear, and he wanted to