o be out here in the sun
among the chattering people, to have nothing between him and Glen Shira
but a straight sweep of wind-blown highway. From the steps of the church
he could see the Boshang Gate and the hazy ravines and jostling elbows
of the hills in Shira Glen. He saw it all, and in one bound his spirit
vaulted there, figuring her whose psalm he had but heard in the delusion
of desire.

The Duke came lazily down the steps, threw a glance among his clan
and tenantry, cast his plaid, with a fine grace, about his shoulders,
touching his bonnet with a finger as hat or bonnet rose in salutation,
and he went fair up in the middle of the street.

The conversation ceased, and people looked after him as on an Emperor.

"He's going to London on Tuesday, I hear," said Major Hall to Mr.
Spencer. It was the Majors great pride to know the prospective movements
at the Castle sooner than any one else, and he was not above exchanging
snuff-mulls with Wat Thomson, the ducal boot-brusher, if ducal news
could only be got thereby.

"London, London; did you say, London, sir?" said the innkeeper, looking
again with an envy after his Grace, the name at once stirring in him the
clime from which he was an exile. And the smell of peaty clothes smote
him on the nostril for the first time that day. He had been so many
Sundays accustomed to it that as a rule he no longer perceived it, but
now it rose in contrast to the beefy, beer-charged, comfortable odours
of his native town.

"Ah! he's going on Tuesday," said the Paymaster, "but when Duke George's
gone, there are plenty of Dukes to take his place. Every officer in his
corps will be claiming a full command, quarrelling among themselves.
There'll be Duke Islay----"

"Hus--s--sh!" whispered Major Hall discreetly from the corner of his
mouth. "Here's his young fellow coming up behind." Then loudly, "It's a
very fine season indeed, Captain Campbell, a very fine season."

Young Islay came forward with a salute for the Captain and his sister.
He was Gilian's age and size, but of a different build, broader at the
shoulder, fuller at the chest, black of hair, piercing of eye, with
just enough and no more of a wholesome conceit of himself to give his
Majesty's uniform justice. When he spoke it was with a clear and manly
tone deep in the chest.

He shook hands all round, he was newly come home from the lowlands, his
tunic was without speck or crease, his chin was smooth, his strong
hands we