there wes nae evil in him she married him."

"And what has happened?" Kate, being half Highland, had less patience
than Marget.

"He hes been a gude man tae her through the dark an' through the licht,
an' she hes tried tae repay him as a puir imperfect wumman can, an' her
hert is warm to him, but there hes aye been ae thing wantin'--an' it
hes been that wife's cross a' her life--there wes nae ither man, but
her husband wesna, isna, canna be her ain a'thegither an' for ever--for
the want o' luve--that luve o' luve that maks marriage."

Her voice was laden with feeling, and it was plain that she had given
of her own and deepest for the guiding of another.

"Marget, I can never be grateful enough to you for what you have shown
me this day." As she passed Whinny with his bag of seed, he apologised
for his wife.

"A 'm dootin', Miss Carnegie, the gude-wife hes keepit ye ower lang in
the gairden haiverin' awa' aboot the flooers an' her ither trokes. But
she 's michty prood for a' that aboot yir comin' up tae veesit us."

Such was the second conference on Kate's affairs on that day.

No place could be more thoroughly cleansed from vulgar curiosity than
our Glen, or have a finer contempt for "clatters," but the atmosphere
was electrical in the diffusion of information. What happened at
Burnbrae was known at the foot of Glen Urtach by evening, and the visit
of spiritual consolation which Milton, in the days of his Pharisaism,
paid to Jamie Soutar on his deathbed was the joy of every fireside in
Drumtochty within twenty-four hours. Perhaps it was not, therefore,
remarkable that the arrival of Lord Kilspindie's groom at Tochty Lodge
post haste with two letters on Saturday morning--one for the General
from his Lordship, and one from his son for Miss Kate--should have been
rightly interpreted, and the news spread with such rapidity that
Hillocks--a man not distinguished above his fellows for tact--was able
to inform Carmichael in the early afternoon that the marriage between
the young lord and the "Miss" at Tochty was now practically arranged.

"It's been aff and on a' winter, an' the second veesit tae the Castle
settled it, but a 'm hearin' it wes the loss o' the Lodge brocht the
fast offer this mornin'. She 's an able wumman, an' cairried her gear
tae the best market. Ma certes," and Hillocks contemplated Kate's
achievement with sympathetic admiration, "but she 'll set her place
weel, an' haud her ain wi' the Duch