his
elder brother, who sold a great part of his property for that
purpose--notably that portion of his lands to the south of the
loch, and that on which the mansion of the Murray family now
stands."

"Fancy that!" said Marjory to herself. "I never knew that all that land
once belonged to us. No wonder if the ancestors did punish James; they
wouldn't like to see their property disappearing."

Then came a verse which caused the girl's heart to beat fast and her
face to flush:--

"The ladies fine of Hunter line
Are fair as fair can be.
Should tresses dark a maiden mark,
Her beloved must cross the sea."

A note followed:--

"It is a curious thing that among all the written descriptions and
the paintings at my disposal I can find no record of a dark-haired
daughter of the house; fair hair and blue eyes are the rule.--A. H."

It is easy to see that any one of these so-called predictions was more
than likely to be fulfilled under any circumstances, and that very
probably the whole thing was written in the first place as a joke.
Moreover, Marjory was not a Hunter by name, being the child of a
daughter of the house and not of a son. Still, she took this saying to
mean herself: she, Marjory Davidson, and no other, must be the
dark-haired maiden whose beloved must cross the sea. It must mean that,
sooner or later, her father would come to her across the sea.

It was little wonder, then, that she tossed and turned upon her pillow
that night, and that, when at last she did fall asleep, her dreams were
a confused mixture--rats flying from a terrier of impossible size,
shadowy processions of ancestors in their picture-frames, and a long row
of ladies with flaxen locks pointing at her and calling to her, "Tresses
dark a maiden mark."

Next morning, full of enthusiasm, she showed her uncle the portfolio,
directing his attention to the copied verses. Contrary to all her
expectations, he only laughed at them, and made no remark about the
dark-haired maiden. It was not that he did not notice that particular
verse, but he did not wish Marjory to think that there was any reason
why she should apply it to herself, and he did not wish her head to be
filled with romantic nonsense. So he took away the portfolio, much to
Marjory's disgust, for she had looked forward to showing it to Blanche
and Alan. Still, she had a good memory, and could repeat every word of
it by heart, and was not lik