but so anxious
to prove there was none that she agreed to the test proposed by his
father--which was, to drop all money transactions between them for a few
months, giving Willie no reason for the change. Grannie, however, being
in word and manner, if possible, still kinder to him than ever--and no
wonder, seeing she could no more, for the present, let her love out at
her pocket-hole--and Willie having, therefore, no anxiety lest he should
have displeased her, he soon ceased to think even of the change; except,
indeed, sometimes when he wanted a little money very much, and then
he would say to himself that he was afraid poor grannie had been too
liberal at first, and had spent all her money upon him; therefore
he must try to be the more attentive to her now. So the result
was satisfactory; and the more so that, for all her boasting, his
grandmother had not been able to help trembling a little, half with
annoyance, half with anxiety, as she let the first few of his services
pass without the customary acknowledgment.

"There!" she said one day, at length, triumphantly, to Mr Macmichael;
"what do you think of my Willie now? Three months over and gone, and
where are your fears? I hope you will trust my judgment a little better
after this."

"I'm very glad, anyhow, you put him to the trial," said his father. "It
will do him good."

"He wants less of that than most people, Mr Macmichael--present company
_not_ excepted," said the old lady, rather nettled, but pretending to be
more so than she really was.

CHAPTER XV.

HYDRAULICS.

The first thing Willie did, after getting his room all to himself, was
to put hinges on the windows and make them open, so satisfying his
father as to the airiness of the room. Finding himself then, as it were,
in a house of his own, he began to ask his friends in the village to
come and see him in his new quarters. The first who did so was Mrs
Wilson, and Mr Spelman followed. Hector Macallaster was unwell, and it
was a month before he was able to go; but the first day he could he
crawled up the hill to the Ruins, and then up the little winding stair
to Willie's nest. The boy was delighted to see him, made him sit in his
great arm-chair, and, as the poor man was very tired with the exertion,
would have run to the house to get him something; but Hector begged
for a little water, and declared he could take nothing else. Therefore
Willie got a tumbler from his dressing-table, and went to