lovely than ever. As I said before, I am not
going to repeat all that occurred between us. The day was fixed for our
marriage, and friends from far and near were invited to it. They came,
some by water and others on ponies; the women on pack-saddles, with
their head-gear in baskets hung over their arms. Mr Angus had told me
that he hoped, since I was to become his nephew, that I would live on
with him and help him in his croft, as there was work enough both for me
and his son. John, indeed, had a mind to go and see something of the
world, and was proposing a trip to Aberdeen, if not to Edinburgh, before
the winter. He would be away, at all events, during the winter, so that
my services would be of great value.

This proposal exactly suited my wishes. I was certain that Margaret
would be happy with her friends, and I should find plenty of the sort of
employment which suited me. I should be out of doors during all the
hours of daylight, and I knew that I should be handy in the various
occupations in which the family passed their time during the long
evenings of winter. Well, then, Margaret and I were married, and the
guests who had welcomed me back as a countryman to Shetland, took their
departure, and we all settled down into a very regular, happy state of
existence. John Angus went away to Scotland, and I took his place as
his father's assistant. The winter came round pretty quickly, and
though we had fogs and damp sometimes, I did not find the weather nearly
so cold as I expected. Even in mid-winter, with a south-westerly wind,
it was always quite warm; but when the wind shifted round and came out
of the north-east or east, it was cold enough. Still there was very
little ice, and not often much snow. As I have often remarked when
wandering over the globe, every country has its advantages, and those
far northern islands have theirs. They have their long days in summer,
and bright skies, and fragrant wild-flowers, and fine wild scenery, and,
thanks to the hot waters of the Gulf Stream which wash their shores, a
tolerably temperate climate all the year round. The winter passed
rapidly away. I could often scarcely believe in my happiness, after all
the hardships and dangers I had undergone, and I am afraid that I was
not sufficiently grateful for it. One thing I felt, that Margaret did
not repent the choice she had made. Though I had had rather more
education than generally falls to the lot of those of my