cimen of the heliographipod.
My dear mother will be so glad to get this, for she is quite as fond of
botany as I am."

"Indeed! Do you expect her soon?"

"Yes; her last letter leads me to expect her very soon now."

Milly looked up as she said this, but there was an expression on
Barret's face which induced her instantly to recur to scientific
research.

Now, good reader, if you think we are going further, and expect us
rudely to draw aside the curtain here, and betray confidences, you are
mistaken. But there is no reason against--indeed, the development of
our story supplies every reason in favour of--our taking note of certain
facts which bear indirectly on the subject before us.

Far away on a shoulder of the mountain, which rose on the other side of
the valley, lying between it and the Eagle Cliff, a grey speck might
have been seen perched on a rock. Even as the crow flies the distance
was so great that the unassisted human eye could not have distinguished
what it was. It might have been a grey cow, or a grew crow, or a grey
rabbit, or a grey excrescence of the rock itself; but a telescope would
have revealed the fact that it was Allan Gordon, the laird of Kinlossie!

Serenity was stamped on the old man's brow, for he was amiable by
nature, and he had been rendered more amiable that morning by having had
a pleasant chat, while ascending the mountain, with Mabberly and
Jackman. The latter he had begun facetiously to style the "Woods and
Forester." The shooting party had left him there, according to previous
arrangement, and the old gentleman had seated himself on the grey rock
to rest and commune with nature for a short time, before beginning the
descent of the steep mountain path, and wending his way homeward.

From his commanding point of observation the entire range of the Eagle
Cliff lay spread out before him, with the sea visible on the extreme of
either hand. The great valley lay between, with impassable gulfs and
gorges caused by its wild torrents, and its level patches, strewn with
the fallen _debris_ of ages, out of which the larger masses of rock rose
like islands in a grey ocean; but these huge masses became almost
insignificant, owing to the overpowering impression of the cliff itself.
For some time the laird gazed at it in silent admiration. Presently a
smile beamed on his countenance.

"Ha! my puss, is that you?" he muttered, as he took a binocular
telescope from his pocket and adjusted