ouldn't have it. I would leave you to go and fight the
world for yourself; without which a man knows nothing of himself or of
his relations with those around him."

"Frank, dear, here are the cigarettes," said Sheila at this point; and
as she came and sat down the discussion ceased.

For Sheila began to tell her friend of all the strange adventures that
had befallen her since she left the far island of Lewis--how she had
seen with fear the great mountains of Skye lit up by the wild glare
of a stormy sunrise; how she had seen with astonishment the great
fir-woods of Armadale; and how green and beautiful were the shores of
the Sound of Mull. And then Oban, with its shining houses, its
blue bay and its magnificent trees, all lit up by a fair and still
sunshine! She had not imagined there was anywhere in the world so
beautiful a place, and could scarcely believe that London itself was
more rich and noble and impressive; for there were beautiful ladies
walking along the broad pavements, and there were shops with large
windows that seemed to contain everything that the mind could desire,
and there was a whole fleet of yachts in the bay. But it was the
trees, above all, that captivated her; and she asked if they were
lords who owned those beautiful houses built up on the hill and half
smothered among lilacs and ash trees and rowan trees and ivy.

"My darling," Lavender had said to her, "if your papa were to come and
live here, he could buy half a dozen of those cottages, gardens and
all. They are mostly the property of well-to-do shopkeepers. If
this little place takes your fancy, what will you say when you go
South--when you see Wimbledon and Richmond and Kew, with their
grand old commons and trees? Why, you could hide Oban in a corner of
Richmond Park!"

"And my papa has seen all those places?"

"Yes. Don't you think it strange he should have seen them all, and
known he could live in any one of them, and then gone away back to
Borva?"

"But what would the poor people have done if he had never gone back?"

"Oh, some one else would have taken his place."

"And then, if he were living here or in London, he might have got
tired, and he might have wished to go back to the Lewis and see all
the people he knew; and then he would come among them like a stranger,
and have no house to go to."

Then Lavender said, quite gently, "Do you think, Sheila, you will ever
tire of living in the South?"

The girl looked up quickly,