Days and days passed, and still Malcolm had no word from Lenorme, and
was getting hopeless in respect to that quarter of possible aid. But so
long as Florimel could content herself with the quiet of Lossie House,
there was time to wait, he said to himself. She was not idle, and that
was promising. Every day she rode out with Stoat. Now and then she would
make a call in the neighborhood, and, apparently to trouble Malcolm,
took care to let him know that on one of these occasions her call had
been upon Mrs. Stewart. One thing he did feel was, that she made no
renewal of her friendship with his grandfather: she had, alas! outgrown
the girlish fancy. Poor Duncan took it much to heart. She saw more of
the minister and his wife--who both flattered her--than anybody else,
and was expecting the arrival of Lady Bellair and Lord Liftore with the
utmost impatience. They, for their part, were making the journey by the
easiest possible stages, tacking and veering, and visiting every one of
their friends that lay between London and Lossie: they thought to give
Florimel the little lesson that, though they accepted her invitation,
they had plenty of friends in the world besides her ladyship, and were
not dying to see her.

One evening, Malcolm, as he left the grounds of Mr. Morrison, on whom
he had been calling, saw a traveling-carriage pass toward Portlossie,
and something liker fear laid hold of his heart than he had ever felt
except when Florimel and he on the night of the storm took her father
for Lord Gernon the wizard. As soon as he reached certain available
fields, he sent Kelpie tearing across them, dodged through a fir wood,
and came out on the road half a mile in front of the carriage: as again
it passed him he saw that his fears were facts, for in it sat the
bold-faced countess and the mean-hearted lord. Something _must_ be done
at last, and until it was done good watch must be kept.

I must here note that during this time of hoping and waiting Malcolm had
attended to another matter of importance. Over every element influencing
his life, his family, his dependants, his property, he desired to
possess a lawful, honest command: where he had to render account he
would be head. Therefore, through Mr. Soutar's London agent, to whom he
sent up Davy, and whom he brought acquainted with Merton and his former
landlady at the curiosity-shop, he had discovered a good deal about Mrs.
Catanach from her London associates, among them the