ken off his gardening gloves,
that he might pat his child's cheek and tickle its chin to make it coo
and smile. He might have been excused if he was proud of his boy, for
he was a noble little fellow,--a "braw chiel," as he was pronounced to
be by his grand-aunt, Mistress Tibbie Mactavish, who had presided at his
birth,--and likely to do no discredit to the name of Murray.

"The cutter ought to have been back by this time," said Alick at length,
looking at his watch; "Archie has had a fair tide from Oban, and a
leading wind up the loch. I hope that he has not managed to run the
_Stella_ ashore. Ben Snatchblock knows the coast, and he himself should
be pretty well acquainted with it."

"Perhaps Mr Adair did not arrive at the time expected, and Archie
would, of course, wait for him," observed Stella.

"That may be the case," said Alick, taking the telescope from a bracket
on the wall, and looking through it down the loch. "There is no sail in
sight like her, but I see a four-oared boat, which has just passed Bunaw
Ferry, pulling up the loch. Can Adair by any means have missed the
cutter, and be making his way alone to us?"

"Probably she contains a party of tourists on an excursion," said
Stella.

"She is, at all events, steering for Bercaldine," observed Murray; "if
she does not bring Paddy Adair, you will have the opportunity of
exhibiting the small Alick to some other visitor. I will go down to the
pier to receive him, whoever he is, with due honour." Saying this,
Murray, having bestowed a kiss on his wife's brow, and given another
tickle to his baby's chin, which produced an additional coo of delight,
hurried down to the landing-place, towards which the boat was rapidly
approaching. He had his telescope in his hand. He stopped on the way
to take another look through it.

"It is not Terence, but--who do you think?--our old friend, Admiral
Triton!" he shouted out, as he looked back to his wife; and then hurried
on to the landing-place, that he might be there before the admiral could
step ashore. In a few minutes he was receiving the old man's hearty
grasp of the hand, as he helped him out of the boat.

"I had long promised to pay a visit to some friends in the Highlands,
and I determined to make a trip a few miles farther and take you by
surprise, for I knew that I should be welcome at whatever time I might
arrive," said the admiral.

"Indeed you are, my dear sir," answered Murray; "most sincerely I s