his is dull work for a bairn. Let's go
nesting."

I forget if it was the same day, but it was soon after, my lord, finding
me alone, opened himself a little more on the same head.

"Mackellar," he said, "I am now a very happy man."

"I think so indeed, my lord," said I, "and the sight of it gives me a
light heart."

"There is an obligation in happiness--do you not think so?" says he
musingly.

"I think so indeed," says I, "and one in sorrow too. If we are not here
to try to do the best, in my humble opinion the sooner we are away the
better for all parties."

"Ay, but if you were in my shoes, would you forgive him?" asks my lord.

The suddenness of the attack a little gravelled me. "It is a duty laid
upon us strictly," said I.

"Hut!" said he. "These are expressions! Do you forgive the man
yourself?"

"Well--no!" said I. "God forgive me, I do not."

"Shake hands upon that!" cries my lord, with a kind of joviality.

"It is an ill sentiment to shake hands upon," said I, "for Christian
people. I think I will give you mine on some more evangelical occasion."

This I said, smiling a little; but as for my lord, he went from the room
laughing aloud.

* * * * *

For my lord's slavery to the child I can find no expression adequate. He
lost himself in that continual thought: business, friends, and wife
being all alike forgotten, or only remembered with a painful effort,
like that of one struggling with a posset. It was most notable in the
matter of his wife. Since I had known Durrisdeer, she had been the
burthen of his thought and the loadstone of his eyes; and now she was
quite cast out. I have seen him come to the door of a room, look round,
and pass my lady over as though she were a dog before the fire. It would
be Alexander he was seeking, and my lady knew it well. I have heard him
speak to her so ruggedly that I nearly found it in my heart to
intervene: the cause would still be the same, that she had in some way
thwarted Alexander. Without doubt this was in the nature of a judgment
on my lady. Without doubt she had the tables turned upon her, as only
Providence can do it; she who had been cold so many years to every mark
of tenderness, it was her part now to be neglected.

An odd situation resulted: that we had once more two parties in the
house, and that now I was of my lady's. Not that ever I lost the love I
bore my master. But, for one thing, he had the less use for my soc