t
affair to him.

"Ah, ye would wonder, mother," Jamie said, "when I open my box an' find
a'thing tied up wi' strings sae careful, it a' comes back to me wi' a
rush wha did it, an' am as fond o' thae strings as though they were a
grand present. There's the pocky (bag) ye gae mi to keep sewin' things
in. I get the wifie I lodge wi' to sew to me, but often when I come
upon the pocky I sit an' look at it."

Two chairs were backed to the fire, with underclothing hanging upside
down on them. From the string over the fireplace dangled two pairs of
much-darned stockings.

"Ye'll put on baith thae pair o' stockin's, Jamie," said Jess, "juist
to please me?"

When he arrived he had rebelled against the extra clothing.

"Ay, will I, mother?" he said now.

Jess put her hand fondly through his ugly hair. How handsome she
thought him.

"Ye have a fine brow, Jamie," she said. "I mind the day ye was born
sayin' to mysel 'at ye had a fine brow."

"But ye thocht he was to be a lassie, mother," said Leeby.

"Na, Leeby, I didna. I kept sayin' I thocht he would be a lassie
because I was fleid he would be; but a' the time I had a presentiment
he would be a laddie. It was wi' Joey deein' sae sudden, an' I took on
sae terrible aboot 'im 'at I thocht all alang the Lord would gie me
another laddie."

"Ay, I wanted 'im to be a laddie mysel," said Hendry, "so as he could
tak Joey's place."

Jess's head jerked back involuntarily, and Jamie may have felt her hand
shake, for he said in a voice out of Hendry's hearing--

"I never took Joey's place wi' ye, mother."

Jess pressed his hand tightly in her two worn palms, but she did not
speak.

"Jamie was richt like Joey when he was a bairn," Hendry said.

Again Jess's head moved, but still she was silent.

"They were sae like," continued Hendry, "'at often I called Jamie by
Joey's name."

Jess looked at her husband, and her mouth opened and shut.

"I canna mind 'at you ever did that?" Hendry said.

She shook her head.

"Na," said Hendry, "you never mixed them up. I dinna think ye ever
missed Joey sae sair as I did."

Leeby went ben, and stood in the room in the dark; Jamie knew why.

"I'll just gang ben an' speak to Leeby for a meenute," he said to his
mother; "I'll no be lang."

"Ay, do that, Jamie," said Jess. "What Leeby's been to me nae tongue
can tell. Ye canna bear to hear me speak, I ken, o' the time when
Hendry an' me'll be awa, but, Jamie, when that time