the spinning. I don't believe John will
be hard upon you; and if you are shamefaced, Shenac yonder will speak
for you."

But Shenac did not intend her cousin to know anything about the matter
till it should be settled, though she did not tell her brother so. She
went away a little anxious and uncertain. For though she had been the
main dependence all summer for the work both in the house and in the
field, she had had very little to do with other people; and her heart
failed her at the thought of speaking to any one about their affairs,
especially to John Firinn. So it was with a slow step and a troubled
face that she took her way over the field to find her cousin.

She had been a little doubtful all day whether she should find Shenac at
home and at liberty to go with her, but she never thought of finding
Shenac's father there. They were rolling--that is, clearing off--the
felled trees in Angus Dhu's farther field, she knew, and Shenac might be
there, and she thought that her father must be. She had not met Angus
Dhu face to face fairly since that May-day by the creek; that is, she
had never seen him unless some one else was present, and the thought of
doing so was not at all pleasant to her. So when, on turning the
corner, she saw his tall and slightly-bent figure moving towards her, in
her first surprise and dismay she had some thoughts of turning and
running away. She did not, however, but came straight on up the path.

"I was not sure it was you, Shenac," was her uncle's greeting; "you are
seen here so rarely. It must be something more than common that brings
you from home to-day, you have grown such a busy woman."

"I came for Cousin Shenac to go with me to Mary Matheson's, if she can
be spared. Is she at home to-day?" said Shenac, with some hesitation,
for she would far rather have made her request to Shenac's mother.

"Oh yes, she's at home. Go into the house. I daresay her mother will
spare her." And he repeated a Gaelic proverb, which being translated
into English would mean something like, "All work and no play makes Jack
a dull boy." Shenac smiled to herself as she thought of her mother's
many messages and her dreaded mission to John Firinn. It did not seem
much like play to her.

But burdens have a way of slipping easily from young shoulders, and the
two Shenacs went on their way cheerily enough, and I daresay a stranger
meeting them might have fancied that our Shenac was the lighter-heart