he door.
Drumsheugh arose and followed him without a word. They passed through
the little garden, sparkling with dew, and beside the byre, where Hawkie
rattled her chain, impatient for Bell's coming, and by Saunders' little
strip of corn ready for the scythe, till they reached an open field.
There they came to a halt, and Doctor MacLure for once allowed himself
to go.

His coat he flung east and his waistcoat west, as far as he could hurl
them, and it was plain he would have shouted had he been a complete mile
from Saunders' room. Any less distance was useless for the adequate
expression. He struck Drumsheugh a mighty blow that well-nigh levelled
that substantial man in the dust and then the doctor of Drumtochty
issued his bulletin.

"Saunders wesna tae live through the nicht, but he's livin' this meenut,
an' like to live.

"He's got by the warst clean and fair, and wi' him that's as good as
cure.

"It' ill be a graund waukenin' for Bell; she 'ill no be a weedow yet,
nor the bairnies fatherless.

"There's nae use glowerin' at me, Drumsheugh, for a body's daft at a
time, an' a' canna contain masel' and a'm no gaein' tae try."

Then it dawned on Drumsheugh that the doctor was attempting the Highland
fling.

"He's 'ill made tae begin wi'," Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyard
next Sabbath, "and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled by accidents,
sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith, o' a' the
Hielan flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.

"A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty years, but a' confess tae a turn
masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o' Bell an'
the news that wes waitin' her got the better o' me."

"THE DOCTOR WAS ATTEMPTING THE HIGHLAND FLING"

Drumtochty did not laugh. Drumtochty looked as if it could have done
quite otherwise for joy.

"A' wud hae made a third gin a bed been there," announced Hillocks,
aggressively.

[Illustration]

"Come on, Drumsheugh," said Jamie Soutar, "gie's the end o't; it wes a
michty mornin'."

"'We're twa auld fules,' says MacLure tae me, and he gaithers up his
claithes. 'It wud set us better tae be tellin' Bell.'

"She wes sleepin' on the top o' her bed wrapped in a plaid, fair worn
oot wi' three weeks' nursin' o' Saunders, but at the first touch she was
oot upon the floor.

"'Is Saunders deein', doctor?' she cries. 'Ye promised tae wauken me;
dinna tell me it's a' ower.'

"'There's nae deein' aboot him, Bell; ye