eleton; and so I made his
acquaintance. I went home with him to a fearful place--I have got the
address, but I did not know there were such quarters in London--and I
saw his mother. The poor woman was very ill, and she had a lot of
children; and she seemed quite glad when I offered to take this one and
make a herd or a gamekeeper of him. I promised he should go to visit her
once a year, that she might see whether there was any difference. And I
gave her a sovereign."

"You were quite right, Keith," his cousin said, gravely; "You run a
great risk. Do they hang slavers?"

"Mother," said he, for by this time the ladies were standing still, so
that Hamish and the new gillie should overtake them, "you mustn't laugh
at the little chap when you see him with the plaid taken off. The fact
is, I took him to a shop in the neighborhood to get some clothes for
him, but I couldn't get anything small enough. He _does_ look
ridiculous; but you mustn't laugh at him, for he is like a girl for
sensitiveness. But when he has been fed up a bit, and got some Highland
air into his lungs, his own mother won't know him. And you will get him
some other clothes, Janet--some kilts, maybe--when his legs get
stronger."

Whatever Keith Macleod did was sure to be right in his mother's eyes,
and she only said, with a laugh,--

"Well, Keith, you are not like your brothers. When they brought me home
presents, it was pretty things; but all your curiosities, wherever you
go, are the halt, and the lame, and the blind; so that people laugh at
you, and say that Castle Dare is becoming the hospital of Mull."

"Mother, I don't care what the people say."

"And indeed I know that," she answered.

Their waiting had allowed Hamish and the new gillie to overtake them;
and certainly the latter, deprived of his plaid, presented a
sufficiently ridiculous appearance in the trousers and jacket that were
obviously too big for him. But neither Lady Macleod nor Janet laughed at
all when they saw this starved London waif before them.

"Johnny," said Macleod, "here are two ladies who will be very kind to
you, so you needn't be afraid to live here."

But Johnny did look mortally afraid, and instinctively once more took
hold of Macleod's coat. Then he seemed to have some notion of his duty.
He drew back one foot, and made a sort of courtesy. Probably he had seen
girls do this, in mock-heroic fashion, in some London court.

"And are you very tired?" said Janet Macleo