lker, eyeing
the children with an amused smile, "but we need twa or three laddies to
the tables to help the women to pick stones."

Mysie's face showed her keen disappointment. She knew that it was not
customary for girls to be employed as young as she was; and Robert noted
her disappointed look as well.

"Could ye no' try Mysie, too?" he asked, breaking in anxiously. "She's a
guid worker, an' she'll be able to pick as many stanes as the weemen.
Willn't ye, Mysie?" And he turned to the girl for corroboration with
assurance.

As Mysie nodded, Walker saw a hint of tears in the girl's eyes, and the
quivering of the tiny mouth; and as there is a soft spot in all men's
hearts, even he had sympathy, for he understood what refusal meant.

"Weel, I micht gie her a trial," he said, "but she'll hae to work awfu'
hard," and he spoke as one conferring an especial concession upon the
girl.

"Oh, she'll work hard enough," said Robert. "Mysie's a guid worker, an'
you'll see ..."

"Oh, then," said Walker hurriedly breaking in upon Robert's outburst of
agreement, "ye can both come oot the morn, and I'll try and put ye both
up."

"How muckle pay will we get?" asked Robert, who was now feeling his
importance, and felt that this was after all the main point to be
considered.

"Well, we gie laddies one an' a penny," replied Walker, still smiling
amusedly at the boy's eagerness, "an' lasses are aye paid less than
callants. But it's all big lasses we hae, an' they get one an' tippence.
I'll gie Mysie a shillin' to begin wi'," and he turned away as if that
settled the matter, and was about to close the door.

"But if she picks as many stanes as a laddie, will ye gie her the same
pay as me?" interrupted Robert, not wishing the interview to end without
a definite promise of payment.

"She's gey wee," replied Walker, "an' she canna' expect as much as a
laddie," and he looked at Mysie, as if measuring her with a critical eye
to assess her value.

"But if she does as muckle work, would ye gie her the same money?"
eagerly questioned the boy, and Mysie felt that there was no one surely
so brave as Robert, nor so good, and she looked at him with gratitude in
her eyes.

"Very weel," said Walker, not desiring to prolong the interview. "Come
oot the morn, an' I'll gie ye both one an' a penny."

"Six an' sixpence a week," said Mysie, as they tramped home. "My, that's
a lot o' money, Rab, isn't it?"

"Ay, it's a guid lot, Mysie," he rep