us to let the whole world know of his good fortune, and above
all to confide the tidings of his happiness to his constant friend and
companion. But now, as he sat in one corner of the room, he almost
feared to be spoken to by the two men who sat at the table with steaming
glasses before them. He dared not tell Ingram: he had no wish to tell
him, even if he had got him alone. And as he sat there and recalled the
incident that had just occurred by the side of the little bridge, he
could not wholly understand its meaning. There had been none of the
eagerness, the coyness, the tumult of joy he had expected: all he could
remember clearly was the long look that the large, earnest, troubled
eyes had fixed upon him, while the girl's face, grown pale in the
moonlight, seemed somehow ghost-like and strange.

CHAPTER VII.

AN INTERMEDDLER.

But in the morning all these idle fancies fled with the life and color
and freshness of a new day. Loch Barvas was ruffled into a dark blue by
the westerly wind, and doubtless the sea out there was rushing in,
green and cold, to the shore. The sunlight was warm about the house. The
trout were leaping in the shallow brown streams, and here and there a
white butterfly fluttered across the damp meadows. Was not that Duncan
down by the river, accompanied by Ingram? There was a glimmer of a rod
in the sunshine: the two poachers were after trout for Sheila's
breakfast.

Lavender dressed, went outside and looked about for the nearest way down
to the stream. He wished to have a chance of saying a word to his friend
before Sheila or her father should appear. And at last he thought he
could do no better than go across to the bridge, and so make his way
down the banks of the river.

What a fresh morning it was, with all sorts of sweet scents in the air!
And here, sure enough, was a pretty picture in the early light--a young
girl coming over the bridge carrying a load of green grass on her back.
What would she say if he asked her to stop for a moment that he might
sketch her pretty costume? Her head-dress was a scarlet handkerchief,
tied behind: she wore a tight-fitting bodice of cream-white flannel and
petticoats of gray flannel, while she had a waistbelt and pouch of
brilliant blue. Did she know of these harmonies of color or of the
picturesqueness of her appearance as she came across the bridge in the
sunlight? As she drew near she stared at the stranger with the big, dumb
eyes of a wild animal.