ad learned self-restraint and she had
hoped through evil days, till good days came; so then, she knew how to
look for good when all appeared wrong and by faith and will, bring
good out of evil.

After Thora and her husband left for London a great change took place
in the Ragnor home. Ragnor had been preparing for it ever since his
visit to London and, within a month, Robert Ragnor and his wife and
family came from Shetland and took possession. It gave Rahal a little
pain to see any woman in her place but that was nothing, she was going
to give her dear Coll the dream of his life. She was going to travel
with him, and see all the civilized countries in the world! She was
going to London first, and last, of all!

CHAPTER XI

SEQUENCES

Not long ago I found in a list of Orkney and Shetland literature
several volumes by a Conall Ragnor, two of them poetry. But that just
tended to certify a suspicion. Sixty years ago I had heard him repeat
some Gallic poems and had known instinctively, though only a girl of
eighteen, that the man was a poet.

It roused in me a curiosity I felt it would be pleasant to gratify,
and so a little while after I began this story, I wrote to a London
newspaper man and asked him to send me some of his Orkney exchanges. I
have a habit of trusting newspaper editors and I found this one as I
expected, willing and obliging. He sent me two Orkney papers and the
first thing I noticed was the prevalence of the old names. Among them
I saw Mrs. Max Grant, and I thought I would write to her and take my
chance of the lady turning out to be the old Sunna Vedder. It was
quite a possibility, as we were apparently about the same age when I
saw her. It was only for an hour or two in the evening we met, at the
Ragnor house, but girls see a deal in an hour or two and if I
remembered her, she had doubtless chronicled an opinion of me.

In about five weeks Mrs. Grant's letter in answer to mine arrived. She
began it by saying she remembered me, because I wore a hat, a sailor's
hat, and she said it was the first hat she ever saw on a woman's head.
She said also, that I told her women were beginning to wear them for
shopping and walking and driving, or out at sea, but never for church
or visiting. All of which I doubtless said, for it was my first hat.
And I do not remember women wearing hats at all until about this
time.

I suppose [she continued] thou wants to know first of all about
the Vedders. Th