ing."

"Then I will stop singing and thou must talk to me. There has come
news, and I want thy opinion on it. The Ragnors had a dinner party
today, and we were not asked."

"A great lie is that! Conall Ragnor would not give Queen Victoria a
party in Lent. Who told thee such foolishness?"

Then Sunna retailed the information given her and asked, "What hast
thou done to Conall Ragnor? Always before he bid thee to dinner when
the Bishop was at his house? Or perhaps the offence is with Rahal
Ragnor? Not long ago thou spent an afternoon with her and black and
dangerous as a thunder storm thou came home."

"This day the dinner was an accidental gathering. Rahal knows well
that I have no will to dine with Mistress Brodie. Dost thou want her
here, as thy stepmother?"

"If Mistress Brodie is not tired of an easy life, she will turn her
feet away from this house. If Sunna cannot please thee, thou art in
danger of worse happening. Yes, many are guessing who it is thou wilt
marry."

"And which way runs the guessing?"

"Not all one way. For thee, that is not a respectable thing. Thou
should not be named with so many old women."

"I am of thy opinion. An old woman is little to my mind. If I trust
marriage again, I will choose a young girl for my wife--such an one as
Treddie Fae, or Thora Ragnor."

"Thora Ragnor! Dreaming thou art! I am sure Barbara Brodie has brought
this young man here for Thora's approval. Can thou stand against a
young man?"

"Yes. Adam Vedder and fifty thousand pounds can hand any young man his
hat and gloves. Thy father's father is not for thee to make a jest
about. So here our talk shall come to an end on this subject. Go to
thy bed! Sleep, and the Good Being bless thee!"

Sunna was not yet inclined to sleep. She sat down before her mirror,
uncoiled her plentiful hair, and carefully brushed and braided it for
the night, as she considered the news that had come to her.

"This beautiful young man, this singing man, is one of Barbara
Brodie's 'finds.' Not much do I think of any of them! That handsome
scholar she brought here turned out an unbearable encumbrance. I
believe she paid him to go back to Edinburgh. That Aberdeen man, who
wanted to invest money in Kirkwall had to borrow two pounds from
grandfather to take him back to where he came from. That witty,
good-looking Irishman left a big bill at the Castle Hotel for some one
to pay; and the woman who wanted to begin a dressmaking business, on
t