Foes

p windows tying the interior to the yet rosy west and the clearer, paler south. Strickland stood a moment, then went out

am

, merry face, crossed the room and opened the do

lexan

him. I was at the village

what he did w

preci

it's nearly

ver-buckled shoes, stock and cravat of fine cambric, and a tie-wig. Midway in his toilet he stopped to light two candles. These s

il. But he heard only James go clattering down the passage and the stair. Strickland, blo

wed forth the chief Glenfernie gathering-place, wide and deep, with a great chimneypiece and walls of black oak, and hung thereon some old pieces of armor and old weapons. There was a table spread for supper, and a serva

ie! It'll be dark th

when he left auld Scotland thirty years since! I'm thinking h

e candles enough

andle. "They say tha

re. The tutor joined her there. He had for her liking and admiration, an

have good

y fa

just returned. They rode to Bla

asked

But he coul

the moor and been bel

itary one, with a t

Strickland, "who's said that to-da

shoe. "I don't know whether she sees or only thinks she sees

as, wore fine cloth, silken hose, gold buckles to his shoes, and a full wig. The first had a massive, somewhat saturnine countenance, the last a shrewd, narrow one. The f

. Mr. Touris got a li

Mr. Touris. "They do not bu

k Hill. I hope that you l

to India, but now shareholder and part and lot of the East India Company-"undoubtedly the place has possibilities." He warmed his hands. "Well, it would taste good to come ba

. But the laird looked with a kind of large gloom at the reflection of

rs. Jardine placed herself behind the silver urn, and Mr. Touris was given the seat nearest the fire. T

exander?" as

yet, sir. I fancy that he walked

id the laird. "But he

arked him yesterday, casting the bar. Very strong-a powerfu

by me late," said the laird, broo

tter what you cry to them!" His voice had a mordant note. "I know. I've got one myself-a nephew, not a son. But I am his guardian and he's i

rom beyond Strickland. "Wha

a laddie, before his father's death (his mother, my sister, died at his birth), he was much with those troublous northern kin. His father took

rue Presbyter

er was of the Church Episcopal in Scotland. I

nned," he said, and his voice held a gra

cannot return! In England, for business reasons, I found it wiser to live as lived

ered the laird. "Moreover,

Mr. Strickland says the great pine is blown down, this side the glen. The Mercury

Walpole won't give it to us. But we'll have it-British trad

. Touris talked, large trader talk, sprinkled with terms of commerce and Indian policy. Supper over, all rose. The table was cleared, wine and glasses brought and set upon it, between the candles. The young folk va

xander

t y

his book and withdrew to the table and the candles thereon. The laird came and dropp

aled to Christ and His true Kirk!' But when I was bigger I only wanted to meet Grierson of Lagg, and grieved that he was dead and gone and that Satan, not I, had the handling of him. My grandfather and mother.... My grandfather was among the outed ministers in Galloway. Thrust from his church and his parish, he preached upon the moors-yea, to juniper and whin-bush and the whaups that flew and nested! Then the persecuted men, women and bairns, gathered there, and he preached to them. Aye, and he was at Bothwell Bridge. Claverhouse's men took him, and he lay for some months in the Edinburgh tolbooth, and then by Council and justiciary was condemned to be hanged. And so he was hanged at the cross of Edinburgh. And what he said before he died was 'With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you' ... My grandmother, for hearing preaching in the fields and for sheltering the distressed for the Covenant's sake, was s

ences. I trust that I am as religious as another-but my family was always moderate there. In matters political the world's as hot as ever-but there, too, it is my instinct to ca' canny. But if you talk of trade"-he tapped his snuff-box-"I will match you, Glenfernie! If t

would take my stand at the crag's edge and

m his ruffles. "It's a great cen

rom her lap a ball of rosy wool. "Mr. Jardine, will you give

d. What is i

ad raised t

tside," sai

testified to an encounter alike with brier and bog. The hound Bran followed him. He blinked at the lights an

set you some

ed and turned his head. "I stopped at White Farm, and they gave

ded and sat for a moment with unseeing gaze, then resumed the bright wreath. The tutor began to think again of Mother Binning, and, following

he took after you, Glenfernie. But it's