The Half-Hearted

house of Etterick stands high in a crinkle of hill, with a background of dark pines, and in front a lake, set in shores of rock and heather. When the world grew bright Lewis awoke, for that strange young man had a trick of rising early, and as he rubbed sleep from his eyes at the window he saw the exceeding goodliness of the morning. He roused his c

great woody smell of pines was sweet around them. The house stood dark and silent, for the side before them was the men's quarters, and at that season given up to themselves; but away beyond, the smoke of chimneys curled into the still air. A man was mowing in

old John. He'll drown, for I bet

best swimmer of the three that he had soon reached them, and though in all honesty he first swam to the farther shore, yet he touched the pier ver

ture was a strange medley. The deep arm-chairs by the fire and the many pipes savoured of the smoking-room; the guns, rods, polo sticks, whips, which were stacked or hung everywhere, and the heads of deer on the walls, gave it an atmosphere of sport. The pictures were few but good-two water-colours, a small Raeburn above the fireplace, and half a dozen fine etchings. In a corner were many old school and college groups-the Eton Ramblers, the O.U.A.C., some dining clubs

to rummage among his correspondence, and finally extracted an unstamped note, which he opened. H

particular what you

ained that he was in the han

up some sort of a picnic on the moors, and she wa

! I shall be charmed." But he looked signi

sked that simple young man

led Stocks, whom y

ur n

ertha Afflint

rovingly. The sharp-witted Miss

" said Lewis, without a word of comment. "

hose name came last on their host's tongue to a friendly critici

ls, and being of a classical turn of mind he called them after the Muses. The Muses held out for nine, but for the tenth and youngest he found hi

gravity which is due to a great subject

ur. "You must have brought back no end of things, and

I don't see the point of spoiling a moorland place with foreign odds an

d only the last word, assumed that Arthur had then and there divulged his

at he was not in love-that he should never be in love, being destined for other things; that he liked the girl as he liked any fresh young creature in the morning of life, with youth's beauty and the grace of innocence. But insensibly his everyday reflections began to be coloured by her presenc

ewe between his knees, and the ground beneath him strewn with creamy folds of fleece. From a thing like a gallows in a corner huge bags were suspended which were slowly filling. A cauldron of pitch bubbled over a fire, and the smoke rose blue in the hot hill air. Every minute a bashful animal was led to be branded with a great E on the left shoulder and then with awkward stumbling let loose to join her naked fellow

enclosure. He seemed to know each herd by name or rather nickname, for

cried. "Am I not to have a h

proceeded to call for shears. An old pair was found for him, and with much dexterity he performed the clipping, taking little longer to t

was off and a very ragged shirt was rolled about two stout brown arms. The "human collie" seemed to be a gentleman of some leisure, for he was arra

ld be the repetition of some tale or saying. "There was a man in the glen called Rorison. D'ye mind Jock

realizing his henchman's grandeu

-school treat this after

ock-are you

and besides, I've cas

was t

ter met me next day when I was a' blue and yellow, and, says he, 'John Laverlaw, what have ye been daein'? Ye're a bonny sicht for Christian een. How do ye think a face lik

p, forgot the delicacy of his task and let the shears slip.

'll have to rub in some of that stuff of yours and sew on a bandage. The fi

rolls of stout linen and a huge needle and twine. Lewis doctored the wound as best he could, and then proceeded to lay on the cloth and

with the needle. It slipped and pricked his fingers, while his unfeeling frien

' cannier and be a wee thing quieter in your lang

Lady Manorwater and her party were at the folds, and as he made o

t, Mr. Haystoun. I've

d deftly finished the bandage till the ewe was turned off the stool. Then,

ou had better come too." And the pair ran down to a deep brown pool in

he worst of being a dabbler in most trades. You

ner was most professional, M

feverishly as if under some great Taskmistress's eye. The result was a superfluity of shear-marks and deep, muffled profanity. Lady Manorwater ran here and there asking questions and c

orwater became natural and pleasing. Jock was ferreted out of some co

go to the Sabbath-school treat, or come with us to a real picnic? J

rse up the burn ahead of the party, a vision of twinkling bare legs and ill-fitting Sunday clo

I

ubject was not phenomenal, the profit to the aggrieved listener was small. George, Lady Manorwater, and the two Miss Afflints sought diligently for a camping-ground, which they finally found by a clear spring of water on the

al many glances upwards from his lowly seat. The two had become excellent friends, for the man had that honest simplicity towards women which is the worst basis for love and the best for friendship. She felt that at any moment he might ca

tiptoe to scan the farthest horizon. Eagerly she asked the name of this giant and that, of this glint of water-wa

ost of that is yours? Do you know, if I had a land like this I should never leave it again. You, in your ingratitude, will go wandering away i

t you adore?" asked the cynical Lewis. "If men w

esides, it is the old fallacy of man that the domestic excludes

amenable to reason. People who have it badly do not care a straw for a place

d y

n fear, for at any moment it may beset me.

have liked so great a traveller to speak more generously. No doubt, after all, this reticence was preferable to self-revelation. Mr. Stocks had been her companion that morning in the drive to Etterick, and he had entertained her with a sketch of his future. He had declined, somewhat nervously, to talk of his early life, though the girl, with her innate love of a fighter, would have

ling that lunch was ready, but

. "You would be too well off here. One would b

ld's before me,' as the song says. There is little doing in these uplands, but there's a

able's head, growing old with him in the fellowship of years. For a moment he felt the charm of the red hearth and the quiet life. Some such sketch must the Goddess of Home have drawn for Ulysses or the wan

of the party. This was no other than the dandified Tam, who had been sent post-haste by George-that true friend having suffered the agonies of st

s, and there in the narrow glen, with the wide blue strath and the gleam of the river below, it was hard to find the link of reality and easy to credit fairyland. Arthur and Miss Wishart had gone on in front and were now strayed among boulders. She liked this trim and precise young man, whose courtesy was so grave and elaborate, while he, bein

ually of the place. "Where is Etterick?" she asked; and a li

ike other people. He is the best of men, but his tastes are primeval. He makes us plunge off a verandah into a loch first thing in the morning, you know, and I shall certainly drown some day, for I am never more than

s face. She dared not confess to herself that she was in love-that she wanted this Lewis to herself, and bated the pretensions of his friends. Instead she flattered herself with a fiction. Her ground was the high one of

man had not enjoyed the day; he had been bored by the landscape and scorched by the sun; also, as the time of contest approached, he was full of political talk, and

d to support my candidature. You, of

that he had lost interest in pa

bowed in ac

you think o

t Gledsmuir. Up in Glenavelin they are more or less Conservative. Merkland gets in usually by a small majority because he is a local man and ha

ir Robert

the other party. I should say that there's no

resignation as a certainty, and I was afra

ks seemed to look upon him as a Gallio from whom no danger need be feared, nay, even as a convert to be fostered. He became confident and talked joc

unch to-morrow, Lewie," said his aunt. "So be p

nds, he turned towards