gestion, which was instantly adopted. "We'll take Alison for a row; and she can steer. The oars are in the gig, so we can get off at once." And thus it was that Alison speedily found herself in command of the long and shapely boat, with her two cousins leisurely pulling a slow and measured stroke, out into the glassy plain. The warm afternoon sunshine was now streaming along Loch Linnhe, lighting up the bracken-covered knolls, the grassy slopes of the hills, and the green and yellow patches of the crofts along the shore; while the sea was so still that the shining spars of the yachts sent down reflections unbroken by any line or ripple. There was no particular designation before these voyagers. They went this way and that, exploring the shores of the loch; the rowers rowing with idle but regular stroke; Alison seeming to drink in the joy and calm and beautiful color all around her. Evening found them up at the mouth of Loch Eil; and now, while the western hills were darkening in shades of softest olivegreen, the sea around them was a plain of burnished gold and pale rose-purple. A small boat crossing that golden plain was itself of jet-black, and as it went on its way it left behind it two long divergent lines of lilac, like the attenuated wings of an insect. When the cousins rested from their rowing, the silence around them was so intense that they could hear the sound of voices coming across from the Corpach shore. This was not like Kirk o' Shields. On their way home to Fort William, Alison took Flora's oar, and Flora went to the tiller; and sometimes these two were chatting to each other; and sometimes they could hear Hugh humming the old Gaelic air that is known as "The Cowboy;" or perhaps Flora, in a pause of silence, would sing to herself, but with no great sadness, a verse of "The Lowlands o' Holland". "The love that I had chosen, Was to my heart's content; Before that I repent; Repent it will I never Until the day I dee, Though the Lowlands o' Holland Hae twined my love and me." *Twined-severed. By the time they had leisurely got back to Fort William the evening was well on; but the darkness it had brought with it was confined to the massive bulk of the hills along the opposite shore; overhead there was a clear and luminous sky, with a few purple and orange-fringed clouds; while the loch around them had become of a trembling silver-gray, for a slight wind had arisen, and the glassy surface was gone. And it was still in a beautiful lambent twilight that they had supper, and thereafter took to cards-in a room fronting the west. This was a very unscientific game of poker that Alison was now called upon to witness. Aunt Gilchrist's chief aim seemed to be to engage in a battle-royal with her brother the Doctor; and when these two combatants closed, the others having given up, the fun waxed fast and furious. For the Doctor knew but little of the game; and in his perplexity he invariably consulted his wife, who knew less, but was ever good-humoredly ready with her advice. These consultations, however, were innocently out-spoken and above-board; so that Aunt Gilchrist could easily guess at what was in her opponent's hand; and again and again her shrill laugh of triumph rang out as she swept in the coppers from before the angry Doctor's nose. It was a very frank and honest game of poker that was played by the simple. folk; and as the "ante" was one half-penny, and the limit of betting threepence, there was no deadly destruction dealt to anybody. It was during the progress of this happy-go-lucky game, however, that Alison incidentally made a notable discovery. Flora had adventured upon a bold piece of bluffing-a dangerous experiment for any one with such an expressive face, and such merry, conscious, telltale eyes; the Doctor, at the instigation of his wife, refused to be intimidated; the young lady was "called," and found to be queen high, and the pool was raked in. "Ah, you thought you were playing with Ludovick, did you her brother said, scornfully. "When she's playing against Ludovick she bluffs like the very mischief, for he always gives up. That's not the game at all! If he held four aces, he'd pretend he was afraid of her, and put in his cards. The other night it was quite ridiculous; I'm certain he was only pretending he held bad hands." "Wait a little while, Hugh," his mother said, with a quiet smile. "You may find yourself just as willing as any other young man to lose at cards when you want to make yourself agreeable." "What stuff all that is, unless the girl's a fool !" Master Hugh retorted. "To be flattered by being allowed to win at cards! Besides, it's spoiling the game for other people." He would As fresh hands were being dealt, nothing further was said on the subject; but this brief conversation had revealed to Alison not only that Ludovick Macdonell was in his own country, but that he had been in this very house a night or two before. And for a moment her surprise that he had not come to see her on her arrival was accompanied by a sudden fear that she had offended him somehow. It was but for a moment. Perhaps in Kirk o' Shields, sitting alone with her silent reveries, she might have alarmed herself with some such surmise, and tortured herself over it, and longed for some explanation. But here, among these simple, good-natured, well-contented folk, amid this babblement of laughter and harmless wrangling, she dismissed it forthwith. Ludovick was her friend: she need not mistrust him. tell her why it was he had not come to welcome her. Or rather, was not the reason sufficiently apparent? He did not want to embarrass her. It was consideration for her that kept him away —even as it was a kind of delicacy on the part of her cousins that bade them refrain from speaking of him to her. But he would make his appearance in good time, when there was no risk of embarrassment. All things were well. She felt herself very happy and safe in this little dining-room, among these kind folk. And Ludovick would be coming to see her one of these days; and she thought she would be able to give him a more frank and friendly greeting now. There was nothing to frighten her, here in Lochaber. Indeed, she would try to make up to him for any restraint of manner she might have shown in Kirk o' Shields. Amid the noise of this most unscientific game she sate and looked on; but she saw something more than the cards: she saw Ludovick Macdonell coming forward to meet her-it might be in this very room-it might be on the white roadway outsidebut in his eyes there was the pleasant smile that she knew of old; and this time she would not withhold her hand. And some such vision was still before her, long after the noise of the poker-party had ceased, and long after the house had sunk into profound silence and slumber. She was now in her own room, seated at the window, breathing the soft cool air that floated up from the shore, and watching the mysterious pallid glow in the sky and on the wide water-that no-man's-land of twilight that in these regions lies between the lingering evening and the coming of the dawn. The hills on the other side of the loch had slowly wrapped themselves in impenetrable gloom-no single feature of rock or tree visible—the deep olive-green grown so dark as to be almost indistinguishable; but over them the heavens were of a clear and pearly gray, with one or two clouds, of softest purple, hanging motionless there; while the sleeping loch was of a wan and livid blue, with the various boats and yachts, lying on that still surface, appearing so strangely vivid that they seemed to have been carved out of jet. Not a leaf stirred in the garden; not a ripple whispered along the sea-weed fringe of the beach. Far into the night she sate, half dreaming, but wholly satisfied and content; for she was in the enchanted land again; her heart was full of peace-as serene and full of peace as this wide, silent, beautiful world out there; and she had assured herself that all was well. CHAPTER XIV. AN EXPEDITION. WHEN Alison looked out next morning she observed the boy Johnny engaged in raking smooth the gravel-path; and she was pleased to see him thus industriously occupied; and hoped that he had abandoned the inveterate indolence which used to possess him. And it seemed hard that just at this moment three graceless loons, coming along from the town, should set to work to jeer at John. What offence, if any, he had given them, she could not make out-partly because her window was shut, and partly because the altercation, insulting on the one side, and scornful on the other, was carried on in Gaelic. It ended by the three of them making derisive gestures with their fingers, the further to exasperate Johnny; and then the tallest of the lads having picked up a clod of carth and flung it at him by way of playful farewell-the idle vagabonds went on. Johnny regarded his retreating foes with a gloomy deliberation. They did not wholly disappear. Alison could see them indulging in all kinds of horse-play farther along the road; then they went down to the edge of the loch and began to throw stones at a bit of floating wood. At the same moment she saw John put aside his rake and come back to the house; and as she judged that he had resolved to treat these tomfools with proper contempt, by paying no more heed to them, she turned to look at the beds of yellow pansies, and the masses of orange nasturtiums, and the blue lobelia borders, which were all very bright and cheerful in the morning sunlight. But presently Johnny reappeared; and she perceived that he had in his hand an old straw hat. This he left at the gate; and then-with a furtive look in the direction of his enemies-he stole across the road, went down the beach, picked up a large stone, and quickly returned. He then took that battered old straw hat, and placed it in the middle of the highway-but with the big stone carefully concealed inside. That done, he came back to the garden, shut the gate, and locked it, and took up a place of observation behind a couple of fuchsia-bushes, where he could see without easily being seen. Johnny's dark and subtle anticipations proved correct-his enemies were not going far; very soon they were perceived to be returning along the road, with all kinds of gambolling and boisterous nonsense. But no sooner did they notice the old hat lying there than they simultaneously made a rush for it, struggling and hauling at each other as to which should have the first kick. By this time Johnny had thrown himself prone on his face, just behind the little parapet of stone supporting the railings which were the garden frontage, where also was a row of fuchsia-bushes. He could hear, but he could not see; neither could he be seenexcept by Alison, who was a spectator of the whole performance. It was the tallest of the lads-he who had thrown the clod of earth at Johnny-who managed to shake off his two companions, and secure the coveted first kick. He came on with a rush; then there was a crack! but instead of the tattered hat flying into the air, behold! a big stone rolled away along the road, while the enraged and astonished youth caught up his leg with both hands, and clinched his teeth outside his underlip in a manner betokening extreme dissatisfaction. Even through the shut window Ali |