Always hard and dry, the shock he had sustained by the hint as to the cause of quarrel between her and Robin seemed to have softened him. She could not recall any occasion on which he had spoken to her so kindly as now, and his trust comforted her.

CHAPTER XXV.

STRIFE.

"But to think I was betrayed,

That falsehood e'er our loves should sunder;
To take the flow'ret to my breast,

And find the guilefu' serpent under."

Mrs. Riddel of Woodleigh.

ROBIN GRAY was sitting on one of the cutty stools in Girzie Todd's cot. He was bent almost double, his hands covering his face, his elbows resting on his knees. He had paced the narrow limits of the floor for half an hour after Girzie had departed with his message to Adam Lindsay. At every turn he had cast an agitated glance through the little window at the narrow lane, as if impatiently watching for her return before she had time to reach Cairnieford. It was a dull miserable afternoon, everything wearing the bleak drenched aspect which a storm leaves behind it. The wind was stirring the thatches of the houses, shaking out the rain in heavy drops, which formed into dirty pools on the ground.

Even had his mind been undisturbed, the man would have been affected by this dismal weather, and in his present humour it oppressed him tenfold: it was so suggestive of the dreary hopeless future that lay before him.

Then he had seated himself on the stool. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, his hair tossed and matted, and deep blue lines under the eyes added twenty years to his apparent His broad shoulders were bent as if under the burden of his sorrow, and altogether his stalwart form had the ance of being utterly broken down by the storm of passion which had burst upon him.

age.

appear

As if he would shut out the spectacle of his own misery, he had bowed his head on his hands with an agony too deep for any utterance to relieve it.

In that position Adam and old Mr. Dunbar found him when they arrived-Jeanie was waiting outside till they should prepare him to see her.

He looked up quickly on their entrance, expecting Girzie, and both of the comers were surprised by the marked change in his appearance, from that of a hale sturdy man of middle age to the wreck now before them.

66

I didna expect to see you here, Boghaugh,” he said wearily, and rising slowly; "but maybe it's as weel ye hae come."

"Certes, man, I scarcely expeckit to see you here or onywhar else an hour syne," rejoined Dunbar; “and I would be mair sorry to see ye lookin' sae badly if it wasna that I'm weel pleased to see ye ava. Man, ye gied us a' a skear."

"How was that ?" (indifferently).

"Your horse was found dead in the burn, and we thocht ye would be found in the same condition. The folk are awa' raking the water for ye enoo."

"Puir brute, I micht hae been wi' him" (abstractedly, and as if he were barely thankful for his escape); “but when I got to Askaig I didna tether him fast eneuch. So he broke loose, and, I suppose, frichted, and trying to cross the burn to win hame, was carried awa' wi' the spate. I jaloused as muckle, though I spent about three hours seeking for him."

66

'Aye, weel, it was lucky for ye that ye wasna on his back, for he's an awfu' sicht."

"I couldna say; but sit doon, baith o' ye. I hae to speak o' a matter that'll keep us some time, and my head's sae dazed that I canna get at the marrow o't sae quick as I would like. Sit doon."

Boghaugh was a cautious man, who, as he had declared, objected to meddle with his neighbours' affairs, and he felt a little awkward at present under the consciousness that, with

Jeanie lurking outside, he was engaged in something like a conspiracy against the man to whom he was speaking. He sat down. Adam, who had not yet opened his lips, remained standing, stiff and stern.

"Ye wanted to speak wi' me," he said now in an abrupt manner. "What for would ye no come to your ain house to say't? Ye hae had a quarrel wi' your guidwife, I ken; but I thocht ye was a man o' ower muckle common sense to mak' an ado like this."

Instead of feeling the least dissatisfaction with this rebuke Robin advanced to him and laid his hand on the old man's shoulder, looking in his weather-beaten face sadly.

66

'I'm glad ye ay thocht that, Adam," he said with unsteady voice, "because ye'll be the readier to believe that I'm no like to make sic a steer without guid reason for't.'

"When I ken your reason for't, I'll be better able to gie ye my opinion."

Robin regarded him in silence for a minute, and then, with a deep-drawn breath

66

'Aye, weel, I see that ye think me in the wrang-Oh, Heaven, that I had been sae!"

It was a passionate outcry, checked instantly by the hopeless calm with which he had just addressed them. He was desirous of maintaining that appearance of calmness, but in spite of himself, in spite of his despair, his emotion at times would rise uppermost.

"But there's nae use wishing for hairst in December," he resumed. "I sent for ye to come to me here, because I couldna thole to look on the house where we hae been sae happy thegither, kenning that it was a' by, that the sun will never make the place bricht ony mair for me. It's a bitter eneuch thocht in itsel', without carrying it amongst the things that are livin' wi' her memory. Every buss that grows about the place would mind me o' her and the joy I hae lost, and the shame I maun bear; the stane at the door she used to stand on to welcome me hame, wi' her bonnie blythsome face, would bring back every look that was to me like licht frae

aboon, and that noo makes my loss the mair; the chair she used to sit in by the ingle neuk, the books she used to read— a' thing, a' thing is haunted by her presence, and I daurna look on them."

To this piteous wail neither of the listeners made any reply, although they could not help being touched by the man's distress. They would have offered consolation if they had only known how; but seeing that the wife for whom he was mourning as lost was just outside the door, they were naturally puzzled to know what to say or do under the circumstances. Robin presently recovered his composure, and relieved them of the difficulty by proceeding quietly

"What I wanted ye for, Adam, was to tell that I'm gaun ye awa' the morn-I dinna ken where to, but somewhere a long way beyond sicht and sound o' Portlappoch and Cairnieford. I dinna ken when I'll be back-maybe never. While I'm awa' I want you to take care o' the farm, and keep a'thing in order, sae that if she should ever come hame again she may find a house and friends ready to receive her."

"Wha is't ye're talking about ?" interrupted Adam, gruffly. "My wiyour dochter."

"And what about her coming hame ?-she's come hame." "Come hame ?-when ?"

"As soon's ever she could win across the burn. What else would she do, and whar else would she gang ?"

Robin was at first like one thunderstricken; and then a bitter smile slowly dawned on his countenance.

“Oh aye, I understand," he muttered in a hard sneering tone; "I understand: she's been frichted by what I said yestereen-maybe he's been frichted too, and so she's come hame instead o' gaeing wi' him as she meant to do. But that winna alter me, for she is as guilty in my e'en as though she had gane."

"Guilty o' what, I would like to ken ?" said Adam stiffly. Guilty o' deceivin' me-guilty o' deceivin' the man she had sworn to abide by till death-to gang awa' wi' Jeames Falcon."

"Ye're speaking o' my dochter, sir, and ye're speaking lees. Jeanie Lindsay was never guilty o' the shame ye charge her wi', even in her thocht."

"Aye, are ye sure o' that ?" (sharp and angry)" then will ye tell me what for she hid frae me that Falcon had been at my house to see her? She hid it frae you tae, or ye're mair a hypocrite than I could hae believed possible. Will ye tell me what for she told me a lee about it, for I mind weel that nicht speirin' if there had been anybody ca'ing? Will ye tell me what for Falcon, that I hae ay been a frien' to, and wanted to serve, should lurk about Askaig for a week, and never send me sae muckle as word that he was living? Will ye tell me what for she gaed to Askaig when I was awa' at the market, and bided there wi' him? I was there. my ain e'en."

wi'

I saw them

Adam was overwhelmed by this torrent of questions, in the enunciation of which the blood crimsoned Robin Gray's face, and his eyes brightened with ire. Adam was all the more overwhelmed because he was unable to give any satisfactory

response.

He was unexpectedly relieved of his difficulty by the opening of the door and the entrance of Jeanie, with a quiet steady regard fixed on her husband.

66

Here is my dochter," said the old fisherman excitedly, "and she'll answer ye hersel'."

Robin uttered a cry of surprise and rage combined, and started as if he would rush from the place to avoid her; but Boghaugh rising seized him with both hands, restraining him -more by his words, however, than by his strength.

Hoots, man, dinna mak' a fule o' yoursel'. Be sensible and hear what she has to say. Od, man, the blackest loon that ever stood fornenst a bailie has a chance o' explainin' his faut."

"I told her never to come near me again," he said with glaring eyes, but controlling his passion; "but that there may be nae blame on me, I'll listen to what she has to say."

"It'll no tak me lang to tell or you to hear," she said firmly,