matrimonial and domestic. I know full well that my state of celibacy is to her a subject of wonderment and speculation; but, though other cases similar to my own ha

and I shall not readily forget the surprise, and, I might say, incredulity, with which she receiv

de, she plied her needles assiduousl

hday, Betty,' I p

and she laughed and looked toward me. 'And, eh! d'ye mean to tell me-seriously noo-that y

vigorously at my pipe. 'Seriously and truthfully,

here was a scarcity o' womenfolk. There's aye routh to pick an' choose frae; at least, if there's no' in Edinbro, there's plenty in Thornhill. It may happen, though, that ye're ower parteecular, or it m

, I don't consider my case altogether hopeless, although I am nearly thirty. There's luck in leisure, and you mustn't forget that you can't command love. It has to come

tell ye this, Maister Weelum, if ye

mean I'm waiting for a

! Then ye

l, y

n' up, watchin' her as ye wad w

but-well, the truth is, I haven't met her yet-at least not in

t strikes me it's mair a matter o' gre

ing hard matter-of-fact events, glimpses into the matrimonial tragedies of not a few lives, and the toll in time and thought which a growing business exacts have to an extent blighted the growth of the sentimentality which usually creeps into a man's heart between twenty and thirty. Somehow I have allowed matters to drift-to shape their own ends, or, as

, for her needles had been

that I was eatin' the best bit o' boiled ham that ever I tasted in a' my life; an' the next mornin'-the very next mornin', Maister Weelum-my soo dee'd. Anither time-it was on a Setterday nicht, I mind-I dreamed that the kitchen lum was on fire; an' on the Sunday mornin', when I keekit up to see that it was a' richt, a young doo tummelt doon an' nearly frichtened the life oot o' me. An' there was Peggy Rae-Mrs Wallace, ye ken-a real nice, God-fearin' woman she is, an' a regular attender o' the prayer meetin's-weel, three times in ae nicht she dreamed that an auld auntie o' hers had come hame frae Ameriky an' gi'en her the present o' three hunner pounds; an' what think ye, Maister Weelum, she wasna weel throu

rolled along the Cundy road an hour or two afterwards, in the early afternoon, every chaffinch sang not to me b

an uncommonly substantial foundation. But here, with the breeze playing among the shimmering leaves of the gnarled poplars, the merry song of the birds in the plantation, and the sunshine lying on the white parallel-tracked road, it se

lt neither tired nor inconvenienced; and when I considered that I had been only a month or two under Dr Grierson's care, I felt I had accomplished a very wonderful feat indeed. True, I had rested a

ns at Holmhill, whose wild purple-brown fruit was sweeter far than any coddled garden cherries; the sweep of the Nith at the Ellers, where I had so often 'dooked' and fished; and the mossy, wild-thyme carpeted 'howmes'-our playground of long ago. The

y weakness and the uneven, rutted slope, I opened the

rained to catch each well-known feature, I stumblingly descended the rugged bank, and very soon, more by luck than careful guidance, I reached my goal. A hedge of waving willows screened fr

and castaways, cooking a guddled yellow trout over a 'smeeky' green-wood fire, and washing it down with lukewarm water from the stream; there, through the arches' span,

le fatigued by my unusual exertions. Suddenly, however, it came to me that I wasn't alone. This fact was first proclaimed by a curling wreath

man, judging by his dress; while a little in front of him, and almost on the water's edge, was a tall young lady standing before an easel.

ed strange, since I had made no attempt at stealthiness, and they were so near me that I could almost

e view in which I had just been revelling. And the subject, difficult and ideal though it was, had been touched by no unworthy, amateurish hand. The old red-sandstone bridge, mellowed in a soft western light, was a centre round which much broad, skilful, loving wor

I expect of this picture as a big draw at my bazaar, and anxious as I am to take it back wit

aded in a singularly sweet voice, which se

ile her small head critically sw

ength; 'and I'm sorry to part w

her eyes met mine, and I stood breathless and transfixed, for I ha

I felt bewildered and benumbed. Had I been in normal health, doubtless I should have boldly faced a situation so psychologically strange and alluring; but in my present enfeebled condit

eed hat fell from my head and rolled away down the bank, but I made no effort to recover it. With extreme difficulty

n awkward, laboured fashion lift one foot over the other; and in negotiating this ascent, in which the same muscles were called into action

for years; whose living presence I had prayed for, yearned for; and whose influence, unconsciously exerted, had dominated my being and kept me unscathed in the midst of many temptations. It was the culmination of ten years' expectancy and waiting. A series of remarkable coincid

which had yielded me so much sacred, secret pleasure. Strange, I had always painted her as I had seen her a minute ago, even to the detail of pose and attitude. She-well, she was just my dream-lady, fai

taffs for support, and so irresolute that I could scarce form an idea of what my next move would be. What a metamorphosis! what a pitiful spectacle!-an object surely for sympathy, b

ame steeper, I felt my will-power diminishing, my strength gradually growing less, and my knack of happily negotiating ruts and obstacles deserting me at every step. Once I lost my balance and slipped down the slope; but I clutched the dried tufted grass with a frenzied hand

y hand, and I slipped down, each time losing any little headway I had made. Again I slipped. Then despair took hold of me, an

snatches of faintly audible conversation recalled me; and wearily and painfully I raised myself to a

ergyman; 'a very decent, serviceable hat indeed; and I dare say it may as well b

's not drunk,

s doubtless lying somewhere hereabouts, sleeping off the effects. Believe me, no man

beautiful, Mr Edmondstone. You are-or at least you should be-preaching that every Sunday. But in this case, whatever you presume, I, at all even

mean to tell me you ar

shall have to give him his hat; and--Sh! sh

e no sign that I was aware of their presence; but when I heard my dream-lady's decision to be the bearer of my old tweed hat I started violently and looked keenly toward her. With my chin resting on my tired, lacerated hands, I watched her carefully picking her steps along the tangled incline. The fact that there was no escaping an interview was borne home to me so forcibly that it led to speedy resignation, which not only relieved my pent-up fe

to me,' I said awkwardly; 'and thank you

face. Then she smiled-smiled a true smile, with parted lips that disclosed two rows of pearl

-eh-matter-well'-and she looked round about her on the russet woods, the peaceful fields, and away to the west where the faint sunset glow was suffused along the

n silent

s incline instead of taking the path by the boundary beech-hedge? And, oh dear, dear! your hands are bleeding! Have you no handkerch

ffects of a nasty accident have kept me too much indoors; but to-day, feeling a little stronger than usual, I extended my walk, and very foolishly determined to visit a particular spot here which, through boyish associations, is very dear to me. As it happened, I found you occupying

may be deceived by appearances! Mr Edmondstone thought you were-well, you know; and I thought you had seen a ghost. I'm very sorry to know of y

ting, confident air, anticipating neither denial no

you might do on my behalf. Down there, below that little knoll, and somewhere in the long grass, are my two hazels. I-I lost grip of them somehow. T

irregular turf, she soon returned with my hazels. 'Are you quite sure now tha

ning to dominate me; and as I was strangely out of humour with myself, and utterly incapable of acting th

tammered. 'Believe me, I appreciate what you have done,

into silence, and I lay back on the bank among the brown wispy grass and the red autumn leaves with a joy and thankfulness in my heart I had never experienced before. And my joy was not born of the knowledge that my dream lady was a reality. Somehow, I had never doubted that. Rather was it that I had convinced myself that she possessed all the virtues and qualities with which I had vested her; and that, short as our interview had been, and commo

by, the Cundy stream crooned lovingly a song I had never heard be