For Sheila began to tell her friend of all the strange adventures that had befallen her since she left the far island of Lewis--how she had seen with fear the great mountains of Skye lit up by the wild glare of a stormy sunrise; how she had seen with astonishment the great fir woods of Armadale; and how green and beautiful were the shores of the Sound of Mull. And then Oban, with its shining houses, its blue bay, and its magnificent trees, all lit up by a fair and still sunshine! She had not imagined there was anywhere in the world so beautiful a place, and could scarcely believe that London itself was more rich and noble and impressive; for there were beautiful ladies walking along the broad pavements, and there were shops with large windows that seemed to contain everything that the mind could desire, and there was a whole fleet of yachts in the bay. But it was the trees, above all, that captivated her; and she asked if they were lords who owned those beautiful houses built up on the hill, and half smothered among lilacs and ash trees and rowan trees and ivy. “My darling,” Lavender had said to her, “if your papa were to come and live here, he could buy half a dozen of those cottages, gardens and all. They are mostly the property of well-to-do shopkeepers. If this little place takes your fancy, what will you say when you go South--when you see Wimbledon and Richmond and Kew, with their grand old commons and trees? Why, you could hide Oban in a corner of Richmond Park!” “And my papa has seen all those places!” “Yes. Don’t you think it strange he should have seen them all, and known he could live in any one of them, and then gone away back to Borva?” “But what would the poor people have done if he had never gone back?” “Oh, some one else would have taken his place.” “And then, if he were living here or in London, he might have got tired, and he might have wished to go back to the Lewis and see all the people he knew; and then he would come among them like a stranger, and have no house to go to.” Then Lavender said quite gently, “Do you think, Sheila, you will ever tire of living in the South?” The girl looked up quickly, and said, with a sort of surprised questioning in her eyes, “No, not with you. But then we shall often go to the Lewis?” “Oh, yes,” her husband said, “as often as we can conveniently. But it will take some time at first, you know, before you get to know all my friends who are to be your friends, and before you get properly fitted into our social circle. That will take you a long time, Sheila, and you may have many annoyances or embarrassments to encounter; but you won’t be very much afraid, my girl?” Sheila merely looked up to him; there was no fear in the frank, brave eyes.