Leeby had no longer any excuse for bustling about. Everything was ready--too soon. Hendry had been to the fish-cadger in the square to get a bervie for Jamie's supper, and Jamie had eaten it, trying to look as if it made him happier. His little box was packed and strapped, and stood terribly conspicuous against the dresser. Jess had packed it herself. "Ye mauna trachle (trouble) yersel, mother," Jamie said, when she had the empty box pulled toward her. Leeby was wiser. "Let her do't," she whispered, "it'll keep her frae broodin'." Jess tied ends of yarn round the stockings to keep them in a little bundle by themselves. So she did with all the other articles. "No 'at it's ony great affair," she said, for on the last night they were all thirsting to do something for Jamie that would be a great affair to him. "Ah, ye would wonder, mother," Jamie said, "when I open my box an' find a'thing tied up wi' strings sae careful, it a' comes back to me wi' a rush wha did it, an' am as fond o' thae strings as though they were a grand present. There's the pocky (bag) ye gae mi to keep sewin' things in. I get the wifie I lodge wi' to sew to me, but often when I come upon the pocky I sit an' look at it." Two chairs were backed to the fire, with underclothing hanging upside down on them. From the string over the fireplace dangled two pairs of much-darned stockings. "Ye'll put on baith thae pair o' stockin's, Jamie," said Jess, "juist to please me?" When he arrived he had rebelled against the extra clothing. "Ay, will I, mother?" he said now. Jess put her hand fondly through his ugly hair. How handsome she thought him. "Ye have a fine brow, Jamie," she said. "I mind the day ye was born sayin' to mysel 'at ye had a fine brow." "But ye thocht he was to be a lassie, mother," said Leeby. "Na, Leeby, I didna. I kept sayin' I thocht he would be a lassie because I was fleid he would be; but a' the time I had a presentiment he would be a laddie. It was wi' Joey deein' sae sudden, an' I took on sae terrible aboot 'im 'at I thocht all alang the Lord would gie me another laddie." "Ay, I wanted 'im to be a laddie mysel," said Hendry, "so as he could tak Joey's place." Jess's head jerked back involuntarily, and Jamie may have felt her hand shake, for he said in a voice out of Hendry's hearing-- "I never took Joey's place wi' ye, mother." Jess pressed his hand tightly in her two worn palms, but she did not speak. "Jamie was richt like Joey when he was a bairn," Hendry said. Again Jess's head moved, but still she was silent. "They were sae like," continued Hendry, "'at often I called Jamie by Joey's name." Jess looked at her husband, and her mouth opened and shut. "I canna mind 'at you ever did that?" Hendry said. She shook her head. "Na," said Hendry, "you never mixed them up. I dinna think ye ever missed Joey sae sair as I did." Leeby went ben, and stood in the room in the dark; Jamie knew why.