as Dr. Wodrow quoted the poet; and then her brown owl, which had been caught by Robert Wodrow, nearly at the risk of his life, in the ruined tower of Invermay, and now sat in a hollow of the garden wall secured by a net, behind which it winked and blinked and waited for a sparrow or a field-mouse; and the girl seemed so bright and independent, so happy and so busy with all the objects which formed her little cares, that Leslie Colville surveyed her with a kind of wonder and curiosity, for, while being perfectly ladylike, perfectly bred and delicately nurtured, she was so unlike any woman he had ever met before; her world was, in many respects, one altogether apart from his. Meanwhile Sir Redmond, the very picture of bland laziness, though secretly keen as a ferret, with his glass in his left eye and his hands thrust into his trousers pockets, and his hair parted like a woman's in the middle, was standing before Ellinor, and contemplating her with evident satisfaction, for he was a _vaurien_ by nature. 'And you have come here to shoot?' said she, as the portfolio was relinquished at last. 'To shoot--yes,' he replied; 'this will be my first turn at the game in Scotland.' 'Robert tells me that the gleds have sucked half the grouse eggs this season.' 'Gleds--what are they--nasty little boys?' 'They are a kind of crow,' replied Ellinor, laughing excessively. 'And who is Robert?' asked Sir Redmond, slowly, readjusting his eyeglass. 'The son of Dr. Wodrow,' replied Ellinor, colouring a little, as he could perceive. 'He prognosticates a bad look-out for us on the 12th of next month?' The normal expression of Sir Redmond's face, which was perhaps lazy insolence, seemed to change when a smile spread over it, and then the sensual lips, partly hidden by their fair moustache, became almost handsome. In Ellinor's sketches there had been ample food for ready conversation. Sir Redmond had seen all the picture galleries in Europe, and, whether he understood it or not, could talk of art with all the ease and fluency of a well-bred man of the world who was desirous of pleasing, and he had watched with growing interest her changing face and the brightening expression of her sweet eyes that had become trained to observe all things; but now that the portfolio was closed, the conversation had begun to flag a little. 'Robert also told me,' said Ellinor, to fill up an awkward pause, 'that as the grouse had been seen close to the barn and orchard walls, it is a sign of a severe winter.' 'It is too soon to think of winter yet; but he seems to be an authority in zoological matters, this Mr.--Mr.----' 'Wodrow.' 'Ah, yes--Robert Wodrow.' 'He is here to speak for himself,' said Ellinor, with just the slightest _soupçon_ of confusion or of annoyance in her manner as a young man entered unannounced, and was at once introduced to Sir Redmond Sleath, who, in responding to his bow, proceeded at once to focus him with his eyeglass.