And she--how was she affected towards him? Stealing a glance at his handsome face and figure from time to time, and listening to his very pleasant voice, Mary--somewhat of a day-dreamer--was thinking how delightful it would have been had God given her and Ellinor such a man as a brother to guide, love, and protect them. It began to seem to both that they had been friends--companions certainly--for a longer time than they had known each other; they discovered so much in common between them, so far as sentiment and opinion went; but remembering Mr. Wodrow's assurance that Captain Colville was engaged to Blanche Galloway, she compelled herself to be somewhat reserved in her manner towards him, yet more than once it thawed unconsciously. However, she was a little startled when, after a pause, he said suddenly, in a low and earnest tone, while looking down into her face, 'Tell me something of your life here at Invermay, Miss Wellwood?' 'Something of my life--what a strange request!' exclaimed Mary, her dark blue eyes dilating as she spoke. 'What can I tell you that could be of interest to you?' 'Pardon me--how your time passes, for instance, I mean.' 'As you see,' she replied, smiling, 'and as you have seen; my daily duties but repeat themselves. I have my little household to look after, accounts and taxes to pay--thanks to our kind kinsman abroad (for Birkwoodbrae is entailed) we have no rent to pay; I have my feathered family in the yard to supervise; my garden with its flowers and fruits; my poor pensioners in the village and all round about.' 'A grey life for one so young and winning,' thought Colville; 'and with you,' he added aloud, 'so runs the world away?' 'Yes.' 'And all your people love you, Dr. Wodrow tells me?' 'I hope so--nay, I am sure they do,' replied Mary, with one of her brightest smiles. 'And you love the scenery here?' 'Yes--every rock and tree and stream; they have all their old stories and young associations to me.' 'And your old home at Birkwoodbrae?' he added, smiling at her enthusiasm. 'Yes--dearly, every stone of it!' He paused a little, as if lost in thought, and then said, 'But surely you must miss something in your life, Miss Wellwood--you must be lonely amid these birchen woods?' 'Lonely with Ellinor and all my work? Oh! no. I assure you I am not.' 'But you cannot expect to have her--a girl so very handsome--always with you?' 'Perhaps not,' said Mary, and her long dark lashes drooped, as her thoughts hovered between poor Robert Wodrow and his probable rival, the tawny-haired Englishman. 'Nor can she always have you; and what then?' said Colville, lightly touching her hand, and lowering his voice in a way that to some there would have been no mistaking; but Mary, devoid of vanity, was all unconscious of it, and, disliking to talk about herself, now talked of other things.