She had neither Dr. Wodrow nor Robert to advise or assist her then. The former was detained in Edinburgh on clerical or other business, and the latter absented himself for obvious reasons; so Mary worked alone, but no new or growing cares could change the sweet and grave expression of her face or the calm steadfastness of her violet eyes, yet a startled expression certainly came into them when one evening Captain Colville was suddenly ushered in upon her, looking so handsome, brown, and ruddy from exposure among the hills. There flashed upon Mary's mind the time, but a short space ago, when she had been thinking of a chaperone for herself and Ellinor: but all was changed since then, and there would be no need of one now. He had just returned that morning from shooting in the forest of Alyths had heard a rumour of their approaching departure, which the half-dismantled aspect of the drawing-room seemed to confirm. Why was it so? He spoke so pleasantly and sympathetically as he seated himself near her, and she felt all the glamour of his proximity, of his presence, and her breast heaved tumultuously in spite of herself. She became nervous, and her eyes suffused deeply. 'Tears, Miss Wellwood?' said he, inquiringly. 'We are going far away, Captain Colville--leaving this place for ever.' 'I have heard something of it; but why leave Birkwoodbrae?' he asked, smilingly. Mary told him why. 'And, on leaving, whither do you mean to go?' 'London.' 'Is that not a rash scheme?' 'When the will is strong the heart is willing; and we never know what a day may bring forth.' He gazed down upon her tenderly, admiringly, and, making a half effort to take her hand, paused and said, 'You surely did not mean to spend all your life in this old tumbledown place, Miss Wellwood?' 'Don't call it tumbledown, please,' said Mary. 'I beg your pardon; but----' 'It is very dear to me, as the place where they lived and died,' interrupted Mary, with a little break in her voice. 'They--who?' 'Papa and mamma. It seems like yesterday when he died in the room above us, and when he said in a low, weak voice--"Don't cry, Mary darling--don't cry so; our separation is only for a time;" and then added, "Is that the daybreak?" "No," said I. "It is--it is--and _so bright_!" he exclaimed, and then died. Oh, Captain Colville, the light he saw must have been that of the other world, for just as he expired the clock struck midnight, and the lamp was burning very low.' 'Poor old gentleman! But take courage,' said Colville, with a soft smile, as he patted her shoulder; 'you have not yet left Birkwoodbrae.' 'What can he mean by this!' thought Mary, with a slight sense of annoyance, as she woke up from her dark dreamland. 'And your father, the colonel--he--he--pardon me, left you little more than Birkwoodbrae when he died?' 'His blessing was the best he had: Birkwoodbrae, I have said, was not his to leave. We have lived here on sufferance--Ellinor and I.'