Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. Some typographical errors have been corrected; a list follows the text. Archaic spellings (i.e. rebelious, rebelion, contemn, gallopping, tryste, knawing, bideing...) have been preserved. (etext transcriber's note) [Illustration: The Prodigal's Solemn Pledge in Mrs. Catherine's little room. See page 92] MERKLAND, OR, SELF-SACRIFICE. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MARGARET MAITLAND." [Illustration] "Lord, look upon mine offering--I bring thee back seven-fold. Lord of Mercy! cast me not away for evermore!--See page 292. [Illustration: decoration] STRINGER & TOWNSEND, NEW YORK. MERKLAND, OR, SELF SACRIFICE. BY THE AUTHOR OF "PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND," &C. NEW YORK: STRINGER & TOWNSEND. 1854. MERKLAND; OR, SELF-SACRIFICE. CHAPTER I. "But may not Mrs. Catherine's visitor belong to another family? The name is not uncommon." "You will permit me to correct you, Miss Ross. The name is by no means a common one; and there was some very distant connexion, I remember, between the Aytouns and Mrs. Catherine. I have little doubt that this girl is his daughter." "Mother! mother!" exclaimed the first speaker, a young lady, whose face, naturally grave and composed, bore tokens of unusual agitation. "It is impossible; Mrs. Catherine, considerate and kind as she always is, could never be so cruel." "I am quite at a loss for your meaning, Anne." "To bring her _here_--to our neighborhood," said Anne Ross, averting her eyes, and disregarding her step-mother's interruption, "where we must meet her continually, where our name, which must be odious to her, will be ringing in her ears every day. I cannot believe it. Mrs. Catherine could not do anything so barbarous." Mrs. Ross, of Merkland, threw down her work, and pushed back her chair from the table: "Upon my word, Anne Ross, you turn more absurd every day. What is the meaning of this?--_our_ name odious! I should not like Lewis to hear you say so." "But Lewis does not know this terrible story," said Anne. "And never shall," replied Mrs. Ross. "Neither can your brother's crime make my son's name odious to any one. I fancied you knew that Norman was called by your mother's name; and this Aytoun girl, if she knows anything of it at all, will have heard of him as Rutherford, and not as Ross."