"But there was ane thing special, Miss Anne, about your brother; a thought o' pleasure never entered his head; he had a sunshine within himsel that keepit him aye cheery; and the bits o' dawting, and good things, and makings o', that ither bairns fecht for, he heeded not, though I never saw a laddie that liket better the quietest mark of kindliness: only, if there was onything like a privilege or an honor, he would aye have it wared on the rest; no jealous and grudging, like as ye will see some bairns, that are learned to pretend to do the like, and no to be selfish; but with a blythe spark shining in his eye, enjoying the good thing, whatever it was, far mair than if he had gotten it himsel. "It might be because Mr. Lawrence was aye delicate, and bid to get his ain way; but the maist of it, without doubt, was in the nature. My ain Willie was a kindly callant, as need to be; but I have seen him (who was only a poor man's son, and no equal to the young Laird,) standing out against Mr. Lawrence in his pets, when Mr. Norman gaed way, in his blythe, frank manner, without sae much as a thought about ony pride o' his ain; and I have kent him, money a time, when ony o' them were in the wrang, taking the blame upon himsel. "Ye will think I am dwelling on thae auld stories ower lang, Miss Anne; but I see them--I think I can see them on Oranside, Mr. Lawrence sitting, white and thin, on the bank, watching them; and my ain twa, my beautiful laddies! as wild in their innocent play as twa foals on a lee; and the cut fingers, and the torn clothes, and the fa's into Oran: waes me! what were a' their bits o' tribulations but just another name for joy? "Weel, Mr. Lawrence died, as ye ken. If he was petted whiles, it was wi' sickness and suffering--pain that the young spirit could ill bear, and that awfu' cough; but he was a blessed bairn, and departed as calm and pleasant as an angel gaun hame--as truly he was, puir lamb!--out of a world that had held nothing but ill to him; and the other bairns dwined away from the house o' Merkland. Eh! Miss Anne, ane canna read thae sore and sorrowful dispensations! To think that there should be sae mony blythe families round about, wi' no ane wee head lifted out among them, and a' the Mistress's lilies gathered--a' but Mr. Norman; and ye wad have thought the rest had left a portion of their life to him, as that strange lassie, Jacky Morison, was saying to me out of a book of ballants, about three knights--aye as the ane was killed, the spirit and the strength of him entered into the other; but that's a fule story. So, as I was saying, ye might have thought it was so wi' Mr. Norman; for, the mair death there was in the house, the stronger and fuller of life _he_ grew. Ye may think, Miss Anne, how the Mistress's heart was bound up in her one son, growing among tears and troubles, like a strong young tree by the waterside.