life, married hastily again. When Lewis and Anne were still only infants, Norman Rutherford left his father's house to take possession of his own--and then some terrible blight had fallen upon him, spoken of in fearful whispers at the time, but almost wholly forgotten now. A stranger in the district at the time our history begins would only have learned, after much inquiry, that Norman, escaping from his native country with the stain of blood upon his hands, proved a second Jonah to the ship in which he had embarked, and so was lost, and that grief for his crime had brought his father's grey hairs in sorrow to the grave. But the difference of name, and the entire silence maintained by his family concerning him, had puzzled country gossips, and restrained the voice of rumor, even at the time. Now his remembrance had almost entirely passed away, and in another week Lewis Ross, Esq., of Merkland, would be of age. But the whole dreadful tale in all the darkness of its misery had been poured into Anne's ears that day. She had known nothing of it before. Now, her stepmother thought, it was full time she should know, because--a reason that made Anne shrink and tremble--Mrs. Ross felt convinced that the girl who was so soon to be a visitor at the Tower, could be no other than the daughter of the murdered man. "The south room, May--he had it when he was a boy," said Mrs. Ross, as Anne entered their breakfast-room the next morning. "I wish there had been time to get some of the furniture renewed; but I dare say Lewis will like to see it as he left it. Do you not think so, Anne?" "He was always such a kindly heart," interposed May. Mrs. Ross looked dubious. "You must remember, May, that my son is no longer a boy. This day week he will take the management of his affairs into his own hands. He left us a youth, but he returns a man." "And I was just thinking that myself, ma'am," said May; "and Duncan says it behoves us to call the young Lord by his own name, Merkland,--and not Mr. Lewis; but I always think the old way's the kindliest." "Lewis will be changed, if he does not like the kindliest best," said Anne. "Ah, that may be," said Mrs. Ross; "but there is something due to--Well, where were we. Ay, the south room. I know you keep it in good order, May, but we must have it on Friday shining like--" "Like a new pin, ma'am," said May, as Mrs. Ross paused for a simile; "and so it shall, and you may trust that to me." "Yes, Lewis will be quite a man," said Mrs. Ross, leaning back in her chair with a smile. "I should think he would be a good deal browned, Anne--I have been thinking so all the morning." "Oh! and he'll have a lordly presence," said May, "like his father before him. The Rosses have always been grand men to look upon. They say the young Laird--"