Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. [Illustration: A child with sunny brown curls falling over her shoulders dashed in. Frontispiece.] MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS BY AMY LE FEUVRE WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED LONDON AND MELBOURNE MADE IN ENGLAND Printed in Great Britain by L. T. A. ROBINSON LIMITED, THE BOTOLPH PRINTING WORKS LONDON. CONTENTS CHAP. BOOK I I. A DOCTOR'S VERDICT II. ALONE III. MYSIE MACDONALD IV. THE BIRTHDAY GIFT V. FRIENDLY TALKS VI. MISS FALCONER VII. COMPELLED TO THINK VIII. THE LAIRD'S AWAKENING IX. DEPARTURE BOOK II I. AT THE GREEN COTTAGE II. A NEW FRIEND III. CHASING SHADOWS IV. AN OLD FRIEND V. A SATISFACTORY INTERVIEW VI. THE LAIRD SPEAKS VII. AN ACCIDENT VIII. AN ALTERED OUTLOOK BOOK III I. HIS BRIDE II. SOME GUESTS III. HECTOR ROSS IV. WINTER IN THE GLEN V. ROWENA'S POWER MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS BOOK I CHAPTER I A DOCTOR'S VERDICT "We know That we have power over ourselves to do And suffer: What—we know not till we try." Shelley. "I DO wish you would be serious!" "Why on earth should I be?" Rowena Arbuthnot leant her elbows on the wide windowsill and looked in upon her sister-in-law from the garden, with her mischievous blue-grey eyes which always seemed to twinkle with some hidden joke. Rowena's eyes had been the cause of her continually getting into trouble, from the time she had been a child, when the rector of the parish had requested her not to laugh at him in the pulpit. She was older now; and had gone through more trouble than most girls of her age. But though her lips were grave, and a trifle sad when in repose, yet her eyes had never lost their gleam of hidden laughter. Young Mrs. Arbuthnot, sitting in her pretty drawing-room, stitching away at a white frock for her youngest child, felt impatient with Rowena. "I never shall understand you," she said; "I thought you and Ted were so devoted, that if you had not cared a button about the children or me, you would be disappointed at not coming with us. Our home has been yours for the last four years; and we have always looked upon you as one of the family." "My dear Geraldine, tears are too expensive a luxury to be wasted in public. Shall I conjure up two for your benefit? I might if I tried hard." "I hate you when you are facetious!"