As Rowena was finishing this letter, Granny came into the room. "'Tis the minister and his mither called to speir for ye. I telled them ye were just lyin' by, and wud na' be seein' folk for a wee bit." "Oh, I should like to see Mrs. Macintosh. I promise not to talk more than I do to you, Granny. Don't be a dragon. Bring her in." Granny shook her head doubtfully; but presently ushered in the visitor, raising a warning finger at her as she did so. "Ye'll no mak' me young leddy force her speech. She micht bring on inflammation o' the lungs an' throat, for she's sair vexed wi' hoarseness just noo." "My dear, I am sorry for you," said Mrs. Macintosh, taking the seat Granny had placed for her. "I have been long in coming, but I have been laid up for six weeks with a severe bout of my enemy, rheumatic-gout, and am only just able to get about again." "Bodies are troublesome items," said Rowena; "but I'm quite convalescent again. Granny makes the worst of me, for she dreads my going out-of-doors before I'm perfectly well. Tell me all the news of the neighbourhood, and I'll lie and listen. I quite understand how bedridden folk are entranced to hear that there has been a quarrel between Mr. and Mrs. Black, and that Mr. White's cat has stolen Mrs. Green's cream, and that Billy Smith saw John Wood and Mary Tibbs walking out together! Tell me all and everything that has happened to the outside world since I left it." Mrs. Macintosh laughed. "It is so easy to gossip," she said; "and I'll do it with a right good will. Of course the first bit of news is that the Macdonald child is living with her father. They have been to the kirk every Sabbath, and very well behaved the little lassie is. But she stopped Robert last Sabbath when she saw him come out of the kirk." "'Do be a wee bit shorter next Sunday, will you,' she said with her mischievous eyes gleaming with fun. 'I get pins and needles in my legs, and Dad requires that I should keep still. He says a fidgety neighbour is worse than a fidgety horse.'" "We are wondering what her father will do with her in the way of learning. Robert called on him the other day, and was very pleased with his visit. It seems the laird is keenly interested in prophecy, and Robert's soul is full of it. They talked for three or four hours." "They would," said Rowena, laughing.