Jessy Caird, however, had failed and faded physically more than she ought to have done, so Ian was not slow to take the first opportunity of speaking confidentially to her. She was sitting just within the open door of her bungalow. Her eyes were closed, her work had fallen from her hands, and there was no book of any kind within her reach. Ian wondered at these things. Jessy doing nothing! Jessy without a book! What could be the meaning of it? She opened her eyes as she heard his approach, and said with a smile, "You are walking like your old self, Ian, but for all that sit down by me." "That is what I am here for. I want to talk with you, and with you only. My dear sister, you look sick--or very unhappy. Which is it?" "Ian, I am both sick and unhappy. In the first place, I am heartbroken for my native land. I want to see once more the green, green straths of Scotland--the green straths with a haze of bluebells over them! I want the gray, soft skies and the little silvery showers that blessed both humanity and nature with constant freshness. And O Ian, I want, I want, I want the living tongue of running water! Do you mind that, in all the summers we spent in Arran, we could not go anywhere on the island and lose the happy sound of running water? Do you mind how the waters leaped from rock to rock, and thundered down the craggy glens, and then went singing and gurgling along the roadside? Ian, Ian, take me home! I want to die in my own country!" "_Die!_ Nonsense, Jessy! You must live for others even if you want to die. I need you. You must go back to Scotland and help me. I have told you of the great work my uncle and I are planning. We cannot do without you." Her face brightened, there was a smile in her eyes, and she looked eagerly at Ian as he continued: "It would make you heartsick to see that fine house in the Square going to destruction. The Major's heart and head are in the building of the church, and the servant men are neglecting everything beneath their hands." "It serves him right. The Major was set on having only servant men. Three or four tidy women would have----" "To be sure. We shall soon get rid of the men when you and I get home." "What are you meaning, Ian? Speak straight." "I am going to live with my uncle. He is an old man and needs me." "Stuff and nonsense! He will never need either you or anybody else. You may need him." "I need him now, Jessy. He is mainly building the church. His heart and soul are in it. He has given up practically his large business." "Given up his business! What does the man mean?" "He is only retaining the charge of three estates until the heirs come of age. He promised to do that, and does not feel it right to break a promise made to the dead." "Well, then, a man may live decently from three estates."