When he reached home he had not decided whether it would be prudent to tell his sister-in-law of the new joy that had come into his life. His nature was reticent, and he felt a keen personal pleasure in the secrecy of his love. He did not dream of her suspecting or discovering it. He found her sitting on the little porch absolutely idle. He was astonished at the circumstance, and more so at her face and manner, which were both sad and weary. "Are you sick, Jessy," he asked, "or have I stayed too long at the Hall?" "You are sooner home than I expected. How are all there?" "No one is there at present but Lady Cramer. We had dinner together, and I came away as soon as I could well leave. She is very lonely." "So am I, for that matter." "Marion is with you." "In a way, not much. Her heart is at Oban or thereabout." "Lady Cramer told me that Lord Cramer and Donald had gone on a tramp together. They are walking through the western highlands. It did not please me." "And why not?" "Because it is strengthening Donald's love of adventure and change. I wanted him to rest quietly here until we returned to Glasgow. Then I hoped he would be willing and glad to enter St. Andrews, and to settle down to the life I intended for him." "If he had stayed here, I think he would have regarded St. Andrews with delight. The company of hundreds of young men, the pleasant city, and the fine golf ground would make St. Andrews--after a month of this place--a very Elysium of satisfaction." "I thought this place was like the Garden of Eden to you." "I don't blame Eve, if it is. All right for a settled woman like me, and yet I, myself, am missing my afternoon callers and the library. And the two lasses are growing surly for want of company. Aileen was saying an hour ago that, 'If there was only a constable, and a hand-organ passing now and then,' she could bear the loneliness better." "As for me, I like it more and more. I am thinking of asking the Church to get a supply for a month. I feel a little rest to be necessary." "I feel as if I had had enough of the country." "What does Marion say?" "She is as happy here as anywhere. All places are wearisome to those who live for a person who is not in the place." "And Lady Cramer tells me that her stepson is miserable if he is not with Donald. She says they are inseparable and very unhappy if apart." "Like to like, the wide world over." "But they are not alike." "You do not know your son. I do. But if you take a month's rest here, you might get through that weary, useless reading of silly books and sillier manuscripts." "I hope it is not useless reading, Jessy. Every book that discredits scientific theology adds to the evidences of Christianity."