But this day was an active one with Hester. She chose rooms for her coming cousin, relinquishing for a time those slippers of dark blue embroidery on buff leather with which she was busy for Roland. Vases of fresh flowers, selected and sorted with loving hands, were placed in all available points to decorate the sleeping and dressing rooms of Annot Drummond; draped back, the laced curtains of the windows displayed the lovely valley of the Esk, up which the river, as it flowed eastward, softly murmured; Kevock-bank and the wooded Kirkbrae on the north; the slope of Polton on the south; Lasswade, with its quaint bridge, in the middle distance, and Eldin woods beyond--a sweet and sylvan view on which Hester was never weary of gazing. Thus with her passed most of the day; how it was spent she scarcely knew; then evening came, and she and Sir Harry drove into town to meet their expected visitor; and Roland never knew how much he missed her till he was left to his own thoughts--to the inevitable cheroot, and after despatching his letters to Malcolm Skene, to Jack Elliot 'of ours,' and others, to vary his time between lounging in the hammock between the shady trees and tossing pebbles into the Esk. At last, after the shadows had deepened in the glen and dusk had completely closed in, the sound of carriage wheels, with the opening and banging to of doors, announced the arrival of Annot Drummond, accompanied by her uncle and cousin; and Roland assisted them to alight. For a moment the tightly gloved and childlike hand of Miss Drummond rested in his, and her eyes, the precise colour of which he could not determine, but which seemed light and sparkling, met his own with an expression of confidence and inquiry. He had simply a vague idea of sunny eyes and waving golden hair. The rest was undiscoverable. 'Roland, I suppose,' she exclaimed, laughing, adding, 'I beg your pardon, Captain Lindsay--but I have heard so much of you from dearest Hester.' 'Roland he is, my dear girl, and now welcome to Merlwood--welcome for your mother's sake and your own!' exclaimed Sir Harry, as he turned to give some orders about the luggage, and Annot, accompanied by Hester, who towered above her by a head, tripped indoors, with a nod and a smile to the old housekeeper and other servants, all of whom she knew. She seemed, indeed, a bright, fairy and airy-like little creature, in the most becoming of travelling costumes and most piquant of hats. 'She seems quite a child yet, by Jove!' said Sir Harry, looking after the _petite_ creature, as she hurried to her room to change her dress, and imbibe the inevitable cup of tea brought by the motherly old housekeeper. 'What do you think of our Annot?' asked Hester, returning for a moment. 'That she has a wonderfully fair skin,' replied Roland slowly. 'All the Drummond women have that--it runs in the clan. But her eyes--are they not beautiful?' 'I cannot say.' 'Did you not see them?' 'No, Hester.' 'Why?'