Here Mr Ruthven entered. He had no time to sit down. He told the children that they must not cry; but that they might kiss their friend, and thank her for her kindness to them, and tell her that they should never see her any more. There was so much difficulty with the sobbing children on this last point, that he gave it up for want of time, threatening to see about making them more obedient when he was settled on the mainland. While they clung to Annie, and hid their faces in her gown, he explained to her that his residence in this island had not answered to his expectation; that he did not find it a congenial sphere; that he was a man of peace, to whom neither domestic discord, nor the prospect of war and difficulty without, were agreeable; and that he was, therefore, taking advantage of the steward's vessel to remove himself to some quiet retreat, where the pastoral authority might be exercised without disturbance, and a man like himself might be placed in a more congenial sphere. He was then careful to explain that, in speaking of domestic discord, he was far from referring to Mrs Ruthven, who, he thought he might say, however liable to the failings of humanity, was not particularly open to blame on the ground of conjugal obedience. She was, in fact, an excellent wife; and he should be grieved to cause the most transient impression to the contrary. It was, in truth, another person--a casual inmate of his family--whom he had in his eye; a lady who-- "I understand, sir. If you will allow me to go home with you--" "Permit me to conclude what I was saying, Mrs Fleming. That unhappy lady, in favour of whose temper it is impossible to say anything, has caused us equal uneasiness by another tendency of late--a tendency to indulge--" But Annie did not, at such a moment, stand upon ceremony. She was by this time leading the children home, one in each hand. "So you are really going away, and immediately?" said she to Mrs Ruthven. "Immediately," replied the heated, anxious Mrs Ruthven. "Where is Lady Carse?" The question again brought tears into Mrs Ruthven's swollen eyes. "I do not know. Mr Ruthven wishes to be gone before she returns from her walk." "We leave her the entire house to herself," declared the pastor, now entering. "Will you bear our farewell message to her, and wish her joy from us of being possessor of the whole house; and of--" "Here she comes," said Annie, quietly. "Lady Carse," she said, "this is a remarkable day. Here is another way opening for your deliverance--a way which appears to me so clear that you have only to be patient for a few weeks or months before your best wishes are fulfilled. Mrs Ruthven will now be able to do for you what she has so often longed to do. She is going to the main--perhaps to Edinburgh; she will see Mr Hope, and others of your friends; and tell your story. She will--"