When her eldest son was of an age to help her, he ran away to sea; and when she gave up the reins to the second, she retired to the ordinary feminine life of her class with the nickname of the ‘Queen of the Cadgers’ and a heavier purse. Behind her were a dozen years of hard work. When her successor died, as his father had done, in the prime of life, the sailor son, as a sort of rough payment for his own desertion, sent his boy Jimmy to take his place; the arrangement suited Mrs. Stirk, and her grandson took kindly to his trade. They had spent a couple of years together when Gilbert Speid came into their lives as owner of the land on which their cottage stood. Lady Eliza remained in her saddle for the whole of the sale, though Fullarton put his horse in the stable. She beckoned to Gilbert to join them, and the two men stood by her until the business was over and the crowd began to disperse. They rode homewards together, their roads being identical for a few miles, threading their way through the led horses, driven cattle, and humanity which the end of the ‘roup’ had let loose. Jimmy Stirk passed them on his new acquisition, for he had flung himself on its back to try its paces, leaving his grandmother to follow at her leisure. ‘Did you buy that horse for the saddle or for harness?’ inquired Fullarton, as the boy passed them. ‘He is not mine,’ replied Gilbert. ‘It was young Stirk who bought him.’ ‘But surely I heard the auctioneer knock him down to you?’ ‘I outbid him by two pounds. He had not enough, so I added that on for him. I never saw anyone so much in earnest as he was,’ explained Gilbert. Fullarton was silent, and Lady Eliza looked curiously at the young man. ‘I don’t know anything about the boy,’ he added, feeling rather foolish under her scrutiny. ‘I fear you think me very soft-hearted.’ ‘That is to your credit,’ said Fullarton, with the least touch of artificiality. ‘Perhaps you have the quality yourself, sir, and are the more leniently inclined towards me in consequence,’ replied Gilbert, a little chafed by the other’s tone. ‘We shall have all our people leaving us and taking service at Whanland,’ said Lady Eliza. ‘You have obliged me also, for my fish will arrive the fresher.’ ‘Do you deal with the Stirks?’ inquired Gilbert. ‘I have done so ever since I came to this part of the country, out of respect for that old besom, Granny. I like the boy too; there is stout stuff in that family.’ ‘Then I have committed no folly in helping him?’ said Speid. ‘Lord, no, sir! Fullarton, this is surely not your turning home?’ ‘It is,’ said he, ‘and I will bid you good-evening, for Mr. Speid will escort you. Sir, I shall wait upon you shortly, and hope to see you later at my house.’ Gilbert and Lady Eliza rode on together, and parted at the principal gate of Morphie; for, as he declined her invitation to enter on the plea of the lateness of the hour, she would not suffer him to take her to the door.