Cattanach scrutinized her rather closely. He did not know how far she might stand questioning, but he gathered from a certain quiet determination in her manner that she had some quite definite plan in her mind. "Mr. Cattanach," said Isla clearly, "you have always been kind to me and have understood things right through. I can never forget how kind you were just before my brother came home. I can’t go on living at Creagh with him any longer." "I’m not surprised. I’ve been expecting to hear this for some time." "I’m a dependent on his bounty. I ought not to have been left like that, but I don’t want to grumble about it. He thinks I’m going to Wimereaux to my aunt and uncle. But I have no such intention." "Indeed! I hope that you have at least some satisfactory haven in view, Miss Mackinnon," he said, with distinct anxiety in his voice. "I have several very clear ideas. To-night I shall stay at the Euston Hotel and to-morrow I shall go to an old servant of Achree who is married in the West End of London. She keeps a boarding-house. From her house it is my intention to seek some employment." Cattanach looked the surprise he felt. His disapproval, he decided, he had better keep to himself. "I am honoured by this conference, Miss Mackinnon, and since you have told me so much I am encouraged to ask more. What sort of employment, may I ask, does Miss Mackinnon of Achree think she will find in London?" Her eyes flashed a little mournfully. "I belong to the great sad army of the partially equipped, Mr. Cattanach, but I know my limitations and I shall keep within them. Also I shall be able to earn my daily bread. I have come to you, because,--for reasons which I don’t think I could really explain, even if I tried--I feel that I should like at least one responsible person to know where I am and precisely what I am doing. But I require that, unless circumstances arise which render it absolutely necessary that it should be known, you will not give that information to anybody in Glenogle or at Balquhidder," she added as an after-thought. "You forget. I have no communication with Glenogle or Balquhidder now except through your brother. He is not likely to ask me your whereabouts. Will you give me your address?" "I’ll send it," she said diplomatically. "I want to get clean away from everything for a while, Mr. Cattanach, for really I don’t quite know where I am standing. I even feel as if I were some strange, new sort of person with whom I have to get freshly acquainted. Can you understand that?" "I understand that life has been very hard for you, my dear," he said involuntarily. "And I have often prayed that your day of brightness would come."