He thought it the sweetest face that he had ever seen and--almost he could have said--the dearest. Yet Hylton Rosmead had seen many fair women, among whom he might without doubt have made his choice. "I am so glad," said Isla a little wistfully. "And your sisters--do they, too, like it?" "They do. Glenogle and Lochearn in such a spring as this leave little, I think, to be desired in the way of winsomeness. I myself feel as if I belonged here, which, I dare say, you consider great presumption on my part." "Indeed no," said Isla, with a swift, kind glance. "I feel very glad to know that that is how you regard Achree." "I came with a message from my mother and also, I must confess, on my own account to tell you that I have to leave Scotland for a few months." "Oh!" said Isla, and her face unaccountably fell. But Rosmead was not yet sufficiently acquainted with the play of its expression to understand that his news had disappointed her. Neither was he vain enough to imagine that her expression had altered because of his announcement of his impending departure. "Where are you going?" she asked a moment later. "Back to America. The object for which I came to this country is accomplished, and I really have no excuse for remaining longer here." "Oh!" said Isla again, a little dully. "Somehow I imagined that you were going to settle in Scotland, though of course that was a very absurd supposition on my part." "Not so very absurd. It is what I should like to do--what I hope to do one day. But, in the meantime, I must not forget that I am a partner in an American business and that I am expected to go back with my report." "What report?" "You have forgotten, of course, that I told you I was a bridge-builder. Why should you remember it?" he asked lightly. "I came over to meet the engineers and the contractors who have to do with your splendid bridges here, and in the fall I shall have to go down south, where my firm has undertaken to build one of the biggest cantilever bridges in the world." "Oh!" said Isla a third time. "And you will not come back?" "I hope that I shall return later in the year--probably to spend Christmas with my mother and sisters." "They will remain here, then? You wish to extend the term of your tenancy of Achree? Do you remember it was to be for six months?" "With the option of remaining for a year. That was made very clear, I think, at the beginning, and, as I said, my mother will not be easily ousted from Achree. She is of Scottish parentage, you know. Her mother was a Farquharson, so she imagines that she has a special claim on Scotland. Happily your brother does not mind the extension."