The prayers were over, and the sermon had begun, when Alec noticed, at some little distance, a face, the sight of which made his hand tremble and his heart beat. It was Laura Mowbray. She was sitting alone in her corner, her only companion being a maidservant, who sat at the door of the pew. Her profile was turned towards Alec, its clear white outline showing against the dark panelling behind her. Almost afraid to look in her direction, for fear of attracting her attention, or of allowing those sitting near him to guess what was passing in his mind, he took only a glance now and then at the object of his worship. It was worship, rather than love, with Alec Lindsay. Courtship, and marriage, and the practical considerations which these things entail, never entered the boy’s mind. He had seen his ideal of beauty, of refinement, of feminine grace; and he was content, for the present at least, to worship her at a distance, himself unseen. When the service was over, he left the chapel, and placed himself at an angle outside the gateway, where he could see her as she passed out. He recognised her figure as soon as it appeared, but to his great disappointment her face was turned from him. By chance, however, she looked back to see if the maid were following her, and for one instant he had a full view of her face. It was enough, and without a thought of accosting her, Alec went home satisfied. FOOTNOTES: [2] Old man. [3] Cattle. CHAPTER VIII. THE ROARING GAME. When the Christmas holidays drew near, Alec obtained his father’s permission to ask his friend, Duncan Cameron, to spend a week at the Castle Farm; and, after a little hesitation, Cameron accepted the proposal. ‘There’s just one thing, Duncan, I would like you to mind,’ said Alec, as they drew near the farm; ‘my father’s an old man, and he doesn’t like to be contradicted. More than that, he doesn’t care to hear anyone express opinions contrary to his own, at least on two subjects--politics and religion. If you can’t agree with him on these points, and I dare say you won’t, hold your tongue, like a good fellow. And my sister--you’d better keep off religion in her case too.’ ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’ was Cameron’s inward thought; but he only said he would of course be careful not to wound the old gentleman’s susceptibilities. Mr. Lindsay received his guest with a hearty welcome--it was not one of his faults to fail in hospitality--indeed, a stranger might have thought that he was better pleased to see his guest than his son. He led the way through the great stone-floored kitchen to the parlour, where an enormous fire of coals was blazing, and where the evening meal was already laid out on the snowy table-cloth.