He was leaning over the counter--whether from weariness, listlessness, or interest in his talk with the girl behind, it would not have been easy, in the dim light and deep shadow, to say. He seemed quite at home, yet the young woman treated him with a marked, though unembarrassed respect. The candle stood to one side of them upon the counter, making a ghastly halo in the damp air; and in the light puff that occasionally came in at the door, casting the shadow of one of a pair of scales, now on this now on that of the two faces. The young woman was tall and dark, with a large forehead:--so much could be seen; but the sweetness of her mouth, the blueness of her eyes, the extreme darkness of her hair, were not to be distinguished. The man also was dark. His coat was of some rough brown material, probably dyed and woven in the village, and his kilt of tartan. They were more than well worn--looked even in that poor light a little shabby. On his head was the highland bonnet called a glengarry. His profile was remarkable--hardly less than grand, with a certain aquiline expression, although the nose was not roman. His eyes appeared very dark, but in the daylight were greenish hazel. Usually he talked with the girl in Gaelic, but was now speaking English, a far purer English than that of most English people, though with something of the character of book-English as distinguished from conversation-English, and a very perceptible accent. "And when was it you heard from Lachlan, Annie?" he asked. After a moment's pause, during which she had been putting away things in a drawer of the counter--not so big as many a kitchen dresser-- "Last Thursday it was, sir," answered the girl. "You know we hear every month, sometimes oftener." "Yes; I know that.--I hope the dear fellow is well?" "He is quite well and of good hope. He says he will soon come and see us now." "And take you away, Annie?" "Well, sir," returned Annie, after a moment's hesitation, "he does not SAY so!" "If he did not mean it, he would be a rascal, and I should have to kill him. But my life on Lachlan's honesty!" "Thank you, sir. He would lay down his for you." "Not if you said to him, DON'T!-eh, Annie?" "But he would, Macruadh!" returned the young woman, almost angrily. "Are not you his chief?" "Ah, that is all over now, my girl! There are no chiefs, and no clans any more! The chiefs that need not, yet sell their land like Esau for a mess of pottage--and their brothers with it! And the Sasunnach who buys it, claims rights over them that never grew on the land or were hid in its caves! Thank God, the poor man is not their slave, but he is the worse off, for they will not let him eat, and he has nowhere to go. My heart is like to break for my people. Sometimes I feel as if I would gladly die." "Oh, sir! don't say that!" expostulated the young woman, and her voice trembled. "Every heart in Glenruadh is glad when it goes well with the Macruadh."