Ladies in Alister's fields were not an everyday sight. Hardly before had his work been enlivened by such a presence; and the joy of it was in his eyes, though his behaviour was calm. Christina thought how pleasant it would be to have him for a worshipping slave--so interpenetrated with her charms that, like Una's lion, he would crouch at her feet, come and go at her pleasure, live on her smiles, and be sad when she gave him none. She would make a gentleman of him, then leave him to dream of her! It would be a pleasant and interesting task in the dullness of their winter's banishment, with the days so short and the nights so unendurably long! The man was handsome!--she would do it!--and would proceed at once to initiate the conquest of him! The temptation to patronize not unfrequently presents an object for the patronage superior to the would-be patron; for the temptation is one to which slight persons chiefly are exposed; it affords an outlet for the vague activity of self-importance. Few have learned that one is of no value except to God and other men. Miss Palmer worshipped herself, and therefore would fain be worshipped--so dreamed of a friendship de haut en bas with the country fellow. She put on a smile--no difficult thing, for she was a good-natured girl. It looked to Alister quite natural. It was nevertheless, like Hamlet's false friends, "sent for." "Do you like ploughing?" she asked. Had she known the manners of the country, she would have added "laird," or "Macruadh." "Yes I do," Alister answered; "but I should plough all the same if I did not. It has to be done." "But why should YOU do it?" "Because I must," laughed the laird. What ought she to answer? Should she condole with the man because he had to work? It did not seem prudent! She would try another tack! "You had some trouble with your oxen! We saw it from the road, and were quite frightened. I hope you are not hurt." "There was no danger of that," answered Alister with a smile. "What wild creatures they are! Ain't it rather hard work for them? They are so small!" "They are as strong as horses," answered the laird. "I have had my work to break them! Indeed, I can hardly say I have done it yet! they would very much like to run their horns into me!" "Then it MUST be dangerous! It shows that they were not meant to work!" "They were meant to work if I can make them work." "Then you approve of slavery!" said Mercy She hardly knew what made her oppose him. As yet she had no opinions of her own, though she did catch a thought sometimes, when it happened to come within her reach. Alister smiled a curious smile. "I should," he said, "if the right people were made slaves of. I would take shares in a company of Algerine pirates to rid the social world of certain types of the human!" The girls looked at each other. "Sharp!" said Christina to herself. "What sorts would you have them take?" she asked. "Idle men in particular," answered Alister.