Produced by Al Haines. WHITE HEATHER A Novel BY WILLIAM BLACK AUTHOR OF ’MACLEOD OF DARE,’ ’JUDITH SHAKESPEARE,’ ETC. _IN THREE VOLUMES_ VOL. III. London MACMILLAN AND CO. 1885 _The right of translation is reserved._ Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh. *CONTENTS OF VOL. III.* CHAPTER I. A MESSAGE CHAPTER II. IN GLASGOW TOWN CHAPTER III. A RESOLVE CHAPTER IV. A BOLDER STEP CHAPTER V. A MEETING CHAPTER VI. CONFESSION CHAPTER VII. AT THE PEAR-TREE WELL CHAPTER VIII. THE COMING OF TROUBLES CHAPTER IX. IN OTHER CLIMES CHAPTER X. A CHALLENGE CHAPTER XI. A WEDDING CHAPTER XII. IN DARKENED WAYS CHAPTER XIII. IN ABSENCE CHAPTER XIV. WANDERINGS IN THE WEST CHAPTER XV. A PLEDGE REDEEMED CHAPTER XVI. THE FACTOR OF BALNAVRAIN *WHITE HEATHER.* *CHAPTER I.* *A MESSAGE.* Clear and brilliant in their blue and white are these shining northern skies; and the winds that come blowing over the moorland are honey-scented from the heather; and the wide waters of the loch are all of a ruffled and shimmering silver, with a thin fringe of foam along the curving bays. And this is Love Meenie that comes out from the cottage and comes down to the road; with perhaps less of the wild-rose tint in her cheeks than used to be there, and less of the ready light of gladness that used to leap into her blue-gray eyes; but still with that constant gentleness of expression that seems to bring her into accord with all the beautiful things in the landscape around her. And, indeed, on this particular morning she is cheerful enough; walking briskly, chatting to the ancient terrier that is trotting at her side, and equably regarding now the velvet-soft shadows that steal along the sunlit slopes of Clebrig, and now the wheeling and circling of some peewits that have been startled from their marshy haunts by the side of the stream.