’I should deserve to be hanged and buried in a ditch if I did not,’ said he. ’But we will leave all that for a while, Meenie; I want you to come for a stroll along the banks over the Kelvin. Would ye wonder to find some sea-gulls flying about?—they’re there, though; or they were there a week or two ago. And do you know that I got a glimpse of you at the railway station on Wednesday morning?——’ ’I did not see you, Ronald,’ she said, with some surprise. ’No, no; I kept out o’ the way. It’s not for me, lass, it’s for you to say when any of your folk are to be told what we are looking forward to; and for my part I would as lief wait till I could put a clearer plan before them—something definite.’ ’And that is my opinion too, Ronald,’ she answered, in rather a low voice. ’Let it be merely an understanding between you and me. I am content to wait.’ ’Well, then,’ said he, as they reached the top of the high bank overhanging the river, and began to make their way down the narrow little pathways cut through the trees and shrubs, ’here is a confession: I was so glad to see you on that morning—and so glad to see you looking so well—that I half lost my senses, I think; I went away through the streets in a kind o’ dream; and, sure as I’m here, I walked into a public-house and ordered a glass of whisky——’ She looked up in sudden alarm. ’No, no, no,’ said he contentedly, ’you need not fear that, my good lassie; it was just that I was bewildered with having seen ye, and thinking of where ye were going. I walked out o’ the place without touching it. Ay, and what think ye o’ Dunoon? And what kind of a day was it when ye got out on the Firth?’ So she began to tell him of all her adventures and experiences; and by this time they had got down near to the water’s edge; and here—of what value would his knowledge of forestry have been otherwise?—he managed to find a seat for her. They were quite alone here—the brown river before them; several sea-gulls placidly paddling on its surface, others flying and dipping overhead; and if this bank of the stream was in shadow, the other—with some small green meadows backed by clumps of elms and maples—was bright and fair enough in the yellow autumn sunshine. They were in absolute silence, too, save for the continual soft murmur of the water, and the occasional whirring by of a blackbird seeking safety underneath a laurel bush. ’Meenie,’ said he, putting one hand on her shoulder, ’here are some verses I copied out for ye last night—they’re not much worth—but they were written a long time ago, when little did I think I should ever dare to put them into your hand.’ She read them; and there was a rose colour in her face as she did so: not that she was proud of their merit, but because of the revelation they contained. ’A long time ago?’ she said, with averted eyes—but her heart was beating warmly.