"Maddy, our talk to-day has brought back my home in Scotland; and it makes me feel sad to think that I am so far away from the land that I love. You ought to hear some of our music, it is so beautiful." "Won't you sing me one of the songs that you like, Roland?" "Will you try to sing one with me, Maddy?" "Yes, I would if I only knew one." "I will teach you one, Maddy, if you will try-.--I know that you will like it;" and Roland dictated the words of the following Scotch song: "Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled! Scots, wham Bruce has often led! Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victorie! "Now's the day, and now's the hour: See the front of battle lour: See approach proud Edward's power-- Chains and slaverie! "Wha will be a traitor knave? Wha can fill a coward's grave? Wha sae base as be a slave? Let him turn and flee!" &c. CHAPTER VI. A SCOTCH MATRON. Mrs. Bruce had seen many sorrows. She had married Stephen Bruce chiefly to please her father. Early in life she had been betrothed to Malcolm Graham, a young man of excellent character, who dearly loved sweet Mary Gordon. She had another suitor, Stephen Bruce, the son of her father's most intimate friend; this was the one preferred by her parent. Malcolm went to sea; the vessel foundered, and his name was among the missing. Mary pined away for two years in sadness and sorrow; at length, to please her father, she accepted the hand of Stephen Bruce, and made him a faithful wife. When Roland was about one year old, one stormy winter evening, Mary was rocking her child to sleep, singing a sweet cradle hymn, when the door of the manse opened suddenly, and Malcolm Graham, her early lover, stood before her. A scene of agony passed--they parted in sorrow. Stephen Bruce, on discovering that Malcolm was still alive, became morose, jealous, and at last unkind. After the birth of Effie, he suddenly embarked for America, where he lived with his family for several years. At length, he returned to Scotland on business; the vessel in which he sailed for America was wrecked, and nothing was ever heard of Stephen Bruce. In Mrs. Bruce's neighborhood lived a strange woman, named Elsie Gibson, a Scotch woman, who had also lived several years in America. She was a frequent visitor at the widow's cottage, and exhibited a mysterious interest in all their affairs. Soon after the wreck of the vessel in which Stephen had sailed, she presented herself at the cottage. "I came to ask for the bairns, Mrs. Bruce," said Elsie. "We are baith Scotch people, and I kenned aboot the Gordons in the auld country. Dinna think me officious; are the bairns weel provided for?" "Stephen had a good support, Elsie, but it will be some time before I can hear from home; then I shall know what is to be done."