'Ay; but she's a queer-like aunt,' said Willie, pocketing the
useful sum of tenpence.




XVII

'FONDEST LOVE FROM MAGGIE'

Morning brought no letter from Christina, but at breakfast time
Macgregor received the astounding intimation that he was granted
three days' leave, the same to commence with the very next hour.

'What's the guid o' leave wi' a jaw like this?' wailed the
lop-sided William who, with several other members of the billet,
had been included in the dispensation.

'I'll tell ye what it means, onyway,' said Lance-corporal Jake; 'it
means that we'll be gettin' a move on afore we're mony days aulder.'

Macgregor did not enter into any of the discussions which followed.
Having hurriedly made himself as smart as possible, he took car for
Glasgow, and there caught the ten o'clock train for Aberdeen. He
spent the ensuing four hours in wondering--not so much what he
should say to Christina as what she would say to him. For himself,
he was determined to make a clean breast of it; at the same time,
he was not going to absolve Christina of all responsibility. He
had behaved like a fool, he admitted, but he still had a just
grievance. Yet it was with no very stout heart that he alighted in