trouble about giving things to people. And when the fifty pounds
will be done, I will send you another fifty pounds; and it will be no
difference to me whatever. And if there is any one in Borva you would
be for sending money to, there is your own money; for there is many a
one would take the money from Sheila Mackenzie that would not be for
taking it from an English stranger in London. And when you will send
it to them, you will send it to me; and I will tek it to them, and
will tell them that this money is from my Sheila, and from no one else
whatever."

This was all the dowry that Sheila carried with her to the South.
Mackenzie would willingly have given her half his money, if she would
have taken it or if her husband had desired it; but the old King of
Borva had profound and far-reaching schemes in his head about the
small fortune he might otherwise have accorded to his daughter. This
wealth, such as it was, was to be a magnet to draw this young English
gentleman back to the Hebrides. It was all very well for Mr. Lavender
to have plenty of money at present: he might not always have it. Then
the time would come for Mackenzie to say, "Look here, young man: I can
support myself easily and comfortably by my farming and fishing.
The money I have saved is at your disposal so long as you consent
to remain in Lewis--in Stornoway if you please, elsewhere if you
please--only in Lewis. And while you are painting pictures, and making
as much money as you can that way, you can have plenty of fishing and
shooting and amusement; and my guns and boats and rods are all at your
service." Mr. Mackenzie considered that no man could resist such an
offer.

Sheila, of course, told her husband of the sum of money she owned, and
for a longtime it was a standing joke between them. He addressed her