Cairnforth contrived in the course of a day or two to initiate himself
very fairly in all the business attendant upon the "term;" to find out
the exact extent and divisions of his property, and to whom it was
feued. And on term-day he proposed, though with an evident effort which
touched the old lawyer deeply, to sit beside Mr. Menteith while the
tenants were paying their rents, so as to become personally known to
each of them.

Many of these, like Dougal Mac Dougal, were over come with surprise,
nay, something more painful than surprise, at the sight of the small
figure which was the last descendant of the noble Earls of Cairnforth,
and with whom the stalwart father and the fair young mother looking down
from the pictured walls, contrasted so piteously; but after the first
shock was over they carried away only the remembrance of his sweet,
grave face, and his intelligent and pertinent observations, indicating a
shrewdness for which even Mr. Menteith was unprepared. When he owned
this, after business was done, the young earl smiled, evidently much
gratified.

"Yes, I don't think they can say of me that I'm 'no a' there!" Also he
that evening confessed to Helen that he found "business" nearly as
interesting as Greek and Latin, perhaps even more so, for there was
something human in it, something which drew one closer to one's
fellow-creatures, and benefited other people besides one's own self. "I
think," he added, "I should rather enjoy being what is called 'a good
man of business.'"

He pleaded so hard for farther instruction in all pertaining to his
estate that Mr. Menteith consented to spare two whole weeks out of his
busy Edinburg life, during which Lord Cairnforth and he were shut up