hold of Macleod's coat. Then he seemed to have some notion of his duty.
He drew back one foot, and made a sort of courtesy. Probably he had seen
girls do this, in mock-heroic fashion, in some London court.

"And are you very tired?" said Janet Macleod, in that soft voice of hers
that all children loved.

"Yes," said the child.

"Kott bless me!" cried Hamish, "I did not know that!"--and therewith the
old man caught up Johnny Wickes as if he had been a bit of ribbon, and
flung him on to his shoulder, and marched off to Castle Dare.

Then the three Macleods continued on their way--through the
damp-smelling fir-wood; over the bridge that spanned the brawling brook;
again through the fir-wood; until they reached the open space
surrounding the big stone house. They stood for a minute there--high
over the great plain of the sea, that was beautiful with a thousand
tints of light. And there was the green island of Ulva, and there the
darker rocks of Colonsay, and farther out, amidst the windy vapor and
sunlight, Lunga, and Fladda, and the Dutchman's Cap, changing in their
hue every minute as the clouds came driving over the sea.

"Mother," said he, "I have not tasted fresh air since I left. I am not
sorry to get back to Dare."

"And I don't think we are sorry to see you back, Keith," his cousin
said, modestly.

And yet the manner of his welcome was not imposing; they are not very