"What a bonny boy your friend Mr. Ogilvie is!" said she, glancing across
the room.

He did not answer.

"But he does not look much of a soldier," she continued. "I don't think
I should be afraid of him if I were a man."

He answered, somewhat distantly:--

"It is not safe to judge that way, especially of any one of Highland
blood. If there is fighting in his blood, he will fight when the proper
time comes. And we have a good Gaelic saying--it has a great deal of
meaning in it, that saying--'_You do not know what sword is in the
scabbard until it is drawn._'"

"What did you say was the proverb?" she asked; and for second her eyes
met his; but she immediately withdrew them startled by the cold
austerity of his look.

"'_You do not know what sword is in the scabbard until it is drawn_,'"
said he, carelessly. "There is a good deal of meaning in it."




CHAPTER VIII.

LAUREL COTTAGE.