against him, and gave him no chance to disprove it. That was cruel—cruel and unjust. I will not so lightly accept the story of my mother's shame and my father's dishonor. I will hold fast by the loving trust my sweet mother had in him. But tell me—did he never seek you out when he returned to his home again?"
"He did na' return for years; an' lang before he did come hame, I wa' far eneugh awa'. I wa' too restless an' unhappy to remain there, where every thing reminded me o' a' that I haed lost. I wanted to be awa'—awa' fra' a' that knew me. I sold the little place that wa' my father's, an' removed awa' to the Highlands—to the 'Hillside Farm'—wi' on'y my faithful Tibbie; and there, where nabodie kenned my sad story, where nabodie spiered to ken my name or where I kimmed fra', there I ventured to tak' ye hame to me; for ye wa' a' I haed left to me in life, an' in ye I felt a'maist as if I haed my ain Allie bock again.
"But when ye wa' five or six year auld I chanced to see by a paper that the auld laird wa' dead, an' that his son wa' comin'
