GROWING DEBILITY. 435 



smoked so badly, as it had always done, that it could 

 seldom or never be lighted with any comfort, so that he 

 had to do without it, as he had greatly done all these years. 



He now often wandered about in sleep, and was 

 often affected with strange hallucinations. One night, for 

 example, he hurried in his shirt into the cottage at mid- 

 night, in the greatest consternation, urging them to save 

 themselves ; for, he said, he had just been up the brae, where 

 he had seen the gable of the house falling in, and had 

 rushed home to alarm them ! His door had therefore to be 

 kept locked at night, to prevent him unconsciously going 

 outside, as he had sometimes done. Mrs. Allanach slept in 

 the kitchen within easy distance of his bed, with the alert, 

 sleepless ear of the thorough nurse, and had to attend upon 

 him several times every night. 



He was still, nevertheless, able to walk about, round the 

 cottage and garden, for he was restless and his old habit of 

 wandering was strong upon him to the last. He even took 

 considerable journeys along the Leochel to see old friends. 

 One day that winter, he had gone down the burn alone 

 for he was too self-reliant to ask assistance, the offer of 

 which his undying independence resented and was found 

 by Mrs. Allanach, who was alarmed at his absence, lying 

 unconscious by the burn side alone, having fainted as on 

 the way to church. He was with difficulty brought round, 

 and was hardly prevailed upon to try to get home, wishing 

 to be allowed to lie down again undisturbed. 



Shortly after that, he made his last journey up the glen. 

 He set out after midday, alone and without notice as usual, 

 determined, it appeared, to visit his friend Charles Birse at 

 Scuttery, two miles or more up the Leochel. The frost 



