RAB AND HIS FRIENDS 



at all what we call fine. She looked sixty, 

 and had on a mutch, white as snow, with its 

 black ribbon ; her silvery, smooth hair setting 

 off her dark-grey eyes eyes such as one sees 

 only twice or thrice in a lifetime, full of 

 suffering, full also of the overcoming of it : 

 her eyebrows * black and delicate, and her 

 mouth firm, patient, and contented, which 

 few mouths ever are. 



As I have said, I never saw a more beauti- 

 ful countenance, or one more subdued to 

 settled quiet. " Ailie," said James, " this is 

 Maister John, the young doctor ; Rab's 

 freend, ye ken. We often speak aboot you, 

 doctor." She smiled, and made a movement, 

 but said nothing ; and prepared to come 

 down, putting her plaid aside and rising. 

 Had Solomon, in all his glory, been hand- 

 ing down the Queen of Sheba at his palace 

 gate, he could not have done it more daintily, 



* . . . " Black brows, they say, 

 Becomes some women best ; so that there be not 

 Too much hair there, but in a semicircle, 

 Or a half-moon made with a pen" 



A WINTER'S TALE. 



