CHAI>. x.] A WIDOW'S STORY. 463 



man I was livin' doon by at the Pans (Prestonpans, a fishing- 

 village). The herrin' season was ower aboot a month, and 

 my guidman had laid by a guid pickle siller, and we had 

 skytched oot a lot o' plans for the futur'. We had nae bairns 

 o' oor ain, although we had been married for mony years ; but 

 we had been lang thinkin' o' takin' in a wee orphint till bring 

 up as oor ain ; and noo that the siller was geyan' plenty, we 

 settled that Mairon MTarlane should come hame till us by 

 the beginnin' o' November. My guidman was thinkin' aboot 

 buyin' a new boat, although his auld ane was no sae muckle 

 the waur for wear. I was thinkin' aboot askin' the guidman 

 for a new Sunday's goon ; in fac', we were biggin' castles in 

 the air a' on the foundation o' the herrin' siller ; but hech, sir, 

 it's ower true that man ay, and woman tae purposes, but 

 the Great Almighty disposes. The wee orphint wasna till find 

 a new faither and mither in my guidman and me ; the auld 

 boat wasna till mak' room for a new ane ; and my braw 

 Sunday goon, which, gin I had had my choice, would hae been 

 a bricht sky-blue ane, was changed intae black black as 

 iiicht, black as sorrow and as death could mak' it. There 

 was a fine fishin' o' the haddies, and the siller in the bank 

 was growing bigger ilka week, for the wather was at its best, 

 and the fish plentifu'. Aweel, on the nicht o' the seventeent 

 o' November, after I had put a' the lines in order, and gien 

 Archibald his supper, aff he gangs frae the herbour wi' his 

 boat, and four as nice young chiels as ye ever set an ee on for 

 a crew. An' there wasna muckle fear o' dirty wather, although 

 the sun had gaen doon rayther redder than we could hae 

 wished. Some o' the new married, and some o' the lasses that 

 were sune tae be married, used tae gang doon tae the herbour, 

 and see their guidmen and their sweethearts awa'. I was lang 

 by wi' that sort o' thing ; no that my love was less, but my 

 confidence was mair, seein' that it had been tried and faund 

 true through the lang period o' fourteen years. As I was 



