320 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



made him feel very sorry for her and very unhappy ; 

 so he did his best, in a kind, manly way, to soothe her, 

 and not without success ; and somehow, before they 

 parted they had discovered and acknowledged tliat 

 they were very dear to each other. Shortly after this, 

 it was all settled that as soon as the proper season 

 arrived, they should be married. The proper season is 

 the dead of winter, and very seldom does a Shetland 

 marriage take place at any other time of the year. 



Osla with many tears gave her mistress notice, pro- 

 testing she would not have left for any one but Ned ; 

 but he was such a dear lad, the best and bravest and 

 bonniest lad in the island, and had saved her father's 

 life at the risk of his own, she couldn't do otherwise 

 than marry him when he had asked her and said it 

 would make him so happy ; and she hoped her mistress, 

 who had always been so kind to her, would not think 

 her ungrateful. Of course her mistress told her she 

 was doing quite the right thing. Osla returned to her 

 father's house at the term, and the wedding was fixed 

 to take place about Yule-time. 



The " wedding-needs," as the humble trousseau of a 

 Shetland bride is called, had, according to the invariable 

 practice, unless amongst the very poorest, to be fetched 

 from Lerwick, the little metropolis of the islands, a 

 distance of fifty miles. The custom was for the bride 

 and bridegroom, accompanied by a married female 

 relative of the bride's, to go to Lerwick by boat to 

 make the necessary purchases. There was never any 

 lack of neighbours ready to man the boat at no charge 



