200 ARDENMOHR. 



child, Mrs. Peyton ; a sad but quite a simple 

 story," he replied. 



" Forgive my asking you ; I have unintentionally 

 pained you, I fear ? " 



" No, no, no ; it was years ago ; I often think 

 of it, and shall tell you about them, if you care 

 to hear it." 



" Yes, very much, if you will be so kind." 



And so Major Duncan related : 



"My brother Eobert had died when I was 

 abroad; and four years after his death, when home 

 on leave at my mother's place in Lanarkshire, she 

 told me one morning that my brother's widow and 

 child were on their way from England to visit us, 

 and I was glad, as I had not yet seen them. 



" How well I remember that time. They arrived 



late, and scarcely showed ; but next morning, on 



going down to breakfast, there they were in the 



room before me, the quaintest little widow and 



child in the world. The mother very fair, with 



deep blue eyes and silky brown hair braided below 



her widow's cap ; but such a slight girlish figure 



a flower in mourning. And her wee mite of a 



daughter just as striking a picture, robed in some 



Indian gauzy thing of a buff colour, with strange 



