To the astonishment of Gladys, Walter broke into a laugh, not a particularly pleasant one.
'Six months after this you'll maybe take a different view,' he said shortly.
'Why, Walter, what has come to you? You have so many moods now I never know quite how to talk to you.'
'That's true,' he answered brusquely. 'I'm a fool, and nobody knows it better than I.'
CHAPTER XV.
HER INHERITANCE.
n the cheerful sunshine, the following afternoon, a small funeral party left the house in Colquhoun Street, and drove to the railway station. It consisted of Mr. Fordyce the lawyer, the minister of the parish, Walter Hepburn, and Gladys. It was her own desire that she should go, and they did not think it necessary to dissuade her. She was a sincere mourner for the old man, and he had not so many that they should seek to prevent that one true heart paying its last tribute to his memory. So for the first time for many years the burying-ground of the Bourhill Grahams was opened, somewhat to the astonishment of Mauchline folks. The name was almost forgotten in the place; only one or two of the older inhabitants remembered the widow and her two boys, and these found memory dim. Nevertheless, a few gathered in the old churchyard, viewing with interest the short proceedings, and with very special interest the unusual spectacle of a young fair girl standing by the grave. They did not dream how soon her name was to become a household word, beloved from one end of Mauchline to the other.