like a man from some far region sent,
To give me human strength, by apt admonishment.
And Robert saw a certain light in her eyes which reminded him of how she looked when, having repented of her momentary hardness towards him, she was ministering to his wounded head.
CHAPTER XVII. HOME AGAIN.
When Robert opened the door of his grandmother's parlour, he found the old lady seated at breakfast. She rose, pushed back her chair, and met him in the middle of the room; put her old arms round him, offered her smooth white cheek to him, and wept. Robert wondered that she did not look older; for the time he had been away seemed an age, although in truth only eight months.
'Hoo are ye, laddie?' she said. 'I'm richt glaid, for I hae been thinkin' lang to see ye. Sit ye doon.'
Betty rushed in, drying her hands on her apron. She had not heard him enter.
'Eh losh!' she cried, and put her wet apron to her eyes. 'Sic a man as ye're grown, Robert! A puir body like me maunna be speykin to ye noo.'
'There's nae odds in me, Betty,' returned Robert.
''Deed but there is. Ye're sax feet an' a hairy ower, I s' warran'.'