'Wi' a' his wealth, I'd as soon see you in your coffin as the Leddy o' Cadbury Court; but anent this,' he asked, abruptly, in a low voice, 'where is Captain Goring?'
Alison coloured, but said, in a low, cooing voice,
'Could YOU find out for me, Archie, like an old dear, as you are?'
'I will—I'll ask at the Camp, if I tramp every yard o' the way and back again.'
'Oh, thank you so much, Archie.'
'I would like to see you married to him, missie,' said the old man, patting her shoulder.
'Ah, we are too poor yet, Archie,' said Alison, but the next remark, while it made her laugh, brought a hot blush to her cheek.
'Owre puir! Hoot, fye! Think o' a Cheyne o' Essilmont saying that—Essilmont where mony a time a hundred o' your name and mair have had their horses in stall—ilk man boden in effeir o' war?' exclaimed Archie, his old grey eyes flashing as he spoke. 'No—it is feeding little mouths ye think o'; but, odds sake, Miss Alison, they'd bring mair gowd in their yellow curls than they'd ever tak' frae ye in bannocks and shoon. God never sends a little mouth into this world without food for it; and, if it is a certain care, it is a sure joy.'
So Archie soon discovered that Bevil Goring was not at Aldershot, and, to Alison's joy, that he had not gone to Africa; that the spring drills had not yet commenced, that the battalion was returning home, and that Captain Goring was in London, where, she concluded, he must be idling in ignorance of her movements, and that she was again at Chilcote.
The year of their mutual promise was already passing away. But what did that matter? Never would they love each other the less!