"'I will be hearing him without looking away from you,' said I.
"And with that I bent my head to kiss her, but her face was turned away from me, and even then I was hearing the growling o' the collie, and wondering where he would be fastening on me. Then with my head quite close to her, I whispered—
"'Will it not have been any good at all, dear, all my love for you?
Will you be sending me away from you after all?'
"Then as I waited, she said a queer thing—
"'Chance! Chance! lie down!' and at that the laughing came on me, and my own lass turned her dear face to me glowing, and with a look of mingled pride and shame she looked at me and put her arms round my neck.
"'I will not be a great hand at saying love talk, Ronny,' she whispered. 'I can just be holding you tight, but take me if ye will be having so poor a lass, for I will have been loving you all to myself all the time.'
"And when a wee while was passed and we found ourselves in the stable (for a lass has always an eye for who may be looking), Mirren Stuart gave me a look of great scorn, but playfully.
"'It will be as well that one o' us is farmer enough to mind the beasts,' said she, and went out and took the garron into his stall, for he had been clean forgot, and stood looking longingly into his stable and the wind raising a pook o' hair on his tail."
* * * * * *
"Well, when the lassies, Mirren's sisters, were by wi' teasing us, I sat down to a meal in Finlay's kitchen, and when I rose on my legs to be going, my lass flung a shawl round her, and wondrous bonny she was in that shawl, and we left by the back road to be seeing my mother, and the lassies flung bachles at us 'for luck.' And although Mirren was not out o' my sight in the house, yet I will be quite sure they kent we were for the marrying, for I got a glimpse o' Peggy, a rollicking tomboy o' a lass, rubbing herself against Mirren's shawl and crying, 'It's me that will be going off next.'