'Not a soul knows but meself.'
'Ye didna tell him I'd been looking for him, Jeanie Trim?'
'Na, na, I made out that ye didna care whether he came or not.'
'But he wouldna be hurt in his mind, would he? I'd no like him to be affronted.'
'It's no likely he was affronted when he said he'd come back to-morrow.'
The smile of satisfaction came again.
'Did he carry his silver-knobbed cane and wear his green coat, Jeanie?'
'Ay, he wore his green coat, and he looked as handsome a man as ever I saw in my life.'
The coals in the grate shot up a sudden brilliant flame that eclipsed the soft light of the candles and set strange shadows quivering about the huge bed and wardrobe and the dark rosewood tables. The winsome young woman at her play, and the old dame living back in a tale that was long since told, exchanged nods and smiles at the thought of the handsome visitor in his green coat. The whisper of the aged voice came blithely—
'Ay, he is that, Jeanie Trim; as handsome a man as ever trod!'