But Allie shook her head, and the ghost of a smile parted her lips for an instant.
“I ken naething about it,” said she.
“Well, I’m no’ just sure about it myself to-night. But wait you, till my father takes them in hand. He’ll put them both right and bring them to see the same way. At least they’ll say nae mair about it this time,” said Marjorie, and then she added gravely, a little anxious because of her friend’s indifference. “It’s very important, Allie, if we could understand it all.”
“Oh! ay, I daur say,” said Allie with a sigh, coming back to her own sad thoughts again.
But the gloom had lightened a little, Mrs Hume thought, for she had not lost one of the changes on Allison’s face, as she looked and listened, nor the smile, nor the doubtful lock with which she had answered the child.
Chapter Six.
“Do thy duty, that is best,
Leave unto the Lord the rest.”
That year there was through all the North an open winter, and the “green yule,” which is said to make “a full kirkyard.” The weather was mild and moist, with heavy fogs in the morning, which sometimes stayed all day, and all night as well. There was serious illness in many houses, and much discomfort in others, even where there was not danger.