"Where is Elspeth?"
"We are making our winter dresses. She would not leave her sewing."
The cousins walked upon the moor path together. Gilian was fairer and more strongly made than Elspeth. They walked in silence; then said Robin:
"You're the old Gilian, but I'm sure I miss the old Elspeth!"
"I think, myself, she's gone visiting! I rack and rack my brains to find what grief could have come to Elspeth. She will not help me."
"Gilian, could it be that, after all, her heart is set on the laird?"
"Did you know about that?"
"In part I guessed, watching them together. And then I saw how Glenfernie oldened in a night. Then, being with my uncle one day, he let drop a word that I followed up. I led him on and he told me. Glenfernie acted like a true man."
"If there's one thing of which I'm sure it is that she hardly thinks of him from Sunday to Sunday. She thinks then for a little because she sees him in kirk—but that passes, too!"
"Then what is it?"