Almost unconsciously she touches the keys and sings one of our best loved songs:
"On the banks of Allan Water
When the sweet spring-tide did fall,
There I saw the miller's daughter,
Fairest of them all!
For his bride a soldier sought her,
And a winning tongue had he;
On the banks of Allan Water,
None so gay as she!
"On the banks of Allan Water,
When brown autumn spread his store,
There I saw the miller's daughter,
But she smiled no more!
For the summer grief had brought her,
And the soldier false was he;
On the banks of Allan Water,
None so sad as she!"
"Nay, nay, Lady Vera, a libel on the soldier," a voice cries over her shoulder.
She springs up wildly, with a startled cry:
"Captain Lockhart!"
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
It is Philip Lockhart, indeed, towering above her, tall, broad-shouldered, handsome, as if her yearning thoughts had embodied themselves. Lady Vera cannot keep the joy out of her voice and face.
"Is it really you?" she cries, touching him gently with one soft, white hand, her dark eyes moist with gladness.