On the evening before the brother and sister were to leave for the south, Meenie came along to see them. Ronald had got quite accustomed to find Miss Douglas in the house of late; for Maggie needed a good deal of direction and help—the tearful little lass being sorely distraught at the thought of going away. But on this occasion it was himself she had come to seek.
'I have made a little drawing for you, Ronald,' said she—and the beautiful Highland eyes were downcast a little—'as well as I could, of the loch and the hills and the river; and I want you to take it to Glasgow with you, and put it on the mantelpiece of your room, and then sometimes it will make you think of the old place and of us all.'
'I'm sure, it will not need a picture to make me do that,' said he, 'but all the same I am obliged to ye, and it will be the chief treasure in the house——'
'Oh no, oh no,' she said, with a rueful smile—and she ventured to raise her eyes. 'You must not think it a picture at all—but only a few lines scribbled on a paper-knife to make you remember the place when you happen to find it lying about. And you must not look at it until I have gone, because you would feel bound to praise it; and that would be as awkward for you as for me—for indeed it is nothing at all. And here,' she added, producing a small slip of paper, 'is my sister's address in Glasgow; and I have written to her; and she will be very glad if you will call on them when you have the time.'
'I don't know how to thank ye,' said he. 'It's when people are going away that they find out how many friends they are leaving behind.'
'In your case' said she, very modestly and prettily, 'it is not difficult to count—you have only to say the whole country-side.' And then she added: 'I heard of the lads that came all the way from Tongue.'
'The wild fellows!—they had a long tramp here and back home again.'
She looked at him rather hesitatingly.
'There will be a great many coming to see you off to-morrow morning, Ronald,' she said.
'I should think not—I should think not,' he said.