“Why, my bonny lassie, the ladies were afraid that you had wandered away over the moor and lost yourselves, you have been so long away, and they sent me off to try and find you.”
Fanny, without blaming Norman, told him of their adventure in the stream, and their meeting with the old man and his little grandson in the lone hut on the moor.
“Ah, that was old Alec Morrison,” observed the laird. “His is a sad history, I will tell it you by-and-by, but come along home and satisfy the ladies that you are not lost.”
“I am very glad you have come back at last, Fanny, we were getting anxious about you,” said Mrs Vallery. “I must not allow you to make excursions with Norman unless you can manage to come back with him in good time.”
“I will try and manage better another time, mamma,” she said, looking up after a minute’s silence. “I should very much like to pay another visit to the old man who was so kind to us, and to take something for his little grandson. Poor little fellow, I pity him so much having to live out on a wild moor, where there are no other children to play with him. His grandfather says he often leaves him alone in the cottage by himself.”
“I cannot promise positively to let you go,” said Mrs Vallery, “but I am sure that you will do your best to return in good time. I hope to be able to do so, and I should wish you to take something for the poor little child you speak of.”
“Thank you, mamma,” said Fanny, kissing Mrs Vallery affectionately, and forgetting all about the way Norman had treated her, she ran off to prepare for tea.