She was never mair seen in Scotland, and I have heard that she returned to her ain land.

A dark curtain has fa'en ower the past, and the few that witnessed ony part of it could only surmise something of seduction and suicide.

You yourself"-- "I know--I know it all," answered the Earl.
"You indeed know all that I can say--And now, heir of Glenallan, can you forgive me ?" [Illustration: Lord Glenallen and Elspeth] "Ask forgiveness of God, and not of man," said the Earl, turning away.
"And how shall I ask of the pure and unstained what is denied to me by a sinner like mysell?
If I hae sinned, hae I not suffered ?--Hae I had a day's peace or an hour's rest since these lang wet locks of hair first lay upon my pillow at Craigburnfoot ?--Has not my house been burned, wi' my bairn in the cradle ?--Have not my boats been wrecked, when a' others weather'd the gale ?--Have not a' that were near and dear to me dree'd penance for my sin ?--Has not the fire had its share o' them--the winds had their part--the sea had her part ?--And oh!" she added, with a lengthened groan, looking first upwards towards Heaven, and then bending her eyes on the floor--"O that the earth would take her part, that's been lang lang wearying to be joined to it!" Lord Glenallan had reached the door of the cottage, but the generosity of his nature did not permit him to leave the unhappy woman in this state of desperate reprobation.

"May God forgive thee, wretched woman," he said, "as sincerely as I do!--Turn for mercy to Him who can alone grant mercy, and may your prayers be heard as if they were mine own!--I will send a religious man." "Na, na--nae priest! nae priest!" she ejaculated; and the door of the cottage opening as she spoke, prevented her from proceeding..