Lavender was sorely beset by the rival claims of Rome and Borva upon his attention.  He was inwardly inclined to curse Numa Pompilius—­which would have been ineffectual—­when he found that personage interfering with a wild effort to discover why Mackenzie should treat him in this way.  And then it occurred to him that, as he had never said a word to Mackenzie about this affair, it was too much to expect that Sheila’s father should himself open the subject.  On the contrary, Mackenzie was bent on extending a grave courtesy to his guest, so that the latter should not feel ill at ease until it suited himself to make any explanations he might choose.  It was not Mackenzie’s business to ask this young man if he wanted to marry Sheila.  No.  The king’s daughter, if she were to be won at all, was to be won by a suitor, and it was not for her father to be in a hurry about it.  So Lavender got back into the region of early Roman history, and tried to recall what he had learned in Livy, and quite coincided with everything that Niebuhr had said or proved, and with everything that Mackenzie thought Niebuhr had said or proved.  He was only too glad, indeed, to find himself talking to Sheila’s father in this friendly fashion.

Then Sheila came in and told them that supper was laid in the adjoining room.  At that modest meal a great good-humor prevailed.  Sometimes, it is true, it occurred to Ingram that Sheila occasionally cast an anxious glance to her father, as if she were trying to discover whether he was really satisfied, or whether he were not merely pretending satisfaction to please her; but for the rest the party was a most friendly and merry one.  Lavender, naturally enough, was in the highest of spirits, and nothing could exceed the lighthearted endeavors he made to amuse and interest and cheer his companions.  Sheila, indeed, sat up later than usual, even although pipes were lit again, and the slate-gray silk likely to bear witness to the fact in the morning.  How comfortable and homely was this sort of life in the remote stone building overlooking the sea!  He began to think that he could live always in Borva if only Sheila were with him as his companion.

Was it an actual fact, then, he asked himself next morning, that he stood confessed to the small world of Borva as Sheila’s accepted lover?  Not a word on the subject had passed between Mackenzie and himself, and yet he found himself assuming the position of a younger relative, and rather expecting advice from the old man.  He began to take a great interest, too, in the local administration of the island:  he examined the window-fastenings of Mackenzie’s house and saw that they would be useful in the winter, and expressed to Sheila’s father his confidential opinion that the girl should not be allowed to go out in the Maighdean-mhara without Duncan.

“She will know as much about boats as Duncan himself,” said her father with a smile.  “But Sheila will not go out when the rough weather begins.”