“I am ashamed to have detained you from your natural rest, Lord Cairnforth.  I am but a poor sleeper myself; my cough often disturbs me much.  Perhaps, as there is no inn, one of your servants could direct me to some cottage near, where I could get a night’s lodging, and go on my way to-morrow.  Any humble place will do; I am accustomed to rough it; besides, it suits my finances:  half-pay to a sickly invalid is hard enough—­you understand?”

“I do.”

“Still, if I could only get health!  I have been told that this part of the country is very favorable to people with delicate lungs.  Perhaps I might meet with some farm-house lodging?”

“I could not possibly allow that,” said Lord Cairnforth, unable, in spite of all Mr. Menteith’s grave warning looks, to shut up his warm heart any longer.  “The Castle is your home, Captain Bruce, for as long as you may find it pleasant to remain here.”

The invitation, given so unexpectedly and cordially, seemed to surprise, nay, to touch the young man exceedingly.

“Thank you, my cousin.  You are very kind to me, which is more than I can say of the world in general.  I will thankfully stay with you for a little.  It might give me a chance of health.”

“I trust so.”

Still, to make all clear between host and guest, let me name some end to my visit.  This is the first day of July; may I accept your hospitality for a fortnight—­say till the 15th?”

“Till whenever you please,” replied the earl, courteously and warmly; for he was pleased to find his cousin, even though a Bruce, so very agreeable; glad, too, that he had it in his power to do him a kindness, which, perhaps, had too long been neglected.  Besides, Lord Cairnforth had few friends, and youth so longs for companionship.  This was actually the first time he had had a chance of forming an intimacy with a young man of his own age, education, and position, and he caught at it with avidity, the more so because Captain Bruce seemed likely to supply all the things which he had not and never could have—­knowledge of the world outside; “hair-breadth ’scapes” and adventurous experiences, told with a point and cleverness that added to their charm.

Besides, the captain was decidedly “interesting.”  Young ladies would have thought him so, with his pale face and pensive air, which, seeing that the Byron fever had not yet attacked the youths of Cairnforth, appeared to his simple audience a melancholy quite natural and not assumed.  And his delicacy of health was a fact only too patent.  There was a hectic brilliant color on his cheek, and his cough interrupted him continually.  His whole appearance implied that, in any case, a long life was scarcely probable, and this alone was enough to soften any tender heart toward him.

“What does Helen think of my new cousin?” whispered Lord Cairnforth, looking up to her with his affectionate eyes, as she bent over his chair to bid him goodnight.