“I do not know that, mem,” said he.

“I hope Sir Keith won’t go to Torquay or any of those languid places.  You will go to the Mediterranean, I suppose?”

“Maybe that will be the place, mem,” said Hamish.

“Or the Isle of Wight, perhaps,” said she, carelessly.

“Ay, ay, mem—­the Isle of Wight—­that will be a ferry good place, now.  There wass a man I wass seeing once in Tobbermorry, and he wass telling me about the castle that the Queen herself will hef on that island.  And Mr. Ross, the Queen’s piper, he will be living there too.”

But, of course, they had to part company when the train came up; and Hamish and Colin Laing got into a third-class carriage together.  The cousin from Greenock had been hanging rather in the background; but he had kept his ears open.

“Now, Hamish,” said he, in the tongue in which they could both speak freely enough, “I will tell you something; and do not think I am an ignorant man, for I know what is going on.  Oh yes.  And it is a great danger you are running into.”

“What do you mean, Colin?” said Hamish; but he would look out of the window.

“When a gentleman goes away in a yacht, does he take an old woman like Christina with him?  Oh no; I think not.  It is not a customary thing.  And the ladies’ cabin; the ladies’ cabin is kept very smart, Hamish.  And I think I know who is to have the ladies’ cabin?”

“Then you are very clever, Colin,” said Hamish, contemptously.  “But it is too clever you are.  You think it strange that the young English lady should take that cabin.  I will tell you this—­that it is not the first time nor the second time that the young English lady has gone for a voyage in the Umpire, and in that very cabin too.  And I will tell you this, Colin; that it is this very year she had that cabin; and was in Loch Tua, and Loch-na-Keal, and Loch Scridain, and Calgary Bay.  And as for Christina—­oh, it is much you know about fine ladies in Greenock!  I tell you that an English lady cannot go anywhere without someone to attend to her.”

“Hamish, do not try to make a fool of me,” said Laing angrily.  “Do you think a lady would go travelling without any luggage?  And she does not know where the Umpire is going!”

“Do you know?”

“No.”

“Very well, then.  It is Sir Keith Macleod who is the master when he is on board the Umpire, and where he wants to go the others have to go.”

“Oh, do you think that?  And do you speak like that to a man who can pay eighty-five pounds a year of rent?”

“No, I do not forget that it is a kindness to me that you are doing, Colin; and to Sir Keith Macleod, too; and he will not forget it.  But as for this young lady, or that young lady, what has that to do with it?  You know what the bell of Scoon said, ’That which concerns you not, meddle not with.’”

“I shall be glad when I am back in Greenock,” said Colin Laing, moodily.