‘What will you do, then?’ he asked.  ‘Will you,’ he added hesitatingly—­’will you go to the old folk?’

She gave a short, hard laugh.

‘No’ me.  There wad be plenty castin’ up there, if ye like.  No; I hae nae desire to see them again this side the grave.’

It was a harsh speech; but, knowing what the past had been, Walter could not blame her.  As he stood looking through the little window, beyond the forest of roofs to where the sun lay warm and bright on far-off country slopes, he thought of the sore bitterness of life.  He might well be at war with fate; it had not given him much of the good which makes life worth living.  It was all very well for Gladys Graham, the spoiled child of a happy fortune, to reprove him for railing at the cruelty of circumstances; her suffering, even when the days were darkest with her, had been of a gentler and less hopeless kind.

‘Liz,’ he said, turning to his sister again, after what had seemed to her an interminable silence, ’if you won’t come to me, promise me you’ll stay here.  I have not asked any questions about your way of doing, but I can guess at it.  Promise me that you will give it all up and stay here.’

‘Sponging off Teen, like?’ she asked sarcastically.

‘No, no; I have plenty of money.  You shall want for nothing,’ he said, with a touch of irritation.  ’She’s a good little soul, Teen, and I won’t forget her.  I’m sure you and she could be quite comfortable here; you have always been good friends.’

‘Yes,’ answered Liz indifferently, ‘that’s true.’

‘Will you promise, then,’ he asked anxiously, ’to stay here in the meantime?’

‘No,’ she answered, ’I’ll promise naething, because, if it comes up my back, I’ll rise an’ gang oot this very day.’

Walter’s face flushed a little with anger.  She was very perverse, and would give him no satisfaction whatever.  He was at a disadvantage, because he really knew very little of her nature, which was as deep and as keen of feeling as his own.

’Then am I to go away and live in torture about you, Liz?  I’ve a good mind to shut you up where you can’t get out.’

‘They wad be queer bolts and bars that kept me in,’ she said, with a slight smile.  ‘Ye are very guid to tak’ sae muckle thocht aboot me, and if it’ll relieve yer mind, ye can believe that whatever I’m aboot, it’s honest wark, and that if I need anything, I’ll come to you.’

‘You mean that, Liz?’

‘Yes, I mean it; an’ if I div say a thing I dinna gang back frae it,’ she said, and again his mind was relieved.  It was but natural that he should feel an absorbing desire to know exactly what her experience had been during the time she had been away from them, but since she seemed determined to keep silence regarding it, he could only keep silence too.

Presently Teen returned, and there was a furtive look of anxiety in her eyes as she regarded them, inly wondering what had transpired in her absence.