Teen did not at once reply.  She had not dared to count the days, grudging their sweet passing, and it jarred upon her to hear Liz state the exact period, as if it had appeared to her very long.

’This is the nineteenth; it was the twenty-third, wasn’t it, that Mrs. Gordon said she was leavin’ Glesca?’

‘I’ve forgotten.  Yes, I believe it was the twenty-third,’ answered Teen listlessly, not being interested in the time.

‘My, she’ll see a lot, gaun to Ireland wi’ a regiment.  It’s a lively life.  I wish I was her.’

Teen turned sharply round, and looked with reproachful eyes into her companion’s face.

’I thocht ye was gled to get away from her, Liz?  I dinna ken what ye mean.’

‘Oh, I was doon in the mooth, because I wasna weel,’ said Liz lightly.  ‘Seriously, though, hoo lang are ye gaun to bide doon here, Teen?’

’I wad bide aye if I had the chance, but I suppose we canna bide very much langer.  Maybe we’d better see what Miss Gladys says.’

‘Ay, I suppose sae,’ said Liz a trifle dryly.  ’Whatever you may think, I dinna think it’s fair that she should hae sae much an’ you an’ me sae little.  We’re livin’ on her charity, Teen.’

‘Yes, but she disna mak’ ye feel it,’ retorted Teen quickly.  ‘An’ she disna think it charity, either.  She says aye the money’s no’ hers, she has jist gotten a len’ o’t to gie to ither folk.’

‘Wad she gie me a thoosand, d’ye think, if I were to speir?’ asked Liz; and Teen looked vexed at these idle words.  She did not like the sarcastic, flippant mood, and she regarded Liz with strong disapproval and vague uneasiness in her glance.

‘I dinna like the way ye speak, Liz,’ she said quietly.  ’But, I say, if ye were in Glesca the noo, what wad ye dae?’

‘Dae?  It’s what wad I no’ dae,’ cried Liz.  ‘I’m no’ the kind to sterve.’

‘Ye wasna very weel aff when we got ye,’ Teen could not refrain from saying.

’Oh, ye needna cast up what ye did.  I never asked you, onyway.  Ye ken you and Wat hauled me awa’ wi’ you against my wull,’ said Liz rather angrily, being in a mood to cavil at trifles.  ’I kent hoo it wad be, but I’ll tak’ jolly guid care ye dinna get anither chance o’ castin’ up onything o’ the sort to me.’

Teen remained silent, not that she was particularly hurt by that special remark, but that she was saddened and perplexed by the whole situation.  She had sustained another fearful disappointment, and she saw that Bourhill had utterly failed to work the charm on Liz which Teen herself experienced more and more every day.  If she were not altogether blind to its loveliness, at least it did not touch any deeper feeling than mere eye pleasure; but more serious and disappointing still was the tone in which she spoke of Gladys.  In her weak and weary state of health, she had at first appeared touched and grateful for the unceasing kindness and consideration heaped upon