So it came to pass that one night Gavin Balchrystie did not come home at all—­at least, not till he was brought lying comfortably on the door of a disused third-class carriage, which was now seeing out its career anchored under the bank at Loch Merrick, where Gavin had used it as a shelter.  The driver of the “six-fifty up” train had seen him walking soberly along toward The Huts (and the Railway Inn), letting his long surface-man’s hammer fall against the rail-keys occasionally as he walked.  He saw him bend once, as though his keen ear detected a false ring in a loose length between two plates.  This was the last that was seen of him till the driver of the “nine-thirty-seven down” express—­the “boat-train,” as the employees of the P.P.R. call it, with a touch of respect in their voices—­passed Gavin fallen forward on his face just when he was flying down grade under a full head of steam.  It was duskily clear, with a great lake of crimson light dying into purple over the hills of midsummer heather.  The driver was John Platt, the Englishman from Crewe, who had been brought from the great London and Northwestern Railway, locally known as “The Ell-nen-doubleyou.”  In these remote railway circles the talk is as exclusively of matters of the four-foot way as in Crewe or Derby.  There is an inspector of traffic, whose portly presence now graces Carlisle Station, who left the P.P.R. in these sad days of amalgamation, because he could not endure to see so many “Sou’west” waggons passing over the sacred metals of the P.P.R. permanent way.  From his youth he had been trained in a creed of two articles:  “To swear by the P.P.R. through thick and thin, and hate the apple green of the ‘Sou’west.’” It was as much as he could do to put up with the sight of the abominations; to have to hunt for their trucks when they got astray was more than mortal could stand, so he fled the land.

So when they stopped the express for Gavin Balchrystie, every man on the line felt that it was an honour to the dead.  John Platt sent a “gurring” thrill through the train as he put his brakes hard down and whistled for the guard.  He, thinking that the Merrick Viaduct was down at least, twirled his brake to such purpose that the rear car progressed along the metals by a series of convulsive bounds.  Then they softly ran back, and there lay Gavin fallen forward on his knees, as though he had been trying to rise, or had knelt down to pray.  Let him have “the benefit of the doubt” in this world.  In the next, if all tales be true, there is no such thing.

So Janet Balchrystie dwelt alone in the white “but an’ ben” at the back of the Long Wood of Barbrax.  The factor gave her notice, but the laird, who was not accounted by his neighbours to be very wise, because he did needlessly kind things, told the factor to let the lassie bide, and delivered to herself with his own handwriting to the effect that Janet Balchrystie, in consideration of her lonely condition, was to be allowed the house for her lifetime,