“‘Say such a thing again if you dare,’ said I.  ’You had no such thought in your head or your heart when you brought me out to Barragong.  I knew that by your eyes.  You must treat me respectfully if you mean to call yourself a gentleman.’

“’Don’t be so very hot, Peggy.  You have made a fellow so comfortable, that he may be excused for thinking more of you than he used to do,’ says he.

“‘Think more of me!’ says I; ’you think less of me, or you would not
dare-----’

“‘What was I to fancy,’ says he, ’when you refuse Powell so pertinaciously, but that you are looking higher?’

“‘Mr. Brandon,’ says I, ’George Powell is high enough for me, for he would make me his wife; and if I was free to marry, I would look for no higher match.  But to think that what you offer is higher!—­May God forgive you for the thought!’

“’Why, Peggy, perhaps I may offer higher yet; you are a good and a clever girl, and will make an admirable wife.’

“’Not to you, sir; nor to any one out of my own station.  Do not think of making a fool of yourself, just because there is nobody here to compare with homely Peggy Walker.’

“He looked at me more particularly than he had ever done before.  I leaned my hands on the table. and squared my elbows, and spread my great browned hand and red arms before him.  He laughed, and said, ’Peggy, you are right; you are a worthy girl and a clever, and in the sight of God are worth ten of me; but when I think of taking you home and presenting you to my mother and sisters as Mrs. Brandon, it is rather comical.  As for anything else, you are too good a girl, and I will say no more about it, only I wish you would marry Powell and be done with it.’

“Well, Miss Jean, this was the beginning and the end of it with the master; but I think that man Powell was my greatest temptation, especially after Mr. Brandon’s words.  He really was a protection to me, for he was always civil and respectful in his language to me, and there was not one of the men who dared say the thing that would anger him.  But it fell out that I was removed from Barragong before I had given in to Powell, though I’m not saying what might have happened if I had stopped there for six months longer.

“The master had a friend, a Mr. Phillips, who lived twenty miles off, who had more stock and more men on his station than we had at Barragong;—­a nice quiet gentlemanly man, who had done as silly a thing as Mr. Brandon had half evened himself to.  He had married out of his degree, though he had more temptation to it than the other, for the lassie was very bonnie, and very young, and I dare say he thought he could learn her the ways of gentlefolks.