That evening he went to Mrs. Williamson, as she washed her tea dishes in the kitchen.

“Mrs. Williamson, I am going back to the old Connors orchard to see Kilmeny again to-night.”

She looked at him reproachfully.

“Well, Master, I have no more to say.  I suppose it wouldn’t be of any use if I had.  But you know what I think of it.”

“I intend to marry Kilmeny Gordon if I can win her.”

An expression of amazement came into the good woman’s face.  She looked scrutinizingly at the firm mouth and steady gray eyes for a moment.  Then she said in a troubled voice,

“Do you think that is wise, Master?  I suppose Kilmeny is pretty; the egg peddler told me she was; and no doubt she is a good, nice girl.  But she wouldn’t be a suitable wife for you—­a girl that can’t speak.”

“That doesn’t make any difference to me.”

“But what will your people say?”

“I have no ‘people’ except my father.  When he sees Kilmeny he will understand.  She is all the world to me, Mrs. Williamson.”

“As long as you believe that there is nothing more to be said,” was the quiet answer, “I’d be a little bit afraid if I was you, though.  But young people never think of those things.”

“My only fear is that she won’t care for me,” said Eric soberly.

Mrs. Williamson surveyed the handsome, broad-shouldered young man shrewdly.

“I don’t think there are many women would say you ‘no’, Master.  I wish you well in your wooing, though I can’t help thinking you’re doing a daft-like thing.  I hope you won’t have any trouble with Thomas and Janet.  They are so different from other folks there is no knowing.  But take my advice, Master, and go and see them about it right off.  Don’t go on meeting Kilmeny unbeknownst to them.”

“I shall certainly take your advice,” said Eric, gravely.  “I should have gone to them before.  It was merely thoughtlessness on my part.  Possibly they do know already.  Kilmeny may have told them.”

Mrs. Williamson shook her head decidedly.

“No, no, Master, she hasn’t.  They’d never have let her go on meeting you there if they had known.  I know them too well to think of that for a moment.  Go you straight to them and say to them just what you have said to me.  That is your best plan, Master.  And take care of Neil.  People say he has a notion of Kilmeny himself.  He’ll do you a bad turn if he can, I’ve no doubt.  Them foreigners can’t be trusted—­and he’s just as much a foreigner as his parents before him—­though he has been brought up on oatmeal and the shorter catechism, as the old saying has it.  I feel that somehow—­I always feel it when I look at him singing in the choir.”

“Oh, I am not afraid of Neil,” said Eric carelessly.  “He couldn’t help loving Kilmeny—­nobody could.”

“I suppose every young man thinks that about his girl—­if he’s the right sort of young man,” said Mrs. Williamson with a little sigh.