The Lost Lady of Lone — E.D.E.N. Southworth

"Eh, Meester McRath? Sae grand doings I hae na seen sin the day o' the queen's visit to Lone. That wad be in the auld duke's time. And a waefu' day it wa'." "Dinna ye gae back to that day, Girzie Ross. It gars my blood boil only to think o' it " "Na, Sandy, mon, sure the ill that was dune that day is weel compensate on this. Sooth, if only marriages be made in heaven, as they say, sure this is one. The laird will get his ain again, and the bonnyest leddy in a' the land to boot." "She is a bonny lass, but na too gude for him, although her fair hand does gie him back his lands." "It's only a' just as it sud be." "Na, it's no all as it sud be. Look at they fules trying to pit up yon triumphal arch The loons hae actually gotten the motto 'happiness' set upside down, sae that a' the blooming red roses are falling out o' it. An ill omen that if onything be an ill omen. I maun rin and set it right." The speakers in this short colloquy were Mrs. Girzie Ross, housekeeper, and Mr. Alexander McRath, house-steward of Castle Lone. The locality was in the Highlands of Scotland. The season was early summer. The hour was near sunset. The scene was one of great beauty and sublimity. The occasion one of high festivity and rejoicing.