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She sat down on a stone, where she could see the path she had come a long way back. But "never and never" did any Nicie appear. At last she began to cry. This process with Ginny was a very slow one, and never brought her much relief. The tears would mount into her eyes, and remain there, little pools of Baca, a long time before the crying went any further.
"Ye may weel speir, missie! but I hae ill tellin' ye. "I should like to ask Donal what book he has got," said Ginny. "I'll cry till 'im, an' ye can speir," said Nicie. "Donal! Donal!" Donal looked up, and seeing his sister, came running to the bank of the stream. "Canna ye come ower, Donal?" said Nicie. "Here's Miss Galbraith wants to spier ye a question."
But she was a brave child; nothing frightened her much except her father; she turned and went slowly back to the edge of the hollow: Nicie must by this time be visible.
"She'll be soary for't some day," said Janet, with a quiet smile; "an' what a body's sure to be soary for, ye may as weel forgie them at ance." "Hoo ken ye, mither, she'll be soary for't?" asked Nicie, not very willing to forgive Mistress Mac Farlane. "'Cause the Maister says 'at we'll hae to pey the uttermost fardin'. There's naebody 'ill be latten aff. We maun dee oor neiper richt."
"Weel, I'm sure they wad be richt glaid to see yersel', missie, ony time 'at ye likit to gang an' see them." "Why shouldn't we go now, Nicie? It's not a dangerous place, is it?" "No, missie. Glashgar's as quaiet an' weel-behaved a hill as ony in a' the cweentry," answered Nicie, laughing.
But Nicie did not know this part of it nearly so well as that which lay between Glashruach and the cottage, and after they had climbed some distance, often stopping and turning to look down on the valley below, the prospect of which, with its streams and river, kept still widening and changing as they ascended, they arrived at a place where the path grew very doubtful, and she could not tell in which of two directions they ought to go.
Gibbie nodded several times. He knew who Nicie was rather better than her mistress. "I left her away back there, a long, long time ago, and she has never come to me," she said. Gibbie gave a shrill loud whistle that startled her. In a few seconds, from somewhere unseen, a dog came bounding to him over stones and heather.
This morning, Ginevra observed that, every other moment, Nicie was looking up the side of the mountain, as if she saw something unusual upon it occasionally, indeed, when the winding of the road turned their backs to it, stopping and turning round to gaze. "What is the matter with you, Nicie?" she asked. "What are you looking at up there?"
"Eh, mither!" said Nicie, shocked at the idea of her reproaching herself about anything concerning her children, "I'm weel sure there's no ane o' them wad think, no to say say, sic a thing." "I daursay ye're richt there, lass. I think whiles a woman's bairns are like the God they cam frae aye ready to forgie her onything." Ginevra went home with a good many things to think about.
"I was only so glaid to see you an' Nicie 'at I forgot my mainners." "Then," returned Ginny, quite satisfied, "would you mind telling me what book you were reading?" "It's a buik o' ballants," answered Donal. "I'll read ane o' them till ye, gien ye like, mem." "I should like very much," responded Ginny. "I've read all my own books till I'm tired of them, and I don't like papa's books.
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