I have been foolish, Kirstie, not unkind, and, above all, not base." "There's my bairn!" said Kirstie, rising.

"I'll can trust ye noo, I'll can gang to my bed wi' an easy hairt." And then she saw in a flash how barren had been her triumph.

Archie had promised to spare the girl, and he would keep it; but who had promised to spare Archie?
What was to be the end of it?
Over a maze of difficulties she glanced, and saw, at the end of every passage, the flinty countenance of Hermiston.

And a kind of horror fell upon her at what she had done.

She wore a tragic mask.
"Erchie, the Lord peety you, dear, and peety me! I have buildit on this foundation"-- laying her hand heavily on his shoulder--"and buildit hie, and pit my hairt in the buildin' of it.