Quietly they grasped each other's hand, and the evening meal was taken by Colin's side in pleasant cheerfulness.

After it, when all were still, the laird spoke: "Colin and Hope, I hae something I ought to tell you.

When your sister Helen died she asked me to gie her share o' the estate to the poor children of our Father.

I had intended giving Helen L100,000.

It is a big sum, and I hae been in a sair strait about it.