All Cathro could do, however, was to wish Peter well in some ornate sentences, while Tommy's was a letter that only a tender woman's heart could have indited, with such beautiful touches about the days which are no more alas forever, that Betsy listened to it with heaving breast and felt so sorry for her old swain that, forgetting she had never loved him, she all but gave Andrew the go-by and returned to Peter.

As for Peter, who had been getting over his trouble, he saw now for the first time what he had lost, and he carried Betsy's dear letter in his oxter pocket and was inconsolable.
But the masterpiece went to Mrs.Dinnie, baker, in return for a flagon bun.

Long ago her daughter, Janet, and Betsy had agreed to marry on the same day, and many a quip had Mrs.Dinnie cast at their romantic compact.

But Janet died, and so it was a sad letter that Tommy had to write to her mother.

"I'm doubting you're no auld enough for this ane," soft-hearted Betsy said, but she did not know her man.