as from the agonies of joy into which Ellen, the minister, and Mrs. Thornhill were thrown; there was distributed throughout the company a quantum sufficit of internal feeling and outward expression, that might have offered to HEAPHY or WILKIE a fine subject of historical painting.

The breakfast was neglected, for the minister would go home instantly; and the news spread like lightning among the people.

The young laird alive and coming home! this was enough. Sandy Glass was lurking in the road for his master the minister; and he no sooner heard of the news, than he ran to Rothsay, and published it to baillie Ilan Dou, and the fiscal; and both those gentlemen took their horses, and rode to the manse, to congratulate Ellen on the safety and welfare of her brother.

The people all around, in the course

of the day, heard of it; and in the evening, though the manse was not illuminated on the occasion, the countenances of the crowd which assembled to testify their happiness at the news, and the expressions of joy they uttered, were far more gladdening than the variegated lamps at Boodle's and at White's, or the decorations before any of the public offices in Parliamentstreet or the Strand.

The news of Colin's safety overturned the whole of Louis's plans; for the minister would not hear of Ellen's being married before her brother came home; and Mon. Villejuive, though he could urge no solid objections to the propriety of this measure, agreed that it should be so; and the wedding was put off accordingly.

The dominie, when he heard of the letter, hastened to the manse, and though there were others who made

more noise in professing their joy, there was nobody more sincere in his congratulations; for Mr. Maclean no sooner entered the house, than he entreated the minister to assemble his family, and they should "all go to prayer, as the dark ways of Providence were now clearing up, and a sun-shine might be looked for, when the clouds that had surrounded them were now beginning to be dispersed."

After Mr. Thornhill had performed this pious duty, the dominie took Ellen by the hand-he could not speak, but he gave evident signs of true friendship; for Sandy Glass told all the country people," he never saw ony body sae begrutten as Maister Maclean was, and gif his ain wife had gaen to her lang hame, he could na be mair waefu'."

St. Clyde had purposed to come from Paris by London, but he met with a captain at Rouen, who was to sail

to Liverpool, and accordingly he took a passage for himself and another for the sergeant, and wrote home, saying he would come in the direction of Liverpool, Carlisle, Ayr, Saltcoats, and the Largs, to Bute: and his letter arrived two days after the other one we have just read.

It was the morning of the next day that Mon. Villejuive sailed from Rothsay for Greenock, as he purposed to go to Edinburgh on some particular business; and his sons hailed with Ellen the arrival of Colin St. Clyde, and every day was to them a month till his return; but as he was looked for in the course of a fortnight, the impatience of his delay was counterbalanced by the certain hope of his arrival.

CHAPTER II.

Merciful Heav'n!

What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows! Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak, Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break! SHAKSPEARE.

ST. CLYDE and Macbean arrived safely at Liverpool, and when they had got on their journey within a few miles of the Largs, from the road they took, it was not possible to ride with safety over a hill they must cross. St. Clyde employed a person to assist the sergeant in carrying the little luggage they had, for their heavy baggage was to come from Liverpool to Rothsay in one of the coasting traders. Their march lay through a defile of hills, and they were just emerging from a dismal.