for the lady, Miss Winifred, asthore? Mebbe it's a glass of new milk she'd be takin' after her walk." I accepted this refreshment, partly to establish myself upon a friendly footing with my new acquaintances, and partly because I was really glad of the restorative after a long walk. The milk was brought me by a bare-legged and ruddy-cheeked girl of about Winifred's own age, who did much of the rough work about the place; though, as I afterward learned, Winifred, in some of her moods, would insist on milking the cow, and driving it home from pasture; or would go forth to gather the peat for the fire, in spite of all remonstrance. [Pg 19] [Pg 19] There were things that puzzled me about this unusual abode—the scrupulous respect with which the old woman treated the girl, the appearance of comfort and plenty about this strange retreat in the heart of a once warlike citadel, where the chiefs of old had displayed their banners and manned the walls with clansmen and gallow-glasses. Then the singular expression of the old woman's countenance, and the manner in which she gazed before her, apparently at vacancy, once I had stepped out of her range of vision. Only one of these mysteries was I destined to solve upon the occasion of this first visit. While I sipped my milk and nibbled at the bit of fresh oaten bread which accompanied it, I conversed with the old woman; Winifred standing mute, in the shadow of the deep window, as if lost in thought. "America's very far off entirely," said granny, dreamily—"acrost the ocean; and they tell me it's a very fine country, with riches and plenty for all." "It is a fine country," I said warmly; "but there are many there who have neither riches nor plenty and who live and die in misery." "Do you tell me so?" exclaimed the old woman. "Look at that now! And the boys and girls thinkin' it long till they get out there, and have money in their pockets and fine clothes on their backs." "Well, many of them do succeed," I remarked; "only they have to work hard for it. There's no royal road to success anywhere." "True for you, ma'am,—true for you!" sighed the old woman. "'Tis the law, and 'twas a wise God that ordained it." "I know one person that got rich without working," said[Pg 20] Winifred, speaking suddenly and with a kind of imperiousness.
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