The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

^ strange Kevem^c. 391
Weak chested individuals used to bask in the sunny
plains of Italy, or start in a forlorn hope to the more
they swarm to
equitable temperatures of Australia ; now
the frost-bitten, germ-slaughtering altitudes of the Alps.
The whim of climate, in such cases, is endless. But
wherever they go, death relentlessly follows the tainted
ones ; only the process of dying is prolonged and mayhaps
rendered a little pleasanter, according to the circumstances
selected. And so it is with our griefs.
The weather cannot wash them out, but it does
certainly assuage. A small sorrow which sours heart
and life under the depressing patter of rain is often
mysteriously softened by a sudden blink of sunshine.
We are more the victims of flimsy circumstances than at
all enters into our common philosophy.
Nature had, after the sad wreckage of the storm,
assumed its gayest and most exhilarating mood, and under
the influence of the keen, exquisitely purified air. Flora's
spirits rose to the point of song, while her love troubles
dwindled until, fairy like, they wholly disappeared into the
golden love tube that girdled her finger.
The Laird was right ; boulder strewn, excavated, littered
with wreckage, the valley presented a melancholy spectacle.
While she gazed upon it, Flora's attention was arrested by
the movement of a woman's figure about a hundred and
fifty yards up the river. At that point, the current was
divided into tv/o, in the centre being a small island, the
creation of the flood, upon which various domestic utensils
had been deposited, mixed up with straw, trees, and other
relics of disaster from the upper reaches of the water. She
was an aged woman ;
but
the ford did not appear to be
deep, and she had evidently made up her mind to wade to
the island in search of plunder, or perchance to recover
some belongings of her own. Flora watched her manceuvr-
ings with smiling interest ; saw her reach the island
bedraggled, but vigorous in her quest, and make a collection
of articles that reflected in a high degree upon her cupidity