FHE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE. 277

 

CHAPTER VIII.

(perdi Nears.

golden with the heather; and the red

coral berries of the rowan trees hung

from the boughs, and were wet with the

spray of the waterfalls in the burns. And

days grew shorter, and winter came with
snow, but Randal never came back to Fairnilee.
Season after season passed, and year after year.
Lady Ker’s hair grew white like snow, and her
face thin and pale—for she fasted often, as was
the rule of her Church; all this was before the
Reformation. And she slept little, praying half
the night for Randal’s sake. And she went on
pilgrimages to many shrines of the Saints: to
St. Boswell and St. Rule’s, hard by the great
Cathedral of St. Andrew’s on the sea. Nay,
she went across the Border as far as the Abbey
of St. Alban’s, and even to St. Thomas’s shrine
of Canterbury, taking Jean with her. Manya
weary mile they rode over hill and dale, and
many an adventure they had, and ran many
dangers from robbers, and soldiers disbanded
from the wars.

S autumn came, and all the hill-sides were
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