CHAPTER XIII.
WILLIE'S NEST IN THE RUINS.

HE spot he had fixed upon was in the part of

the ruins next the cottage, not many yards

from the back door of it. I have said there were
still a few vaulted places on the ground-level used
by the family. The vault over the wood-house was
perfectly sound and weather-tight, and, therefore, as
Willie and the carpenter agreed, quite safe to roost
upon. In a corner outside, and now open to the
elements, had once been a small winding stone
stair, which led to the room above, on the few.
broken fragments of which, projecting from the
two sides of the corner, it was just possible to
climb, and so reach the top of the vault. Willie
had often got up to look out through a small,
flat-arched window into the garden of the manse,
When Mr Shepherd, the clergyman, who often
walked in his garden, caught sight of him, he al-
ways came nearer, and had a chat with him; for
he did not mind such people as Willie looking into
his garden, and seeing what he was about. Some-