ENGAGED, S3

Mag, {looking wistfully after him), Puir laddie, puir laddie !
Oh, I did na ken till noo how weel he loved me !

Ch, Maggie, I'm almost sorry I — poor lad, poor fellow ! He
has a generous heart. I am glad I did not curse him. (Aside,)
This is weakness! (Aloud,) Maggie my own— ever and for always
my own, we will he very happy, will we not ?

Mag, Oh, sir, I dinna ken, hut in truth I hope so. Oh, sir,
my happiness is in your hands noo ; he kind to the puir cottage
lassie who loves ye sae weel ; my hairt is a' your ain, and if ye
forsake me my lot will he a sair one indeed !

[^Exit, weeping, into cottage,

Ch, Poor little Lowland lassie! That's my idea of a wife.
No ridiculous extravagance ; no expensive tastes. Knows how
to dress like a lady on £5 a year; ab, and does it too! No pre-
tence there of heing hlind to her own heauties ; she knows that
she is heautiful, and scorns to lie ahout it. In that respect she
resemhles Symperson's dear daughter, Minnie. . My darling
Minnie. (Looks at miniature.) My own darling Minnie. Minnie
is fair, Maggie is dark. Maggie loves me ! That excellent and
perfect country creature loves me ! She is to he the light of
my life, my own to come ! In some respects she is even prettier
than Minnie — my darlinsj Minnie, Symperson's dear daughter,
the tree upon which the fruit of my heart is growing ; my Past,
my Present, and my Future, my own To Come ! But this ten-
dency to reverie is growing on me ; I must shake it off.
