CHAPTER I.

_THE MANSE._

PAGE The Artist and his Bits—Blinkbonny—The Author and his Relations—The Good Folks at Greenknowe—The Manse—Once thinking of getting married—The Interrupted Call—Mr. and Mrs. Barrie—Bell of the Manse—Wee Nellie—Her Illness, Death, and Grave—“A Butterfly on a Grave” (_Mrs. Sigourney_), 1