Alice Learmont Or A Mother's Love Author:Dinah Maria Mulock Craik Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. I Tell ye, gudemither, it was nae dream. I saw her, I felt her ? my bonnie doo, my sweet lassie, my am bairn ! She was wi' me this ae nicht ? ay,... more » i' these arms." So sobbed out Marion Learmont, as she sat in breathless sorrow beside her wheel, by which she and her husband's mother earned their daily bread ? two desolate women. " The Lord keep ye in your wits, dochter, and forgie ye sic fancies ! Puir lassie, ye're a widow and childless, like my ain sel. For it's ower certain that your gudeman was drowned in the Tweed ; and Daft Simmie ? de'il tak him! ? has stown awa' your bairn. Ye'll ne'er see tane nor tither mair." " Gudemither, I will," said the girl solemnly. " There's mony a ane brought back frae the wee folk ; and my bairn's alive, for I hae seen her not four hours syne." The old woman shook her head, but there wassomething so earnest in Marion's manner that she seemed rather less incredulous. " Tell a' the truth, lassie. It'll do nae harm." " It was i' the mirk o' night, just afore moon- rise. I waukened, sabbin' because o' a dream I had, that my puir bairn was sleeping at my side ; and I felt a wee bit cheek, saft and warm, creepin', creepin' till me. It was a wean, gude- mither; it was my own Alice." " Gude guide us ! " " She lay here at my breast, wi' her sweet lips close, and drank, and drank ? or it seemed sae. I tell ye, this ae nicht I hae gi'en mither's milk to my dear bairn." " It's a' the wark o' the Evil Ane," whispered Dame Learmont. " But, Marion, lass, in what form gaed she awa' ? In a flash o' fire, nae doubt." " Ye speak ill, gudemither," cried the young creature, tried past her patience. " It's nae deil's wark ; it's the wee folk that hae changed my bairn, as I tell't ye." The old woman shook her head with in...« less