Lady Victoria Campbell

"REST AND BE THANKFUL" 335
come and see her. It was the day, as far as possible,
that she kept for the Island House children, and
Mr. and Mrs. McDiarmid's family had a very warm
place in her heart.
No one came without receiving the outpouring
of an hospitality which never recognised that a
larder or store-room could be empty. If Knowles
pointed out the stores had not come in, and this
or that was not to be had, she was sent out for a
drive to brush off the " Martha cobwebs," or sent
back to her domain with the assurance she could
make it right, for she always knew how to manage.
The word " difficulty " she only recognised when it
came into conjunction with the word " overcome."
Sometimes every room had a visitor waiting to have
a conference, but time is of no moment in the mystic
isles, and the waiting was done under the sense
that the welcome was always there when the hostess
was disengaged.
Close to the Lodge is the croft, christened by Lady
Victoria, " The Lodge Farm." Mrs. Mackinnon
and her family were among the first of her fellow-
workers. When she lived in the west end, and drove
east to have her classes, it was in this house that
Lady Victoria first held them. There the girls met
till at length they were crowded out and had to
adjourn to the school-house. They were happy hours
she spent among them. The success of her work
already evident, and the friendships which she made
with " the Rev. Hector," the minister of Kirkapol,
and with his brothers and sisters. " Ian Lady " —