diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
324 files changed, 16670 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/26692-8.txt b/old/26692-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81d65a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8335 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Daughter of Raasay, by William MacLeod Raine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Daughter of Raasay + A Tale of the '45 + +Author: William MacLeod Raine + +Illustrator: Stuart Travis + +Release Date: September 23, 2008 [EBook #26692] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY A TALE OF THE '45 + +By WILLIAM MacLEOD RAINE + +Illustrated by STUART TRAVIS + +NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Copyright, 1901, by Frank Leslie Publishing House + +Copyright, 1902, by Frederick A. Stokes Company + +All rights reserved + +Published in October, 1902 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +[Illustration: AILEEN] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +TO MR. ELLERY SEDGWICK + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Sport of Chance 1 + II A Cry in the Night 19 + III Deoch Slaint an Righ! 39 + IV Of Love and War 60 + V The Hue and Cry 79 + VI In The Matter of a Kiss 99 + VII My Lady Rages 116 + VIII Charles Edward Stuart 133 + IX Blue Bonnets are Over the Border 151 + X Culloden 159 + XI The Red Heather Hills 180 + XII Volney Pays a Debt 202 + XIII The Little God has an Innings 223 + XIV The Aftermath 231 + XV A Reprieve! 251 + XVI Volney's Guest 266 + XVII The Valley of the Shadow 278 + XVIII The Shadow Falls 297 + The Afterword 309 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + THE LADIES OF ST. JAMES'S + + The ladies of St. James's + Go swinging to the play; + Their footmen run before them + With a "Stand by! Clear the way!" + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + She takes her buckled shoon. + When we go out a-courting + Beneath the harvest moon. + + The ladies of St. James's! + They are so fine and fair, + You'd think a box of essences + Was broken in the air: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + The breath of heath and furze + When breezes blow at morning, + Is not so fresh as hers. + + The ladies of St. James's! + They're painted to the eyes; + Their white it stays forever, + Their red it never dies: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + Her colour comes and goes; + It trembles to a lily,-- + It wavers like a rose. + + The ladies of St. James's! + You scarce can understand + The half of all their speeches, + Their phrases are so grand: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + Her shy and simple words + Are clear as after raindrops + The music of the birds. + + The ladies of St. James's! + They have their fits and freaks; + They smile on you--for seconds; + They frown on you--for weeks: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + Come either storm or shine, + From shrovetide unto shrovetide + Is always true--and mine. + + _Austin Dobson._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +FOREWORD + +When this romance touches history the author believes that it is, in every +respect, with one possible exception, in accord with the accepted facts. +In detailing the history of "the '45'" and the sufferings of the misguided +gentlemen who flung away the scabbard out of loyalty to a worthless cause, +care has been taken to make the story agree with history. The writer does +not of course indorse the view of Prince Charles' character herein set +forth by Kenneth Montagu, but there is abundant evidence to show that the +Young Chevalier had in a very large degree those qualities which were +lacking to none of the Stuarts: a charming personality and a gallant +bearing. If his later life did not fulfil the promise of his youth, the +unhappy circumstances which hampered him should be kept in mind as an +extenuation. + +The thanks of the writer are due for pertinent criticism to Miss Chase, to +Mr. Arthur Chapman and to Mr. James Rain, and especially to Mr. Ellery +Sedgwick, whose friendly interest and kindly encouragement have been +unfailing. + +Acknowledgment must also be made of a copious use of Horace Walpole's +Letters, the Chevalier Johnstone's History of the Rebellion, and other +eighteenth century sources of information concerning the incidents of the +times. The author has taken the liberty of using several anecdotes and +_bon mots_ mentioned in the "Letters"; but he has in each case put the +story in the mouth of its historical originator. + + W. M. R. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY + +CHAPTER I + +THE SPORT OF CHANCE + + +"Deep play!" I heard Major Wolfe whisper to Lord Balmerino. "Can Montagu's +estate stand such a drain?" + +"No. He will be dipped to the last pound before midnight. 'Tis Volney's +doing. He has angled for Montagu a se'nnight, and now he has hooked him. I +have warned the lad, but----" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +The Scotchman was right. I was past all caution now, past all restraint. +The fever of play had gripped me, and I would listen to nothing but the +rattle of that little box which makes the most seductive music ever sung +by siren. My Lord Balmerino might stand behind me in silent protest till +all was grey, and though he had been twenty times my father's friend he +would not move me a jot. + +Volney's smoldering eyes looked across the table at me. + +"Your cast, Kenn. Shall we say doubles? You'll nick this time for sure." + +"Done! Nine's the main," I cried, and threw deuces. + +With that throw down crashed fifty ancestral oaks that had weathered the +storms of three hundred winters. I had crabbed, not nicked. + +"The fickle goddess is not with you to-day, Kenn. The jade jilts us all at +times," drawled Volney, as he raked in his winnings carelessly. + +"Yet I have noted that there are those whom she forsakes not often, and I +have wondered by what charmed talisman they hold her true," flashed out +Balmerino. + +The steel flickered into Volney's eyes. He understood it for no chance +remark, but as an innuendo tossed forth as a challenge. Of all men Sir +Robert Volney rode on the crest of fortune's wave, and there were not +lacking those who whispered that his invariable luck was due to something +more than chance and honest skill. For me, I never believed the charge. +With all his faults Volney had the sportsman's love of fair play. + +The son of a plain country gentleman, he had come to be by reason of his +handsome face, his reckless courage, his unfailing impudence, and his gift +of _savoir-vivre_, the most notorious and fortunate of the adventurers who +swarmed at the court of St. James. By dint of these and kindred qualities +he had become an intimate companion of the Prince of Wales. The man had a +wide observation of life; indeed, he was an interested and whimsical +observer rather than an actor, and a scoffer always. A libertine from the +head to the heel of him, yet gossip marked him as the future husband of +the beautiful young heiress Antoinette Westerleigh. For the rest, he +carried an itching sword and the smoothest tongue that ever graced a +villain. I had been proud that such a man had picked me for his friend, +entirely won by the charm of manner that made his more evil faults sit +gracefully on him. + +Volney declined for the present the quarrel that Balmerino's impulsive +loyalty to me would have fixed on him. He feared no living man, but he was +no hothead to be drawn from his purpose. If Lord Balmerino wanted to +measure swords with him he would accommodate the old Scotch peer with the +greatest pleasure on earth, but not till the time fitted him. He answered +easily: + +"I know no talisman but this, my Lord; in luck and out of luck to bear a +smiling front, content with the goods the gods may send." + +It was a fair hit, for Balmerino was well known as an open malcontent and +suspected of being a Jacobite. + +"Ah! The goods sent by the gods! A pigeon for the plucking--the lad you +have called friend!" retorted the other. + +"Take care, my Lord," warningly. + +"But there are birds it is not safe to pluck," continued Balmerino, +heedless of his growing anger. + +"Indeed!" + +"As even Sir Robert Volney may find out. An eaglet is not wisely chosen +for such purpose." + +It irritated me that they should thrust and parry over my shoulder, as if +I had been but a boy instead of full three months past my legal majority. +Besides, I had no mind to have them letting each other's blood on my +account. + +"Rat it, 'tis your play, Volney. You keep us waiting," I cried. + +"You're in a devilish hurry to be quit of your shekels," laughed the +Irishman O'Sullivan, who sat across the table from me. "Isn't there a +proverb, Mr. Montagu, about a--a careless gentleman and his money going +different ways, begad? Don't keep him waiting any longer than need be, +Volney." + +There is this to be said for the Macaronis, that they plucked their pigeon +with the most graceful negligence in the world. They might live by their +wits, but they knew how to wear always the jauntiest indifference of +manner. Out came the feathers with a sure hand, the while they exchanged +choice _bon mots_ and racy scandal. Hazard was the game we played and I, +Kenneth Montagu, was cast for the rôle of the pigeon. Against these old +gamesters I had no chance even if the play had been fair, and my head on +it more than one of them rooked me from start to finish. I was with a vast +deal of good company, half of whom were rogues and blacklegs. + +"Heard George Selwyn's latest?"[1] inquired Lord Chesterfield languidly. + +"Not I. Threes, devil take it!" cried O'Sullivan in a pet. + +"Tell it, Horry. It's your story," drawled the fourth Earl of +Chesterfield. + +"Faith, and that's soon done," answered Walpole. "George and I were taking +the air down the Mall arm in arm yesterday just after the fellow Fox was +hanged for cutting purses, and up comes our Fox to quiz George. Says he, +knowing Selwyn's penchant for horrors, 'George, were you at the execution +of my namesake?' Selwyn looks him over in his droll way from head to foot +and says, 'Lard, no! I never attend rehearsals, Fox.'" + +"'Tis the first he has missed for years then. Selwyn is as regular as Jack +Ketch himself. Your throw, Montagu," put in O'Sullivan. + +"Seven's the main, and by the glove of Helen I crab. Saw ever man such +cursed luck?" I cried. + +"'Tis vile. Luck's mauling you fearfully to-night," agreed Volney +languidly. Then, apropos of the hanging, "Ketch turned off that fellow Dr. +Dodd too. There was a shower, and the prison chaplain held an umbrella +over Dodd's head. Gilly Williams said it wasn't necessary, as the Doctor +was going to a place where he might be easily dried." + +"Egad, 'tis his greatest interest in life," chuckled Walpole, harking back +to Selwyn. "When George has a tooth pulled he drops his kerchief as a +signal for the dentist to begin the execution." + +Old Lord Pam's toothless gums grinned appreciation of the jest as he +tottered from the room to take a chair for a rout at which he was due. + +"Faith, and it's a wonder how that old Methuselah hangs on year after +year," said O'Sullivan bluntly, before the door had even closed on the +octogenarian. "He must be a thousand if he's a day." + +"The fact is," explained Chesterfield confidentially, "that old Pam has +been dead for several years, but he doesn't choose to have it known. +Pardon me, am I delaying the game?" + +He was not, and he knew it; but my Lord Chesterfield was far too polite to +more than hint to Topham Beauclerc that he had fallen asleep over his +throw. Selwyn and Lord March lounged into the coffee house arm in arm. On +their heels came Sir James Craven, the choicest blackleg in England. + +"How d'ye do, everybody? Whom are you and O'Sully rooking to-night, +Volney? Oh, I see--Montagu. Beg pardon," said Craven coolly. + +Volney looked past the man with a wooden face that did not even recognize +the fellow as a blot on the landscape. There was bad blood between the two +men, destined to end in a tragedy. Sir James had been in the high graces +of Frederick Prince of Wales until the younger and more polished Volney +had ousted him. On the part of the coarse and burly Craven, there was +enduring hatred toward his easy and elegant rival, who paid back his +malice with a serene contempt. Noted duellist as Craven was, Sir Robert +did not give a pinch of snuff for his rage. + +The talk veered to the new fashion of spangled skirts, and Walpole vowed +that Lady Coventry's new dress was covered with spangles big as a +shilling. + +"'Twill be convenient for Coventry. She'll be change for a guinea," +suggested Selwyn gloomily, his solemn face unlighted by the vestige of a +smile. + +So they jested, even when the play was deepest and while long-inherited +family manors passed out of the hands of their owners. The recent French +victory at _Fontenoy_ still rankled in the heart of every Englishman. +Within, the country seethed with an undercurrent of unrest and +dissatisfaction. It was said that there were those who boasted quietly +among themselves over their wine that the sun would yet rise some day on a +Stuart England, that there were desperate men still willing to risk their +lives in blind loyalty or in the gambler's spirit for the race of Kings +that had been discarded for its unworthiness. But the cut of his Mechlin +lace ruffles was more to the Macaroni than his country's future. He made +his jest with the same aplomb at births and weddings and deaths. + +Each fresh minute of play found me parted from some heirloom treasured by +Montagus long since dust. In another half hour Montagu Grange was stripped +of timber bare as the Row itself. Once, between games, I strolled uneasily +down the room, and passing the long looking glass scarce recognized the +haggard face that looked out at me. Still I played on, dogged and +wretched, not knowing how to withdraw myself from these elegant dandies +who were used to win or lose a fortune at a sitting with imperturbable +face. + +Lord Balmerino gave me a chance. He clapped a hand on my shoulder and said +in his brusque kindly way-- + +"Enough, lad! You have dropped eight thou' to-night. Let the old family +pictures still hang on the walls." + +I looked up, flushed and excited, yet still sane enough to know his advice +was good. In the strong sallow face of Major James Wolfe I read the same +word. I knew the young soldier slightly and liked him with a great +respect, though I could not know that this grave brilliant-eyed young man +was later to become England's greatest soldier and hero. I had even pushed +back my chair to rise from the table when the cool gibing voice of Volney +cut in. + +"The eighth wonder of the world; Lord Balmerino in a new rôle--adviser to +young men of fashion who incline to enjoy life. Are you by any chance +thinking of becoming a ranting preacher, my Lord?" + +"I bid him do as I say and not as I have done. To point my case I cite +myself as an evil example of too deep play." + +"Indeed, my Lord! Faith, I fancied you had in mind even deeper play for +the future. A vastly interesting game, this of politics. You stake your +head that you can turn a king and zounds! you play the deuce instead." + +Balmerino looked at him blackly out of a face cut in frowning marble, but +Volney leaned back carelessly in his chair and his insolent eyes never +flickered. + +As I say, I sat swithering 'twixt will and will-not. + +"Better come, Kenneth! The luck is against you to-night," urged Balmerino, +his face relaxing as he turned to me. + +Major Wolfe said nothing, but his face too invited me. + +"Yes, better go back to school and be birched," sneered Volney. + +And at that I flung back into my seat with a curse, resolute to show him I +was as good a man as he. My grim-faced guardian angel washed his hands of +me with a Scotch proverb. + +"He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar. The lad will have to gang his ain +gate," I heard him tell Wolfe as they strolled away. + +Still the luck held against me. Before I rose from the table two hours +later I wrote out notes for a total so large that I knew the Grange must +be mortgaged to the roof to satisfy it. + +Volney lolled in his chair and hid a yawn behind tapering pink +finger-nails. "'Slife, you had a cursed run of the ivories to-night, Kenn! +When are you for your revenge? Shall we say to-morrow? Egad, I'm ready to +sleep round the clock. Who'll take a seat in my coach? I'm for home." + +I pushed into the night with a burning fever in my blood, and the waves of +damp mist which enveloped London and beat upon me, gathering great drops +of moisture on my cloak, did not suffice to cool the fire that burnt me +up. The black dog Care hung heavy on my shoulders. I knew now what I had +done. Fool that I was, I had mortgaged not only my own heritage but also +the lives of my young brother Charles and my sister Cloe. Our father had +died of apoplexy without a will, and a large part of his personal property +had come to me with the entailed estate. The provision for the other two +had been of the slightest, and now by this one wild night of play I had +put it out of my power to take care of them. I had better clap a pistol to +my head and be done with it. + +Even while the thought was in my mind a hand out of the night fell on my +shoulder from behind. I turned with a start, and found myself face to face +with the Scotchman Balmerino. + +"Whither away, Kenneth?" he asked. + +I laughed bitterly. "What does it matter? A broken gambler--a ruined +dicer-- What is there left for him?" + +The Scotch Lord linked an arm through mine. I had liefer have been alone, +but I could scarce tell him so. He had been a friend of my father and had +done his best to save me from my folly. + +"There is much left. All is not lost. I have a word to say to your +father's son." + +"What use!" I cried rudely. "You would lock the stable after the horse is +stolen." + +"Say rather that I would put you in the way of getting another horse," he +answered gravely. + +So gravely that I looked at him twice before I answered: + +"And I would be blithe to find a way, for split me! as things look now I +must either pistol myself or take to the road and pistol others," I told +him gloomily. + +"There are worse things than to lose one's wealth----" + +"I hear you say it, but begad! I do not know them," I answered with a +touch of anger at his calmness. + +"----When the way is open to regain all one has lost and more," he +finished, unheeding my interruption. + +"Well, this way you speak of," I cried impatiently. "Where is it?" + +He looked at me searchingly, as one who would know the inmost secrets of +my soul. Under a guttering street light he stopped me and read my face +line by line. I dare swear he found there a recklessness to match his own +and perhaps some trace of the loyalty for which he looked. Presently he +said, as the paving stones echoed to our tread:-- + +"You have your father's face, Kenn. I mind him a lad just like you when we +went out together in the '15 for the King. Those were great days--great +days. I wonder----" + +His unfinished sentence tailed out into a meditative silence. His voice +and eyes told of a mind reminiscent of the past and perhaps dreamful of +the future. Yet awhile, and he snatched himself back into the present. + +"Six hours ago I should not have proposed this desperate remedy for your +ills. You had a stake in the country then, but now you are as poor in this +world's gear as Arthur Elphinstone himself. When one has naught but life +at stake he will take greater risks. I have a man's game to play. Are you +for it, lad?" + +I hesitated, a prophetic divination in my mind that I stood in a mist at +the parting of life's ways. + +"You have thrown all to-night--and lost. I offer you another cut at +Fortune's cards. You might even turn a king." + +He said it with a quiet steadfastness in which I seemed to detect an +undercurrent of strenuous meaning. I stopped, and in my turn looked long +at him. What did he mean? Volney's words came to my mind. I began to piece +together rumours I had heard but never credited. I knew that even now men +dreamed of a Stuart restoration. If Arthur Elphinstone of Balmerino were +one of these I knew him to be of a reckless daring mad enough to attempt +it. + +"My Lord, you say I might turn a king," I repeated slowly. "'Tis more like +that I would play the knave. You speak in riddles. I am no guesser of +them. You must be plain." + +Still he hung back from a direct answer. "You are dull to-night, Kenn. I +have known you more gleg at the uptake, but if you will call on me +to-morrow night I shall make all plain to you." + +We were arrived at the door of his lodgings, a mean house in a shabby +neighbourhood, for my Lord was as poor as a church mouse despite his +title. I left him here, and the last words I called over my shoulder to +him were, + +"Remember, I promise nothing." + +It may be surmised that as I turned my steps back toward my rooms in +Arlington Street I found much matter for thought. I cursed the folly that +had led me to offer myself a dupe to these hawks of the gaming table. I +raged in a stress of heady passion against that fair false friend Sir +Robert Volney. And always in the end my mind jumped back to dally with +Balmerino's temptation to recoup my fallen fortunes with one desperate +throw. + +"Fraoch! Dh 'aindeoin co theireadh e!" (The Heath! Gainsay who dare!) + +The slogan echoed and reechoed through the silent streets, and snatched me +in an instant out of the abstraction into which I had fallen. Hard upon +the cry there came to me the sound of steel ringing upon steel. I legged +it through the empty road, flung myself round a corner, and came plump +upon the combatants. The defendant was a lusty young fellow apparently +about my own age, of extraordinary agility and no mean skill with the +sword. He was giving a good account of himself against the four assailants +who hemmed him against the wall, his point flashing here and there with +swift irregularity to daunt their valiancy. At the moment when I appeared +to create a diversion one of the four had flung himself down and forward +to cling about the knees of their victim with intent to knife him at close +quarters. The young man dared not shorten his sword length to meet this +new danger. He tried to shake off the man, caught at his white throat and +attempted to force him back, what time his sword still opposed the rest of +the villains. + +Then I played my small part in the entertainment. One of the rascals +screamed out an oath at sight of me and turned to run. I pinked him in the +shoulder, and at the same time the young swordsman fleshed another of +them. The man with the knife scrambled to his feet, a ludicrous picture of +ghastly terror. To make short, in another minute there was nothing to be +seen of the cutpurses but flying feet scampering through the night. + +The young gentleman turned to me with a bow that was never invented out of +France. I saw now that he was something older than myself, tall, +well-made, and with a fine stride to him that set off the easy grace of +his splendid shoulders. His light steady blue eyes and his dark ruddy hair +proclaimed him the Highlander. His face was not what would be called +handsome: the chin was over-square and a white scar zigzagged across his +cheek, but I liked the look of him none the less for that. His frank manly +countenance wore the self-reliance of one who has lived among the hills +and slept among the heather under countless stars. For dress he wore the +English costume with the extra splash of colour that betokened the vanity +of his race. "'Fore God, sir, you came none too soon," he cried in his +impetuous Gaelic way. "This riff-raff of your London town had knifed me in +another gliff. I will be thinking that it would have gone ill with me but +for your opportune arrival. I am much beholden to you, and if ever I can +pay the debt do not fail to call on Don--er--James Brown." + +At the last words he fell to earth most precipitately, all the fervent +ring dropping out of his voice. Now James Brown is a common name enough, +but he happened to be the first of the name I had ever heard crying a +Highland slogan in the streets of London, and I looked at him with +something more than curiosity. I am a Scotchman myself on the mother's +side, so that I did not need to have a name put to his nationality. + +There was the touch of a smile on my face when I asked him if he were +hurt. He gave me the benefit of his full seventy three inches and told me +no, that he would think shame of himself if he could not keep his head +with his hands from a streetful of such scum. And might he know the name +of the unknown friend who had come running out of the night to lend him an +arm? + +"Kenneth Montagu," I told him, laughing at his enthusiasm. + +"Well then, Mr. Kenneth Montagu, it's the good friend you've been to me +this night, and I'll not be forgetting it." + +"When I find myself attacked by footpads I'll just look up Mr. James +Brown," I told him dryly with intent to plague. + +He took the name sourly, no doubt in an itching to blurt out that he was a +Mac-something or other. To a Gaelic gentleman like him the Sassenach name +he used for a convenience was gall and wormwood. + +We walked down the street together, and where our ways parted near +Arlington Street he gave me his hand. + +"The lucky man am I at meeting you, Mr. Montagu, while we were having the +bit splore down the street. I was just weanying for a lad handy with his +blade, and the one I would be choosing out of all England came hot-foot +round the corner." + +I made nothing of what I had done, but yet his Highland friendliness and +flatteries were balm to a sick heart and we parted at my door with a great +deal of good-will. + +----- + + [1] The author takes an early opportunity to express his obligations + to the letters of Horace Walpole who was himself so infinitely + indebted to the conversation of his cronies. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CRY IN THE NIGHT + + +"Past ten o'clock, and a clear starry night!" the watch was bawling as I +set out from my rooms to keep my appointment with Lord Balmerino. I had +little doubt that a Stuart restoration was the cause for which he was +recruiting, and all day I had balanced in my mind the pros and cons of +such an attempt. I will never deny that the exiled race held for me a +strong fascination. The Stuarts may have been weak, headstrong Kings in +their prosperity, but they had the royal virtue of drawing men to them in +their misfortune. They were never so well loved, nor so worthy of it, as +when they lived in exile at St. Germains. Besides, though I had never +mixed with politics, I was a Jacobite by inheritance. My father had fought +for a restoration, and my uncle had died for it. + +There were no fast bound ties to hold me back. Loyalty to the Hanoverians +had no weight with me. I was a broken man, and save for my head could lose +nothing by the venture. The danger of the enterprise was a merit in my +eyes, for I was in the mood when a man will risk his all on an impulse. + +And yet I hung back. After all an Englishman, be he never so desperate, +does not fling away the scabbard without counting the cost. Young as I was +I grued at the thought of the many lives that would be cut off ere their +time, and in my heart I distrusted the Stuarts and doubted whether the +game were worth the candle. + +I walked slowly, for I was not yet due at the lodgings of Balmerino for an +hour, and as I stood hesitating at a street corner a chaise sheered past +me at a gallop. Through the coach window by the shine of the moon I caught +one fleeting glimpse of a white frightened girl-face, and over the mouth +was clapped a rough hand to stifle any cry she might give. I am no Don +Quixote, but there never was a Montagu who waited for the cool second +thought to crowd out the strong impulse of the moment. I made a dash at +the step, missed my footing, and rolled over into the mud. When I got to +my feet again the coach had stopped at the far end of the street. Two men +were getting out of the carriage holding between them a slight struggling +figure. For one instant the clear shrill cry of a woman was lifted into +the night, then it was cut short abruptly by the clutch of a hand at the +throat. + +I scudded toward them, lugging at my sword as I ran, but while I was yet +fifty yards away the door of the house opened and closed behind them. An +instant, and the door reopened to let out one of the men, who slammed it +behind him and entered the chaise. The postilion whipped up his horses and +drove off. The door yielded nothing to my hand. Evidently it was locked +and bolted. I cried out to open, and beat wildly upon the door with the +hilt of my sword. Indeed, I quite lost my head, threatening, storming, and +abusing. I might as well have called upon the marble busts at the Abbey to +come forth, for inside there was the silence of the dead. Presently lights +began to glimmer in windows along the dark street, and nightcapped heads +were thrust out to learn what was ado. I called on them to join me in a +rescue, but I found them not at all keen for the adventure. They took me +for a drunken Mohawk or some madman escaped from custody. + +"Here come the watch to take him away," I heard one call across the street +to another. + +I began to realize that an attempt to force an entrance was futile. It +would only end in an altercation with the approaching watch. Staid +citizens were already pointing me out to them as a cause of the +disturbance. For the moment I elected discretion and fled incontinent down +the street from the guard. + +But I was back before ten minutes were up, lurking in the shadows of +opposite doorways, examining the house from front and rear, searching for +some means of ingress to this mysterious dwelling. I do not know why the +thing stuck in my mind. Perhaps some appealing quality of youth in the +face and voice stirred in me the instinct for the championship of dames +that is to be found in every man. At any rate I was grimly resolved not to +depart without an explanation of the strange affair. + +What no skill of mine could accomplish chance did for me. While I was +inviting a crick in my neck from staring up at the row of unlighted +windows above me, a man came out of the front door and stood looking up +and down the street. Presently he spied me and beckoned. I was all +dishevelled and one stain of mud from head to foot. + +"D' ye want to earn a shilling, fellow?" he called. + +I grumbled that I was out of work and money. Was it likely I would refuse +such a chance? And what was it he would have me do? + +He led the way through the big, dimly-lighted hall to an up-stairs room +near the back of the house. Two heavy boxes were lying there, packed and +corded, to be taken down-stairs. I tossed aside my cloak and stooped to +help him. He straightened with a jerk. I had been standing in the shadow +with my soiled cloak wrapped about me, but now I stood revealed in silken +hose, satin breeches, and laced doublet. If that were not enough to +proclaim my rank a rapier dangled by my side. + +"Rot me, you're a gentleman," he cried. + +I affected to carry off my shame with bluster. + +"What if I am!" I cried fiercely. "May not a gentleman be hungry, man? I +am a ruined dicer, as poor as a church mouse. Do you grudge me my +shilling?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. Doubtless he had seen more than one broken +gentleman cover poverty with a brave front of fine lawn and gilded +splendour of array. + +"All one to me, your Royal 'Ighness. Take 'old 'ere," he said +facetiously. + +We carried the boxes into the hall. When we had finished I stood mopping +my face with a handkerchief, but my eyes were glued to the label tacked on +one of the boxes. + +_John Armitage, The Oaks, Epsom, Surrey._ + +"Wot yer waitin' for?" asked the fellow sharply. + +"The shilling," I told him. + +I left when he gave it me, and as I reached the door he bawled to be sure +to shut it tight. An idea jumped to my mind on the instant, and though I +slammed the door I took care to have my foot an inch or two within the +portal. Next moment I was walking noisily down the steps and along the +pavement. + +Three minutes later I tiptoed back up the steps and tried the door. I +opened it slowly and without noise till I could thrust in my head. The +fellow was nowhere to be seen in the hall. I whipped in, and closed the +door after me. Every board seemed to creak as I trod gingerly toward the +stairway. In the empty house the least noise echoed greatly. The polished +stairs cried out hollowly my presence. I was half way up when I came to a +full stop. Some one was coming down round the bend of the stairway. Softly +I slid down the balustrade and crouched behind the post at the bottom. The +man--it was my friend of the shilling--passed within a foot of me, his +hand almost brushing the hair of my head, and crossed the hall to a room +opposite. Again I went up the stairs, still cautiously, but with a +confidence born of the knowledge of his whereabouts. + +The house was large, and I might have wandered long without guessing where +lay the room I wanted had it not been for a slight sound that came to +me--the low, soft sobbing of a woman. I groped my way along the dark +passage, turned to the left, and presently came to the door from behind +which issued the sound. The door was locked on the outside, and the key +was in the lock. I knocked, and at once silence fell. To my second knock I +got no answer. Then I turned the key and entered. + +A girl was sitting at a table with her back to me, her averted head +leaning wearily on her hand. Dejection spoke in every line of her figure. +She did not even turn at my entrance, thinking me no doubt to be her +guard. I stood waiting awkwardly, scarce knowing what to say. + +"Madam," I began, "may I-- Is there----?" So far I got, then I came to an +embarrassed pause, for I might as well have talked to the dead for all the +answer I got. She did not honour me with the faintest sign of attention. I +hemmed and hawed and bowed to her back with a growing confusion. + +At last she asked over her shoulder in a strained, even voice, + +"What is it you're wanting now? You said I was to be left by my lane +to-night." + +I murmured like a gawk that I was at her service, and presently as I +shifted from one foot to the other she turned slowly. Her face was a dumb +cry for help, though it was a proud face too--one not lacking in fire and +courage. I have seen fairer faces, but never one more to my liking. It was +her eyes that held me. The blue of her own Highland lochs, with all their +changing and indescribably pathetic beauty, lurked deeply in them. +Unconsciously they appealed to me, and the world was not wide enough to +keep me from her when they called. Faith, my secret is out already, and I +had resolved that it should keep till near the end of my story! + +I had dropped my muddy cloak before I entered, and as she looked at me a +change came over her. Despair gave way to a startled surprise. Her eyes +dilated. + +"Who are you, sir? And--what are you doing here?" she demanded. + +I think some fear or presage of evil was knocking at her heart, for though +she fronted me very steadily her eyes were full of alarm. What should a +man of rank be doing in her room on the night she had been abducted from +her lodgings unless his purpose were evil? She wore a long cloak +stretching to the ground, and from under it slippered feet peeped out. The +cloak was of the latest mode, very wide and open at the neck and +shoulders, and beneath the mantle I caught more than a glimpse of the +laced white nightrail and the fine sloping neck. 'Twas plain that her +abductors had given her only time to fling the wrap about her before they +snatched her from her bedchamber. Some wild instinct of defense stirred +within her, and with one hand she clutched the cloak tightly to her +throat. My heart went out to the child with a great rush of pity. The mad +follies of my London life slipped from me like the muddy garment outside, +and I swore by all I held most dear not to see her wronged. + +"Madam," I said, "for all the world I would not harm you. I have come to +offer you my sword as a defense against those who would injure you. My +name is Montagu, and I know none of the name that are liars," I cried. + +"Are you the gentleman that was for stopping the carriage as we came?" she +asked. + +"I am that same unlucky gentleman that was sent speldering in the +glaur.[2] I won an entrance to the house by a trick, and I am here at your +service," I said, throwing in my tag of Scotch to reassure her. + +"You will be English, but you speak the kindly Scots," she cried. + +"My mother was from the Highlands," I told her. + +"What! You have the Highland blood in you? Oh then, it is the good heart +you will have too. Will you ever have been on the braes of Raasay?" + +I told her no; that I had always lived in England, though my mother was a +Campbell. Her joy was the least thing in the world daunted, and in her +voice there was a dash of starch. + +"Oh! A Campbell!" + +I smiled. 'Twas plain her clan was no friend to the sons of _Diarmaid_. + +"My father was out in the '15, and when he wass a wounded fugitive with +the Campbell bloodhounds on his trail Mary Campbell hid him till the chase +was past. Then she guided him across the mountains and put him in the way +of reaching the Macdonald country. My father married her after the +amnesty," I explained. + +The approving light flashed back into her eyes. + +"At all events then I am not doubting she wass a good lassie, Campbell or +no Campbell; and I am liking it that your father went back and married +her." + +"But we are wasting time," I urged. "What can I do for you? Where do you +live? To whom shall I take you?" + +She fell to earth at once. "My grief! I do not know. Malcolm has gone to +France. He left me with Hamish Gorm in lodgings, but they will not be safe +since----" She stopped, and at the memory of what had happened there the +wine crept into her cheeks. + +"And who is Malcolm?" I asked gently. + +"My brother. He iss an agent for King James in London, and he brought me +with him. But he was called away, and he left me with the gillie. To-night +they broke into my room while Hamish was away, weary fa' the day! And now +where shall I go?" + +"My sister is a girl about your age. Cloe would be delighted to welcome +you. I am sure you would like each other." + +"You are the good friend to a poor lass that will never be forgetting, and +I will be blithe to burden the hospitality of your sister till my brother +returns." + +The sharp tread of footsteps on the stairs reached us. A man was coming +up, and he was singing languidly a love ditty. + + "What is love? 'Tis not hereafter, + Present mirth has present laughter, + What's to come is still unsure; + In delay there lies no plenty, + Then come kiss me sweet and twenty. + Youth's a stuff will not endure." + +Something in the voice struck a familiar chord in my memory, but I could +not put a name to its owner. The girl looked at me with eyes grown +suddenly horror-stricken. I noticed that her face had taken on the hue of +snow. + +"We are too late," she cried softly. + +We heard a key fumbling in the lock, and then the door opened--to let in +Volney. His hat was sweeping to the floor in a bow when he saw me. He +stopped and looked at me in surprise, his lips framing themselves for a +whistle. I could see the starch run through and take a grip of him. For +just a gliff he stood puzzled and angry. Then he came in wearing his ready +dare-devil smile and sat down easily on the bed. + +"Hope I'm not interrupting, Montagu," he said jauntily. "I dare say though +that's past hoping for. You'll have to pardon my cursedly malapropos +appearance. Faith, my only excuse is that I did not know the lady was +entertaining other visitors this evening." + +He looked at her with careless insolence out of his beautiful dark eyes, +and for that moment I hated him with the hate a man will go to hell to +satisfy. + +"You will spare this lady your insults," I told him in a low voice. "At +least so far as you can. Your presence itself is an insult." + +"Egad, and that's where the wind sits, eh? Well, well, 'tis the manner of +the world. When the cat's away!" + +A flame of fire ran through me. I took a step toward him, hand on sword +hilt. With a sweep of his jewelled hand he waved me back. + +"Fie, fie, Kenn! In a lady's presence?" + +Volney smiled at the girl in mock gallantry and my eyes followed his. I +never saw a greater change. She was transformed. Her lithe young figure +stood out tall and strong, every line of weariness gone. Hate, loathing, +scorn, one might read plainly there, but no trace of fear or despair. She +might have been a lioness defending her young. Her splendour of dark +auburn hair, escaped and fallen free to her waist, fascinated me with the +luxuriance of its disorder. Volney's lazy admiration quickened to a deeper +interest. For an instant his breath came faster. His face lighted with the +joy of the huntsman after worthy game. But almost immediately he recovered +his aplomb. Turning to me, he asked with his odd light smile, + +"Staying long, may I ask?" + +My passion was gone. I was possessed by a slow fire as steady and as +enduring as a burning peat. + +"I have not quite made up my mind how long to stay," I answered coldly. +"When I leave the lady goes with me, but I haven't decided yet what to do +with you." + +He began to laugh. "You grow amusing. 'Slife, you are not all country boor +after all! May it please you, what are the alternatives regarding my +humble self?" he drawled, leaning back with an elbow on the pillow. + +"Well, I might kill you." + +"Yes, you might. And--er-- What would I be doing?" he asked negligently. + +"Or, since there is a lady present, I might leave you till another time." + +His handsome, cynical face, with its curious shifting lights and shadows, +looked up at me for once suffused with genuine amusement. + +"Stap me, you'd make a fortune as a play actor. Garrick is a tyro beside +you. Some one was telling me that your financial affairs had been going +wrong. An it comes to the worst, take my advice and out-Garrick Garrick." + +"You are very good. Your interest in my affairs charms me, Sir Robert. +'Tis true they are not promising. A friend duped me. He held the Montagu +estates higher than honour." + +He appeared to reflect. "Friend? Don't think I'm acquainted with any of +the kind, unless a friend is one who eats your dinners, drinks your wines, +rides your horses, and"--with a swift sidelong look at the girl--"makes +love to your charming adored." + +Into the girl's face the colour flared, but she looked at him with a +contempt so steady that any man but Volney must have winced. + +"Friendship!" she cried with infinite disdain. "What can such as you know +of it? You are false as Judas. Did you not begowk my honest brother with +fine words till he and I believed you one of God's noblemen, and when his +back was fairly turned----?" + +"I had the best excuse in London for my madness, Aileen," he said with the +wistful little laugh that had gone straight to many a woman's heart. + +Her eye flashed and her bosom heaved. The pure girl-heart read him like an +open book. + +"And are you thinking me so mean a thing as still to care for your honeyed +words? Believe me, there iss no viper on the braes of Raasay more +detestable to me than you." + +I looked to see him show anger, but he nursed his silk-clad ankle with the +same insolent languor. He might have been a priest after the confessional +for all the expression his face wore. + +"I like you angry, Aileen. Faith, 'tis worth being the object of your rage +to see you stamp that pretty foot and clench those little hands I love to +kiss. But Ecod! Montagu, the hour grows late. The lady will lose her +beauty sleep. Shall you and I go down-stairs and arrange for a +conveyance?" + +He bowed low and kissed his fingers to the girl. Then he led the way out +of the room, fine and gallant and debonair, a villain every inch of him. + +"Will you be leaving me?" the girl cried with parted lips. + +"Not for long," I told her. "Do not fear. I shall have you out of here in +a jiff," and with that I followed at his heels. + +Sir Robert Volney led the way down the corridor to a small room in the +west wing, where flaring, half-burnt candles guttering in their sconces +drove back the darkness. He leaned against the mantel and looked long at +me out of half-closed eyes. + +"May I ask to what is due the honour of your presence to-night?" he +drawled at last. + +"Certainly." + +"Well?" + +"I have said you may ask," I fleered rudely. "But for me-- Gad's life! I +am not in the witness box." + +He took his snuff mull from his waistcoat pocket and offered it me, then +took a pinch and brushed from his satin coat imaginary grains with +prodigious care. + +"You are perhaps not aware that I have the right to ask. It chances that +this is my house." + +"Indeed! And the lady we have just left----?" + +"----Is, pardon me, none of your concern." + +"Ah! I'm not so sure of that." + +"Faith then, you'll do well to make sure." + +"And--er--Mistress Antoinette Westerleigh?" + +"Quite another matter! You're out of court again, Mr. Montagu." + +"Egad, I enter an exception. The lady we have just left is of another mind +in the affair. She is the court of last resort, and, I believe, not +complaisant to your suit." + +"She will change her mind," he said coolly. + +"I trust so renowned a gallant as Sir Robert would not use force." + +"Lard, no! She is a woman and therefore to be won. But I would advise you +to dismiss the lady from your mind. 'Ware women, Mr. Montagu! You will +sleep easier." + +"In faith, a curious coincidence! I was about to tender you the same +advice, Sir Robert," I told him lightly. + +"You will forget the existence of such a lady if you are wise?" + +"Wisdom comes with age. I am for none of it." + +"Yet you will do well to remember your business and forget mine." + +"I have no business of my own, Sir Robert. Last night you generously +lifted all sordid business cares from my mind, and now I am quite free to +attend those of my neighbours." + +He shrugged his shoulders in the French way. "Very well. A wilful man! +You've had your warning, and-- I am not a man to be thwarted." + +"I might answer that I am not a man to be frightened." + +"You'll not be the first that has answered that. The others have 'Hic +Jacet' engraved on their door plates. Well, it's an unsatisfactory world +at best, and Lard! they're well quit of it. Still, you're young." + +"And have yet to learn discretion." + +"That's a pity too," he retorted lightly. "The door is waiting for you. +Better take it, Mr. Montagu." + +"With the lady?" + +"I fear the lady is tired. Besides, man, think of her reputation. Zounds! +Can she gad about the city at night alone with so gay a spark as you? 'Tis +a censorious world, and tongues will clack. No, no! I will save you from +any chance of such a scandal, Mr. Montagu." + +"Faith, one good turn deserves another. I'll stay here to save your +reputation, Sir Robert." + +"I fear that mine is fly-blown already and something the worse for wear. +It can take care of itself." + +"Yet I'll stay." + +"Gad's life! Stay then." + +Volney had been standing just within the door, and at the word he stepped +out and flung it to. I sprang forward, but before I reached it the click +sounded. I was a prisoner, caught like a fly in a spider's web, and much +it helped me to beat on the iron-studded door till my hand bled, to call +on him to come in and fight it out like a man, to storm up and down the +room in a stress of passion. + +Presently my rage abated, and I took stock of my surroundings. The windows +were barred with irons set in stone sockets by masonry. I set my knee +against the window frame and tugged at them till I was moist with +perspiration. As well I might have pulled at the pillars of St. Paul's. I +tried my small sword as a lever, but it snapped in my hand. Again I +examined the bars. There was no way but to pick them from their sockets by +making a groove in the masonry. With the point of my sword I chipped +industriously at the cement. At the end of ten minutes I had made +perceptible progress. Yet it took me another hour of labour to accomplish +my task. I undid the blind fastenings, clambered out, and lowered myself +foot by foot to the ground by clinging to the ivy that grew thick along +the wall. The vine gave to my hand, and the last three yards I took in a +rush, but I picked myself up none the worse save for a torn face and +bruised hands. + +The first fall was Volney's, and I grudged it him; but as I took my way to +Balmerino's lodgings my heart was far from heavy. The girl was safe for +the present. I knew Volney well enough for that. That his plan was to take +her to The Oaks and in seclusion lay a long siege to the heart of the +girl, I could have sworn. But from London to Epsom is a far cry, and +between them much might happen through chance and fate and--Kenneth +Montagu. + +----- + + [2] Speldering in the glaur--sprawling in the mud. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DEOCH SLAINT AN RIGH! + + +"You're late, Kenn," was Balmerino's greeting to me. + +"Faith, my Lord, I'm earlier than I might have been. I found it hard to +part from a dear friend who was loathe to let me out of his sight," I +laughed. + +The Scotchman buckled on his sword and disappeared into the next room. +When he returned a pair of huge cavalry pistols peeped from under his +cloak. + +"Going to the wars, my Lord?" I quizzed gaily. + +"Perhaps. Will you join me?" + +"Maybe yes and maybe no. Is the cause good?" + +"The best in the world." + +"And the chances of success?" + +"Fortune beckons with both hands." + +"Hm! Has she by any chance a halter in her hands for Kenn Montagu and an +axe for Balmerino since he is a peer?" + +"Better the sharp edge of an axe than the dull edge of hunger for those we +love," he answered with a touch of bitterness. + +His rooms supplied the sermon to his text. Gaunt poverty stared at me on +every hand. The floor was bare and the two ragged chairs were rickety. I +knew now why the white-haired peer was so keen to try a hazard of new +fortunes for the sake of the wife in the North. + +"Where may you be taking me?" I asked presently, as we hurried through +Piccadilly. + +"If you ask no questions----" he began dryly. + +"----You'll tell me no lies. Very good. Odd's my life, I'm not caring! Any +direction is good enough for me--unless it leads to Tyburn. But I warn you +that I hold myself unpledged." + +"I shall remember." + +I was in the gayest spirits imaginable. The task I had set myself of +thwarting Volney and the present uncertainty of my position had combined +to lend a new zest to life. I felt the wine of youth bubble in my veins, +and I was ready for whatever fortune had in store. + +Shortly we arrived at one of those streets of unimpeachable respectability +that may be duplicated a hundred times in London. Its characteristics are +monotony and dull mediocrity; a dead sameness makes all the houses appear +alike. Before one of these we stopped. + +Lord Balmerino knocked, A man came to the door and thrust out a head +suspiciously. There was a short whispered colloquy between him and the +Scotch lord, after which he beckoned me to enter. For an instant I hung +back. + +"What are you afraid of, man?" asked Balmerino roughly. + +I answered to the spur and pressed forward at once. He led the way along a +dark passage and down a flight of stone steps into a cellar fitted up as a +drinking room. There was another low-toned consultation before we were +admitted. I surmised that Balmerino stood sponsor for me, and though I was +a little disturbed at my equivocal position, yet I was strangely glad to +be where I was. For here was a promise of adventure to stimulate a jaded +appetite. I assured myself that at least I should not suffer dulness. + +There were in the room a scant dozen of men, and as I ran them over with +my eye the best I could say for their quality in life was that they had +not troubled the tailor of late. Most of them were threadbare at elbow and +would have looked the better of a good dinner. There were two or three +exceptions, but for the most part these broken gentlemen bore the marks of +recklessness and dissipation. Two I knew: the O'Sullivan that had assisted +at the plucking of a certain pigeon on the previous night, and Mr. James +Brown, alias Mac-something or other, of the supple sword and the Highland +slogan. + +Along with another Irishman named Anthony Creagh the fellow O'Sullivan +rushed up to my Lord, eyes snapping with excitement. He gave me a nod and +a "How d'ye do, Montagu? Didn't know you were of the honest party," then +broke out with-- + +"Great news, Balmerino! The French fleet has sailed with transports for +fifteen thousand men. I have advices direct from the Prince. Marshal Saxe +commands, and the Prince himself is with them. London will be ours within +the week. Sure the good day is coming at last. The King--God bless +him!--will have his own again; and a certain Dutch beer tub that we know +of will go scuttling back to his beloved Hanover, glory be the day!" + +Balmerino's eyes flashed. + +"They have sailed then at last. I have been expecting it a week. If they +once reach the Thames there is no force in England that can stop them," he +said quietly. + +"Surely the small fleet of Norris will prove no barrier?" asked another +dubiously. + +"Poof! They weel eat heem up jus' like one leetle mouse, my frien'," +boasted a rat-faced Frenchman with a snap of his fingers. "Haf they not +two sheeps to his one?" + +"Egad, I hope they don't eat the mutton then and let Norris go," laughed +Creagh. He was a devil-may-care Irishman, brimful of the virtues and the +vices of his race. + +I had stumbled into a hornet's nest with a vengeance. They were mad as +March hares, most of them. For five minutes I sat amazed, listening to the +wildest talk it had ever been my lot to hear. The Guelphs would be driven +out. The good old days would be restored; there would be no more whiggery +and Walpolism; with much more of the same kind of talk. There was drinking +of wine and pledging of toasts to the King across the water, and all the +while I sat by the side of Balmerino with a face like whey. For I was +simmering with anger. I foresaw the moment when discovery was inevitable, +and in those few minutes while I hung back in the shadow and wished myself +a thousand miles away hard things were thought of Arthur Elphinstone Lord +Balmerino. He had hoped to fling me out of my depths and sweep me away +with the current, but I resolved to show him another ending to it. + +Presently Mr. James Brown came up and offered me a frank hand of welcome. +Balmerino introduced him as Captain Donald Roy Macdonald. I let my +countenance express surprise. + +"Surely you are mistaken, my Lord. This gentleman and I have met before, +and I think his name is Brown." + +Macdonald laughed a little sheepishly. "The air of London is not just +exactly healthy for Highland Jacobite gentlemen at present. I wouldna +wonder but one might catch the scarlet fever gin he werena carefu', so I +just took a change of names for a bit while." + +"You did not disguise the Highland slogan you flung out last night," I +laughed. + +"Did I cry it?" he asked. "It would be just from habit then. I didna ken +that I opened my mouth." Then he turned to my affairs. "And I suppose you +will be for striking a blow for the cause like the rest of us. Well then, +the sooner the better. I am fair wearying for a certain day that is near +at hand." + +With which he began to hum "The King shall have his own again." + +I flushed, and boggled at the "No!" that stuck in my throat. Creagh, +standing near, slewed round his head at the word. + +"Eh, what's that? Say that again, Montagu!" + +I took the bull by the horns and answered bluntly, "There has been a +mistake made. George is a good enough king for me." + +I saw Macdonald stiffen, and angry amazement leap to the eyes of the two +Irishmen. + +"'Sblood! What the devil! Why are you here then?" cried Creagh. + +His words, and the excitement in his raised voice, rang the bell for a +hush over the noisy room. Men dropped their talk and turned to us. A score +of fierce suspicious eyes burnt into me. My heart thumped against my ribs +like a thing alive, but I answered--steadily and quietly enough, I dare +say--"You will have to ask Lord Balmerino that. I did not know where he +was bringing me." + +"Damnation!" cried one Leath. "What cock and bull tale is this? Not know +where he was bringing you! 'Slife, I do not like it!" + +I sat on the table negligently dangling one foot in air. For that matter I +didn't like it myself, but I was not going to tell him so. Brushing a +speck of mud from my coat I answered carelessly, + +"Like it or mislike it, devil a bit I care!" + +"Ha, ha! I theenk you will find a leetle reason for caring," said the +Frenchman ominously. + +"Stab me, if I understand," cried Creagh. "Balmerino did not kidnap you +here, did he? Devil take me if it's at all clear to me!" + +O'Sullivan pushed to the front with an evil laugh. + +"'T is clear enough to me," he said bluntly. "It's the old story of one +too many trusted. He hears our plans and then the smug-faced villain +peaches. Next week he sees us all scragged at Tyburn. But he's made a +little mistake this time, sink me! He won't live to see the Chevalier +O'Sullivan walk off the cart. If you'll give me leave, I'll put a name to +the gentleman. He's what they call a spy, and stap my vitals! he doesn't +leave this room alive." + +At his words a fierce cry leaped from tense throats. A circle of white +furious faces girdled me about. Rapiers hung balanced at my throat and +death looked itchingly at me from many an eye. + +As for me, I lazed against the table with a strange odd contraction of the +heart, a sudden standing still and then a fierce pounding of the blood. +Yet I was quite master of myself. Indeed I smiled at them, carelessly, as +one that deprecated so much ado about nothing. And while I smiled, the +wonder was passing through my mind whether the smile would still be there +after they had carved the life out of me. I looked death in the face, and +I found myself copying unconsciously the smirking manners of the +Macaronis. Faith, 't was a leaf from Volney's life I was rehearsing for +them. + +This but while one might blink an eye, then Lord Balmerino interrupted. +"God's my life! Here's a feery-farry about nothing. Put up your toasting +fork, De Vallery! The lad will not bite." + +"Warranted to be of gentle manners," I murmured, brushing again at the +Mechlin lace of my coat. + +"Gentlemen are requested not to tease the animals," laughed Creagh. He was +as full of heat as a pepper castor, but he had the redeeming humour of his +race. + +Macdonald beat down the swords. "Are you a' daft, gentlemen? The lad came +with Balmerino. He is no spy. Put up, put up, Chevalier! Don't glower at +me like that, man! Hap-weel rap-weel, the lad shall have his chance to +explain. I will see no man's cattle hurried." + +"Peste! Let him explain then, and not summer and winter over the story," +retorted O'Sullivan sourly. + +Lord Balmerino slipped an arm through mine. "If you are quite through with +your play acting, gentlemen, we will back to reason and common sense +again. Mr. Montagu may not be precisely a pronounced Jack, but then he +doesn't give a pinch of snuff for the Whigs either. I think we shall find +him open to argument." + +"He'd better be--if he knows what's good for him," growled O'Sullivan. + +At once I grew obstinate. "I do not take my politics under compulsion, Mr. +O'Sullivan," I flung out. + +"Then you shouldn't have come here. You've drawn the wine, and by God! you +shall drink it." + +"Shall I? We'll see." + +"No, no, Kenn! I promise you there shall be no compulsion," cried the old +Lord. Then to O'Sullivan in a stern whisper, "Let be, you blundering Irish +man! You're setting him against us." + +Balmerino was right. Every moment I grew colder and stiffer. If they +wanted me for a recruit they were going about it the wrong way. I would +not be frightened into joining them. + +"Like the rest of us y' are a ruined man. Come, better your fortune. Duty +and pleasure jump together. James Montagu's son is not afraid to take a +chance," urged the Scotch Lord. + +Donald Roy's eyes had fastened on me from the first like the grip-of +steel. He had neither moved nor spoken, but I knew that he was weighing me +in the balance. + +"I suppose you will not be exactly in love with the wamey Dutchmen, Mr. +Montagu?" he asked now. + +I smiled. "If you put it that way I don't care one jack straw for the +whole clamjamfry of them." + +"I was thinking so. They are a different race from the Stuarts." + +"They are indeed," I acquiesced dryly. Then the devil of mischief stirred +in me to plague him. "There's all the difference of bad and a vast deal +worse between them. It's a matter of comparisons," I concluded easily. + +"You are pleased to be facetious," returned O'Sullivan sourly. "But I +would ask you to remember that you are not yet out of the woods, Mr. +Montagu. My Lord seems satisfied, but here are some more of us waiting a +plain answer to this riddle." + +"And what may the riddle be?" I asked. + +"Just this. What are you doing here?" + +"Faith, that's easy answered," I told him jauntily. "I'm here by +invitation of Lord Balmerino, and it seems I'm not overwelcome." + +Elphinstone interrupted impatiently. + +"Gentlemen, we're at cross purposes. You're trying to drive Mr. Montagu, +and I'm all for leading him. I warn you he's not to be driven. Let us talk +it over reasonably." + +"Very well," returned O'Sullivan sulkily. "Talk as long as you please, but +he doesn't get out of this room till I'm satisfied." + +"We are engaged on a glorious enterprise to restore to these islands their +ancient line of sovereigns. You say you do not care for the Hanoverians. +Why not then strike a blow for the right cause?" asked Leath. + +"Right and wrong are not to be divided by so clean a cut," I told him. "I +am no believer in the divine inheritance of kings. In the last analysis +the people shall be the judge." + +"Of course; and we are going to put it to the test." + +"You want to set the clock back sixty years. It will not do." + +"We think it will. We are resolved at least to try," said Balmerino. + +I shrugged my shoulders. "The times are against you. The Stuarts have +dropped out of the race. The mill cannot grind with the water that is +past." + +"And if the water be not past?" asked Leath fiercely. + +"Mar found it so in the '15, and many honest gentlemen paid for his +mistake with their heads. My father's brother for one." + +"Mar bungled it from start to finish. He had the game in his own hands and +dribbled away his chances like a coward and a fool." + +"Perhaps, but even so, much water has passed under London Bridge since +then. It is sixty years since the Stuarts were driven out. Two generations +have slept on it." + +"Then the third generation of sleepers shall be wakened. The stream is +coming down in spate," said Balmerino. + +"I hear you say it," I answered dryly. + +"And you shall live to see us do it, Mr. Montagu. The heather's in a blaze +already. The fiery cross will be speeding from Badenoch to the Braes of +Balwhidder. The clans will all rise whatever," cried Donald Roy. + +"I'm not so sure about Mr. Montagu living to see it. My friends O'Sullivan +and De Vallery seem to think not," said Creagh, giving me his odd smile. +"Now, I'll wager a crown that----" + +"Whose crown did you say?" I asked politely, handing him back his smile. + +"The government cannot stand out against us," argued Balmerino. "The Duke +of Newcastle is almost an imbecile. The Dutch usurper himself is over in +Hanover courting a new mistress. His troops are all engaged in foreign +war. There are not ten thousand soldiers on the island. At this very +moment the King of France is sending fifteen thousand across in +transports. He will have no difficulty in landing them and London cannot +hold out." + +"Faith, he might get his army here. I'm not denying that. But I'll promise +him trouble in getting it away again." + +"The Highlands are ready to fling away the scabbard for King James III," +said Donald Roy simply. + +"It is in my mind that you have done that more than once before and that +because of it misguided heads louped from sturdy shoulders," I answered. + +"Wales too is full of loyal gentlemen. What can the Hanoverians do if they +march across the border to join the Highlanders rolling down from the +North and Marshal Saxe with his French army?" + +"My imagination halts," I answered dryly. "You will be telling me next +that England is wearying for a change back to the race of Kings she has +twice driven out." + +"I do say it," cried Leath. "Bolingbroke is already negotiating with the +royal family. Newcastle is a broken reed. Hervey will not stand out. +Walpole is a dying man. In whom can the Dutchman trust? The nation is +tired of them, their mistresses and their German brood." + +"When we had them we found these same Stuarts a dangerous and troublesome +race. We could not in any manner get along with them. We drove them out, +and then nothing would satisfy us but we must have them back again. Well, +they had their second chance, and we found them worse than before. They +had not learnt the lesson of the age. They----" + +"Split me, y'are not here to lecture us, Mr. Montagu," cried Leath with +angry eye. "Damme, we don't care a rap for your opinions, but you have +heard too much. To be short, the question is, will you join us or won't +you?" + +"To be short then, Mr. Leath, not on compulsion." + +"There's no compulsion about it, Kenn. If you join it is of your own free +will," said Balmerino. + +"I think not. Mr. Montagu has no option in the matter," cried O'Sullivan. +"He forfeited his right to decide for himself when he blundered in and +heard our plans. Willy nilly, he must join us!" + +"And if I don't?" + +His smile was like curdled milk. "Have you made your will, Mr. Montagu?" + +"I made it at the gaming table last night, and the Chevalier O'Sullivan +was one of the legatees," I answered like a flash. + +"Touché, Sully," laughed Creagh. "Ecod, I like our young cockerel's +spirit." + +"And I don't," returned O'Sullivan. "He shall join us, or damme----" He +stopped, but his meaning was plain to be read. + +I answered dourly. "You may blow the coals, but I will not be het." + +"Faith, you're full of epigrams to-night, Mr. Montagu," Anthony Creagh was +good enough to say. "You'll make a fine stage exit--granting that Sully +has his way. I wouldn't miss it for a good deal." + +"If the house is crowded you may have my seat for nothing," was my reply. +Strange to say my spirits were rising. This was the first perilous +adventure of my life, and my heart sang. Besides, I had confidence enough +in Balmerino to know that he would never stand aside and let me suffer for +his indiscretion if he could help it. + +The old Lord's troubled eyes looked into mine. I think he was beginning to +regret this impulsive experiment of his. He tried a new tack with me. + +"Of course there is a risk. We may not win. Perhaps you do well to think +of the consequences. As you say, heads may fall because of the rising." + +The dye flooded my cheeks. + +"You might have spared me that, my Lord. I am thinking of the blood of +innocent people that must be spilled." + +"Your joining us will neither help nor hinder that." + +"And your not joining us will have deucedly unpleasant effects for you," +suggested O'Sullivan pleasantly. + +Lord Balmerino flung round on him angrily, his hand on sword hilt. "I +think you have forgotten one thing, Mr. O'Sullivan." + +"And that is----?" + +"That Mr. Montagu came here as my guest. If he does not care to join us he +shall be free as air to depart." + +O'Sullivan laughed hardily. "Shall he? Gadzooks! The Chevalier O'Sullivan +will have a word to say with him first. He did not come as any guest of +mine. What the devil! If you were not sure of him, why did you bring +him?" + +Balmerino fumed, but he had no answer for that. He could only say,-- + +"I thought him sure to join, but I can answer for his silence with my +life." + +"'T will be more to the point that we do not answer for his speech with +our lives," grumbled Leath. + +The Frenchman leaned forward eagerly. "You thought heem to be at heart of +us, and you were meestaken; you theenk heem sure to keep our secret, but +how are we to know you are not again meestaken?" + +"Sure, that's easy," broke out O'Sullivan scornfully. "We'll know when the +rope is round our gullets." + +"Oh, he won't peach, Sully. He isn't that kind. Stap me, you never know a +gentleman when you see one," put in Creagh carelessly. + +The young Highlander Macdonald spoke up. "Gentlemen, I'm all for making an +end to this collieshangie. By your leave, Lord Balmerino, Mr. Creagh and +myself will step up-stairs with this gentleman and come to some +composition on the matter. Mr. Montagu saved my life last night, but I +give you the word of Donald Roy Macdonald that if I am not satisfied in +the end I will plant six inches of steel in his wame for him to digest, +and there's gumption for you at all events." + +He said it as composedly as if he had been proposing a stroll down the Row +with me, and I knew him to be just the man who would keep his word. The +others knew it too, and presently we four found ourselves alone together +in a room above. + +"Is your mind so set against joining us, Kenn? I have got myself into a +pickle, and I wish you would just get me out," Balmerino began. + +"If they had asked me civilly I dare say I should have said 'Yes!' an hour +ago, but I'll not be forced in." + +"Quite right, too. You're a broth of a boy. I wouldn't in your place, +Montagu, and I take off my hat to your spirit," said Creagh. "Now let's +begin again."--He went to the door and threw it open.--"The way is clear +for you to leave if you want to go, but I would be most happy to have you +stay with us. It's men like you we're looking for, and-- Won't you strike +a blow for the King o'er the sea, Montagu?" + +"He is of the line of our ancient monarchs. He and his race have ruled us +a thousand years," urged Balmerino. "They have had their faults +perhaps----" + +"Perhaps," I smiled. + +"Well, and if they have," cried Donald Roy hotly in the impetuous Highland +way. "Is this a time to be remembering them? For my part, I will be +forgetting their past faults and minding only their present distresses." + +"It appears as easy for a Highlander to forget the faults of the Stuarts +as it is for them to forget his services," I told him. + +"Oh, you harp on their faults. Have you none of your own?" cried +Elphinstone impatiently. "I have seen and talked with the young Prince. He +is one to follow to the death. I have never met the marrow of him." + +"I think of the thousands who will lose their lives for him." + +"Well, and that's a driech subject, too, but Donald Roy would a hantle +rather die with claymore in hand and the whiddering steel aboot his head +than be always fearing to pay the piper," said the young Highlander +blithely. + +"Your father was out for the King in the '15," said Balmerino gently. + +Oh, Arthur Elphinstone had the guile for all his rough ways. I was moved +more than I cared to own. Many a time I had sat at my father's knee and +listened to the tale of "the '15." The Highland blood in me raced the +quicker through my veins. All the music of the heather hills and the +wimpling burns wooed me to join my kinsmen in the North. My father's +example, his brother's blood, loyalty to the traditions of my family, my +empty purse, the friendship of Balmerino and Captain Macdonald, all tugged +at my will; but none of them were so potent as the light that shone in the +eyes of a Highland lassie I had never met till one short hour before. I +tossed aside all my scruples and took the leap. + +"Come!" I cried. "Lend yourselves to me on a mission of some danger for +one night and I will pledge myself a partner in your enterprise. I can +promise you that the help I ask of you may be honourably given. A fair +exchange is no robbery. What say you?" + +"Gad's life, I cry agreed. You're cheap at the price, Mr. Montagu. I'm +yours, Rip me, if you want me to help rum-pad a bishop's coach," exclaimed +the Irishman. + +"Mr. Creagh has just taken the words out of my mouth," cried Donald Roy. +"If you're wanting to lift a lassie or to carry the war to a foe I'll be +blithe to stand at your back. You may trust Red Donald for that +whatever." + +"You put your finger on my ambitions, Captain Macdonald. I'm wanting to do +just those two things. You come to scratch so readily that I hope you have +had some practice of your own," I laughed. + +There was wine on the table and I filled the glasses. + +"If no other sword leaves scabbard mine shall," I cried in a flame of +new-born enthusiasm. "Gentlemen, I give you the King over the water." + +"King James! God bless him," echoed Balmerino and Creagh. + +"Deoch slaint an Righ! (The King's Drink). And win or lose, we shall have +a beautiful time of it whatever," cried Donald gaily. + +An hour later Kenneth Montagu, Jacobite, walked home arm in arm with +Anthony Creagh and Donald Roy Macdonald. He was setting forth to them a +tale of an imprisoned maid and a plan for the rescue of that same lady. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OF LOVE AND WAR + + +All day the rain had splashed down with an unusual persistence, but now +there was a rising wind and a dash of clear sky over to the south which +promised fairer weather. I was blithe to see it, for we had our night's +work cut out for us and a driving storm would not add to our comfort. + +From my hat, from the elbows of my riding-coat, and from my boot-heels +constant rivulets ran; but I took pains to keep the pistols under my +doublet dry as toast. At the courtyard of the inn I flung myself from my +horse and strode to the taproom where my companions awaited me. In truth +they were making the best of their circumstances. A hot water jug steamed +in front of the hearth where Creagh lolled in a big armchair. At the table +Captain Macdonald was compounding a brew by the aid of lemons, spices, and +brandy. They looked the picture of content, and I stood streaming in the +doorway a moment to admire the scene. + +"What luck, Montagu?" asked Creagh. + +"They're at 'The Jolly Soldier' all right _en route_ for Epsom," I told +him. "Arrived a half hour before I left. Hamish Gorm is hanging about +there to let us know when they start. Volney has given orders for a fresh +relay of horses, so they are to continue their journey to-night." + +"And the lady?" + +"The child looks like an angel of grief. She is quite out of hope. Faith, +her despair took me by the heart." + +"My certes! I dare swear it," returned Donald Roy dryly. "And did you make +yourself known to her?" + +"No, she went straight to her room. Volney has given it out that the lady +is his wife and is demented. His man Watkins spreads the report broadcast +to forestall any appeal she may make for help. I talked with the valet in +the stables. He had much to say about how dearly his master and his +mistress loved each other, and what a pity 'twas that the lady has lately +fallen out of her mind by reason of illness. 'Twas the one thing that +spoilt the life of Mr. Armitage, who fairly dotes on his sweet lady. Lud, +yes! And one of her worst delusions is that he is not really her husband +and that he wishes to harm her. Oh, they have contrived well their +precious story to avoid outside interference." + +I found more than one cause to doubt the fortunate issue of the enterprise +upon which we were engaged. Volney might take the other road; or he might +postpone his journey on account of the foul weather. Still other +contingencies rose to my mind, but Donald Roy and Creagh made light of +them. + +"Havers! If he is the man you have drawn for me he will never be letting a +smirr of rain interfere with his plans; and as for the other road, it will +be a river in spate by this time," the Highlander reassured me. + +"Sure, I'll give you four to one in ponies the thing does not miscarry," +cried Creagh in his rollicking way. "After the King comes home I'll dance +at your wedding, me boy; and here's to Mrs. Montagu that is to be, +bedad!" + +My wildest dreams had never carried me so far as this yet, and I flushed +to my wig at his words; but the wild Irishman only laughed at my +remonstrance. + +"Faith man, 'tis you or I! 'Twould never do for three jolly blades like us +to steal the lady from her lover and not offer another in exchange. No, +no! Castle Creagh is crying for a mistress, and if you don't spunk up to +the lady Tony Creagh will." + +To his humour of daffing I succumbed, and fell into an extraordinary ease +with the world. Here I sat in a snug little tavern with the two most +taking comrades in the world drinking a hot punch brewed to a nicety, +while outside the devil of a storm roared and screamed. + +As for my companions, they were old campaigners, not to be ruffled by the +slings of envious fortune. Captain Donald Roy was wont to bear with +composure good luck and ill, content to sit him down whistling on the +sodden heath to eat his mouthful of sour brose with the same good humour +he would have displayed at a gathering of his clan gentlemen where the +table groaned with usquebaugh, mountain trout, and Highland venison. +Creagh's philosophy too was all for taking what the gods sent and leaving +uncrossed bridges till the morrow. Was the weather foul? Sure, the sun +would soon shine, and what was a cloak for but to keep out the rain? I +never knew him lose his light gay spirits, and I have seen him at many an +evil pass. + +The clatter of a horse's hoofs in the courtyard put a period to our +festivities. Presently rug-headed Hamish Gorm entered, a splash of mud +from brogues to bonnet. + +"What news, Hamish? Has Volney started?" I cried. + +"She would be leaving directly. Ta Sassenach iss in ta carriage with ta +daughter of Macleod, and he will be a fery goot man to stick a dirk in +whatefer," fumed the gillie. + +I caught him roughly by the shoulder. "There will be no dirk play this +night, Hamish Gorm. Do you hear that? It will be left for your betters to +settle with this man, and if you cannot remember that you will just stay +here." + +He muttered sullenly that he would remember, but it was a great pity if +Hamish Gorm could not avenge the wrongs of the daughter of his chief. + +We rode for some miles along a cross country path where the mud was so +deep that the horses sank to their fetlocks. The wind had driven away the +rain and the night had cleared overhead. There were still scudding clouds +scouring across the face of the moon, but the promise was for a clear +night. We reached the Surrey road and followed it along the heath till we +came to the shadow of three great oaks. Many a Dick Turpin of the road had +lurked under the drooping boughs of these same trees and sallied out to +the hilltop with his ominous cry of "Stand and deliver!" Many a jolly +grazier and fat squire had yielded up his purse at this turn of the road. +For a change we meant to rum-pad a baronet, and I flatter myself we made +as dashing a trio of cullies as any gentlemen of the heath among them +all. + +It might have been a half hour after we had taken our stand that the +rumbling of a coach came to our ears. The horses were splashing through +the mud, plainly making no great speed. Long before we saw the chaise, the +cries of the postilions urging on the horses were to be heard. After an +interminable period the carriage swung round the turn of the road and +began to take the rise. We caught the postilion at disadvantage as he was +flogging the weary animals up the brow of the hill. He looked up and +caught sight of us. + +"Out of the way, fellows," he cried testily. Next instant he slipped to +the ground and disappeared in the darkness, crying "'Ware highwaymen!" In +the shine of the coach lamps he had seen Creagh's mask and pistol. The +valet Watkins, sitting on the box, tried to lash up the leaders, but +Macdonald blocked the way with his horse, what time the Irishman and I +gave our attention to the occupants of the chaise. + +At the first cry of the postilion a bewigged powdered head had been thrust +from the window and immediately withdrawn. Now I dismounted and went +forward to open the door. From the corner of the coach into which Aileen +Macleod had withdrawn a pair of bright eager eyes looked into my face, but +no Volney was to be seen. The open door opposite explained his +disappearance. I raised the mask a moment from my face, and the girl gave +a cry of joy. + +"Did you think I had deserted you?" I asked. + +"Oh, I did not know. I wass thinking that perhaps he had killed you. I +will be thanking God that you are alive," she cried, with a sweet little +lift and tremble to her voice that told me tears were near. + +A shot rang out, and then another. + +"Excuse me for a moment. I had forgot the gentleman," I said, hastily +withdrawing my head. + +As I ran round the back of the coach I came plump into Volney. Though +dressed to make love and not war, I'll do him the justice to say that one +was as welcome to him as the other. He was shining in silver satin and +blue silk and gold lace, but in each hand he carried a great horse pistol, +one of which was still smoking at the barrel. The other he pointed at me, +but with my sword I thrust up the point and it went off harmlessly in the +air. Then I flung him from me and covered him with my barker. Creagh also +was there to emphasize the wisdom of discretion. Sir Robert Volney was as +daring a man as ever lived, but he was no fool neither. He looked at my +weapon shining on him in the moonlight and quietly conceded to himself +that the game was against him for the moment. From his fingers he slipped +the rings, and the watch from his pocket-coat. To carry out our pretension +I took them and filled my pockets with his jewelry. + +"A black night, my cullies," said Volney as easy as you please. + +"The colour of your business," I retorted thoughtlessly. + +He started, looking at me very sharp. + +"Else you would not be travelling on such a night," I explained lamely. + +"Ah! I think we will not discuss my business. As it happens, the lady has +no jewelry with her. If you are quite through with us, my good fellows, +we'll wish you a pleasant evening. Watkins, where's that d--d postilion?" + +"Softly, Sir Robert! The night's young yet. Will you not spare us fifteen +minutes while the horses rest?" proposed Creagh. + +"Oh, if you put it that way," he answered negligently, his agile mind busy +with the problem before him. I think he began to put two and two together. +My words might have been a chance shot, but when on the heel of them +Creagh let slip his name Volney did not need to be told that we were not +regular fly-by-nights. His eyes and his ears were intent to pierce our +disguises. + +"Faith, my bullies, you deserve success if you operate on such nights as +this. An honest living were easier come by, but Lard! not so enticing by a +deal. Your enterprise is worthy of commendation, and I would wager a pony +against a pinch of snuff that some day you'll be raised to a high position +by reason of it. How is it the old catch runs? + + "'And three merry men, and three merry men, + And three merry men are we, + As ever did sing three parts in a string, + All under the gallows tree.' + +"If I have to get up in the milkman hours, begad, when that day comes I'll +make it a point to be at Tyburn to see your promotion over the heads of +humdrum honest folks," he drawled, and at the tail of his speech yawned in +our faces. + +"We'll send you cards to the entertainment when that happy day arrives," +laughed Creagh, delighted of course at the aplomb of the Macaroni. + +Donald Roy came up to ask what should be done with Watkins. It appeared +that Volney had mistaken him for one of us and let fly at him. The fellow +lay groaning on the ground as if he were on the edge of expiration. I +stooped and examined him. 'Twas a mere flesh scratch. + +"Nothing the matter but a punctured wing. All he needs is a kerchief round +his arm," I said. + +Captain Macdonald looked disgusted and a little relieved. + +"'Fore God, he deaved (deafened) me with his yammering till I thought him +about to ship for the other world. These Englishers make a geyan work +about nothing." + +For the moment remembrance of Volney had slipped from our minds. As I rose +to my feet he stepped forward. Out flashed his sword and ripped the mask +from my face. + +"Egad, I thought so," he chuckled. "My young friend Montagu repairing his +fallen fortunes on the road! Won't you introduce me to the other +gentlemen, or would they rather remain incog? Captain Claude Duval, your +most obedient! Sir Dick Turpin, yours to command! Delighted, 'pon my word, +to be rum-padded by such distinguished--er--knights of the road." + +"The honour is ours," answered Creagh gravely, returning his bow, but the +Irishman's devil-may-care eyes were dancing. + +"A strange fortuity, in faith, that our paths have crossed so often of +late, Montagu. Now I would lay something good that our life lines will not +cross more than once more." + +"Why should we meet at all again?" I cried. "Here is a piece of good turf +under the moonlight. 'Twere a pity to lose it." + +He appeared to consider. "As you say, the turf is all that is to be +desired and the light will suffice. Why not? We get in each other's way +confoundedly, and out of doubt will some day have to settle our little +difference. Well then, if 'twere done 'twere well done quickly. Faith, Mr. +Montagu, y'are a man after my own heart, and it gives me a vast deal of +pleasure to accept your proposal. Consider me your most obedient to +command and prodigiously at your service." + +Raffish and flamboyant, he lounged forward to the window of the carriage. + +"I beg a thousand pardons, sweet, for leaving you a few minutes alone," he +said with his most silken irony. "I am desolated at the necessity, but +this gentleman has a claim that cannot be ignored. Believe me, I shall +make the absence very short. Dear my life, every instant that I am from +you is snatched from Paradise. Fain would I be with you alway, but stern +duty"--the villain stopped to draw a plaintive and theatric sigh--"calls +me to attend once for all to a matter of small moment. Anon I shall be +with you, life of my life." + +She looked at him as if he were the dirt beneath her feet, and still he +smiled his winsome smile, carrying on the mock pretense that she was +devoted to him. + +"Ah, sweet my heart!" he murmured. "'Twere cheap to die for such a loving +look from thee. All Heaven lies in it. 'Tis better far to live for many +more of such." + +There was a rush of feet and a flash of steel. Donald Roy leaped forward +just in time, and next moment Hamish Gorm lay stretched on the turf, +muttering Gaelic oaths and tearing at the sod with his dirk in an impotent +rage. Sir Robert looked down at the prostrate man with his inscrutable +smile. + +"Your friend from the Highlands is in a vast hurry, Montagu. He can't even +wait till you have had your chance to carve me. Well, are you ready to +begin the argument?" + +"Quite at your command. There is a bit of firm turf beyond the oaks. If +you will lead the way I shall be with you anon." + +"Lud! I had forgot. You have your adieux to make to the lady. Pray do not +let me hurry you," he said urbanely, as he picked his way daintily through +the mud. + +When he had gone I turned to the girl. + +"You shall be quit of him," I told her. "You may rely on my friends if--if +the worst happens. They will take you to Montagu Grange, and my brother +Charles will push on with you to Scotland. In this country you would not +be safe from him while he lives." + +Her face was like the snow. + +"Iss there no other way whatever?" she cried. "Must you be fighting with +this man for me, and you only a boy? Oh, I could be wishing for my brother +Malcolm or some of the good claymores on the braes of Raasay!" + +The vanity in me was stung by her words. + +"I'm not such a boy neither, and Angelo judged me a good pupil. You might +find a worse champion." + +"Oh, it iss the good friend you are to me, and I am loving you for it, but +I think of what may happen to you." + +My pulse leaped and my eyes burned, but I answered lightly, + +"For a change think of what may happen to him, and maybe to pass the time +you might put up a bit prayer for me." + +"Believe me, I will be doing that same," she cried with shining eyes, and +before I divined her intent had stooped to kiss my hand that rested on the +coach door. + +My heart lilted as I crossed the heath to where the others were waiting +for me beyond the dip of the hillock. + +"Faith, I began to think you had forgotten me and gone off with the lady +yourself," laughed Volney. + +I flung off my cloak and my inner coat, for though the night was chill I +knew I should be warm enough when once we got to work. Then, strangely +enough, an unaccountable reluctance to engage came over me, and I stood +tracing figures on the heath with the point of my small sword. + +"Are you ready?" asked the baronet. + +I broke out impetuously. "Sir Robert, you have ruined many. Your victims +are to be counted by the score. I myself am one. But this girl shall not +be added to the list. I have sworn it; so have my friends. There is still +time for you to leave unhurt if you desire it, but if we once cross swords +one of us must die." + +"And, prithee, Mr. Montagu, why came we here?" + +"Yet even now if you will desist----" + +His caustic insolent laugh rang out gaily as he mouthed the speech of +Tybalt in actor fashion. + + "'What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, + As I hate hell, all Montagus, and thee; + Have at thee, coward.'" + +I drew back from his playful lunge. + +"Very well. Have it your own way. But you must have some one to act for +you. Perhaps Captain Mac--er--the gentleman on your right--will second +you." + +Donald Roy drew himself up haughtily. "Feint a bit of it! I'm on the other +side of the dyke. Man, Montagu! I'm wondering at you, and him wronging a +Hieland lassie. Gin he waits till I stand back of him he'll go wantin', ye +may lippen (trust) to that." + +"Then it'll have to be you, Tony," I said, turning to Creagh. "Guard, Sir +Robert!" + +"'Sdeath! You're getting in a hurry, Mr. Montagu. I see you're keen after +that 'Hic Jacet' I promised you. Lard! I vow you shall have it." + +Under the shifting moonlight we fell to work on the dripping heath. We +were not unevenly matched considering the time and the circumstances. I +had in my favour youth, an active life, and a wrist of steel. At least I +was a strong swordsman, even though I could not pretend to anything like +the mastery of the weapon which he possessed. To some extent his superior +skill was neutralized by the dim light. He had been used to win his fights +as much with his head as with his hand, to read his opponent's intention +in advance from the eyes while he concealed his own; but the darkness, +combined with my wooden face, made this impossible now. Every turn and +trick of the game he knew, but the shifting shine and shadow disconcerted +him. More than once I heard him curse softly when at a critical moment the +scudding clouds drifted across the moon in time to save me. + +He had the better of me throughout, but somehow I blundered through +without letting him find the chance for which he looked. I kept my head, +and parried by sheer luck his brilliant lunges. I broke ground and won +free--if but barely--from his incessant attack. More than once he pricked +me. A high thrust which I diverted too late with the parade of tierce drew +blood freely. He fleshed me again on the riposte by a one-two feint in +tierce and a thrust in carte. + +"'L'art de donner et de ne pas recevoir,'" he quoted, as he parried my +counter-thrust with debonair ease. + +Try as I would I could not get behind that wonderful guard of his. It was +easy, graceful, careless almost, but it was sure. His point was a gleaming +flash of light, but it never wavered from my body line. + +A darker cloud obscured the moon, and by common consent we rested. + +"Three minutes for good-byes," said Volney, suggestively. + +"Oh, my friends need not order the hearse yet--at least for me. Of course, +if it would be any convenience----" + +He laughed. "Faith, you improve on acquaintance, Mr. Montagu, like good +wine or--to stick to the same colour--the taste of the lady's lips." + +I looked blackly at him. "Do you pretend----?" + +"Oh, I pretend nothing. Kiss and never tell, egad! Too bad they're not for +you too, Montagu." + +"I see that Sir Robert Volney has added another accomplishment to his +vices." + +"And that is----?" + +"He can couple a woman's name with the hint of a slanderous lie." + +Sir Robert turned to Creagh and waved a hand at me, shaking his head +sorrowfully. "The country boor in evidence again. Curious how it will crop +out. Ah, Mr. Montagu! The moon shines bright again. Shall we have the +pleasure of renewing our little debate?" + +I nodded curtly. He stopped a moment to say: + +"You have a strong wrist and a prodigious good fence, Mr. Montagu, but if +you will pardon a word of criticism I think your guard too high." + +"Y'are not here to instruct me, Sir Robert, but----" + +"To kill you. Quite so!" he interrupted jauntily. "Still, a friendly word +of caution--and the guard _is_ overhigh! 'Tis the same fault my third had. +I ran under it, and----" He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Was that the boy you killed for defending his sister?" I asked +insolently. + +Apparently my hit did not pierce the skin. "No. I've forgot the nomination +of the gentleman. What matter? He has long been food for worms. Pardon me, +I see blood trickling down your sword arm. Allow me to offer my +kerchief." + +"Thanks! 'Twill do as it is. Art ready?" + +"Lard, yes! And guard lower, an you love me. The high guard is the one +fault-- Well parried, Montagu!--I find in Angelo's pupils. Correcting +that, you would have made a rare swordsman in time." + +His use of the subjunctive did not escape me. "I'm not dead yet," I +panted. + +I parried a feint une-deux, in carte, with the parade in semicircle, and +he came over my blade, thrusting low in carte. His laugh rang out clear as +a boy's, and the great eyes of the man blazed with the joy of fight. + +"Gad, you're quick to take my meaning! Ah! You nearly began the long +journey that time, my friend." + +He had broken ground apparently in disorder, and by the feel of his sword +I made sure he had in mind to parry; but the man was as full of tricks as +the French King Louis and with incredible swiftness he sent a straight +thrust in high tierce--a thrust which sharply stung my ribs only, since I +had flung myself aside in time to save my vitals. + +After that came the end. He caught me full and fair in the side of the +neck. A moist stifling filled my throat and the turf whirled up to meet +the sky. I knew nothing but a mad surge of rage that he had cut me to +pieces and I had never touched him once. As I went down I flung myself +forward at him wildly. It is to be supposed that he was off guard for the +moment, supposing me a man already dead. My blade slipped along his, +lurched farther forward, at last struck something soft and ripped down. A +hundred crimson points zigzagged before my eyes, and I dropped down into +unconsciousness in a heap. + + + + +V + +THE HUE AND CRY + + +Languidly I came back to a world that faded and grew clear again most +puzzlingly, that danced and jerked to and fro in oddly irresponsible +fashion. At first too deadly weary to explain the situation to myself, I +presently made out that I was in a coach which lurched prodigiously and +filled me with sharp pains. Fronting me was the apparently lifeless body +of a man propped in the corner with the head against the cushions, the +white face grinning horridly at me. 'Twas the face of Volney. I stirred to +get it out of my line of vision, and a soft, firm hand restrained me +gently. + +"You are not to be stirring," a sweet voice said. Then to herself its +owner added, ever so softly and so happily, "Thaing do Dhia (Thank God.) +He iss alive--he iss alive!" + +I pointed feebly a leaden finger at the white face over against me with +the shine of the moon on it. + +"Dead?" + +"No. He hass just fainted. You are not to talk!" + +"And Donald Roy----?" + +The imperious little hand slipped down to cover my mouth, and Kenneth +Montagu kissed it where it lay. For a minute she did not lift the hand, +what time I lay in a dream of warm happiness. A chuckle from the opposite +seat aroused me. The eyes in the colourless face had opened, and Volney +sat looking at us with an ironic smile. + +"I must have fallen asleep--and before a lady. A thousand apologies! And +for awaking so inopportunely, ten thousand more!" + +He changed his position that he might look the easier at her, a +half-humorous admiration in his eyes. "Sweet, you beggar my vocabulary. As +the goddess of healing you are divine." + +The flush of alarmed maiden modesty flooded her cheek. + +"You are to lie still, else the wound will break out again," she said +sharply. + +"Faith, it has broken out," he feebly laughed, pretending to +misunderstand. Then, "Oh, you mean the sword cut. 'Twould never open after +it has been dressed by so fair a leech." + +The girl looked studiously out of the coach window and made no answer. +Now, weak as I was--in pain and near to death, my head on her lap with her +dear hand to cool my fevered brow--yet was I fool enough to grow insanely +jealous that she had used her kerchief to bind his wound. His pale, +handsome face was so winning and his eyes so beautiful that they thrust me +through the heart as his sword had been unable to do. + +He looked at me with an odd sort of friendliness, the respect one man has +for another who has faced death without flinching. + +"Egad, Montagu, had either of us driven but a finger's breadth to left we +had made sure work and saved the doctors a vast deal of pother. I doubt +'twill be all to do over again one day. Where did you learn that mad lunge +of yours? I vow 'tis none of Angelo's teaching. No defense would avail +against such a fortuitous stroke. Methought I had you speeding to kingdom +come, and Lard! you skewered me bravely. 'Slife, 'tis an uncertain world, +this! Here we ride back together to the inn and no man can say which of us +has more than he can carry." + +All this with his easy dare-devil smile, though his voice was faint from +weakness. An odd compound of virtues and vices this man! I learnt +afterwards that he had insisted on my wounds being dressed before he would +let them touch him, though he was bleeding greatly. + +But I had no mind for badinage, and I turned my face from him sullenly. +Silence fell till we jolted into the courtyard of "The Jolly Soldier," +where Creagh, Macdonald, and Hamish Gorm, having dismounted from their +horses, waited to carry us into the house. We were got to bed at once, and +our wounds looked to more carefully. By an odd chance Volney and I were +put in the same room, the inn being full, and the Macdonald nursed us +both, Creagh being for the most part absent in London on business +connected with the rising. + +Lying there day after day, the baronet and I came in time to an odd liking +for each other, discussing our affairs frankly with certain reservations. +Once he commented on the strangeness of it. + +"A singular creature is man, Montagu! Here are we two as friendly as--as +brothers I had almost said, but most brothers hate each other with good +cause. At all events here we lie with nothing but good-will; we are too +weak to get at each other's throats and so perforce must endure each the +other's presence, and from mere sufferance come to a mutual--shall I say +esteem? A while since we were for slaying; naught but cold steel would let +out our heat; and now--I swear I have for you a vast liking. Will it last, +think you?" + +"Till we are on our feet again. No longer," I answered. + +"I suppose you are right," he replied, with the first touch of despondency +I had ever heard in his voice. "The devil of it is that when I want a +thing I never rest till I get it, and after I have won it I don't care any +more for it." + +"I'm an obstinate man myself," I said. + +"Yes, I know. And when I say I'll do a thing and you say I sha'n't nothing +on earth can keep us from the small sword." + +"Did you never spare a victim--never draw back before the evil was done?" +I asked curiously. + +"Many a time, but never when the incentive to the chase was so great as +now. 'Tis the overcoming of obstacles I cannot resist. In this case--to +pass by the acknowledged charms of the lady--I find two powerful reasons +for continuing: her proud coyness and your defense of her. Be sure I shall +not fail." + +"I think you will," I answered quietly. + +Out of doubt the man had a subtle fascination for me, even though I hated +his principles in the same breath. When he turned the batteries of his +fine winning eyes and sparkling smile on me I was under impulse to +capitulate unconditionally; 'twas at remembrance of Aileen that my jaws +set like a vice again. + +But as the days passed I observed a gradual change in Volney's attitude +toward the Highland lass. Macdonald had found a temporary home for her at +the house of a kind-hearted widow woman who lived in the neighbourhood, +and so long as we were in danger the girl and her grey-haired friend came +often to offer their services in nursing. Aileen treated the baronet with +such shy gentle womanliness, her girlish pity struggling through the +Highland pride, forgetting in the suffering man the dastard who had +wronged her, that he was moved not a little from his cynical ironic +gayety. She was in a peculiar relation toward us, one lacking the sanction +of society and yet quite natural. I had fought for her, and her warm heart +forbade her to go her way and leave me to live or die as chance might +will. As she would move about the room ministering to our wants, wrapped +in her sweet purity and grace, more than once I caught on his face a pain +of wistfulness that told me of another man beneath the polished heartless +Macaroni. For the moment I knew he repented him of his attempted wrong, +though I could not know that a day of manly reparation would come to blot +out his sin against her. + +As we grew better Aileen's visits became shorter and less frequent, so +that our only temptation to linger over our illness was removed. One day +Sir Robert limped slowly across the floor on the arm of Creagh while I +watched him enviously. From that time his improvement was rapid and within +a week he came to make his adieux to me. Dressed point-devise, he was once +more every inch a fop. + +"I sha'n't say good-bye, Montagu, to either you or the lady, because I +expect to see you both again soon. I have a shot in my locker that will +bring you to mighty short one of these days. Tony Creagh is going to +London with me in my coach. Sorry you and the lady won't take the other +two seats. Well, au revoir. Hope you'll be quite fit when you come up for +the next round." And waving a hand airily at me he went limping down the +stairs, devoid of grace yet every motion eloquent of it, to me a living +paradox. + +Nor was it long before I too was able to crawl out into the sunshine with +Aileen Macleod and Captain Macdonald as my crutches. Not far from the inn +was a grove of trees, and in it a rustic seat or two. Hither we three +repaired for many a quiet hour of talk. Long ago Donald had established +his relationship with Aileen. It appeared that he was a cousin about eight +degrees removed. None but a Highlander would have counted it at all, but +for them it sufficed. Donald Roy had an extraordinary taking way with +women, and he got on with the girl much more easily than I did. Indeed, to +hear them daffing with each other one would have said they had been +brought up together instead of being acquaintances of less than three +weeks standing. + +Yet Donald was so clever with it all that I was never the least jealous of +him. He was forever taking pains to show me off well before her, making as +much of my small attainments as a hen with one chick. Like many of the +West country Highlanders he was something of a scholar. French he could +speak like a native, and he had dabbled in the humanities; but he would +drag forth my smattering of learning with so much glee that one might have +thought him ignorant of the plainest A B C of the matter. More than once I +have known him blunder in a Latin quotation that I might correct him. +Aileen and he had a hundred topics in common from which I was excluded by +reason of my ignorance of the Highlands, but the Macdonald was as sly as a +fox on my behalf. He would draw out the girl about the dear Northland they +both loved and then would suddenly remember that his pistols needed +cleaning or that, he had promised to "crack" with some chance gentleman +stopping at the inn, and away he would go, leaving us two alone. While I +lay on the grass and looked at her Aileen would tell me in her eager, +impulsive way about her own kindly country, of tinkling, murmuring burns, +of hills burnt red with the heather, of a hundred wild flowers that +blossomed on the braes of Raasay, and as she talked of them her blue eyes +sparkled like the sun-kissed lochs themselves. + +Ah! Those were the good days, when the wine of life was creeping back into +my blood and I was falling forty fathoms deep in love. Despite myself she +was for making a hero of me, and my leal-hearted friend, Macdonald, was +not a whit behind, though the droll look in his eyes suggested sometimes +an ulterior motive. We talked of many things, but in the end we always got +back to the one subject that burned like a flame in their hearts--the +rising of the clans that was to bring back the Stuarts to their own. Their +pure zeal shamed my cold English caution. I found myself growing keen for +the arbitrament of battle. + +No earthly Paradise endures forever. Into those days of peace the serpent +of my Eden projected his sting. We were all sitting in the grove one +morning when a rider dashed up to the inn and flung himself from his +horse. 'Twas Tony Creagh, and he carried with him a placard which offered +a reward of a hundred guineas for the arrest of one Kenneth Montagu, +Esquire, who had, with other parties unknown, on the night of July first, +robbed Sir Robert Volney of certain jewelry therein described. + +"Highwayman it says," quoth I in frowning perplexity. "But Volney knows I +had no mind to rob him. Zounds! What does he mean?" + +"Mean? Why, to get rid of you! I tore this down from a tavern wall in +London just after 'twas pasted. It seems you forgot to return the +gentleman his jewelry." + +I turned mighty red and pleaded guilty. + +"I thought so. Gad! You're like to keep sheep by moonlight," chuckled +Creagh. + +"Nonsense! They would never hang me," I cried. + +"Wouldn't, eh! Deed, and I'm not so sure. The hue and cry is out for +you." + +"Havers, man!" interrupted Macdonald sharply. "You're frightening the lady +with your fairy tales, Creagh. Don't you be believing him, my dear. The +hemp is not grown that will hang Kenneth." + +But for all his cheery manner we were mightily taken aback, especially +when another rider came in a few minutes later with a letter to me from +town. It ran:-- + + Dear Montagu, + + "Once more unto the breach, dear friends." Our pleasant little game is + renewed. The first trick was, I believe, mine; the second yours. The + third I trump by lodging an information against you for highway robbery. + Tony I shall not implicate, of course, nor Mac-What's-His-Name. Take + wings, my Fly-by-night, for the runners are on your heels, and if you + don't, as I live, you'll wear hemp. Give my devoted love to the lady. I + am, + + Your most obed^t serv^t to command, + Rob^t Volney. + +In imagination I could see him seated at his table, pushing aside a score +of dainty notes from Phyllis indiscreet or passionate Diana, that he might +dash off his warning to me, a whimsical smile half-blown on his face, a +gleam of sardonic humour in his eyes. Remorseless he was by choice, but he +would play the game with an English sportsman's love of fair play. +Eliminating his unscrupulous morals and his acquired insolence of manner, +Sir Robert Volney would have been one to esteem; by impulse he was one of +the finest gentlemen I have known. + +Though Creagh had come to warn me of Volney's latest move, he was also the +bearer of a budget of news which gravely affected the State at large and +the cause on which we were embarked. The French fleet of transports, +delayed again and again by trivial causes, had at length received orders +to postpone indefinitely the invasion of England. Yet in spite of this +fatal blow to the cause it was almost certain that Prince Charles Edward +Stuart with only seven companions, of whom one was the ubiquitous +O'Sullivan, had slipped from Belleisle on the Doutelle and escaping the +British fleet had landed on the coast of Scotland. The emotions which +animated us on hearing of the gallant young Prince's daring and romantic +attempt to win a Kingdom with seven swords, trusting sublimely in the +loyalty of his devoted Highlanders, may better be imagined than described. +Donald Roy flung up his bonnet in a wild hurrah, Aileen beamed pride and +happiness, and Creagh's volatile Irish heart was in the hilltops. If I had +any doubts of the issue I knew better than to express them. + +But we were shortly recalled to our more immediate affairs. Before we got +back to the inn one of those cursed placards offering a reward for my +arrest adorned the wall, and in front of it a dozen open-mouthed yokels +were spelling out its purport. Clearly there was no time to be lost in +taking Volney's advice. We hired a chaise and set out for London within +the hour. 'Twas arranged that Captain Macdonald and Hamish Gorm should +push on at once to Montagu Grange with Aileen, while I should lie in +hiding at the lodgings of Creagh until my wounds permitted of my +travelling without danger. That Volney would not rest without attempting +to discover the whereabouts of Miss Macleod I was well assured, and no +place of greater safety for the present occurred to me than the seclusion +of the Grange with my brother Charles and the family servants to watch +over her. As for myself, I was not afraid of their hanging me, but I was +not minded to play into the hands of Volney by letting myself get cooped +up in prison for many weeks pending a trial while he renewed his cavalier +wooing of the maid. + +Never have I spent a more doleful time than that which followed. For one +thing my wounds healed badly, causing me a good deal of trouble. Then too +I was a prisoner no less than if I had been in The Tower itself. If +occasionally at night I ventured forth the fear of discovery was always +with me. Tony Creagh was the best companion in the world, at once tender +as a mother and gay as a schoolboy, but he could not be at home all day +and night, and as he was agog to be joining the Prince in the North he +might leave any day. Meanwhile he brought me the news of the town from the +coffee-houses: how Sir Robert Walpole was dead; how the Camerons under +Lochiel, the Macdonalds under Young Clanranald, and the Macphersons under +Cluny had rallied to the side of the Prince and were expected soon to be +defeated by Sir John Cope, the Commander-in-Chief of the Government army +in Scotland; how Balmerino and Leath had already shipped for Edinburgh to +join the insurgent army; how Beauclerc had bet Lord March a hundred +guineas that the stockings worn by Lady Di Faulkner at the last Assembly +ball were not mates, and had won. It appeared that unconsciously I had +been a source of entertainment to the club loungers. + +"Sure 'tis pity you're mewed up here, Kenn, for you're the lion of the +hour. None can roar like you. The betting books at White's are filled with +wagers about you," Creagh told me. + +"About me?" I exclaimed. + +"Faith, who else? 'Lord Pam bets Mr. Conway three ponies against a hundred +pounds that Mr. Kenneth Montagu of Montagu Grange falls by the hand of +justice before three months from date,'" he quoted with a great deal of +gusto. "Does your neck ache, Kenn?" + +"Oh, the odds are in my favour yet. What else?" I asked calmly. + +"'Mr. James Haddon gives ten pounds each to his Royal Highness the Prince +of Wales and to Sir Robert Volney and is to receive from each twenty +guineas if Mr. K. Montagu is alive twelve months from date.' Egad, you're +a topic of interest in high quarters!" + +"Honoured, I'm sure! I'll make it a point to see that his Royal Highness +and my dear friend Volney lose. Anything else?" + +"At the coffee-house they were talking about raising a subscription to you +because they hear you're devilish hard up and because you made such a +plucky fight against Volney. Some one mentioned that you had a temper and +were proud as Lucifer. 'He's such a hothead. How'll he take it?' asks +Beauclerc. 'Why, quarterly, to be sure!' cries Selwyn. And that reminds +me: George has written an epigram that is going the rounds. Out of some +queer whim--to keep them warm I suppose--Madame Bellevue took her slippers +to bed with her. Some one told it at the club, so Selwyn sat down and +wrote these verses: + + "'Well may Suspicion shake its head-- + Well may Clorinda's spouse be jealous, + When the dear wanton takes to bed + Her very shoes--because they're fellows.'" + +Creagh's merry laugh was a source of healing in itself, and his departure +to join the Prince put an edge to the zest of my desire to get back into +the world. Just before leaving he fished a letter from his pocket and +tossed it across the room to me. + +"Egad, and you are the lucky man, Kenn," he said. "The ladies pester us +with praises of your valour. This morning one of the fair creatures gave +me this to deliver, swearing I knew your whereabouts." + +'Twas a gay little note from my former playmate Antoinette Westerleigh, +and inclosed was a letter to her from my sister. How eagerly I devoured +Cloe's letter for news of Aileen may be guessed. + + MY DEAREST 'TOINETTE:-- + + Since last I saw you (so the letter ran) seems a century, and of + course I am dying to come to town. No doubt the country is very + healthy, but Lud! 'tis monstrous dull after a London season. I vow I + am already a lifetime behind the fashions. Is't true that prodigious + bustles are the rage? And while I think of it I wish you would call at + Madame Ronald's and get the lylack lute-string scirt she is making for + me. + + Also at Duprez's for the butifull little hat I ordered. Please have + them sent by carrier. I know I am a vast nuisance; 'tis the penalty, + my dear, for having a country mawkin as your best friend. + + Of course you know what that grate brother of mine has been at. Gaming + I hear, playing ducks and drakes with his money, and fighting duels + with your lover. For a time we were dreadfully anxious about him. What + do you think he has sent me down to take care of for him? But you + would never guess. My love, a Scotch girl, shy as one of her own + mountain deer. I suppose when he is recovert of his wounds he will be + down here to philander with her. Aileen Macleod is her name, and + really I do not blame him. I like her purely myself. In a way quite + new she is very taking; speaks the prettiest broken English, is very + simple, sweet, and grateful. At a word the pink and white comes and + goes in her cheeks as it never does in ours. I wish I could acquire + her manner, but Alack! 'tis not to be learnt though I took lessons + forever. The gracefull creature dances the Scottish flings divinely. + She is not exactly butifull, but--well, I can see why the men think so + and fall down in worship! By the way, she is very nearly in love--tho + she does not know it--with that blundering brother of mine; says that + "her heart iss always thanking him at all events." If he knew how to + play his cards--but there, the oaf will put his grate foot in it. + + She came here with a shag-headed gillie of a servant, under the + protection of a Captain Macdonald who is a very fine figure of a man. + He was going to stay only an hour or two, but _Charles_ persuaded him + to stop three days. Charles teases me about him, swears the Captain is + already my slave, but you may depend on't there is nothing in it. Last + night we diverted ourselves with playing Hide the Thimble, and the + others lost the Scotch Captain and me in the + + armory. He is a peck of fun. This morning he left for the North, and + do you think the grate Mr. Impudence did not buss us both; Aileen + because she is his cousin a hundred times removed and me because (what + a reason!) "my eyes dared him." Of course I was in a vast rage, which + seemed to hily delight Captain Impudence. I don't see how he dared + take so grate a preaviledge. Do you? + + Aileen is almost drest, and I must go smart myself. My dear, an you + love me, write to + + Your own CLOE. + + P. S.--Lard, I clear forgot! 'Tis a secret that the Scotch enchantress + is here. You must be sure not to mention it, my dear, to your Sir + Robert, But la! I have the utmost confidence in your discretion. + +Conceive my dismay! Discretion and Antoinette Westerleigh were as far +apart as the poles. What more likely than that the dashing little minx +would undertake to rally her lover about Aileen, and that the adroit +baronet would worm out of her the information he desired? The letter +crystallized my desire to set out at once for Montagu Grange, and from +there to take the road with Miss Macleod hotspur for Scotland. It appeared +to me that the sooner we were out of England the better it would be for +both of us. + +I made the journey to the Grange by easy stages, following so far as I +could little used roads and lanes on account of a modest desire to avoid +publicity. 'Twas early morning when I reached the Grange. I remember the +birds were twittering a chorus as I rode under the great oaks to the +house. Early as it was, Cloe and Aileen were already walking in the garden +with their arms entwined about each other's waists in girl fashion. They +made a picture taking enough to have satisfied a jaded connoisseur of +beauty: the fair tall Highland lass, jimp as a willow wand, with the +long-lashed blue eyes that looked out so shyly and yet so frankly on those +she liked, and the merry brown-eyed English girl so ready of saucy tongue, +so worldly wise and yet so innocent of heart. + +Cloe came running to meet me in a flutter of excitement and Mistress +Aileen followed more demurely down the path, though there was a Highland +welcome in her frank face not to be denied. I slid from the horse and +kissed Cloe. Miss Macleod gave me her hand. + +"We are hoping you are quite well from your wounds," she said. + +"Quite," I answered. "Better much for hearing your kind voices and seeing +your bright faces." + +I dare say I looked over-long into one of the bright faces, and for a +punishment was snatched into confusion by my malapert sister. + +"I didn't know you had heard my kind voice yet," mimicked Miss Madcap. +"And are you thinking of holding Aileen's hand all day?" + +My hand plumped to my side like a shot. Both of us flamed, I stammering +apologies the while Cloe no doubt enjoyed hugely my embarrassment. 'Tis a +sister's prerogative to teach her older brothers humility, and Cloe for +one did not let it fall into neglect. + +"To be sure I do not know the Highland custom in the matter," she was +continuing complacently when Aileen hoist her with her own petard. + +"I wass thinking that perhaps Captain Macdonald had taught you in the +armory," she said quietly; and Cloe, to be in the fashion, ran up the red +flag too. + +It appeared that my plan for an immediate departure from England jumped +with the inclination of Miss Macleod. She had received a letter from her +brother, now in Scotland, whose plans in regard to her had been upset by +the unexpected arrival of the Prince. He was extremely solicitous on her +behalf, but could only suggest for her an acceptance of a long-standing +invitation to visit Lady Strathmuir, a distant relative living in Surrey, +until times grew more settled. To Aileen the thought of throwing herself +upon the hospitality of one she had never met was extremely distasteful, +and she hailed my proposal as an alternative much to be desired. + +The disagreeable duty of laying before my lawyer the involved condition of +my affairs had to be endured, and I sent for him at once to get it over +with the sooner. He pulled a prodigious long face at my statement of the +gaming debts I had managed to contract during my three months' experiment +as the prodigal son in London, but though he was extraordinarily severe +with me I made out in the end that affairs were not so bad as I had +thought. The estate would have to be plastered with a mortgage, but some +years of stiff economy and retrenchment, together with a ruthless pruning +of the fine timber, would suffice to put me on my feet again. The +expenditures of the household would have to be cut down, but Mr. Brief +thought that a modest establishment befitting my rank might still be +maintained. If I thought of marrying---- + +A ripple of laughter from the lawn, where Aileen and Charles were +arranging fishing tackle, was wafted through the open window and cut +athwart the dry speech of the lawyer. My eyes found her and lingered on +the soft curves, the rose-leaf colouring, the eager face framed in a +sunlit aureola of radiant hair. Already my mind had a trick of imagining +her the mistress of the Grange. Did she sit for a moment in the seat that +had been my mother's my heart sang; did she pluck a posy or pour a cup of +tea 'twas the same. "If I thought of marrying----" Well, 'twas a thing to +be considered one day--when I came back from the wars. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE MATTER OF A KISS + + +It may be guessed that the music of the gray morn when we started found a +ready echo in my heart. The whistle of a plover cut the breaking day, the +meadow larks piped clear above us in chorus with the trilling of the +thrush, the wimpling burn tinkled its song, and the joy that took me +fairly by the throat was in tune with all of them. For what does a lover +ask but to be one and twenty, to be astride a willing horse, and to be +beside the one woman in the world for him? Sure 'tis heaven enough to +watch the colour come and go in her face, to hear the lilt of her voice, +and to see the changing light in her eye. What though at times we were shy +as the wild rabbit, we were none the less happy for that. In our hearts +there bubbled a childlike gaiety; we skipped upon the sunlit hilltops of +life. + +And here was the one drop of poison in the honey of my cup: that I was +wearing an abominable misfit of a drab-coloured suit of homespun more +adapted to some village tradesman than to a young cavalier of fashion, for +on account of the hue and cry against me I had pocketed my pride and was +travelling under an incognito. Nor did it comfort me one whit that Aileen +also was furbished up in sombre gray to represent my sister, for she +looked so taking in it that I vow 'twas more becoming than her finery. Yet +I made the best of it, and many a good laugh we got from rehearsing our +parts. + +I can make no hand at remembering what we had to say to each other, nor +does it matter; in cold type 'twould lose much of its charm. The merry +prattle of her pretty broken English was set to music for me, and the very +silences were eloquent of thrill. Early I discovered that I had not +appreciated fully her mental powers, on account of a habit she had of +falling into a shy silence when several were present. She had a nimble +wit, an alert fancy, and a zest for life as earnest as it was refreshing. +A score of times that day she was out of the shabby chaise to pick the +wild flowers or to chat with the children by the wayside. The memory of +her warm friendliness to me stands out the more clear contrasted with the +frigid days that followed. + +It may be thought by some that our course in travelling together bordered +on the edge of the proprieties, but it must be remembered that the +situation was a difficult one for us both. Besides which my sister Cloe +was always inclined to be independent, of a romantical disposition, and +herself young; as for Aileen, I doubt whether any thought of the +conventions crossed her mind. Her people would be wearying to see her; her +friend Kenneth Montagu had offered his services to conduct her home; +Hamish Gorm was a jealous enough chaperone for any girl, and the maid that +Cloe had supplied would serve to keep the tongues of the gossips from +clacking. + +We put up that first evening at The King's Arms, a great rambling inn of +two stories which caught the trade of many of the fashionable world on +their way to and from London. Aileen and I dined together at a table in +the far end of the large dining-room. As I remember we were still uncommon +merry, she showing herself very clever at odd quips and turns of +expression. We found matter for jest in a large placard on the wall, with +what purported to be a picture of me, the printed matter containing the +usual description and offer of reward. Watching her, I was thinking that I +had never known a girl more in love with life or with so mobile a face +when a large company of arrivals from London poured gaily into the room. + +They were patched and powdered as if prepared for a ball rather than for +the dust of the road. Dowagers, frigid and stately as marble, murmured +racy gossip to each other behind their fans. Famous beauties flitted +hither and thither, beckoning languid fops with their alluring eyes. Wits +and beaux sauntered about elegantly even as at White's. 'Twas plain that +this was a party _en route_ for one of the great county houses near. + +Aileen stared with wide-open eyes and parted lips at these great dames +from the fashionable world about which she knew nothing. They were +prominent members of the leading school for backbiting in England, and in +ten minutes they had talked more scandal than the Highland lass had heard +before in a lifetime. But the worst of the situation was that there was +not one of them but would cry "Montagu!" when they clapped eyes on me. +Here were Lord March, George Selwyn, Sir James Craven, Topham Beauclerc, +and young Winton Westerleigh; Lady Di Davenport and the Countess Dowager +of Rocksboro; the Hon. Isabel Stanford, Mistress Antoinette Westerleigh, +and others as well known to me. They had taken us at unawares, and as +Creagh would have put it in an Irish bull the only retreat possible for us +was an advance through the enemy. At present they paid no more attention +to us than they would to the wooden negro in front of a tobacco shop, but +at any moment detection might confront me. Faith, here was a predicament! +Conceive me, with a hundred guineas set upon my head, thrust into the very +company in all England I would most have avoided. + +And of all the people in the world they chanced on me as a topic of +conversation. George Selwyn, strolling up and down the room, for want of +something better to do, stopped in front of that confounded placard and +began reading it aloud. Now I don't mind being described as "Tall, strong, +well-built, and extremely good-looking; brown eyes and waving hair like +ilk; carries himself with distinction;" but I grue at being set down as a +common cutpurse, especially when I had taken the trouble to send back Sir +Robert's jewelry at some risk to myself. + +"Wonder what Montagu has done with himself," queried Beauclerc after +Selwyn had finished. + +"Or what Volney has done with him," muttered March behind his hand. "I'll +lay two to one in ponies he never lives to cross another man." + +"You're wrong, March, if you think Volney finished him. He's alive all +right. I heard it from Denman that he got safe across to France. Pity +Volney didn't pink the fellow through the heart for his d----d impudence +in interfering; not that I can stand Volney either, curse the popinjay!" +snarled Craven sourly. + +"If Montagu reaches the continent, 'twill be a passover the Jews who hold +his notes will not relish," suggested Selwyn in his sleepy way. + +A pink-and-white-faced youth shimmering in cream satin was the animated +heart of another group. His love for scandal and his facility for +acquiring the latest tidbit made him the delight of many an old tabby cat. +Now his eyes shone with the joy of imparting a delicious morsel. + +"Egad, then, you're all wrong," he was saying in a shrill falsetto. "Stap +me, the way of it was this! I have it on the best of authority and it +comes direct, rot me if it doesn't! Sir Robert's man, Watkins, told Madame +Bellevue's maid, from whom it came straight to Lord Pam's fellow and +through him to old Methuselah, who mentioned it to----" + +"You needn't finish tracing the lineage of the misinformation. We'll +assume it began with Adam and ended with a dam--with a descendant of his," +interrupted Craven with his usual insolence. "Now out with the lie!" + +"'Pon honour, Craven, 'tis gospel truth," gasped Pink-and-White. + +"Better send for a doctor then. If he tries to tell the truth for once +he'll strangle," suggested Selwyn whimsically to March. + +"Spit it out then!" bullied Craven coarsely. + +"Oh, Lard! Your roughness gives me the flutters, Sir James. I'm all of a +tremble. Split me, I can't abide to be scolded! Er-- Well, then, 'twas a +Welsh widow they fought about--name of Gwynne and rich as Croesus--old +enough to be a grandmother of either of 'em, begad! Volney had first claim +and Montagu cut in; swore he'd marry her if she went off the hooks next +minute. They fought and Montagu fell at the first shot. Next day the old +Begum ran off with her footman. That's the story, you may depend on't. +Lud, yes!" + +"You may depend on its being wrong in every particular," agreed Lady Di +coolly. "You'd better tell the story, 'Toinette. They'll have it a hundred +times worse." + +"Oh Lard! Gossip about my future husband. Not I!" giggled that lively +young woman. + +"Don't be a prude, miss!" commanded the Dowager Countess sharply. "'Tis to +stifle false reports you tell it." + +"Slidikins! An you put it as a duty," simpered the young beauty. "'Twould +seem that--it would appear--the story goes that-- Do I blush?--that Sir +Robert-- Oh, let Lady Di tell it!" + +Lady Di came to scratch with the best will in the world. + +"To correct a false impression then; for no other reason I tell it save to +kill worse rumours. Everybody knows I hate scandal." + +"'Slife, yes! Everybody knows that," agreed Craven, leering over at +March. + +"Sir Robert Volney then was much taken with a Scotch girl who was visiting +in London, and of course she dreamed air castles and fell in love with +him. 'Twas Joan and Darby all the livelong day, but alack! the maid +discovered, as maids will, that Sir Robert's intentions were--not of the +best, and straightway the blushing rose becomes a frigid icicle. Well, +this Northern icicle was not to be melted, and Sir Robert was for trying +the effect of a Surrey hothouse. In her brother's absence he had the maid +abducted and carried to a house of his in town." + +"'Slife! A story for a play. And what then?" cried Pink-and-White. + +"Why then--enter Mr. Montagu with a 'Stay, villain!' It chanced that young +Don Quixote was walking through the streets for the cooling of his blood +mayhap, much overheated by reason of deep play. He saw, he followed, at a +fitting time he broke into the apartment of the lady. Here Sir Robert +discovered them----" + +"The lady all unready, alackaday!" put in the Honourable Isabel, from +behind a fan to hide imaginary blushes. + +"Well, something easy of attire to say the least," admitted Lady Di +placidly. + +"I' faith then, Montagu must make a better lover than Sir Robert," cried +March. + +"Every lady to her taste. And later they fought on the way to Surrey. Both +wounded, no graves needed. The girl nursed Montagu back to health, and +they fled to France together," concluded the narrator. + +"And the lady--is she such a beauty?" queried Beauclerc. + +"Slidikins! I don't know. She must have points. No Scotch mawkin would +draw Sir Robert's eye." + +You are to imagine with what a burning face I sat listening to this +devil's brew of small talk. What their eyes said to each other of +innuendo, what their lifted brows implied, and what they whispered behind +white elegant hands, was more maddening than the open speech. For myself, +I did not value the talk of the cats at one jack straw, but for this young +girl sitting so still beside me-- By Heaven, I dared not look at her. Nor +did I know what to do, how to stop them without making the matter worse +for her, and I continued to sit in an agony grizzling on the gridiron of +their calumnies. Had they been talking lies outright it might have been +easily borne, but there was enough of truth mixed in the gossip to burn +the girl with the fires of shame. + +At the touch of a hand I turned to look into a face grown white and chill, +all the joy of life struck out of it. The girl's timorous eyes implored me +to spare her more of this scene. + +"Oh Kenneth, get me away from here. I will be dying of shame. Let us be +going at once," she asked in a low cry. + +"There is no way out except through the crowd of them. Will you dare make +the attempt? Should I be recognized it may be worse for you." + +"I am not fearing if you go with me. And at all events anything iss better +than this." + +There was a chance that we might pass through unobserved, and I took it; +but I was white-hot with rage and I dare say my aggressive bearing +bewrayed me. In threading our way to the door I brushed accidentally +against Mistress Westerleigh. She drew aside haughtily, then gave a little +scream of recognition. + +"Kenn Montagu, of all men in the world--and turned Quaker, too. Gog's +life, 'tis mine, 'tis mine! The hundred guineas are mine. I call you all +to witness I have taken the desperate highwayman. 'Tall, strong, and +extremely well-looking; carries himself like a gentleman.' This way, sir," +she cried merrily, and laying hold of my coat-tails began to drag me +toward the men. + +There was a roar of laughter at this, and the pink-white youth lounged +forward to offer me a hand of welcome I took pains not to see. + +"Faith, the lady has the right of it, Montagu. That big body of yours is +worth a hundred guineas now if it never was before," laughed Selwyn. + +"Sorry to disappoint the lady, but unfortunately my business carries me in +another direction," I said stiffly. + +"But Lud! 'Tis not fair. You're mine. I took you, and I want the reward," +cries the little lady with the sparkling eyes. + +Aileen stood by my side like a queen cut out of marble, turning neither to +the right nor to the left, her head poised regally on her fine shoulders +as if she saw none in the room worthy a look. + +"This must be the baggage about which they fought. Faith, as fine a piece +as I have seen," said Craven to March in an audible aside, his bold eyes +fixed insolently on the Highland girl. + +Aileen heard him, and her face flamed. I set my teeth and swore to pay him +for that some day, but I knew this to be no fitting time for a brawl. +Despite me the fellow forced my hand. He planted himself squarely in our +way and ogled my charge with impudent effrontery. Me he quite ignored, +while his insulting eyes raked her fore and aft. My anger seethed, boiled +over. Forward slid my foot behind his heel, my forearm under his chin. I +threw my weight forward in a push. His head went back as though shot from +a catapult, and next moment Sir James Craven measured his length on the +ground. With the girl on my arm I pushed through the company to the door. +They cackled after me like solan-geese, but I shut and locked the door in +their faces and led Aileen to her room. She marched up the stairs like a +goddess, beautiful in her anger as one could desire. The Gaelic heart is a +good hater, and 'twas quite plain that Miss Macleod had inherited a +capacity for anger. + +"How dare they? How dare they? What have I done that they should talk so? +There are three hundred claymores would be leaping from the scabbard for +this. My grief! That they would talk so of my father's daughter." + +She was superbly beautiful in her wrath. It was the black fury of the +Highland loch in storm that leaped now from her eyes. Like a caged and +wounded tigress she strode up and down the room, her hands clenched and +her breast heaving, an impetuous flood of Gaelic pouring from her mouth. + +For most strange logic commend me to a woman's reasoning, I had been in no +way responsible for the scene down-stairs, but somehow she lumped me +blindly with the others in her mind, at least so far as to punish me +because I had seen and heard. Apparently 'twas enough that I was of their +race and class, for when during a pause I slipped in my word of soothing +explanation the uncorked vials of her rage showered down on me. Faith, I +began to think that old Jack Falstaff had the right of it in his rating of +discretion, and the maid appearing at that moment I showed a clean pair of +heels and left her alone with her mistress. + +As I was descending the stairs a flunky in the livery of the Westerleighs +handed me a note. It was from Antoinette, and in a line requested me to +meet her at once in the summer-house of the garden. In days past I had +coquetted many an hour away with her. Indeed, years before we had been +lovers in half-earnest boy and girl fashion, and after that the best of +friends. Grimly I resolved to keep the appointment and to tell this little +worldling some things she needed much to know. + +I found her waiting. Her back was turned, and though she must have heard +me coming she gave no sign. I was still angry at her for her share in what +had just happened and I waited coldly for her to begin. She joined me in +the eloquent silence of a Quaker meeting. + +"Well, I am here," I said at last. + +"Oh, it's you." She turned on me, mighty cold and haughty. "Sir, I take it +as a great presumption that you dare to stay at the same inn with me after +attempting to murder my husband that is to be." + +"Murder!" I gasped, giving ground in dismay at this unexpected charge. + +"Murder was the word I used, sir. Do you not like it?" + +"'Twas a fair fight," I muttered. + +"Was it not you that challenged? Did you not force it on him?" + +"Yes, but----" + +"And then you dare to come philandering here after me. Do you think I can +change lovers as often as gloves, sir? Or as often as you?" + +"Madam, I protest----" + +"La! You protest! Did you not come here to see me? Answer me that, sir!" +With an angry stamp of her foot. + +"Yes, Mistress Westerleigh, your note----" + +"And to philander? Do you deny it?" + +"Deny it. Odzooks, yes! 'Tis the last thing I have in my mind," I rapped +out mighty short. "I have done with women and their follies. I begin to +see why men of sense prefer to keep their freedom." + +"Do you, Kenn? And was the other lady so hard on you? Did she make you pay +for our follies? Poor Kenn!" laughed my mocking tormentor with so sudden a +change of front that I was quite nonplussed. "And did you think I did not +know my rakehelly lover Sir Robert better than to blame you for his +quarrels?" + +I breathed freer. She had taken the wind out of my sails, for I had come +purposing to give her a large piece of my mind. Divining my intention, +womanlike she had created a diversion by carrying the war into the country +of the enemy. + +She looked winsome in the extreme. Little dimples ran in and out her +peach-bloom cheeks. In her eyes danced a kind of innocent devilry, and the +alluring mouth was the sweetest Cupid's bow imaginable. Laughter rippled +over her face like the wind in golden grain. Mayhap my eyes told what I +was thinking, for she asked in a pretty, audacious imitation of the Scotch +dialect Aileen was supposed to speak, + +"Am I no' bonny, Kenneth?" + +"You are that, 'Toinette." + +"But you love her better?" she said softly. + +I told her yes. + +"And yet----" She turned and began to pull a honeysuckle to pieces, +pouting in the prettiest fashion conceivable. + +The graceful curves of the lithe figure provoked me. There was a challenge +in her manner, and my blood beat with a surge. I made a step or two toward +her. + +"And yet?" I repeated, over her shoulder. + +One by one the petals floated away. + +"There was a time----" She spoke so softly I had to bend over to hear. + +I sighed. "A thousand years ago, 'Toinette." + +"But love is eternal, and in eternity a thousand years are but as a day." + +The long curving lashes were lifted for a moment, and the dancing brown +eyes flashed into mine. While mine held them they began to dim. On my soul +the little witch contrived to let the dew of tears glisten there. Now a +woman's tears are just the one thing Kenneth Montagu cannot resist. After +all I am not the first man that has come to make war and stayed to make +love. + +"'Toinette! 'Toinette!" I chided, resolution melting fast. + +"And y'are commanded to love your neighbours, Kenn." + +I vow she was the takingest madcap in all England, and not the worst heart +neither. I am no Puritan, and youth has its day in which it will be +served. My scruples took wing. + +"Faith, one might travel far and not do better," I told her. "When the +gods send their best to a man he were a sorry knave to complain." + +Yet I stood helpless, in longing desire and yet afraid to dare. No nicety +of conscience held me now, rather apprehension. I had not lived my one and +twenty years without learning that a young woman may be free of speech and +yet discreet of action, that alluring eyes are oft mismated with prim +maiden conscience. 'Tis in the blood of some of them to throw down the +gauntlet to a man's courage and then to trample on him for daring to +accept the challenge. + +Her eyes derided me. A scoffing smile crept into that mocking face of +hers. No longer I shilly-shallied. She had brought me to dance, and she +must pay the piper. + +"Modesty is a sweet virtue, but it doesn't butter any bread," I cried +gaily. "Egad, I embrace my temptation." + +Which same I did, and the temptress too. + +"Am I your temptation, Adam?" quoth the lady presently. + +"I vow y'are the fairest enticement, Eve, that ever trod the earth since +the days of the first Garden. For this heaven of your lips I'll pay any +price in reason. A year in purgatory were cheap----" + +I stopped, my florid eloquence nipped in bud, for the lady had suddenly +begun to disengage herself. Her glance shot straight over my shoulder to +the entrance of the summer-house. Divining the presence of an intruder, I +turned. + +Aileen was standing in the doorway looking at us with an acrid, scornful +smile that went to my heart like a knife. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MY LADY RAGES + + +I was shaken quite out of my exultation. I stood raging at myself in a +defiant scorn, struck dumb at the folly that will let a man who loves one +woman go sweethearting with another. Her eyes stabbed me, the while I +stood there dogged yet grovelling, no word coming to my dry lips. What was +there to be said? The tie that bound me to Aileen was indefinable, +tenuous, not to be phrased; yet none the less it existed. I stood +convicted, for I had tacitly given her to understand that no woman found +place in my mind save her, and at the first chance she found another in my +arms. Like a detected schoolboy in presence of the rod I awaited my +sentence, my heart a trip-hammer, my face a picture of chagrin and dread. + +For just a moment she held me in the balance with that dreadful smile on +her face, my day of judgment come to earth, then turned and away without a +word. I flung wildly after her, intent on explaining what could not be +explained. In the night I lost her and went up and down through the +shrubbery calling her to come forth, beating the currant and gooseberry +bushes in search of her. A shadow flitted past me toward the house, and at +the gate I intercepted the girl. Better I had let her alone. My heart +misgave me at sight of her face; indeed the whole sweep of her lithesome +reedy figure was pregnant with Highland scorn and pride. + +"Oh, Aileen, in the arbour----" I was beginning, when she cut me short. + +"And I am thinking I owe you an apology for my intrusion. In troth, Mr. +Montagu, my interruption of your love-makings was not intentional." + +Her voice gave me the feel of being drenched with ice-water. + +"If you will let me explain, Aileen----" + +"Indeed, and there iss nothing to explain, sir. It will be none of my +business who you are loving, and-- Will you open the gate, Mr. Montagu?" + +"But I must explain; 'twas a madness of the blood. You do not +understand----" + +"And gin I never understand, Mr. Montagu, the lift (sky) will not fall. +Here iss a great to-do about nothing," she flung back with a kind of +bitter jauntiness. + +"Aileen," I cried, a little wildly, "you will not cast me off without a +hearing. Somehow I must make it clear, and you must try----" + +"My name it iss Miss Macleod, and I would think it clear enough already at +all events. I will be thanking you to let me pass, sir." + +Her words bit, not less the scorch of her eyes. My heart was like running +water. + +"And is this an end to all-- Will you let so small a thing put a period to +our good comradeship?" I cried. + +"Since you mention it I would never deny that I am under obligations to +you, sir, which my brother will be blithe to repay----" + +"By Heaven, I never mentioned obligations; I never thought of them. Is +there no friendship in your heart for me?" + +"Your regard iss a thing I have valued, but"--there was a little break in +the voice which she rode over roughshod--"I can very well be getting along +without the friendships of that girl's lover." + +She snatched open the gate and flung past me to the house, this superb +young creature, tall, slim, supple, a very Diana in her rage, a woman too +if one might judge by the breasts billowing with rising sobs. More slow I +followed, quite dashed to earth. All that I had gained by months of +service in one moment had been lost. She would think me another of the +Volney stamp, and her liking for me would turn to hate as with him. + +A low voice from the arbour called "Kenn!" But I had had enough of +gallivanting for one night and I held my way sullenly to the house. Swift +feet pattered down the path after me, and presently a little hand fell on +my arm. I turned, sulky as a baited bear. + +"I am so sorry, Kenn," said Mistress Antoinette demurely. + +My sardonic laughter echoed cheerlessly. "That there is no more mischief +to your hand. Oh never fear! You'll find some other poor breeched gull +shortly." + +The brown dovelike eyes of the little rip reproached me. + +"'Twill all come right, Kenn. She'll never think the worse of you for +this." + +"I'll be no more to her than a glove outworn. I have lost the only woman I +could ever love, and through my own folly, too." + +"Alackaday, Kenn! Y' 'ave much to learn about women yet. She will think +the more of you for it when her anger is past." + +"Not she. One of your fashionables might, but not Aileen." + +"Pooh! I think better of her than you. She's not all milk and water. +There's red blood in her veins, man. Spunk up and brazen it out. Cock your +chin and whistle it off bravely. Faith, I know better men than you who +would not look so doleful over one of 'Toinette Westerleigh's kisses. If I +were a man I would never kiss and be sorry for all the maids in +Christendom." + +The saucy piquant tilt to her chin was a sight for the gods to admire. + +"You forget I love her." + +"Oh, you play on one string. She's not the only maid i' the world," pouted +the London beauty. + +"She's the only one for me," I said stubbornly, and then added dejectedly, +"and she's not for me neither." + +The little rogue began to laugh. "I give you up, Kenn. Y'are as moonstruck +a lover as ever I saw. Here's for a word of comfort, which you don't +deserve at all. For a week she will be a thunder-cloud, then the sun will +beam more brightly than ever. But don't you be too submissive. La! Women +cannot endure a wheedling lover." + +After that bit of advice my sage little monitor fell sober and explained +to me her reason for sending me the note. It appeared that Sir Robert +Volney was due to meet the party at the inn that very evening, and Miss +Westerleigh was of opinion that I and my charge would do well to take the +road at once. I was of that mind myself. I lost no time in reaching the +house and ordering a relay of horses for our immediate travel. Then I took +the stairs three at a time and came knocking at Aileen's door. + +"Who iss there?" asked a small voice, full of tears and muffled in a +pillow. + +Her distress went to my heart, none the less because I who had been the +cause of it could not heal it. + +"Tis I--Kenneth Montagu. Open the door, please." + +There was a moment's silence, then-- + +"I am not wishing to see Mr. Montagu to-night." + +"Not for the world would I trouble you, Miss Macleod, but there is a +matter I have to disclose that touches us nearly." + +"I think you will not have heard aright. I am desiring to be alone, sir," +she answered, the frost in her voice. + +It may be guessed that this dismissal chafed me. My eagerness was daunted, +but yet I would not be fubbed off. + +"Miss Macleod, you may punish me as much as you like some other time," I +cried desperately, "but 'fore God! if you do not open the door you will +regret it till the last day of your life." + +"Are you threatening me, sir?" she asks, mighty haughty. + +"Threatening--no! I do not threaten, but warn. This matter is of life and +death, not to be played with;" and to emphasize my words I mentioned the +name of Volney. + +She came raging to the door and whipped it open very sudden. Her affronted +eyes might have belonged to a queen, but the stains on her cheeks betrayed +her. + +"Well, and what iss this important matter that cannot be waiting? Perhaps +Mr. Montagu mistakes this for the room of Mistress Westerleigh." + +I told her that Sir Robert was expected shortly to arrive at the inn, and +that we must be on the road at once. She thanked me very primly for the +information, but declared she would not trouble me further, that she meant +to abide at the inn all night no matter who came; moreover, that when she +did leave Hamish Gorm would be sufficient guard. I argued, cajoled, +warned, threatened, but she was not to be moved. The girl took a perverse +pleasure in thwarting me, and the keener I grew the more dour grew she. We +might have disputed the point an hour had I not come to my senses and +appeared to give way. + +Suspecting that the girl's fears of Sir Robert would reassert themselves +when she was left to herself, I sought her maid and easily induced the +girl to propose to her mistress a departure without my knowledge. The +suggestion worked like a charm, and fifteen minutes later I had the +pleasure of seeing the chaise roll out of the lighted yard into the night. +Need it be said that Kenneth Montagu was ahorse and after the coach within +a few minutes. + +All night I jogged behind them, and in the morning rode up to the inn +where they stopped for breakfast. From Mistress Aileen I got the slightest +bow in the world as I passed to my solitary breakfast at a neighbouring +table. Within the hour they were away again, and I after to cover the +rear. Late in the day the near wheeler fell very lame. The rest of the +animals were dead beat, and I rode to the nearest hamlet to get another +horse. The night was falling foul, very mirk, with a rising wind, and +methought the lady's eyes lightened when she saw me return with help to +get them out of their difficulty. She thanked me stiffly with a very +straight lip. + +"At all events there will be no end to the obligations I am under, Mr. +Montagu. They will be piling high as Ben Nevis," she said, but 'twould +have taken a penetrating man to have discovered any friendliness in the +voice. + +Yet henceforth I made myself one of the party, admitted on sufferance with +a very bad grace. More than once I tried to break through the chill +conventionals that made the staple of our conversation, but the girl was +ice to me. In the end I grew stiff as she. I would ride beside the coach +all day with scarce a word, wearying for a reconciliation and yet +nourishing angry pride. When speech appeared to be demanded between us +'twas of the most formal. Faith, I think we were liker a pair of spoilt +children than sensible grown folks. + +While we were still in the northern counties rumours began to reach us +that General Cope's army had been cut to pieces by the Highlanders. The +stories ran that not a single man had escaped, that the clans, twenty +thousand strong, were headed for England, that they were burning and +destroying as they advanced. Incredible reports of all kinds sprang out of +the air, and the utmost alarm prevailed. The report of Cope's defeat was +soon verified. We met more than one redcoat speeding south on a +foam-flecked weary steed, and it did not need the second sight to divine +that the dispatches they carried spoke loudly of disaster fallen and of +reinforcements needed. + +After we had crossed the border parties of foraging Highlanders began to +appear occasionally, but a word in the Gaelic from Hamish Gorm always +served as a password for us. To make short, early in October we reached +the Scottish capital, the formal relations which had been established +between Miss Macleod and me continuing to the end of the journey. + +There lived in Edinburgh an unmarried aunt of Aileen, a Miss Flora MacBean +by name, and at her house I left the girl while I went to notify her +brother of our arrival. I found him lodged in High Street near the old +Flesh-market Close. Malcolm Macleod was a fine manly fellow of about three +and thirty, lusty and well-proportioned, very tanned and ruddy. He had a +quick lively eye and a firm good-humoured mouth. In brief, he was the very +picture of a frank open-hearted Highland gentleman, and in the gay Macleod +tartan looked as gallant a figure of a soldier as one would wish to see. +He greeted me with charming friendliness and expressed himself as deeply +gratified for my care of his sister, offering again and again to put +himself at my service in any way I might desire. + +We walked down the street together, and more than once a shot plumped at +our feet, for the city was under fire from the Hanoverian garrison at the +castle. Everywhere the clansmen were in evidence. Barefooted and +barelegged Celts strutted about the city with their bonnets scrugged low +on their heads, the hair hanging wild over their eyes and the matted +beards covering their faces. For the most part they were very ragged, and +tanned exceedingly wherever the flesh took a peep through their outworn +plaids. They ran about the streets in groups, looking in shop windows like +children and talking their outlandish gibberish; then presently their +Highland pride would assert itself at the smile of some chance passer and +would send them swinging proudly off as though they had better things at +home. + +Out of a tobacco shop came Captain Donald Roy singing blithely, + + "'Will ye play me fair, + Highland laddie, Highland laddie?'" + +He was of course in the full Macdonald tartan regimentals--checkered kilt, +sporran, plaid, a brace of pistols, a dirk in his stocking, and claymore. +At sight of me his face lighted and he came running forward with both +hands outstretched. + +"And is it you at last, Kenn? Man, but I've been wearying for a sight of +your honest face. I was whiles thinking you must have given us the go-by. +Fegs, but it's a braw day and a sight guid for sair een to see you, lad. +You will have heard how we gave Johnnie Cope his kail through his reek." +He broke off to hum:-- + +"'Now Johnnie, troth, ye werena blate, to come wi' the news o' your ain, +And leave your men in sic a strait, so early in the morning.' + +"And did you bring my kinswoman back safe with you? I'se wad ye found the +journey no' ower lang;" and he cocked a merry eye at me. + +I flushed, and introduced him to Major Macleod, who took occasion to thank +him for his services to his sister. They fell into a liking for each other +at once. When the major was called aside by one of his gillies a moment +later, Macdonald expressed his trust of the other in the old Scotch +saying, + +"Yon's a man to ride the water wi', Kenneth." + +A curious sight illustrative of the Highland way of "lifting" what took +their fancy occurred as we were all three walking toward the house of +Macleod's aunt. Three shag-headed gillies in the tattered Cameron tartan +dragged an innkeeper from his taproom and set him down squat on the +causeway. Without even a by-your-leave they took from his feet a pair of +new shoes with silver buckles. He protested that he was a loyal Jacobite. + +"Sae muckle ta better. She'll no' grumble to shange a progue for the +Prince's guid," one of the caterans answered cheerfully by way of +comfort. + +To my surprise the two Highland gentlemen watched this high-handed +proceeding with much amusement, enjoying not a little the ridiculous +figure cut by the frightened, sputtering host. I asked them if they were +not going to interfere. + +"What for would we do that at all events?" asked the Macdonald. "Man, +Montagu, but you whiles have unco queer notions for so wise a lad. It's as +natural for a Hielander to despoil a Southron as for a goose to gang +barefit. What would Lochiel think gin we fashed wi' his clansmen at their +ploy? Na, na! I wad be sweir to be sae upsitten (impertinent). It wadna be +tellin' a Macdonald, I'm thinkin'." + +Aileen was so prettily glad to see her brother and so friendly with Donald +Roy, so full of gay chatter and eager reminiscence, that I felt myself +quite dashed by the note of reserve which crept into her voice and her +manner whenever she found it incumbent to speak to me. Her laugh would be +ringing clear as the echo of steel in frost, and when Donald lugged me +into the talk she would fall mim as a schoolgirl under the eye of her +governess. Faith, you would have thought me her dearest enemy, instead of +the man that had risked life for her more than once. Here is a pretty +gratitude, I would say to myself in a rage, hugging my anger with the baby +thought that she would some day scourge herself for this after I were +killed in battle. Here is a fine return for loyal service rendered, and +the front of my offending is nothing more than the saluting an old +playmate. + +"Man, Kenneth, but you hae played the cuddie brawly," was Donald's +comforting remark to me after we had left. "You maun hae made an awfu' +bauchle of it. When last I saw the lady she hoisted a fine colour when I +daffed about you, and now she glowers at you in a no' just friendly way." + +I admitted sadly that 'twas so and told him the reason, for Donald Roy had +a wide observation of life and a varied experience with the sex that made +him a valuable counsellor. The situation amused him hugely, but what he +could find of humour in it was more than I could see. + +"Deil hae't, but yon quean Antoinette will be a geyan ettercap (madcap). +Tony Creagh has been telling me about her; he's just a wee thingie touched +there himsel'." + +"Pardon me," I interrupted a little stiffly, "but I think I did not give +the name of the lady." + +The Highlander looked at me dryly with a pawky smile. + +"Hoots, man! I ken that fine, but I'm no a fule. You named over the party +and I picked the lady that suited the speceefications." Then he began to +chuckle: "I wad hae liked dooms weel to hae seen you stravaiging +(wandering) through the grosset (gooseberry) bushes after the lass." + +I told him huffily that if that was all he could say I had better have +kept the story to myself. I had come for advice, not to be laughed at. +Donald flashed his winsome smile and linked an arm in mine. + +"Well then, and here's advice for you, man. Jouk (duck) and let the jaw +(wave) go by. Gin it were me the colder she were the better I wad like it. +Dinna you see that the lass rages because she likes you fine; and since +she's a Hieland maid brought up under the blue lift she hasna learnt to +hate and smile in the same breath." + +"I make neither head nor tail of your riddles," I told him impatiently. +"By your way of it so far as I can make out she both likes and hates me. +Now how can that be?" + +Captain Macdonald's droll eye appeared to pity me. "Kenneth, bairn, but +you're an awfu' ignoramus. You ken naething ava about the lassies. I'm +wondering what they learnt you at Oxford. Gin it's the same to you we'll +talk of something mair within your comprehension." And thereupon he +diverted the conversation to the impending invasion of England by the +Highland army. Presently I asked him what he thought of the Prince now +that he had been given a chance to study the Young Chevalier at closer +range, and I shall never forget the eager Highlander's enthusiastic +answer. + +"From the head to the heel of him he is a son of Kings, kind-hearted, +gallant, modest. He takes all hearts by storm. Our Highland laddie is the +bravest man I ever saw, not to be rash, and the most cautious, not to be a +coward. But you will be judging for yourself when you are presented at the +ball on Tuesday." + +I told him that as yet I had no invitation to the ball. + +"That's easy seen to. The Chevalier O'Sullivan makes out the list. I'll +drop a flea in his lug (ear)." + +Next day was Sunday, and I arrayed myself with great care to attend the +church at which one Macvicar preached; to be frank I didn't care a flip of +my fingers what the doctrine was he preached; but I had adroitly wormed +out of Miss MacBean that he was the pastor under whom she sat. Creagh +called on me before I had set out, and I dragged him with me, he +protesting much at my unwonted devotion. + +I dare say he understood it better when he saw my eyes glued to the pew +where Miss Aileen sat with her aunt in devout attention. What the sermon +was to have been about we never knew, on account of an interruption which +prevented us from hearing it. During the long prayer I was comfortably +watching the back of Aileen's head and the quarter profile of her face +when Creagh nudged me. I turned to find him looking at me out of a very +comical face, and this was the reason for it. The hardy Macvicar was +praying for the Hanoverians and their cause. + +"Bless the King," he was saying boldly. "Thou knows what King I mean-- May +the crown sit easy on his head for lang. And for the young man that is +come among us to seek an earthly crown, we beseech Thee in mercy to take +him to Thyself, and give him a crown of glory." + +One could have heard a pin fall in the hush, and then the tense rustle +that swept over the church and drowned the steady low voice that never +faltered in the prayer. + +"Egad, there's a hit for the Prince straight from the shoulder," chuckled +the Irishman by my side. "Faith, the Jacks are leaving the church to the +Whigs. There goes the Major, Miss Macleod, and her aunt." + +He was right. The prayer had ended and the Macleod party were sailing down +the aisle. Others followed suit, and presently we joined the stream that +poured out of the building to show their disapproval. 'Tis an ill wind +that blows nobody good. Miss MacBean invited Creagh and me to join them in +dinner, and methought that my goddess of disdain was the least thing +warmer to me than she had been in weeks. For the rest of the day I trod on +air. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + +A beautifully engrossed invitation to the Prince's ball having duly +arrived from his Secretary the Chevalier O'Sullivan, I ask you to believe +that my toilet Tuesday evening was even more a work of art than that of +Sunday. In huge disorder scarfs, lace cravats, muffs, and other necessary +equipment were littered about the room. I much missed the neat touch of my +valet Simpkins, and the gillie Hamish Gorm, whom Major Macleod had put at +my service, did not supply his place by a deal, since he knew no more of +patching the face or powdering a periwig than he had arrived at by the +light of nature. But despite this handicap I made shift to do myself +justice before I set off for the lodgings of Lord Balmerino, by whom I was +to be presented. + +'Twas long since the Scottish capital had been so gay as now, for a part +of the policy of the Young Chevalier was to wear a brave front before the +world. He and his few thousand Highlanders were pledged to a desperate +undertaking, but it was essential that the waverers must not be allowed to +suspect how slender were the chances of success. One might have thought +from the splendour of his court and from the serene confidence exhibited +by the Prince and his chiefs that the Stuarts were already in peaceable +possession of the entire dominions of their ancestors. A vast concourse of +well-dressed people thronged to Holyrood House from morning till night to +present their respects to Prince Charles Edward. His politeness and +affability, as well as the charms of his conversation and the graces of +his person, swept the ladies especially from their lukewarm allegiance to +the Hanoverians. They would own no lover who did not don the white cockade +of Jacobitism. They would hesitate at no sacrifice to advance the cause of +this romantic young gambler who used swords for dice. All this my three +days residence in the city had taught me. I was now to learn whether a +personal meeting with him would inspire me too with the ardent devotion +that animated my friends. + +A mixed assembly we found gathered in the picture gallery of Holyrood +House. Here were French and Irish adventurers, Highland chiefs and Lowland +gentlemen, all emulating each other in loyalty to the ladies who had +gathered from all over Scotland to dance beneath the banner of the white +rose. The Hall was a great blaze of moving colour, but above the tartans +and the plaids, the mixed reds, greens, blues, and yellows, everywhere +fluttered rampant the white streamers and cockades of the Stuarts. + +No doubt there were here sober hearts, full of anxious portent for the +future, but on the surface at least was naught but merriment. The gayest +abandon prevailed. Strathspey and reel and Highland fling alternated with +the graceful dances of France and the rollicking jigs of Ireland. Plainly +this was no state ceremonial, rather an international frolic to tune all +hearts to a common glee. We were on the top of fortune's wave. Had we not +won for the Young Chevalier by the sword the ancient capital of his +family, and did not the road to London invite us southward? The pipers of +each clan in turn dirled out triumphant marches, and my heart began to +beat in faster time. Water must have filled the veins of a man who could +stand unmoved such contagious enthusiasm. For me, I confess it, a climax +came a moment later that made my eyes swim. + +Balmerino was talking with Malcolm Macleod and James Hepburn of Keith, a +model of manly simplicity and honour who had been "out" in the '15; and as +usual their talk fell on our enterprise and its gallant young leader. +Keith narrated a story of how the Young Chevalier, after a long day's +march on foot, had led the army three miles out of its way in order to +avoid disturbing the wife of a cottar who had fallen asleep at the +critical stage of a severe illness. Balmerino capped it with another +anecdote of his dismounting from his horse after the battle of Gladsmuir +to give water and attendance to a wounded English soldier of Cope's army. + +Macleod smiled, eyes sparkling. "He iss every inch the true prince. He can +tramp the hills with a Highlander all day and never weary, he can sleep on +pease-straw as well as on a bed of down, can sup on brose in five minutes, +and win a battle in four. Oh, yes, he will be the King for Malcolm +Macleod." + +While he was still speaking there fell over the assembly a sudden +stillness. The word was passed from lips to lips, "The Prince comes." +Every eye swept to the doorway. Men bowed deep and women curtsied low. A +young man was entering slowly on the arm of Lord George Murray. + +"The Prince!" whispered Balmerino to me. + +The pipes crashed out a measure of "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" then fell +into quiet sudden as they had begun. "Dhia theasirg an Righ!" (God save +the King) cried a splendid young Highland chief in a voice that echoed +through the hall. + +Clanranald's cry was lifted to the rafters by a hundred throats. A hundred +claymores leaped to air, and while the skirling bagpipes pealed forth, +"The King shall enjoy his own again," Charles Stuart beneath an arch of +shining steel trod slowly down the hall to a dais where his fathers had +sat before him. + +If the hearts of the ladies had surrendered at discretion, faith! we of +the other sex were not much tardier. The lad was every inch a prince. His +after life did not fulfil the promise of his youth, but at this time he +was one to see, and once having seen, to love. All the great charm of his +race found expression in him. Gallant, gracious, generous, tender-hearted +in victory and cheerful in defeat (as we had soon to learn, alas!), even +his enemies confessed this young Stuart a worthy leader of men. Usually +suffused with a gentle pensiveness not unbecoming, the ardour of his +welcome had given him on this occasion the martial bearing of a heroic +young Achilles. With flushed cheek and sparkling eye he ascended the +dais. + +"Ladies, gentlemen, my loyal Highlanders, friends all, the tongue of +Charles Stuart has no words to tell the warm message of his heart. +Unfriended and alone he came among you, resolved with the help of good +swords to win back that throne on which a usurper sits, or failing in that +to perish in the attempt. How nobly you our people have rallied to our +side in this undertaking to restore the ancient liberties of the kingdom +needs not be told. To the arbitrament of battle and to the will of God we +confidently appeal, and on our part we pledge our sacred honour neither to +falter nor to withdraw till this our purpose is accomplished. To this +great task we stand plighted, so help us God and the right." + +'Tis impossible to conceive the effect of these few simple sentences. +Again the pipes voiced our dumb emotion in that stirring song, + + "We'll owre the water and owre the sea, + We'll owre the water to Charlie; + Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go, + And live and die wi' Charlie." + +The mighty cheer broke forth again and seemed to rock the palace, but +deeper than all cheering was the feeling that found expression in +long-drawn breath and broken sob and glimmering tear. The gallant lad had +trusted us, had put his life in our keeping; we highly resolved to prove +worthy of that trust. + +At a signal from the Prince the musicians struck up again the dance, and +bright eyes bedimmed with tears began to smile once more. With a whispered +word Balmerino left me and made his way to the side of the Prince, about +whom were grouped the Duke of Perth, Lord Lewis Gordon, Lord Elcho, the +ill-fated Kilmarnock, as well as Lochiel, Cluny, Macleod, Clanranald, and +other Highland gentlemen who had taken their fortune in their hands at the +call of this young adventurer with the enchanting smile. To see him was to +understand the madness of devotion that had carried away these wise +gray-haired gentlemen, but to those who never saw him I despair of +conveying in cold type the subtle quality of charm that radiated from him. +In the very bloom of youth, tall, slender, and handsome, he had a grace of +manner not to be resisted. To condescend to the particulars of his person: +a face of perfect oval very regular in feature; large light blue eyes +shaded by beautifully arched brows; nose good and of the Roman type; +complexion fair, mouth something small and effeminate, forehead high and +full. He was possessed of the inimitable reserve and bearing that mark the +royal-born, and that despite his genial frankness. On this occasion he +wore his usual light-coloured peruke with the natural hair combed over the +front, a tartan short coat on the breast of which shone the star of the +order of St. Andrews, red velvet small-clothes, and a silver-hilted +rapier. The plaid he ordinarily carried had been doffed for a blue sash +wrought with gold. + +All this I had time to note before Lord Balmerino rejoined me and led me +forward to the presentation. The Prince separated himself from the group +about him and came lightly down the steps to meet me. I fell on my knee +and kissed his hand, but the Prince, drawing me to my feet, embraced me. + +"My gallant Montagu," he cried warmly. "Like father, like son. God knows I +welcome you, both on your own account and because you are one of the first +English gentlemen to offer his sword to the cause of his King." + +I murmured that my sword would be at his service till death. To put me at +my ease he began to question me about the state of public feeling in +England concerning the enterprise. What information I had was put at his +disposal, and I observed that his grasp of the situation appeared to be +clear and incisive. He introduced me to the noblemen and chiefs about him, +and I was wise enough to know that if they made much of me it was rather +for the class I was supposed to represent than for my own poor merits. +Presently I fell back to make way for another gentleman about to be +presented. Captain Macdonald made his way to me and offered a frank hand +in congratulation. + +"'Fore God, Montagu, you have leaped gey sudden into favour. Deil hae't, +Red Donald brought with him a hundred claymores and he wasna half so +kenspeckle (conspicuous). I'll wad your fortune's made, for you hae leaped +in heels ower hurdies," he told me warmly. + +From affairs of state to those of the heart may be a long cast, but the +mind of one-and-twenty takes it at a bound. My eye went questing, fell on +many a blushing maid and beaming matron, at last singled out my heart's +desire. She was teaching a Highland dance to a graceful cavalier in white +silk breeches, flowered satin waistcoat, and most choicely powdered +periwig, fresh from the friseur. His dainty muff and exquisite clouded +cane depended from a silken loop to proclaim him the man of fashion. +Something characteristic in his easy manner, though I saw but his back, +chilled me to an indefinable premonition of his identity. Yet an instant, +and a turn in the dance figure flung into view the face of Sir Robert +Volney, negligent and unperturbed, heedless apparently of the fact that +any moment a hand might fall on his shoulder to lead him to his death. +Aileen, to the contrary, clearly showed fear, anxiety, a troubled mind--to +be detected in the hurried little glances of fearfulness directed toward +her brother Malcolm, and in her plain eagerness to have done with the +measure. She seemed to implore the baronet to depart, and Volney smilingly +negatived her appeal. The girl's affronted eyes dared him to believe that +she danced with him for any other reason than because he had staked his +life to see her again and she would not have his death at her door. +Disdain of her own weakness and contempt of him were eloquent in every +movement of the lissom figure. 'Twas easy to be seen that the man was +working on her fears for him, in order to obtain another foothold with +her. I resolved to baulk his scheme. + +While I was still making my way toward them through the throng they +disappeared from the assembly hall. A still hunt of five minutes, and I +had run down my prey in a snug little reception-room of a size to fit two +comfortably. The girl fronted him scornfully, eyes flaming. + +"Coward, you play on a girl's fears, you take advantage of her soft heart +to force yourself on her," she was telling him in a low, bitter voice. + +"I risk my life to see the woman that I love," he answered. + +"My grief! Love! What will such a thing as you be knowing of love?" + +The man winced. On my soul I believe that at last he was an honest lover. +His beautiful, speaking eyes looked straight into hers. His mannerisms had +for the moment been sponged out. Straight from the heart he spoke. + +"I have learnt, Aileen. My hunger for a sight of you has starved my folly +and fed my love. Believe me, I am a changed man." + +The play and curve of her lips stung him. He flung himself desperately +into his mad love-making. "'Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir +d'amour,'" he quoted from Moliere. "'Tis true, Aileen; I die of love; it +burns me up," he added passionately, hungry eyes devouring the flying +colours of her cheek, the mass of rippling hair, the fresh, sweet, subtle +fragrance of her presence. + +"You'll have to hurry about it then, for on my soul you're due to die of +tightened hemp to-morrow," I told him, lounging forward from the door. + +The girl cried out, eyes dilating, hand pressing to the heart. For the +man, after the first start he did not turn a hair. The face that looked +over his shoulder at me was unmoved and bereft of emotion. + +"My malapropos friend Montagu again. Devil take it, you have an awkward +way of playing harlequin when you're not wanted! Now to come blundering in +upon a lady and her friend is-- Well, not the best of form. Better drop it +before it becomes a habit," he advised. + +"'Slife, 'tis tit for tat! I learnt it from you," was my answer. + +Long we looked at each other, preparing for the battle that was to come. +Save for the quick breathing of the girl no sound fell. + +"Sir Robert, your audacity confounds all precedent," I said at last. + +"You flatter me, Mr. Montagu." + +"Believe me, had Major Macleod discovered you instead of me your soul had +by this time been speeding hellward." + +"Exit Flattery," he laughed. "The lady phrased it less vilely. Heavenward, +she put it! 'Twould be interesting to know which of you is right." + +"As you say, an interesting topic of speculation, and one you're like to +find the answer of shortly, presupposing that you suffer the usual fate of +captured spies." + +His brows lifted in polite inquiry. "Indeed! A spy?" he asked, +indifferently. + +"Why not? The favourite of the Hanoverian usurpers discovered in our +midst--what other explanation will it bear?" + +He smiled. "Perhaps I have a mind to join your barelegged rebellion." + +"Afraid your services are not available, Sir Robert. Three hundred Macleod +claymores bar the way, all eager to wipe out an insult to the daughter of +Raasay. Faith, when they have settled their little account against you +there won't be much left for the Prince." + +"Ah! Then for the sake of argument suppose we put it that I'm visiting +this delightful city for my health." + +"You will find the climate not agree with you, I fear." + +"Then say for pleasure." + +"'Twill prove more exciting than amusing." + +"On my life, dear Kenn, 'tis both." + +"I have but to raise my voice and you are undone." + +"His voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in Kenneth," +he parodied, laughing at me. + +The girl said never a word, but her level eyes watched me steadily. No +need of words to tell me that I was on trial! But I would not desist. + +"You appear not to realize the situation," I told him coldly. "Your life +is in hazard." + +The man yawned in my face. "Not at all, I sit here as safe as if I were at +White's, and a devilish deal better satisfied. Situation piquant! Company +of the best! Gad's life, I cry content." + +"I think we talk at cross purposes. I am trying to have you understand +that your position is critical, Sir Robert." + +Nonchalant yet watchful, indolent and yet alert, gracefully graceless, he +watched me smilingly out of half-closed eyes; and then quietly fired the +shot that brought me to. + +"If you were not a gentleman, Montagu, the situation would be vastly +different." + +"I do not see the point," I told him; but I did, and raged at it. + +"I think you do. Your lips are sealed. I am your rival"--he bowed to +Aileen--"for the favour of a lady. If you put me out of the way by playing +informer what appearance will it bear? You may talk of duty till the world +ends, but you will be a marked man, despised by all--and most of all by +Kenneth Montagu." + +The man was right. At one sweep he had spiked my guns, demolished my +defenses. The triumph was sponged from my face. I fumed in a stress of +impotence. + +"I don't know about that. I shall have to think of it. There is a duty to +perform," I said at last, lamely. + +He waved a hand airily. "My dear fellow, think as long as you please. You +can't think away facts. Egad, they're immutable. You know me to be no spy. +Conceded that I am in a false position. What can you do about it? You +can't in honour give me up. I'faith, you're handcuffed to inaction." + +I was, but my temper was not improved at hearing him tell it me so suavely +and so blandly. He sat smiling and triumphant, chuckling no doubt at the +dilemma into which he had thrust me. The worst of it was that while I was +ostensibly master of the situation he had me at his mercy. I was a +helpless victor without any of the fruits of victory. + +"You took advantage of a girl's soft heart to put her in a position that +was indefensible," I told him with bitter bluntness. "Save this of +throwing yourself on her mercy there was no other way of approaching her. +Of the wisdom of the serpent you have no lack. I congratulate you, Sir +Robert. But one may be permitted to doubt the manliness of such a +course." + +The pipers struck up a song that was the vogue among our party, and a +young man passed the entrance of the room singing it. + + "Oh, it's owre the border awa', awa', + It's owre the border awa', awa', + We'll on an' we'll march to Carlisle Ha', + Wi' its yetts, its castles, an' a', an' a'." + +The audacious villain parodied it on the spot, substituting two lines of +his own for the last ones. + + "You'll on an' you'll march to Carlisle Ha', + To be hanged and quartered an' a', an' a'," + +he hummed softly in his clipped English tongue. + +"Pity you won't live to see it," I retorted tartly. + +"You're still nursing that maggot, are you? Debating with yourself about +giving me up, eh? Well that's a matter you must settle with your +conscience, if you indulge in the luxury of one." + +"You would never give him up, Kenneth," said Aileen in a low voice. +"Surely you would not be doing that." + +"I shall not let him stay here. You may be sure of that," I said +doggedly. + +The girl ventured a suggestion timidly. "Perhaps Sir Robert will be +leaving to-morrow--for London mayhap." + +Volney shook his head decisively. "Not I. Why, I have but just arrived. +Besides, here is a problem in ethics for Mr. Montagu to solve. Strength +comes through conflict, so the schools teach. Far be it from me to remove +the cause of doubt. Let him solve his problem for himself, egad!" + +He seemed to find a feline pleasure in seeing how far he could taunt me to +go. He held me on the knife-edge of irritation, and perillous as was the +experiment he enjoyed seeing whether he could not drive me to give him +up. + +"Miss Macleod's solution falls pat. Better leave to-morrow, Sir Robert. To +stay is dangerous." + +"'Tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my +lord fool, 'out of this nettle danger, we pluck this flower safety,'" he +quoted. + +"I see you always have your tag of Shakespeare ready; then let me remind +you what he has to say about the better part of valour," I flung back, for +once alert in riposte. + +"A hit, and from the same play," he laughed. "But a retreat-- 'Tis not to +be thought of. No, no, Montagu! And it must be you'll just have to give me +up." + +"Oh, you harp on that! You may say it once too often. I shall find a way +to get rid of you," I answered blackly. + +"Let me find it for you, lad," said a voice from the doorway. + +We turned, to find that Donald Roy had joined the party. He must have been +standing there unobserved long enough to understand my dilemma, for he +shot straight to the mark. + +"Sir Robert, I'll never be denying that you're a bold villain, and that is +the one thing that will be saving your life this night. I'm no' here to +argie-bargie with you. The plain fact is just this; that I dinna care a +rap for you the tane gate or the tither (the one way or the other). I'd +like fine to see you dancing frae the widdie (gallows), but gin the lady +wants you spared I'll no' say her no. Mr. Englisher, you'll just gie me +your word to tak the road for the border this night, or I'll give a bit +call to Major Macleod. I wouldna wonder but he wad be blithe to see you. +Is it to be the road or the Macleod?" + +I could have kissed the honest trusty face of the man, for he had lifted +me out of a bog of unease. I might be bound by honour, but Captain +Macdonald was free as air to dictate terms. Volney looked long at him, +weighed the man, and in the end flung up the sponge. He rose to his feet +and sauntered over to Aileen. + +"I am desolated to find that urgent business takes me south at once, Miss +Macleod. 'Tis a matter of the gravest calls me; nothing of less importance +than the life of my nearest friend would take me from you. But I'm afraid +it must be 'Au revoir' for the present," he said. + +She looked past the man as if he had not existed. + +He bowed low, the flattery of deference in his fine eyes, which knew so +well how to be at once both bold and timid. + +"Forgiven my madness?" he murmured. + +Having nothing to say, she still said it eloquently. Volney bowed himself +out of the room, nodded carelessly to me as he passed, touched Macdonald +on the arm with a pleasant promise to attend the obsequies when the +Highlander should be brought to London for his hanging, lounged elegantly +through the crowded assembly hall, and disappeared into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BLUE BONNETS ARE OVER THE BORDER + + +Next day I enrolled myself as a gentleman volunteer in Lord Balmerino's +troop of horse-guards, and was at once appointed to a lieutenancy. In +waiting for reinforcements and in making preparations for the invasion +three weeks were lost, but at last, on the 31st of October, came the order +for the march. We had that day been joined by Cluny Macpherson at the head +of his clan Pherson, by Menzies of Shien, and by several other small +bodies of Highlanders. All told our force amounted to less than five +thousand men, but the rapidity of our movements and the impetuous +gallantry of the clansmen made the enterprise less mad than it appeared +upon the face of it. Moreover we expected to be largely reinforced by +recruits who were to declare themselves as we marched south. + +It may be guessed that the last hour of leisure I had in the city was +spent with Aileen. Of that hour the greater part of it was worse than +lost, for a thickheaded, long-legged oaf of an Ayrshire laird shared the +room with us and hung to his chair with dogged persistency the while my +imagination rioted in diverse forms of sudden death for him. Nor did it +lessen my impatience to know that the girl was laughing in her sleeve at +my restlessness. She took a malicious pleasure in drawing out her +hobnailed admirer on the interesting subject of sheep-rot. At last, having +tormented me to the limit of prudence, she got rid of him. To say truth, +Miss Aileen had for weeks held me on the tenter-hooks of doubt, now in +high hope, far more often in black despair. She had become very popular +with the young men who had declared in favour of the exiled family, and I +never called without finding some colour-splashed Gael or broad-tongued +Lowland laird in dalliance. 'Twas impossible to get a word with her alone. +Her admirers were forever shutting off the sunlight from me. + +Aileen was sewing on a white satin cockade, which the man from Ayrshire, +in the intervals between the paragraphs of his lecture on the sheep +industry, had been extremely solicitous of obtaining for a favour. 'Twas a +satisfaction to me that my rustic friend departed without it. He was no +sooner gone than I came near and perched myself on the arm of a chair +beside the girl. For a minute I sat watching in silence the deft movements +of the firm brown hands in which were both delicacy and power. + +Then, "For Malcolm?" I asked. + +"No-o." + +"For whom then?" + +"For a brave gentleman who iss marching south with the Prince--a kind +friend of mine." + +"You seem to have many of them. For which one is the favour?" I queried, a +little bitterly. + +She looked at me askance, demure yet whimsical. + +"You will can tell when you see him wearing it." + +I fell sulky, at the which mirth bubbled up in her. + +"Is he as good a friend as I am, this fine lover of yours?" I asked. + +"Every whit." Mockery of my sullenness danced in her blue eyes. + +"And do you--like him as well?" I blurted out, face flaming. + +She nodded yes, gaily, without the least sentiment in the world. + +I flung away in a pet. "You're always laughing at me. By Heaven, I won't +be made a fool of by any girl!" + +The corners of her eyes puckered to fresh laughter. "Troth, and you needna +fear, Kenneth. No girl will can do that for you." + +"Well then," I was beginning, half placated at the apparent flattery, but +stopped with a sudden divination of her meaning. "You think me a fool +already. Is that it?" + +"I wass thinking that maybe you werena showing the good gumption this day, +Mr. Kenneth Montagu." + +My pride and my misery shook hands. I came back to blurt out in boyish +fashion, + +"Let us not quarrel again to-day, Aileen, and--do not laugh at me these +last few minutes. We march this afternoon. The order has been given out." + +Her hands dropped to her lap. Save where a spot of faint red burned in +either cheek the colour ran out of her face. I drove my news home, playing +for a sign of her love, desiring to reach the spring of her tears. + +"Some of us will never cross the border twice," I said. + +My news had flung a shadow across the bright track of her gayety. 'Tis one +thing for a high-spirited woman to buckle on the sword of her friend; 'tis +another to see him go out to the fight. + +"Let us not be thinking of that at all, Kenneth," she cried. + +"Why not? 'Tis a fact to face," I insisted cruelly. "There'll be many a +merry lusty gentleman lying quiet under the sod, Aileen, before we reach +London town. From the ownership of broad moorland and large steading they +will come down to own no more of earth than six foot by two." + +"They will be dying as brave gentlemen should," she said, softly, her +voice full of tears. + +"And if I am one of them?" I asked, making a more home thrust. + +The girl stood there tall, slim, pallid, head thrown back, the pulse in +the white curved throat beating fast. + +"Oh Kenneth, you will not be," she cried piteously. + +"But if I am?" + +"Please, Kenneth?" Her low voice implored me to desist; so too the deep +billowing breasts and melting eyes. + +"The fighting will be sharp and our losses heavy. It's his death many a +man is going to, Aileen." + +"Yes, and if you will be believing me, Kenneth, the harder part iss for +those of us who cannot fight but must wear away the long days and mirk +nights at home. At the least I am thinking so whatever. The long live day +we sit, and can do nothing but wait and wait. After every fight will not +some mother be crooning the coronach for her dear son? Every glen will +have its wailing wife and its fatherless bairns. And there will be the +lovers too for whom there iss the driech wait, forby (besides) that maybe +their dearest will be lying under the rowans with their een steekit (eyes +fixed) in death." + +"There are some of us who have neither mother, wife, nor lover. Will there +be none to spare a tear for us if we fall?" + +"Indeed, and there will, but"--a wan little smile broke through the film +of gathering tears--"we will be waiting till they are needed, and we will +be praying that the evil day may never come." + +"I'm hoping that myself," I told her, smiling, "but hope never turns aside +the leaden bullet." + +"Prayers may," she answered quickly, the shy lids lifting from the blue +eyes bravely to meet my look, "and you will never be wanting (lacking) +mine, my friend." Then with the quick change of mood that was so +characteristic of her, she added: "But I will be the poor friend, to fash +(bother) you with all these clavers (idle talk) when I should be +heartening you. You are glad to be going, are you not?" + +All the romance and uplift of our cause thrilled through me. + +"By God, yes! When my King calls I go." + +Her eyes shone on me, tender, wistful, proud. + +"And that's the true word, Kenneth. It goes to the heart of your friend." + +"To hear you say that rewards me a hundred times, dear." + +I rose to go. She asked, "Must you be leaving already?" + +When I told her "Yes!" she came forward and shyly pinned the cockade on +the lapel of my coat. I drew a deep breath and spoke from a husky throat. + +"God bless you for that, Aileen girl." + +I was in two minds then about taking her in my arms and crying out that I +loved her, but I remembered that I had made compact with myself not to +speak till the campaign was ended and the Prince seated as regent on his +father's throne. With a full heart I wrung her hand in silence and turned +away. + +Prince Charles and his life-guards, at the head of the army, moved from +Holyrood to Pinkie-house that afternoon. A vast concourse of people were +gathered to cheer us on our way, as we passed through the streets to the +sound of the pipes and fife and beating drum. More than one twisted +cripple flung himself before the horse of the Prince, begging for "the +King's touch." In each case the Young Chevalier disclaimed any power of +healing, but his kindly heart forbade his denying the piteous appeal. With +a slight smile of sympathy he would comply with the request, saying, "I +touch, but God heal." At the head of each clan-regiment rode its chief, +and in front of every company the captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, all +of whom were gentlemen of the clan related by blood ties to the chief. +Though I say it who was one of them, never a more devoted little army went +out on a madder or more daring enterprise. + +Just one more glimpse of Aileen I got to carry with me through weary +months of desire. From the window of her aunt's house she was waving a +tartan scarf, and many a rugged kerne's face lighted at the girl's eager +loyalty. Flushed with shy daring, the soft pliant curves of her figure all +youth and grace, my love's picture framed in the casement was an +unconscious magnet for all eyes. The Prince smiled and bowed to her, then +said something which I did not catch to Creagh who was riding beside him. +The Irishman laughed and looked over at me, as did also the Prince. His +Highness asked another question or two, and presently Tony fell into +narration. From the young Stuart Prince's curious looks at me 'twas plain +to be seen that Creagh was recounting the tale of my adventures. Once I +heard the Prince exclaim, "What! That boy?" More than once he laughed +heartily, for Creagh was an inimitable story-teller and every point to be +scored in the telling gained sparkle from his Irish wit. When he had +finished Prince Charles sent for me and congratulated me warmly on the +boldness and the aplomb (so he was kind enough to phrase it) which had +carried me through devious dangers. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CULLODEN + + +I have neither space nor heart to attempt a history of our brilliant but +ill-starred campaign. Surely no more romantic attempt to win a throne was +ever made. With some few thousand ill-armed Highlanders and a handful of +lowland recruits the Prince cut his way through the heart of England, +defeated two armies and repulsed a third, each of them larger than his own +and far better supplied with the munitions of war, captured Carlisle, +Manchester, and other towns, even pushed his army beyond Derby to a point +little more than a hundred miles from London. Had the gentlemen of England +who believed in our cause been possessed of the same spirit of devotion +that animated these wild Highlanders we had unseated the Hanoverians out +of doubt, but their loyalty was not strong enough to outweigh the +prudential considerations that held them back. Their doubts held them +inactive until too late. + +There are some who maintain that had we pushed on from Derby, defeated the +army of the Duke of Cumberland, of which the chance at this time was good, +and swept on to London, that George II would have been sent flying to his +beloved Hanover. We know now in what a state of wild excitement the +capital city was awaiting news of our approach, how the household +treasures of the Guelphs were all packed, how there was a run on the Bank +of England, how even the Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of Great +Britain, locked himself in his chamber all day denying admittance to all +in an agony of doubt as to whether he had better declare at once for the +Stuarts. We know too that the Wynns and other loyal Welsh gentlemen had +already set out to rally their country for the honest cause, that cautious +France was about to send an army to our assistance. + +But all this was knowledge too late acquired. The great fact that +confronted us was that without a French army to assist, our English +friends would not redeem their contingent pledges. We were numerically of +no greater force than when we had set out from Scotland, and the hazard of +an advance was too great. General Wade and the Duke of Cumberland were +closing in on us from different sides, each with an army that outnumbered +ours, and a third army was waiting for us before London. 'Tis just +possible that we might have taken the desperate chance and won, as the +Prince was so eager that we should do, but it was to be considered that as +a defeated army in a hostile country, had the fortune of war declared +against us, we would surely have been cut to pieces in our retreat. By +Lord George Murray and the chiefs it was judged wiser to fall back and +join Lord John Drummond's army in Scotland. They declared that they would +follow wherever the Prince chose to lead, but that they felt strongly that +a further advance was to doom their clansmen to destruction. Reluctantly +the Prince gave way. + +On the 6th of December, before daybreak, the army began its retreat, which +was conducted with great skill by Lord George Murray. Never were men more +disappointed than the rank and file of the army when they found that a +retreat had been resolved upon. Expressions of chagrin and disappointment +were to be heard on every hand. But the necessity of the retreat was soon +apparent to all, for the regulars were now closing in on us from every +hand. By out-marching and out-maneuvering General Wade, we beat him to +Lancaster, but his horse were entering the town before we had left the +suburbs. At Clifton the Duke of Cumberland, having joined forces with +Wade, came in touch with us, and his van was soundly drubbed by our +rear-guard under Lord George, who had with him at the time the Stewarts of +Appin, the Macphersons, Colonel Stuart's regiment, and Donald Roy's +Macdonalds. By great good chance I arrived with a message to Lord George +from the Prince in time to take part in this brilliant little affair. With +his usual wisdom Lord George had posted his men in the enclosures and park +of Lowther Hall, the Macdonalds on the right of the highway, Colonel +Stuart in close proximity, and the Macphersons and the Appin regiment to +the left of the road. I dismounted, tied my horse, and joined the Red +Macdonald's company where they were lying in the shrubbery. We lay there a +devil of a while, Donald Roy smoking as contented as you please, I in a +stew of impatience and excitement; presently we could hear firing over to +the left where Cluny Macpherson and Stewart of Ardshiel were feeling the +enemy and driving them back. At last the order came to advance. Donald Roy +leaped to his feet, waved his sword and shouted "Claymore!" Next moment we +were rushing pell-mell down the hillside through the thick gorse, over +hedges, and across ditches. We met the dragoons in full retreat across the +moor at right angles toward us, raked them with a cross fire, and coming +to close quarters cut them to pieces with the sword. In this little +skirmish, which lasted less than a quarter of an hour, our loss was +insignificant, while that of the enemy reached well into the three +figures. The result of this engagement was that our army was extricated +from a precarious position and that Cumberland allowed us henceforth to +retreat at leisure without fear of molestation. + +Of the good fortune which almost invariably attended our various +detachments in the North, of our retreat to Scotland and easy victory over +General Hawley at the battle of Falkirk, and of the jealousies and +machinations of Secretary Murray and the Irish Prince's advisers, +particularly O'Sullivan and Sir Thomas Sheridan, against Lord George +Murray and the chiefs, I can here make no mention, but come at once to the +disastrous battle of Culloden which put a period to our hopes. A number of +unfortunate circumstances had conspired to weaken us. According to the +Highland custom, many of the troops, seeing no need of their immediate +presence, had retired temporarily to their homes. Several of the clan +regiments were absent on forays and other military expeditions. The +Chevalier O'Sullivan, who had charge of the commissariat department, had +from gross negligence managed to let the army get into a state bordering +on starvation, and that though there was a quantity of meal in Inverness +sufficient for a fortnight's consumption. The man had allowed the army to +march from the town without provisions, and the result was that at the +time of the battle most of the troops had tasted but a single biscuit in +two days. To cap all, the men were deadly wearied by the long night march +to surprise the Duke of Cumberland's army and their dejected return to +Drummossie Moor after the failure of the attempt. Many of the men and +officers slipped away to Inverness in search of refreshments, being on the +verge of starvation; others flung themselves down on the heath, sullen, +dejected, and exhausted, to forget their hunger for the moment in sleep. + +Without dubiety our plain course was to have fallen back across the Nairn +among the hills and let the Duke weary his troops trying to drag his +artillery up the mountainsides. The battle might easily have been +postponed for several days until our troops were again rested, fed, and in +good spirits. Lord George pointed out at the counsel that a further reason +for delay lay in the fact that the Mackenzies under Lord Cromarty, the +second battalion of the Frasers under the Master of Lovat, the Macphersons +under Cluny, the Macgregors under Glengyle, Mackinnon's followers, and the +Glengary Macdonald's under Barisdale were all on the march to join us and +would arrive in the course of a day or two. That with these +reinforcements, and in the hill country, so eminently suited to our method +of warfare, we might make sure of a complete victory, was urged by him and +others. But O'Sullivan and his friends had again obtained the ear of the +Prince and urged him to immediate battle. This advice jumped with his own +high spirit, for he could not brook to fall back in the face of the enemy +awaiting the conflict. The order went forth to gather the clans for the +fight. + +To make full the tale of his misdeeds came O'Sullivan's fatal slight to +the pride of the Macdonalds. Since the days of Robert the Bruce and +Bannockburn it had been their clan privilege to hold the post of honour on +the right. The blundering Irishman assigned this position to the Athole +men in forming the line of battle, and stubbornly refused to reform his +line. The Duke of Perth, who commanded on the left wing, endeavoured to +placate the clan by vowing that they would that day make a right of the +left and promising to change his name to Macdonald after the victory. +Riding to the Duke with a message from the Prince I chanced on a man lying +face down among the whin bushes. For the moment I supposed him dead, till +he lifted himself to an elbow. The man turned to me a gash face the colour +of whey, and I saw that it was Donald Roy. + +"Ohon! Ohon! The evil day hass fallen on us, Kenneth. Five hundred years +the Macdonalds have held the post of honour. They will never fight on the +left," he told me in bitter despair and grief. "Wae's me! The red death +grips us. Old MacEuan who hass the second sight saw a vision in the night +of Cumberland's ridens driving over a field lost to the North. Death on +the field and on the scaffold." + +I have never known a man of saner common sense than Donald Roy, but when +it comes to their superstitions all Highlanders are alike. As well I might +have reasoned with a wooden post. MacEuan of the seeing eyes had predicted +disaster, and calamity was to be our portion. + +He joined me and walked beside my horse toward his command. The firing was +by this time very heavy, our cannon being quite ineffective and the +artillery of the English well served and deadly. Their guns, charged with +cartouch, flung death wholesale across the ravine at us and decimated our +ranks. The grape-shot swept through us like a hail-storm. Galled beyond +endurance by the fire of the enemy, the clans clamoured to be led forward +in the charge. Presently through the lifting smoke we saw the devoted +Mackintoshes rushing forward against the cannon. After them came the +Maclaughlans and the Macleans to their left, and a moment later the whole +Highland line was in motion with the exception of the Macdonalds, who +hewed the turf with their swords in a despairing rage but would neither +fight nor fly. Their chief, brave Keppoch, stung to the quick, advanced +almost alone, courting death rather than to survive the day's disgrace. +Captain Donald Roy followed at his heels, imploring his chieftain not to +sacrifice himself, but Keppoch bade him save himself. For him, he would +never see the sunrise again. Next moment he fell to the ground from a +musket-shot, never to speak more. My last glimpse of Captain Roy was to +see him carrying back the body of his chief. + +I rode back at a gallop along the ridge to my troop. The valley below was +a shambles. The English cannon tore great gaps in the ranks of the +advancing Highlanders. The incessant fire of the infantry raked them. From +the left wing Major Wolfe's regiment poured an unceasing flank fire of +musketry. The Highlanders fell in platoons. Still they swept forward +headlong. They reached the first line of the enemy. 'Twas claymore against +bayonet. Another minute, and the Highlanders had trampled down the +regulars and were pushing on in impetuous gallantry. The thin tartan line +clambering up the opposite side of the ravine grew thinner as the +grape-shot carried havoc to their ranks. Cobham's and Kerr's dragoons +flanked them _en potence_. To stand that hell of fire was more than mortal +men could endure. Scarce a dozen clansmen reached the second line of +regulars. The rest turned and cut their way, sword in hand, through the +flanking regiments which had formed on the ground over which they had just +passed with the intention of barring the retreat. + +Our life-guards and the French pickets, together with Ogilvy's regiment, +checked in some measure the pursuit, but nothing could be done to save the +day. All was irretrievably lost, though the Prince galloped over the field +attempting a rally. The retreat became a rout, and the rout a panic. As +far as Inverness the ground was strewn with the dead slain in that ghastly +pursuit. + +The atrocities committed after the battle would have been worthy of +savages rather than of civilized troops. Many of the inhabitants of +Inverness had come out to see the battle from curiosity and were cut down +by the infuriated cavalry. The carnage of the battle appeared not to +satiate their horrid thirst for blood, and the troopers, bearing in mind +their disgrace at Gladsmuir and Falkirk, rushed to and fro over the field +massacring the wounded. I could ask any fair-minded judge to set up +against this barbarity the gentle consideration and tenderness of Prince +Charles and his wild Highlanders in their hours of victory. We never slew +a man except in the heat of fight, and the wounded of the enemy were +always cared for with the greatest solicitude. From this one may conclude +that the bravest troops are the most humane. These followers of the Duke +had disgraced themselves, and they ran to an excess of cruelty in an +attempt to wipe out their cowardice. + +Nor was it the soldiery alone that committed excesses. I regret to have to +record that many of the officers also engaged in them. A party was +dispatched from Inverness the day after the battle to put to death all the +wounded they might find in the inclosures of Culloden Park near the field +of the contest. A young Highlander serving with the English army was +afterwards heard to declare that he saw seventy-two unfortunate victims +dragged from their hiding in the heather to hillocks and shot down by +volleys of musketry. Into a small sheep hut on the moor some of our +wounded had dragged themselves. The dragoons secured the door and fired +the hut. One instance of singular atrocity is vouched for. Nineteen +wounded Highland officers, too badly injured to join the retreat, secreted +themselves in a small plantation near Culloden-house, to which mansion +they were afterward taken. After being allowed to lie without care +twenty-four hours they were tossed into carts, carried to the wall of the +park, ranged against it in a row, and instantly shot. I myself was a +witness of one incident which touches the butcher of Cumberland nearly. If +I relate the affair, 'tis because it falls pat with the narrative of my +escape. + +In the streets of Inverness I ran across Major Macleod gathering together +the remnant of his command to check the pursuit until the Prince should +have escaped. The man had just come from seeing his brave clansmen mowed +down, and his face looked like death. + +"The Prince-- Did he escape?" I asked. "I saw him last trying to stem the +tide, with Sheridan and O'Sullivan tugging at his reins to induce a +flight." + +The Macleod nodded. "They passed through the town not five minutes ago." + +I asked him whether he had seen anything of Captain Roy Macdonald, and he +told me that he had last seen him lying wounded on the field. I had him +describe to me accurately the position, and rode back by a wide circuit +toward Drummossie Moor. I had of course torn off the white cockade and put +it in my breast so as to minimize the danger of being recognized as a +follower of the Prince. My heart goes to my throat whenever I think of +that ride, for behind every clump of whins one might look to find a +wounded clansman hiding from the riders of Cumberland. By good providence +I came on Captain Macdonald just as three hussars were about to make an +end of him. He had his back to a great stone, and was waiting grimly for +them to shoot him down. Supposing me to be an officer of their party the +troopers desisted at my remonstrance and left him to me. Donald Roy was +wounded in the foot, but he managed to mount behind me. We got as far as +the wall of the park when I saw a party of officers approaching. Hastily +dismounting, we led the horse behind a nest of birches till they should +pass. A few yards from us a sorely wounded Highland officer was lying. +Macdonald recognized him as Charles Fraser, younger of Inverallachie, the +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fraser regiment and in the absence of the Master +of Lovat commander. We found no time to drag him to safety before the +English officers were upon us. + +The approaching party turned out to be the Duke of Cumberland himself, +Major Wolfe, Lord Boyd, Sir Robert Volney, and a boy officer of Wolfe's +regiment. Young Fraser raised himself on his elbow to look at the Duke. +The Butcher reined in his horse, frowning blackly down at him. + +"To which side do you belong?" he asked. + +"To the Prince," was the undaunted answer. + +Cumberland, turning to Major Wolfe, said, + +"Major, are your pistols loaded?" + +Wolfe said that they were. + +"Then shoot me that Highland scoundrel who dares look on me so +insolently." + +Major Wolfe looked at his commander very steadily and said quietly: "Sir, +my commission is at the disposal of your Royal Highness, but my honour is +my own. I can never consent to become a common executioner." + +The Duke purpled, and burst out with, "Bah! Pistol him, Boyd." + +"Your Highness asks what is not fitting for you to require nor for me to +perform," answered that young nobleman. + +The Duke, in a fury, turned to a passing dragoon and bade him shoot the +young man. Charles Fraser dragged himself to his feet by a great effort +and looked at the butcher with a face of infinite scorn while the soldier +was loading his piece. + +"Your Highness," began Wolfe, about to remonstrate. + +"Sir, I command you to be silent," screamed the Duke. + +The trooper presented his piece at the Fraser, whose steady eyes never +left the face of Cumberland. + +"God save King James!" cried Inverallachie in English, and next moment +fell dead from the discharge of the musket. + +The faces of the four Englishmen who rode with the Duke were stern and +drawn. Wolfe dismounted from his horse and reverently covered the face of +the dead Jacobite with a kerchief. + +"God grant that when our time comes we may die as valiantly and as loyally +as this young gentleman," he said solemnly, raising his hat. + +Volney, Boyd, and Wolfe's subaltern uncovered, and echoed an "Amen." +Cumberland glared from one to another of them, ran the gamut of all tints +from pink to deepest purple, gulped out an apoplectic Dutch oath, and dug +the rowels deep into his bay. With shame, sorrow, and contempt in their +hearts his retinue followed the butcher across the field. + +My face was like the melting winter snows. I could not look at the +Macdonald, nor he at me. We mounted in silence and rode away. Only once he +referred to what we had seen. + +"Many's the time that Charlie Fraser and I have hunted the dun deer across +the heather hills, and now----" He broke into Gaelic lamentation and +imprecation, then fell as suddenly to quiet. + +We bore up a ravine away from the roads toward where a great gash in the +hills invited us, for we did not need to be told that the chances of +safety increased with our distance from the beaten tracks of travel. A man +on horseback came riding behind and overhauled us rapidly. Presently we +saw that he was a red-coated officer, and behind a huge rock we waited to +pistol him as he came up. The man leaped from his horse and came straight +toward us. I laid a hand on Captain Roy's arm, for I had recognized Major +Wolfe. But I was too late. A pistol ball went slapping through the Major's +hat and knocked it from his head. He stooped, replaced it with the utmost +composure, and continued to advance, at the same time calling out that he +was a friend. + +"I recognized you behind the birches, Montagu, and thought that you and +your friend could use another horse. Take my Galloway. You will find him a +good traveller." + +I ask you to believe that we stared long at him. A wistful smile touched +his sallow face. + +"We're not all ruffians in the English army, lad. If I aid your escape it +is because prisoners have no rights this day. My advice would be for you +to strike for the hills." + +"In troth and I would think your advisings good, sir," answered Donald. +"No glen will be too far, no ben too high, for a hiding-place from these +bloody Sassenach dogs." Then he stopped, the bitterness fading from his +voice, and added: "But I am forgetting myself. God, sir, the sights I have +seen this day drive me mad. At all events there iss one English officer +Captain Macdonald will remember whatever." And the Highlander bowed with +dignity. + +I thanked Wolfe warmly, and lost no time in taking his advice. Captain +Roy's foot had by this time so swollen that he could not put it in the +stirrup. He was suffering a good deal, but at least the pain served to +distract him from the gloom that lay heavy on his spirits. From the +hillside far above the town we could see the lights of Inverness beginning +to glimmer as we passed. A score of times we had to dismount on account of +the roughness of the ground to lead our horses along the steep incline of +the mountainsides, and each time Donald set his teeth and dragged his +shattered ankle through bracken and over boulder by sheer dour pluck. +Hunger gnawed at our vitals, for in forty-eight hours we had but tasted +food. Deadly weariness hung on our stumbling footsteps, and in our gloomy +hearts lurked the coldness of despair. Yet hour after hour we held our +silent course, clambering like heather-cats over cleugh and boggy +moorland, till at last we reached Bun Chraobg, where we unsaddled for a +snatch of sleep. + +We flung ourselves down on the soft heather wrapped in our plaids, but for +long slumber was not to be wooed. Our alert minds fell to a review of all +the horrors of the day: to friends struck down, to the ghastly carnage, to +fugitives hunted and shot in their hiding-places like wild beasts, to the +mistakes that had ruined our already lost cause. The past and the present +were bitter as we could bear; thank Heaven, the black shadow of the future +hung as yet but dimly on our souls. If we had had the second sight and +could have known what was to follow--the countryside laid waste with fire +and sword, women and children turned out of their blazing homes to perish +on the bleak moors, the wearing of the tartan proscribed and made a crime +punishable with death, a hundred brave Highlanders the victim of the +scaffold--we should have quite despaired. + +Except the gentle soughing of the wind there was no sound to stir the +silent night. A million of night's candles looked coldly down on an army +of hunted stragglers. I thought of the Prince, Cluny, Lord Murray, Creagh, +and a score of others, wondering if they had been taken, and fell at last +to troubled sleep, from which ever and anon I started to hear the wild +wail of the pibroch or the ringing Highland slogans, to see the flaming +cannon mouths vomiting death or the fell galloping of the relentless +Hanoverian dragoons. + +In the chill dawn I awoke to a ravening hunger that was insistent to be +noted, and though my eyes would scarce believe there was Donald Roy cocked +tailor fashion on the heath arranging most temptingly on a rock scone +sandwiches of braxy mutton and a flask of usquebaugh (Highland whiskey). I +shut my eyes, rubbed them with my forefingers, and again let in the light. +The viands were still there. + +The Macdonald smiled whimsically over at me. "Gin ye hae your appetite wi' +you we'll eat, Mr. Montagu, for I'm a wee thingie hungry my nainsell +(myself). 'Deed, to mak plain, I'm toom (empty) as a drum, and I'm +thinkin' that a drappie o' the usquebaugh wad no' come amiss neither." + +"But where in the world did you get the food, Donald?" + +"And where wad you think, but doon at the bit clachan yonder? A very guid +freend of mine named Farquhar Dhu lives there. He and Donald Roy are far +ben (intimate), and when I came knocking at his window at cock-craw he was +no' very laithe to gie me a bit chack (lunch)." + +"Did you climb down the mountain and back with your sore ankle?" + +He coloured. "Hoots, man! Haud your whitter (tongue)! Aiblins (perhaps) I +wass just wearying for a bit exercise to test it. And gin I were you I +wadna sit cocking on that stane speiring at me upsitten (impertinent) +questions like a professor of pheelosophy, you muckle sumph!" + +I fell to with a will. He was not a man to be thanked in words. Long since +I had found out that Captain Roy was one to spend himself for his friends +and make nothing of it. This was one of his many shining qualities that +drew me so strongly to him. If he had a few of the Highland faults he did +not lack any of the virtues of his race. + +Shortly we were on our way once more, and were fortunate enough before +night to fall in with Cluny and his clan, who having heard of our reverse +had turned about and were falling back to Badenoch. At Trotternich we +found a temporary refuge at the home of a surgeon who was distantly +related to the Macdonald, but at the end of a fortnight were driven away +by the approach of a troop of Wolfe's regiment. + +The course of our wanderings I think it not needful to detail at length. +For months we were forever on the move. From one hiding-place to another +the redcoats and their clan allies drove us. No sooner were we fairly +concealed than out we were routed. Many a weary hundred miles we tramped +over the bleak mountains white with snow. Weariness walked with us by day, +and cold and hunger lay down with us at night. Occasionally we slept in +sheilings (sheep-huts), but usually in caves or under the open sky. Were +we in great luck, venison and usquebaugh fell to our portion, but more +often our diet was brose (boiling water poured over oatmeal) washed down +by a draught from the mountain burn. Now we would be lurking on the +mainland, now skulking on one of the islands or crossing rough firths in +crazy boats that leaked like a sieve. Many a time it was touch and go with +us, for the dragoons and the Campbells followed the trail like sleuths. We +fugitives had a system of signals by which we warned each other of the +enemy's approach and conveyed to each other the news. That Balmerino, +Kilmarnock, and many another pretty man had been taken we knew, and scores +of us could have guessed shrewdly where the Prince was hiding in the +heather hills. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE RED HEATHER HILLS + + +A sullen day, full of chill gusts and drizzle, sinking into a wet misty +night! Three hunted Jacobites, dragging themselves forward drearily, found +the situation one of utter cheerlessness. For myself, misery spoke in +every motion, and to say the same of Creagh and Macdonald is to speak by +the card. Fatigue is not the name for our condition. Fagged out, +dispirited, with legs moving automatically, we still slithered down +cleughs, laboured through dingles and corries, clambered up craggy +mountainsides all slippery with the wet heather, weariness tugging at our +leaden feet like a convict's chain and ball. Our bones ached, our throats +were limekilns, composts of sores were our ragged feet. + +On every side the redcoats had hemmed us in, and we knew not whether we +tramped to a precarious safety or to death. Indeed, 'twas little we cared, +for at last exhaustion had touched the limit of endurance. Not a word had +passed the lips of any of us for hours, lest the irritation of our worn +nerves should flame into open rupture. + +At length we stood on the summit of the ridge. Scarce a half mile from us +a shieling was to be seen on the shoulder of the mount. + +"That looks like the cot where O'Sullivan and the Prince put up a month +ago," said Creagh. + +Macdonald ruffled at the name like a turkeycock. Since Culloden the word +had been to him as a red rag to a bull. + +"The devil take O'Sullivan and his race," burst out the Scotch Captain. +"Gin it had not been for him the cause had not been lost." + +The Irishman's hot temper flared. + +"You forget the Macdonalds, sir," he retorted, tartly. + +"What ails you at the Macdonalds?" demanded the gentleman of that ilk, +looking him over haughtily from head to foot. + +Creagh flung out his answer with an insolent laugh. "Culloden." + +The Macdonald's colour ebbed. "It will be a great peety that you hafe +insulted me, for there will presently be a dead Irishman to stain the snow +with hiss blood," he said deliberately, falling into more broken English +as he always did when excited. + +Creagh shrugged. "That's on the knees of the gods. At the worst it leaves +one less for the butcher to hang, Scotch or Irish." + +"It sticks in my mind that I hafe heard you are a pretty man with the +steel--at the least I am thinking so," said Captain Roy, standing straight +as an arrow, his blue eyes fixed steadily on his opponent. + +"Gadso! Betwixt and between, but I dare say my sword will serve to keep my +head at all events whatefer," cried Creagh, mimicking scornfully the +other's accent. + +Donald whipped his sword from its scabbard. + +"Fery well. That will make easy proving, sir." + +The quarrel had cropped out so quickly that hitherto I had found no time +to interfere, but now I came between them and beat down the swords. + +"Are you mad, gentlemen? Put up your sword, Tony. Back, Macdonald, or on +my soul I'll run you through," I cried. + +"Come on, the pair of ye. Captain Roy can fend for (look out for) +himself," shouted the excited Highlander, thrusting at me. + +"Fall back, Tony, and let me have a word," I implored. + +The Irishman disengaged, his anger nearly gone, a whimsical smile already +twitching at his mouth. + +"Creagh, you don't mean to impeach the courage of Captain Macdonald, do +you?" I asked. + +"Not at all--not at all. Faith, I never saw a man more keen to fight," he +admitted, smiling. + +"He was wounded at Culloden. You know that?" + +"So I have heard." Then he added dryly, some imp of mischief stirring him: +"In the heel, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, in the foot," I told him hastily. "I suppose you do not doubt the +valour of the Captain's clan any more than his own." + +"Devil a bit!" he answered carelessly. "I've seen them fight too often to +admit of any question as to their courage at all, at all. For sheer daring +I never saw the beat of the Highland troops--especially if there chanced +to be any plunder on the other side of the enemy, Egad!" + +I turned to Donald Roy, who was sullenly waiting for me to have done. "Are +you satisfied, Captain, that Tony meant to impute nothing against you or +your men?" + +"Oich! Oich!" he grumbled. "I wass thinking I heard some other dirty +sneers." + +"If the sneers were unjust I retract them with the best will in the world. +Come, Captain Macdonald, sure 'tis not worth our while doing the work of +the redcoats for them. 'Slife, 'tis not fair to Jack Ketch!" exclaimed the +Irishman. + +"Right, Donald! Why, you fire-eating Hotspur, you began it yourself with a +fling at the Irish. Make up, man! Shake hands with Tony, and be done with +your bile." + +Creagh offered his hand, smiling, and his smile was a handsome letter of +recommendation. Donald's face cleared, and he gripped heartily the hand of +the other. + +"With great pleasure, and gin I said anything offensive I eat my words at +all events," he said. + +"You may say what you please about O'Sullivan, Captain Macdonald. Ecod, he +may go to the devil for me," Creagh told him. + +"Well, and for me too; 'fore God, the sooner the better." + +"If there is to be no throat-cutting to warm the blood maybe we had better +push on to the bothy, gentlemen. I'm fain niddered [perishing] with the +cold. This Highland mist goes to the marrow," I suggested merrily, and +linking arms with them I moved forward. + +In ten minutes we had a roaring fire ablaze, and were washing down with +usquebaugh the last trace of unkindness. After we had eaten our bannocks +and brose we lay in the shine of the flame and revelled in the blessed +heat, listening to the splash of the rain outside. We were still +encompassed by a cordon of the enemy, but for the present we were content +to make the most of our unusual comfort. + +"Here's a drammoch left in the flask. I give you the restoration, +gentlemen," cried Donald. + +"I wonder where the Prince is this night," I said after we had drunk the +toast. + +We fell to a meditative sombre silence, and presently Captain Roy began to +sing softly one of those touching Jacobite melodies that go to the source +of tears like rain to the roots of flowers. Donald had one of the rare +voices that carry the heart to laughter and to sobs. The singer's song, +all pathos and tenderness, played on the chords of our emotion like a +harp. My eyes began to smart. Creagh muttered something about the +peat-smoke affecting his, and I'm fain to admit that I rolled over with my +face from the fire to hide the tell-tale tears. The haunting pathetic +wistfulness of the third stanza shook me with sobs. + + "On hills that are by right his ain, + He roams a lanely stranger; + On ilka hand he's pressed by want, + On ilka hand by danger." + +"Ohon! Ohon!" groaned Donald. "The evil day! The evil day! Wae's me for +our bonnie Hieland laddie!" + +"May the Blessed Mother keep him safe from all enemies and dangers!" said +Creagh softly. + +"And God grant that he be warm and well fed this bitter night wherever he +may be," I murmured. + +Something heavy like the butt of a musket fell against the door, and we +started to our feet in an instant. Out flashed our swords. + +"Who goes?" cried the Macdonald. + +We threw open the door, and in came a party of four, rain dripping from +their soaked plaids. I recognized at once Young Clanranald and Major +Macleod. The other two were a tattered gillie in the Macdonald tartan and +a young woman of most engaging appearance, who was supported in the arms +of Clanranald and his henchman. The exhausted lady proved to be no other +than the celebrated Miss Flora Macdonald, whose gallant and generous +devotion, for a protracted period, as we afterwards learned, had +undoubtedly saved the life of the Prince from his enemies. + +Donald no sooner beheld his kinswoman than he dropped on his knee and with +the wildest demonstrations of joy kissed the hand of the ragged kerne who +supported her. I stared at Captain Roy in amazement, and while I was yet +wondering at his strange behaviour Tony Creagh plumped down beside him. My +eyes went to the face of the gillie and encountered the winsome smile of +the Young Chevalier. Desperately white and weary as he was, and dressed in +an outcast's rags, he still looked every inch the son of kings. To me he +was always a more princely figure in his days of adversity, when he roamed +a hunted wanderer among Highland heughs and corries with only those about +him over whose hearts he still was king, than when he ruled at Holyrood +undisputed master of Scotland. + +It appeared that the party of the Prince, with the exception of +Clanranald, were destined for Raasay, could they but run the cordon of +troopers who guarded the island of Skye. Through Malcolm, arrangements had +been made by which Murdoch Macleod, a younger brother wounded at Culloden, +was to be in waiting with a boat to convey the party of the Prince across +the sound. It will be believed that we discussed with much care and +anxiety the best disposition to be made of ourselves in running the lines +of the enemy. The final decision was that the Prince, Malcolm, and I +should make the attempt that night while Creagh, Captain Roy, and Miss +Flora followed at their leisure on the morrow. Since the young lady was +provided with a passport for herself and her attendant this promised to be +a matter of small danger on their part. + +Never have I known a woman treated with truer chivalry and deference than +this heroic Highland girl was by these hardy mountaineers. Her chief, +Clanranald, insisted on building with his own hands a fire in her sleeping +room "ben" the house, and in every way the highest marks of respect were +shown her for her devotion to the cause. Though he expected to join her +again shortly, the Prince made her his warmest acknowledgments of thanks +in a spirit of pleasantry which covered much tender feeling. They had been +under fire together and had shared perils by land and by sea during which +time his conduct to her had been perfect, a gentle consideration for her +comfort combined with the reserve that became a gentleman under such +circumstances. On this occasion he elected to escort her in person to the +door of her chamber. + +After a snatch of sleep we set out on our perillous journey. Sheets of +rain were now falling in a very black night. Donald Roy parted from us at +the door of the hut with much anxiety. He had pleaded hard to be allowed +to join the party of the Prince, but had been overruled on the ground that +he was the only one of us with the exception of Malcolm that could act as +a guide. Moreover he was the kinsman of Miss Flora, and therefore her +natural protector. Over and over he urged us to be careful and to do +nothing rash. The Prince smilingly answered him with a shred of the +Gaelic. + +"Bithidh gach ni mar is aill Dhiu." (All things must be as God will have +them.) + +The blackness of the night was a thing to be felt. Not the faithful +Achates followed Æneas more closely than did we the Macleod. No sound came +to us but the sloshing of the rain out of a sodden sky and the noise of +falling waters from mountain burns in spate (flood). Hour after hour while +we played blindly follow-my-leader the clouds were a sieve over our +devoted heads. Braes we breasted and precipitous heathery heights we +sliddered down, but there was always rain and ever more rain, turning at +last into a sharp thin sleet that chilled the blood. + +Then in the gray breaking of the day Malcolm turned to confess what I had +already suspected, that he had lost the way in the darkness. We were at +present shut in a sea of fog, a smirr of mist and rain, but when that +lifted he could not promise that we would not be close on the campfires of +the dragoons. His fine face was a picture of misery, and bitterly he +reproached himself for the danger into which he had led the Prince. The +Young Chevalier told him gently that no blame was attaching to him; rather +to us all for having made the attempt in such a night. + +For another hour we sat on the dripping heather opposite the corp-white +face of the Macleod waiting for the mist to lift. The wanderer exerted +himself to keep us in spirits, now whistling a spring of Clanranald's +march, now retailing to us the story of how he had walked through the +redcoats as Miss Macdonald's Betty Burke. It may be conceived with what +anxiety we waited while the cloud of moisture settled from the mountain +tops into the valleys. + +"By Heaven, sir, we have a chance," cried Malcolm suddenly, and began to +lead the way at a great pace up the steep slope. For a half hour we +scudded along, higher and higher, always bearing to the right and at such +a burst of speed that I judged we must be in desperate danger. The Prince +hung close to the heels of Malcolm, but I was a sorry laggard ready to die +of exhaustion. When the mist sank we began to go more cautiously, for the +valley whence we had just emerged was dotted at intervals with the +campfires of the soldiers. Cautiously we now edged our way along the +slippery incline, keeping in the shadow of great rocks and broom wherever +it was possible. 'Tis not in nature to walk unmoved across an open where +every bush may hide a sentinel who will let fly at one as gladly as at a +fat buck--yes, and be sure of thirty thousand pounds if he hit the right +mark. I longed for eyes in the back of my head, and every moment could +feel the lead pinging its way between my shoulder blades. + +Major Macleod had from his youth stalked the wary stag, and every saugh +and birch and alder in our course was made to yield us its cover. Once a +muircock whirred from my very feet and brought my heart to my mouth. +Presently we topped the bluff and disappeared over its crest. Another hour +of steady tramping down hill and the blue waters of the sound stretched +before us. 'Twas time. My teeth chattered and my bones ached. I was +sick--sick--sick. + +"And here we are at the last," cried the Major with a deep breath of +relief. "I played the gomeral brawly, but in the darkness we blundered +ram-stam through the Sassenach lines." + +"'Fortuna favet fatuis,'" quoted the Young Chevalier. "Luck for fools! The +usurper's dragoons will have to wait another day for their thirty thousand +pounds. Eh, Montagu?" he asked me blithely; then stopped to stare at me +staggering down the beach. "What ails you, man?" + +I was reeling blindly like a drunkard, and our Prince put an arm around my +waist. I resisted feebly, but he would have none of it; the arm of a +king's son (de jure) supported me to the boat. + +We found as boatmen not only Murdoch Macleod but his older brother Young +Raasay, the only one of the family that had not been "out" with our army. +He had been kept away from the rebellion to save the family estates, but +his heart was none the less with us. + +"And what folly is this, Ronald?" cried Malcolm when he saw the head of +the house on the links. "Murdoch and I are already as black as we can be, +but you were to keep clean of the Prince's affairs. It wad be a geyan ill +outcome gin we lost the estates after all. The red cock will aiblins craw +at Raasay for this." + +"I wass threepin' so already, but he wass dooms thrang to come. He'll +maybe get his craig raxed (neck twisted) for his ploy," said Murdoch +composedly. + +"By Heaven, Malcolm, I'll play the trimmer no longer. Raasay serves his +Prince though it cost both the estate and his head," cried the young +chieftain hotly. + +"In God's name then let us get away before the militia or the sidier roy +(red soldiers) fall in with us. In the woody cleughs yonder they are thick +as blackcocks in August," cried the Major impatiently. + +We pushed into the swirling waters and were presently running free, +sending the spurling spray flying on both sides of the boat. The wind came +on to blow pretty hard and the leaky boat began to fill, so that we were +hard put to it to keep from sinking. The three brothers were quite used to +making the trip in foul weather, but on the Prince's account were now much +distressed. To show his contempt for danger, the royal wanderer sang a +lively Erse song. The Macleods landed us at Glam, and led the way to a +wretched hovel recently erected by some shepherds. Here we dined on +broiled kid, butter, cream, and oaten bread. + +I slept round the clock, and awoke once more a sound man to see the Prince +roasting the heart of the kid on an iron spit. Throughout the day we +played with a greasy pack of cards to pass the time. About sundown Creagh +joined us, Macdonald having stayed on Skye to keep watch on any suspicious +activity of the clan militia or the dragoons. Raasay's clansmen, +ostensibly engaged in fishing, dotted the shore of the little island to +give warning of the approach of any boats. To make our leader's safety +more certain, the two proscribed brothers took turns with Creagh and me in +doing sentinel duty at the end of the path leading to the sheep hut. + +At the desire of the Prince--and how much more at mine!--we ventured up to +the great house that night to meet the ladies, extraordinary precautions +having been taken by Raasay to prevent the possibility of any surprise. +Indeed, so long as the Prince was in their care, Raasay and his brothers +were as anxious as the proverbial hen with the one chick. Doubtless they +felt that should he be captured while on the island the reputation of the +house would be forever blasted. And this is the most remarkable fact of +Charles Edward Stuart's romantic history; that in all the months of his +wandering, reposing confidence as he was forced to do in hundreds of +different persons, many of them mere gillies and some of them little +better than freebooters, it never seems to have occurred to one of these +shag-headed Gaels to earn an immense fortune by giving him up. + +My heart beat a tattoo against my ribs as I followed the Prince and Raasay +to the drawing-room where his sister and Miss Macdonald awaited us. Eight +months had passed since last I had seen my love; eight months of battle, +of hairbreadth escapes, and of hardships scarce to be conceived. She too +had endured much in that time. Scarce a house in Raasay but had been razed +by the enemy because her brothers and their following had been "out" with +us. I was to discover whether her liking for me had outlived the turmoils +of "the '45," or had been but a girlish fancy. + +My glance flashed past Miss Flora Macdonald and found Aileen on the +instant. For a hundredth part of a second our eyes met before she fell to +making her devoirs to the Young Chevalier, and after that I did not need +to be told that my little friend was still staunch and leal. I could +afford to wait my turn with composure, content to watch with long-starved +eyes the delicacy and beauty of this sweet wild rose I coveted. Sure, hers +was a charm that custom staled not nor longer acquaintance made less +alluring. Every mood had its own characteristic fascination, and are not +the humours of a woman numberless? She had always a charming note of +unconventional freshness, a childlike _naiveté_ of immaturity and +unsophistication at times, even a certain girlish shy austerity that had +for me a touch of saintliness. But there-- Why expatiate? A lover's +midsummer madness, you will say! + +My turn at last! The little brown hand pressed mine firmly for an instant, +the warm blue eyes met mine full and true, the pulse in the soft-throated +neck beat to a recognition of my presence. I found time to again admire +the light poise of the little head carried with such fine spirit, the +music of the broken English speech in this vibrant Highland voice. + +"Welcome-- Welcome to Raasay, my friend!" Then her eyes falling on the +satin cockade so faded and so torn, there came a tremulous little catch to +her voice, a fine light to her eyes. "It iss the good tale that my +brothers have been telling me of Kenneth Montagu's brave devotion to hiss +friends, but I wass not needing to hear the story from them. I will be +thinking that I knew it all already," she said, a little timidly. + +I bowed low over her hand and kissed it. "My friends make much of nothing. +Their fine courage reads their own spirit reflected in the eyes of +others." + +"Oh, then I will have heard the story wrong. It would be Donald who went +back to Drummossie Moor after you when you were wounded?" + +"Could a friend do less?" + +"Or more?" + +"He would have done as much for me. My plain duty!" I said, shrugging, +anxious to be done with the subject. + +She looked at me with sparkling eyes, laughing at my discomposure, in a +half impatience of my stolid English phlegm. + +"Oh, you men! You go to your death for a friend, and if by a miracle you +escape: 'Pooh! 'Twas nothing whatever. Gin it rain to-morrow, I think +'twill be foul,' you say, and expect to turn it off so." + +I took the opening like a fox. + +"Faith, I hope it will not rain to-morrow," I said. "I have to keep watch +outside. Does the sun never shine in Raasay, Aileen?" + +"Whiles," she answered, laughing. "And are all Englishmen so shy of their +virtues?" + +Tony Creagh coming up at that moment, she referred the question to him. + +"Sure, I can't say," he answered unsmilingly. "'Fraid I'm out of court. +Never knew an Englishman to have any." + +"Can't you spare them one at the least?" Aileen implored, gaily. + +He looked at her, then at me, a twinkle in his merry Irish eyes. + +"Ecod then, I concede them one! They're good sportsmen. They follow the +game until they've bagged it." + +We two flushed in concert, but the point of her wit touched Creagh on the +_riposte_. + +"The men of the nation being disposed of in such cavalier fashion, what +shall we say of the ladies, sir?" she asked demurely. + +"That they are second only to the incomparable maidens of the North," he +answered, kissing her hand in his extravagant Celtic way. + +"But I will not be fubbed off with your Irish blarney. The English ladies, +Mr. Creagh?" she merrily demanded. + +"Come, Tony, you renegade! Have I not heard you toast a score of times the +beauties of London?" said I, coming up with the heavy artillery. + +"Never, I vow. Sure I always thought Edinburgh a finer city--not so dirty +and, pink me, a vast deal more interesting. Now London is built----" + +"On the Thames. So it is," I interrupted dryly. "And--to get back to the +subject under discussion--the pink and white beauties of London are built +to take the eye and ensnare the heart of roving Irishmen. Confess!" + +"Or be forever shamed as recreant knight," cried Aileen, her blue eyes +bubbling with laughter. + +Tony unbuckled his sword and offered it her. "If I yield 'tis not to +numbers but to beauty. Is my confession to be in the general or the +particular, Miss Macleod?" + +"Oh, in the particular! 'Twill be the mair interesting." + +"Faith then, though it be high treason to say so of one lady before +another, Tony Creagh's scalp dangles at the belt of the most bewitching +little charmer in Christendom." + +"Her name?" + +"Mistress Antoinette Westerleigh, London's reigning toast." + +Aileen clapped her hands in approving glee. + +"And did you ever tell her?" + +"A score of times. Faith, 'twas my rule to propose every second time I saw +her and once in between." + +"And she----?" + +"Laughed at me; played shill-I-shall-I with my devotion; vowed she would +not marry me till I had been killed in the wars to prove I was a hero; +smiled on me one minute and scorned me the next." + +"And you love her still?" + +"The sun rises in 'Toinette's eyes; when she frowns the day is vile." + +"Despite her whims and arrogances?" + +"Sure for me my queen can do no wrong. 'Tis her right to laugh and mock at +me so only she enjoy it." + +Aileen stole one shy, quick, furtive look at me. It seemed to question +whether her lover was such a pattern of meek obedience. + +"And you never falter? There iss no other woman for you?" + +"Saving your presence, there is no other woman in the world?" + +Her eyes glistened. + +"Kneel down, sir," she commanded. + +Tony dropped to a knee. She touched him lightly on the shoulder with his +sword. + +"In love's name I dub you worthy knight. Be bold, be loyal, be fortunate. +Arise, Sir Anthony Creagh, knight of the order of Cupid!" + +We three had wandered away together into an alcove, else, 'tis almost +needless to say, our daffing had not been so free. Now Malcolm joined us +with a paper in his hand. He spoke to me, smiling yet troubled too. + +"More labours, O my Theseus! More Minotaurs to slay! More labyrinths to +thread!" + +"And what may be these labours now?" I asked. + +"Captain Donald Roy sends for you. He reports unusual activity among the +clan militia and the redcoats on Skye. A brig landed men and officers +there yesterday. And what for will they be coming?" + +"I think the reason is very plain, Major Macleod," said Tony blithely. + +"I'm jalousing (suspecting) so mysel'. They will be for the taking of a +wheen puir callants (lads) that are jinking (hiding) in the hill birken +(scrub). But here iss the point that must be learned: do they ken that the +Prince iss on the islands?" + +Creagh sprang to his feet from the chair in which he had been lazying. +"The devil's in it! Why should Montagu go? Why not I?" + +"Because you can't talk the Gaelic, Creagh. You're barred," I told him +triumphantly. + +"Would you be sending our guest on such an errand of danger, Malcolm?" +asked Aileen in a low voice. + +"Not I, but Fegs! I will never say the word to hinder if he volunteers. +'Tis in the service of the Prince. The rest of us are kent (known) men and +canna gang." + +Grouped behind Malcolm were now gathered the Prince, Raasay, and Miss +Flora. To me as a focus came all eyes. I got to my feet in merry humour. + +"Ma foi! Ulysses as a wanderer is not to be compared with me. When do I +set out, Major?" + +"At skreigh-o'-day (daybreak). And the sooner you seek your sleep the +better. Best say good-night to the lassies, for you'll need be wide awake +the morn twa-three hours ere sun-up. Don't let the redcoats wile (lure) +you into any of their traps, lad. You maunna lose your head or----" + +"----Or I'll lose my head," I answered, drolling. "I take you, Major; but, +my word for it, I have not, played hide-and-go-seek six months among your +Highland lochs and bens to dance on air at the last." + +The Prince drew me aside. "This will not be forgotten when our day of +power comes, Montagu. I expected no less of your father's son." Then he +added with a smile: "And when Ulysses rests safe from his wanderings at +last I trust he will find his Penelope waiting for him with a true +heart." + +Without more ado I bade Miss Macdonald and Aileen good-bye, but as I left +the room I cast a last look back over my shoulder and methought that the +lissome figure of my love yearned forward toward me tenderly and +graciously. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +VOLNEY PAYS A DEBT + + +There are some to whom strange changes never come. They pursue the even +tenor of their way in humdrum monotony, content to tread the broad safe +path of routine. For them the fascination of the mountain peaks of giddy +chance has no allurement, the swift turbulent waters of intrigue no charm. +There are others with whom Dame Fortune plays many an exciting game, and +to these adventure becomes as the very breath of life. To such every +hazard of new fortune is a diversion to be eagerly sought. + +Something of this elation seized me--for I am of this latter class--as +Murdoch and his gillies rowed me across the sound to Skye in the darkness +of the early morning. It was a drab dawn as ever I have seen, and every +tug at the oars shot me nearer to the red bloodhounds who were debouched +over the island. What then? Was I not two years and twenty, and did I not +venture for the life of a king's son? To-day I staked my head on luck and +skill; to-morrow--but let the future care for her own. + +In a grove of beeches about half a mile from Portree we landed, and +Murdoch gave the call of the whaup to signal Donald Roy. From a clump of +whins in the gorse the whistle echoed back to us, and presently Captain +Macdonald came swinging down to the shore. It appeared that another +boatload of soldiers had been landed during the night, a squad of clan +militia under the command of a Lieutenant Campbell. We could but guess +that this portended some knowledge as to the general whereabouts of the +Prince, and 'twas my mission to learn the extent and reliability of that +knowledge if I could. That there was some danger in the attempt I knew, +but it had been minimized by the philibeg and hose, the Glengarry bonnet +and Macleod plaid which I had donned at the instance of Malcolm. + +I have spoken of chance. The first stroke of it fell as I strode along the +highway to Portree. At a crossroad intersection I chanced on a fellow +trudging the same way as myself. He was one of your furtive-faced fellows, +with narrow slits of eyes and an acquired habit of skellying sidewise at +one out of them. Cunning he was beyond doubt, and from the dour look of +him one to bear malice. His trews were like Joseph's coat for the colour +of the many patches, but I made them out to have been originally of the +Campbell plaid. + +"A fine day, my man," says I with vast irony. + +"Wha's finding faut wi' the day?" he answers glumly. + +"You'll be from across the mountains on the mainland by the tongue of +you," I ventured. + +"Gin you ken that there'll be nae use telling you." + +"A Campbell, I take it." + +He turned his black-a-vised face on me, scowling. + +"Or perhaps you're on the other side of the hedge--implicated in this +barelegged rebellion, I dare say." + +Under my smiling, watchful eye he began to grow restless. His hand crept +to his breast, and I heard the crackle of papers. + +"Deil hae't, what's it to you?" he growled. + +"To me? Oh, nothing at all. Merely a friendly interest. On the whole I +think my first guess right. I wouldn't wonder but you're carrying +dispatches from Lieutenant Campbell." + +The fellow went all colours and was as easy as a worm on a hook. + +"I make no doubt you'll be geyan tired from long travel, and the +responsibility of carrying such important documents must weigh down your +spirits," I drolled, "and so I will trouble you"--with a pistol clapped to +his head and a sudden ring of command in my voice--"to hand them over to +me at once." + +The fellow's jaw dropped lankly. He looked hither and thither for a way of +escape and found none. He was confronting an argument that had a great +deal of weight with him, and out of the lining of his bonnet he ripped a +letter. + +"Thanks, but I'll take the one in your breast pocket," I told him dryly. + +Out it came with a deal of pother. The letter was addressed to the Duke of +Cumberland, Portree, Skye. My lips framed themselves to a long whistle. +Here was the devil to pay. If the butcher was on the island I knew he had +come after bigger game than muircocks. No less a quarry than the Prince +himself would tempt him to this remote region. I marched my prisoner back +to Captain Roy and Murdoch. To Donald I handed the letter, and he ripped +it open without ceremony. 'Twas merely a note from the Campbell Lieutenant +of militia, to say that the orders of his Highness regarding the watching +of the coast would be fulfilled to the least detail. + +"Well, and here's a pirn to unravel. What's to be done now?" asked the +Macdonald. + +"By Heaven, I have it," cried I. "Let Murdoch carry the news to Raasay +that the Prince may get away at once. Do you guard our prisoner here, +while I, dressed in his trews and bonnet, carry the letter to the Duke. +His answer may throw more light on the matter." + +Not to make long, so it was decided. We made fashion to plaster up the +envelope so as not to show a casual looker that it had been tampered with, +and I footed it to Portree in the patched trews of the messenger, not with +the lightest heart in the world. The first redcoat I met directed me to +the inn where the Duke had his headquarters, and I was presently admitted +to a hearing. + +The Duke was a ton of a little man with the phlegmatic Dutch face. He read +the letter stolidly and began to ask questions as to the disposition of +our squad. I lied generously, magnificently, my face every whit as wooden +as his; and while I was still at it the door behind me opened and a man +came in leisurely. He waited for the Duke to have done with me, softly +humming a tune the while, his shadow flung in front across my track; and +while he lilted there came to me a dreadful certainty that on occasion I +had heard the singer and his song before. + + "'Then come kiss me sweet and twenty. + Youth's a stuff will not endure,'" + +carolled the melodious voice lazily. Need I say that it belonged to my +umquhile friend Sir Robert Volney. + +Cumberland brushed me aside with a wave of his hand. + +"Donner! If the Pretender is on Skye--and he must be--we've got him +trapped, Volney. Our cordon stretches clear across the isle, and every +outlet is guarded," he cried. + +"Immensely glad to hear it, sir. Let's see! Is this the twelfth time +you've had him sure? 'Pon honour, he must have more lives than the +proverbial cat," drawled Sir Robert insolently. + +There was one thing about Volney I could never enough admire. He was no +respecter of persons. Come high, come low, the bite of his ironic tongue +struck home. For a courtier he had the laziest scorn of those he courted +that ever adventurer was hampered with; and strangely enough from him his +friends in high place tolerated anything. The Prince of Wales and his +brother Cumberland would not speak to each other, yet each of them fought +to retain Volney as his follower. Time-servers wondered that his uncurbed +speech never brought him to grief. Perhaps the secret of his security lay +in his splendid careless daring; in that, and in his winning personality. + +"By God, Volney, sometimes I think you're half a Jacobite," said +Cumberland, frowning. + +"Your Grace does me injustice. My bread is buttered on the Brunswick +side," answered the baronet, carelessly. + +"But otherwise--at heart----" + +Volney's sardonic smile came into play. "Otherwise my well-known caution, +and my approved loyalty,--Egad, I had almost forgotten that!--refute such +an aspersion." + +"Himmel! If your loyalty is no greater than your caution it may be counted +out. At the least you take delight in tormenting me. Never deny it, man! I +believe you want the Pretender to get away." + +"One may wish the Prince----" + +"The Prince?" echoed Cumberland, blackly. + +"The Young Chevalier then, if you like that better. 'Slife, what's in a +name? One may wish him to escape and be guilty of no crime. He and his +brave Highlanders deserve a better fate than death. I dare swear that half +your redcoats have the sneaking desire to see the young man win free out +of the country. Come, my good fellow"--turning to me--"What do they call +you--Campbell? Well then, Campbell, speak truth and shame the devil. Are +you as keen to have the Young Chevalier taken as you pretend?" + +Doggedly I turned my averted head toward him, saw the recognition leap to +his eyes, and waited for the word to fall from his lips that would condemn +me. Amusement chased amazement across his face. + +A moment passed, still another moment. The word was not spoken. Instead he +began to smile, presently to hum, + + "'You'll on an' you'll march to Carlisle ha' + To be hanged and quartered, an' a', an' a'.' + +"Come, Mont-Campbell, you haven't answered my question yet. If you knew +where Charles Edward Stuart was in hiding would you give him up?" He +looked at me from under lowered lids, vastly entertained, playing with me +as a cat does with a mouse. + +"I am a fery good servant of the King, God bless him whatefer, and I would +just do my duty," answered I, still keeping the rôle I had assumed. + +"Of course he would. Ach, liebe himmel! Any loyal man would be bound to do +so," broke in Cumberland. + +Volney's eyes shone. "I'm not so sure," said he. "Now supposing, sir, that +one had a very dear friend among the rebels; given the chance, ought he to +turn him over to justice?" + +"No doubt about it. Friendship ends when rebellion begins," said the Duke, +sententiously. + +Sir Robert continued blandly to argue the case, looking at me out of the +tail of his eye. Faith, he enjoyed himself prodigiously, which was more +than I did, for I was tasting a bad quarter of an hour. "Put it this way, +sir: I have a friend who has done me many good turns. Now assume that I +have but to speak the word to send him to his death. Should the word be +spoken?" + +The Duke said dogmatically that a soldier's first duty was to work for the +success of his cause regardless of private feelings. + +"Or turn it this way," continued Volney, "that the man is not a friend. +Suppose him a rival claimant to an estate I mean to possess. Can I in +honour give him up? What would you think, Mont--er--Campbell?" + +"Not Mont-Campbell, but Campbell," I corrected. "I will be thinking, sir, +that it would be a matter for your conscience, and at all events it iss +fery lucky that you do not hafe to decide it." + +"Still the case might arise. It's always well to be prepared," he +answered, laughing. + +"Nonsense, Robert! What the deuce do you mean by discussing such a matter +with a Highland kerne? I never saw your match for oddity," said the Duke. + +While he was still speaking there was a commotion in the outer room of the +inn. There sounded a rap at the door, and on the echo of the knock an +officer came into the room to announce the capture of a suspect. He was +followed by the last man in the world I wanted to see at that moment, no +other than the Campbell soldier whose place I was usurping. The fat was in +the fire with a vengeance now, and though I fell back to the rear I knew +it was but a question of time till his eye lit on me. + +The fellow began to tell his story, got nearly through before his ferret +eyes circled round to me, then broke off to burst into a screed of the +Gaelic as he pointed a long finger at me. + +The Duke flung round on me in a cold fury. "Is this true, fellow?" + +I came forward shrugging. + +"To deny were folly when the evidence is writ so plain," I said. + +"And who the devil are you?" + +"Kenneth Montagu, at your service." + +Cumberland ordered the room cleared, then turned on Volney a very grim +face. "I'll remember this, Sir Robert. You knew him all the time. It has a +bad look, I make plain to say." + +"'Twas none of my business. Your troopers can find enough victims for you +without my pointing out any. I take the liberty of reminding your Highness +that I'm not a hangman by profession," returned Volney stiffly. + +"You go too far, sir," answered the Duke haughtily. "I know my duty too +well to allow me to be deterred from performing it by you or by anybody +else. Mr. Montagu, have you any reason to give why I should not hang you +for a spy?" + +"No reason that would have any weight with your Grace," I answered. + +He looked long at me, frowning blackly out of the grimmest face I had ever +fronted; and yet that countenance, inexorable as fate, belonged to a young +man not four years past his majority. + +"Without dubiety you deserve death," he said at the last, "but because of +your youth I give you one chance. Disclose to me the hiding-place of the +Pretender and you shall come alive out of the valley of the shadow." + +A foretaste of the end clutched icily at my heart, but the price of the +proffered safety was too great. Since I must die, I resolved that it +should be with a good grace. + +"I do not know whom your Grace can mean by the Pretender." + +His heavy jaw set and his face grew cold and hard as steel. + +"You fool, do you think to bandy words with me? You will speak or by +heaven you will die the death of a traitor." + +"I need not fear to follow where so many of my brave comrades have shown +the way," I answered steadily. + +"Bah! You deal in heroics. Believe me, this is no time for theatricals. +Out with it. When did you last see Charles Stuart?" + +"I can find no honourable answer to that question, sir." + +"Then your blood be on your own head, fool. You die to-morrow morning by +the cord." + +"As God wills; perhaps to-morrow, perhaps not for fifty years." + +While I was being led out another prisoner passed in on his way to +judgment. The man was Captain Roy Macdonald. + +"I'm wae to see you here, lad, and me the cause of it by sending you," he +said, smiling sadly. + +"How came they to take you?" I asked. + +"I was surprised on the beach just after Murdoch left," he told me in the +Gaelic so that the English troopers might not understand. "All should be +well with the yellow haired laddie now that the warning has been given. +Are you for Carlisle, Kenneth?" + +I shook my head. "No, my time is set for to-morrow. If they give you +longer you'll find a way to send word to Aileen how it went with me, +Donald?" + +He nodded, and we gripped hands in silence, our eyes meeting steadily. +From his serene courage I gathered strength. + +They took me to a bothy in the village which had been set apart as a +prison for me, and here, a picket of soldiers with loaded muskets +surrounding the hut, they left me to myself. I had asked for paper and +ink, but my request had been refused. + +In books I have read how men under such circumstance came quietly to +philosophic and religious contemplation, looking at the issue with the +far-seeing eyes of those who count death but an incident. But for me, I am +neither philosopher nor saint. Connected thought I found impossible. My +mind was alive with fleeting and chaotic fragmentary impulses. Memories +connected with Cloe, Charles, Balmerino, and a hundred others occupied me. +Trivial forgotten happenings flashed through my brain. All the different +Aileens that I knew trooped past in procession. Gay and sad, wistful and +merry, eager and reflective, in passion and in tender guise, I saw my love +in all her moods; and melted always at the vision of her. + +I descended to self-pity, conceiving myself a hero and a martyr, revelling +in an agony of mawkish sentiment concerning the post-mortem grief of my +friends. From this at length I snatched myself by calling to mind the many +simple Highlanders who had preceded me in the past months without any +morbid craving for applause. Back harked my mind to Aileen, imagination +spanning the future as well as the past. Tender pity and love suffused me. +Mingled with all my broken reflections was many a cry of the heart for +mercy to a sinner about to render his last account and for healing balm to +that dear friend who would be left to mourn the memory of me painted in +radiant colours. + +Paradoxical though it may seem, the leaden hours flew on feathered foot. +Dusk fell, then shortly darkness. Night deepened, and the stars came out. +From the window I watched the moon rise till it flooded the room with its +pale light, my mind at last fallen into the sombre quiet of deep +abstraction. + +A mocking voice brought me to earth with a start. + +"Romantic spectacle! A world bathed in moonlight. Do you compose verses to +your love's bright eyes, Mr. Montagu? Or perhaps an epitaph for some close +friend?" + +An elegant figure in dark cloak, riding boots, and three-cornered hat +confronted me, when I slowly turned. + +"Hope I don't intrude," he said jauntily. + +I gave him a plain hint. "Sir Robert, like Lord Chesterfield, when he was +so ill last year, if I do not press you to remain it is because I must +rehearse my funeral obsequies." + +His laugh rang merrily. Coming forward a step or two, he flung a leg +across the back of a chair. + +"Egad, you're not very hospitable, my friend. Or isn't this your evening +at home?" he fleered. + +I watched him narrowly, answering nothing. + +"Cozy quarters," he said, looking round with polite interest. "May I ask +whether you have taken them for long?" + +"The object of your visit, sir," I demanded coldly. + +"There you gravel me," he laughed. "I wish I knew the motives for my +visit. They are perhaps a blend--some pique, some spite, some curiosity, +and faith! a little admiration, Mr. Montagu." + +"All of which being presumably now satisfied----" + +"But they're not, man! Far from it. And so I accept the courteous +invitation you were about to extend me to prolong my call and join you in +a glass of wine." + +Seeing that he was determined to remain willy-nilly, I made the best of +it. + +"You have interpreted my sentiments exactly, Sir Robert," I told him. "But +I fear the wine will have to be postponed till another meeting. My cellar +is not well stocked." + +He drew a flask from his pocket, found glasses on the table, and filled +them. + +"Then let me thus far play host, Mr. Montagu. Come, I give you a toast!" +He held the glass to the light and viewed the wine critically. "'T is a +devilish good vintage, though I say it myself. Montagu, may you always +find a safe port in time of storm!" he said with jesting face, but with a +certain undercurrent of meaning that began to set my blood pounding. + +But though I took a glimmer of the man's purpose I would not meet him +half-way. If he had any proposal to make the advances must come from him. +Nor would I allow myself to hope too much. + +"I' faith, 'tis a good port," I said, and eyed the wine no less judicially +than he. + +Volney's gaze loitered deliberately over the cottage furnishings. "Cozy +enough, but after all not quite to my liking, if I may make so bold as to +criticise your apartments. I wonder now you don't make a change." + +"I'm thinking of moving to-morrow," I told him composedly. "To a less +roomy apartment, but one just as snug." + +"Shall you live there permanently?" he asked with innocent face. + +"I shall stay there permanently," I corrected. + +Despite my apparent unconcern I was playing desperately for my life. That +Volney was dallying with some plan of escape for me I became more +confident, and I knew from experience that nothing would touch the man on +his weak side so surely as an imperturbable manner. + +"I mentioned pique and spite, Mr. Montagu, and you did not take my +meaning. Believe me, not against you, but against that oaf Cumberland," he +said. + +"And what may your presence here have to do with your pique against the +Duke? I confess that the connection is not plain to me," I said in +careless fashion. + +"After you left to-day, Mr. Montagu, I humbled myself to ask a favour of +the Dutchman--the first I ever asked, and I have done him many. He refused +it and turned his back on me." + +"The favour was----?" + +"That you might be taken to London for trial and executed there." + +I looked up as if surprised. "And why this interest on my behalf, Sir +Robert?" + +He shrugged. "I do not know--a fancy--a whim. George Selwyn would never +forgive me if I let you be hanged and he not there to see." + +"Had you succeeded Selwyn would have had you to thank for a pleasant +diversion, but I think you remarked that the Dutchman was obstinate. 'Tis +a pity--for Selwyn's sake." + +"Besides, I had another reason. You and I had set ourselves to play out a +certain game in which I took an interest. Now I do not allow any +blundering foreigners to interfere with my amusements." + +"I suppose you mean you do not like the foreigner to anticipate you." + +"By God, I do not allow him to when I can prevent it." + +"But as in this instance you cannot prevent it----" My sentence tailed +into a yawn. + +"That remains to be seen," he retorted, and whipped off first one boot and +then the other. The unfastened cloak fell to the floor, and he began to +unloose his doublet. + +I stared calmly, though my heart stood still. + +"Really, Sir Robert! Are you going to stay all night? I fear my +accommodations are more limited than those to which you have been +accustomed." + +"Don't stand gaping there, Montagu. Get off those uncivilized rags of +yours and slip on these. You're going out as Sir Robert Volney." + +"I am desolated to interfere with your revenge, but--the guards?" + +"Fuddled with drink," he said. "I took care of that. Don't waste time +asking questions." + +"The Duke will be in a fearful rage with you." + +His eyes grew hard. "Am I a child that I should tremble when Cumberland +frowns?" + +"He'll make you pay for this." + +"A fig for the payment!" + +"You'll lose favour." + +"I'll teach the sullen beast to refuse me one. The boots next." + +He put on the wig and hat for me, arranged the muffler over the lower part +of my face, and fastened the cloak. + +"The watchword for the night is 'Culloden.' You should have no trouble in +passing. I needn't tell you to be bold," he finished dryly. + +"I'll not forget this," I told him. + +"That's as you please," he answered carelessly. "I ask no gratitude. I'm +settling a debt, or rather two--one due Cumberland and the other you." + +"Still, I'll remember." + +"Oh, all right. Hope we'll have the pleasure of renewing our little game +some day. Better take to the hills or the water. You'll find the roads +strictly guarded. Don't let yourself get killed, my friend. The pleasure +of running you through I reserve for myself." + +I passed out of the hut into the night. The troopers who guarded the bothy +were in either the stupid or the uproarious stage of their drink. Two of +them sang a catch of a song, and I wondered that they had not already +brought down on them the officer of the day. I passed them carelessly with +a nod. One of them bawled out, "The watchword!" and I gave them +"Culloden." Toward the skirts of the village I sauntered, fear dogging my +footsteps; and when I was once clear of the houses, cut across a meadow +toward the shore, wary as a panther, eyes and ears alert for signals of +danger. Without mishap I reached the sound, beat my way up the sand links +for a mile or more, and saw a boat cruising in the moonlight off shore. I +gave the whaup's cry, and across the water came an answer. + +Five minutes later I was helping the gillie in the boat pull across to +Raasay. When half way over we rested on our oars for a breathing space and +I asked the news, the rug-headed kerne shot me with the dismal tidings +that Malcolm Macleod and Creagh, rowing to Skyes for a conference with +Captain Roy, had fallen into the hands of the troopers waiting for them +among the sand dunes. He had but one bit of comfort in his budget, and +that was "ta yellow-haired Sassenach body wass leaving this morning with +Raasay hersel' and Murdoch." At least I had some assurance that my +undertaking had secured the safety of the Prince, even though three +staunch men were on their way to their death by reason of it. + +Once landed on Raasay, I made up the brae to the great house. Lights were +still burning, and when I got close 'twas easy to be seen that terror and +confusion filled it. Whimpering, white-faced women and wailing bairns ran +hither and thither blindly. Somewhere in the back part of the house the +bagpipes were soughing a dismal kind of dirge. Fierce-eyed men with mops +of shock hair were gathered into groups of cursing clansmen. Through them +all I pushed my way in to Aileen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LITTLE GOD HAS AN INNINGS + + +By the great fireplace she stood, hands clasped, head upturned as in +prayer. The lips moved silently in the petition of her heart. I saw in +profile a girl's troubled face charged with mystery, a slim, tall, weary +figure all in white against the flame, a cheek's pure oval, the tense +curve of a proud neck, a mass of severely snodded russet hair. So I +recalled her afterward, picture of desolation seeking comfort, but at the +moment when I blundered on her my presence seemed profanity and no time +was found for appraisement. Abashed I came to a halt, and was for +tiptoeing back to the door; but hearing me she turned. + +"Kenneth!" she cried, and stood with parted lips. Then, "They told +me----" + +"That I was taken. True, but I escaped. How, I will tell you later. The +Prince-- Is he safe?" + +"For the present, yes. A lugger put in this morning belonging to some +smugglers. In it he sailed for the mainland with Ronald and Murdoch. You +will have heard the bad news," she cried. + +"That Malcolm, Creagh, and Donald are taken?" + +"And Flora, too. She iss to be sent to London for assisting in the escape +of the Prince. And so are the others." + +I fell silent, deep in thought, and shortly came to a resolution. + +"Aileen, the Highlands are no place for me. I am a stranger here. Every +clachan in which I am seen is full of danger for me. To-morrow I am for +London." + +"To save Malcolm," she cried. + +"If I can. Raasay cannot go. He must stay to protect his clansmen. Murdoch +is a fugitive and his speech would betray him in an hour. Remains only +I." + +"And I." + +"You?" + +"Why not? After 'the '15' women's tears saved many a life. And I too have +friends. Sir Robert Volney, evil man as he iss, would move heaven and +earth to save my brother." + +There was much truth in what she said. In these days of many executions a +pardon was to be secured less by merit than by the massing of influence, +and I knew of no more potent influence than a beautiful woman in tears. +Together we might be able to do something for our friends. But there was +the long journey through a hostile country to be thought of, and the +probability that we might never reach our destination in freedom. I could +not tell the blessed child that her presence would increase threefold my +chances of being taken, nor indeed was that a thing that held weight with +me. Sure, there was her reputation to be considered, but the company of a +maid would obviate that difficulty. + +Ronald returned next day, and I laid the matter before him. He was +extraordinarily loath to let Aileen peril herself, but on the other hand +he could not let Malcolm suffer the penalty of the law without making an +effort on his behalf. Raasay was tied hand and foot by the suspicions of +the government and was forced to consent to leave the matter in our hands. +He made only the one stipulation, that we should go by way of Edinburgh +and take his Aunt Miss MacBean with us as chaperone. + +We embarked on the smuggler next day for the Long Island and were landed +at Stornoway. After a dreary wait of over a week at this place we took +shipping on a brig bound for Edinburgh. Along the north coast of Scotland, +through the Pentland Firth, and down the east shore _The Lewis_ scudded. +It seemed that we were destined to have an uneventful voyage till one day +we sighted a revenue cutter which gave chase. As we had on board _The +Lewis_ a cargo of illicit rum, the brig being in the contraband trade, +there was nothing for it but an incontinent flight. For some hours our +fate hung in the balance, but night coming on we slipped away in the +darkness. The Captain, however, being an exceedingly timid man for one in +his position, refused absolutely to put into the Leith Road lest his +retreat should be cut off. Instead he landed us near Wemyss Castle, some +distance up the coast, and what was worse hours before the dawn had +cleared and in a pelting rain. + +I wrapped Volney's cloak around Aileen and we took the southward road, +hoping to come on some village where we might find shelter. The situation +might be thought one of extreme discomfort. There were we three--Aileen, +her maid, and I--sloshing along the running road in black darkness with +the dreary splashing of the rain to emphasize our forlorn condition. Over +unknown paths we travelled on precarious errand. Yet I for one never took +a journey that pleased me more. The mirk night shut out all others, and a +fair face framed in a tartan shawl made my whole world for me. A note of +tenderness not to be defined crept into our relationship. There was a +sweet disorder in her hair and more than once the wind whaffed it into my +face. In walking our fingers touched once and again; greatly daring, mine +slipped over hers, and so like children we went hand in hand. An old +romancer tells quaintly in one of his tales how Love made himself of the +party, and so it was with us that night. I found my answer at last without +words. While the heavens wept our hearts sang. The wine of love ran +through me in exquisite thrills. Every simple word she spoke went to my +heart like sweetest music, and every unconscious touch of her hand was a +caress. + +"Tired, Aileen?" I asked. "There is my arm to lean on." + +"No," she said, but presently her ringers rested on my sleeve. + +"'T will be daylight soon, and see! the scudding clouds are driving away +the rain." + +"Yes, Kenneth," she answered, and sighed softly. + +"You will think I am a sad blunderer to bring you tramping through the +night." + +"I will be thinking you are the good friend." + +Too soon the grey dawn broke, for at the first glimmer my love disengaged +herself from my arm. I looked shyly at her, and the glory of her young +beauty filled me. Into her cheeks the raw morning wind had whipped the +red, had flushed her like a radiant Diana. The fresh breeze had outlined +her figure clear as she struggled against it, and the billowing sail was +not more graceful than her harmonious lines. + +Out of the sea the sun rose a great ball of flaming fire. + +"A good omen for the success of our journey," I cried. "Look! + + "'Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.' + +"The good God grant it prove so, Kenneth, for Malcolm and for all our +friends." + +After all youth has its day and will not be denied. We were on an anxious +undertaking of more than doubtful outcome, but save when we remembered to +be sober we trod the primrose path. + +We presently came to a small village where we had breakfast at the inn. +For long we had eaten nothing but the musty fare of the brig, and I shall +never forget with what merry daffing we enjoyed the crisp oaten cake, the +buttered scones, the marmalade, and the ham and eggs. After we had eaten +Aileen went to her room to snatch some hours sleep while I made +arrangements for a cart to convey us on our way. + +A wimpling burn ran past the end of the inn garden, and here on a rustic +bench I found my comrade when I sought her some hours later. The sun was +shining on her russet-hair. Her chin was in her hands, her eyes on the +gurgling brook. The memories of the night must still have been thrilling +her, for she was singing softly that most exquisite of love songs "Annie +Laurie." + + "'Maxwelton's braes are bonnie, + Where early fa's the dew, + Where me and Annie Laurie + Made up the promise true.'" + +Her voice trembled a little, and I took up the song. + + "'Made up the promise true, + And ne'er forget will I; + And for bonnie Annie Laurie + I'd lay me doun and dee.'" + +At my first words she gave a little start, her lips parted, her head came +up prettily to attention, and though I could not see them I was ready to +vow that she listened with shining eyes. Softly her breath came and went. +I trod nearer as I sang. + + "'Her brow is like the snaw-drift, + Her throat is like the swan, + She's jimp about the middle, + Her waist ye weel micht span.' + +"Oh, Aileen, if I might--if I only had the right! Won't you give it me, +dear heart?" + +In the long silence my pulse stopped, then throbbed like an aching tooth. + +"I'm waiting, Aileen. It is to be yes or no?" + +The shy blue eyes met mine for an instant before they fluttered +groundward. I could scarce make out the low sweet music of her voice. + +"Oh, Kenneth, not now! You forget--my brother Malcolm----" + +"I forget everything but this, that I love you." + +In her cheeks was being fought the war of the roses, with Lancaster +victorious. The long-lashed eyes came up to meet mine bravely, love lucent +in them. Our glances married; in those clear Highland lochs of hers I was +sunk fathoms deep. + +"Truly, Kenneth?" + +"From the head to the heel of you, Aileen, lass. For you I would die, and +that is all there is about it," I cried, wildly. + +"Well then, take me, Kenneth! I am all yours. Of telling love there will +be many ways in the Gaelic, and I am thinking them all at once." + +And this is the plain story of how the great happiness came into Kenneth +Montagu's life, and how, though all unworthy, he won for his own the +daughter of Raasay. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE AFTERMATH + + +At Edinburgh we received check one. Aileen's aunt had left for the +Highlands the week before in a fine rage because the Duke of Cumberland, +who had foisted himself upon her unwilling hospitality, had eaten her out +of house and home, then departing had borne away with him her cherished +household _penates_ to the value of some hundred pounds. Years later Major +Wolfe told me with twinkling eyes the story of how the fiery little lady +came to him with her tale of woe. If she did not go straight to the dour +Duke it was because he was already out of the city and beyond her reach. +Into Wolfe's quarters she bounced, rage and suspicion speaking eloquent in +her manner. + +"Hech, sir! Where have ye that Dutch Prince of yours?" she demanded of +Wolfe, her keen eyes ranging over him. + +"'Pon honour, madam, I have not him secreted on my person," returned the +Major, gravely turning inside out his pockets for her. + +The spirited old lady glowered at him. + +"It's ill setting ye to be sae humoursome," she told him frankly. "It wad +be better telling ye to answer ceevilly a ceevil question, my birkie." + +"If I can be of any service, madam----" + +"Humph, service! And that's just it, my mannie. The ill-faured tykes hae +rampaigned through the house and taen awa' my bonnie silver tea service +that I hae scoured every Monday morning for thirty-seven years come +Michelmas, forby the fine Holland linen that my father, guid carefu' man, +brought frae the continent his nainsel." + +"I am sorry----" + +"Sorry! Hear till him," she snorted. "Muckle guid your sorrow will do me +unless----" her voice fell to a wheedling cajolery--"you just be a guid +laddie and get me back my linen and the silver." + +"The Duke has a partiality for fine bed linen, and quaint silver devices +are almost a mania with him. Perhaps some of your other possessions"-- + +"His Dutch officers ate me out of house and home. They took awa' eight +sacks of the best lump sugar." + +"The army is in need of sugar. I fear it is not recoverable." + +Miss MacBean had a way of affecting deafness when the occasion suited +her. + +"Eih, sir! Were you saying you wad see it was recovered? And my silver set +wi' twenty solid teaspoons, forby the linen?" she asked anxiously, her +hand to her ear. + +Wolfe smiled. + +"I fear the Duke----" + +"Ou ay, I ken fine you fear him. He's gurly enough, Guid kens." + +"I was about to say, madam, that I fear the Duke will regard them as +spoils from the enemy not to be given up." + +The Major was right. Miss MacBean might as well have saved her breath to +cool her porridge, for the Duke carried her possessions to London despite +her remonstrances. Five years later as I was passing by a pawnbroker's +shop on a mean street in London Miss MacBean's teapot with its curious +device of a winged dragon for a spout caught my eye in the window. The +shopkeeper told me that it had been sold him by a woman of the demi-monde +who had formerly been a mistress of the Duke of Cumberland. She said that +it was a present from his Royal Highness, who had taken the silver service +from the house of a fiery rebel lady in the north. + +Our stay in the Scottish capital was of the shortest. In the early morning +we went knocking at the door of Miss MacBean's house. All day I kept under +cover and in the darkness of night we slipped out of the city southwest +bound. Of that journey, its sweet comradeship, its shy confidences, its +perpetual surprises for each of us in discovering the other, I have no +time nor mind to tell. The very danger which was never absent from our +travel drew us into a closer friendliness. Was there an option between two +roads, or the question of the desirability of putting up at a certain inn, +our heads came together to discuss it. Her pretty confidence in me was +touching in the extreme. To have her hold me a Captain Greatheart made my +soul glad, even though I knew my measure did not fit the specifications by +a mile. Her trust in me was less an incense to my vanity than a spur to my +manhood. + +The mere joy of living flooded my blood with happiness in those days. I +vow it made me a better man to breathe the same air as she, to hear the +lilt of her merry laugh and the low music of her sweet voice. Not a curve +in that dimpled cheek I did not love; not a ripple in the russet hair my +hungry eyes had not approved. When her shy glance fell on me I rode in the +sunshine of bluest sky. If by chance her hand touched mine, my veins +leaped with the wine of it. Of such does the happiness of youth consist. + +'Tis strange how greedy love is in its early days of the past from which +it has been excluded, how jealous sometimes of the point of contact with +other lives in the unknown years which have gone to make up the rungs of +the ladder of life. I was never tired of hearing of her childhood on the +braes of Raasay: how she guddled for mountain trout in the burn with her +brother Murdoch or hung around his neck chains of daisies in childish +glee. And she-- Faith, she drew me out with shy questions till that part +of my life which would bear telling must have been to her a book learned +by rote. + +Yet there were times when we came near to misunderstanding of each other. +The dear child had been brought up in a houseful of men, her mother having +died while she was yet an infant, and she was in some ways still innocent +as a babe. The circumstances of our journey put her so much in my power +that I, not to take advantage of the situation, sometimes held myself with +undue stiffness toward her when my every impulse was to tenderness. +Perhaps it might be that we rode through woodland in the falling dusk +while the nesting birds sang madrigals of love. Longing with all my heart +to touch but the hem of her gown, I would yet ride with a wooden face set +to the front immovably, deaf to her indirect little appeals for +friendliness. Presently, ashamed of my gruffness, I would yield to the +sweetness of her charm, good resolutions windwood scattered, and woo her +with a lover's ardour till the wild-rose deepened in her cheek. + +"Were you ever in love before, Kennie?" she asked me once, twisting at a +button of my coat. We were drawing near Manchester and had let the +postillion drive on with the coach, while we loitered hand in hand through +the forest of Arden. The azure sky was not more blue than the eyes which +lifted shyly to mine, nor the twinkling stars which would soon gaze down +on us one half so bright. + +I laughed happily. "Once--in a boy's way--a thousand years ago." + +"And were you caring for her--much?" + +"Oh, vastly." + +"And she--wass she loving you too?" + +"More than tongue could tell, she made me believe." + +"Oh, I am not wondering at that," said my heart's desire. "Of course she +would be loving you." + +'Twas Aileen's way to say the thing she thought, directly, in headlong +Highland fashion. Of finesse she used none. She loved me (oh, a thousand +times more than I deserved!) and that was all there was about it. To be +ashamed of her love or to hide it never, I think, occurred to her. What +more natural then than that others should think of me as she did? + +"Of course," I said dryly. "But in the end my sweetheart, plighted to me +for all eternity, had to choose betwixt her lover and something she had +which he much desired. She sighed, deliberated long--full five seconds I +vow--and in end played traitor to love. She was desolated to lose me, but +the alternative was not to be endured. She sacrificed me for a raspberry +tart. So was shattered young love's first dream. 'Tis my only consolation +that I snatched the tart and eat it as I ran. Thus Phyllis lost both her +lover and her portion. Ah, those brave golden days! The world, an +unexplored wonder, lay at my feet. She was seven, I was nine." + +"Oh." There was an odd little note of relief in the velvet voice that +seemed to reproach me for a brute. I was forever forgetting that the ways +of 'Toinette Westerleigh were not the ways of Aileen Macleod. + +The dying sun flooded the topmost branches of the forest foliage. My eyes +came round to the aureole which was their usual magnet. + +"When the sun catches it 'tis shot with glints of gold." + +"It is indeed very beautiful." + +"In cloudy weather 'tis a burnished bronze." + +She looked at me in surprise. + +"Bronze! Surely you are meaning green?" + +"Not I, bronze. Again you might swear it russet." + +"That will be in the autumn when they are turning colour just before the +fall." + +"No, that is when you have it neatly snodded and the firelight plays about +your head." + +She laughed, flushing. "You will be forever at your foolishness, Kenn. I +thought you meant the tree tips." + +"Is the truth foolishness?" + +"You are a lover, Kennie. Other folks don't see that when they look at +me." + +"Other folks are blind," I maintained, stoutly. + +"If you see all that I will be sure that what they say is true and love is +blind." + +"The wise man is the lover. He sees clear for the first time in his life. +The sun shines for him--and her. For them the birds sing and the flowers +bloom. For them the world was made. They----" + +"Whiles talk blethers," she laughed. + +"Yes, they do," I admitted. "And there again is another sign of wisdom. +Your ponderous fool talks pompous sense always. He sees life in only one +facet. Your lover sees its many sides, its infinite variety. He can laugh +and weep; his imagination lights up dry facts with whimsical fancies; he +dives through the crust of conventionality to the realities of life. 'Tis +the lover keeps this old world young. The fire of youth, of eternal +laughing youth, runs flaming through his blood. His days are radiant, his +nights enchanted." + +"I am thinking you quite a poet." + +"Was there ever a better subject for a poem? Life would be poetry writ +into action if all men were lovers--and all women Aileens." + +"Ah, Kenneth! This fine talk I do not understand. It's sheer nonsense to +tell such idle clavers about me. Am I not just a plain Highland lassie, as +unskilled in flattering speeches as in furbelows and patches? Gin you will +play me a spring on the pipes I'll maybe can dance you the fling, but of +French minuets I have small skill." + +"Call me dreamer if you will. By Helen's glove, your dreamer might be the +envy of kings. Since I have known you life has taken a different hue. One +lives for years without joy, pain, colour, all things toned to the dull +monochrome of gray, and then one day the contact with another soul +quickens one to renewed life, to more eager unselfish living. Never so +bright a sun before, never so beautiful a moon. 'Tis true, Aileen. No fear +but one, that Fate, jealous, may snatch my love from me." + +Her laughter dashed my heroics; yet I felt, too, that back of her smiles +there was belief. + +"I dare say. At the least I will have heard it before. The voice iss +Jacob's voice, but----" + +I blushed, remembering too late that my text and its application were both +Volney's. + +"'Tis true, even if Jacob said it first. If a man is worth his salt love +must purify him. Sure it must. I am a better man for knowing you." + +A shy wonder filled her eyes; thankfulness too was there. + +"Yet you are a man that has fought battles and known life, and I am only +an ignorant girl." + +I lifted her hand and kissed it. + +"You are my queen, and I am your most loyal and devoted servant." + +"For always, Kenn? When you are meeting the fine ladies of London will you +love a Highland lassie that cannot make eyes and swear choicely?" + +"Forever and a day, dear." + +Aileen referred to the subject again two hours later when we arose from +the table at the Manchester ordinary. It was her usual custom to retire to +her room immediately after eating. To-night when I escorted her to the +door she stood for a moment drawing patterns on the lintel with her fan. A +fine blush touched her cheek. + +"Were you meaning all that, Kennie?" + +"All what, dear heart?" + +"That--nonsense--in the forest." + +"Every bit of it." + +Her fan spelt Kenneth on the door. + +"Sometimes," she went on softly, "a fancy is built on moonlight and +laughing eyes and opportunity. It iss like sunshine in winter on +Raasay--just for an hour and then the mists fall." + +"For our love there will be no mists." + +"Ah, Kenn, you think so now, but afterward, when you take up again your +London life, and I cannot play the lady of fashion, when you weary of my +simpleness and are wishing me back among the purple heather hills?" + +"That will be never, unless I wish myself there with you. I am no London +Mohawk like Volney. To tramp the heather after muircocks or to ride to +hounds is more my fancy. The Macaronis and I came long since to the +parting of the ways. I am for a snug home in the country with the woman I +love." + +I stepped to the table, filled a glass with wine, and brought it to her. + +"Come, love! We will drink together. How is it old Ben Jonson hath it? + + "'Drink to me only with thine eyes, + And I will pledge with mine; + Or leave a kiss but in the cup, + And I'll not look for wine. + The thirst that from the soul doth rise + Doth seek a drink divine; + But might I of Jove's nectar sup + I would not change from thine.' + +"Drink, sweetheart." + +She tasted, then I drained the glass and let it fall from my fingers to +shiver on the floor. + +Before we parted Aileen had one more word for me, "Kennie." + +"Yes, dear heart," I cried, and was back at her side in a moment. + +"What you said in the woods--I am knowing it all true. It is great +foolishness, but my heart is singing the same song," and with that she +whipped the door to in my face. + +I sauntered into the common room, found a seat by the fireplace, and let +my eye wander over the company. There were present some half dozen yokels, +the vicar's curate, a country blood or two, and a little withered runt of +a man in fustian with a weazened face like a wrinkled pippin. The moment I +clapped eyes on him there came to my mind the dim recollection of a former +acquaintance and the prescient fear of an impending danger. That I had +seen him I was ready to take oath, yet I could not put my finger upon the +circumstances. But the worst of it was that the old fellow recognized me, +unless I were much mistaken, for his eyes never left me from the first. + +From my mother I have inherited a Highland jauntiness which comes stealing +over me when sobriety would set me better. Let the situation be a +different one, uncertain of solution, with heads tipping in the balance, +and an absurd spirit of recklessness straightway possesses me. But now, +with this dear child on my hands, carelessness and I were far apart as the +poles. Anxiety gripped me, and I sweated blood. Yet I must play the +careless traveller, be full of good stories, unperturbed on the surface +and apparently far from alarm. I began to overdo the part, recognized the +fact, and grew savage at myself. Trying to conciliate him, I was free with +the ale, and again overdid it. + +He drank my ale and listened to my stories, but he sat cocking on his seat +like an imp of mischief. I rattled on, insouciant and careless to all +appearances, but in reality my heart like lead. Behind my smiling lips I +cursed him up hill and down dale. Lard, his malicious grin was a thing to +rile the gods! More than once I wake up in the night from dreaming that +his scrawny hand was clapping the darbies on my wrists. + +When we were ready to start next morning the post boy let me know that one +of the horses had gone lame. Here was a pretty pickle. I pished and +pshawed, but in the end had to scour the town to find another in its +place. 'Twas well on toward noon when the boy and I returned to the +ordinary with a nag that would serve. + +Of other lovers I have scant knowledge, but the one I know was wont to +cherish the memory of things his love had said and how she had said them; +with what a pretty tilt to her chin, with what a daring shyness of the +eyes, with what a fine colour and impetuous audacity she had done this or +looked that. He was wont in advance to plan out conversations, to decide +that he would tell her some odd brain fancy and watch her while he told +it. Many an hour he spent in the fairy land of imagination; many a one he +dreamed away in love castles built of fancied rambles in enchanted woods, +of sweet talks in which he always said and did the right thing; destined +alas! never to pass from mind to speech, for if ever tongue essayed the +telling it faltered some fatuous abortion as little like love's dream as +Caliban resembled Ariel. Fresh from the brave world of day-dreams, still +smiling happily from some whimsical conceit as well as with anticipation +of Aileen's gladness at sight of me, I passed through the courtyard and +into the ordinary. + +A hubbub at the foot of the stairway attracted me. A gaping crowd was +gathered there about three central figures. My weasened pippin-face of the +malicious grin was one of them; a broad-shouldered, fair-faced and very +much embarrassed young officer in the King's uniform stood beside him; and +from the stairway some three steps up Aileen, plainly frightened, fronted +them and answered questions in her broken English. + +"I am desolated to distress you, madam," the boy officer was saying, "but +this man has laid an information with me that there is a rebel in your +party, one who was in Manchester with the Pretender's force some months +since. It will be necessary that I have speech with him." + +"There iss no rebel with me, sir. The gentleman with whom I travel iss of +most approved loyalty," she faltered. + +"Ah! He will no doubt be able to make that clear to me. May I ask where he +is at present?" + +Aileen went white as snow. Her distress was apparent to all. + +"Sir, I do entreat you to believe that what I say iss true," she cried +whitely. + +The little rat in fustian broke out screaming that he would swear to me +among ten thousand: as to the girl she must be the rebel's accomplice, his +mistress mayhap. Aileen, her big, anxious eyes fixed on the officer, +shrank back against the stair rail at her accuser's word. The lad +commanded him sharply to be quiet, but with the utmost respect let Aileen +understand that he must have talk with me. + +All this one swift glance had told me, and at this opportune moment I +sauntered up, Volney's snuff-box in my hand. If the doubt possessed me as +to how the devil I was to win free from this accusation, I trust no shadow +of fear betrayed itself in my smirking face. + +"Egad, here's a gathering of the clans. Hope I'm not _de trop_," I +simpered. + +The lieutenant bowed to me with evident relief. + +"On the contrary, sir, if you are the gentleman travelling with this lady +you are the desired complement to our party. There has been some doubt +expressed as to you. This man here claims to have recognized you as one of +the Pretender's army; says he was present when you bought provisions for a +troop of horsemen during the rebel invasion of this town." + +"'Slife, perhaps I'm Charles Stuart himself," I shrugged. + +"I swear to him. I swear to him," screamed fustian. + +On my soul merely to look at the man gave me a nausea. His white +malevolence fair scunnered me. + +I adjusted Volney's eye-glass with care and looked the fellow over with a +candid interest, much as your scientist examines a new specimen. + +"What the plague! Is this rusty old last year's pippin an evidence against +me? Rot me, he's a pretty scrub on which to father a charge against a +gentleman, Lud, his face is a lie. No less!" + +"May I ask your name, sir, and your business in this part of the country?" +said the lieutenant. + +Some impulse--perhaps the fact that I was wearing his clothes--put it into +my head to borrow Volney's name. There was risk that the lad might have +met the baronet, but that was a contingency which must be ventured. It +brought him to like a shot across a lugger's bows. + +"Sir Robert Volney, the friend of the Prince," he said, patently +astonished. + +"The Prince has that honour," I smiled. + +"Pray pardon my insistence. Orders from headquarters," says he +apologetically. + +I waved aside his excuses peevishly. + +"Sink me, Sir Robert Volney should be well enough known not to be badgered +by every country booby with a king's commission. Lard, I vow I'll have a +change when Fritz wears the crown." + +With that I turned on my heel in a simulation of petty anger, offered my +arm to Aileen, and marched up the stairs with her. My manner and my speech +were full of flowered compliments to her, of insolence to the young +gentleman below, for there is nothing more galling to a man's pride than +to be ignored. + +"'Twas the only way," I said to Aileen when the door was closed on us +above. "'Tis a shame to flout an honest young gentleman so, but in such +fashion the macaroni would play the part. Had I stayed to talk with him he +might have asked for my proof. We're well out of the affair." + +But we were not out of it yet. I make no doubt that no sooner was my back +turned than the little rat in fustian, his mind set on a possible reward, +was plucking at the lad's sleeve with suggestions and doubts. In any case +there came presently a knock at the door. I opened. The boy officer was +there with a red face obstinately set. + +"Sir, I must trouble you again," he said icily. "You say you are Sir +Robert Volney. I must ask you for proofs." + +At once I knew that I had overdone my part. It had been better to have +dealt with this youth courteously; but since I had chosen my part, I must +play it. + +"Proofs," I cried blackly. "Do you think I carry proofs of my identity for +every country bumpkin to read? Sink me, 'tis an outrage." + +He flushed, but hung doggedly to his point. + +"You gain nothing by insulting me, Sir Robert. I may be only a poor line +officer and you one high in power, but by Heaven! I'm as good a man as +you," cried the boy; then rapped out, "I'll see your papers, if you have +me broke for it." + +My papers! An inspiration shot into my brain. When Volney had substituted +for me at Portree he had given me a pass through the lines, made out in +his name and signed by the Duke of Cumberland, in order that I might +present it if challenged. Hitherto I had not been challenged, and indeed I +had forgotten the existence of it, but now-- I fished out the sheet of +parchment and handed it to the officer. His eye ran over the passport, and +he handed it back with a flushed face. + +"I have to offer a thousand apologies for troubling you, Sir Robert. This +paper establishes your identity beyond doubt." + +"Hope you're quite satisfied," I said with vast irony. + +"Oh, just one more question. The lady travelling with you?" + +I watched him silently. + +"She is from the Highlands, is she not?" he asked. + +"Is she?" + +"To be sure 'tis sufficient if Sir Robert Volney vouches for her." + +"Is it?" + +"And of course the fact that she travels in his company----" + +My answer was a yawn, half stifled behind my hand. The lad glared at me, +in a rage at me for my insolence and at himself for his boyish inability +to cope with it. Then he swung on his heel and stamped down-stairs. Five +years later I met him at a dinner given by a neighbour of mine in the +country, and I took occasion then to explain to him my intolerable +conduct. Many a laugh we have since had over it. + +We reached London on a dismal Wednesday when the rain was pouring down in +sheets. Aileen I took at once to our town house that she might be with +Cloe, though I expected to put up with my old nurse in another part of the +city. I leave you to conceive the surprise of Charles and my sister when +we dropped in on them. + +The news they had for us was of the worst. Every week witnessed the +execution of some poor Jacobites and the arrival of a fresh batch to take +their place in the prisons. The Scotch Lords Balmerino, Cromartie and +Kilmarnock were already on trial and their condemnation was a foregone +conclusion. The thirst for blood was appalling and not at all glutted by +the numerous executions that had already occurred. 'Twas indeed for me a +most dismal home-coming. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A REPRIEVE! + + +"My Lord of March, is Arthur Lord Balmerino guilty of High Treason?" + +Lord March, youngest peer of the realm, profligate and scoundrel, laid his +hand on the place where his heart ought to have been and passed judgment +unctuously. + +"Guilty, upon my honour." + +The Lord High Steward repeated the same question to each of the peers in +order of their age and received from each the same answer. As it became +plain that the prisoner at the bar was to be convicted the +gentleman-gaoler gradually turned the edge of his axe toward Balmerino, +whose manner was nonchalant and scornful. When the vote had been polled my +Lord bowed to the judges with dignity and remarked, "I am sorry to have +taken up so much of your time without avail, my lords. If I pleaded 'not +guilty' my principal reason was that the ladies might not miss their +show." Shortly afterward he was ushered out of Westminster Hall to his +carriage. + +From the view-point of the whigs Balmerino was undoubtedly guilty as +Lucifer and not all the fair play in the world could have saved him from +Tower Hill. He was twice a rebel, having been pardoned for his part in +"the '15," and 'twas not to be expected that so hardened an offender would +again receive mercy. But at the least he might have been given courtesy, +and that neither he nor his two fellows, Kilmarnock and Cromartie, did at +all receive. The crown lawyers to the contrary took an unmanly delight in +girding and snapping at the captives whom the fortune of war had put in +their power. Monstrous charges were trumped up that could not be +substantiated, even the Lord High Steward descending to vituperation. + +Horry Walpole admitted Balmerino to be the bravest man he had ever seen. +Throughout the trial his demeanour had been characteristic of the man, +bold and intrepid even to the point of bravado. The stout old lord +conversed with the official axe-bearer and felt the edge of the ominous +instrument with the unconcern of any chance spectator. There was present a +little boy who could see nothing for the crowd and Balmerino alone was +unselfish enough to think of him. He made a seat for the child beside +himself and took care that he missed nothing of the ceremony. When the +Solicitor-General, whose brother, Secretary Murray, had saved his own life +by turning evidence against Balmerino, went up to the Scotch Lord and +asked him insolently how he dared give the peers so much trouble, +Balmerino drew himself up with dignity and asked, "Who is this person?" +Being told that it was Mr. Murray, "Oh!" he answered smiling, "Mr. Murray! +I am glad to see you. I have been with several of your relations; the good +lady your mother was of great use to us at Perth." + +Through the crowd I elbowed my way and waited for the three condemned +Scotch lords to pass into their carriages. Balmerino, bluff and soldierly, +led the way; next came the tall and elegant Kilmarnock; Lord Cromartie, +plainly nervous and depressed, brought up the rear. Balmerino recognized +me, nodded almost imperceptibly, but of course gave no other sign of +knowing the gawky apprentice who gaped at him along with a thousand +others. Some one in the crowd cried out, "Which is Balmerino?" The old +lord turned courteously, and said with a bow, "I am Balmerino." At the +door of the coach he stopped to shake hands with his fellow-sufferers. + +"I am sorry that I alone cannot pay the debt, gentlemen. But after all +'tis but what we owe to nature sooner or later, the common debt of all. I +bear in mind what Sir Walter Raleigh wrote the night before his head paid +forfeit. + + "'Cowards fear to die; but courage stout, + Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.' + +"Poor Murray drags out a miserable life despised by all, but we go to our +God with clean hands. By St. Andrew, the better lot is ours." + +"I think of my poor wife and eight fatherless bairns," said Cromartie +sadly. + +Rough Arthur Elphinstone's comforting hand fell on his shoulder. + +"A driech outlook, my friend. You must commend them to the God of orphans +if the worst befalls. As for us-- Well, in the next world we will not be +tried by a whig jury." + +Balmerino stepped into the coach which was waiting to convey him to the +Tower. The gentleman-gaoler followed with the official axe, the edge of +which still pointed toward its victim. He must have handled it carelessly +in getting into the carriage, for I heard Balmerino bark out, + +"Take care, man, or you'll break my shins with that d----d axe." + +They were the last words I ever heard from his lips. The door slammed and +the coach drove away to the prison, from which my Lord came forth only to +meet the headsman and his block. + +Sadly I made my way towards the city through the jostling crowds of +sightseers. Another batch of captives from the North was to pass through +the town that day on their way to prison, and a fleering rabble surged to +and fro about the streets of London in gala dress, boisterous, jovial, +pitiless. From high to low by common consent the town made holiday. Above +the common ruck, in windows hired for the occasion, the fashionable world, +exuding patronage and perfume, sat waiting for the dreary procession to +pass. In the windows opposite where I found standing room a party from the +West End made much talk and laughter. In the group I recognized Antoinette +Westerleigh, Sir James Craven, and Topham Beauclerc. + +"Slitterkins! I couldn't get a seat at Westminster Hall this morning for +love or money," pouted Mistress Westerleigh. "'Tis pity you men can't find +room for a poor girl to see the show." + +"Egad, there might as well have been no rebellion at all," said Beauclerc +dryly. "Still, you can go to see their heads chopped off. 'Twill be some +compensation." + +"I suppose you'll go, Selwyn," said Craven to that gentleman, who with +Volney had just joined the group. + +"I suppose so, and to make amends I'll go to see them sewn on again," +returned Selwyn. + +"I hear you want the High Steward's wand for a memento," said Beauclerc. + +"Not I," returned Selwyn. "I did, but egad! he behaved so like an attorney +the first day and so like a pettifogger the second that I wouldn't take +the wand to light my fire with." + +"Here they come, sink me!" cried Craven, and craned forward to get a first +glimpse of the wretched prisoners. + +First came four wagon-loads of the wounded, huddled together thick as +shrimps, their pallid faces and forlorn appearance a mute cry for +sympathy. The mob roared like wild beasts, poured out maledictions on +their unkempt heads, hurled stones and sticks at them amid furious din and +clamour. At times it seemed as if the prisoners would be torn from the +hands of their guard by the excited mob. Scarce any name was found too +vile with which to execrate these unfortunate gentlemen who had been +guilty of no crime but excessive loyalty. + +Some of the captives were destined for the New Prison in Southwark, others +for Newgate, and a few for the Marshalsea. Those of the prisoners who were +able to walk were handcuffed together in couples, with the exception of a +few of the officers who rode on horseback bound hand and foot. Among the +horsemen I easily recognized Malcolm Macleod, who sat erect, dour, +scornful, his strong face set like a vise, looking neither to the right +nor the left. Another batch of foot prisoners followed. Several of the +poor fellows were known to me, including Leath, Chadwick, and the lawyer +Morgan. My roving eye fell on Creagh and Captain Roy shackled together. + +From the window above a piercing cry of agony rang out. + +"Tony! Tony!" + +Creagh slewed round his head and threw up his free hand. + +"'Toinette!" he cried. + +But Miss Westerleigh had fainted, and Volney was already carrying her from +the window with the flicker of a grim smile on his face. I noticed with +relief that Craven had disappeared from sight. + +My relief was temporary. When I turned to leave I found my limbs clogged +with impedimenta. To each arm hung a bailiff, and a third clung like a +leech to my legs. Some paces distant Sir James Craven stood hulloing them +to the sport with malign pleasure. + +"To it, fustian breeches! Yoho, yoho! There's ten guineas in it for each +of you and two hundred for me. 'Slife, down with him, you red-haired +fellow! Throw him hard. Ecod, I'll teach you to be rough with Craven, my +cockerel Montagu!" And the bully kicked me twice where I lay. + +They dragged me to my feet, and Craven began to sharpen his dull wit on +me. + +"Two hundred guineas I get out of this, you cursed rebel highwayman, +besides the pleasure of seeing you wear hemp--and that's worth a hundred +more, sink my soul to hell if it isn't." + +"Your soul is sunk there long ago, and this blackguard job sends you one +circle lower in the Inferno, Catchpoll Craven," said a sneering voice +behind him. + +Craven swung on his heel in a fury, but Volney's easy manner--and perhaps +the reputation of his small sword too--damped the mettle of his courage. +He drew back with a curse, whispered a word into the ear of the nearest +bailiff, and shouldered his way into the crowd, from the midst of which he +watched us with a sneer. + +"And what mad folly, may I ask, brought you back to London a-courting the +gallows?" inquired Volney of me. + +"Haven't you heard that Malcolm Macleod is taken?" I asked. + +"And did you come to exchange places with him? On my soul you're madder +than I thought. Couldn't you trust me to see that my future brother-in-law +comes to no harm without ramming your own head down the lion's throat? +Faith, I think Craven has the right of it: the hempen noose is yawning for +such fools as you." + +The bailiffs took me to the New Prison and thrust me into an underground +cell about the walls of which moisture hung in beads. Like the rest of the +prisoners I was heavily ironed by day and fastened down to the floor by a +staple at night. One hour in the day we were suffered to go into the yard +for exercise and to be inspected and commented upon by the great number of +visitors who were allowed access to the prison. On the second day of my +arrival I stood blinking in the strong sunlight, having just come up from +my dark cell, when two prisoners shuffled across the open to me, their +fetters dragging on the ground. Conceive my great joy at finding Creagh +and Donald Roy fellow inmates of New Prison with me. Indeed Captain Roy +occupied the very next cell to mine. + +I shall not weary you with any account of our captivity except to state +that the long confinement in my foul cell sapped my health. I fell victim +to agues and fevers. Day by day I grew worse until I began to think that +'twas a race between disease and the gallows. Came at last my trial, and +prison attendants haled me away to the courts. Poor Leath, white to the +lips, was being hustled out of the room just as I entered. + +"By Heaven, Montagu, these whigs treat us like dogs," he cried +passionately to me. "They are not content with our lives, but must heap +foul names and infamy upon us." + +The guards hurried us apart before I could answer. I asked one of them +what the verdict had been in Leath's case, and the fellow with an evil +laugh made a horrid gesture with his hands that confirmed my worst fears. + +In the court room I found a frowning judge, a smug-faced yawning jury, and +row upon row of eager curious spectators come to see the show. Besides +these there were some half-score of my friends attending in the vain hope +of lending me countenance. My shifting glance fell on Charles, Cloe, and +Aileen, all three with faces like the corpse for colour and despairing +eyes which spoke of a hopeless misery. They had fought desperately for my +life, but they knew I was doomed. I smiled sadly on them, then turned to +shake hands with George Selwyn. + +He hoped, in his gentle drawl, that I would win clear. My face lit up at +his kindly interest. I was like a drowning man clutching at straws. Even +the good-will of a turnkey was of value to me. + +"Thanks, Selwyn," I said, a little brokenly. "I'm afraid there's no chance +for me, but it's good hearing that you are on my side." + +He appeared embarrassed at my eagerness. Not quite good form he thought +it, I dare say. His next words damped the glow at my heart. + +"'Gad, yes! Of course. I ought to be; bet five ponies with Craven that you +would cheat the gallows yet. He gave me odds of three to one, and I +thought it a pretty good risk." + +It occurred to me fantastically that he was looking me over with the eye +of an underwriter who has insured at a heavy premium a rotten hulk bound +for stormy seas. I laughed bitterly. + +"You may win yet," I said. "This cursed prison fever is eating me up;" and +with that I turned my back on him. + +I do not intend to go into my trial with any particularity. From first to +last I had no chance and everybody in the room understood it. There were a +dozen witnesses to prove that I had been in the thick of the rebellion. +Among the rest was Volney, in a vile temper at being called on to give +testimony. He was one of your reluctant witnesses, showed a decided +acrimony toward the prosecution, and had to have the facts drawn out of +him as with a forceps. Such a witness, of high social standing and +evidently anxious to shield me, was worth to the State more than all the +other paltry witnesses combined. The jury voted guilty without leaving the +court-room, after which the judge donned his black cap and pronounced the +horrible judgment which was the doom of traitors. I was gash with fear, +but I looked him in the face and took it smilingly. It was Volney who led +the murmur of approval which greeted my audacity, a murmur which broke +frankly into applause when Aileen, white to the lips, came fearlessly up +to bid me be of good cheer, that she would save me yet if the importunity +of a woman would avail aught. + +Wearily the days dragged themselves into weeks, and still no word of hope +came to cheer me. There was, however, one incident that gave me much +pleasure. On the afternoon before the day set for our execution Donald Roy +made his escape. Some one had given him a file and he had been tinkering +at his irons for days. We were in the yard for our period of exercise, and +half a dozen of us, pretending to be in earnest conversation together, +surrounded him while he snapped the irons. Some days before this time he +had asked permission to wear the English dress, and he now coolly +sauntered out of the prison with some of the visitors quite unnoticed by +the guard. + +The morning dawned on which nine of us were to be executed. Our coffee was +served to us in the room off the yard, and we drank it in silence. I +noticed gladly that Macdonald was not with us, and from that argued that +he had not been recaptured. + +"Here's wishing him a safe escape from the country," said Creagh. + +"Lucky dog!" murmured Leath, "I hope they won't nail him again." + +Brandy was served. Creagh named the toast and we drank it standing. + +"King James!" + +The governor of the prison bustled in just as the broken glasses shivered +behind us. + +"Now gentlemen, if you are quite ready." + +Three sledges waited for us in the yard to draw us to the gallows tree. +There was no cowardly feeling, but perhaps a little dilatoriness in +getting into the first sledge. Five minutes might bring a reprieve for any +of us, and to be in the first sledge might mean the difference between +life and death. + +"Come, gentlemen! If you please! Let us have no more halting," said the +governor, irritably. + +Creagh laughed hardily and vaulted into the sledge. "Egad, you're right! +We'll try a little haltering for a change." + +Morgan followed him, and I took the third place. + +A rider dismounted at the prison gate. + +"Is there any news for me?" asked one poor fellow eagerly. + +"Yes, the sheriff has just come and is waiting for you," jeered one of the +guards with brutal frankness. + +The poor fellow stiffened at once. "Very well. I am ready." + +A heavy rain was falling, but the crowd between the prison and Kennington +Common was immense. At the time of our trials the mob had treated us in +ruffianly fashion, but now we found a respectful silence. The lawyer +Morgan was in an extremely irritable mood. All the way to the Common he +poured into our inattentive ears a tale of woe about how his coffee had +been cold that morning. Over and over again he recited to us the legal +procedure for bringing the matter into the courts with sufficient effect +to have the prison governor removed from his position. + +A messenger with an official document was waiting for us at the gallows. +The sheriff tore it open. We had all been bearing ourselves boldly enough +I dare say, but at sight of that paper our lips parched, our throats +choked, and our eyes burned. Some one was to be pardoned or reprieved. But +who? What a moment! How the horror of it lives in one's mind! Leisurely +the sheriff read the document through, then deliberately went over it +again while nine hearts stood still. Creagh found the hardihood at that +moment of intense anxiety to complain of the rope about his neck. + +"I wish the gossoon who made this halter was to be hanged in it. 'Slife, +the thing doesn't fit by a mile," he said jauntily. + +"Mr. Anthony Creagh pardoned, Mr. Kenneth Montagu reprieved," said the +sheriff without a trace of feeling in his voice. + +For an instant the world swam dizzily before me. I closed my eyes, partly +from faintness, partly to hide from the other poor fellows the joy that +leaped to them. One by one the brave lads came up and shook hands with +Creagh and me in congratulation. Their good-will took me by the throat, +and I could only wring their hands in silence. + +On our way back to the prison Creagh turned to me with streaming eyes. "Do +you know whom I have to thank for this, Kenneth?" + +"No. Whom?" + +"Antoinette Westerleigh, God bless her dear heart!" + +And that set me wondering. It might be that Charles and Aileen alone had +won my reprieve for me, but I suspected Volney's fine hand in the matter. +Whether he had stirred himself in my affairs or not, I knew that I too +owed my life none the less to the leal heart of a girl. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +VOLNEY'S GUEST + + +Of all the London beaux not one had apartments more elegant than Sir +Robert Volney.[3] It was one of the man's vanities to play the part of a +fop, to disguise his restless force and eager brain beneath the vapid +punctilios of a man of fashion. There were few suspected that his reckless +gayety was but a mask to hide a weary, unsatisfied heart, and that this +smiling debonair gentleman with the biting wit was in truth the least +happy of men. Long he had played his chosen rôle. Often he doubted whether +the game were worth the candle, but he knew that he would play it to the +end, and since he had so elected would bear himself so that all men should +mark him. If life were not what the boy Robert Volney had conceived it; if +failure were inevitable and even the fruit of achievement bitter; if his +nature and its enveloping circumstance had proven more strong than his +dim, fast-fading, boyish ideals, at least he could cross the stage +gracefully and bow himself off with a jest. So much he owed himself and so +much he would pay. + +Something of all this perhaps was in Sir Robert Volney's mind as he lay on +the couch with dreamy eyes cast back into the yesterdays of life, that dim +past which echoed faintly back to him memories of a brave vanished youth. +On his lips, no doubt, played the half ironic, half wistful smile which +had become habitual to the man. + +And while with half-shut eyes his mind drifted lazily back to that golden +age forever gone, enter from the inner room, Captain Donald Roy Macdonald, +a cocked pistol in his hand, on his head Volney's hat and wig, on his back +Volney's coat, on his feet Volney's boots. The baronet eyed the Highlander +with mild astonishment, then rose to his feet and offered him a chair. + +"Delighted, I'm sure," he said politely. + +"You look it," drolled Macdonald. + +"Off to the wars again, or are you still at your old profession of +lifting, my Highland cateran?" + +Donald shrugged. "I am a man of many trades. In my day I have been +soldier, sailor, reiver, hunter and hunted, doctor and patient, forby a +wheen mair. What the gods provide I take." + +"Hm! So I see. Prithee, make yourself at home," was Volney's ironical +advice. + +Macdonald fell into an attitude before the glass and admired himself +vastly. + +"Fegs, I will that. The small-clothes now-- Are they not an admirable fit +whatever? And the coat-- 'Tis my measure to a nicety. Let me congratulate +you on your tailor. Need I say that the periwig is a triumph of the +friseur's art?" + +"Your approval flatters me immensely," murmured Volney, smiling +whimsically. "Faith, I never liked my clothes so well as now. You make an +admirable setting for them, Captain, but the ruffles are somewhat in +disarray. If you will permit me to ring for my valet Watkins he will be at +your service. Devil take him, he should have been here an hour ago." + +"He sends by me a thousand excuses for his absence. The fact is that he is +unavoidably detained." + +"Pardon me. I begin to understand. You doubtless found it necessary to put +a quietus on him. May one be permitted to hope that you didn't have to +pistol him? I should miss him vastly. He is the best valet in London." + +"Your unselfish attachment to him does you infinite credit, Sir Robert. It +fair brings the water to my een. But it joys me to reassure you at all +events. He is in your bedroom tied hand and foot, biting on a knotted +kerchief. I persuaded him to take a rest." + +Volney laughed. + +"Your powers of persuasion are great, Captain Macdonald. Once you +persuaded me to leave your northern capital. The air, I think you phrased +it, was too biting for me. London too has a climate of its own, a throat +disease epidemic among northerners is working great havoc here now. One +trusts you will not fall a victim, sir. Have you--er--developed any +symptoms?" + +"'Twould nae doubt grieve you sair. You'll be gey glad to learn that the +crisis is past." + +"Charmed, 'pon honour. And would it be indiscreet to ask whether you are +making a long stay in the city?" + +"Faith, I wish I knew. Donald Roy wad be blithe to answer no. And that +minds me that I will be owing you an apology for intruding in your rooms. +Let the facts speak for me. Stravaiging through the streets with the chase +hot on my heels, your open window invited me. I stepped in, footed it +up-stairs, and found refuge in your sleeping apartments, where I took the +liberty of borrowing a change of clothes, mine being over well known at +the New Prison. So too I purloined this good sword and the pistol. That +Sir Robert Volney was my host I did not know till I chanced on some +letters addressed to that name. Believe me, I'm unco sorry to force myself +upon you." + +"I felicitate myself on having you as a guest. The vapours had me by the +throat to-night. Your presence is a sufficing tonic for a most oppressive +attack of the blue devils. This armchair has been recommended as an easy +one. Pray occupy it." + +Captain Roy tossed the pistol on a table and sat him down in the chair +with much composure. Volney poured him wine and he drank; offered him +fruit and he ate. Together, gazing into the glowing coals, they supped +their mulled claret in a luxurious silence. + +The Highlander was the first to speak. + +"It's a geyan queer warld this. _Anjour d'hui roi, demain rien._ Yestreen +I gaped away the hours in a vile hole waiting for my craig (neck) to be +raxed (twisted); the night I drink old claret in the best of company +before a cheery fire. The warm glow of it goes to my heart after that dank +cell in the prison. By heaven, the memory of that dungeon sends a shiver +down my spine." + +"To-morrow, was it not, that you were to journey to Tyburn and from thence +across the Styx?" + +"Yes, to-morrow, and with me as pretty a lot of lads as ever threw steel +across their hurdies. My heart is wae for them, the leal comrades who have +lain out with me in the heather many a night and watched the stars come +out. There's Montagu and Creagh now! We three have tholed together empty +wame and niddering cold and the weariness o' death. The hurly o' the +whistling claymore has warmed our hearts; the sight of friends stark from +lead and steel and rope has garred them rin like water. God, it makes me +feel like a deserter to let them take the lang journey alane. Did you ken +that the lad came back to get me from the field when I was wounded at +Drummossie Moor?" + +"Montagu? I never heard that." + +"Took his life in his hand to come back to that de'il's caldron where the +red bluid ran like a mountain burn. It iss the boast of the Macdonalds +that they always pay their debts both to friend and foe. Fine have I paid +mine. He will be thinking me the true friend in his hour of need," +finished Donald bitterly. + +"You don't know him. The temper of the man is not so grudging. His joy in +your escape will help deaden his own pain. Besides, what could you do for +him if you were with him at the end? 'Twould be only one more sacrifice." + +The grim dour Highland sternness hung heavy on Donald's face. + +"I could stand shoulder to shoulder with him and curse the whigs at all +events. I could cry with him 'God save King James' in the teeth of the +sidier roy." + +Volney clapped his hands softly. "Hear, hear!" he cried with flaming eyes. +"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Jacobite." + +The Gael turned to him impetuously, his blue eyes (as I conceive) moist +with emotion. + +"Man, could I persuade you to be saving the lad? It was for this that I +waited in your rooms to see you. They say that you are a favourite of +princes, that what you ask you get. Do for once a fine thing and ask this +boy's life." + +"They exaggerate my power. But for argument's sake suppose it true. Why +should I ask it? What have I to gain by it?" + +Volney, his eyes fixed on the fire, asked the question as much to himself +as to the Highlander. The manner of his tone suggested that it was not a +new one to him. + +"Gain! Who spoke of gain? Are you a Jew peddler or an English gentleman?" +cried Donald. + +"They call me dissolute, gambler, profligate. These be hard names, but I +have earned them all. I make no apologies and offer no excuses. As I have +lived my life, so have I lived it. For buttered phrases I have no taste. +Call me libertine, or call me man of fashion; 'tis all one. My evil +nature--_C'est plus fort que moi_. At least I have not played the +hypocrite. No canting sighs! No lapses to morality and prayers! No vices +smugly hidden! The plain straight road to hell taken at a gallop!" So, +with chin in hand and dark eyes lit by the flickering flame, this roué and +sentimentalist philosophized. + +"And Montagu?" cried the Gael, harking back to his prosaic text. + +"Has made his bed and he must lie in it." + +"By Heaven, who ruined him and made an outlaw of him? Who drove him to +rebellion?" + +"You imply that I strewed his bed with nettles. Perhaps. 'Tis well my +shoulders are broad, else they could not bear all that is laid upon +them." + +"You would never be letting a petty private grudge influence you?" + +Volney turned, stung to the quick. + +"You go too far, Captain Macdonald. Have I given bonds to save this fool +from the consequences of his folly? I cherish no hatred toward him, but I +play no Jonathan to his David. Egad, it were a pretty rôle for me to +essay! You would cast me for a part full of heroics, the moving of heaven +and earth to save my dearest enemy. Thank you, I am not for it. Neither +for nor against him will I lift a hand. There is no malice in my heart +toward this poor condemned young gentleman. If he can win free I shall be +glad, even though his gain is my loss, but further than that I will not +go. He came between me and the thing I most desired on earth. Shall I help +him to the happiness which will condemn me to misery?" + +For an instant the habitual veil of mockery was snatched aside and the +tortured soul of the man leaped from his burning eyes. + +"You saved him at Portree," was all that Donald could say. + +"I paid a debt to him and to Cumberland. The ledger is now balanced." + +The Jacobite paced up and down the room for a minute, then stopped and +touched the other on his shoulder where he sat. + +"I too am somewhat in your debt, Sir Robert. When Montagu opposed you he +fought for his own hand. Therein he was justified. But I, an outsider, +interfered in a quarrel that was not mine own, spoiled sport for you, in +short lost you the lassie. You followed her to Scotland; 'twas I that +drove you back to England when Montagu was powerless. From first to last I +am the rock on which your love bark has split. If your cause has spelled +failure I alone am to blame." + +"So? What then?" + +"Why this: without Captain Donald Roy Macdonald the lad had been helpless. +Donald was at his back to whisper words of advice and encouragement. +Donald contrived the plot which separated you from the lady. Donald stood +good fairy to the blessed pair of bairns and made of himsel' a +match-making auld mither. You owe your hatred to Donald Roy and not to the +lad who was but his instrument." + +The macaroni looked at the other with an odd smile twitching at the +corners of his mouth. + +"And so?" + +"And so," continued the Macdonald triumphantly, a challenge in his voice +and manner, "and so, who but Donald should be your enemy? My certes, a +prettier foe at the broadsword you will not find in a' Scotland." + +"I do not quite take your meaning. Would you fight with me?" + +"Blithe would I be to cross the steel with you, but little that would help +Kenneth. My plan is this: save the lad from the halter and I will tak' his +place." + +"You mean that if I compass his freedom you will surrender to be +executed?" + +"I am meaning just that." + +"I thought so from the first. 'Slife, man, do you think I can change my +foes like gloves? _Chacun paie son écot._" + +"Why not? Iss not a man a better foe than a halfling boy?" + +"I would never seek a better foe or a better friend than either you or +Montagu, Captain. On my soul, you have both the true ring. But as to your +offer I must decline it. The thing is one of your wild impracticable +Highland imaginings, a sheer impossibility. You seem to think I have a +blood feud and that nothing less than a foeman's life will satisfy me. In +that you err. I am a plain man of the world and cannot reach your +heroics." + +The Jacobite's face fell. + +"You are going to let the boy die then?" + +Volney hesitated, then answered with a shrug. + +"I shall be frank with you. To-day I secured Montagu a reprieve for two +weeks. He shall have his chance such as it is, but I do not expect him to +take it. If he shows stubborn I wash my hands of him. I have said the last +word. You may talk till Yule without changing my mind." Then, with an +abrupt turn of the subject: "Have you with you the sinews of war, Captain? +You will need money to effect your escape. My purse is at your service not +less than my wardrobe, or if you care to lie hidden here for a time you +will be quite safe. Watkins is a faithful fellow and devoted to me." + +The Highlander flushed, stammering out: + +"For your proffered loan, I accept it with the best will in the world; and +as to your offer of a hiding-place, troth! I'm badly needing one. Gin it +were no inconvenience----" + +"None in the world." + +"I will be remembering you for a generous foe till the day of my death. +You're a man to ride the water wi'." + +"Lard! There's no generosity in it. Every Mohawk thinks it a pleasure to +help any man break the laws. Besides, I count on you to help drive away +the doldrums. Do you care for a hand at piquet now, Captain?" + +"With pleasure. I find in the cartes great diversion, but by your leave +I'll first unloose your man Watkins." + +"'Slife, I had forgot him. We'll have him brew us a punch and make a night +of it. Sleep and I are a thousand miles apart." + +----- + + [3] The material for this chapter was furnished me with great + particularity by Captain Donald Roy Macdonald. From his narrative + to me, I set down the story in substance as he told it. --K. M. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + +There came to me one day a surprise, a marked hour among my weeks struck +calm. Charles, Cloe, and Aileen had been wont to visit me regularly; once +Selwyn had dropped in on me; but I had not before been honoured by a visit +from Sir Robert Volney. He sauntered into my cell swinging a clouded cane, +dressed to kill and point device in every ruffle, all dabbed with scented +powder, pomatum, and jessamine water. To him, coming direct from the +strong light of the sun, my cell was dark as the inside of Jonah's whale. +He stood hesitating in the doorway, groping with his cane for some guide +to his footsteps. + +For an instant I drew back, thinking he had come to mock me; then I put +the idea from me. However much of evil there was in him, Volney was not a +small man. I stepped forward to greet him. + +"Welcome to my poor best, Sir Robert! If I do not offer you a chair it is +because I have none. My regret is that my circumstances hamper my +hospitality." + +"Not at all. You offer me your best, and in that lies the essence of +hospitality. Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and +hatred, Egad," returned my guest with easy irony. + +All the resources of the courtier and the beau were his. One could but +admire the sparkle and the versatility of the man. His wit was brilliant +as the play of a rapier's point. Set down in cold blood, remembered +scantily and clumsily as I recall it, without the gay easy polish of his +manner, the fineness is all out of his talk. After all 'tis a +characteristic of much wit that it is apposite to the occasion only and +loses point in the retelling. + +He seated himself on the table with a leg dangling in air and looked +curiously around on the massive masonry, the damp floor, the walls oozing +slime. I followed his eye and in some measure his thoughts. + +"Stone walls do not a prison make," I quoted gaily. + +"Ecod, they make a pretty fair imitation of one!" he chuckled. + +I was prodigious glad to see him. + +His presence stirred my sluggish blood. The sound of his voice was to me +like the crack of a whip to a jaded horse. Graceful, careless, debonair, a +man of evil from sheer reckless wilfulness, he was the one person in the +world I found it in my heart to both hate and admire at the same time. + +He gazed long at me. "You're looking devilish ill, Montagu," he said. + +I smiled. "Are you afraid I'll cheat the hangman after all?" + +His eyes wandered over the cell again. "By Heaven, this death's cage is +enough to send any man off the hooks," he shivered. + +"One gets used to it," I answered, shrugging. + +He looked at me with a kind of admiration. "They may break you, Montagu, +but I vow they will never bend you. Here are you torn with illness, the +shadow of the gallows falling across your track, and never a whimper out +of you." + +"Would that avail to better my condition?" + +"I suppose not. Still, self-pity is the very ecstasy of grief, they tell +me." + +"For girls and halfling boys, I dare say." + +There he sat cocked on the table, a picture of smiling ease, raffish and +fascinating, as full of sentimental sympathy as a lass in her teens. His +commiseration was no less plain to me because it was hidden under a +debonair manner. He looked at me in a sidelong fashion with a question in +his eyes. + +"Speak out!" I told him. "Your interest in me as evidenced by this visit +has earned the right to satisfy your curiosity." + +"I dare swear you have had your chance to save yourself?" he asked. + +"Oh, the usual offer! A life for a life, the opportunity to save myself by +betraying others." + +"Do you never dally with the thought of it?" he questioned. + +I looked up quickly at him. A hundred times I had nursed the temptation +and put it from me. + +"Are you never afraid, Montagu, when the night falls black and slumber is +not to be wooed?" + +"Many a time," I told him, smiling. + +"You say it as easily as if I had asked whether you ever took the air in +the park. 'Slife, I have never known you flinch. There was always a +certain d----d rough plainness about you, but you play the game." + +"'Tis a poor hound falls whining at the whip when there is no avoiding +it." + +"You will never accept their offer of a pardon on those terms. I know you, +man. Y'are one of those fools hold by honour rather than life, and damme! +I like you for it. Now I in your place----" + +"----Would do as I do." + +"Would I? I'm not so sure. If I did it would be no virtue, but an +obstinacy not to be browbeat." Then he added, "You would give anything +else on earth for your life, I suppose?" + +"Anything else," I told him frankly. + +"Anything else?" he repeated, his eyes narrowing. "No reservations, +Montagu?" + +Our eyes crossed like rapiers, each searching into the other's very soul. + +"Am I to understand that you are making me an offer, Sir Robert?" + +"I am making you an offer of your life." + +"Respectfully declined." + +"Think again, man! Once you are dead you will be a long time dead. Refuse +to give her up, and you die; she is not for you in any case. Give way, and +I will move heaven and earth for a pardon. Believe me, never was such +perfect weather before. The birds sing divinely, and Charles tells me +Montagu Grange is sorely needing a master." + +"Charles will look the part to admiration." + +"And doubtless will console himself in true brotherly fashion for the loss +of his brother by reciting his merits on a granite shaft and straightway +forgetting them in the enjoyment of the estate." + +"I think it likely." + +He looked at me gloomily. "There is a way to save you, despite your +obstinacy." + +I shuffled across to him in a tumult of emotion. "You would never do it, +would never be so vile as to trade on her fears for me to win her." + +"I would do anything to win her, and I would do a great deal to save your +life. The two things jump together. In a way I like you, man." + +But I would have none of his liking. "Oh, spare me that! You are the most +sentimental villain unhung, and I can get along without your liking." + +"That's as may be," said he laughing, "but I cannot well get along without +you. On my honour, you have become one of my greatest sources of +interest." + +"Do you mean that you would stake my life against her hand?" I demanded +whitely. + +He gave me look for look. "I mean just that. By Heaven, I shall win her +fair or foul." + +I could only keep saying over and over again, "You would never do it. Even +you would never do that." + +"Wouldn't I? You'll see," he answered laughing hardily. "Well, I must be +going. Oh, I had forgot. Balmerino sent you this note. I called on him +yesterday at the Tower. The old Scotchman is still as full of smiles as a +bride." + +Balmerino's letter was the friendliest imaginable. He stated that for him +a pardon was of course out of the question, but that Sir Robert Volney had +assured him that there was a chance for me on certain conditions; he +understood that the conditions had to do with the hand of a young woman, +and he advised me, if the thing were consistent with honour, to make +submission, and let no foolish pride stand in the way of saving my life. +The letter ended with a touching reference to the cause for which he was +about to die. + +I was shaken, I confess it. Not that I thought for a moment of giving up +my love, but my heart ached to think of the cruel position into which she +would be cast. To save her lover's life, she must forsake her love, or if +she elected the other alternative must send him to his death. That Volney +would let this burden of choice fall on her I would scarce let myself +believe; and yet--there was never a man more madly, hopelessly in love +than he. His passion for her was like a whirlwind tossing him hither and +thither like a chip on the boiling waters, but I thought it very +characteristic of the man that he used his influence to have me moved to a +more comfortable cell and supplied with delicacies, even while he plotted +against me with my love. + +After that first visit he used to come often and entertain me with the +news and gossip of the town. I have never met a more interesting man. He +was an onlooker of life rather than an actor, an ironical cynic, chuckling +with sardonic humour. The secret of his charm lay perhaps in a certain +whimsical outlook and in an original turn of mind. + +Once I asked him why he found it worth while to spend so many hours with +me when his society was so much sought after by the gayest circle in the +town. + +"I acquit you of any suspicion of philanthropy, Sir Robert. I give you +credit for pursuing a policy of intelligent selfishness. You must know by +this time that I will not purchase my life, nor let it be purchased, on +the terms which you propose. Well then, I confess it puzzles me to guess +what amusement you find in such a hole as this." + +"Variety spices life. What's a man to do to keep himself from ennui? For +instance, I got up this morning at ten, with Selwyn visited Lady Dapperwit +while she was drinking coffee in her nightrail, talked a vast deal of +scandal with her, strolled in the park with Fritz, from there to White's +in a sedan, two hours at lunch, and an hour with you for the good of my +soul." + +"The good of your soul?" I quizzed. + +"Yes, I visit you here and then go away deuced thankful for my mercies. +I'm not to be hanged next week, you know. I live to marry the girl." + +"Still, I should think you might find more interesting spots than this." + +"I am a student of human nature, Montagu." + +"A condemned prisoner, never a wit at the best of times, full of fears and +agues and fevers! One would scarce think the subject an inviting one for +study." + +"There you do yourself injustice. Y'are the most interesting man I know. A +dozen characters are wrapped up in you. You have the appearance of being +as great a rip as the rest of us, and I vow your looks do not belie you, +yet at times you have the conscience of a ranting dissenter. I find in you +a touch both of Selwyn's dry wit and of Balmerino's frostly bluntness; the +cool daring of James Wolfe combined with as great a love of life as Murray +has shown; the chivalry of Don Quixote and the hard-headedness of +Cumberland; sometimes an awkward boy, again the grand manner Chesterfield +himself might envy you; the obstinacy of the devil and----" + +"Oh, come!" I broke in laughing. "I don't mind being made a composite +epitome of all the vices of the race, but I object to your crossing the +Styx on my behalf." + +"And that reminds me of the time we came so near crossing together," he +broke out, diverting the subject in his inconsequent fashion. "D'ye +remember that Dr. Mead who dressed our wounds for us after our little +argument? It appears that he and a Dr. Woodward fell into some +professional dispute as to how a case should be treated, and Lud! nothing +would satisfy them but they must get their toasting forks into action. The +story goes that they fought at the gate of Gresham College. Mead pinked +his man. 'Take your life,' quoth he. 'Anything but your medicine,' returns +Woodward just before he faints. Horry Walpole told me the story. I suppose +you have heard Selwyn's story of Lord Wharton. You know what a spendthrift +Wharton is. Well the Duke of Graftsbury offered him one of his daughters +in marriage, a lady of uncertain age and certain temper. But the lady has +one virtue; she's a devilish fine fortune. A plum, they say! Wharton wrote +Graftsbury a note of three lines declining the alliance because, as he put +it, the fortune was tied up and the lady wasn't." + +"Not bad. Talking of Selwyn, I suppose he gets his fill of horrors these +days." + +"One would think he might. I met him at the Prince's dinner yesterday, and +between us we two emptied nine bottles of maraschino. Conceive the +splitting headache I'm wearing to-day." + +"You should take a course in Jacobitism," I told him gravely. "'Tis +warranted to cure gout, liver trouble, indigestion, drunkenness, and +sundry other complaints. I can warrant that one lives simply while he +takes the treatment; sometimes on a crust of bread and a bowl of brose, +sometimes on water from the burn, never does one dine over-richly." + +"Yet this course is not conducive to long life. I've known a hundred +followers of it fall victim to an epidemic throat disease," he retorted. +Then he added more gravely, "By the way, you need have no fears for your +friend Miss Flora Macdonald. I learn on the best of authority that she is +in no danger whatever." + +"And Malcolm?" I asked. + +"His name has been put near the foot of the list for trial. Long before +that time the lust for blood will be glutted. I shall make it a point to +see that his case never comes to trial. One cannot afford to have his +brother-in-law hanged like a common cutpurse." + +Day by day the time drew nearer on which my reprieve expired. I saw +nothing of Aileen now, for she had followed the King and his court to +Bath, intent on losing no opportunity that might present itself in my +favour. For one reason I was glad to have her gone; so long as she was out +of town Sir Robert could not urge on her the sacrifice which he intended. + +The time of my execution had been set for Friday, and on the preceding +Monday Volney, just arrived from the executions of Balmerino and +Kilmarnock, drove out to New Prison to see me. He was full of admiration +for Balmerino's bold exit from the stage of life and retailed to me with +great gusto every incident of the last scene on Tower Hill. + +"I like your bluff Balmerino's philosophy of life," he told me. "When I +called on him and apologized for intruding on the short time he had left +the old Lord said, 'O sir, no intrusion at all. I am in no ways concerned +to spend more time than usual at my devotions. I think no man fit to live +who is not fit to die, and to die well is much the easier of the two.' On +the scaffold no bridegroom could have been more cheerful. He was dressed +in his old blue campaign uniform and was as bold and manly as ever. He +expressed joy that Cromartie had been pardoned, inspected with interest +the inscription on his coffin, and smilingly called the block his pillow +of rest. 'Pon honour, the intrepid man then rehearsed the execution with +his headsman, kneeling down at the block to show how he would give the +signal for the blow. He then got up again, made a tender smiling farewell +with his friends, and said to me, 'I fear some will think my behaviour +bold, Volney, but remember what I say, that it arises from confidence in +God and a clear conscience.' He reaffirmed his unshaken adherence to the +house of Stuart, crying aloud, 'God save King James!' and bowed to the +multitude. Presently, still cheerfully, he knelt at the block and said in +a clear voice, 'O Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, bless +Prince Charles and his brother, the Duke, and receive my soul.' His arms +dropped for the signal, and Arthur Elphinstone of Balmerino passed to the +Valhalla where brave men dwell as gods." + +"God bring peace to his valiant restless soul," I said, much moved. + +"'Tis a thing to admire, the sturdy loyalty of you Jacobites," he said +after a pause. "You carry it off like gentlemen. Every poor Highlander who +has yet suffered has flung out his 'God save King James' on the scaffold. +Now I'll wager you too go to death with the grand air--no canting prayers +for King George, eh?" + +"I must e'en do as the rest," I smiled. + +"Yet I'd bet a pony you don't care a pinch of snuff for James Stuart. 'Tis +loyalty to yourselves that animates you." + +Presently he harked back to the topic that was never closed between us. + +"By this time next week you will have touched the heart of our eternal +problem. The mystery of it will perhaps be all clear to you then. 'Tis +most strange how at one sweep all a man's turbulent questing life passes +into the quiet of--of what? That is the question: of unending death or of +achieved knowledge?" Then he added, coming abruptly to the issue: "The day +draws near. Do you think better of my offer now?" + +"Sir Robert, I have lived a tempestuous life these past months. I have +known hunger and cold and weariness; I have been at the top of fortune's +wave and at the bottom; but I have never found it worth my while to become +divorced from honour. You find me near dead from privations and disease. +Do you think I would pay so much for such an existence? Believe me, when a +man has passed through what I have he is empty of fears." + +"I could better spare a better man," he said. + +"Sorry to inconvenience you," I told him grimly. + +"I' faith, I think you're destined to do that dead or alive." + +"I think I am. You will find me more in your way dead than alive." + +"I'll outlive your memory, never fear." Then quietly, after a moment's +hesitation: "There's one thing it may be a comfort for you to know. I've +given up any thought of putting her on the rack. I'll win fairly or not at +all." + +I drew a deep free breath. "Thank you for telling me." + +"I mean to marry her though. I swear to you, Montagu, that my heart is +wrapped up in her. I thought all women alike until I met this one. Now I +know better. She could have made a different man of me; sometimes I think +she could even yet. I vow to you I would not now injure a hair of her +head, but willy-nilly, in the end I shall marry the girl." + +"To ruin her life?" + +"To save mine rather." + +"Do you think yourself able to change the whole course of your life for +her?" + +He mused. "Ah, Montagu! There your finger falls pat on the pulse of my +doubt. My heart cries aye, my reason gives a negative." + +"Don't worry overmuch about it," I answered, railing at him. "She'll never +look at you, man. My grave will be an insurmountable barrier. She will +idealize my memory, think me a martyr and herself a widowed maid." + +The shot scored. 'Twas plain he must have often thought of that himself. + +"It may interest you to know that we are engaged to be married," I added. + +"Indeed! Let me congratulate you. When does the happy event occur, may I +ask? Or is the day set?" + +He had no need to put into words more clearly the irony of the fate that +encompassed us. + +"Dead or alive, as you say, I bar your way," I said tartly. + +"Pooh, man! I give you six weeks of violent grief, six months of tender +melancholy." + +"You do not know the Scotch. She will die a maid," I answered. + +"Not she! A live lover is more present than a dead one. Has she sworn +pretty vows to you, Montagu? 'At lovers' perjuries, they say, love +laughs.' Is there nothing to be said for me? Will her heart not always +whisper that I deserve gratitude and love, that I perilled my life for +her, saved the lives of her brother and her lover, neither of them friends +of mine, again reprieved her lover's life, stood friend to her through all +her trouble? You know a woman's way--to make much of nothing." + +"Forgive, if I prod a lagging memory, Miss Westerleigh?" + +Long he laughed and merrily. + +"Eloped for Gretna Green with Tony Creagh last night, and I, poor forsaken +swain, faith! I do not pursue." + +You may be sure that dashed me. I felt as a trapped fox with the dogs +closing in. The future loomed up clear before me, Aileen hand in hand with +Volney scattering flowers on my grave in sentimental mood. The futility of +my obstinacy made me bitter. + +"Come, Montagu! Listen to reason," urged the tempter. "You get in my way, +but I don't want to let you be sponged out. The devil of it is that if I +get you a pardon--and I'm not sure that I can get it--you'll marry the +girl. I might have you shipped to the Barbadoes as a slave with some of +the others, but to be frank I had rather see you hanged than give you so +scurvy an end. Forswear what is already lost and make an end of it." + +I turned away blackly. "You have my answer. Sir Robert, you have played +your last card. Now let me die in peace." + +He shrugged impatiently and left me. "A fool's answer, yet a brave man's +too," he muttered. + +Aileen, heart-broken with the failure of her mission, reached town on +Thursday and came at once to the prison. Her face was as the face of +troubled waters. I had no need to ask the question on my lips. With a +sobbing cry she threw herself on my breast. My heart was woe for her. +Utter weariness was in her manner. All through the long days and nights +she had agonized, and now at last despaired. There seemed no tears left to +shed. + +Long I held her tight, teeth set, as one who would keep his own perforce +from that grim fate which would snatch his love from him. She shivered to +me half-swooning, pale and of wondrous beauty, nesting in my arms as a +weary homing-bird. A poignant grief o'erflowed in me. + +"Oh, Aileen! At least we have love left," I cried, breaking the long +silence. + +"Always! Always!" her white lips answered. + +"Then let us regret nothing. They can do with me what they will. What are +life and death when in the balance dwells love?" I cried, rapt in +unearthly worship of her. + +Her eyes found mine. "Oh, Kenneth, I cannot--I cannot--let you go." + +Sweet and lovely she was beyond the dream of poet. I trembled in an +ecstasy of pain. From the next cell there came to us softly the voice of a +poor condemned Appin Stewart. He was crooning that most tender and +heart-breaking of all strains. Like the pibroch's mournful sough he wailed +it out, the song that cuts deep to a Scotchman's heart in time of exile. + + "Lochabar no more, Lochabar no more. + We'll maybe return to Lochabar no more." + +I looked at Aileen, my face working. A long breath came whistling through +her lips. Her dear face was all broken with emotion. I turned my eyes +aside, not daring to trust myself. Through misty lashes again I looked. +Her breast lifted and fell in shaking sobs, the fount of tears touched at +last. Together we wept, without shame I admit it, while the Stewart's +harrowing strain ebbed to a close. To us it seemed almost as the keening +of the coronach. + +So in the quiet that comes after storm, her dear supple figure still in my +arms, Sir Robert Volney came in unexpectedly and found us. He stopped at +the door, startled at her presence, and methought a shadow fell on his +face. Near to death as I was, the quality of his courage was so fine and +the strength of the passion in him so great that he would have changed +places with me even then. + +Aileen went up to him at once and gave him her hand. She was very simple, +her appeal like a child's for directness. + +"Sir Robert, you have already done much for me. I will be so bold as to +ask you to do more. Here iss my lover's life in danger. I ask you to save +it." + +"That he may marry you?" + +"If God wills." + +Volney looked at her out of a haggard face, all broken by the emotions +which stirred him. + +A minute passed, two minutes. He fought out his fight and won. + +"Aileen," he said at last, "before heaven I fear it is too late, but what +man can do, that will I do." + +He came in and shook hands with me. "I'll say good-bye, Montagu. 'Tis +possible I'll see you but once more in this world. Yet I will do my best. +Don't hope too much, but don't despair." + +There was unconscious prophecy in his words. I was to see him but the once +more, and then the proud, gallant gentleman, now so full of energy, was +lying on his deathbed struck out of life by a foul blow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SHADOW FALLS + + +It would appear that Sir Robert went direct from the prison to the club +room at White's. He was observed to be gloomy, preoccupied, his manner not +a little perturbed. The usual light smile was completely clouded under a +gravity foreign to his nature. One may guess that he was in no humour to +carry coals. In a distant corner of the room he seated himself and fell to +frowning at the table on which his elbow rested. At no time was he a man +upon whom one would be likely to foist his company undesired, for he had +at command on occasion a hauteur and an aloofness that challenged respect +even from the most inconsiderate. + +We must suppose that he was moved out of his usual indifference, that some +long-dormant spring of nobility was quickened to a renewed life, that a +girl's truth and purity, refining his selfish passion, had bitten deep +into the man's callous worldliness. For long he sat in a sombre silence +with his head leaning on his hand, his keen mind busy with the problem--so +I shall always believe--as to how he might even yet save me from the +gallows. + +By some strange hap it chanced that Sir James Craven, excited with drink, +the bile of his saturnine temper stirred to malignity by heavy losses at +cards, alighted from his four in hand at White's shortly after Volney. +Craven's affairs had gone from bad to worse very rapidly of late. He had +been playing the races heavily and ruin stared the man in the face. More +than suspected of dubious play at cards, it had been scarce a week since +the stewards of a leading racetrack had expelled him for running crosses. +Any day a debtor's prison might close on him. Within the hour, as was +afterward learned, his former companion Frederick Prince of Wales had +given him the cut direct on the Mall. Plainly his star was on the decline, +and he raged in a futile passion of hatred against the world. Need it be +said that of all men he most hated his supplanter in the Prince of Wales' +good-will, Sir Robert Volney. + +To Volney then, sitting gloomily in his distant solitude, came Craven with +murder in his heart and a bitter jest on his lips. At the other side of +the table he found a seat and glared across at his rival out of a +passion-contorted face. Sir Robert looked past him coldly, negligently, as +if he had not been there, and rising from his seat moved to the other side +of the room. In the manner of his doing it there was something +indescribably insulting; so it seemed to Topham Beauclerc, who retailed to +me the story later. + +Craven's evil glance followed Volney, rage in his bloodshot eyes. If a +look could kill, the elegant macaroni had been a dead man then. It is to +be guessed that Craven struggled with his temper and found himself not +strong enough to put a curb upon it; that his heady stress of passion +swept away his fear of Volney's sword. At all events there he sat +glowering blackly on the man at whose charge he chose to lay all his +misfortunes, what time he gulped down like water glass after glass of +brandy. Presently he got to his feet and followed Sir Robert, still +dallying no doubt with the fascinating temptation of fixing a quarrel upon +his rival and killing him. To do him justice Volney endeavoured to avoid +an open rupture with the man. He appeared buried in the paper he was +reading. + +"What news?" asked Craven abruptly. + +For answer the other laid down the paper, so that Sir James could pick it +up if he chose. + +"I see your old rival Montagu is to dance on air to-morrow. 'Gad, you'll +have it all your own way with the wench then," continued Craven +boisterously, the liquor fast mounting to his head. + +Volney's eyes grew steelly. He would have left, but the burly purple-faced +baronet cut off his retreat. + +"Damme, will you drink with me, or will you play with me, Volney?" + +"Thanks, but I never drink nor play at this time of day, Sir James. If it +will not inconvenience you to let me pass----" + +With a foolish laugh, beside himself with rage and drink, Craven flung him +back into his chair. "'Sdeath, don't be in such a hurry! I want to talk to +you about-- Devil take it, what is it I want to talk about?-- Oh, yes! That +pink and white baggage of yours. Stap me, the one look ravished me! Pity +you let a slip of a lad like Montagu oust you." + +"That subject is one which we will not discuss, Sir James," said Volney +quietly. "It is not to be mentioned in my presence." + +"The devil it isn't. I'm not in the habit of asking what I may talk about. +As for this mistress of yours----" + +Sir Robert rose and stood very straight. "I have the honour to inform you +that you are talking of a lady who is as pure as the driven snow." + +Buck Craven stared. "After Sir Robert Volney has pursued her a year?" he +asked with venomous spleen, his noisy laugh echoing through the room. + +I can imagine how the fellow said it, with what a devilish concentration +of malice. He had the most irritating manner of any man in England; I +never heard him speak without wanting to dash my fist in his sneering +face. + +"That is what I tell you. I repeat that the subject is not a matter for +discussion between us." + +Craven might have read a warning in the studied gentleness of Volney's +cold manner, but he was by this time far beyond reck. By common consent +the eyes of every man in the room were turned on these two, and Craven's +vanity sunned itself at holding once more the centre of the stage. + +"And after the trull has gadded about the country with young Montagu in +all manner of disguises?" he continued. + +"You lie, you hound!" + +Sir James sputtered in a speechless paroxysm of passion, found words at +last and poured them out in a turbid torrent of invective. He let fall the +word baggage again, and presently, growing more plain, a word that is not +to be spoken of an honest woman. Volney, eyeing him disdainfully, the +man's coarse bulk, his purple cheeks and fishy eyes, played with his wine +goblet, white fingers twisting at the stem; then, when the measure of the +fellow's offense was full, put a period to his foul eloquence. + +Full in the mouth the goblet struck him. Blood spurted from his lips, and +a shower of broken glass shivered to the ground. Craven leaped across the +table at his enemy in a blind fury; restrained by the united efforts of +half a dozen club members, the struggling madman still foamed to get at +his rival's throat--that rival whose disdainful eyes seemed to count him +but a mad dog impotent to bite. + +"You would not drink with me; you would not play with me; but, by God, you +will have to fight with me," he cried at last. + +"When you please." + +"Always I have hated you, wanted always to kill you, now I shall do it," +he screamed. + +Volney turned on his heel and beckoned to Beauclerc. + +"Will you act for me, Topham?" he asked; and when the other assented, +added: "Arrange the affair to come off as soon as possible. I want to have +done with the thing at once." + +They fought within the hour in the Field of the Forty Footsteps. The one +was like fire, the other ice. They were both fine swordsmen, but there was +no man in England could stand against Volney at his best, and those who +were present have put it on record that Sir Robert's skill was this day at +high water mark. He fought quite without passion, watching with cool +alertness for his chance to kill. His opponent's breath came short, his +thrusts grew wild, the mad rage of the man began to give way to a no less +mad despair. Every feint he found anticipated, every stroke parried; and +still his enemy held to the defensive with a deadly cold watchfulness that +struck chill to the heart of the fearful bully. We are to conceive that +Craven tasted the bitterness of death, that in the cold passionless face +opposite to him he read his doom, and that in the horrible agony of terror +that sweated him he forgot the traditions of his class and the training of +a lifetime. He stumbled, and when Sir Robert held his hand, waiting point +groundward with splendid carelessness for his opponent to rise, Craven +flung himself forward on his knees and thrust low at him. The blade went +home through the lower vitals. + +Volney stood looking at him a moment with a face of infinite contempt, +than sank back into the arms of Beauclerc. + +While the surgeon was examining the wound Craven stole forward guiltily to +the outskirts of the little group which surrounded the wounded man. His +horror-stricken eyes peered out of a face like chalk. The man's own second +had just turned his back on him, and he was already realizing that the +foul stroke had written on his forehead the brand of Cain, had made him an +outcast and a pariah on the face of the earth. + +The eyes of Volney and his murderer met, those of the dying man full of +scorn. Craven's glance fell before that steady look. He muttered a hope +that the wound was but slight; then, in torture, burst out: "'Twas a slip. +By Heaven, it was, Volney! I would to God it were undone." + +"'To every coward safety, and afterward his evil hour,'" quoted Volney +with cold disdain. + +The murderer turned away with a sobbing oath, mounted his horse and rode +for the coast to begin his lifetime of exile, penury, and execration. + +"Do I get my passport?" asked Sir Robert of the surgeon. + +The latter began to talk a jargon of medical terms, but Volney cut him +short. + +"Enough! I understand," he said quietly. "Get me to my rooms and send at +once for the Prince of Wales. Beauclerc, may I trouble you to call on +Cumberland and get from him an order to bring young Montagu to my place +from the prison? And will you send my man Watkins for a lawyer? Oh, and +one more commission--a messenger to beg of Miss Macleod her attendance. In +case she demurs, make it plain to her that I am a dying man. Faith, +Topham, you'll be glad I do not die often. I fear I am an unconscionable +nuisance at it." + +Topham Beauclerc drove straight to the residence of the Duke of +Cumberland. He found the Duke at home, explained the situation in a few +words, and presently the pair of them called on the Duke of Newcastle and +secured his counter-signature for taking me temporarily from the New +Prison. Dusk was falling when Beauclerc and the prison guards led me to +Volney's bedroom. At the first glance I saw plainly that he was not long +for this world. He lay propped on an attendant's arm, the beautiful eyes +serene, an inscrutable smile on the colourless lips. Beside him sat +Aileen, her hand in his, and on the other side of the bed the Duke of +Cumberland and Malcolm. When he saw me his eyes brightened. + +"On time, Kenneth. Thanks for coming." + +Beauclerc had told me the story, and I went forward with misty eyes. He +looked at me smiling. + +"On my soul I believe you are sorry, Montagu. Yes, I have my quietus. The +fellow struck foul. My own fault! I always knew him for a scoundrel. I had +him beaten; but 'tis better so perhaps. After all I shall cross the river +before you, Kenneth." Then abruptly to an attendant who entered the room, +"Has the Prince come yet?" + +"But this moment, sir." + +The Prince of Wales entered the room, and Volney gave him his old winsome +smile. + +"Hard hit, your Highness!" + +"I trust it is not so bad as they say, Robert." + +"Bad or good, as one looks at it, but this night I go wandering into the +great unknown. Enough of this. I sent for you, Fritz, to ask my last +favour." + +The face of the stolid Dutchman was all broken with emotion. + +"'Tis yours, Robert, if the thing is mine to grant." + +"I want Montagu spared. You must get his pardon before I die, else I shall +not pass easy in mind. This one wrong I must right before the end. 'Twas I +drove him to rebellion. You will get him pardoned and see to it that his +estates are not confiscated?" + +"I promise to do my best. It shall be attended to." + +"To-day?" + +"This very hour if it can be arranged." + +"And you, Cumberland, will do your share." + +The Duke nodded, frowning to hide his emotion. + +Volney fell back on the pillows. "Good! Where is the priest?" + +A vicar of the Church of England came forward to offer the usual +ministrations to the dying. Volney listened for a minute or two with +closed eyes, then interrupted gently. + +"Thank you. That will suffice. I'll never insult my Maker by fawning for +pardon in the fag hour of a misspent life." + +"The mercy of God is without limits----" + +"I hope so. That I shall know better than you within the space of +four-and-twenty hours. I'm afraid you mistake your mission here. You came +to marry Antony, not to bury Cæsar." Then, turning to me, he said with a +flare of his old reckless wit: "Any time this six weeks you've been +qualifying for the noose. If you're quite ready we'll have the obsequies +to-night." + +He put Aileen's hand in mine. The vicar married us, the Prince of Wales +giving away the bride. Aileen's pale face was shot with a faint flush, a +splash of pink in either alabaster cheek. When the priest had made us man +and wife she, who had just married me, leaned forward impulsively and +kissed our former enemy on the forehead. The humorous gleam came back to +his dulling eyes. + +"Only one, Montagu. I dare say you can spare that. The rest are for a +better man. Don't cry, Aileen. 'Fore Heaven, 'tis a good quittance for +you." + +He looked at the soft warmth and glow of her, now quickened to throbbing +life, drew a long breath, then smiled and sighed again, her lover even to +the last. + +A long silence fell, which Sir Robert broke by saying with a smile, "In +case Selwyn calls show him up. If I am still alive I'll want to see him, +and if I'm dead he'll want to see me. 'Twill interest him vastly." + +Once more only he spoke. "The shadow falls," he said to Aileen, and +presently dozed fitfully; so slipped gradually into the deeper sleep from +which there is no awakening this side of the tomb. Thus he passed quietly +to the great beyond, an unfearing cynic to the last hour of his life. + + + + +THE AFTERWORD + + +My pardon came next day, duly signed and sealed, with the customary rider +to it that I must renounce the Stuarts, and swear allegiance to King +George. I am no hero of romance, but a plain Englishman, a prosaic lover +of roast beef and old claret, of farming and of fox-hunting. Our cause was +dead, and might as well be buried. Not to make long of the matter, I took +the oath without scruple. To my pardon there was one other proviso: that I +must live on my estate until further notice. If at any time I were found +ten miles from Montagu Grange, the pardon was to be void. + +Aileen and I moved to our appointed home at once. It may be believed that +our hearts were full of the most tender joy and love, for I had been +snatched from the jaws of death into the very sunshine of life. We had but +one cloud to mar the bright light--the death of many a dear friend, and +most of all, of that friendly enemy who had given his life for her good +name. Moralists point out to me that he was a great sinner. I care not if +it be so. Let others condemn him; I do not. Rather I cherish the memory of +a gallant, faultful gentleman whose life found wrong expression. There be +some to whom are given inheritance of evil nature. Then how dare we, who +know not the measure of their temptation, make ourselves judges of their +sin? + +At the Grange we found awaiting us an unexpected visitor, a red-haired, +laughing Highlander, who, though in hiding, was as full of merriment as a +schoolboy home for the holidays. To Cloe he made most ardent love, and +when, at last, Donald Roy slipped across the waters to St. Germains, he +carried with him a promise that was redeemed after the general amnesty was +passed. + +Six weeks after my pardon Malcolm Macleod and Miss Flora Macdonald stopped +at the Grange for a short visit with us. They were on their way north, +having been at length released without a trial, since the passion for +blood was now spent. + +"We three, with Captain Donald Roy and Tony Creagh, came to London to be +hangit," smiled Major Macleod as they were about to resume their journey. +"Twa-three times the rope tightened around the gullets of some of us, yet +in the end we all win free. You and Tony have already embraced the other +noose; Donald is in a geyan ill way, writing Latin verses to his lady's +eyes; and as for me,"--he smiled boldly at his companion--"I ride to the +land of heather side by side with Miss Flora Macdonald." + +Here I drop the quill, for my tale is told. For me, life is full of many +quiet interests and much happiness, but even now there grips me at times a +longing for those mad wild days, when death hung on a hair's breadth, and +the glamour of romance beckoned the feathered foot of youth. + +FINIS + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Daughter of Raasay, by William MacLeod Raine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY *** + +***** This file should be named 26692-8.txt or 26692-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/9/26692/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/26692-8.zip b/old/26692-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..767d2a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-8.zip diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0001.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c568f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0001.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0002.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0002.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed7d158 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0002.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0003-image1.jpg b/old/26692-page-images/f0003-image1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47e3bb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0003-image1.jpg diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0005.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0005.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..22340ca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0005.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0007.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0007.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c63d9e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0007.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0008.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0008.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1e8f2c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0008.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0009.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0009.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac43a05 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0009.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0010.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0010.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c0c7c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0010.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/f0011.png b/old/26692-page-images/f0011.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf99f08 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/f0011.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0001.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b570278 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0001.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0002.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0002.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e99e4dc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0002.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0003.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0003.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6bdbcb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0003.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0004.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0004.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad9cb1c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0004.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0005.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0005.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f78ec37 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0005.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0006.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0006.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..19b65c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0006.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0007.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0007.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af3b91c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0007.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0008.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0008.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c741ac2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0008.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0009.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0009.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9559934 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0009.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0010.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0010.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed5e868 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0010.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0011.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0011.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea518df --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0011.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0012.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0012.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3589442 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0012.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0013.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0013.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30b1afd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0013.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0014.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0014.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..181fbdd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0014.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0015.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0015.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..485903f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0015.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0016.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0016.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c30ec0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0016.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0017.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0017.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c43733 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0017.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0018.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0018.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ebc4e2c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0018.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0019.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0019.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f624755 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0019.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0020.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0020.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..66b250a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0020.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0021.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0021.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c30fc56 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0021.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0022.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0022.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a84f980 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0022.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0023.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0023.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbeb8ad --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0023.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0024.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0024.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7366ae7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0024.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0025.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0025.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0147c98 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0025.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0026.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0026.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bba59dd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0026.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0027.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0027.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..afb5862 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0027.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0028.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0028.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb0a855 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0028.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0029.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0029.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..71bb077 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0029.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0030.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0030.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d25faf2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0030.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0031.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0031.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..823b425 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0031.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0032.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0032.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f8ec99 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0032.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0033.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0033.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cf11b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0033.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0034.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0034.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0d0418 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0034.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0035.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0035.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba55208 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0035.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0036.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0036.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0425f0b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0036.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0037.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0037.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed81c70 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0037.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0038.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0038.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd3fbcd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0038.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0039.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0039.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..442190c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0039.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0040.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0040.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1789b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0040.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0041.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0041.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2abf341 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0041.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0042.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0042.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..81c9d33 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0042.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0043.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0043.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2815059 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0043.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0044.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0044.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a0d67e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0044.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0045.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0045.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dd98e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0045.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0046.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0046.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..388e3af --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0046.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0047.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0047.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f6cafa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0047.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0048.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0048.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49813cf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0048.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0049.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0049.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..145d05e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0049.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0050.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0050.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c63cc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0050.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0051.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0051.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..44c31be --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0051.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0052.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0052.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..845b5bb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0052.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0053.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0053.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..07bef86 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0053.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0054.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0054.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..024c562 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0054.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0055.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0055.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8c9ecd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0055.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0056.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0056.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9017376 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0056.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0057.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0057.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35a0680 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0057.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0058.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0058.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e84c76 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0058.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0059.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0059.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..60732e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0059.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0060.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0060.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..01a3169 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0060.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0061.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0061.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e60552 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0061.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0062.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0062.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b21dcf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0062.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0063.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0063.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65f49da --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0063.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0064.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0064.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..09d746f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0064.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0065.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0065.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fc9779 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0065.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0066.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0066.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf30a26 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0066.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0067.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0067.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c208224 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0067.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0068.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0068.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6af69a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0068.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0069.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0069.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7341eec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0069.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0070.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0070.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d9150e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0070.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0071.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0071.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b7f21d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0071.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0072.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0072.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c46a7a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0072.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0073.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0073.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c5258d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0073.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0074.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0074.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aee13e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0074.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0075.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0075.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cda078c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0075.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0076.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0076.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..12f8372 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0076.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0077.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0077.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..56cc570 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0077.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0078.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0078.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38f1fd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0078.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0079.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0079.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d11c6ad --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0079.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0080.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0080.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ff8fdc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0080.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0081.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0081.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..846573b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0081.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0082.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0082.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d668f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0082.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0083.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0083.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfab659 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0083.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0084.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0084.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..103b81f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0084.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0085.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0085.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..885b413 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0085.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0086.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0086.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c05cd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0086.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0087.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0087.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..291392f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0087.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0088.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0088.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca9feb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0088.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0089.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0089.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2354c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0089.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0090.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0090.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b70ad94 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0090.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0091.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0091.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..21e5875 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0091.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0092.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0092.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e44503e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0092.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0093.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0093.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b09dd26 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0093.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0094.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0094.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7bf748 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0094.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0095.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0095.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b892186 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0095.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0096.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0096.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..97755b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0096.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0097.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0097.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e08ee94 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0097.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0098.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0098.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d921f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0098.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0099.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0099.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..101c8aa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0099.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0100.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0100.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b85eaf9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0100.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0101.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0101.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7dd4eb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0101.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0102.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0102.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a092b62 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0102.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0103.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0103.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43f813a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0103.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0104.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0104.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3f826a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0104.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0105.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0105.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15d9d31 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0105.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0106.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0106.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ea1bb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0106.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0107.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0107.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dca49d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0107.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0108.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0108.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..318e01c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0108.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0109.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0109.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58628b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0109.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0110.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0110.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..da9dc41 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0110.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0111.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0111.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..50c8371 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0111.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0112.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0112.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b605ac1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0112.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0113.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0113.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..605a363 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0113.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0114.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0114.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..39266cd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0114.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0115.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0115.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae343a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0115.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0116.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0116.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..224bfae --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0116.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0117.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0117.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26461b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0117.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0118.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0118.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b2cc4e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0118.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0119.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0119.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f220c59 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0119.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0120.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0120.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bdeb86 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0120.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0121.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0121.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e23015d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0121.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0122.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0122.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8db98af --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0122.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0123.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0123.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26974bb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0123.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0124.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0124.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..08dd226 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0124.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0125.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0125.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f53125c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0125.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0126.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0126.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb00579 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0126.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0127.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0127.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..609d949 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0127.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0128.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0128.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c14f6e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0128.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0129.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0129.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aac6353 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0129.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0130.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0130.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..469422a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0130.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0131.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0131.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61517e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0131.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0132.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0132.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ec33f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0132.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0133.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0133.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0b160e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0133.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0134.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0134.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..80e6a17 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0134.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0135.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0135.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05ce54a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0135.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0136.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0136.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8324f2f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0136.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0137.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0137.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bef8d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0137.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0138.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0138.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d09fb4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0138.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0139.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0139.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9e680d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0139.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0140.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0140.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..489638c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0140.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0141.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0141.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..175d212 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0141.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0142.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0142.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f32129 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0142.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0143.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0143.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a656893 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0143.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0144.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0144.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5a905c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0144.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0145.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0145.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddf533d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0145.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0146.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0146.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47f5fa4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0146.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0147.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0147.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f09b4bb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0147.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0148.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0148.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ceb5e03 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0148.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0149.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0149.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa7fc38 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0149.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0150.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0150.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e60bf2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0150.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0151.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0151.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..524f505 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0151.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0152.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0152.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf4b389 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0152.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0153.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0153.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a3cf26 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0153.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0154.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0154.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..274c762 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0154.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0155.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0155.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e7d462 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0155.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0156.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0156.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ba1b82 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0156.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0157.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0157.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0a85cf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0157.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0158.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0158.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e36834 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0158.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0159.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0159.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..72937ec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0159.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0160.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0160.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c93d15 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0160.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0161.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0161.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..95911ea --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0161.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0162.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0162.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..665caa2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0162.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0163.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0163.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e023f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0163.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0164.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0164.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..df6428d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0164.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0165.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0165.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ad5c6a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0165.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0166.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0166.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff4e85f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0166.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0167.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0167.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..93f2a5b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0167.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0168.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0168.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78d8247 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0168.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0169.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0169.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6874142 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0169.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0170.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0170.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ca3396 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0170.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0171.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0171.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..82cde20 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0171.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0172.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0172.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9334b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0172.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0173.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0173.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fba896f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0173.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0174.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0174.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd2967f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0174.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0175.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0175.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67b3c23 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0175.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0176.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0176.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..83fb190 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0176.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0177.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0177.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..24180b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0177.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0178.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0178.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8017d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0178.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0179.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0179.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ccdcba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0179.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0180.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0180.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ca8882 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0180.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0181.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0181.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9df8b08 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0181.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0182.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0182.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a3dfcf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0182.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0183.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0183.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..20d6123 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0183.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0184.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0184.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5239605 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0184.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0185.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0185.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5c948b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0185.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0186.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0186.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0eacde --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0186.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0187.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0187.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e7e02d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0187.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0188.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0188.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..560f6ef --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0188.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0189.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0189.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c642084 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0189.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0190.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0190.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..122b334 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0190.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0191.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0191.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b49024 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0191.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0192.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0192.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..275d2d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0192.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0193.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0193.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e40c0cf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0193.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0194.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0194.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..22939b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0194.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0195.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0195.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f4d1e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0195.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0196.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0196.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e968f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0196.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0197.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0197.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ddf283 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0197.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0198.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0198.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..760e572 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0198.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0199.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0199.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98c70a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0199.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0200.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0200.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa17164 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0200.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0201.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0201.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1480be3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0201.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0202.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0202.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dd3c0e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0202.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0203.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0203.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b4099d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0203.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0204.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0204.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..be8bf24 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0204.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0205.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0205.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b21aea6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0205.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0206.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0206.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2312498 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0206.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0207.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0207.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0654a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0207.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0208.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0208.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..607022f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0208.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0209.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0209.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b23e4e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0209.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0210.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0210.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..86cb251 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0210.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0211.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0211.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..afb244f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0211.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0212.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0212.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8407950 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0212.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0213.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0213.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a50c18 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0213.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0214.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0214.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1572823 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0214.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0215.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0215.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87b51b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0215.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0216.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0216.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..108b1b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0216.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0217.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0217.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..825a52c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0217.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0218.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0218.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c06574 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0218.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0219.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0219.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a69af7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0219.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0220.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0220.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..050da8c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0220.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0221.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0221.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ade8dc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0221.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0222.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0222.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a4d707 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0222.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0223.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0223.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e1987 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0223.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0224.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0224.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..579c9bf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0224.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0225.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0225.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe322cd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0225.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0226.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0226.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0d4a24 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0226.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0227.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0227.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1be26d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0227.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0228.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0228.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..832419e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0228.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0229.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0229.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..407e936 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0229.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0230.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0230.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d04db4b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0230.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0231.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0231.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce73623 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0231.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0232.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0232.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..039d25d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0232.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0233.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0233.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cfd45c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0233.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0234.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0234.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c9a25d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0234.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0235.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0235.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fe35d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0235.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0236.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0236.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e3b468 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0236.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0237.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0237.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b11199 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0237.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0238.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0238.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af40361 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0238.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0239.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0239.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d06d00e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0239.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0240.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0240.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..237cb66 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0240.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0241.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0241.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc089b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0241.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0242.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0242.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb98b24 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0242.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0243.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0243.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f72a353 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0243.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0244.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0244.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..947dab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0244.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0245.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0245.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7250d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0245.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0246.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0246.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7b50d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0246.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0247.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0247.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38889ab --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0247.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0248.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0248.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..57b6a82 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0248.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0249.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0249.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8292b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0249.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0250.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0250.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ae96d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0250.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0251.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0251.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ef2cf6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0251.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0252.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0252.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e955fdf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0252.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0253.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0253.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..21952f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0253.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0254.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0254.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f0e3d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0254.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0255.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0255.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c51baf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0255.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0256.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0256.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9467cba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0256.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0257.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0257.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03d5dd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0257.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0258.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0258.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..942ea40 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0258.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0259.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0259.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fe6468 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0259.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0260.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0260.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9dda799 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0260.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0261.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0261.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f8d828 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0261.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0262.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0262.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..07facde --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0262.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0263.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0263.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..51c8c52 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0263.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0264.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0264.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d317ed3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0264.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0265.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0265.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e1a728 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0265.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0266.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0266.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..757c949 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0266.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0267.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0267.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c8a226 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0267.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0268.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0268.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6611ea --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0268.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0269.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0269.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ede6390 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0269.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0270.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0270.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b8f63c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0270.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0271.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0271.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..edcff69 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0271.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0272.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0272.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3fcb96 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0272.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0273.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0273.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d2c72a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0273.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0274.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0274.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f18289d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0274.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0275.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0275.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..443dcee --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0275.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0276.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0276.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4998633 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0276.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0277.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0277.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5deba0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0277.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0278.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0278.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..42d6c2c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0278.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0279.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0279.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7954799 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0279.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0280.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0280.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f2e7f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0280.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0281.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0281.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8090d06 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0281.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0282.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0282.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..612d3d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0282.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0283.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0283.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8eca46d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0283.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0284.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0284.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c84cd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0284.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0285.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0285.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2c4393 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0285.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0286.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0286.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f39e9e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0286.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0287.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0287.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed00858 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0287.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0288.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0288.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b76ce98 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0288.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0289.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0289.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04be895 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0289.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0290.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0290.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7e1f74 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0290.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0291.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0291.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b41eed --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0291.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0292.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0292.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef9b3d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0292.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0293.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0293.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1352c49 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0293.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0294.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0294.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..075a30c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0294.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0295.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0295.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb85141 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0295.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0296.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0296.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..64f1294 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0296.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0297.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0297.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f596ea6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0297.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0298.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0298.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..41ef087 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0298.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0299.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0299.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d217e32 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0299.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0300.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0300.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ddbe21 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0300.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0301.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0301.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ec26cd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0301.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0302.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0302.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ea5d40 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0302.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0303.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0303.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96a5c7a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0303.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0304.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0304.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..946d2ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0304.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0305.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0305.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cb7bd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0305.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0306.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0306.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c98c91 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0306.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0307.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0307.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bb1815 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0307.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0308.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0308.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d6b208 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0308.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0309.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0309.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbdceb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0309.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0310.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0310.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2c5ad0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0310.png diff --git a/old/26692-page-images/p0311.png b/old/26692-page-images/p0311.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d91ff2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692-page-images/p0311.png diff --git a/old/26692.txt b/old/26692.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b68ec8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8335 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Daughter of Raasay, by William MacLeod Raine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Daughter of Raasay + A Tale of the '45 + +Author: William MacLeod Raine + +Illustrator: Stuart Travis + +Release Date: September 23, 2008 [EBook #26692] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY A TALE OF THE '45 + +By WILLIAM MacLEOD RAINE + +Illustrated by STUART TRAVIS + +NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Copyright, 1901, by Frank Leslie Publishing House + +Copyright, 1902, by Frederick A. Stokes Company + +All rights reserved + +Published in October, 1902 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +[Illustration: AILEEN] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +TO MR. ELLERY SEDGWICK + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Sport of Chance 1 + II A Cry in the Night 19 + III Deoch Slaint an Righ! 39 + IV Of Love and War 60 + V The Hue and Cry 79 + VI In The Matter of a Kiss 99 + VII My Lady Rages 116 + VIII Charles Edward Stuart 133 + IX Blue Bonnets are Over the Border 151 + X Culloden 159 + XI The Red Heather Hills 180 + XII Volney Pays a Debt 202 + XIII The Little God has an Innings 223 + XIV The Aftermath 231 + XV A Reprieve! 251 + XVI Volney's Guest 266 + XVII The Valley of the Shadow 278 + XVIII The Shadow Falls 297 + The Afterword 309 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + THE LADIES OF ST. JAMES'S + + The ladies of St. James's + Go swinging to the play; + Their footmen run before them + With a "Stand by! Clear the way!" + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + She takes her buckled shoon. + When we go out a-courting + Beneath the harvest moon. + + The ladies of St. James's! + They are so fine and fair, + You'd think a box of essences + Was broken in the air: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + The breath of heath and furze + When breezes blow at morning, + Is not so fresh as hers. + + The ladies of St. James's! + They're painted to the eyes; + Their white it stays forever, + Their red it never dies: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + Her colour comes and goes; + It trembles to a lily,-- + It wavers like a rose. + + The ladies of St. James's! + You scarce can understand + The half of all their speeches, + Their phrases are so grand: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + Her shy and simple words + Are clear as after raindrops + The music of the birds. + + The ladies of St. James's! + They have their fits and freaks; + They smile on you--for seconds; + They frown on you--for weeks: + But Phyllida, my Phyllida! + Come either storm or shine, + From shrovetide unto shrovetide + Is always true--and mine. + + _Austin Dobson._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +FOREWORD + +When this romance touches history the author believes that it is, in every +respect, with one possible exception, in accord with the accepted facts. +In detailing the history of "the '45'" and the sufferings of the misguided +gentlemen who flung away the scabbard out of loyalty to a worthless cause, +care has been taken to make the story agree with history. The writer does +not of course indorse the view of Prince Charles' character herein set +forth by Kenneth Montagu, but there is abundant evidence to show that the +Young Chevalier had in a very large degree those qualities which were +lacking to none of the Stuarts: a charming personality and a gallant +bearing. If his later life did not fulfil the promise of his youth, the +unhappy circumstances which hampered him should be kept in mind as an +extenuation. + +The thanks of the writer are due for pertinent criticism to Miss Chase, to +Mr. Arthur Chapman and to Mr. James Rain, and especially to Mr. Ellery +Sedgwick, whose friendly interest and kindly encouragement have been +unfailing. + +Acknowledgment must also be made of a copious use of Horace Walpole's +Letters, the Chevalier Johnstone's History of the Rebellion, and other +eighteenth century sources of information concerning the incidents of the +times. The author has taken the liberty of using several anecdotes and +_bon mots_ mentioned in the "Letters"; but he has in each case put the +story in the mouth of its historical originator. + + W. M. R. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY + +CHAPTER I + +THE SPORT OF CHANCE + + +"Deep play!" I heard Major Wolfe whisper to Lord Balmerino. "Can Montagu's +estate stand such a drain?" + +"No. He will be dipped to the last pound before midnight. 'Tis Volney's +doing. He has angled for Montagu a se'nnight, and now he has hooked him. I +have warned the lad, but----" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +The Scotchman was right. I was past all caution now, past all restraint. +The fever of play had gripped me, and I would listen to nothing but the +rattle of that little box which makes the most seductive music ever sung +by siren. My Lord Balmerino might stand behind me in silent protest till +all was grey, and though he had been twenty times my father's friend he +would not move me a jot. + +Volney's smoldering eyes looked across the table at me. + +"Your cast, Kenn. Shall we say doubles? You'll nick this time for sure." + +"Done! Nine's the main," I cried, and threw deuces. + +With that throw down crashed fifty ancestral oaks that had weathered the +storms of three hundred winters. I had crabbed, not nicked. + +"The fickle goddess is not with you to-day, Kenn. The jade jilts us all at +times," drawled Volney, as he raked in his winnings carelessly. + +"Yet I have noted that there are those whom she forsakes not often, and I +have wondered by what charmed talisman they hold her true," flashed out +Balmerino. + +The steel flickered into Volney's eyes. He understood it for no chance +remark, but as an innuendo tossed forth as a challenge. Of all men Sir +Robert Volney rode on the crest of fortune's wave, and there were not +lacking those who whispered that his invariable luck was due to something +more than chance and honest skill. For me, I never believed the charge. +With all his faults Volney had the sportsman's love of fair play. + +The son of a plain country gentleman, he had come to be by reason of his +handsome face, his reckless courage, his unfailing impudence, and his gift +of _savoir-vivre_, the most notorious and fortunate of the adventurers who +swarmed at the court of St. James. By dint of these and kindred qualities +he had become an intimate companion of the Prince of Wales. The man had a +wide observation of life; indeed, he was an interested and whimsical +observer rather than an actor, and a scoffer always. A libertine from the +head to the heel of him, yet gossip marked him as the future husband of +the beautiful young heiress Antoinette Westerleigh. For the rest, he +carried an itching sword and the smoothest tongue that ever graced a +villain. I had been proud that such a man had picked me for his friend, +entirely won by the charm of manner that made his more evil faults sit +gracefully on him. + +Volney declined for the present the quarrel that Balmerino's impulsive +loyalty to me would have fixed on him. He feared no living man, but he was +no hothead to be drawn from his purpose. If Lord Balmerino wanted to +measure swords with him he would accommodate the old Scotch peer with the +greatest pleasure on earth, but not till the time fitted him. He answered +easily: + +"I know no talisman but this, my Lord; in luck and out of luck to bear a +smiling front, content with the goods the gods may send." + +It was a fair hit, for Balmerino was well known as an open malcontent and +suspected of being a Jacobite. + +"Ah! The goods sent by the gods! A pigeon for the plucking--the lad you +have called friend!" retorted the other. + +"Take care, my Lord," warningly. + +"But there are birds it is not safe to pluck," continued Balmerino, +heedless of his growing anger. + +"Indeed!" + +"As even Sir Robert Volney may find out. An eaglet is not wisely chosen +for such purpose." + +It irritated me that they should thrust and parry over my shoulder, as if +I had been but a boy instead of full three months past my legal majority. +Besides, I had no mind to have them letting each other's blood on my +account. + +"Rat it, 'tis your play, Volney. You keep us waiting," I cried. + +"You're in a devilish hurry to be quit of your shekels," laughed the +Irishman O'Sullivan, who sat across the table from me. "Isn't there a +proverb, Mr. Montagu, about a--a careless gentleman and his money going +different ways, begad? Don't keep him waiting any longer than need be, +Volney." + +There is this to be said for the Macaronis, that they plucked their pigeon +with the most graceful negligence in the world. They might live by their +wits, but they knew how to wear always the jauntiest indifference of +manner. Out came the feathers with a sure hand, the while they exchanged +choice _bon mots_ and racy scandal. Hazard was the game we played and I, +Kenneth Montagu, was cast for the role of the pigeon. Against these old +gamesters I had no chance even if the play had been fair, and my head on +it more than one of them rooked me from start to finish. I was with a vast +deal of good company, half of whom were rogues and blacklegs. + +"Heard George Selwyn's latest?"[1] inquired Lord Chesterfield languidly. + +"Not I. Threes, devil take it!" cried O'Sullivan in a pet. + +"Tell it, Horry. It's your story," drawled the fourth Earl of +Chesterfield. + +"Faith, and that's soon done," answered Walpole. "George and I were taking +the air down the Mall arm in arm yesterday just after the fellow Fox was +hanged for cutting purses, and up comes our Fox to quiz George. Says he, +knowing Selwyn's penchant for horrors, 'George, were you at the execution +of my namesake?' Selwyn looks him over in his droll way from head to foot +and says, 'Lard, no! I never attend rehearsals, Fox.'" + +"'Tis the first he has missed for years then. Selwyn is as regular as Jack +Ketch himself. Your throw, Montagu," put in O'Sullivan. + +"Seven's the main, and by the glove of Helen I crab. Saw ever man such +cursed luck?" I cried. + +"'Tis vile. Luck's mauling you fearfully to-night," agreed Volney +languidly. Then, apropos of the hanging, "Ketch turned off that fellow Dr. +Dodd too. There was a shower, and the prison chaplain held an umbrella +over Dodd's head. Gilly Williams said it wasn't necessary, as the Doctor +was going to a place where he might be easily dried." + +"Egad, 'tis his greatest interest in life," chuckled Walpole, harking back +to Selwyn. "When George has a tooth pulled he drops his kerchief as a +signal for the dentist to begin the execution." + +Old Lord Pam's toothless gums grinned appreciation of the jest as he +tottered from the room to take a chair for a rout at which he was due. + +"Faith, and it's a wonder how that old Methuselah hangs on year after +year," said O'Sullivan bluntly, before the door had even closed on the +octogenarian. "He must be a thousand if he's a day." + +"The fact is," explained Chesterfield confidentially, "that old Pam has +been dead for several years, but he doesn't choose to have it known. +Pardon me, am I delaying the game?" + +He was not, and he knew it; but my Lord Chesterfield was far too polite to +more than hint to Topham Beauclerc that he had fallen asleep over his +throw. Selwyn and Lord March lounged into the coffee house arm in arm. On +their heels came Sir James Craven, the choicest blackleg in England. + +"How d'ye do, everybody? Whom are you and O'Sully rooking to-night, +Volney? Oh, I see--Montagu. Beg pardon," said Craven coolly. + +Volney looked past the man with a wooden face that did not even recognize +the fellow as a blot on the landscape. There was bad blood between the two +men, destined to end in a tragedy. Sir James had been in the high graces +of Frederick Prince of Wales until the younger and more polished Volney +had ousted him. On the part of the coarse and burly Craven, there was +enduring hatred toward his easy and elegant rival, who paid back his +malice with a serene contempt. Noted duellist as Craven was, Sir Robert +did not give a pinch of snuff for his rage. + +The talk veered to the new fashion of spangled skirts, and Walpole vowed +that Lady Coventry's new dress was covered with spangles big as a +shilling. + +"'Twill be convenient for Coventry. She'll be change for a guinea," +suggested Selwyn gloomily, his solemn face unlighted by the vestige of a +smile. + +So they jested, even when the play was deepest and while long-inherited +family manors passed out of the hands of their owners. The recent French +victory at _Fontenoy_ still rankled in the heart of every Englishman. +Within, the country seethed with an undercurrent of unrest and +dissatisfaction. It was said that there were those who boasted quietly +among themselves over their wine that the sun would yet rise some day on a +Stuart England, that there were desperate men still willing to risk their +lives in blind loyalty or in the gambler's spirit for the race of Kings +that had been discarded for its unworthiness. But the cut of his Mechlin +lace ruffles was more to the Macaroni than his country's future. He made +his jest with the same aplomb at births and weddings and deaths. + +Each fresh minute of play found me parted from some heirloom treasured by +Montagus long since dust. In another half hour Montagu Grange was stripped +of timber bare as the Row itself. Once, between games, I strolled uneasily +down the room, and passing the long looking glass scarce recognized the +haggard face that looked out at me. Still I played on, dogged and +wretched, not knowing how to withdraw myself from these elegant dandies +who were used to win or lose a fortune at a sitting with imperturbable +face. + +Lord Balmerino gave me a chance. He clapped a hand on my shoulder and said +in his brusque kindly way-- + +"Enough, lad! You have dropped eight thou' to-night. Let the old family +pictures still hang on the walls." + +I looked up, flushed and excited, yet still sane enough to know his advice +was good. In the strong sallow face of Major James Wolfe I read the same +word. I knew the young soldier slightly and liked him with a great +respect, though I could not know that this grave brilliant-eyed young man +was later to become England's greatest soldier and hero. I had even pushed +back my chair to rise from the table when the cool gibing voice of Volney +cut in. + +"The eighth wonder of the world; Lord Balmerino in a new role--adviser to +young men of fashion who incline to enjoy life. Are you by any chance +thinking of becoming a ranting preacher, my Lord?" + +"I bid him do as I say and not as I have done. To point my case I cite +myself as an evil example of too deep play." + +"Indeed, my Lord! Faith, I fancied you had in mind even deeper play for +the future. A vastly interesting game, this of politics. You stake your +head that you can turn a king and zounds! you play the deuce instead." + +Balmerino looked at him blackly out of a face cut in frowning marble, but +Volney leaned back carelessly in his chair and his insolent eyes never +flickered. + +As I say, I sat swithering 'twixt will and will-not. + +"Better come, Kenneth! The luck is against you to-night," urged Balmerino, +his face relaxing as he turned to me. + +Major Wolfe said nothing, but his face too invited me. + +"Yes, better go back to school and be birched," sneered Volney. + +And at that I flung back into my seat with a curse, resolute to show him I +was as good a man as he. My grim-faced guardian angel washed his hands of +me with a Scotch proverb. + +"He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar. The lad will have to gang his ain +gate," I heard him tell Wolfe as they strolled away. + +Still the luck held against me. Before I rose from the table two hours +later I wrote out notes for a total so large that I knew the Grange must +be mortgaged to the roof to satisfy it. + +Volney lolled in his chair and hid a yawn behind tapering pink +finger-nails. "'Slife, you had a cursed run of the ivories to-night, Kenn! +When are you for your revenge? Shall we say to-morrow? Egad, I'm ready to +sleep round the clock. Who'll take a seat in my coach? I'm for home." + +I pushed into the night with a burning fever in my blood, and the waves of +damp mist which enveloped London and beat upon me, gathering great drops +of moisture on my cloak, did not suffice to cool the fire that burnt me +up. The black dog Care hung heavy on my shoulders. I knew now what I had +done. Fool that I was, I had mortgaged not only my own heritage but also +the lives of my young brother Charles and my sister Cloe. Our father had +died of apoplexy without a will, and a large part of his personal property +had come to me with the entailed estate. The provision for the other two +had been of the slightest, and now by this one wild night of play I had +put it out of my power to take care of them. I had better clap a pistol to +my head and be done with it. + +Even while the thought was in my mind a hand out of the night fell on my +shoulder from behind. I turned with a start, and found myself face to face +with the Scotchman Balmerino. + +"Whither away, Kenneth?" he asked. + +I laughed bitterly. "What does it matter? A broken gambler--a ruined +dicer-- What is there left for him?" + +The Scotch Lord linked an arm through mine. I had liefer have been alone, +but I could scarce tell him so. He had been a friend of my father and had +done his best to save me from my folly. + +"There is much left. All is not lost. I have a word to say to your +father's son." + +"What use!" I cried rudely. "You would lock the stable after the horse is +stolen." + +"Say rather that I would put you in the way of getting another horse," he +answered gravely. + +So gravely that I looked at him twice before I answered: + +"And I would be blithe to find a way, for split me! as things look now I +must either pistol myself or take to the road and pistol others," I told +him gloomily. + +"There are worse things than to lose one's wealth----" + +"I hear you say it, but begad! I do not know them," I answered with a +touch of anger at his calmness. + +"----When the way is open to regain all one has lost and more," he +finished, unheeding my interruption. + +"Well, this way you speak of," I cried impatiently. "Where is it?" + +He looked at me searchingly, as one who would know the inmost secrets of +my soul. Under a guttering street light he stopped me and read my face +line by line. I dare swear he found there a recklessness to match his own +and perhaps some trace of the loyalty for which he looked. Presently he +said, as the paving stones echoed to our tread:-- + +"You have your father's face, Kenn. I mind him a lad just like you when we +went out together in the '15 for the King. Those were great days--great +days. I wonder----" + +His unfinished sentence tailed out into a meditative silence. His voice +and eyes told of a mind reminiscent of the past and perhaps dreamful of +the future. Yet awhile, and he snatched himself back into the present. + +"Six hours ago I should not have proposed this desperate remedy for your +ills. You had a stake in the country then, but now you are as poor in this +world's gear as Arthur Elphinstone himself. When one has naught but life +at stake he will take greater risks. I have a man's game to play. Are you +for it, lad?" + +I hesitated, a prophetic divination in my mind that I stood in a mist at +the parting of life's ways. + +"You have thrown all to-night--and lost. I offer you another cut at +Fortune's cards. You might even turn a king." + +He said it with a quiet steadfastness in which I seemed to detect an +undercurrent of strenuous meaning. I stopped, and in my turn looked long +at him. What did he mean? Volney's words came to my mind. I began to piece +together rumours I had heard but never credited. I knew that even now men +dreamed of a Stuart restoration. If Arthur Elphinstone of Balmerino were +one of these I knew him to be of a reckless daring mad enough to attempt +it. + +"My Lord, you say I might turn a king," I repeated slowly. "'Tis more like +that I would play the knave. You speak in riddles. I am no guesser of +them. You must be plain." + +Still he hung back from a direct answer. "You are dull to-night, Kenn. I +have known you more gleg at the uptake, but if you will call on me +to-morrow night I shall make all plain to you." + +We were arrived at the door of his lodgings, a mean house in a shabby +neighbourhood, for my Lord was as poor as a church mouse despite his +title. I left him here, and the last words I called over my shoulder to +him were, + +"Remember, I promise nothing." + +It may be surmised that as I turned my steps back toward my rooms in +Arlington Street I found much matter for thought. I cursed the folly that +had led me to offer myself a dupe to these hawks of the gaming table. I +raged in a stress of heady passion against that fair false friend Sir +Robert Volney. And always in the end my mind jumped back to dally with +Balmerino's temptation to recoup my fallen fortunes with one desperate +throw. + +"Fraoch! Dh 'aindeoin co theireadh e!" (The Heath! Gainsay who dare!) + +The slogan echoed and reechoed through the silent streets, and snatched me +in an instant out of the abstraction into which I had fallen. Hard upon +the cry there came to me the sound of steel ringing upon steel. I legged +it through the empty road, flung myself round a corner, and came plump +upon the combatants. The defendant was a lusty young fellow apparently +about my own age, of extraordinary agility and no mean skill with the +sword. He was giving a good account of himself against the four assailants +who hemmed him against the wall, his point flashing here and there with +swift irregularity to daunt their valiancy. At the moment when I appeared +to create a diversion one of the four had flung himself down and forward +to cling about the knees of their victim with intent to knife him at close +quarters. The young man dared not shorten his sword length to meet this +new danger. He tried to shake off the man, caught at his white throat and +attempted to force him back, what time his sword still opposed the rest of +the villains. + +Then I played my small part in the entertainment. One of the rascals +screamed out an oath at sight of me and turned to run. I pinked him in the +shoulder, and at the same time the young swordsman fleshed another of +them. The man with the knife scrambled to his feet, a ludicrous picture of +ghastly terror. To make short, in another minute there was nothing to be +seen of the cutpurses but flying feet scampering through the night. + +The young gentleman turned to me with a bow that was never invented out of +France. I saw now that he was something older than myself, tall, +well-made, and with a fine stride to him that set off the easy grace of +his splendid shoulders. His light steady blue eyes and his dark ruddy hair +proclaimed him the Highlander. His face was not what would be called +handsome: the chin was over-square and a white scar zigzagged across his +cheek, but I liked the look of him none the less for that. His frank manly +countenance wore the self-reliance of one who has lived among the hills +and slept among the heather under countless stars. For dress he wore the +English costume with the extra splash of colour that betokened the vanity +of his race. "'Fore God, sir, you came none too soon," he cried in his +impetuous Gaelic way. "This riff-raff of your London town had knifed me in +another gliff. I will be thinking that it would have gone ill with me but +for your opportune arrival. I am much beholden to you, and if ever I can +pay the debt do not fail to call on Don--er--James Brown." + +At the last words he fell to earth most precipitately, all the fervent +ring dropping out of his voice. Now James Brown is a common name enough, +but he happened to be the first of the name I had ever heard crying a +Highland slogan in the streets of London, and I looked at him with +something more than curiosity. I am a Scotchman myself on the mother's +side, so that I did not need to have a name put to his nationality. + +There was the touch of a smile on my face when I asked him if he were +hurt. He gave me the benefit of his full seventy three inches and told me +no, that he would think shame of himself if he could not keep his head +with his hands from a streetful of such scum. And might he know the name +of the unknown friend who had come running out of the night to lend him an +arm? + +"Kenneth Montagu," I told him, laughing at his enthusiasm. + +"Well then, Mr. Kenneth Montagu, it's the good friend you've been to me +this night, and I'll not be forgetting it." + +"When I find myself attacked by footpads I'll just look up Mr. James +Brown," I told him dryly with intent to plague. + +He took the name sourly, no doubt in an itching to blurt out that he was a +Mac-something or other. To a Gaelic gentleman like him the Sassenach name +he used for a convenience was gall and wormwood. + +We walked down the street together, and where our ways parted near +Arlington Street he gave me his hand. + +"The lucky man am I at meeting you, Mr. Montagu, while we were having the +bit splore down the street. I was just weanying for a lad handy with his +blade, and the one I would be choosing out of all England came hot-foot +round the corner." + +I made nothing of what I had done, but yet his Highland friendliness and +flatteries were balm to a sick heart and we parted at my door with a great +deal of good-will. + +----- + + [1] The author takes an early opportunity to express his obligations + to the letters of Horace Walpole who was himself so infinitely + indebted to the conversation of his cronies. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CRY IN THE NIGHT + + +"Past ten o'clock, and a clear starry night!" the watch was bawling as I +set out from my rooms to keep my appointment with Lord Balmerino. I had +little doubt that a Stuart restoration was the cause for which he was +recruiting, and all day I had balanced in my mind the pros and cons of +such an attempt. I will never deny that the exiled race held for me a +strong fascination. The Stuarts may have been weak, headstrong Kings in +their prosperity, but they had the royal virtue of drawing men to them in +their misfortune. They were never so well loved, nor so worthy of it, as +when they lived in exile at St. Germains. Besides, though I had never +mixed with politics, I was a Jacobite by inheritance. My father had fought +for a restoration, and my uncle had died for it. + +There were no fast bound ties to hold me back. Loyalty to the Hanoverians +had no weight with me. I was a broken man, and save for my head could lose +nothing by the venture. The danger of the enterprise was a merit in my +eyes, for I was in the mood when a man will risk his all on an impulse. + +And yet I hung back. After all an Englishman, be he never so desperate, +does not fling away the scabbard without counting the cost. Young as I was +I grued at the thought of the many lives that would be cut off ere their +time, and in my heart I distrusted the Stuarts and doubted whether the +game were worth the candle. + +I walked slowly, for I was not yet due at the lodgings of Balmerino for an +hour, and as I stood hesitating at a street corner a chaise sheered past +me at a gallop. Through the coach window by the shine of the moon I caught +one fleeting glimpse of a white frightened girl-face, and over the mouth +was clapped a rough hand to stifle any cry she might give. I am no Don +Quixote, but there never was a Montagu who waited for the cool second +thought to crowd out the strong impulse of the moment. I made a dash at +the step, missed my footing, and rolled over into the mud. When I got to +my feet again the coach had stopped at the far end of the street. Two men +were getting out of the carriage holding between them a slight struggling +figure. For one instant the clear shrill cry of a woman was lifted into +the night, then it was cut short abruptly by the clutch of a hand at the +throat. + +I scudded toward them, lugging at my sword as I ran, but while I was yet +fifty yards away the door of the house opened and closed behind them. An +instant, and the door reopened to let out one of the men, who slammed it +behind him and entered the chaise. The postilion whipped up his horses and +drove off. The door yielded nothing to my hand. Evidently it was locked +and bolted. I cried out to open, and beat wildly upon the door with the +hilt of my sword. Indeed, I quite lost my head, threatening, storming, and +abusing. I might as well have called upon the marble busts at the Abbey to +come forth, for inside there was the silence of the dead. Presently lights +began to glimmer in windows along the dark street, and nightcapped heads +were thrust out to learn what was ado. I called on them to join me in a +rescue, but I found them not at all keen for the adventure. They took me +for a drunken Mohawk or some madman escaped from custody. + +"Here come the watch to take him away," I heard one call across the street +to another. + +I began to realize that an attempt to force an entrance was futile. It +would only end in an altercation with the approaching watch. Staid +citizens were already pointing me out to them as a cause of the +disturbance. For the moment I elected discretion and fled incontinent down +the street from the guard. + +But I was back before ten minutes were up, lurking in the shadows of +opposite doorways, examining the house from front and rear, searching for +some means of ingress to this mysterious dwelling. I do not know why the +thing stuck in my mind. Perhaps some appealing quality of youth in the +face and voice stirred in me the instinct for the championship of dames +that is to be found in every man. At any rate I was grimly resolved not to +depart without an explanation of the strange affair. + +What no skill of mine could accomplish chance did for me. While I was +inviting a crick in my neck from staring up at the row of unlighted +windows above me, a man came out of the front door and stood looking up +and down the street. Presently he spied me and beckoned. I was all +dishevelled and one stain of mud from head to foot. + +"D' ye want to earn a shilling, fellow?" he called. + +I grumbled that I was out of work and money. Was it likely I would refuse +such a chance? And what was it he would have me do? + +He led the way through the big, dimly-lighted hall to an up-stairs room +near the back of the house. Two heavy boxes were lying there, packed and +corded, to be taken down-stairs. I tossed aside my cloak and stooped to +help him. He straightened with a jerk. I had been standing in the shadow +with my soiled cloak wrapped about me, but now I stood revealed in silken +hose, satin breeches, and laced doublet. If that were not enough to +proclaim my rank a rapier dangled by my side. + +"Rot me, you're a gentleman," he cried. + +I affected to carry off my shame with bluster. + +"What if I am!" I cried fiercely. "May not a gentleman be hungry, man? I +am a ruined dicer, as poor as a church mouse. Do you grudge me my +shilling?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. Doubtless he had seen more than one broken +gentleman cover poverty with a brave front of fine lawn and gilded +splendour of array. + +"All one to me, your Royal 'Ighness. Take 'old 'ere," he said +facetiously. + +We carried the boxes into the hall. When we had finished I stood mopping +my face with a handkerchief, but my eyes were glued to the label tacked on +one of the boxes. + +_John Armitage, The Oaks, Epsom, Surrey._ + +"Wot yer waitin' for?" asked the fellow sharply. + +"The shilling," I told him. + +I left when he gave it me, and as I reached the door he bawled to be sure +to shut it tight. An idea jumped to my mind on the instant, and though I +slammed the door I took care to have my foot an inch or two within the +portal. Next moment I was walking noisily down the steps and along the +pavement. + +Three minutes later I tiptoed back up the steps and tried the door. I +opened it slowly and without noise till I could thrust in my head. The +fellow was nowhere to be seen in the hall. I whipped in, and closed the +door after me. Every board seemed to creak as I trod gingerly toward the +stairway. In the empty house the least noise echoed greatly. The polished +stairs cried out hollowly my presence. I was half way up when I came to a +full stop. Some one was coming down round the bend of the stairway. Softly +I slid down the balustrade and crouched behind the post at the bottom. The +man--it was my friend of the shilling--passed within a foot of me, his +hand almost brushing the hair of my head, and crossed the hall to a room +opposite. Again I went up the stairs, still cautiously, but with a +confidence born of the knowledge of his whereabouts. + +The house was large, and I might have wandered long without guessing where +lay the room I wanted had it not been for a slight sound that came to +me--the low, soft sobbing of a woman. I groped my way along the dark +passage, turned to the left, and presently came to the door from behind +which issued the sound. The door was locked on the outside, and the key +was in the lock. I knocked, and at once silence fell. To my second knock I +got no answer. Then I turned the key and entered. + +A girl was sitting at a table with her back to me, her averted head +leaning wearily on her hand. Dejection spoke in every line of her figure. +She did not even turn at my entrance, thinking me no doubt to be her +guard. I stood waiting awkwardly, scarce knowing what to say. + +"Madam," I began, "may I-- Is there----?" So far I got, then I came to an +embarrassed pause, for I might as well have talked to the dead for all the +answer I got. She did not honour me with the faintest sign of attention. I +hemmed and hawed and bowed to her back with a growing confusion. + +At last she asked over her shoulder in a strained, even voice, + +"What is it you're wanting now? You said I was to be left by my lane +to-night." + +I murmured like a gawk that I was at her service, and presently as I +shifted from one foot to the other she turned slowly. Her face was a dumb +cry for help, though it was a proud face too--one not lacking in fire and +courage. I have seen fairer faces, but never one more to my liking. It was +her eyes that held me. The blue of her own Highland lochs, with all their +changing and indescribably pathetic beauty, lurked deeply in them. +Unconsciously they appealed to me, and the world was not wide enough to +keep me from her when they called. Faith, my secret is out already, and I +had resolved that it should keep till near the end of my story! + +I had dropped my muddy cloak before I entered, and as she looked at me a +change came over her. Despair gave way to a startled surprise. Her eyes +dilated. + +"Who are you, sir? And--what are you doing here?" she demanded. + +I think some fear or presage of evil was knocking at her heart, for though +she fronted me very steadily her eyes were full of alarm. What should a +man of rank be doing in her room on the night she had been abducted from +her lodgings unless his purpose were evil? She wore a long cloak +stretching to the ground, and from under it slippered feet peeped out. The +cloak was of the latest mode, very wide and open at the neck and +shoulders, and beneath the mantle I caught more than a glimpse of the +laced white nightrail and the fine sloping neck. 'Twas plain that her +abductors had given her only time to fling the wrap about her before they +snatched her from her bedchamber. Some wild instinct of defense stirred +within her, and with one hand she clutched the cloak tightly to her +throat. My heart went out to the child with a great rush of pity. The mad +follies of my London life slipped from me like the muddy garment outside, +and I swore by all I held most dear not to see her wronged. + +"Madam," I said, "for all the world I would not harm you. I have come to +offer you my sword as a defense against those who would injure you. My +name is Montagu, and I know none of the name that are liars," I cried. + +"Are you the gentleman that was for stopping the carriage as we came?" she +asked. + +"I am that same unlucky gentleman that was sent speldering in the +glaur.[2] I won an entrance to the house by a trick, and I am here at your +service," I said, throwing in my tag of Scotch to reassure her. + +"You will be English, but you speak the kindly Scots," she cried. + +"My mother was from the Highlands," I told her. + +"What! You have the Highland blood in you? Oh then, it is the good heart +you will have too. Will you ever have been on the braes of Raasay?" + +I told her no; that I had always lived in England, though my mother was a +Campbell. Her joy was the least thing in the world daunted, and in her +voice there was a dash of starch. + +"Oh! A Campbell!" + +I smiled. 'Twas plain her clan was no friend to the sons of _Diarmaid_. + +"My father was out in the '15, and when he wass a wounded fugitive with +the Campbell bloodhounds on his trail Mary Campbell hid him till the chase +was past. Then she guided him across the mountains and put him in the way +of reaching the Macdonald country. My father married her after the +amnesty," I explained. + +The approving light flashed back into her eyes. + +"At all events then I am not doubting she wass a good lassie, Campbell or +no Campbell; and I am liking it that your father went back and married +her." + +"But we are wasting time," I urged. "What can I do for you? Where do you +live? To whom shall I take you?" + +She fell to earth at once. "My grief! I do not know. Malcolm has gone to +France. He left me with Hamish Gorm in lodgings, but they will not be safe +since----" She stopped, and at the memory of what had happened there the +wine crept into her cheeks. + +"And who is Malcolm?" I asked gently. + +"My brother. He iss an agent for King James in London, and he brought me +with him. But he was called away, and he left me with the gillie. To-night +they broke into my room while Hamish was away, weary fa' the day! And now +where shall I go?" + +"My sister is a girl about your age. Cloe would be delighted to welcome +you. I am sure you would like each other." + +"You are the good friend to a poor lass that will never be forgetting, and +I will be blithe to burden the hospitality of your sister till my brother +returns." + +The sharp tread of footsteps on the stairs reached us. A man was coming +up, and he was singing languidly a love ditty. + + "What is love? 'Tis not hereafter, + Present mirth has present laughter, + What's to come is still unsure; + In delay there lies no plenty, + Then come kiss me sweet and twenty. + Youth's a stuff will not endure." + +Something in the voice struck a familiar chord in my memory, but I could +not put a name to its owner. The girl looked at me with eyes grown +suddenly horror-stricken. I noticed that her face had taken on the hue of +snow. + +"We are too late," she cried softly. + +We heard a key fumbling in the lock, and then the door opened--to let in +Volney. His hat was sweeping to the floor in a bow when he saw me. He +stopped and looked at me in surprise, his lips framing themselves for a +whistle. I could see the starch run through and take a grip of him. For +just a gliff he stood puzzled and angry. Then he came in wearing his ready +dare-devil smile and sat down easily on the bed. + +"Hope I'm not interrupting, Montagu," he said jauntily. "I dare say though +that's past hoping for. You'll have to pardon my cursedly malapropos +appearance. Faith, my only excuse is that I did not know the lady was +entertaining other visitors this evening." + +He looked at her with careless insolence out of his beautiful dark eyes, +and for that moment I hated him with the hate a man will go to hell to +satisfy. + +"You will spare this lady your insults," I told him in a low voice. "At +least so far as you can. Your presence itself is an insult." + +"Egad, and that's where the wind sits, eh? Well, well, 'tis the manner of +the world. When the cat's away!" + +A flame of fire ran through me. I took a step toward him, hand on sword +hilt. With a sweep of his jewelled hand he waved me back. + +"Fie, fie, Kenn! In a lady's presence?" + +Volney smiled at the girl in mock gallantry and my eyes followed his. I +never saw a greater change. She was transformed. Her lithe young figure +stood out tall and strong, every line of weariness gone. Hate, loathing, +scorn, one might read plainly there, but no trace of fear or despair. She +might have been a lioness defending her young. Her splendour of dark +auburn hair, escaped and fallen free to her waist, fascinated me with the +luxuriance of its disorder. Volney's lazy admiration quickened to a deeper +interest. For an instant his breath came faster. His face lighted with the +joy of the huntsman after worthy game. But almost immediately he recovered +his aplomb. Turning to me, he asked with his odd light smile, + +"Staying long, may I ask?" + +My passion was gone. I was possessed by a slow fire as steady and as +enduring as a burning peat. + +"I have not quite made up my mind how long to stay," I answered coldly. +"When I leave the lady goes with me, but I haven't decided yet what to do +with you." + +He began to laugh. "You grow amusing. 'Slife, you are not all country boor +after all! May it please you, what are the alternatives regarding my +humble self?" he drawled, leaning back with an elbow on the pillow. + +"Well, I might kill you." + +"Yes, you might. And--er-- What would I be doing?" he asked negligently. + +"Or, since there is a lady present, I might leave you till another time." + +His handsome, cynical face, with its curious shifting lights and shadows, +looked up at me for once suffused with genuine amusement. + +"Stap me, you'd make a fortune as a play actor. Garrick is a tyro beside +you. Some one was telling me that your financial affairs had been going +wrong. An it comes to the worst, take my advice and out-Garrick Garrick." + +"You are very good. Your interest in my affairs charms me, Sir Robert. +'Tis true they are not promising. A friend duped me. He held the Montagu +estates higher than honour." + +He appeared to reflect. "Friend? Don't think I'm acquainted with any of +the kind, unless a friend is one who eats your dinners, drinks your wines, +rides your horses, and"--with a swift sidelong look at the girl--"makes +love to your charming adored." + +Into the girl's face the colour flared, but she looked at him with a +contempt so steady that any man but Volney must have winced. + +"Friendship!" she cried with infinite disdain. "What can such as you know +of it? You are false as Judas. Did you not begowk my honest brother with +fine words till he and I believed you one of God's noblemen, and when his +back was fairly turned----?" + +"I had the best excuse in London for my madness, Aileen," he said with the +wistful little laugh that had gone straight to many a woman's heart. + +Her eye flashed and her bosom heaved. The pure girl-heart read him like an +open book. + +"And are you thinking me so mean a thing as still to care for your honeyed +words? Believe me, there iss no viper on the braes of Raasay more +detestable to me than you." + +I looked to see him show anger, but he nursed his silk-clad ankle with the +same insolent languor. He might have been a priest after the confessional +for all the expression his face wore. + +"I like you angry, Aileen. Faith, 'tis worth being the object of your rage +to see you stamp that pretty foot and clench those little hands I love to +kiss. But Ecod! Montagu, the hour grows late. The lady will lose her +beauty sleep. Shall you and I go down-stairs and arrange for a +conveyance?" + +He bowed low and kissed his fingers to the girl. Then he led the way out +of the room, fine and gallant and debonair, a villain every inch of him. + +"Will you be leaving me?" the girl cried with parted lips. + +"Not for long," I told her. "Do not fear. I shall have you out of here in +a jiff," and with that I followed at his heels. + +Sir Robert Volney led the way down the corridor to a small room in the +west wing, where flaring, half-burnt candles guttering in their sconces +drove back the darkness. He leaned against the mantel and looked long at +me out of half-closed eyes. + +"May I ask to what is due the honour of your presence to-night?" he +drawled at last. + +"Certainly." + +"Well?" + +"I have said you may ask," I fleered rudely. "But for me-- Gad's life! I +am not in the witness box." + +He took his snuff mull from his waistcoat pocket and offered it me, then +took a pinch and brushed from his satin coat imaginary grains with +prodigious care. + +"You are perhaps not aware that I have the right to ask. It chances that +this is my house." + +"Indeed! And the lady we have just left----?" + +"----Is, pardon me, none of your concern." + +"Ah! I'm not so sure of that." + +"Faith then, you'll do well to make sure." + +"And--er--Mistress Antoinette Westerleigh?" + +"Quite another matter! You're out of court again, Mr. Montagu." + +"Egad, I enter an exception. The lady we have just left is of another mind +in the affair. She is the court of last resort, and, I believe, not +complaisant to your suit." + +"She will change her mind," he said coolly. + +"I trust so renowned a gallant as Sir Robert would not use force." + +"Lard, no! She is a woman and therefore to be won. But I would advise you +to dismiss the lady from your mind. 'Ware women, Mr. Montagu! You will +sleep easier." + +"In faith, a curious coincidence! I was about to tender you the same +advice, Sir Robert," I told him lightly. + +"You will forget the existence of such a lady if you are wise?" + +"Wisdom comes with age. I am for none of it." + +"Yet you will do well to remember your business and forget mine." + +"I have no business of my own, Sir Robert. Last night you generously +lifted all sordid business cares from my mind, and now I am quite free to +attend those of my neighbours." + +He shrugged his shoulders in the French way. "Very well. A wilful man! +You've had your warning, and-- I am not a man to be thwarted." + +"I might answer that I am not a man to be frightened." + +"You'll not be the first that has answered that. The others have 'Hic +Jacet' engraved on their door plates. Well, it's an unsatisfactory world +at best, and Lard! they're well quit of it. Still, you're young." + +"And have yet to learn discretion." + +"That's a pity too," he retorted lightly. "The door is waiting for you. +Better take it, Mr. Montagu." + +"With the lady?" + +"I fear the lady is tired. Besides, man, think of her reputation. Zounds! +Can she gad about the city at night alone with so gay a spark as you? 'Tis +a censorious world, and tongues will clack. No, no! I will save you from +any chance of such a scandal, Mr. Montagu." + +"Faith, one good turn deserves another. I'll stay here to save your +reputation, Sir Robert." + +"I fear that mine is fly-blown already and something the worse for wear. +It can take care of itself." + +"Yet I'll stay." + +"Gad's life! Stay then." + +Volney had been standing just within the door, and at the word he stepped +out and flung it to. I sprang forward, but before I reached it the click +sounded. I was a prisoner, caught like a fly in a spider's web, and much +it helped me to beat on the iron-studded door till my hand bled, to call +on him to come in and fight it out like a man, to storm up and down the +room in a stress of passion. + +Presently my rage abated, and I took stock of my surroundings. The windows +were barred with irons set in stone sockets by masonry. I set my knee +against the window frame and tugged at them till I was moist with +perspiration. As well I might have pulled at the pillars of St. Paul's. I +tried my small sword as a lever, but it snapped in my hand. Again I +examined the bars. There was no way but to pick them from their sockets by +making a groove in the masonry. With the point of my sword I chipped +industriously at the cement. At the end of ten minutes I had made +perceptible progress. Yet it took me another hour of labour to accomplish +my task. I undid the blind fastenings, clambered out, and lowered myself +foot by foot to the ground by clinging to the ivy that grew thick along +the wall. The vine gave to my hand, and the last three yards I took in a +rush, but I picked myself up none the worse save for a torn face and +bruised hands. + +The first fall was Volney's, and I grudged it him; but as I took my way to +Balmerino's lodgings my heart was far from heavy. The girl was safe for +the present. I knew Volney well enough for that. That his plan was to take +her to The Oaks and in seclusion lay a long siege to the heart of the +girl, I could have sworn. But from London to Epsom is a far cry, and +between them much might happen through chance and fate and--Kenneth +Montagu. + +----- + + [2] Speldering in the glaur--sprawling in the mud. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DEOCH SLAINT AN RIGH! + + +"You're late, Kenn," was Balmerino's greeting to me. + +"Faith, my Lord, I'm earlier than I might have been. I found it hard to +part from a dear friend who was loathe to let me out of his sight," I +laughed. + +The Scotchman buckled on his sword and disappeared into the next room. +When he returned a pair of huge cavalry pistols peeped from under his +cloak. + +"Going to the wars, my Lord?" I quizzed gaily. + +"Perhaps. Will you join me?" + +"Maybe yes and maybe no. Is the cause good?" + +"The best in the world." + +"And the chances of success?" + +"Fortune beckons with both hands." + +"Hm! Has she by any chance a halter in her hands for Kenn Montagu and an +axe for Balmerino since he is a peer?" + +"Better the sharp edge of an axe than the dull edge of hunger for those we +love," he answered with a touch of bitterness. + +His rooms supplied the sermon to his text. Gaunt poverty stared at me on +every hand. The floor was bare and the two ragged chairs were rickety. I +knew now why the white-haired peer was so keen to try a hazard of new +fortunes for the sake of the wife in the North. + +"Where may you be taking me?" I asked presently, as we hurried through +Piccadilly. + +"If you ask no questions----" he began dryly. + +"----You'll tell me no lies. Very good. Odd's my life, I'm not caring! Any +direction is good enough for me--unless it leads to Tyburn. But I warn you +that I hold myself unpledged." + +"I shall remember." + +I was in the gayest spirits imaginable. The task I had set myself of +thwarting Volney and the present uncertainty of my position had combined +to lend a new zest to life. I felt the wine of youth bubble in my veins, +and I was ready for whatever fortune had in store. + +Shortly we arrived at one of those streets of unimpeachable respectability +that may be duplicated a hundred times in London. Its characteristics are +monotony and dull mediocrity; a dead sameness makes all the houses appear +alike. Before one of these we stopped. + +Lord Balmerino knocked, A man came to the door and thrust out a head +suspiciously. There was a short whispered colloquy between him and the +Scotch lord, after which he beckoned me to enter. For an instant I hung +back. + +"What are you afraid of, man?" asked Balmerino roughly. + +I answered to the spur and pressed forward at once. He led the way along a +dark passage and down a flight of stone steps into a cellar fitted up as a +drinking room. There was another low-toned consultation before we were +admitted. I surmised that Balmerino stood sponsor for me, and though I was +a little disturbed at my equivocal position, yet I was strangely glad to +be where I was. For here was a promise of adventure to stimulate a jaded +appetite. I assured myself that at least I should not suffer dulness. + +There were in the room a scant dozen of men, and as I ran them over with +my eye the best I could say for their quality in life was that they had +not troubled the tailor of late. Most of them were threadbare at elbow and +would have looked the better of a good dinner. There were two or three +exceptions, but for the most part these broken gentlemen bore the marks of +recklessness and dissipation. Two I knew: the O'Sullivan that had assisted +at the plucking of a certain pigeon on the previous night, and Mr. James +Brown, alias Mac-something or other, of the supple sword and the Highland +slogan. + +Along with another Irishman named Anthony Creagh the fellow O'Sullivan +rushed up to my Lord, eyes snapping with excitement. He gave me a nod and +a "How d'ye do, Montagu? Didn't know you were of the honest party," then +broke out with-- + +"Great news, Balmerino! The French fleet has sailed with transports for +fifteen thousand men. I have advices direct from the Prince. Marshal Saxe +commands, and the Prince himself is with them. London will be ours within +the week. Sure the good day is coming at last. The King--God bless +him!--will have his own again; and a certain Dutch beer tub that we know +of will go scuttling back to his beloved Hanover, glory be the day!" + +Balmerino's eyes flashed. + +"They have sailed then at last. I have been expecting it a week. If they +once reach the Thames there is no force in England that can stop them," he +said quietly. + +"Surely the small fleet of Norris will prove no barrier?" asked another +dubiously. + +"Poof! They weel eat heem up jus' like one leetle mouse, my frien'," +boasted a rat-faced Frenchman with a snap of his fingers. "Haf they not +two sheeps to his one?" + +"Egad, I hope they don't eat the mutton then and let Norris go," laughed +Creagh. He was a devil-may-care Irishman, brimful of the virtues and the +vices of his race. + +I had stumbled into a hornet's nest with a vengeance. They were mad as +March hares, most of them. For five minutes I sat amazed, listening to the +wildest talk it had ever been my lot to hear. The Guelphs would be driven +out. The good old days would be restored; there would be no more whiggery +and Walpolism; with much more of the same kind of talk. There was drinking +of wine and pledging of toasts to the King across the water, and all the +while I sat by the side of Balmerino with a face like whey. For I was +simmering with anger. I foresaw the moment when discovery was inevitable, +and in those few minutes while I hung back in the shadow and wished myself +a thousand miles away hard things were thought of Arthur Elphinstone Lord +Balmerino. He had hoped to fling me out of my depths and sweep me away +with the current, but I resolved to show him another ending to it. + +Presently Mr. James Brown came up and offered me a frank hand of welcome. +Balmerino introduced him as Captain Donald Roy Macdonald. I let my +countenance express surprise. + +"Surely you are mistaken, my Lord. This gentleman and I have met before, +and I think his name is Brown." + +Macdonald laughed a little sheepishly. "The air of London is not just +exactly healthy for Highland Jacobite gentlemen at present. I wouldna +wonder but one might catch the scarlet fever gin he werena carefu', so I +just took a change of names for a bit while." + +"You did not disguise the Highland slogan you flung out last night," I +laughed. + +"Did I cry it?" he asked. "It would be just from habit then. I didna ken +that I opened my mouth." Then he turned to my affairs. "And I suppose you +will be for striking a blow for the cause like the rest of us. Well then, +the sooner the better. I am fair wearying for a certain day that is near +at hand." + +With which he began to hum "The King shall have his own again." + +I flushed, and boggled at the "No!" that stuck in my throat. Creagh, +standing near, slewed round his head at the word. + +"Eh, what's that? Say that again, Montagu!" + +I took the bull by the horns and answered bluntly, "There has been a +mistake made. George is a good enough king for me." + +I saw Macdonald stiffen, and angry amazement leap to the eyes of the two +Irishmen. + +"'Sblood! What the devil! Why are you here then?" cried Creagh. + +His words, and the excitement in his raised voice, rang the bell for a +hush over the noisy room. Men dropped their talk and turned to us. A score +of fierce suspicious eyes burnt into me. My heart thumped against my ribs +like a thing alive, but I answered--steadily and quietly enough, I dare +say--"You will have to ask Lord Balmerino that. I did not know where he +was bringing me." + +"Damnation!" cried one Leath. "What cock and bull tale is this? Not know +where he was bringing you! 'Slife, I do not like it!" + +I sat on the table negligently dangling one foot in air. For that matter I +didn't like it myself, but I was not going to tell him so. Brushing a +speck of mud from my coat I answered carelessly, + +"Like it or mislike it, devil a bit I care!" + +"Ha, ha! I theenk you will find a leetle reason for caring," said the +Frenchman ominously. + +"Stab me, if I understand," cried Creagh. "Balmerino did not kidnap you +here, did he? Devil take me if it's at all clear to me!" + +O'Sullivan pushed to the front with an evil laugh. + +"'T is clear enough to me," he said bluntly. "It's the old story of one +too many trusted. He hears our plans and then the smug-faced villain +peaches. Next week he sees us all scragged at Tyburn. But he's made a +little mistake this time, sink me! He won't live to see the Chevalier +O'Sullivan walk off the cart. If you'll give me leave, I'll put a name to +the gentleman. He's what they call a spy, and stap my vitals! he doesn't +leave this room alive." + +At his words a fierce cry leaped from tense throats. A circle of white +furious faces girdled me about. Rapiers hung balanced at my throat and +death looked itchingly at me from many an eye. + +As for me, I lazed against the table with a strange odd contraction of the +heart, a sudden standing still and then a fierce pounding of the blood. +Yet I was quite master of myself. Indeed I smiled at them, carelessly, as +one that deprecated so much ado about nothing. And while I smiled, the +wonder was passing through my mind whether the smile would still be there +after they had carved the life out of me. I looked death in the face, and +I found myself copying unconsciously the smirking manners of the +Macaronis. Faith, 't was a leaf from Volney's life I was rehearsing for +them. + +This but while one might blink an eye, then Lord Balmerino interrupted. +"God's my life! Here's a feery-farry about nothing. Put up your toasting +fork, De Vallery! The lad will not bite." + +"Warranted to be of gentle manners," I murmured, brushing again at the +Mechlin lace of my coat. + +"Gentlemen are requested not to tease the animals," laughed Creagh. He was +as full of heat as a pepper castor, but he had the redeeming humour of his +race. + +Macdonald beat down the swords. "Are you a' daft, gentlemen? The lad came +with Balmerino. He is no spy. Put up, put up, Chevalier! Don't glower at +me like that, man! Hap-weel rap-weel, the lad shall have his chance to +explain. I will see no man's cattle hurried." + +"Peste! Let him explain then, and not summer and winter over the story," +retorted O'Sullivan sourly. + +Lord Balmerino slipped an arm through mine. "If you are quite through with +your play acting, gentlemen, we will back to reason and common sense +again. Mr. Montagu may not be precisely a pronounced Jack, but then he +doesn't give a pinch of snuff for the Whigs either. I think we shall find +him open to argument." + +"He'd better be--if he knows what's good for him," growled O'Sullivan. + +At once I grew obstinate. "I do not take my politics under compulsion, Mr. +O'Sullivan," I flung out. + +"Then you shouldn't have come here. You've drawn the wine, and by God! you +shall drink it." + +"Shall I? We'll see." + +"No, no, Kenn! I promise you there shall be no compulsion," cried the old +Lord. Then to O'Sullivan in a stern whisper, "Let be, you blundering Irish +man! You're setting him against us." + +Balmerino was right. Every moment I grew colder and stiffer. If they +wanted me for a recruit they were going about it the wrong way. I would +not be frightened into joining them. + +"Like the rest of us y' are a ruined man. Come, better your fortune. Duty +and pleasure jump together. James Montagu's son is not afraid to take a +chance," urged the Scotch Lord. + +Donald Roy's eyes had fastened on me from the first like the grip-of +steel. He had neither moved nor spoken, but I knew that he was weighing me +in the balance. + +"I suppose you will not be exactly in love with the wamey Dutchmen, Mr. +Montagu?" he asked now. + +I smiled. "If you put it that way I don't care one jack straw for the +whole clamjamfry of them." + +"I was thinking so. They are a different race from the Stuarts." + +"They are indeed," I acquiesced dryly. Then the devil of mischief stirred +in me to plague him. "There's all the difference of bad and a vast deal +worse between them. It's a matter of comparisons," I concluded easily. + +"You are pleased to be facetious," returned O'Sullivan sourly. "But I +would ask you to remember that you are not yet out of the woods, Mr. +Montagu. My Lord seems satisfied, but here are some more of us waiting a +plain answer to this riddle." + +"And what may the riddle be?" I asked. + +"Just this. What are you doing here?" + +"Faith, that's easy answered," I told him jauntily. "I'm here by +invitation of Lord Balmerino, and it seems I'm not overwelcome." + +Elphinstone interrupted impatiently. + +"Gentlemen, we're at cross purposes. You're trying to drive Mr. Montagu, +and I'm all for leading him. I warn you he's not to be driven. Let us talk +it over reasonably." + +"Very well," returned O'Sullivan sulkily. "Talk as long as you please, but +he doesn't get out of this room till I'm satisfied." + +"We are engaged on a glorious enterprise to restore to these islands their +ancient line of sovereigns. You say you do not care for the Hanoverians. +Why not then strike a blow for the right cause?" asked Leath. + +"Right and wrong are not to be divided by so clean a cut," I told him. "I +am no believer in the divine inheritance of kings. In the last analysis +the people shall be the judge." + +"Of course; and we are going to put it to the test." + +"You want to set the clock back sixty years. It will not do." + +"We think it will. We are resolved at least to try," said Balmerino. + +I shrugged my shoulders. "The times are against you. The Stuarts have +dropped out of the race. The mill cannot grind with the water that is +past." + +"And if the water be not past?" asked Leath fiercely. + +"Mar found it so in the '15, and many honest gentlemen paid for his +mistake with their heads. My father's brother for one." + +"Mar bungled it from start to finish. He had the game in his own hands and +dribbled away his chances like a coward and a fool." + +"Perhaps, but even so, much water has passed under London Bridge since +then. It is sixty years since the Stuarts were driven out. Two generations +have slept on it." + +"Then the third generation of sleepers shall be wakened. The stream is +coming down in spate," said Balmerino. + +"I hear you say it," I answered dryly. + +"And you shall live to see us do it, Mr. Montagu. The heather's in a blaze +already. The fiery cross will be speeding from Badenoch to the Braes of +Balwhidder. The clans will all rise whatever," cried Donald Roy. + +"I'm not so sure about Mr. Montagu living to see it. My friends O'Sullivan +and De Vallery seem to think not," said Creagh, giving me his odd smile. +"Now, I'll wager a crown that----" + +"Whose crown did you say?" I asked politely, handing him back his smile. + +"The government cannot stand out against us," argued Balmerino. "The Duke +of Newcastle is almost an imbecile. The Dutch usurper himself is over in +Hanover courting a new mistress. His troops are all engaged in foreign +war. There are not ten thousand soldiers on the island. At this very +moment the King of France is sending fifteen thousand across in +transports. He will have no difficulty in landing them and London cannot +hold out." + +"Faith, he might get his army here. I'm not denying that. But I'll promise +him trouble in getting it away again." + +"The Highlands are ready to fling away the scabbard for King James III," +said Donald Roy simply. + +"It is in my mind that you have done that more than once before and that +because of it misguided heads louped from sturdy shoulders," I answered. + +"Wales too is full of loyal gentlemen. What can the Hanoverians do if they +march across the border to join the Highlanders rolling down from the +North and Marshal Saxe with his French army?" + +"My imagination halts," I answered dryly. "You will be telling me next +that England is wearying for a change back to the race of Kings she has +twice driven out." + +"I do say it," cried Leath. "Bolingbroke is already negotiating with the +royal family. Newcastle is a broken reed. Hervey will not stand out. +Walpole is a dying man. In whom can the Dutchman trust? The nation is +tired of them, their mistresses and their German brood." + +"When we had them we found these same Stuarts a dangerous and troublesome +race. We could not in any manner get along with them. We drove them out, +and then nothing would satisfy us but we must have them back again. Well, +they had their second chance, and we found them worse than before. They +had not learnt the lesson of the age. They----" + +"Split me, y'are not here to lecture us, Mr. Montagu," cried Leath with +angry eye. "Damme, we don't care a rap for your opinions, but you have +heard too much. To be short, the question is, will you join us or won't +you?" + +"To be short then, Mr. Leath, not on compulsion." + +"There's no compulsion about it, Kenn. If you join it is of your own free +will," said Balmerino. + +"I think not. Mr. Montagu has no option in the matter," cried O'Sullivan. +"He forfeited his right to decide for himself when he blundered in and +heard our plans. Willy nilly, he must join us!" + +"And if I don't?" + +His smile was like curdled milk. "Have you made your will, Mr. Montagu?" + +"I made it at the gaming table last night, and the Chevalier O'Sullivan +was one of the legatees," I answered like a flash. + +"Touche, Sully," laughed Creagh. "Ecod, I like our young cockerel's +spirit." + +"And I don't," returned O'Sullivan. "He shall join us, or damme----" He +stopped, but his meaning was plain to be read. + +I answered dourly. "You may blow the coals, but I will not be het." + +"Faith, you're full of epigrams to-night, Mr. Montagu," Anthony Creagh was +good enough to say. "You'll make a fine stage exit--granting that Sully +has his way. I wouldn't miss it for a good deal." + +"If the house is crowded you may have my seat for nothing," was my reply. +Strange to say my spirits were rising. This was the first perilous +adventure of my life, and my heart sang. Besides, I had confidence enough +in Balmerino to know that he would never stand aside and let me suffer for +his indiscretion if he could help it. + +The old Lord's troubled eyes looked into mine. I think he was beginning to +regret this impulsive experiment of his. He tried a new tack with me. + +"Of course there is a risk. We may not win. Perhaps you do well to think +of the consequences. As you say, heads may fall because of the rising." + +The dye flooded my cheeks. + +"You might have spared me that, my Lord. I am thinking of the blood of +innocent people that must be spilled." + +"Your joining us will neither help nor hinder that." + +"And your not joining us will have deucedly unpleasant effects for you," +suggested O'Sullivan pleasantly. + +Lord Balmerino flung round on him angrily, his hand on sword hilt. "I +think you have forgotten one thing, Mr. O'Sullivan." + +"And that is----?" + +"That Mr. Montagu came here as my guest. If he does not care to join us he +shall be free as air to depart." + +O'Sullivan laughed hardily. "Shall he? Gadzooks! The Chevalier O'Sullivan +will have a word to say with him first. He did not come as any guest of +mine. What the devil! If you were not sure of him, why did you bring +him?" + +Balmerino fumed, but he had no answer for that. He could only say,-- + +"I thought him sure to join, but I can answer for his silence with my +life." + +"'T will be more to the point that we do not answer for his speech with +our lives," grumbled Leath. + +The Frenchman leaned forward eagerly. "You thought heem to be at heart of +us, and you were meestaken; you theenk heem sure to keep our secret, but +how are we to know you are not again meestaken?" + +"Sure, that's easy," broke out O'Sullivan scornfully. "We'll know when the +rope is round our gullets." + +"Oh, he won't peach, Sully. He isn't that kind. Stap me, you never know a +gentleman when you see one," put in Creagh carelessly. + +The young Highlander Macdonald spoke up. "Gentlemen, I'm all for making an +end to this collieshangie. By your leave, Lord Balmerino, Mr. Creagh and +myself will step up-stairs with this gentleman and come to some +composition on the matter. Mr. Montagu saved my life last night, but I +give you the word of Donald Roy Macdonald that if I am not satisfied in +the end I will plant six inches of steel in his wame for him to digest, +and there's gumption for you at all events." + +He said it as composedly as if he had been proposing a stroll down the Row +with me, and I knew him to be just the man who would keep his word. The +others knew it too, and presently we four found ourselves alone together +in a room above. + +"Is your mind so set against joining us, Kenn? I have got myself into a +pickle, and I wish you would just get me out," Balmerino began. + +"If they had asked me civilly I dare say I should have said 'Yes!' an hour +ago, but I'll not be forced in." + +"Quite right, too. You're a broth of a boy. I wouldn't in your place, +Montagu, and I take off my hat to your spirit," said Creagh. "Now let's +begin again."--He went to the door and threw it open.--"The way is clear +for you to leave if you want to go, but I would be most happy to have you +stay with us. It's men like you we're looking for, and-- Won't you strike +a blow for the King o'er the sea, Montagu?" + +"He is of the line of our ancient monarchs. He and his race have ruled us +a thousand years," urged Balmerino. "They have had their faults +perhaps----" + +"Perhaps," I smiled. + +"Well, and if they have," cried Donald Roy hotly in the impetuous Highland +way. "Is this a time to be remembering them? For my part, I will be +forgetting their past faults and minding only their present distresses." + +"It appears as easy for a Highlander to forget the faults of the Stuarts +as it is for them to forget his services," I told him. + +"Oh, you harp on their faults. Have you none of your own?" cried +Elphinstone impatiently. "I have seen and talked with the young Prince. He +is one to follow to the death. I have never met the marrow of him." + +"I think of the thousands who will lose their lives for him." + +"Well, and that's a driech subject, too, but Donald Roy would a hantle +rather die with claymore in hand and the whiddering steel aboot his head +than be always fearing to pay the piper," said the young Highlander +blithely. + +"Your father was out for the King in the '15," said Balmerino gently. + +Oh, Arthur Elphinstone had the guile for all his rough ways. I was moved +more than I cared to own. Many a time I had sat at my father's knee and +listened to the tale of "the '15." The Highland blood in me raced the +quicker through my veins. All the music of the heather hills and the +wimpling burns wooed me to join my kinsmen in the North. My father's +example, his brother's blood, loyalty to the traditions of my family, my +empty purse, the friendship of Balmerino and Captain Macdonald, all tugged +at my will; but none of them were so potent as the light that shone in the +eyes of a Highland lassie I had never met till one short hour before. I +tossed aside all my scruples and took the leap. + +"Come!" I cried. "Lend yourselves to me on a mission of some danger for +one night and I will pledge myself a partner in your enterprise. I can +promise you that the help I ask of you may be honourably given. A fair +exchange is no robbery. What say you?" + +"Gad's life, I cry agreed. You're cheap at the price, Mr. Montagu. I'm +yours, Rip me, if you want me to help rum-pad a bishop's coach," exclaimed +the Irishman. + +"Mr. Creagh has just taken the words out of my mouth," cried Donald Roy. +"If you're wanting to lift a lassie or to carry the war to a foe I'll be +blithe to stand at your back. You may trust Red Donald for that +whatever." + +"You put your finger on my ambitions, Captain Macdonald. I'm wanting to do +just those two things. You come to scratch so readily that I hope you have +had some practice of your own," I laughed. + +There was wine on the table and I filled the glasses. + +"If no other sword leaves scabbard mine shall," I cried in a flame of +new-born enthusiasm. "Gentlemen, I give you the King over the water." + +"King James! God bless him," echoed Balmerino and Creagh. + +"Deoch slaint an Righ! (The King's Drink). And win or lose, we shall have +a beautiful time of it whatever," cried Donald gaily. + +An hour later Kenneth Montagu, Jacobite, walked home arm in arm with +Anthony Creagh and Donald Roy Macdonald. He was setting forth to them a +tale of an imprisoned maid and a plan for the rescue of that same lady. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OF LOVE AND WAR + + +All day the rain had splashed down with an unusual persistence, but now +there was a rising wind and a dash of clear sky over to the south which +promised fairer weather. I was blithe to see it, for we had our night's +work cut out for us and a driving storm would not add to our comfort. + +From my hat, from the elbows of my riding-coat, and from my boot-heels +constant rivulets ran; but I took pains to keep the pistols under my +doublet dry as toast. At the courtyard of the inn I flung myself from my +horse and strode to the taproom where my companions awaited me. In truth +they were making the best of their circumstances. A hot water jug steamed +in front of the hearth where Creagh lolled in a big armchair. At the table +Captain Macdonald was compounding a brew by the aid of lemons, spices, and +brandy. They looked the picture of content, and I stood streaming in the +doorway a moment to admire the scene. + +"What luck, Montagu?" asked Creagh. + +"They're at 'The Jolly Soldier' all right _en route_ for Epsom," I told +him. "Arrived a half hour before I left. Hamish Gorm is hanging about +there to let us know when they start. Volney has given orders for a fresh +relay of horses, so they are to continue their journey to-night." + +"And the lady?" + +"The child looks like an angel of grief. She is quite out of hope. Faith, +her despair took me by the heart." + +"My certes! I dare swear it," returned Donald Roy dryly. "And did you make +yourself known to her?" + +"No, she went straight to her room. Volney has given it out that the lady +is his wife and is demented. His man Watkins spreads the report broadcast +to forestall any appeal she may make for help. I talked with the valet in +the stables. He had much to say about how dearly his master and his +mistress loved each other, and what a pity 'twas that the lady has lately +fallen out of her mind by reason of illness. 'Twas the one thing that +spoilt the life of Mr. Armitage, who fairly dotes on his sweet lady. Lud, +yes! And one of her worst delusions is that he is not really her husband +and that he wishes to harm her. Oh, they have contrived well their +precious story to avoid outside interference." + +I found more than one cause to doubt the fortunate issue of the enterprise +upon which we were engaged. Volney might take the other road; or he might +postpone his journey on account of the foul weather. Still other +contingencies rose to my mind, but Donald Roy and Creagh made light of +them. + +"Havers! If he is the man you have drawn for me he will never be letting a +smirr of rain interfere with his plans; and as for the other road, it will +be a river in spate by this time," the Highlander reassured me. + +"Sure, I'll give you four to one in ponies the thing does not miscarry," +cried Creagh in his rollicking way. "After the King comes home I'll dance +at your wedding, me boy; and here's to Mrs. Montagu that is to be, +bedad!" + +My wildest dreams had never carried me so far as this yet, and I flushed +to my wig at his words; but the wild Irishman only laughed at my +remonstrance. + +"Faith man, 'tis you or I! 'Twould never do for three jolly blades like us +to steal the lady from her lover and not offer another in exchange. No, +no! Castle Creagh is crying for a mistress, and if you don't spunk up to +the lady Tony Creagh will." + +To his humour of daffing I succumbed, and fell into an extraordinary ease +with the world. Here I sat in a snug little tavern with the two most +taking comrades in the world drinking a hot punch brewed to a nicety, +while outside the devil of a storm roared and screamed. + +As for my companions, they were old campaigners, not to be ruffled by the +slings of envious fortune. Captain Donald Roy was wont to bear with +composure good luck and ill, content to sit him down whistling on the +sodden heath to eat his mouthful of sour brose with the same good humour +he would have displayed at a gathering of his clan gentlemen where the +table groaned with usquebaugh, mountain trout, and Highland venison. +Creagh's philosophy too was all for taking what the gods sent and leaving +uncrossed bridges till the morrow. Was the weather foul? Sure, the sun +would soon shine, and what was a cloak for but to keep out the rain? I +never knew him lose his light gay spirits, and I have seen him at many an +evil pass. + +The clatter of a horse's hoofs in the courtyard put a period to our +festivities. Presently rug-headed Hamish Gorm entered, a splash of mud +from brogues to bonnet. + +"What news, Hamish? Has Volney started?" I cried. + +"She would be leaving directly. Ta Sassenach iss in ta carriage with ta +daughter of Macleod, and he will be a fery goot man to stick a dirk in +whatefer," fumed the gillie. + +I caught him roughly by the shoulder. "There will be no dirk play this +night, Hamish Gorm. Do you hear that? It will be left for your betters to +settle with this man, and if you cannot remember that you will just stay +here." + +He muttered sullenly that he would remember, but it was a great pity if +Hamish Gorm could not avenge the wrongs of the daughter of his chief. + +We rode for some miles along a cross country path where the mud was so +deep that the horses sank to their fetlocks. The wind had driven away the +rain and the night had cleared overhead. There were still scudding clouds +scouring across the face of the moon, but the promise was for a clear +night. We reached the Surrey road and followed it along the heath till we +came to the shadow of three great oaks. Many a Dick Turpin of the road had +lurked under the drooping boughs of these same trees and sallied out to +the hilltop with his ominous cry of "Stand and deliver!" Many a jolly +grazier and fat squire had yielded up his purse at this turn of the road. +For a change we meant to rum-pad a baronet, and I flatter myself we made +as dashing a trio of cullies as any gentlemen of the heath among them +all. + +It might have been a half hour after we had taken our stand that the +rumbling of a coach came to our ears. The horses were splashing through +the mud, plainly making no great speed. Long before we saw the chaise, the +cries of the postilions urging on the horses were to be heard. After an +interminable period the carriage swung round the turn of the road and +began to take the rise. We caught the postilion at disadvantage as he was +flogging the weary animals up the brow of the hill. He looked up and +caught sight of us. + +"Out of the way, fellows," he cried testily. Next instant he slipped to +the ground and disappeared in the darkness, crying "'Ware highwaymen!" In +the shine of the coach lamps he had seen Creagh's mask and pistol. The +valet Watkins, sitting on the box, tried to lash up the leaders, but +Macdonald blocked the way with his horse, what time the Irishman and I +gave our attention to the occupants of the chaise. + +At the first cry of the postilion a bewigged powdered head had been thrust +from the window and immediately withdrawn. Now I dismounted and went +forward to open the door. From the corner of the coach into which Aileen +Macleod had withdrawn a pair of bright eager eyes looked into my face, but +no Volney was to be seen. The open door opposite explained his +disappearance. I raised the mask a moment from my face, and the girl gave +a cry of joy. + +"Did you think I had deserted you?" I asked. + +"Oh, I did not know. I wass thinking that perhaps he had killed you. I +will be thanking God that you are alive," she cried, with a sweet little +lift and tremble to her voice that told me tears were near. + +A shot rang out, and then another. + +"Excuse me for a moment. I had forgot the gentleman," I said, hastily +withdrawing my head. + +As I ran round the back of the coach I came plump into Volney. Though +dressed to make love and not war, I'll do him the justice to say that one +was as welcome to him as the other. He was shining in silver satin and +blue silk and gold lace, but in each hand he carried a great horse pistol, +one of which was still smoking at the barrel. The other he pointed at me, +but with my sword I thrust up the point and it went off harmlessly in the +air. Then I flung him from me and covered him with my barker. Creagh also +was there to emphasize the wisdom of discretion. Sir Robert Volney was as +daring a man as ever lived, but he was no fool neither. He looked at my +weapon shining on him in the moonlight and quietly conceded to himself +that the game was against him for the moment. From his fingers he slipped +the rings, and the watch from his pocket-coat. To carry out our pretension +I took them and filled my pockets with his jewelry. + +"A black night, my cullies," said Volney as easy as you please. + +"The colour of your business," I retorted thoughtlessly. + +He started, looking at me very sharp. + +"Else you would not be travelling on such a night," I explained lamely. + +"Ah! I think we will not discuss my business. As it happens, the lady has +no jewelry with her. If you are quite through with us, my good fellows, +we'll wish you a pleasant evening. Watkins, where's that d--d postilion?" + +"Softly, Sir Robert! The night's young yet. Will you not spare us fifteen +minutes while the horses rest?" proposed Creagh. + +"Oh, if you put it that way," he answered negligently, his agile mind busy +with the problem before him. I think he began to put two and two together. +My words might have been a chance shot, but when on the heel of them +Creagh let slip his name Volney did not need to be told that we were not +regular fly-by-nights. His eyes and his ears were intent to pierce our +disguises. + +"Faith, my bullies, you deserve success if you operate on such nights as +this. An honest living were easier come by, but Lard! not so enticing by a +deal. Your enterprise is worthy of commendation, and I would wager a pony +against a pinch of snuff that some day you'll be raised to a high position +by reason of it. How is it the old catch runs? + + "'And three merry men, and three merry men, + And three merry men are we, + As ever did sing three parts in a string, + All under the gallows tree.' + +"If I have to get up in the milkman hours, begad, when that day comes I'll +make it a point to be at Tyburn to see your promotion over the heads of +humdrum honest folks," he drawled, and at the tail of his speech yawned in +our faces. + +"We'll send you cards to the entertainment when that happy day arrives," +laughed Creagh, delighted of course at the aplomb of the Macaroni. + +Donald Roy came up to ask what should be done with Watkins. It appeared +that Volney had mistaken him for one of us and let fly at him. The fellow +lay groaning on the ground as if he were on the edge of expiration. I +stooped and examined him. 'Twas a mere flesh scratch. + +"Nothing the matter but a punctured wing. All he needs is a kerchief round +his arm," I said. + +Captain Macdonald looked disgusted and a little relieved. + +"'Fore God, he deaved (deafened) me with his yammering till I thought him +about to ship for the other world. These Englishers make a geyan work +about nothing." + +For the moment remembrance of Volney had slipped from our minds. As I rose +to my feet he stepped forward. Out flashed his sword and ripped the mask +from my face. + +"Egad, I thought so," he chuckled. "My young friend Montagu repairing his +fallen fortunes on the road! Won't you introduce me to the other +gentlemen, or would they rather remain incog? Captain Claude Duval, your +most obedient! Sir Dick Turpin, yours to command! Delighted, 'pon my word, +to be rum-padded by such distinguished--er--knights of the road." + +"The honour is ours," answered Creagh gravely, returning his bow, but the +Irishman's devil-may-care eyes were dancing. + +"A strange fortuity, in faith, that our paths have crossed so often of +late, Montagu. Now I would lay something good that our life lines will not +cross more than once more." + +"Why should we meet at all again?" I cried. "Here is a piece of good turf +under the moonlight. 'Twere a pity to lose it." + +He appeared to consider. "As you say, the turf is all that is to be +desired and the light will suffice. Why not? We get in each other's way +confoundedly, and out of doubt will some day have to settle our little +difference. Well then, if 'twere done 'twere well done quickly. Faith, Mr. +Montagu, y'are a man after my own heart, and it gives me a vast deal of +pleasure to accept your proposal. Consider me your most obedient to +command and prodigiously at your service." + +Raffish and flamboyant, he lounged forward to the window of the carriage. + +"I beg a thousand pardons, sweet, for leaving you a few minutes alone," he +said with his most silken irony. "I am desolated at the necessity, but +this gentleman has a claim that cannot be ignored. Believe me, I shall +make the absence very short. Dear my life, every instant that I am from +you is snatched from Paradise. Fain would I be with you alway, but stern +duty"--the villain stopped to draw a plaintive and theatric sigh--"calls +me to attend once for all to a matter of small moment. Anon I shall be +with you, life of my life." + +She looked at him as if he were the dirt beneath her feet, and still he +smiled his winsome smile, carrying on the mock pretense that she was +devoted to him. + +"Ah, sweet my heart!" he murmured. "'Twere cheap to die for such a loving +look from thee. All Heaven lies in it. 'Tis better far to live for many +more of such." + +There was a rush of feet and a flash of steel. Donald Roy leaped forward +just in time, and next moment Hamish Gorm lay stretched on the turf, +muttering Gaelic oaths and tearing at the sod with his dirk in an impotent +rage. Sir Robert looked down at the prostrate man with his inscrutable +smile. + +"Your friend from the Highlands is in a vast hurry, Montagu. He can't even +wait till you have had your chance to carve me. Well, are you ready to +begin the argument?" + +"Quite at your command. There is a bit of firm turf beyond the oaks. If +you will lead the way I shall be with you anon." + +"Lud! I had forgot. You have your adieux to make to the lady. Pray do not +let me hurry you," he said urbanely, as he picked his way daintily through +the mud. + +When he had gone I turned to the girl. + +"You shall be quit of him," I told her. "You may rely on my friends if--if +the worst happens. They will take you to Montagu Grange, and my brother +Charles will push on with you to Scotland. In this country you would not +be safe from him while he lives." + +Her face was like the snow. + +"Iss there no other way whatever?" she cried. "Must you be fighting with +this man for me, and you only a boy? Oh, I could be wishing for my brother +Malcolm or some of the good claymores on the braes of Raasay!" + +The vanity in me was stung by her words. + +"I'm not such a boy neither, and Angelo judged me a good pupil. You might +find a worse champion." + +"Oh, it iss the good friend you are to me, and I am loving you for it, but +I think of what may happen to you." + +My pulse leaped and my eyes burned, but I answered lightly, + +"For a change think of what may happen to him, and maybe to pass the time +you might put up a bit prayer for me." + +"Believe me, I will be doing that same," she cried with shining eyes, and +before I divined her intent had stooped to kiss my hand that rested on the +coach door. + +My heart lilted as I crossed the heath to where the others were waiting +for me beyond the dip of the hillock. + +"Faith, I began to think you had forgotten me and gone off with the lady +yourself," laughed Volney. + +I flung off my cloak and my inner coat, for though the night was chill I +knew I should be warm enough when once we got to work. Then, strangely +enough, an unaccountable reluctance to engage came over me, and I stood +tracing figures on the heath with the point of my small sword. + +"Are you ready?" asked the baronet. + +I broke out impetuously. "Sir Robert, you have ruined many. Your victims +are to be counted by the score. I myself am one. But this girl shall not +be added to the list. I have sworn it; so have my friends. There is still +time for you to leave unhurt if you desire it, but if we once cross swords +one of us must die." + +"And, prithee, Mr. Montagu, why came we here?" + +"Yet even now if you will desist----" + +His caustic insolent laugh rang out gaily as he mouthed the speech of +Tybalt in actor fashion. + + "'What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, + As I hate hell, all Montagus, and thee; + Have at thee, coward.'" + +I drew back from his playful lunge. + +"Very well. Have it your own way. But you must have some one to act for +you. Perhaps Captain Mac--er--the gentleman on your right--will second +you." + +Donald Roy drew himself up haughtily. "Feint a bit of it! I'm on the other +side of the dyke. Man, Montagu! I'm wondering at you, and him wronging a +Hieland lassie. Gin he waits till I stand back of him he'll go wantin', ye +may lippen (trust) to that." + +"Then it'll have to be you, Tony," I said, turning to Creagh. "Guard, Sir +Robert!" + +"'Sdeath! You're getting in a hurry, Mr. Montagu. I see you're keen after +that 'Hic Jacet' I promised you. Lard! I vow you shall have it." + +Under the shifting moonlight we fell to work on the dripping heath. We +were not unevenly matched considering the time and the circumstances. I +had in my favour youth, an active life, and a wrist of steel. At least I +was a strong swordsman, even though I could not pretend to anything like +the mastery of the weapon which he possessed. To some extent his superior +skill was neutralized by the dim light. He had been used to win his fights +as much with his head as with his hand, to read his opponent's intention +in advance from the eyes while he concealed his own; but the darkness, +combined with my wooden face, made this impossible now. Every turn and +trick of the game he knew, but the shifting shine and shadow disconcerted +him. More than once I heard him curse softly when at a critical moment the +scudding clouds drifted across the moon in time to save me. + +He had the better of me throughout, but somehow I blundered through +without letting him find the chance for which he looked. I kept my head, +and parried by sheer luck his brilliant lunges. I broke ground and won +free--if but barely--from his incessant attack. More than once he pricked +me. A high thrust which I diverted too late with the parade of tierce drew +blood freely. He fleshed me again on the riposte by a one-two feint in +tierce and a thrust in carte. + +"'L'art de donner et de ne pas recevoir,'" he quoted, as he parried my +counter-thrust with debonair ease. + +Try as I would I could not get behind that wonderful guard of his. It was +easy, graceful, careless almost, but it was sure. His point was a gleaming +flash of light, but it never wavered from my body line. + +A darker cloud obscured the moon, and by common consent we rested. + +"Three minutes for good-byes," said Volney, suggestively. + +"Oh, my friends need not order the hearse yet--at least for me. Of course, +if it would be any convenience----" + +He laughed. "Faith, you improve on acquaintance, Mr. Montagu, like good +wine or--to stick to the same colour--the taste of the lady's lips." + +I looked blackly at him. "Do you pretend----?" + +"Oh, I pretend nothing. Kiss and never tell, egad! Too bad they're not for +you too, Montagu." + +"I see that Sir Robert Volney has added another accomplishment to his +vices." + +"And that is----?" + +"He can couple a woman's name with the hint of a slanderous lie." + +Sir Robert turned to Creagh and waved a hand at me, shaking his head +sorrowfully. "The country boor in evidence again. Curious how it will crop +out. Ah, Mr. Montagu! The moon shines bright again. Shall we have the +pleasure of renewing our little debate?" + +I nodded curtly. He stopped a moment to say: + +"You have a strong wrist and a prodigious good fence, Mr. Montagu, but if +you will pardon a word of criticism I think your guard too high." + +"Y'are not here to instruct me, Sir Robert, but----" + +"To kill you. Quite so!" he interrupted jauntily. "Still, a friendly word +of caution--and the guard _is_ overhigh! 'Tis the same fault my third had. +I ran under it, and----" He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Was that the boy you killed for defending his sister?" I asked +insolently. + +Apparently my hit did not pierce the skin. "No. I've forgot the nomination +of the gentleman. What matter? He has long been food for worms. Pardon me, +I see blood trickling down your sword arm. Allow me to offer my +kerchief." + +"Thanks! 'Twill do as it is. Art ready?" + +"Lard, yes! And guard lower, an you love me. The high guard is the one +fault-- Well parried, Montagu!--I find in Angelo's pupils. Correcting +that, you would have made a rare swordsman in time." + +His use of the subjunctive did not escape me. "I'm not dead yet," I +panted. + +I parried a feint une-deux, in carte, with the parade in semicircle, and +he came over my blade, thrusting low in carte. His laugh rang out clear as +a boy's, and the great eyes of the man blazed with the joy of fight. + +"Gad, you're quick to take my meaning! Ah! You nearly began the long +journey that time, my friend." + +He had broken ground apparently in disorder, and by the feel of his sword +I made sure he had in mind to parry; but the man was as full of tricks as +the French King Louis and with incredible swiftness he sent a straight +thrust in high tierce--a thrust which sharply stung my ribs only, since I +had flung myself aside in time to save my vitals. + +After that came the end. He caught me full and fair in the side of the +neck. A moist stifling filled my throat and the turf whirled up to meet +the sky. I knew nothing but a mad surge of rage that he had cut me to +pieces and I had never touched him once. As I went down I flung myself +forward at him wildly. It is to be supposed that he was off guard for the +moment, supposing me a man already dead. My blade slipped along his, +lurched farther forward, at last struck something soft and ripped down. A +hundred crimson points zigzagged before my eyes, and I dropped down into +unconsciousness in a heap. + + + + +V + +THE HUE AND CRY + + +Languidly I came back to a world that faded and grew clear again most +puzzlingly, that danced and jerked to and fro in oddly irresponsible +fashion. At first too deadly weary to explain the situation to myself, I +presently made out that I was in a coach which lurched prodigiously and +filled me with sharp pains. Fronting me was the apparently lifeless body +of a man propped in the corner with the head against the cushions, the +white face grinning horridly at me. 'Twas the face of Volney. I stirred to +get it out of my line of vision, and a soft, firm hand restrained me +gently. + +"You are not to be stirring," a sweet voice said. Then to herself its +owner added, ever so softly and so happily, "Thaing do Dhia (Thank God.) +He iss alive--he iss alive!" + +I pointed feebly a leaden finger at the white face over against me with +the shine of the moon on it. + +"Dead?" + +"No. He hass just fainted. You are not to talk!" + +"And Donald Roy----?" + +The imperious little hand slipped down to cover my mouth, and Kenneth +Montagu kissed it where it lay. For a minute she did not lift the hand, +what time I lay in a dream of warm happiness. A chuckle from the opposite +seat aroused me. The eyes in the colourless face had opened, and Volney +sat looking at us with an ironic smile. + +"I must have fallen asleep--and before a lady. A thousand apologies! And +for awaking so inopportunely, ten thousand more!" + +He changed his position that he might look the easier at her, a +half-humorous admiration in his eyes. "Sweet, you beggar my vocabulary. As +the goddess of healing you are divine." + +The flush of alarmed maiden modesty flooded her cheek. + +"You are to lie still, else the wound will break out again," she said +sharply. + +"Faith, it has broken out," he feebly laughed, pretending to +misunderstand. Then, "Oh, you mean the sword cut. 'Twould never open after +it has been dressed by so fair a leech." + +The girl looked studiously out of the coach window and made no answer. +Now, weak as I was--in pain and near to death, my head on her lap with her +dear hand to cool my fevered brow--yet was I fool enough to grow insanely +jealous that she had used her kerchief to bind his wound. His pale, +handsome face was so winning and his eyes so beautiful that they thrust me +through the heart as his sword had been unable to do. + +He looked at me with an odd sort of friendliness, the respect one man has +for another who has faced death without flinching. + +"Egad, Montagu, had either of us driven but a finger's breadth to left we +had made sure work and saved the doctors a vast deal of pother. I doubt +'twill be all to do over again one day. Where did you learn that mad lunge +of yours? I vow 'tis none of Angelo's teaching. No defense would avail +against such a fortuitous stroke. Methought I had you speeding to kingdom +come, and Lard! you skewered me bravely. 'Slife, 'tis an uncertain world, +this! Here we ride back together to the inn and no man can say which of us +has more than he can carry." + +All this with his easy dare-devil smile, though his voice was faint from +weakness. An odd compound of virtues and vices this man! I learnt +afterwards that he had insisted on my wounds being dressed before he would +let them touch him, though he was bleeding greatly. + +But I had no mind for badinage, and I turned my face from him sullenly. +Silence fell till we jolted into the courtyard of "The Jolly Soldier," +where Creagh, Macdonald, and Hamish Gorm, having dismounted from their +horses, waited to carry us into the house. We were got to bed at once, and +our wounds looked to more carefully. By an odd chance Volney and I were +put in the same room, the inn being full, and the Macdonald nursed us +both, Creagh being for the most part absent in London on business +connected with the rising. + +Lying there day after day, the baronet and I came in time to an odd liking +for each other, discussing our affairs frankly with certain reservations. +Once he commented on the strangeness of it. + +"A singular creature is man, Montagu! Here are we two as friendly as--as +brothers I had almost said, but most brothers hate each other with good +cause. At all events here we lie with nothing but good-will; we are too +weak to get at each other's throats and so perforce must endure each the +other's presence, and from mere sufferance come to a mutual--shall I say +esteem? A while since we were for slaying; naught but cold steel would let +out our heat; and now--I swear I have for you a vast liking. Will it last, +think you?" + +"Till we are on our feet again. No longer," I answered. + +"I suppose you are right," he replied, with the first touch of despondency +I had ever heard in his voice. "The devil of it is that when I want a +thing I never rest till I get it, and after I have won it I don't care any +more for it." + +"I'm an obstinate man myself," I said. + +"Yes, I know. And when I say I'll do a thing and you say I sha'n't nothing +on earth can keep us from the small sword." + +"Did you never spare a victim--never draw back before the evil was done?" +I asked curiously. + +"Many a time, but never when the incentive to the chase was so great as +now. 'Tis the overcoming of obstacles I cannot resist. In this case--to +pass by the acknowledged charms of the lady--I find two powerful reasons +for continuing: her proud coyness and your defense of her. Be sure I shall +not fail." + +"I think you will," I answered quietly. + +Out of doubt the man had a subtle fascination for me, even though I hated +his principles in the same breath. When he turned the batteries of his +fine winning eyes and sparkling smile on me I was under impulse to +capitulate unconditionally; 'twas at remembrance of Aileen that my jaws +set like a vice again. + +But as the days passed I observed a gradual change in Volney's attitude +toward the Highland lass. Macdonald had found a temporary home for her at +the house of a kind-hearted widow woman who lived in the neighbourhood, +and so long as we were in danger the girl and her grey-haired friend came +often to offer their services in nursing. Aileen treated the baronet with +such shy gentle womanliness, her girlish pity struggling through the +Highland pride, forgetting in the suffering man the dastard who had +wronged her, that he was moved not a little from his cynical ironic +gayety. She was in a peculiar relation toward us, one lacking the sanction +of society and yet quite natural. I had fought for her, and her warm heart +forbade her to go her way and leave me to live or die as chance might +will. As she would move about the room ministering to our wants, wrapped +in her sweet purity and grace, more than once I caught on his face a pain +of wistfulness that told me of another man beneath the polished heartless +Macaroni. For the moment I knew he repented him of his attempted wrong, +though I could not know that a day of manly reparation would come to blot +out his sin against her. + +As we grew better Aileen's visits became shorter and less frequent, so +that our only temptation to linger over our illness was removed. One day +Sir Robert limped slowly across the floor on the arm of Creagh while I +watched him enviously. From that time his improvement was rapid and within +a week he came to make his adieux to me. Dressed point-devise, he was once +more every inch a fop. + +"I sha'n't say good-bye, Montagu, to either you or the lady, because I +expect to see you both again soon. I have a shot in my locker that will +bring you to mighty short one of these days. Tony Creagh is going to +London with me in my coach. Sorry you and the lady won't take the other +two seats. Well, au revoir. Hope you'll be quite fit when you come up for +the next round." And waving a hand airily at me he went limping down the +stairs, devoid of grace yet every motion eloquent of it, to me a living +paradox. + +Nor was it long before I too was able to crawl out into the sunshine with +Aileen Macleod and Captain Macdonald as my crutches. Not far from the inn +was a grove of trees, and in it a rustic seat or two. Hither we three +repaired for many a quiet hour of talk. Long ago Donald had established +his relationship with Aileen. It appeared that he was a cousin about eight +degrees removed. None but a Highlander would have counted it at all, but +for them it sufficed. Donald Roy had an extraordinary taking way with +women, and he got on with the girl much more easily than I did. Indeed, to +hear them daffing with each other one would have said they had been +brought up together instead of being acquaintances of less than three +weeks standing. + +Yet Donald was so clever with it all that I was never the least jealous of +him. He was forever taking pains to show me off well before her, making as +much of my small attainments as a hen with one chick. Like many of the +West country Highlanders he was something of a scholar. French he could +speak like a native, and he had dabbled in the humanities; but he would +drag forth my smattering of learning with so much glee that one might have +thought him ignorant of the plainest A B C of the matter. More than once I +have known him blunder in a Latin quotation that I might correct him. +Aileen and he had a hundred topics in common from which I was excluded by +reason of my ignorance of the Highlands, but the Macdonald was as sly as a +fox on my behalf. He would draw out the girl about the dear Northland they +both loved and then would suddenly remember that his pistols needed +cleaning or that, he had promised to "crack" with some chance gentleman +stopping at the inn, and away he would go, leaving us two alone. While I +lay on the grass and looked at her Aileen would tell me in her eager, +impulsive way about her own kindly country, of tinkling, murmuring burns, +of hills burnt red with the heather, of a hundred wild flowers that +blossomed on the braes of Raasay, and as she talked of them her blue eyes +sparkled like the sun-kissed lochs themselves. + +Ah! Those were the good days, when the wine of life was creeping back into +my blood and I was falling forty fathoms deep in love. Despite myself she +was for making a hero of me, and my leal-hearted friend, Macdonald, was +not a whit behind, though the droll look in his eyes suggested sometimes +an ulterior motive. We talked of many things, but in the end we always got +back to the one subject that burned like a flame in their hearts--the +rising of the clans that was to bring back the Stuarts to their own. Their +pure zeal shamed my cold English caution. I found myself growing keen for +the arbitrament of battle. + +No earthly Paradise endures forever. Into those days of peace the serpent +of my Eden projected his sting. We were all sitting in the grove one +morning when a rider dashed up to the inn and flung himself from his +horse. 'Twas Tony Creagh, and he carried with him a placard which offered +a reward of a hundred guineas for the arrest of one Kenneth Montagu, +Esquire, who had, with other parties unknown, on the night of July first, +robbed Sir Robert Volney of certain jewelry therein described. + +"Highwayman it says," quoth I in frowning perplexity. "But Volney knows I +had no mind to rob him. Zounds! What does he mean?" + +"Mean? Why, to get rid of you! I tore this down from a tavern wall in +London just after 'twas pasted. It seems you forgot to return the +gentleman his jewelry." + +I turned mighty red and pleaded guilty. + +"I thought so. Gad! You're like to keep sheep by moonlight," chuckled +Creagh. + +"Nonsense! They would never hang me," I cried. + +"Wouldn't, eh! Deed, and I'm not so sure. The hue and cry is out for +you." + +"Havers, man!" interrupted Macdonald sharply. "You're frightening the lady +with your fairy tales, Creagh. Don't you be believing him, my dear. The +hemp is not grown that will hang Kenneth." + +But for all his cheery manner we were mightily taken aback, especially +when another rider came in a few minutes later with a letter to me from +town. It ran:-- + + Dear Montagu, + + "Once more unto the breach, dear friends." Our pleasant little game is + renewed. The first trick was, I believe, mine; the second yours. The + third I trump by lodging an information against you for highway robbery. + Tony I shall not implicate, of course, nor Mac-What's-His-Name. Take + wings, my Fly-by-night, for the runners are on your heels, and if you + don't, as I live, you'll wear hemp. Give my devoted love to the lady. I + am, + + Your most obed^t serv^t to command, + Rob^t Volney. + +In imagination I could see him seated at his table, pushing aside a score +of dainty notes from Phyllis indiscreet or passionate Diana, that he might +dash off his warning to me, a whimsical smile half-blown on his face, a +gleam of sardonic humour in his eyes. Remorseless he was by choice, but he +would play the game with an English sportsman's love of fair play. +Eliminating his unscrupulous morals and his acquired insolence of manner, +Sir Robert Volney would have been one to esteem; by impulse he was one of +the finest gentlemen I have known. + +Though Creagh had come to warn me of Volney's latest move, he was also the +bearer of a budget of news which gravely affected the State at large and +the cause on which we were embarked. The French fleet of transports, +delayed again and again by trivial causes, had at length received orders +to postpone indefinitely the invasion of England. Yet in spite of this +fatal blow to the cause it was almost certain that Prince Charles Edward +Stuart with only seven companions, of whom one was the ubiquitous +O'Sullivan, had slipped from Belleisle on the Doutelle and escaping the +British fleet had landed on the coast of Scotland. The emotions which +animated us on hearing of the gallant young Prince's daring and romantic +attempt to win a Kingdom with seven swords, trusting sublimely in the +loyalty of his devoted Highlanders, may better be imagined than described. +Donald Roy flung up his bonnet in a wild hurrah, Aileen beamed pride and +happiness, and Creagh's volatile Irish heart was in the hilltops. If I had +any doubts of the issue I knew better than to express them. + +But we were shortly recalled to our more immediate affairs. Before we got +back to the inn one of those cursed placards offering a reward for my +arrest adorned the wall, and in front of it a dozen open-mouthed yokels +were spelling out its purport. Clearly there was no time to be lost in +taking Volney's advice. We hired a chaise and set out for London within +the hour. 'Twas arranged that Captain Macdonald and Hamish Gorm should +push on at once to Montagu Grange with Aileen, while I should lie in +hiding at the lodgings of Creagh until my wounds permitted of my +travelling without danger. That Volney would not rest without attempting +to discover the whereabouts of Miss Macleod I was well assured, and no +place of greater safety for the present occurred to me than the seclusion +of the Grange with my brother Charles and the family servants to watch +over her. As for myself, I was not afraid of their hanging me, but I was +not minded to play into the hands of Volney by letting myself get cooped +up in prison for many weeks pending a trial while he renewed his cavalier +wooing of the maid. + +Never have I spent a more doleful time than that which followed. For one +thing my wounds healed badly, causing me a good deal of trouble. Then too +I was a prisoner no less than if I had been in The Tower itself. If +occasionally at night I ventured forth the fear of discovery was always +with me. Tony Creagh was the best companion in the world, at once tender +as a mother and gay as a schoolboy, but he could not be at home all day +and night, and as he was agog to be joining the Prince in the North he +might leave any day. Meanwhile he brought me the news of the town from the +coffee-houses: how Sir Robert Walpole was dead; how the Camerons under +Lochiel, the Macdonalds under Young Clanranald, and the Macphersons under +Cluny had rallied to the side of the Prince and were expected soon to be +defeated by Sir John Cope, the Commander-in-Chief of the Government army +in Scotland; how Balmerino and Leath had already shipped for Edinburgh to +join the insurgent army; how Beauclerc had bet Lord March a hundred +guineas that the stockings worn by Lady Di Faulkner at the last Assembly +ball were not mates, and had won. It appeared that unconsciously I had +been a source of entertainment to the club loungers. + +"Sure 'tis pity you're mewed up here, Kenn, for you're the lion of the +hour. None can roar like you. The betting books at White's are filled with +wagers about you," Creagh told me. + +"About me?" I exclaimed. + +"Faith, who else? 'Lord Pam bets Mr. Conway three ponies against a hundred +pounds that Mr. Kenneth Montagu of Montagu Grange falls by the hand of +justice before three months from date,'" he quoted with a great deal of +gusto. "Does your neck ache, Kenn?" + +"Oh, the odds are in my favour yet. What else?" I asked calmly. + +"'Mr. James Haddon gives ten pounds each to his Royal Highness the Prince +of Wales and to Sir Robert Volney and is to receive from each twenty +guineas if Mr. K. Montagu is alive twelve months from date.' Egad, you're +a topic of interest in high quarters!" + +"Honoured, I'm sure! I'll make it a point to see that his Royal Highness +and my dear friend Volney lose. Anything else?" + +"At the coffee-house they were talking about raising a subscription to you +because they hear you're devilish hard up and because you made such a +plucky fight against Volney. Some one mentioned that you had a temper and +were proud as Lucifer. 'He's such a hothead. How'll he take it?' asks +Beauclerc. 'Why, quarterly, to be sure!' cries Selwyn. And that reminds +me: George has written an epigram that is going the rounds. Out of some +queer whim--to keep them warm I suppose--Madame Bellevue took her slippers +to bed with her. Some one told it at the club, so Selwyn sat down and +wrote these verses: + + "'Well may Suspicion shake its head-- + Well may Clorinda's spouse be jealous, + When the dear wanton takes to bed + Her very shoes--because they're fellows.'" + +Creagh's merry laugh was a source of healing in itself, and his departure +to join the Prince put an edge to the zest of my desire to get back into +the world. Just before leaving he fished a letter from his pocket and +tossed it across the room to me. + +"Egad, and you are the lucky man, Kenn," he said. "The ladies pester us +with praises of your valour. This morning one of the fair creatures gave +me this to deliver, swearing I knew your whereabouts." + +'Twas a gay little note from my former playmate Antoinette Westerleigh, +and inclosed was a letter to her from my sister. How eagerly I devoured +Cloe's letter for news of Aileen may be guessed. + + MY DEAREST 'TOINETTE:-- + + Since last I saw you (so the letter ran) seems a century, and of + course I am dying to come to town. No doubt the country is very + healthy, but Lud! 'tis monstrous dull after a London season. I vow I + am already a lifetime behind the fashions. Is't true that prodigious + bustles are the rage? And while I think of it I wish you would call at + Madame Ronald's and get the lylack lute-string scirt she is making for + me. + + Also at Duprez's for the butifull little hat I ordered. Please have + them sent by carrier. I know I am a vast nuisance; 'tis the penalty, + my dear, for having a country mawkin as your best friend. + + Of course you know what that grate brother of mine has been at. Gaming + I hear, playing ducks and drakes with his money, and fighting duels + with your lover. For a time we were dreadfully anxious about him. What + do you think he has sent me down to take care of for him? But you + would never guess. My love, a Scotch girl, shy as one of her own + mountain deer. I suppose when he is recovert of his wounds he will be + down here to philander with her. Aileen Macleod is her name, and + really I do not blame him. I like her purely myself. In a way quite + new she is very taking; speaks the prettiest broken English, is very + simple, sweet, and grateful. At a word the pink and white comes and + goes in her cheeks as it never does in ours. I wish I could acquire + her manner, but Alack! 'tis not to be learnt though I took lessons + forever. The gracefull creature dances the Scottish flings divinely. + She is not exactly butifull, but--well, I can see why the men think so + and fall down in worship! By the way, she is very nearly in love--tho + she does not know it--with that blundering brother of mine; says that + "her heart iss always thanking him at all events." If he knew how to + play his cards--but there, the oaf will put his grate foot in it. + + She came here with a shag-headed gillie of a servant, under the + protection of a Captain Macdonald who is a very fine figure of a man. + He was going to stay only an hour or two, but _Charles_ persuaded him + to stop three days. Charles teases me about him, swears the Captain is + already my slave, but you may depend on't there is nothing in it. Last + night we diverted ourselves with playing Hide the Thimble, and the + others lost the Scotch Captain and me in the + + armory. He is a peck of fun. This morning he left for the North, and + do you think the grate Mr. Impudence did not buss us both; Aileen + because she is his cousin a hundred times removed and me because (what + a reason!) "my eyes dared him." Of course I was in a vast rage, which + seemed to hily delight Captain Impudence. I don't see how he dared + take so grate a preaviledge. Do you? + + Aileen is almost drest, and I must go smart myself. My dear, an you + love me, write to + + Your own CLOE. + + P. S.--Lard, I clear forgot! 'Tis a secret that the Scotch enchantress + is here. You must be sure not to mention it, my dear, to your Sir + Robert, But la! I have the utmost confidence in your discretion. + +Conceive my dismay! Discretion and Antoinette Westerleigh were as far +apart as the poles. What more likely than that the dashing little minx +would undertake to rally her lover about Aileen, and that the adroit +baronet would worm out of her the information he desired? The letter +crystallized my desire to set out at once for Montagu Grange, and from +there to take the road with Miss Macleod hotspur for Scotland. It appeared +to me that the sooner we were out of England the better it would be for +both of us. + +I made the journey to the Grange by easy stages, following so far as I +could little used roads and lanes on account of a modest desire to avoid +publicity. 'Twas early morning when I reached the Grange. I remember the +birds were twittering a chorus as I rode under the great oaks to the +house. Early as it was, Cloe and Aileen were already walking in the garden +with their arms entwined about each other's waists in girl fashion. They +made a picture taking enough to have satisfied a jaded connoisseur of +beauty: the fair tall Highland lass, jimp as a willow wand, with the +long-lashed blue eyes that looked out so shyly and yet so frankly on those +she liked, and the merry brown-eyed English girl so ready of saucy tongue, +so worldly wise and yet so innocent of heart. + +Cloe came running to meet me in a flutter of excitement and Mistress +Aileen followed more demurely down the path, though there was a Highland +welcome in her frank face not to be denied. I slid from the horse and +kissed Cloe. Miss Macleod gave me her hand. + +"We are hoping you are quite well from your wounds," she said. + +"Quite," I answered. "Better much for hearing your kind voices and seeing +your bright faces." + +I dare say I looked over-long into one of the bright faces, and for a +punishment was snatched into confusion by my malapert sister. + +"I didn't know you had heard my kind voice yet," mimicked Miss Madcap. +"And are you thinking of holding Aileen's hand all day?" + +My hand plumped to my side like a shot. Both of us flamed, I stammering +apologies the while Cloe no doubt enjoyed hugely my embarrassment. 'Tis a +sister's prerogative to teach her older brothers humility, and Cloe for +one did not let it fall into neglect. + +"To be sure I do not know the Highland custom in the matter," she was +continuing complacently when Aileen hoist her with her own petard. + +"I wass thinking that perhaps Captain Macdonald had taught you in the +armory," she said quietly; and Cloe, to be in the fashion, ran up the red +flag too. + +It appeared that my plan for an immediate departure from England jumped +with the inclination of Miss Macleod. She had received a letter from her +brother, now in Scotland, whose plans in regard to her had been upset by +the unexpected arrival of the Prince. He was extremely solicitous on her +behalf, but could only suggest for her an acceptance of a long-standing +invitation to visit Lady Strathmuir, a distant relative living in Surrey, +until times grew more settled. To Aileen the thought of throwing herself +upon the hospitality of one she had never met was extremely distasteful, +and she hailed my proposal as an alternative much to be desired. + +The disagreeable duty of laying before my lawyer the involved condition of +my affairs had to be endured, and I sent for him at once to get it over +with the sooner. He pulled a prodigious long face at my statement of the +gaming debts I had managed to contract during my three months' experiment +as the prodigal son in London, but though he was extraordinarily severe +with me I made out in the end that affairs were not so bad as I had +thought. The estate would have to be plastered with a mortgage, but some +years of stiff economy and retrenchment, together with a ruthless pruning +of the fine timber, would suffice to put me on my feet again. The +expenditures of the household would have to be cut down, but Mr. Brief +thought that a modest establishment befitting my rank might still be +maintained. If I thought of marrying---- + +A ripple of laughter from the lawn, where Aileen and Charles were +arranging fishing tackle, was wafted through the open window and cut +athwart the dry speech of the lawyer. My eyes found her and lingered on +the soft curves, the rose-leaf colouring, the eager face framed in a +sunlit aureola of radiant hair. Already my mind had a trick of imagining +her the mistress of the Grange. Did she sit for a moment in the seat that +had been my mother's my heart sang; did she pluck a posy or pour a cup of +tea 'twas the same. "If I thought of marrying----" Well, 'twas a thing to +be considered one day--when I came back from the wars. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE MATTER OF A KISS + + +It may be guessed that the music of the gray morn when we started found a +ready echo in my heart. The whistle of a plover cut the breaking day, the +meadow larks piped clear above us in chorus with the trilling of the +thrush, the wimpling burn tinkled its song, and the joy that took me +fairly by the throat was in tune with all of them. For what does a lover +ask but to be one and twenty, to be astride a willing horse, and to be +beside the one woman in the world for him? Sure 'tis heaven enough to +watch the colour come and go in her face, to hear the lilt of her voice, +and to see the changing light in her eye. What though at times we were shy +as the wild rabbit, we were none the less happy for that. In our hearts +there bubbled a childlike gaiety; we skipped upon the sunlit hilltops of +life. + +And here was the one drop of poison in the honey of my cup: that I was +wearing an abominable misfit of a drab-coloured suit of homespun more +adapted to some village tradesman than to a young cavalier of fashion, for +on account of the hue and cry against me I had pocketed my pride and was +travelling under an incognito. Nor did it comfort me one whit that Aileen +also was furbished up in sombre gray to represent my sister, for she +looked so taking in it that I vow 'twas more becoming than her finery. Yet +I made the best of it, and many a good laugh we got from rehearsing our +parts. + +I can make no hand at remembering what we had to say to each other, nor +does it matter; in cold type 'twould lose much of its charm. The merry +prattle of her pretty broken English was set to music for me, and the very +silences were eloquent of thrill. Early I discovered that I had not +appreciated fully her mental powers, on account of a habit she had of +falling into a shy silence when several were present. She had a nimble +wit, an alert fancy, and a zest for life as earnest as it was refreshing. +A score of times that day she was out of the shabby chaise to pick the +wild flowers or to chat with the children by the wayside. The memory of +her warm friendliness to me stands out the more clear contrasted with the +frigid days that followed. + +It may be thought by some that our course in travelling together bordered +on the edge of the proprieties, but it must be remembered that the +situation was a difficult one for us both. Besides which my sister Cloe +was always inclined to be independent, of a romantical disposition, and +herself young; as for Aileen, I doubt whether any thought of the +conventions crossed her mind. Her people would be wearying to see her; her +friend Kenneth Montagu had offered his services to conduct her home; +Hamish Gorm was a jealous enough chaperone for any girl, and the maid that +Cloe had supplied would serve to keep the tongues of the gossips from +clacking. + +We put up that first evening at The King's Arms, a great rambling inn of +two stories which caught the trade of many of the fashionable world on +their way to and from London. Aileen and I dined together at a table in +the far end of the large dining-room. As I remember we were still uncommon +merry, she showing herself very clever at odd quips and turns of +expression. We found matter for jest in a large placard on the wall, with +what purported to be a picture of me, the printed matter containing the +usual description and offer of reward. Watching her, I was thinking that I +had never known a girl more in love with life or with so mobile a face +when a large company of arrivals from London poured gaily into the room. + +They were patched and powdered as if prepared for a ball rather than for +the dust of the road. Dowagers, frigid and stately as marble, murmured +racy gossip to each other behind their fans. Famous beauties flitted +hither and thither, beckoning languid fops with their alluring eyes. Wits +and beaux sauntered about elegantly even as at White's. 'Twas plain that +this was a party _en route_ for one of the great county houses near. + +Aileen stared with wide-open eyes and parted lips at these great dames +from the fashionable world about which she knew nothing. They were +prominent members of the leading school for backbiting in England, and in +ten minutes they had talked more scandal than the Highland lass had heard +before in a lifetime. But the worst of the situation was that there was +not one of them but would cry "Montagu!" when they clapped eyes on me. +Here were Lord March, George Selwyn, Sir James Craven, Topham Beauclerc, +and young Winton Westerleigh; Lady Di Davenport and the Countess Dowager +of Rocksboro; the Hon. Isabel Stanford, Mistress Antoinette Westerleigh, +and others as well known to me. They had taken us at unawares, and as +Creagh would have put it in an Irish bull the only retreat possible for us +was an advance through the enemy. At present they paid no more attention +to us than they would to the wooden negro in front of a tobacco shop, but +at any moment detection might confront me. Faith, here was a predicament! +Conceive me, with a hundred guineas set upon my head, thrust into the very +company in all England I would most have avoided. + +And of all the people in the world they chanced on me as a topic of +conversation. George Selwyn, strolling up and down the room, for want of +something better to do, stopped in front of that confounded placard and +began reading it aloud. Now I don't mind being described as "Tall, strong, +well-built, and extremely good-looking; brown eyes and waving hair like +ilk; carries himself with distinction;" but I grue at being set down as a +common cutpurse, especially when I had taken the trouble to send back Sir +Robert's jewelry at some risk to myself. + +"Wonder what Montagu has done with himself," queried Beauclerc after +Selwyn had finished. + +"Or what Volney has done with him," muttered March behind his hand. "I'll +lay two to one in ponies he never lives to cross another man." + +"You're wrong, March, if you think Volney finished him. He's alive all +right. I heard it from Denman that he got safe across to France. Pity +Volney didn't pink the fellow through the heart for his d----d impudence +in interfering; not that I can stand Volney either, curse the popinjay!" +snarled Craven sourly. + +"If Montagu reaches the continent, 'twill be a passover the Jews who hold +his notes will not relish," suggested Selwyn in his sleepy way. + +A pink-and-white-faced youth shimmering in cream satin was the animated +heart of another group. His love for scandal and his facility for +acquiring the latest tidbit made him the delight of many an old tabby cat. +Now his eyes shone with the joy of imparting a delicious morsel. + +"Egad, then, you're all wrong," he was saying in a shrill falsetto. "Stap +me, the way of it was this! I have it on the best of authority and it +comes direct, rot me if it doesn't! Sir Robert's man, Watkins, told Madame +Bellevue's maid, from whom it came straight to Lord Pam's fellow and +through him to old Methuselah, who mentioned it to----" + +"You needn't finish tracing the lineage of the misinformation. We'll +assume it began with Adam and ended with a dam--with a descendant of his," +interrupted Craven with his usual insolence. "Now out with the lie!" + +"'Pon honour, Craven, 'tis gospel truth," gasped Pink-and-White. + +"Better send for a doctor then. If he tries to tell the truth for once +he'll strangle," suggested Selwyn whimsically to March. + +"Spit it out then!" bullied Craven coarsely. + +"Oh, Lard! Your roughness gives me the flutters, Sir James. I'm all of a +tremble. Split me, I can't abide to be scolded! Er-- Well, then, 'twas a +Welsh widow they fought about--name of Gwynne and rich as Croesus--old +enough to be a grandmother of either of 'em, begad! Volney had first claim +and Montagu cut in; swore he'd marry her if she went off the hooks next +minute. They fought and Montagu fell at the first shot. Next day the old +Begum ran off with her footman. That's the story, you may depend on't. +Lud, yes!" + +"You may depend on its being wrong in every particular," agreed Lady Di +coolly. "You'd better tell the story, 'Toinette. They'll have it a hundred +times worse." + +"Oh Lard! Gossip about my future husband. Not I!" giggled that lively +young woman. + +"Don't be a prude, miss!" commanded the Dowager Countess sharply. "'Tis to +stifle false reports you tell it." + +"Slidikins! An you put it as a duty," simpered the young beauty. "'Twould +seem that--it would appear--the story goes that-- Do I blush?--that Sir +Robert-- Oh, let Lady Di tell it!" + +Lady Di came to scratch with the best will in the world. + +"To correct a false impression then; for no other reason I tell it save to +kill worse rumours. Everybody knows I hate scandal." + +"'Slife, yes! Everybody knows that," agreed Craven, leering over at +March. + +"Sir Robert Volney then was much taken with a Scotch girl who was visiting +in London, and of course she dreamed air castles and fell in love with +him. 'Twas Joan and Darby all the livelong day, but alack! the maid +discovered, as maids will, that Sir Robert's intentions were--not of the +best, and straightway the blushing rose becomes a frigid icicle. Well, +this Northern icicle was not to be melted, and Sir Robert was for trying +the effect of a Surrey hothouse. In her brother's absence he had the maid +abducted and carried to a house of his in town." + +"'Slife! A story for a play. And what then?" cried Pink-and-White. + +"Why then--enter Mr. Montagu with a 'Stay, villain!' It chanced that young +Don Quixote was walking through the streets for the cooling of his blood +mayhap, much overheated by reason of deep play. He saw, he followed, at a +fitting time he broke into the apartment of the lady. Here Sir Robert +discovered them----" + +"The lady all unready, alackaday!" put in the Honourable Isabel, from +behind a fan to hide imaginary blushes. + +"Well, something easy of attire to say the least," admitted Lady Di +placidly. + +"I' faith then, Montagu must make a better lover than Sir Robert," cried +March. + +"Every lady to her taste. And later they fought on the way to Surrey. Both +wounded, no graves needed. The girl nursed Montagu back to health, and +they fled to France together," concluded the narrator. + +"And the lady--is she such a beauty?" queried Beauclerc. + +"Slidikins! I don't know. She must have points. No Scotch mawkin would +draw Sir Robert's eye." + +You are to imagine with what a burning face I sat listening to this +devil's brew of small talk. What their eyes said to each other of +innuendo, what their lifted brows implied, and what they whispered behind +white elegant hands, was more maddening than the open speech. For myself, +I did not value the talk of the cats at one jack straw, but for this young +girl sitting so still beside me-- By Heaven, I dared not look at her. Nor +did I know what to do, how to stop them without making the matter worse +for her, and I continued to sit in an agony grizzling on the gridiron of +their calumnies. Had they been talking lies outright it might have been +easily borne, but there was enough of truth mixed in the gossip to burn +the girl with the fires of shame. + +At the touch of a hand I turned to look into a face grown white and chill, +all the joy of life struck out of it. The girl's timorous eyes implored me +to spare her more of this scene. + +"Oh Kenneth, get me away from here. I will be dying of shame. Let us be +going at once," she asked in a low cry. + +"There is no way out except through the crowd of them. Will you dare make +the attempt? Should I be recognized it may be worse for you." + +"I am not fearing if you go with me. And at all events anything iss better +than this." + +There was a chance that we might pass through unobserved, and I took it; +but I was white-hot with rage and I dare say my aggressive bearing +bewrayed me. In threading our way to the door I brushed accidentally +against Mistress Westerleigh. She drew aside haughtily, then gave a little +scream of recognition. + +"Kenn Montagu, of all men in the world--and turned Quaker, too. Gog's +life, 'tis mine, 'tis mine! The hundred guineas are mine. I call you all +to witness I have taken the desperate highwayman. 'Tall, strong, and +extremely well-looking; carries himself like a gentleman.' This way, sir," +she cried merrily, and laying hold of my coat-tails began to drag me +toward the men. + +There was a roar of laughter at this, and the pink-white youth lounged +forward to offer me a hand of welcome I took pains not to see. + +"Faith, the lady has the right of it, Montagu. That big body of yours is +worth a hundred guineas now if it never was before," laughed Selwyn. + +"Sorry to disappoint the lady, but unfortunately my business carries me in +another direction," I said stiffly. + +"But Lud! 'Tis not fair. You're mine. I took you, and I want the reward," +cries the little lady with the sparkling eyes. + +Aileen stood by my side like a queen cut out of marble, turning neither to +the right nor to the left, her head poised regally on her fine shoulders +as if she saw none in the room worthy a look. + +"This must be the baggage about which they fought. Faith, as fine a piece +as I have seen," said Craven to March in an audible aside, his bold eyes +fixed insolently on the Highland girl. + +Aileen heard him, and her face flamed. I set my teeth and swore to pay him +for that some day, but I knew this to be no fitting time for a brawl. +Despite me the fellow forced my hand. He planted himself squarely in our +way and ogled my charge with impudent effrontery. Me he quite ignored, +while his insulting eyes raked her fore and aft. My anger seethed, boiled +over. Forward slid my foot behind his heel, my forearm under his chin. I +threw my weight forward in a push. His head went back as though shot from +a catapult, and next moment Sir James Craven measured his length on the +ground. With the girl on my arm I pushed through the company to the door. +They cackled after me like solan-geese, but I shut and locked the door in +their faces and led Aileen to her room. She marched up the stairs like a +goddess, beautiful in her anger as one could desire. The Gaelic heart is a +good hater, and 'twas quite plain that Miss Macleod had inherited a +capacity for anger. + +"How dare they? How dare they? What have I done that they should talk so? +There are three hundred claymores would be leaping from the scabbard for +this. My grief! That they would talk so of my father's daughter." + +She was superbly beautiful in her wrath. It was the black fury of the +Highland loch in storm that leaped now from her eyes. Like a caged and +wounded tigress she strode up and down the room, her hands clenched and +her breast heaving, an impetuous flood of Gaelic pouring from her mouth. + +For most strange logic commend me to a woman's reasoning, I had been in no +way responsible for the scene down-stairs, but somehow she lumped me +blindly with the others in her mind, at least so far as to punish me +because I had seen and heard. Apparently 'twas enough that I was of their +race and class, for when during a pause I slipped in my word of soothing +explanation the uncorked vials of her rage showered down on me. Faith, I +began to think that old Jack Falstaff had the right of it in his rating of +discretion, and the maid appearing at that moment I showed a clean pair of +heels and left her alone with her mistress. + +As I was descending the stairs a flunky in the livery of the Westerleighs +handed me a note. It was from Antoinette, and in a line requested me to +meet her at once in the summer-house of the garden. In days past I had +coquetted many an hour away with her. Indeed, years before we had been +lovers in half-earnest boy and girl fashion, and after that the best of +friends. Grimly I resolved to keep the appointment and to tell this little +worldling some things she needed much to know. + +I found her waiting. Her back was turned, and though she must have heard +me coming she gave no sign. I was still angry at her for her share in what +had just happened and I waited coldly for her to begin. She joined me in +the eloquent silence of a Quaker meeting. + +"Well, I am here," I said at last. + +"Oh, it's you." She turned on me, mighty cold and haughty. "Sir, I take it +as a great presumption that you dare to stay at the same inn with me after +attempting to murder my husband that is to be." + +"Murder!" I gasped, giving ground in dismay at this unexpected charge. + +"Murder was the word I used, sir. Do you not like it?" + +"'Twas a fair fight," I muttered. + +"Was it not you that challenged? Did you not force it on him?" + +"Yes, but----" + +"And then you dare to come philandering here after me. Do you think I can +change lovers as often as gloves, sir? Or as often as you?" + +"Madam, I protest----" + +"La! You protest! Did you not come here to see me? Answer me that, sir!" +With an angry stamp of her foot. + +"Yes, Mistress Westerleigh, your note----" + +"And to philander? Do you deny it?" + +"Deny it. Odzooks, yes! 'Tis the last thing I have in my mind," I rapped +out mighty short. "I have done with women and their follies. I begin to +see why men of sense prefer to keep their freedom." + +"Do you, Kenn? And was the other lady so hard on you? Did she make you pay +for our follies? Poor Kenn!" laughed my mocking tormentor with so sudden a +change of front that I was quite nonplussed. "And did you think I did not +know my rakehelly lover Sir Robert better than to blame you for his +quarrels?" + +I breathed freer. She had taken the wind out of my sails, for I had come +purposing to give her a large piece of my mind. Divining my intention, +womanlike she had created a diversion by carrying the war into the country +of the enemy. + +She looked winsome in the extreme. Little dimples ran in and out her +peach-bloom cheeks. In her eyes danced a kind of innocent devilry, and the +alluring mouth was the sweetest Cupid's bow imaginable. Laughter rippled +over her face like the wind in golden grain. Mayhap my eyes told what I +was thinking, for she asked in a pretty, audacious imitation of the Scotch +dialect Aileen was supposed to speak, + +"Am I no' bonny, Kenneth?" + +"You are that, 'Toinette." + +"But you love her better?" she said softly. + +I told her yes. + +"And yet----" She turned and began to pull a honeysuckle to pieces, +pouting in the prettiest fashion conceivable. + +The graceful curves of the lithe figure provoked me. There was a challenge +in her manner, and my blood beat with a surge. I made a step or two toward +her. + +"And yet?" I repeated, over her shoulder. + +One by one the petals floated away. + +"There was a time----" She spoke so softly I had to bend over to hear. + +I sighed. "A thousand years ago, 'Toinette." + +"But love is eternal, and in eternity a thousand years are but as a day." + +The long curving lashes were lifted for a moment, and the dancing brown +eyes flashed into mine. While mine held them they began to dim. On my soul +the little witch contrived to let the dew of tears glisten there. Now a +woman's tears are just the one thing Kenneth Montagu cannot resist. After +all I am not the first man that has come to make war and stayed to make +love. + +"'Toinette! 'Toinette!" I chided, resolution melting fast. + +"And y'are commanded to love your neighbours, Kenn." + +I vow she was the takingest madcap in all England, and not the worst heart +neither. I am no Puritan, and youth has its day in which it will be +served. My scruples took wing. + +"Faith, one might travel far and not do better," I told her. "When the +gods send their best to a man he were a sorry knave to complain." + +Yet I stood helpless, in longing desire and yet afraid to dare. No nicety +of conscience held me now, rather apprehension. I had not lived my one and +twenty years without learning that a young woman may be free of speech and +yet discreet of action, that alluring eyes are oft mismated with prim +maiden conscience. 'Tis in the blood of some of them to throw down the +gauntlet to a man's courage and then to trample on him for daring to +accept the challenge. + +Her eyes derided me. A scoffing smile crept into that mocking face of +hers. No longer I shilly-shallied. She had brought me to dance, and she +must pay the piper. + +"Modesty is a sweet virtue, but it doesn't butter any bread," I cried +gaily. "Egad, I embrace my temptation." + +Which same I did, and the temptress too. + +"Am I your temptation, Adam?" quoth the lady presently. + +"I vow y'are the fairest enticement, Eve, that ever trod the earth since +the days of the first Garden. For this heaven of your lips I'll pay any +price in reason. A year in purgatory were cheap----" + +I stopped, my florid eloquence nipped in bud, for the lady had suddenly +begun to disengage herself. Her glance shot straight over my shoulder to +the entrance of the summer-house. Divining the presence of an intruder, I +turned. + +Aileen was standing in the doorway looking at us with an acrid, scornful +smile that went to my heart like a knife. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MY LADY RAGES + + +I was shaken quite out of my exultation. I stood raging at myself in a +defiant scorn, struck dumb at the folly that will let a man who loves one +woman go sweethearting with another. Her eyes stabbed me, the while I +stood there dogged yet grovelling, no word coming to my dry lips. What was +there to be said? The tie that bound me to Aileen was indefinable, +tenuous, not to be phrased; yet none the less it existed. I stood +convicted, for I had tacitly given her to understand that no woman found +place in my mind save her, and at the first chance she found another in my +arms. Like a detected schoolboy in presence of the rod I awaited my +sentence, my heart a trip-hammer, my face a picture of chagrin and dread. + +For just a moment she held me in the balance with that dreadful smile on +her face, my day of judgment come to earth, then turned and away without a +word. I flung wildly after her, intent on explaining what could not be +explained. In the night I lost her and went up and down through the +shrubbery calling her to come forth, beating the currant and gooseberry +bushes in search of her. A shadow flitted past me toward the house, and at +the gate I intercepted the girl. Better I had let her alone. My heart +misgave me at sight of her face; indeed the whole sweep of her lithesome +reedy figure was pregnant with Highland scorn and pride. + +"Oh, Aileen, in the arbour----" I was beginning, when she cut me short. + +"And I am thinking I owe you an apology for my intrusion. In troth, Mr. +Montagu, my interruption of your love-makings was not intentional." + +Her voice gave me the feel of being drenched with ice-water. + +"If you will let me explain, Aileen----" + +"Indeed, and there iss nothing to explain, sir. It will be none of my +business who you are loving, and-- Will you open the gate, Mr. Montagu?" + +"But I must explain; 'twas a madness of the blood. You do not +understand----" + +"And gin I never understand, Mr. Montagu, the lift (sky) will not fall. +Here iss a great to-do about nothing," she flung back with a kind of +bitter jauntiness. + +"Aileen," I cried, a little wildly, "you will not cast me off without a +hearing. Somehow I must make it clear, and you must try----" + +"My name it iss Miss Macleod, and I would think it clear enough already at +all events. I will be thanking you to let me pass, sir." + +Her words bit, not less the scorch of her eyes. My heart was like running +water. + +"And is this an end to all-- Will you let so small a thing put a period to +our good comradeship?" I cried. + +"Since you mention it I would never deny that I am under obligations to +you, sir, which my brother will be blithe to repay----" + +"By Heaven, I never mentioned obligations; I never thought of them. Is +there no friendship in your heart for me?" + +"Your regard iss a thing I have valued, but"--there was a little break in +the voice which she rode over roughshod--"I can very well be getting along +without the friendships of that girl's lover." + +She snatched open the gate and flung past me to the house, this superb +young creature, tall, slim, supple, a very Diana in her rage, a woman too +if one might judge by the breasts billowing with rising sobs. More slow I +followed, quite dashed to earth. All that I had gained by months of +service in one moment had been lost. She would think me another of the +Volney stamp, and her liking for me would turn to hate as with him. + +A low voice from the arbour called "Kenn!" But I had had enough of +gallivanting for one night and I held my way sullenly to the house. Swift +feet pattered down the path after me, and presently a little hand fell on +my arm. I turned, sulky as a baited bear. + +"I am so sorry, Kenn," said Mistress Antoinette demurely. + +My sardonic laughter echoed cheerlessly. "That there is no more mischief +to your hand. Oh never fear! You'll find some other poor breeched gull +shortly." + +The brown dovelike eyes of the little rip reproached me. + +"'Twill all come right, Kenn. She'll never think the worse of you for +this." + +"I'll be no more to her than a glove outworn. I have lost the only woman I +could ever love, and through my own folly, too." + +"Alackaday, Kenn! Y' 'ave much to learn about women yet. She will think +the more of you for it when her anger is past." + +"Not she. One of your fashionables might, but not Aileen." + +"Pooh! I think better of her than you. She's not all milk and water. +There's red blood in her veins, man. Spunk up and brazen it out. Cock your +chin and whistle it off bravely. Faith, I know better men than you who +would not look so doleful over one of 'Toinette Westerleigh's kisses. If I +were a man I would never kiss and be sorry for all the maids in +Christendom." + +The saucy piquant tilt to her chin was a sight for the gods to admire. + +"You forget I love her." + +"Oh, you play on one string. She's not the only maid i' the world," pouted +the London beauty. + +"She's the only one for me," I said stubbornly, and then added dejectedly, +"and she's not for me neither." + +The little rogue began to laugh. "I give you up, Kenn. Y'are as moonstruck +a lover as ever I saw. Here's for a word of comfort, which you don't +deserve at all. For a week she will be a thunder-cloud, then the sun will +beam more brightly than ever. But don't you be too submissive. La! Women +cannot endure a wheedling lover." + +After that bit of advice my sage little monitor fell sober and explained +to me her reason for sending me the note. It appeared that Sir Robert +Volney was due to meet the party at the inn that very evening, and Miss +Westerleigh was of opinion that I and my charge would do well to take the +road at once. I was of that mind myself. I lost no time in reaching the +house and ordering a relay of horses for our immediate travel. Then I took +the stairs three at a time and came knocking at Aileen's door. + +"Who iss there?" asked a small voice, full of tears and muffled in a +pillow. + +Her distress went to my heart, none the less because I who had been the +cause of it could not heal it. + +"Tis I--Kenneth Montagu. Open the door, please." + +There was a moment's silence, then-- + +"I am not wishing to see Mr. Montagu to-night." + +"Not for the world would I trouble you, Miss Macleod, but there is a +matter I have to disclose that touches us nearly." + +"I think you will not have heard aright. I am desiring to be alone, sir," +she answered, the frost in her voice. + +It may be guessed that this dismissal chafed me. My eagerness was daunted, +but yet I would not be fubbed off. + +"Miss Macleod, you may punish me as much as you like some other time," I +cried desperately, "but 'fore God! if you do not open the door you will +regret it till the last day of your life." + +"Are you threatening me, sir?" she asks, mighty haughty. + +"Threatening--no! I do not threaten, but warn. This matter is of life and +death, not to be played with;" and to emphasize my words I mentioned the +name of Volney. + +She came raging to the door and whipped it open very sudden. Her affronted +eyes might have belonged to a queen, but the stains on her cheeks betrayed +her. + +"Well, and what iss this important matter that cannot be waiting? Perhaps +Mr. Montagu mistakes this for the room of Mistress Westerleigh." + +I told her that Sir Robert was expected shortly to arrive at the inn, and +that we must be on the road at once. She thanked me very primly for the +information, but declared she would not trouble me further, that she meant +to abide at the inn all night no matter who came; moreover, that when she +did leave Hamish Gorm would be sufficient guard. I argued, cajoled, +warned, threatened, but she was not to be moved. The girl took a perverse +pleasure in thwarting me, and the keener I grew the more dour grew she. We +might have disputed the point an hour had I not come to my senses and +appeared to give way. + +Suspecting that the girl's fears of Sir Robert would reassert themselves +when she was left to herself, I sought her maid and easily induced the +girl to propose to her mistress a departure without my knowledge. The +suggestion worked like a charm, and fifteen minutes later I had the +pleasure of seeing the chaise roll out of the lighted yard into the night. +Need it be said that Kenneth Montagu was ahorse and after the coach within +a few minutes. + +All night I jogged behind them, and in the morning rode up to the inn +where they stopped for breakfast. From Mistress Aileen I got the slightest +bow in the world as I passed to my solitary breakfast at a neighbouring +table. Within the hour they were away again, and I after to cover the +rear. Late in the day the near wheeler fell very lame. The rest of the +animals were dead beat, and I rode to the nearest hamlet to get another +horse. The night was falling foul, very mirk, with a rising wind, and +methought the lady's eyes lightened when she saw me return with help to +get them out of their difficulty. She thanked me stiffly with a very +straight lip. + +"At all events there will be no end to the obligations I am under, Mr. +Montagu. They will be piling high as Ben Nevis," she said, but 'twould +have taken a penetrating man to have discovered any friendliness in the +voice. + +Yet henceforth I made myself one of the party, admitted on sufferance with +a very bad grace. More than once I tried to break through the chill +conventionals that made the staple of our conversation, but the girl was +ice to me. In the end I grew stiff as she. I would ride beside the coach +all day with scarce a word, wearying for a reconciliation and yet +nourishing angry pride. When speech appeared to be demanded between us +'twas of the most formal. Faith, I think we were liker a pair of spoilt +children than sensible grown folks. + +While we were still in the northern counties rumours began to reach us +that General Cope's army had been cut to pieces by the Highlanders. The +stories ran that not a single man had escaped, that the clans, twenty +thousand strong, were headed for England, that they were burning and +destroying as they advanced. Incredible reports of all kinds sprang out of +the air, and the utmost alarm prevailed. The report of Cope's defeat was +soon verified. We met more than one redcoat speeding south on a +foam-flecked weary steed, and it did not need the second sight to divine +that the dispatches they carried spoke loudly of disaster fallen and of +reinforcements needed. + +After we had crossed the border parties of foraging Highlanders began to +appear occasionally, but a word in the Gaelic from Hamish Gorm always +served as a password for us. To make short, early in October we reached +the Scottish capital, the formal relations which had been established +between Miss Macleod and me continuing to the end of the journey. + +There lived in Edinburgh an unmarried aunt of Aileen, a Miss Flora MacBean +by name, and at her house I left the girl while I went to notify her +brother of our arrival. I found him lodged in High Street near the old +Flesh-market Close. Malcolm Macleod was a fine manly fellow of about three +and thirty, lusty and well-proportioned, very tanned and ruddy. He had a +quick lively eye and a firm good-humoured mouth. In brief, he was the very +picture of a frank open-hearted Highland gentleman, and in the gay Macleod +tartan looked as gallant a figure of a soldier as one would wish to see. +He greeted me with charming friendliness and expressed himself as deeply +gratified for my care of his sister, offering again and again to put +himself at my service in any way I might desire. + +We walked down the street together, and more than once a shot plumped at +our feet, for the city was under fire from the Hanoverian garrison at the +castle. Everywhere the clansmen were in evidence. Barefooted and +barelegged Celts strutted about the city with their bonnets scrugged low +on their heads, the hair hanging wild over their eyes and the matted +beards covering their faces. For the most part they were very ragged, and +tanned exceedingly wherever the flesh took a peep through their outworn +plaids. They ran about the streets in groups, looking in shop windows like +children and talking their outlandish gibberish; then presently their +Highland pride would assert itself at the smile of some chance passer and +would send them swinging proudly off as though they had better things at +home. + +Out of a tobacco shop came Captain Donald Roy singing blithely, + + "'Will ye play me fair, + Highland laddie, Highland laddie?'" + +He was of course in the full Macdonald tartan regimentals--checkered kilt, +sporran, plaid, a brace of pistols, a dirk in his stocking, and claymore. +At sight of me his face lighted and he came running forward with both +hands outstretched. + +"And is it you at last, Kenn? Man, but I've been wearying for a sight of +your honest face. I was whiles thinking you must have given us the go-by. +Fegs, but it's a braw day and a sight guid for sair een to see you, lad. +You will have heard how we gave Johnnie Cope his kail through his reek." +He broke off to hum:-- + +"'Now Johnnie, troth, ye werena blate, to come wi' the news o' your ain, +And leave your men in sic a strait, so early in the morning.' + +"And did you bring my kinswoman back safe with you? I'se wad ye found the +journey no' ower lang;" and he cocked a merry eye at me. + +I flushed, and introduced him to Major Macleod, who took occasion to thank +him for his services to his sister. They fell into a liking for each other +at once. When the major was called aside by one of his gillies a moment +later, Macdonald expressed his trust of the other in the old Scotch +saying, + +"Yon's a man to ride the water wi', Kenneth." + +A curious sight illustrative of the Highland way of "lifting" what took +their fancy occurred as we were all three walking toward the house of +Macleod's aunt. Three shag-headed gillies in the tattered Cameron tartan +dragged an innkeeper from his taproom and set him down squat on the +causeway. Without even a by-your-leave they took from his feet a pair of +new shoes with silver buckles. He protested that he was a loyal Jacobite. + +"Sae muckle ta better. She'll no' grumble to shange a progue for the +Prince's guid," one of the caterans answered cheerfully by way of +comfort. + +To my surprise the two Highland gentlemen watched this high-handed +proceeding with much amusement, enjoying not a little the ridiculous +figure cut by the frightened, sputtering host. I asked them if they were +not going to interfere. + +"What for would we do that at all events?" asked the Macdonald. "Man, +Montagu, but you whiles have unco queer notions for so wise a lad. It's as +natural for a Hielander to despoil a Southron as for a goose to gang +barefit. What would Lochiel think gin we fashed wi' his clansmen at their +ploy? Na, na! I wad be sweir to be sae upsitten (impertinent). It wadna be +tellin' a Macdonald, I'm thinkin'." + +Aileen was so prettily glad to see her brother and so friendly with Donald +Roy, so full of gay chatter and eager reminiscence, that I felt myself +quite dashed by the note of reserve which crept into her voice and her +manner whenever she found it incumbent to speak to me. Her laugh would be +ringing clear as the echo of steel in frost, and when Donald lugged me +into the talk she would fall mim as a schoolgirl under the eye of her +governess. Faith, you would have thought me her dearest enemy, instead of +the man that had risked life for her more than once. Here is a pretty +gratitude, I would say to myself in a rage, hugging my anger with the baby +thought that she would some day scourge herself for this after I were +killed in battle. Here is a fine return for loyal service rendered, and +the front of my offending is nothing more than the saluting an old +playmate. + +"Man, Kenneth, but you hae played the cuddie brawly," was Donald's +comforting remark to me after we had left. "You maun hae made an awfu' +bauchle of it. When last I saw the lady she hoisted a fine colour when I +daffed about you, and now she glowers at you in a no' just friendly way." + +I admitted sadly that 'twas so and told him the reason, for Donald Roy had +a wide observation of life and a varied experience with the sex that made +him a valuable counsellor. The situation amused him hugely, but what he +could find of humour in it was more than I could see. + +"Deil hae't, but yon quean Antoinette will be a geyan ettercap (madcap). +Tony Creagh has been telling me about her; he's just a wee thingie touched +there himsel'." + +"Pardon me," I interrupted a little stiffly, "but I think I did not give +the name of the lady." + +The Highlander looked at me dryly with a pawky smile. + +"Hoots, man! I ken that fine, but I'm no a fule. You named over the party +and I picked the lady that suited the speceefications." Then he began to +chuckle: "I wad hae liked dooms weel to hae seen you stravaiging +(wandering) through the grosset (gooseberry) bushes after the lass." + +I told him huffily that if that was all he could say I had better have +kept the story to myself. I had come for advice, not to be laughed at. +Donald flashed his winsome smile and linked an arm in mine. + +"Well then, and here's advice for you, man. Jouk (duck) and let the jaw +(wave) go by. Gin it were me the colder she were the better I wad like it. +Dinna you see that the lass rages because she likes you fine; and since +she's a Hieland maid brought up under the blue lift she hasna learnt to +hate and smile in the same breath." + +"I make neither head nor tail of your riddles," I told him impatiently. +"By your way of it so far as I can make out she both likes and hates me. +Now how can that be?" + +Captain Macdonald's droll eye appeared to pity me. "Kenneth, bairn, but +you're an awfu' ignoramus. You ken naething ava about the lassies. I'm +wondering what they learnt you at Oxford. Gin it's the same to you we'll +talk of something mair within your comprehension." And thereupon he +diverted the conversation to the impending invasion of England by the +Highland army. Presently I asked him what he thought of the Prince now +that he had been given a chance to study the Young Chevalier at closer +range, and I shall never forget the eager Highlander's enthusiastic +answer. + +"From the head to the heel of him he is a son of Kings, kind-hearted, +gallant, modest. He takes all hearts by storm. Our Highland laddie is the +bravest man I ever saw, not to be rash, and the most cautious, not to be a +coward. But you will be judging for yourself when you are presented at the +ball on Tuesday." + +I told him that as yet I had no invitation to the ball. + +"That's easy seen to. The Chevalier O'Sullivan makes out the list. I'll +drop a flea in his lug (ear)." + +Next day was Sunday, and I arrayed myself with great care to attend the +church at which one Macvicar preached; to be frank I didn't care a flip of +my fingers what the doctrine was he preached; but I had adroitly wormed +out of Miss MacBean that he was the pastor under whom she sat. Creagh +called on me before I had set out, and I dragged him with me, he +protesting much at my unwonted devotion. + +I dare say he understood it better when he saw my eyes glued to the pew +where Miss Aileen sat with her aunt in devout attention. What the sermon +was to have been about we never knew, on account of an interruption which +prevented us from hearing it. During the long prayer I was comfortably +watching the back of Aileen's head and the quarter profile of her face +when Creagh nudged me. I turned to find him looking at me out of a very +comical face, and this was the reason for it. The hardy Macvicar was +praying for the Hanoverians and their cause. + +"Bless the King," he was saying boldly. "Thou knows what King I mean-- May +the crown sit easy on his head for lang. And for the young man that is +come among us to seek an earthly crown, we beseech Thee in mercy to take +him to Thyself, and give him a crown of glory." + +One could have heard a pin fall in the hush, and then the tense rustle +that swept over the church and drowned the steady low voice that never +faltered in the prayer. + +"Egad, there's a hit for the Prince straight from the shoulder," chuckled +the Irishman by my side. "Faith, the Jacks are leaving the church to the +Whigs. There goes the Major, Miss Macleod, and her aunt." + +He was right. The prayer had ended and the Macleod party were sailing down +the aisle. Others followed suit, and presently we joined the stream that +poured out of the building to show their disapproval. 'Tis an ill wind +that blows nobody good. Miss MacBean invited Creagh and me to join them in +dinner, and methought that my goddess of disdain was the least thing +warmer to me than she had been in weeks. For the rest of the day I trod on +air. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + +A beautifully engrossed invitation to the Prince's ball having duly +arrived from his Secretary the Chevalier O'Sullivan, I ask you to believe +that my toilet Tuesday evening was even more a work of art than that of +Sunday. In huge disorder scarfs, lace cravats, muffs, and other necessary +equipment were littered about the room. I much missed the neat touch of my +valet Simpkins, and the gillie Hamish Gorm, whom Major Macleod had put at +my service, did not supply his place by a deal, since he knew no more of +patching the face or powdering a periwig than he had arrived at by the +light of nature. But despite this handicap I made shift to do myself +justice before I set off for the lodgings of Lord Balmerino, by whom I was +to be presented. + +'Twas long since the Scottish capital had been so gay as now, for a part +of the policy of the Young Chevalier was to wear a brave front before the +world. He and his few thousand Highlanders were pledged to a desperate +undertaking, but it was essential that the waverers must not be allowed to +suspect how slender were the chances of success. One might have thought +from the splendour of his court and from the serene confidence exhibited +by the Prince and his chiefs that the Stuarts were already in peaceable +possession of the entire dominions of their ancestors. A vast concourse of +well-dressed people thronged to Holyrood House from morning till night to +present their respects to Prince Charles Edward. His politeness and +affability, as well as the charms of his conversation and the graces of +his person, swept the ladies especially from their lukewarm allegiance to +the Hanoverians. They would own no lover who did not don the white cockade +of Jacobitism. They would hesitate at no sacrifice to advance the cause of +this romantic young gambler who used swords for dice. All this my three +days residence in the city had taught me. I was now to learn whether a +personal meeting with him would inspire me too with the ardent devotion +that animated my friends. + +A mixed assembly we found gathered in the picture gallery of Holyrood +House. Here were French and Irish adventurers, Highland chiefs and Lowland +gentlemen, all emulating each other in loyalty to the ladies who had +gathered from all over Scotland to dance beneath the banner of the white +rose. The Hall was a great blaze of moving colour, but above the tartans +and the plaids, the mixed reds, greens, blues, and yellows, everywhere +fluttered rampant the white streamers and cockades of the Stuarts. + +No doubt there were here sober hearts, full of anxious portent for the +future, but on the surface at least was naught but merriment. The gayest +abandon prevailed. Strathspey and reel and Highland fling alternated with +the graceful dances of France and the rollicking jigs of Ireland. Plainly +this was no state ceremonial, rather an international frolic to tune all +hearts to a common glee. We were on the top of fortune's wave. Had we not +won for the Young Chevalier by the sword the ancient capital of his +family, and did not the road to London invite us southward? The pipers of +each clan in turn dirled out triumphant marches, and my heart began to +beat in faster time. Water must have filled the veins of a man who could +stand unmoved such contagious enthusiasm. For me, I confess it, a climax +came a moment later that made my eyes swim. + +Balmerino was talking with Malcolm Macleod and James Hepburn of Keith, a +model of manly simplicity and honour who had been "out" in the '15; and as +usual their talk fell on our enterprise and its gallant young leader. +Keith narrated a story of how the Young Chevalier, after a long day's +march on foot, had led the army three miles out of its way in order to +avoid disturbing the wife of a cottar who had fallen asleep at the +critical stage of a severe illness. Balmerino capped it with another +anecdote of his dismounting from his horse after the battle of Gladsmuir +to give water and attendance to a wounded English soldier of Cope's army. + +Macleod smiled, eyes sparkling. "He iss every inch the true prince. He can +tramp the hills with a Highlander all day and never weary, he can sleep on +pease-straw as well as on a bed of down, can sup on brose in five minutes, +and win a battle in four. Oh, yes, he will be the King for Malcolm +Macleod." + +While he was still speaking there fell over the assembly a sudden +stillness. The word was passed from lips to lips, "The Prince comes." +Every eye swept to the doorway. Men bowed deep and women curtsied low. A +young man was entering slowly on the arm of Lord George Murray. + +"The Prince!" whispered Balmerino to me. + +The pipes crashed out a measure of "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" then fell +into quiet sudden as they had begun. "Dhia theasirg an Righ!" (God save +the King) cried a splendid young Highland chief in a voice that echoed +through the hall. + +Clanranald's cry was lifted to the rafters by a hundred throats. A hundred +claymores leaped to air, and while the skirling bagpipes pealed forth, +"The King shall enjoy his own again," Charles Stuart beneath an arch of +shining steel trod slowly down the hall to a dais where his fathers had +sat before him. + +If the hearts of the ladies had surrendered at discretion, faith! we of +the other sex were not much tardier. The lad was every inch a prince. His +after life did not fulfil the promise of his youth, but at this time he +was one to see, and once having seen, to love. All the great charm of his +race found expression in him. Gallant, gracious, generous, tender-hearted +in victory and cheerful in defeat (as we had soon to learn, alas!), even +his enemies confessed this young Stuart a worthy leader of men. Usually +suffused with a gentle pensiveness not unbecoming, the ardour of his +welcome had given him on this occasion the martial bearing of a heroic +young Achilles. With flushed cheek and sparkling eye he ascended the +dais. + +"Ladies, gentlemen, my loyal Highlanders, friends all, the tongue of +Charles Stuart has no words to tell the warm message of his heart. +Unfriended and alone he came among you, resolved with the help of good +swords to win back that throne on which a usurper sits, or failing in that +to perish in the attempt. How nobly you our people have rallied to our +side in this undertaking to restore the ancient liberties of the kingdom +needs not be told. To the arbitrament of battle and to the will of God we +confidently appeal, and on our part we pledge our sacred honour neither to +falter nor to withdraw till this our purpose is accomplished. To this +great task we stand plighted, so help us God and the right." + +'Tis impossible to conceive the effect of these few simple sentences. +Again the pipes voiced our dumb emotion in that stirring song, + + "We'll owre the water and owre the sea, + We'll owre the water to Charlie; + Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go, + And live and die wi' Charlie." + +The mighty cheer broke forth again and seemed to rock the palace, but +deeper than all cheering was the feeling that found expression in +long-drawn breath and broken sob and glimmering tear. The gallant lad had +trusted us, had put his life in our keeping; we highly resolved to prove +worthy of that trust. + +At a signal from the Prince the musicians struck up again the dance, and +bright eyes bedimmed with tears began to smile once more. With a whispered +word Balmerino left me and made his way to the side of the Prince, about +whom were grouped the Duke of Perth, Lord Lewis Gordon, Lord Elcho, the +ill-fated Kilmarnock, as well as Lochiel, Cluny, Macleod, Clanranald, and +other Highland gentlemen who had taken their fortune in their hands at the +call of this young adventurer with the enchanting smile. To see him was to +understand the madness of devotion that had carried away these wise +gray-haired gentlemen, but to those who never saw him I despair of +conveying in cold type the subtle quality of charm that radiated from him. +In the very bloom of youth, tall, slender, and handsome, he had a grace of +manner not to be resisted. To condescend to the particulars of his person: +a face of perfect oval very regular in feature; large light blue eyes +shaded by beautifully arched brows; nose good and of the Roman type; +complexion fair, mouth something small and effeminate, forehead high and +full. He was possessed of the inimitable reserve and bearing that mark the +royal-born, and that despite his genial frankness. On this occasion he +wore his usual light-coloured peruke with the natural hair combed over the +front, a tartan short coat on the breast of which shone the star of the +order of St. Andrews, red velvet small-clothes, and a silver-hilted +rapier. The plaid he ordinarily carried had been doffed for a blue sash +wrought with gold. + +All this I had time to note before Lord Balmerino rejoined me and led me +forward to the presentation. The Prince separated himself from the group +about him and came lightly down the steps to meet me. I fell on my knee +and kissed his hand, but the Prince, drawing me to my feet, embraced me. + +"My gallant Montagu," he cried warmly. "Like father, like son. God knows I +welcome you, both on your own account and because you are one of the first +English gentlemen to offer his sword to the cause of his King." + +I murmured that my sword would be at his service till death. To put me at +my ease he began to question me about the state of public feeling in +England concerning the enterprise. What information I had was put at his +disposal, and I observed that his grasp of the situation appeared to be +clear and incisive. He introduced me to the noblemen and chiefs about him, +and I was wise enough to know that if they made much of me it was rather +for the class I was supposed to represent than for my own poor merits. +Presently I fell back to make way for another gentleman about to be +presented. Captain Macdonald made his way to me and offered a frank hand +in congratulation. + +"'Fore God, Montagu, you have leaped gey sudden into favour. Deil hae't, +Red Donald brought with him a hundred claymores and he wasna half so +kenspeckle (conspicuous). I'll wad your fortune's made, for you hae leaped +in heels ower hurdies," he told me warmly. + +From affairs of state to those of the heart may be a long cast, but the +mind of one-and-twenty takes it at a bound. My eye went questing, fell on +many a blushing maid and beaming matron, at last singled out my heart's +desire. She was teaching a Highland dance to a graceful cavalier in white +silk breeches, flowered satin waistcoat, and most choicely powdered +periwig, fresh from the friseur. His dainty muff and exquisite clouded +cane depended from a silken loop to proclaim him the man of fashion. +Something characteristic in his easy manner, though I saw but his back, +chilled me to an indefinable premonition of his identity. Yet an instant, +and a turn in the dance figure flung into view the face of Sir Robert +Volney, negligent and unperturbed, heedless apparently of the fact that +any moment a hand might fall on his shoulder to lead him to his death. +Aileen, to the contrary, clearly showed fear, anxiety, a troubled mind--to +be detected in the hurried little glances of fearfulness directed toward +her brother Malcolm, and in her plain eagerness to have done with the +measure. She seemed to implore the baronet to depart, and Volney smilingly +negatived her appeal. The girl's affronted eyes dared him to believe that +she danced with him for any other reason than because he had staked his +life to see her again and she would not have his death at her door. +Disdain of her own weakness and contempt of him were eloquent in every +movement of the lissom figure. 'Twas easy to be seen that the man was +working on her fears for him, in order to obtain another foothold with +her. I resolved to baulk his scheme. + +While I was still making my way toward them through the throng they +disappeared from the assembly hall. A still hunt of five minutes, and I +had run down my prey in a snug little reception-room of a size to fit two +comfortably. The girl fronted him scornfully, eyes flaming. + +"Coward, you play on a girl's fears, you take advantage of her soft heart +to force yourself on her," she was telling him in a low, bitter voice. + +"I risk my life to see the woman that I love," he answered. + +"My grief! Love! What will such a thing as you be knowing of love?" + +The man winced. On my soul I believe that at last he was an honest lover. +His beautiful, speaking eyes looked straight into hers. His mannerisms had +for the moment been sponged out. Straight from the heart he spoke. + +"I have learnt, Aileen. My hunger for a sight of you has starved my folly +and fed my love. Believe me, I am a changed man." + +The play and curve of her lips stung him. He flung himself desperately +into his mad love-making. "'Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir +d'amour,'" he quoted from Moliere. "'Tis true, Aileen; I die of love; it +burns me up," he added passionately, hungry eyes devouring the flying +colours of her cheek, the mass of rippling hair, the fresh, sweet, subtle +fragrance of her presence. + +"You'll have to hurry about it then, for on my soul you're due to die of +tightened hemp to-morrow," I told him, lounging forward from the door. + +The girl cried out, eyes dilating, hand pressing to the heart. For the +man, after the first start he did not turn a hair. The face that looked +over his shoulder at me was unmoved and bereft of emotion. + +"My malapropos friend Montagu again. Devil take it, you have an awkward +way of playing harlequin when you're not wanted! Now to come blundering in +upon a lady and her friend is-- Well, not the best of form. Better drop it +before it becomes a habit," he advised. + +"'Slife, 'tis tit for tat! I learnt it from you," was my answer. + +Long we looked at each other, preparing for the battle that was to come. +Save for the quick breathing of the girl no sound fell. + +"Sir Robert, your audacity confounds all precedent," I said at last. + +"You flatter me, Mr. Montagu." + +"Believe me, had Major Macleod discovered you instead of me your soul had +by this time been speeding hellward." + +"Exit Flattery," he laughed. "The lady phrased it less vilely. Heavenward, +she put it! 'Twould be interesting to know which of you is right." + +"As you say, an interesting topic of speculation, and one you're like to +find the answer of shortly, presupposing that you suffer the usual fate of +captured spies." + +His brows lifted in polite inquiry. "Indeed! A spy?" he asked, +indifferently. + +"Why not? The favourite of the Hanoverian usurpers discovered in our +midst--what other explanation will it bear?" + +He smiled. "Perhaps I have a mind to join your barelegged rebellion." + +"Afraid your services are not available, Sir Robert. Three hundred Macleod +claymores bar the way, all eager to wipe out an insult to the daughter of +Raasay. Faith, when they have settled their little account against you +there won't be much left for the Prince." + +"Ah! Then for the sake of argument suppose we put it that I'm visiting +this delightful city for my health." + +"You will find the climate not agree with you, I fear." + +"Then say for pleasure." + +"'Twill prove more exciting than amusing." + +"On my life, dear Kenn, 'tis both." + +"I have but to raise my voice and you are undone." + +"His voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in Kenneth," +he parodied, laughing at me. + +The girl said never a word, but her level eyes watched me steadily. No +need of words to tell me that I was on trial! But I would not desist. + +"You appear not to realize the situation," I told him coldly. "Your life +is in hazard." + +The man yawned in my face. "Not at all, I sit here as safe as if I were at +White's, and a devilish deal better satisfied. Situation piquant! Company +of the best! Gad's life, I cry content." + +"I think we talk at cross purposes. I am trying to have you understand +that your position is critical, Sir Robert." + +Nonchalant yet watchful, indolent and yet alert, gracefully graceless, he +watched me smilingly out of half-closed eyes; and then quietly fired the +shot that brought me to. + +"If you were not a gentleman, Montagu, the situation would be vastly +different." + +"I do not see the point," I told him; but I did, and raged at it. + +"I think you do. Your lips are sealed. I am your rival"--he bowed to +Aileen--"for the favour of a lady. If you put me out of the way by playing +informer what appearance will it bear? You may talk of duty till the world +ends, but you will be a marked man, despised by all--and most of all by +Kenneth Montagu." + +The man was right. At one sweep he had spiked my guns, demolished my +defenses. The triumph was sponged from my face. I fumed in a stress of +impotence. + +"I don't know about that. I shall have to think of it. There is a duty to +perform," I said at last, lamely. + +He waved a hand airily. "My dear fellow, think as long as you please. You +can't think away facts. Egad, they're immutable. You know me to be no spy. +Conceded that I am in a false position. What can you do about it? You +can't in honour give me up. I'faith, you're handcuffed to inaction." + +I was, but my temper was not improved at hearing him tell it me so suavely +and so blandly. He sat smiling and triumphant, chuckling no doubt at the +dilemma into which he had thrust me. The worst of it was that while I was +ostensibly master of the situation he had me at his mercy. I was a +helpless victor without any of the fruits of victory. + +"You took advantage of a girl's soft heart to put her in a position that +was indefensible," I told him with bitter bluntness. "Save this of +throwing yourself on her mercy there was no other way of approaching her. +Of the wisdom of the serpent you have no lack. I congratulate you, Sir +Robert. But one may be permitted to doubt the manliness of such a +course." + +The pipers struck up a song that was the vogue among our party, and a +young man passed the entrance of the room singing it. + + "Oh, it's owre the border awa', awa', + It's owre the border awa', awa', + We'll on an' we'll march to Carlisle Ha', + Wi' its yetts, its castles, an' a', an' a'." + +The audacious villain parodied it on the spot, substituting two lines of +his own for the last ones. + + "You'll on an' you'll march to Carlisle Ha', + To be hanged and quartered an' a', an' a'," + +he hummed softly in his clipped English tongue. + +"Pity you won't live to see it," I retorted tartly. + +"You're still nursing that maggot, are you? Debating with yourself about +giving me up, eh? Well that's a matter you must settle with your +conscience, if you indulge in the luxury of one." + +"You would never give him up, Kenneth," said Aileen in a low voice. +"Surely you would not be doing that." + +"I shall not let him stay here. You may be sure of that," I said +doggedly. + +The girl ventured a suggestion timidly. "Perhaps Sir Robert will be +leaving to-morrow--for London mayhap." + +Volney shook his head decisively. "Not I. Why, I have but just arrived. +Besides, here is a problem in ethics for Mr. Montagu to solve. Strength +comes through conflict, so the schools teach. Far be it from me to remove +the cause of doubt. Let him solve his problem for himself, egad!" + +He seemed to find a feline pleasure in seeing how far he could taunt me to +go. He held me on the knife-edge of irritation, and perillous as was the +experiment he enjoyed seeing whether he could not drive me to give him +up. + +"Miss Macleod's solution falls pat. Better leave to-morrow, Sir Robert. To +stay is dangerous." + +"'Tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my +lord fool, 'out of this nettle danger, we pluck this flower safety,'" he +quoted. + +"I see you always have your tag of Shakespeare ready; then let me remind +you what he has to say about the better part of valour," I flung back, for +once alert in riposte. + +"A hit, and from the same play," he laughed. "But a retreat-- 'Tis not to +be thought of. No, no, Montagu! And it must be you'll just have to give me +up." + +"Oh, you harp on that! You may say it once too often. I shall find a way +to get rid of you," I answered blackly. + +"Let me find it for you, lad," said a voice from the doorway. + +We turned, to find that Donald Roy had joined the party. He must have been +standing there unobserved long enough to understand my dilemma, for he +shot straight to the mark. + +"Sir Robert, I'll never be denying that you're a bold villain, and that is +the one thing that will be saving your life this night. I'm no' here to +argie-bargie with you. The plain fact is just this; that I dinna care a +rap for you the tane gate or the tither (the one way or the other). I'd +like fine to see you dancing frae the widdie (gallows), but gin the lady +wants you spared I'll no' say her no. Mr. Englisher, you'll just gie me +your word to tak the road for the border this night, or I'll give a bit +call to Major Macleod. I wouldna wonder but he wad be blithe to see you. +Is it to be the road or the Macleod?" + +I could have kissed the honest trusty face of the man, for he had lifted +me out of a bog of unease. I might be bound by honour, but Captain +Macdonald was free as air to dictate terms. Volney looked long at him, +weighed the man, and in the end flung up the sponge. He rose to his feet +and sauntered over to Aileen. + +"I am desolated to find that urgent business takes me south at once, Miss +Macleod. 'Tis a matter of the gravest calls me; nothing of less importance +than the life of my nearest friend would take me from you. But I'm afraid +it must be 'Au revoir' for the present," he said. + +She looked past the man as if he had not existed. + +He bowed low, the flattery of deference in his fine eyes, which knew so +well how to be at once both bold and timid. + +"Forgiven my madness?" he murmured. + +Having nothing to say, she still said it eloquently. Volney bowed himself +out of the room, nodded carelessly to me as he passed, touched Macdonald +on the arm with a pleasant promise to attend the obsequies when the +Highlander should be brought to London for his hanging, lounged elegantly +through the crowded assembly hall, and disappeared into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BLUE BONNETS ARE OVER THE BORDER + + +Next day I enrolled myself as a gentleman volunteer in Lord Balmerino's +troop of horse-guards, and was at once appointed to a lieutenancy. In +waiting for reinforcements and in making preparations for the invasion +three weeks were lost, but at last, on the 31st of October, came the order +for the march. We had that day been joined by Cluny Macpherson at the head +of his clan Pherson, by Menzies of Shien, and by several other small +bodies of Highlanders. All told our force amounted to less than five +thousand men, but the rapidity of our movements and the impetuous +gallantry of the clansmen made the enterprise less mad than it appeared +upon the face of it. Moreover we expected to be largely reinforced by +recruits who were to declare themselves as we marched south. + +It may be guessed that the last hour of leisure I had in the city was +spent with Aileen. Of that hour the greater part of it was worse than +lost, for a thickheaded, long-legged oaf of an Ayrshire laird shared the +room with us and hung to his chair with dogged persistency the while my +imagination rioted in diverse forms of sudden death for him. Nor did it +lessen my impatience to know that the girl was laughing in her sleeve at +my restlessness. She took a malicious pleasure in drawing out her +hobnailed admirer on the interesting subject of sheep-rot. At last, having +tormented me to the limit of prudence, she got rid of him. To say truth, +Miss Aileen had for weeks held me on the tenter-hooks of doubt, now in +high hope, far more often in black despair. She had become very popular +with the young men who had declared in favour of the exiled family, and I +never called without finding some colour-splashed Gael or broad-tongued +Lowland laird in dalliance. 'Twas impossible to get a word with her alone. +Her admirers were forever shutting off the sunlight from me. + +Aileen was sewing on a white satin cockade, which the man from Ayrshire, +in the intervals between the paragraphs of his lecture on the sheep +industry, had been extremely solicitous of obtaining for a favour. 'Twas a +satisfaction to me that my rustic friend departed without it. He was no +sooner gone than I came near and perched myself on the arm of a chair +beside the girl. For a minute I sat watching in silence the deft movements +of the firm brown hands in which were both delicacy and power. + +Then, "For Malcolm?" I asked. + +"No-o." + +"For whom then?" + +"For a brave gentleman who iss marching south with the Prince--a kind +friend of mine." + +"You seem to have many of them. For which one is the favour?" I queried, a +little bitterly. + +She looked at me askance, demure yet whimsical. + +"You will can tell when you see him wearing it." + +I fell sulky, at the which mirth bubbled up in her. + +"Is he as good a friend as I am, this fine lover of yours?" I asked. + +"Every whit." Mockery of my sullenness danced in her blue eyes. + +"And do you--like him as well?" I blurted out, face flaming. + +She nodded yes, gaily, without the least sentiment in the world. + +I flung away in a pet. "You're always laughing at me. By Heaven, I won't +be made a fool of by any girl!" + +The corners of her eyes puckered to fresh laughter. "Troth, and you needna +fear, Kenneth. No girl will can do that for you." + +"Well then," I was beginning, half placated at the apparent flattery, but +stopped with a sudden divination of her meaning. "You think me a fool +already. Is that it?" + +"I wass thinking that maybe you werena showing the good gumption this day, +Mr. Kenneth Montagu." + +My pride and my misery shook hands. I came back to blurt out in boyish +fashion, + +"Let us not quarrel again to-day, Aileen, and--do not laugh at me these +last few minutes. We march this afternoon. The order has been given out." + +Her hands dropped to her lap. Save where a spot of faint red burned in +either cheek the colour ran out of her face. I drove my news home, playing +for a sign of her love, desiring to reach the spring of her tears. + +"Some of us will never cross the border twice," I said. + +My news had flung a shadow across the bright track of her gayety. 'Tis one +thing for a high-spirited woman to buckle on the sword of her friend; 'tis +another to see him go out to the fight. + +"Let us not be thinking of that at all, Kenneth," she cried. + +"Why not? 'Tis a fact to face," I insisted cruelly. "There'll be many a +merry lusty gentleman lying quiet under the sod, Aileen, before we reach +London town. From the ownership of broad moorland and large steading they +will come down to own no more of earth than six foot by two." + +"They will be dying as brave gentlemen should," she said, softly, her +voice full of tears. + +"And if I am one of them?" I asked, making a more home thrust. + +The girl stood there tall, slim, pallid, head thrown back, the pulse in +the white curved throat beating fast. + +"Oh Kenneth, you will not be," she cried piteously. + +"But if I am?" + +"Please, Kenneth?" Her low voice implored me to desist; so too the deep +billowing breasts and melting eyes. + +"The fighting will be sharp and our losses heavy. It's his death many a +man is going to, Aileen." + +"Yes, and if you will be believing me, Kenneth, the harder part iss for +those of us who cannot fight but must wear away the long days and mirk +nights at home. At the least I am thinking so whatever. The long live day +we sit, and can do nothing but wait and wait. After every fight will not +some mother be crooning the coronach for her dear son? Every glen will +have its wailing wife and its fatherless bairns. And there will be the +lovers too for whom there iss the driech wait, forby (besides) that maybe +their dearest will be lying under the rowans with their een steekit (eyes +fixed) in death." + +"There are some of us who have neither mother, wife, nor lover. Will there +be none to spare a tear for us if we fall?" + +"Indeed, and there will, but"--a wan little smile broke through the film +of gathering tears--"we will be waiting till they are needed, and we will +be praying that the evil day may never come." + +"I'm hoping that myself," I told her, smiling, "but hope never turns aside +the leaden bullet." + +"Prayers may," she answered quickly, the shy lids lifting from the blue +eyes bravely to meet my look, "and you will never be wanting (lacking) +mine, my friend." Then with the quick change of mood that was so +characteristic of her, she added: "But I will be the poor friend, to fash +(bother) you with all these clavers (idle talk) when I should be +heartening you. You are glad to be going, are you not?" + +All the romance and uplift of our cause thrilled through me. + +"By God, yes! When my King calls I go." + +Her eyes shone on me, tender, wistful, proud. + +"And that's the true word, Kenneth. It goes to the heart of your friend." + +"To hear you say that rewards me a hundred times, dear." + +I rose to go. She asked, "Must you be leaving already?" + +When I told her "Yes!" she came forward and shyly pinned the cockade on +the lapel of my coat. I drew a deep breath and spoke from a husky throat. + +"God bless you for that, Aileen girl." + +I was in two minds then about taking her in my arms and crying out that I +loved her, but I remembered that I had made compact with myself not to +speak till the campaign was ended and the Prince seated as regent on his +father's throne. With a full heart I wrung her hand in silence and turned +away. + +Prince Charles and his life-guards, at the head of the army, moved from +Holyrood to Pinkie-house that afternoon. A vast concourse of people were +gathered to cheer us on our way, as we passed through the streets to the +sound of the pipes and fife and beating drum. More than one twisted +cripple flung himself before the horse of the Prince, begging for "the +King's touch." In each case the Young Chevalier disclaimed any power of +healing, but his kindly heart forbade his denying the piteous appeal. With +a slight smile of sympathy he would comply with the request, saying, "I +touch, but God heal." At the head of each clan-regiment rode its chief, +and in front of every company the captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, all +of whom were gentlemen of the clan related by blood ties to the chief. +Though I say it who was one of them, never a more devoted little army went +out on a madder or more daring enterprise. + +Just one more glimpse of Aileen I got to carry with me through weary +months of desire. From the window of her aunt's house she was waving a +tartan scarf, and many a rugged kerne's face lighted at the girl's eager +loyalty. Flushed with shy daring, the soft pliant curves of her figure all +youth and grace, my love's picture framed in the casement was an +unconscious magnet for all eyes. The Prince smiled and bowed to her, then +said something which I did not catch to Creagh who was riding beside him. +The Irishman laughed and looked over at me, as did also the Prince. His +Highness asked another question or two, and presently Tony fell into +narration. From the young Stuart Prince's curious looks at me 'twas plain +to be seen that Creagh was recounting the tale of my adventures. Once I +heard the Prince exclaim, "What! That boy?" More than once he laughed +heartily, for Creagh was an inimitable story-teller and every point to be +scored in the telling gained sparkle from his Irish wit. When he had +finished Prince Charles sent for me and congratulated me warmly on the +boldness and the aplomb (so he was kind enough to phrase it) which had +carried me through devious dangers. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CULLODEN + + +I have neither space nor heart to attempt a history of our brilliant but +ill-starred campaign. Surely no more romantic attempt to win a throne was +ever made. With some few thousand ill-armed Highlanders and a handful of +lowland recruits the Prince cut his way through the heart of England, +defeated two armies and repulsed a third, each of them larger than his own +and far better supplied with the munitions of war, captured Carlisle, +Manchester, and other towns, even pushed his army beyond Derby to a point +little more than a hundred miles from London. Had the gentlemen of England +who believed in our cause been possessed of the same spirit of devotion +that animated these wild Highlanders we had unseated the Hanoverians out +of doubt, but their loyalty was not strong enough to outweigh the +prudential considerations that held them back. Their doubts held them +inactive until too late. + +There are some who maintain that had we pushed on from Derby, defeated the +army of the Duke of Cumberland, of which the chance at this time was good, +and swept on to London, that George II would have been sent flying to his +beloved Hanover. We know now in what a state of wild excitement the +capital city was awaiting news of our approach, how the household +treasures of the Guelphs were all packed, how there was a run on the Bank +of England, how even the Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of Great +Britain, locked himself in his chamber all day denying admittance to all +in an agony of doubt as to whether he had better declare at once for the +Stuarts. We know too that the Wynns and other loyal Welsh gentlemen had +already set out to rally their country for the honest cause, that cautious +France was about to send an army to our assistance. + +But all this was knowledge too late acquired. The great fact that +confronted us was that without a French army to assist, our English +friends would not redeem their contingent pledges. We were numerically of +no greater force than when we had set out from Scotland, and the hazard of +an advance was too great. General Wade and the Duke of Cumberland were +closing in on us from different sides, each with an army that outnumbered +ours, and a third army was waiting for us before London. 'Tis just +possible that we might have taken the desperate chance and won, as the +Prince was so eager that we should do, but it was to be considered that as +a defeated army in a hostile country, had the fortune of war declared +against us, we would surely have been cut to pieces in our retreat. By +Lord George Murray and the chiefs it was judged wiser to fall back and +join Lord John Drummond's army in Scotland. They declared that they would +follow wherever the Prince chose to lead, but that they felt strongly that +a further advance was to doom their clansmen to destruction. Reluctantly +the Prince gave way. + +On the 6th of December, before daybreak, the army began its retreat, which +was conducted with great skill by Lord George Murray. Never were men more +disappointed than the rank and file of the army when they found that a +retreat had been resolved upon. Expressions of chagrin and disappointment +were to be heard on every hand. But the necessity of the retreat was soon +apparent to all, for the regulars were now closing in on us from every +hand. By out-marching and out-maneuvering General Wade, we beat him to +Lancaster, but his horse were entering the town before we had left the +suburbs. At Clifton the Duke of Cumberland, having joined forces with +Wade, came in touch with us, and his van was soundly drubbed by our +rear-guard under Lord George, who had with him at the time the Stewarts of +Appin, the Macphersons, Colonel Stuart's regiment, and Donald Roy's +Macdonalds. By great good chance I arrived with a message to Lord George +from the Prince in time to take part in this brilliant little affair. With +his usual wisdom Lord George had posted his men in the enclosures and park +of Lowther Hall, the Macdonalds on the right of the highway, Colonel +Stuart in close proximity, and the Macphersons and the Appin regiment to +the left of the road. I dismounted, tied my horse, and joined the Red +Macdonald's company where they were lying in the shrubbery. We lay there a +devil of a while, Donald Roy smoking as contented as you please, I in a +stew of impatience and excitement; presently we could hear firing over to +the left where Cluny Macpherson and Stewart of Ardshiel were feeling the +enemy and driving them back. At last the order came to advance. Donald Roy +leaped to his feet, waved his sword and shouted "Claymore!" Next moment we +were rushing pell-mell down the hillside through the thick gorse, over +hedges, and across ditches. We met the dragoons in full retreat across the +moor at right angles toward us, raked them with a cross fire, and coming +to close quarters cut them to pieces with the sword. In this little +skirmish, which lasted less than a quarter of an hour, our loss was +insignificant, while that of the enemy reached well into the three +figures. The result of this engagement was that our army was extricated +from a precarious position and that Cumberland allowed us henceforth to +retreat at leisure without fear of molestation. + +Of the good fortune which almost invariably attended our various +detachments in the North, of our retreat to Scotland and easy victory over +General Hawley at the battle of Falkirk, and of the jealousies and +machinations of Secretary Murray and the Irish Prince's advisers, +particularly O'Sullivan and Sir Thomas Sheridan, against Lord George +Murray and the chiefs, I can here make no mention, but come at once to the +disastrous battle of Culloden which put a period to our hopes. A number of +unfortunate circumstances had conspired to weaken us. According to the +Highland custom, many of the troops, seeing no need of their immediate +presence, had retired temporarily to their homes. Several of the clan +regiments were absent on forays and other military expeditions. The +Chevalier O'Sullivan, who had charge of the commissariat department, had +from gross negligence managed to let the army get into a state bordering +on starvation, and that though there was a quantity of meal in Inverness +sufficient for a fortnight's consumption. The man had allowed the army to +march from the town without provisions, and the result was that at the +time of the battle most of the troops had tasted but a single biscuit in +two days. To cap all, the men were deadly wearied by the long night march +to surprise the Duke of Cumberland's army and their dejected return to +Drummossie Moor after the failure of the attempt. Many of the men and +officers slipped away to Inverness in search of refreshments, being on the +verge of starvation; others flung themselves down on the heath, sullen, +dejected, and exhausted, to forget their hunger for the moment in sleep. + +Without dubiety our plain course was to have fallen back across the Nairn +among the hills and let the Duke weary his troops trying to drag his +artillery up the mountainsides. The battle might easily have been +postponed for several days until our troops were again rested, fed, and in +good spirits. Lord George pointed out at the counsel that a further reason +for delay lay in the fact that the Mackenzies under Lord Cromarty, the +second battalion of the Frasers under the Master of Lovat, the Macphersons +under Cluny, the Macgregors under Glengyle, Mackinnon's followers, and the +Glengary Macdonald's under Barisdale were all on the march to join us and +would arrive in the course of a day or two. That with these +reinforcements, and in the hill country, so eminently suited to our method +of warfare, we might make sure of a complete victory, was urged by him and +others. But O'Sullivan and his friends had again obtained the ear of the +Prince and urged him to immediate battle. This advice jumped with his own +high spirit, for he could not brook to fall back in the face of the enemy +awaiting the conflict. The order went forth to gather the clans for the +fight. + +To make full the tale of his misdeeds came O'Sullivan's fatal slight to +the pride of the Macdonalds. Since the days of Robert the Bruce and +Bannockburn it had been their clan privilege to hold the post of honour on +the right. The blundering Irishman assigned this position to the Athole +men in forming the line of battle, and stubbornly refused to reform his +line. The Duke of Perth, who commanded on the left wing, endeavoured to +placate the clan by vowing that they would that day make a right of the +left and promising to change his name to Macdonald after the victory. +Riding to the Duke with a message from the Prince I chanced on a man lying +face down among the whin bushes. For the moment I supposed him dead, till +he lifted himself to an elbow. The man turned to me a gash face the colour +of whey, and I saw that it was Donald Roy. + +"Ohon! Ohon! The evil day hass fallen on us, Kenneth. Five hundred years +the Macdonalds have held the post of honour. They will never fight on the +left," he told me in bitter despair and grief. "Wae's me! The red death +grips us. Old MacEuan who hass the second sight saw a vision in the night +of Cumberland's ridens driving over a field lost to the North. Death on +the field and on the scaffold." + +I have never known a man of saner common sense than Donald Roy, but when +it comes to their superstitions all Highlanders are alike. As well I might +have reasoned with a wooden post. MacEuan of the seeing eyes had predicted +disaster, and calamity was to be our portion. + +He joined me and walked beside my horse toward his command. The firing was +by this time very heavy, our cannon being quite ineffective and the +artillery of the English well served and deadly. Their guns, charged with +cartouch, flung death wholesale across the ravine at us and decimated our +ranks. The grape-shot swept through us like a hail-storm. Galled beyond +endurance by the fire of the enemy, the clans clamoured to be led forward +in the charge. Presently through the lifting smoke we saw the devoted +Mackintoshes rushing forward against the cannon. After them came the +Maclaughlans and the Macleans to their left, and a moment later the whole +Highland line was in motion with the exception of the Macdonalds, who +hewed the turf with their swords in a despairing rage but would neither +fight nor fly. Their chief, brave Keppoch, stung to the quick, advanced +almost alone, courting death rather than to survive the day's disgrace. +Captain Donald Roy followed at his heels, imploring his chieftain not to +sacrifice himself, but Keppoch bade him save himself. For him, he would +never see the sunrise again. Next moment he fell to the ground from a +musket-shot, never to speak more. My last glimpse of Captain Roy was to +see him carrying back the body of his chief. + +I rode back at a gallop along the ridge to my troop. The valley below was +a shambles. The English cannon tore great gaps in the ranks of the +advancing Highlanders. The incessant fire of the infantry raked them. From +the left wing Major Wolfe's regiment poured an unceasing flank fire of +musketry. The Highlanders fell in platoons. Still they swept forward +headlong. They reached the first line of the enemy. 'Twas claymore against +bayonet. Another minute, and the Highlanders had trampled down the +regulars and were pushing on in impetuous gallantry. The thin tartan line +clambering up the opposite side of the ravine grew thinner as the +grape-shot carried havoc to their ranks. Cobham's and Kerr's dragoons +flanked them _en potence_. To stand that hell of fire was more than mortal +men could endure. Scarce a dozen clansmen reached the second line of +regulars. The rest turned and cut their way, sword in hand, through the +flanking regiments which had formed on the ground over which they had just +passed with the intention of barring the retreat. + +Our life-guards and the French pickets, together with Ogilvy's regiment, +checked in some measure the pursuit, but nothing could be done to save the +day. All was irretrievably lost, though the Prince galloped over the field +attempting a rally. The retreat became a rout, and the rout a panic. As +far as Inverness the ground was strewn with the dead slain in that ghastly +pursuit. + +The atrocities committed after the battle would have been worthy of +savages rather than of civilized troops. Many of the inhabitants of +Inverness had come out to see the battle from curiosity and were cut down +by the infuriated cavalry. The carnage of the battle appeared not to +satiate their horrid thirst for blood, and the troopers, bearing in mind +their disgrace at Gladsmuir and Falkirk, rushed to and fro over the field +massacring the wounded. I could ask any fair-minded judge to set up +against this barbarity the gentle consideration and tenderness of Prince +Charles and his wild Highlanders in their hours of victory. We never slew +a man except in the heat of fight, and the wounded of the enemy were +always cared for with the greatest solicitude. From this one may conclude +that the bravest troops are the most humane. These followers of the Duke +had disgraced themselves, and they ran to an excess of cruelty in an +attempt to wipe out their cowardice. + +Nor was it the soldiery alone that committed excesses. I regret to have to +record that many of the officers also engaged in them. A party was +dispatched from Inverness the day after the battle to put to death all the +wounded they might find in the inclosures of Culloden Park near the field +of the contest. A young Highlander serving with the English army was +afterwards heard to declare that he saw seventy-two unfortunate victims +dragged from their hiding in the heather to hillocks and shot down by +volleys of musketry. Into a small sheep hut on the moor some of our +wounded had dragged themselves. The dragoons secured the door and fired +the hut. One instance of singular atrocity is vouched for. Nineteen +wounded Highland officers, too badly injured to join the retreat, secreted +themselves in a small plantation near Culloden-house, to which mansion +they were afterward taken. After being allowed to lie without care +twenty-four hours they were tossed into carts, carried to the wall of the +park, ranged against it in a row, and instantly shot. I myself was a +witness of one incident which touches the butcher of Cumberland nearly. If +I relate the affair, 'tis because it falls pat with the narrative of my +escape. + +In the streets of Inverness I ran across Major Macleod gathering together +the remnant of his command to check the pursuit until the Prince should +have escaped. The man had just come from seeing his brave clansmen mowed +down, and his face looked like death. + +"The Prince-- Did he escape?" I asked. "I saw him last trying to stem the +tide, with Sheridan and O'Sullivan tugging at his reins to induce a +flight." + +The Macleod nodded. "They passed through the town not five minutes ago." + +I asked him whether he had seen anything of Captain Roy Macdonald, and he +told me that he had last seen him lying wounded on the field. I had him +describe to me accurately the position, and rode back by a wide circuit +toward Drummossie Moor. I had of course torn off the white cockade and put +it in my breast so as to minimize the danger of being recognized as a +follower of the Prince. My heart goes to my throat whenever I think of +that ride, for behind every clump of whins one might look to find a +wounded clansman hiding from the riders of Cumberland. By good providence +I came on Captain Macdonald just as three hussars were about to make an +end of him. He had his back to a great stone, and was waiting grimly for +them to shoot him down. Supposing me to be an officer of their party the +troopers desisted at my remonstrance and left him to me. Donald Roy was +wounded in the foot, but he managed to mount behind me. We got as far as +the wall of the park when I saw a party of officers approaching. Hastily +dismounting, we led the horse behind a nest of birches till they should +pass. A few yards from us a sorely wounded Highland officer was lying. +Macdonald recognized him as Charles Fraser, younger of Inverallachie, the +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fraser regiment and in the absence of the Master +of Lovat commander. We found no time to drag him to safety before the +English officers were upon us. + +The approaching party turned out to be the Duke of Cumberland himself, +Major Wolfe, Lord Boyd, Sir Robert Volney, and a boy officer of Wolfe's +regiment. Young Fraser raised himself on his elbow to look at the Duke. +The Butcher reined in his horse, frowning blackly down at him. + +"To which side do you belong?" he asked. + +"To the Prince," was the undaunted answer. + +Cumberland, turning to Major Wolfe, said, + +"Major, are your pistols loaded?" + +Wolfe said that they were. + +"Then shoot me that Highland scoundrel who dares look on me so +insolently." + +Major Wolfe looked at his commander very steadily and said quietly: "Sir, +my commission is at the disposal of your Royal Highness, but my honour is +my own. I can never consent to become a common executioner." + +The Duke purpled, and burst out with, "Bah! Pistol him, Boyd." + +"Your Highness asks what is not fitting for you to require nor for me to +perform," answered that young nobleman. + +The Duke, in a fury, turned to a passing dragoon and bade him shoot the +young man. Charles Fraser dragged himself to his feet by a great effort +and looked at the butcher with a face of infinite scorn while the soldier +was loading his piece. + +"Your Highness," began Wolfe, about to remonstrate. + +"Sir, I command you to be silent," screamed the Duke. + +The trooper presented his piece at the Fraser, whose steady eyes never +left the face of Cumberland. + +"God save King James!" cried Inverallachie in English, and next moment +fell dead from the discharge of the musket. + +The faces of the four Englishmen who rode with the Duke were stern and +drawn. Wolfe dismounted from his horse and reverently covered the face of +the dead Jacobite with a kerchief. + +"God grant that when our time comes we may die as valiantly and as loyally +as this young gentleman," he said solemnly, raising his hat. + +Volney, Boyd, and Wolfe's subaltern uncovered, and echoed an "Amen." +Cumberland glared from one to another of them, ran the gamut of all tints +from pink to deepest purple, gulped out an apoplectic Dutch oath, and dug +the rowels deep into his bay. With shame, sorrow, and contempt in their +hearts his retinue followed the butcher across the field. + +My face was like the melting winter snows. I could not look at the +Macdonald, nor he at me. We mounted in silence and rode away. Only once he +referred to what we had seen. + +"Many's the time that Charlie Fraser and I have hunted the dun deer across +the heather hills, and now----" He broke into Gaelic lamentation and +imprecation, then fell as suddenly to quiet. + +We bore up a ravine away from the roads toward where a great gash in the +hills invited us, for we did not need to be told that the chances of +safety increased with our distance from the beaten tracks of travel. A man +on horseback came riding behind and overhauled us rapidly. Presently we +saw that he was a red-coated officer, and behind a huge rock we waited to +pistol him as he came up. The man leaped from his horse and came straight +toward us. I laid a hand on Captain Roy's arm, for I had recognized Major +Wolfe. But I was too late. A pistol ball went slapping through the Major's +hat and knocked it from his head. He stooped, replaced it with the utmost +composure, and continued to advance, at the same time calling out that he +was a friend. + +"I recognized you behind the birches, Montagu, and thought that you and +your friend could use another horse. Take my Galloway. You will find him a +good traveller." + +I ask you to believe that we stared long at him. A wistful smile touched +his sallow face. + +"We're not all ruffians in the English army, lad. If I aid your escape it +is because prisoners have no rights this day. My advice would be for you +to strike for the hills." + +"In troth and I would think your advisings good, sir," answered Donald. +"No glen will be too far, no ben too high, for a hiding-place from these +bloody Sassenach dogs." Then he stopped, the bitterness fading from his +voice, and added: "But I am forgetting myself. God, sir, the sights I have +seen this day drive me mad. At all events there iss one English officer +Captain Macdonald will remember whatever." And the Highlander bowed with +dignity. + +I thanked Wolfe warmly, and lost no time in taking his advice. Captain +Roy's foot had by this time so swollen that he could not put it in the +stirrup. He was suffering a good deal, but at least the pain served to +distract him from the gloom that lay heavy on his spirits. From the +hillside far above the town we could see the lights of Inverness beginning +to glimmer as we passed. A score of times we had to dismount on account of +the roughness of the ground to lead our horses along the steep incline of +the mountainsides, and each time Donald set his teeth and dragged his +shattered ankle through bracken and over boulder by sheer dour pluck. +Hunger gnawed at our vitals, for in forty-eight hours we had but tasted +food. Deadly weariness hung on our stumbling footsteps, and in our gloomy +hearts lurked the coldness of despair. Yet hour after hour we held our +silent course, clambering like heather-cats over cleugh and boggy +moorland, till at last we reached Bun Chraobg, where we unsaddled for a +snatch of sleep. + +We flung ourselves down on the soft heather wrapped in our plaids, but for +long slumber was not to be wooed. Our alert minds fell to a review of all +the horrors of the day: to friends struck down, to the ghastly carnage, to +fugitives hunted and shot in their hiding-places like wild beasts, to the +mistakes that had ruined our already lost cause. The past and the present +were bitter as we could bear; thank Heaven, the black shadow of the future +hung as yet but dimly on our souls. If we had had the second sight and +could have known what was to follow--the countryside laid waste with fire +and sword, women and children turned out of their blazing homes to perish +on the bleak moors, the wearing of the tartan proscribed and made a crime +punishable with death, a hundred brave Highlanders the victim of the +scaffold--we should have quite despaired. + +Except the gentle soughing of the wind there was no sound to stir the +silent night. A million of night's candles looked coldly down on an army +of hunted stragglers. I thought of the Prince, Cluny, Lord Murray, Creagh, +and a score of others, wondering if they had been taken, and fell at last +to troubled sleep, from which ever and anon I started to hear the wild +wail of the pibroch or the ringing Highland slogans, to see the flaming +cannon mouths vomiting death or the fell galloping of the relentless +Hanoverian dragoons. + +In the chill dawn I awoke to a ravening hunger that was insistent to be +noted, and though my eyes would scarce believe there was Donald Roy cocked +tailor fashion on the heath arranging most temptingly on a rock scone +sandwiches of braxy mutton and a flask of usquebaugh (Highland whiskey). I +shut my eyes, rubbed them with my forefingers, and again let in the light. +The viands were still there. + +The Macdonald smiled whimsically over at me. "Gin ye hae your appetite wi' +you we'll eat, Mr. Montagu, for I'm a wee thingie hungry my nainsell +(myself). 'Deed, to mak plain, I'm toom (empty) as a drum, and I'm +thinkin' that a drappie o' the usquebaugh wad no' come amiss neither." + +"But where in the world did you get the food, Donald?" + +"And where wad you think, but doon at the bit clachan yonder? A very guid +freend of mine named Farquhar Dhu lives there. He and Donald Roy are far +ben (intimate), and when I came knocking at his window at cock-craw he was +no' very laithe to gie me a bit chack (lunch)." + +"Did you climb down the mountain and back with your sore ankle?" + +He coloured. "Hoots, man! Haud your whitter (tongue)! Aiblins (perhaps) I +wass just wearying for a bit exercise to test it. And gin I were you I +wadna sit cocking on that stane speiring at me upsitten (impertinent) +questions like a professor of pheelosophy, you muckle sumph!" + +I fell to with a will. He was not a man to be thanked in words. Long since +I had found out that Captain Roy was one to spend himself for his friends +and make nothing of it. This was one of his many shining qualities that +drew me so strongly to him. If he had a few of the Highland faults he did +not lack any of the virtues of his race. + +Shortly we were on our way once more, and were fortunate enough before +night to fall in with Cluny and his clan, who having heard of our reverse +had turned about and were falling back to Badenoch. At Trotternich we +found a temporary refuge at the home of a surgeon who was distantly +related to the Macdonald, but at the end of a fortnight were driven away +by the approach of a troop of Wolfe's regiment. + +The course of our wanderings I think it not needful to detail at length. +For months we were forever on the move. From one hiding-place to another +the redcoats and their clan allies drove us. No sooner were we fairly +concealed than out we were routed. Many a weary hundred miles we tramped +over the bleak mountains white with snow. Weariness walked with us by day, +and cold and hunger lay down with us at night. Occasionally we slept in +sheilings (sheep-huts), but usually in caves or under the open sky. Were +we in great luck, venison and usquebaugh fell to our portion, but more +often our diet was brose (boiling water poured over oatmeal) washed down +by a draught from the mountain burn. Now we would be lurking on the +mainland, now skulking on one of the islands or crossing rough firths in +crazy boats that leaked like a sieve. Many a time it was touch and go with +us, for the dragoons and the Campbells followed the trail like sleuths. We +fugitives had a system of signals by which we warned each other of the +enemy's approach and conveyed to each other the news. That Balmerino, +Kilmarnock, and many another pretty man had been taken we knew, and scores +of us could have guessed shrewdly where the Prince was hiding in the +heather hills. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE RED HEATHER HILLS + + +A sullen day, full of chill gusts and drizzle, sinking into a wet misty +night! Three hunted Jacobites, dragging themselves forward drearily, found +the situation one of utter cheerlessness. For myself, misery spoke in +every motion, and to say the same of Creagh and Macdonald is to speak by +the card. Fatigue is not the name for our condition. Fagged out, +dispirited, with legs moving automatically, we still slithered down +cleughs, laboured through dingles and corries, clambered up craggy +mountainsides all slippery with the wet heather, weariness tugging at our +leaden feet like a convict's chain and ball. Our bones ached, our throats +were limekilns, composts of sores were our ragged feet. + +On every side the redcoats had hemmed us in, and we knew not whether we +tramped to a precarious safety or to death. Indeed, 'twas little we cared, +for at last exhaustion had touched the limit of endurance. Not a word had +passed the lips of any of us for hours, lest the irritation of our worn +nerves should flame into open rupture. + +At length we stood on the summit of the ridge. Scarce a half mile from us +a shieling was to be seen on the shoulder of the mount. + +"That looks like the cot where O'Sullivan and the Prince put up a month +ago," said Creagh. + +Macdonald ruffled at the name like a turkeycock. Since Culloden the word +had been to him as a red rag to a bull. + +"The devil take O'Sullivan and his race," burst out the Scotch Captain. +"Gin it had not been for him the cause had not been lost." + +The Irishman's hot temper flared. + +"You forget the Macdonalds, sir," he retorted, tartly. + +"What ails you at the Macdonalds?" demanded the gentleman of that ilk, +looking him over haughtily from head to foot. + +Creagh flung out his answer with an insolent laugh. "Culloden." + +The Macdonald's colour ebbed. "It will be a great peety that you hafe +insulted me, for there will presently be a dead Irishman to stain the snow +with hiss blood," he said deliberately, falling into more broken English +as he always did when excited. + +Creagh shrugged. "That's on the knees of the gods. At the worst it leaves +one less for the butcher to hang, Scotch or Irish." + +"It sticks in my mind that I hafe heard you are a pretty man with the +steel--at the least I am thinking so," said Captain Roy, standing straight +as an arrow, his blue eyes fixed steadily on his opponent. + +"Gadso! Betwixt and between, but I dare say my sword will serve to keep my +head at all events whatefer," cried Creagh, mimicking scornfully the +other's accent. + +Donald whipped his sword from its scabbard. + +"Fery well. That will make easy proving, sir." + +The quarrel had cropped out so quickly that hitherto I had found no time +to interfere, but now I came between them and beat down the swords. + +"Are you mad, gentlemen? Put up your sword, Tony. Back, Macdonald, or on +my soul I'll run you through," I cried. + +"Come on, the pair of ye. Captain Roy can fend for (look out for) +himself," shouted the excited Highlander, thrusting at me. + +"Fall back, Tony, and let me have a word," I implored. + +The Irishman disengaged, his anger nearly gone, a whimsical smile already +twitching at his mouth. + +"Creagh, you don't mean to impeach the courage of Captain Macdonald, do +you?" I asked. + +"Not at all--not at all. Faith, I never saw a man more keen to fight," he +admitted, smiling. + +"He was wounded at Culloden. You know that?" + +"So I have heard." Then he added dryly, some imp of mischief stirring him: +"In the heel, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, in the foot," I told him hastily. "I suppose you do not doubt the +valour of the Captain's clan any more than his own." + +"Devil a bit!" he answered carelessly. "I've seen them fight too often to +admit of any question as to their courage at all, at all. For sheer daring +I never saw the beat of the Highland troops--especially if there chanced +to be any plunder on the other side of the enemy, Egad!" + +I turned to Donald Roy, who was sullenly waiting for me to have done. "Are +you satisfied, Captain, that Tony meant to impute nothing against you or +your men?" + +"Oich! Oich!" he grumbled. "I wass thinking I heard some other dirty +sneers." + +"If the sneers were unjust I retract them with the best will in the world. +Come, Captain Macdonald, sure 'tis not worth our while doing the work of +the redcoats for them. 'Slife, 'tis not fair to Jack Ketch!" exclaimed the +Irishman. + +"Right, Donald! Why, you fire-eating Hotspur, you began it yourself with a +fling at the Irish. Make up, man! Shake hands with Tony, and be done with +your bile." + +Creagh offered his hand, smiling, and his smile was a handsome letter of +recommendation. Donald's face cleared, and he gripped heartily the hand of +the other. + +"With great pleasure, and gin I said anything offensive I eat my words at +all events," he said. + +"You may say what you please about O'Sullivan, Captain Macdonald. Ecod, he +may go to the devil for me," Creagh told him. + +"Well, and for me too; 'fore God, the sooner the better." + +"If there is to be no throat-cutting to warm the blood maybe we had better +push on to the bothy, gentlemen. I'm fain niddered [perishing] with the +cold. This Highland mist goes to the marrow," I suggested merrily, and +linking arms with them I moved forward. + +In ten minutes we had a roaring fire ablaze, and were washing down with +usquebaugh the last trace of unkindness. After we had eaten our bannocks +and brose we lay in the shine of the flame and revelled in the blessed +heat, listening to the splash of the rain outside. We were still +encompassed by a cordon of the enemy, but for the present we were content +to make the most of our unusual comfort. + +"Here's a drammoch left in the flask. I give you the restoration, +gentlemen," cried Donald. + +"I wonder where the Prince is this night," I said after we had drunk the +toast. + +We fell to a meditative sombre silence, and presently Captain Roy began to +sing softly one of those touching Jacobite melodies that go to the source +of tears like rain to the roots of flowers. Donald had one of the rare +voices that carry the heart to laughter and to sobs. The singer's song, +all pathos and tenderness, played on the chords of our emotion like a +harp. My eyes began to smart. Creagh muttered something about the +peat-smoke affecting his, and I'm fain to admit that I rolled over with my +face from the fire to hide the tell-tale tears. The haunting pathetic +wistfulness of the third stanza shook me with sobs. + + "On hills that are by right his ain, + He roams a lanely stranger; + On ilka hand he's pressed by want, + On ilka hand by danger." + +"Ohon! Ohon!" groaned Donald. "The evil day! The evil day! Wae's me for +our bonnie Hieland laddie!" + +"May the Blessed Mother keep him safe from all enemies and dangers!" said +Creagh softly. + +"And God grant that he be warm and well fed this bitter night wherever he +may be," I murmured. + +Something heavy like the butt of a musket fell against the door, and we +started to our feet in an instant. Out flashed our swords. + +"Who goes?" cried the Macdonald. + +We threw open the door, and in came a party of four, rain dripping from +their soaked plaids. I recognized at once Young Clanranald and Major +Macleod. The other two were a tattered gillie in the Macdonald tartan and +a young woman of most engaging appearance, who was supported in the arms +of Clanranald and his henchman. The exhausted lady proved to be no other +than the celebrated Miss Flora Macdonald, whose gallant and generous +devotion, for a protracted period, as we afterwards learned, had +undoubtedly saved the life of the Prince from his enemies. + +Donald no sooner beheld his kinswoman than he dropped on his knee and with +the wildest demonstrations of joy kissed the hand of the ragged kerne who +supported her. I stared at Captain Roy in amazement, and while I was yet +wondering at his strange behaviour Tony Creagh plumped down beside him. My +eyes went to the face of the gillie and encountered the winsome smile of +the Young Chevalier. Desperately white and weary as he was, and dressed in +an outcast's rags, he still looked every inch the son of kings. To me he +was always a more princely figure in his days of adversity, when he roamed +a hunted wanderer among Highland heughs and corries with only those about +him over whose hearts he still was king, than when he ruled at Holyrood +undisputed master of Scotland. + +It appeared that the party of the Prince, with the exception of +Clanranald, were destined for Raasay, could they but run the cordon of +troopers who guarded the island of Skye. Through Malcolm, arrangements had +been made by which Murdoch Macleod, a younger brother wounded at Culloden, +was to be in waiting with a boat to convey the party of the Prince across +the sound. It will be believed that we discussed with much care and +anxiety the best disposition to be made of ourselves in running the lines +of the enemy. The final decision was that the Prince, Malcolm, and I +should make the attempt that night while Creagh, Captain Roy, and Miss +Flora followed at their leisure on the morrow. Since the young lady was +provided with a passport for herself and her attendant this promised to be +a matter of small danger on their part. + +Never have I known a woman treated with truer chivalry and deference than +this heroic Highland girl was by these hardy mountaineers. Her chief, +Clanranald, insisted on building with his own hands a fire in her sleeping +room "ben" the house, and in every way the highest marks of respect were +shown her for her devotion to the cause. Though he expected to join her +again shortly, the Prince made her his warmest acknowledgments of thanks +in a spirit of pleasantry which covered much tender feeling. They had been +under fire together and had shared perils by land and by sea during which +time his conduct to her had been perfect, a gentle consideration for her +comfort combined with the reserve that became a gentleman under such +circumstances. On this occasion he elected to escort her in person to the +door of her chamber. + +After a snatch of sleep we set out on our perillous journey. Sheets of +rain were now falling in a very black night. Donald Roy parted from us at +the door of the hut with much anxiety. He had pleaded hard to be allowed +to join the party of the Prince, but had been overruled on the ground that +he was the only one of us with the exception of Malcolm that could act as +a guide. Moreover he was the kinsman of Miss Flora, and therefore her +natural protector. Over and over he urged us to be careful and to do +nothing rash. The Prince smilingly answered him with a shred of the +Gaelic. + +"Bithidh gach ni mar is aill Dhiu." (All things must be as God will have +them.) + +The blackness of the night was a thing to be felt. Not the faithful +Achates followed AEneas more closely than did we the Macleod. No sound came +to us but the sloshing of the rain out of a sodden sky and the noise of +falling waters from mountain burns in spate (flood). Hour after hour while +we played blindly follow-my-leader the clouds were a sieve over our +devoted heads. Braes we breasted and precipitous heathery heights we +sliddered down, but there was always rain and ever more rain, turning at +last into a sharp thin sleet that chilled the blood. + +Then in the gray breaking of the day Malcolm turned to confess what I had +already suspected, that he had lost the way in the darkness. We were at +present shut in a sea of fog, a smirr of mist and rain, but when that +lifted he could not promise that we would not be close on the campfires of +the dragoons. His fine face was a picture of misery, and bitterly he +reproached himself for the danger into which he had led the Prince. The +Young Chevalier told him gently that no blame was attaching to him; rather +to us all for having made the attempt in such a night. + +For another hour we sat on the dripping heather opposite the corp-white +face of the Macleod waiting for the mist to lift. The wanderer exerted +himself to keep us in spirits, now whistling a spring of Clanranald's +march, now retailing to us the story of how he had walked through the +redcoats as Miss Macdonald's Betty Burke. It may be conceived with what +anxiety we waited while the cloud of moisture settled from the mountain +tops into the valleys. + +"By Heaven, sir, we have a chance," cried Malcolm suddenly, and began to +lead the way at a great pace up the steep slope. For a half hour we +scudded along, higher and higher, always bearing to the right and at such +a burst of speed that I judged we must be in desperate danger. The Prince +hung close to the heels of Malcolm, but I was a sorry laggard ready to die +of exhaustion. When the mist sank we began to go more cautiously, for the +valley whence we had just emerged was dotted at intervals with the +campfires of the soldiers. Cautiously we now edged our way along the +slippery incline, keeping in the shadow of great rocks and broom wherever +it was possible. 'Tis not in nature to walk unmoved across an open where +every bush may hide a sentinel who will let fly at one as gladly as at a +fat buck--yes, and be sure of thirty thousand pounds if he hit the right +mark. I longed for eyes in the back of my head, and every moment could +feel the lead pinging its way between my shoulder blades. + +Major Macleod had from his youth stalked the wary stag, and every saugh +and birch and alder in our course was made to yield us its cover. Once a +muircock whirred from my very feet and brought my heart to my mouth. +Presently we topped the bluff and disappeared over its crest. Another hour +of steady tramping down hill and the blue waters of the sound stretched +before us. 'Twas time. My teeth chattered and my bones ached. I was +sick--sick--sick. + +"And here we are at the last," cried the Major with a deep breath of +relief. "I played the gomeral brawly, but in the darkness we blundered +ram-stam through the Sassenach lines." + +"'Fortuna favet fatuis,'" quoted the Young Chevalier. "Luck for fools! The +usurper's dragoons will have to wait another day for their thirty thousand +pounds. Eh, Montagu?" he asked me blithely; then stopped to stare at me +staggering down the beach. "What ails you, man?" + +I was reeling blindly like a drunkard, and our Prince put an arm around my +waist. I resisted feebly, but he would have none of it; the arm of a +king's son (de jure) supported me to the boat. + +We found as boatmen not only Murdoch Macleod but his older brother Young +Raasay, the only one of the family that had not been "out" with our army. +He had been kept away from the rebellion to save the family estates, but +his heart was none the less with us. + +"And what folly is this, Ronald?" cried Malcolm when he saw the head of +the house on the links. "Murdoch and I are already as black as we can be, +but you were to keep clean of the Prince's affairs. It wad be a geyan ill +outcome gin we lost the estates after all. The red cock will aiblins craw +at Raasay for this." + +"I wass threepin' so already, but he wass dooms thrang to come. He'll +maybe get his craig raxed (neck twisted) for his ploy," said Murdoch +composedly. + +"By Heaven, Malcolm, I'll play the trimmer no longer. Raasay serves his +Prince though it cost both the estate and his head," cried the young +chieftain hotly. + +"In God's name then let us get away before the militia or the sidier roy +(red soldiers) fall in with us. In the woody cleughs yonder they are thick +as blackcocks in August," cried the Major impatiently. + +We pushed into the swirling waters and were presently running free, +sending the spurling spray flying on both sides of the boat. The wind came +on to blow pretty hard and the leaky boat began to fill, so that we were +hard put to it to keep from sinking. The three brothers were quite used to +making the trip in foul weather, but on the Prince's account were now much +distressed. To show his contempt for danger, the royal wanderer sang a +lively Erse song. The Macleods landed us at Glam, and led the way to a +wretched hovel recently erected by some shepherds. Here we dined on +broiled kid, butter, cream, and oaten bread. + +I slept round the clock, and awoke once more a sound man to see the Prince +roasting the heart of the kid on an iron spit. Throughout the day we +played with a greasy pack of cards to pass the time. About sundown Creagh +joined us, Macdonald having stayed on Skye to keep watch on any suspicious +activity of the clan militia or the dragoons. Raasay's clansmen, +ostensibly engaged in fishing, dotted the shore of the little island to +give warning of the approach of any boats. To make our leader's safety +more certain, the two proscribed brothers took turns with Creagh and me in +doing sentinel duty at the end of the path leading to the sheep hut. + +At the desire of the Prince--and how much more at mine!--we ventured up to +the great house that night to meet the ladies, extraordinary precautions +having been taken by Raasay to prevent the possibility of any surprise. +Indeed, so long as the Prince was in their care, Raasay and his brothers +were as anxious as the proverbial hen with the one chick. Doubtless they +felt that should he be captured while on the island the reputation of the +house would be forever blasted. And this is the most remarkable fact of +Charles Edward Stuart's romantic history; that in all the months of his +wandering, reposing confidence as he was forced to do in hundreds of +different persons, many of them mere gillies and some of them little +better than freebooters, it never seems to have occurred to one of these +shag-headed Gaels to earn an immense fortune by giving him up. + +My heart beat a tattoo against my ribs as I followed the Prince and Raasay +to the drawing-room where his sister and Miss Macdonald awaited us. Eight +months had passed since last I had seen my love; eight months of battle, +of hairbreadth escapes, and of hardships scarce to be conceived. She too +had endured much in that time. Scarce a house in Raasay but had been razed +by the enemy because her brothers and their following had been "out" with +us. I was to discover whether her liking for me had outlived the turmoils +of "the '45," or had been but a girlish fancy. + +My glance flashed past Miss Flora Macdonald and found Aileen on the +instant. For a hundredth part of a second our eyes met before she fell to +making her devoirs to the Young Chevalier, and after that I did not need +to be told that my little friend was still staunch and leal. I could +afford to wait my turn with composure, content to watch with long-starved +eyes the delicacy and beauty of this sweet wild rose I coveted. Sure, hers +was a charm that custom staled not nor longer acquaintance made less +alluring. Every mood had its own characteristic fascination, and are not +the humours of a woman numberless? She had always a charming note of +unconventional freshness, a childlike _naivete_ of immaturity and +unsophistication at times, even a certain girlish shy austerity that had +for me a touch of saintliness. But there-- Why expatiate? A lover's +midsummer madness, you will say! + +My turn at last! The little brown hand pressed mine firmly for an instant, +the warm blue eyes met mine full and true, the pulse in the soft-throated +neck beat to a recognition of my presence. I found time to again admire +the light poise of the little head carried with such fine spirit, the +music of the broken English speech in this vibrant Highland voice. + +"Welcome-- Welcome to Raasay, my friend!" Then her eyes falling on the +satin cockade so faded and so torn, there came a tremulous little catch to +her voice, a fine light to her eyes. "It iss the good tale that my +brothers have been telling me of Kenneth Montagu's brave devotion to hiss +friends, but I wass not needing to hear the story from them. I will be +thinking that I knew it all already," she said, a little timidly. + +I bowed low over her hand and kissed it. "My friends make much of nothing. +Their fine courage reads their own spirit reflected in the eyes of +others." + +"Oh, then I will have heard the story wrong. It would be Donald who went +back to Drummossie Moor after you when you were wounded?" + +"Could a friend do less?" + +"Or more?" + +"He would have done as much for me. My plain duty!" I said, shrugging, +anxious to be done with the subject. + +She looked at me with sparkling eyes, laughing at my discomposure, in a +half impatience of my stolid English phlegm. + +"Oh, you men! You go to your death for a friend, and if by a miracle you +escape: 'Pooh! 'Twas nothing whatever. Gin it rain to-morrow, I think +'twill be foul,' you say, and expect to turn it off so." + +I took the opening like a fox. + +"Faith, I hope it will not rain to-morrow," I said. "I have to keep watch +outside. Does the sun never shine in Raasay, Aileen?" + +"Whiles," she answered, laughing. "And are all Englishmen so shy of their +virtues?" + +Tony Creagh coming up at that moment, she referred the question to him. + +"Sure, I can't say," he answered unsmilingly. "'Fraid I'm out of court. +Never knew an Englishman to have any." + +"Can't you spare them one at the least?" Aileen implored, gaily. + +He looked at her, then at me, a twinkle in his merry Irish eyes. + +"Ecod then, I concede them one! They're good sportsmen. They follow the +game until they've bagged it." + +We two flushed in concert, but the point of her wit touched Creagh on the +_riposte_. + +"The men of the nation being disposed of in such cavalier fashion, what +shall we say of the ladies, sir?" she asked demurely. + +"That they are second only to the incomparable maidens of the North," he +answered, kissing her hand in his extravagant Celtic way. + +"But I will not be fubbed off with your Irish blarney. The English ladies, +Mr. Creagh?" she merrily demanded. + +"Come, Tony, you renegade! Have I not heard you toast a score of times the +beauties of London?" said I, coming up with the heavy artillery. + +"Never, I vow. Sure I always thought Edinburgh a finer city--not so dirty +and, pink me, a vast deal more interesting. Now London is built----" + +"On the Thames. So it is," I interrupted dryly. "And--to get back to the +subject under discussion--the pink and white beauties of London are built +to take the eye and ensnare the heart of roving Irishmen. Confess!" + +"Or be forever shamed as recreant knight," cried Aileen, her blue eyes +bubbling with laughter. + +Tony unbuckled his sword and offered it her. "If I yield 'tis not to +numbers but to beauty. Is my confession to be in the general or the +particular, Miss Macleod?" + +"Oh, in the particular! 'Twill be the mair interesting." + +"Faith then, though it be high treason to say so of one lady before +another, Tony Creagh's scalp dangles at the belt of the most bewitching +little charmer in Christendom." + +"Her name?" + +"Mistress Antoinette Westerleigh, London's reigning toast." + +Aileen clapped her hands in approving glee. + +"And did you ever tell her?" + +"A score of times. Faith, 'twas my rule to propose every second time I saw +her and once in between." + +"And she----?" + +"Laughed at me; played shill-I-shall-I with my devotion; vowed she would +not marry me till I had been killed in the wars to prove I was a hero; +smiled on me one minute and scorned me the next." + +"And you love her still?" + +"The sun rises in 'Toinette's eyes; when she frowns the day is vile." + +"Despite her whims and arrogances?" + +"Sure for me my queen can do no wrong. 'Tis her right to laugh and mock at +me so only she enjoy it." + +Aileen stole one shy, quick, furtive look at me. It seemed to question +whether her lover was such a pattern of meek obedience. + +"And you never falter? There iss no other woman for you?" + +"Saving your presence, there is no other woman in the world?" + +Her eyes glistened. + +"Kneel down, sir," she commanded. + +Tony dropped to a knee. She touched him lightly on the shoulder with his +sword. + +"In love's name I dub you worthy knight. Be bold, be loyal, be fortunate. +Arise, Sir Anthony Creagh, knight of the order of Cupid!" + +We three had wandered away together into an alcove, else, 'tis almost +needless to say, our daffing had not been so free. Now Malcolm joined us +with a paper in his hand. He spoke to me, smiling yet troubled too. + +"More labours, O my Theseus! More Minotaurs to slay! More labyrinths to +thread!" + +"And what may be these labours now?" I asked. + +"Captain Donald Roy sends for you. He reports unusual activity among the +clan militia and the redcoats on Skye. A brig landed men and officers +there yesterday. And what for will they be coming?" + +"I think the reason is very plain, Major Macleod," said Tony blithely. + +"I'm jalousing (suspecting) so mysel'. They will be for the taking of a +wheen puir callants (lads) that are jinking (hiding) in the hill birken +(scrub). But here iss the point that must be learned: do they ken that the +Prince iss on the islands?" + +Creagh sprang to his feet from the chair in which he had been lazying. +"The devil's in it! Why should Montagu go? Why not I?" + +"Because you can't talk the Gaelic, Creagh. You're barred," I told him +triumphantly. + +"Would you be sending our guest on such an errand of danger, Malcolm?" +asked Aileen in a low voice. + +"Not I, but Fegs! I will never say the word to hinder if he volunteers. +'Tis in the service of the Prince. The rest of us are kent (known) men and +canna gang." + +Grouped behind Malcolm were now gathered the Prince, Raasay, and Miss +Flora. To me as a focus came all eyes. I got to my feet in merry humour. + +"Ma foi! Ulysses as a wanderer is not to be compared with me. When do I +set out, Major?" + +"At skreigh-o'-day (daybreak). And the sooner you seek your sleep the +better. Best say good-night to the lassies, for you'll need be wide awake +the morn twa-three hours ere sun-up. Don't let the redcoats wile (lure) +you into any of their traps, lad. You maunna lose your head or----" + +"----Or I'll lose my head," I answered, drolling. "I take you, Major; but, +my word for it, I have not, played hide-and-go-seek six months among your +Highland lochs and bens to dance on air at the last." + +The Prince drew me aside. "This will not be forgotten when our day of +power comes, Montagu. I expected no less of your father's son." Then he +added with a smile: "And when Ulysses rests safe from his wanderings at +last I trust he will find his Penelope waiting for him with a true +heart." + +Without more ado I bade Miss Macdonald and Aileen good-bye, but as I left +the room I cast a last look back over my shoulder and methought that the +lissome figure of my love yearned forward toward me tenderly and +graciously. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +VOLNEY PAYS A DEBT + + +There are some to whom strange changes never come. They pursue the even +tenor of their way in humdrum monotony, content to tread the broad safe +path of routine. For them the fascination of the mountain peaks of giddy +chance has no allurement, the swift turbulent waters of intrigue no charm. +There are others with whom Dame Fortune plays many an exciting game, and +to these adventure becomes as the very breath of life. To such every +hazard of new fortune is a diversion to be eagerly sought. + +Something of this elation seized me--for I am of this latter class--as +Murdoch and his gillies rowed me across the sound to Skye in the darkness +of the early morning. It was a drab dawn as ever I have seen, and every +tug at the oars shot me nearer to the red bloodhounds who were debouched +over the island. What then? Was I not two years and twenty, and did I not +venture for the life of a king's son? To-day I staked my head on luck and +skill; to-morrow--but let the future care for her own. + +In a grove of beeches about half a mile from Portree we landed, and +Murdoch gave the call of the whaup to signal Donald Roy. From a clump of +whins in the gorse the whistle echoed back to us, and presently Captain +Macdonald came swinging down to the shore. It appeared that another +boatload of soldiers had been landed during the night, a squad of clan +militia under the command of a Lieutenant Campbell. We could but guess +that this portended some knowledge as to the general whereabouts of the +Prince, and 'twas my mission to learn the extent and reliability of that +knowledge if I could. That there was some danger in the attempt I knew, +but it had been minimized by the philibeg and hose, the Glengarry bonnet +and Macleod plaid which I had donned at the instance of Malcolm. + +I have spoken of chance. The first stroke of it fell as I strode along the +highway to Portree. At a crossroad intersection I chanced on a fellow +trudging the same way as myself. He was one of your furtive-faced fellows, +with narrow slits of eyes and an acquired habit of skellying sidewise at +one out of them. Cunning he was beyond doubt, and from the dour look of +him one to bear malice. His trews were like Joseph's coat for the colour +of the many patches, but I made them out to have been originally of the +Campbell plaid. + +"A fine day, my man," says I with vast irony. + +"Wha's finding faut wi' the day?" he answers glumly. + +"You'll be from across the mountains on the mainland by the tongue of +you," I ventured. + +"Gin you ken that there'll be nae use telling you." + +"A Campbell, I take it." + +He turned his black-a-vised face on me, scowling. + +"Or perhaps you're on the other side of the hedge--implicated in this +barelegged rebellion, I dare say." + +Under my smiling, watchful eye he began to grow restless. His hand crept +to his breast, and I heard the crackle of papers. + +"Deil hae't, what's it to you?" he growled. + +"To me? Oh, nothing at all. Merely a friendly interest. On the whole I +think my first guess right. I wouldn't wonder but you're carrying +dispatches from Lieutenant Campbell." + +The fellow went all colours and was as easy as a worm on a hook. + +"I make no doubt you'll be geyan tired from long travel, and the +responsibility of carrying such important documents must weigh down your +spirits," I drolled, "and so I will trouble you"--with a pistol clapped to +his head and a sudden ring of command in my voice--"to hand them over to +me at once." + +The fellow's jaw dropped lankly. He looked hither and thither for a way of +escape and found none. He was confronting an argument that had a great +deal of weight with him, and out of the lining of his bonnet he ripped a +letter. + +"Thanks, but I'll take the one in your breast pocket," I told him dryly. + +Out it came with a deal of pother. The letter was addressed to the Duke of +Cumberland, Portree, Skye. My lips framed themselves to a long whistle. +Here was the devil to pay. If the butcher was on the island I knew he had +come after bigger game than muircocks. No less a quarry than the Prince +himself would tempt him to this remote region. I marched my prisoner back +to Captain Roy and Murdoch. To Donald I handed the letter, and he ripped +it open without ceremony. 'Twas merely a note from the Campbell Lieutenant +of militia, to say that the orders of his Highness regarding the watching +of the coast would be fulfilled to the least detail. + +"Well, and here's a pirn to unravel. What's to be done now?" asked the +Macdonald. + +"By Heaven, I have it," cried I. "Let Murdoch carry the news to Raasay +that the Prince may get away at once. Do you guard our prisoner here, +while I, dressed in his trews and bonnet, carry the letter to the Duke. +His answer may throw more light on the matter." + +Not to make long, so it was decided. We made fashion to plaster up the +envelope so as not to show a casual looker that it had been tampered with, +and I footed it to Portree in the patched trews of the messenger, not with +the lightest heart in the world. The first redcoat I met directed me to +the inn where the Duke had his headquarters, and I was presently admitted +to a hearing. + +The Duke was a ton of a little man with the phlegmatic Dutch face. He read +the letter stolidly and began to ask questions as to the disposition of +our squad. I lied generously, magnificently, my face every whit as wooden +as his; and while I was still at it the door behind me opened and a man +came in leisurely. He waited for the Duke to have done with me, softly +humming a tune the while, his shadow flung in front across my track; and +while he lilted there came to me a dreadful certainty that on occasion I +had heard the singer and his song before. + + "'Then come kiss me sweet and twenty. + Youth's a stuff will not endure,'" + +carolled the melodious voice lazily. Need I say that it belonged to my +umquhile friend Sir Robert Volney. + +Cumberland brushed me aside with a wave of his hand. + +"Donner! If the Pretender is on Skye--and he must be--we've got him +trapped, Volney. Our cordon stretches clear across the isle, and every +outlet is guarded," he cried. + +"Immensely glad to hear it, sir. Let's see! Is this the twelfth time +you've had him sure? 'Pon honour, he must have more lives than the +proverbial cat," drawled Sir Robert insolently. + +There was one thing about Volney I could never enough admire. He was no +respecter of persons. Come high, come low, the bite of his ironic tongue +struck home. For a courtier he had the laziest scorn of those he courted +that ever adventurer was hampered with; and strangely enough from him his +friends in high place tolerated anything. The Prince of Wales and his +brother Cumberland would not speak to each other, yet each of them fought +to retain Volney as his follower. Time-servers wondered that his uncurbed +speech never brought him to grief. Perhaps the secret of his security lay +in his splendid careless daring; in that, and in his winning personality. + +"By God, Volney, sometimes I think you're half a Jacobite," said +Cumberland, frowning. + +"Your Grace does me injustice. My bread is buttered on the Brunswick +side," answered the baronet, carelessly. + +"But otherwise--at heart----" + +Volney's sardonic smile came into play. "Otherwise my well-known caution, +and my approved loyalty,--Egad, I had almost forgotten that!--refute such +an aspersion." + +"Himmel! If your loyalty is no greater than your caution it may be counted +out. At the least you take delight in tormenting me. Never deny it, man! I +believe you want the Pretender to get away." + +"One may wish the Prince----" + +"The Prince?" echoed Cumberland, blackly. + +"The Young Chevalier then, if you like that better. 'Slife, what's in a +name? One may wish him to escape and be guilty of no crime. He and his +brave Highlanders deserve a better fate than death. I dare swear that half +your redcoats have the sneaking desire to see the young man win free out +of the country. Come, my good fellow"--turning to me--"What do they call +you--Campbell? Well then, Campbell, speak truth and shame the devil. Are +you as keen to have the Young Chevalier taken as you pretend?" + +Doggedly I turned my averted head toward him, saw the recognition leap to +his eyes, and waited for the word to fall from his lips that would condemn +me. Amusement chased amazement across his face. + +A moment passed, still another moment. The word was not spoken. Instead he +began to smile, presently to hum, + + "'You'll on an' you'll march to Carlisle ha' + To be hanged and quartered, an' a', an' a'.' + +"Come, Mont-Campbell, you haven't answered my question yet. If you knew +where Charles Edward Stuart was in hiding would you give him up?" He +looked at me from under lowered lids, vastly entertained, playing with me +as a cat does with a mouse. + +"I am a fery good servant of the King, God bless him whatefer, and I would +just do my duty," answered I, still keeping the role I had assumed. + +"Of course he would. Ach, liebe himmel! Any loyal man would be bound to do +so," broke in Cumberland. + +Volney's eyes shone. "I'm not so sure," said he. "Now supposing, sir, that +one had a very dear friend among the rebels; given the chance, ought he to +turn him over to justice?" + +"No doubt about it. Friendship ends when rebellion begins," said the Duke, +sententiously. + +Sir Robert continued blandly to argue the case, looking at me out of the +tail of his eye. Faith, he enjoyed himself prodigiously, which was more +than I did, for I was tasting a bad quarter of an hour. "Put it this way, +sir: I have a friend who has done me many good turns. Now assume that I +have but to speak the word to send him to his death. Should the word be +spoken?" + +The Duke said dogmatically that a soldier's first duty was to work for the +success of his cause regardless of private feelings. + +"Or turn it this way," continued Volney, "that the man is not a friend. +Suppose him a rival claimant to an estate I mean to possess. Can I in +honour give him up? What would you think, Mont--er--Campbell?" + +"Not Mont-Campbell, but Campbell," I corrected. "I will be thinking, sir, +that it would be a matter for your conscience, and at all events it iss +fery lucky that you do not hafe to decide it." + +"Still the case might arise. It's always well to be prepared," he +answered, laughing. + +"Nonsense, Robert! What the deuce do you mean by discussing such a matter +with a Highland kerne? I never saw your match for oddity," said the Duke. + +While he was still speaking there was a commotion in the outer room of the +inn. There sounded a rap at the door, and on the echo of the knock an +officer came into the room to announce the capture of a suspect. He was +followed by the last man in the world I wanted to see at that moment, no +other than the Campbell soldier whose place I was usurping. The fat was in +the fire with a vengeance now, and though I fell back to the rear I knew +it was but a question of time till his eye lit on me. + +The fellow began to tell his story, got nearly through before his ferret +eyes circled round to me, then broke off to burst into a screed of the +Gaelic as he pointed a long finger at me. + +The Duke flung round on me in a cold fury. "Is this true, fellow?" + +I came forward shrugging. + +"To deny were folly when the evidence is writ so plain," I said. + +"And who the devil are you?" + +"Kenneth Montagu, at your service." + +Cumberland ordered the room cleared, then turned on Volney a very grim +face. "I'll remember this, Sir Robert. You knew him all the time. It has a +bad look, I make plain to say." + +"'Twas none of my business. Your troopers can find enough victims for you +without my pointing out any. I take the liberty of reminding your Highness +that I'm not a hangman by profession," returned Volney stiffly. + +"You go too far, sir," answered the Duke haughtily. "I know my duty too +well to allow me to be deterred from performing it by you or by anybody +else. Mr. Montagu, have you any reason to give why I should not hang you +for a spy?" + +"No reason that would have any weight with your Grace," I answered. + +He looked long at me, frowning blackly out of the grimmest face I had ever +fronted; and yet that countenance, inexorable as fate, belonged to a young +man not four years past his majority. + +"Without dubiety you deserve death," he said at the last, "but because of +your youth I give you one chance. Disclose to me the hiding-place of the +Pretender and you shall come alive out of the valley of the shadow." + +A foretaste of the end clutched icily at my heart, but the price of the +proffered safety was too great. Since I must die, I resolved that it +should be with a good grace. + +"I do not know whom your Grace can mean by the Pretender." + +His heavy jaw set and his face grew cold and hard as steel. + +"You fool, do you think to bandy words with me? You will speak or by +heaven you will die the death of a traitor." + +"I need not fear to follow where so many of my brave comrades have shown +the way," I answered steadily. + +"Bah! You deal in heroics. Believe me, this is no time for theatricals. +Out with it. When did you last see Charles Stuart?" + +"I can find no honourable answer to that question, sir." + +"Then your blood be on your own head, fool. You die to-morrow morning by +the cord." + +"As God wills; perhaps to-morrow, perhaps not for fifty years." + +While I was being led out another prisoner passed in on his way to +judgment. The man was Captain Roy Macdonald. + +"I'm wae to see you here, lad, and me the cause of it by sending you," he +said, smiling sadly. + +"How came they to take you?" I asked. + +"I was surprised on the beach just after Murdoch left," he told me in the +Gaelic so that the English troopers might not understand. "All should be +well with the yellow haired laddie now that the warning has been given. +Are you for Carlisle, Kenneth?" + +I shook my head. "No, my time is set for to-morrow. If they give you +longer you'll find a way to send word to Aileen how it went with me, +Donald?" + +He nodded, and we gripped hands in silence, our eyes meeting steadily. +From his serene courage I gathered strength. + +They took me to a bothy in the village which had been set apart as a +prison for me, and here, a picket of soldiers with loaded muskets +surrounding the hut, they left me to myself. I had asked for paper and +ink, but my request had been refused. + +In books I have read how men under such circumstance came quietly to +philosophic and religious contemplation, looking at the issue with the +far-seeing eyes of those who count death but an incident. But for me, I am +neither philosopher nor saint. Connected thought I found impossible. My +mind was alive with fleeting and chaotic fragmentary impulses. Memories +connected with Cloe, Charles, Balmerino, and a hundred others occupied me. +Trivial forgotten happenings flashed through my brain. All the different +Aileens that I knew trooped past in procession. Gay and sad, wistful and +merry, eager and reflective, in passion and in tender guise, I saw my love +in all her moods; and melted always at the vision of her. + +I descended to self-pity, conceiving myself a hero and a martyr, revelling +in an agony of mawkish sentiment concerning the post-mortem grief of my +friends. From this at length I snatched myself by calling to mind the many +simple Highlanders who had preceded me in the past months without any +morbid craving for applause. Back harked my mind to Aileen, imagination +spanning the future as well as the past. Tender pity and love suffused me. +Mingled with all my broken reflections was many a cry of the heart for +mercy to a sinner about to render his last account and for healing balm to +that dear friend who would be left to mourn the memory of me painted in +radiant colours. + +Paradoxical though it may seem, the leaden hours flew on feathered foot. +Dusk fell, then shortly darkness. Night deepened, and the stars came out. +From the window I watched the moon rise till it flooded the room with its +pale light, my mind at last fallen into the sombre quiet of deep +abstraction. + +A mocking voice brought me to earth with a start. + +"Romantic spectacle! A world bathed in moonlight. Do you compose verses to +your love's bright eyes, Mr. Montagu? Or perhaps an epitaph for some close +friend?" + +An elegant figure in dark cloak, riding boots, and three-cornered hat +confronted me, when I slowly turned. + +"Hope I don't intrude," he said jauntily. + +I gave him a plain hint. "Sir Robert, like Lord Chesterfield, when he was +so ill last year, if I do not press you to remain it is because I must +rehearse my funeral obsequies." + +His laugh rang merrily. Coming forward a step or two, he flung a leg +across the back of a chair. + +"Egad, you're not very hospitable, my friend. Or isn't this your evening +at home?" he fleered. + +I watched him narrowly, answering nothing. + +"Cozy quarters," he said, looking round with polite interest. "May I ask +whether you have taken them for long?" + +"The object of your visit, sir," I demanded coldly. + +"There you gravel me," he laughed. "I wish I knew the motives for my +visit. They are perhaps a blend--some pique, some spite, some curiosity, +and faith! a little admiration, Mr. Montagu." + +"All of which being presumably now satisfied----" + +"But they're not, man! Far from it. And so I accept the courteous +invitation you were about to extend me to prolong my call and join you in +a glass of wine." + +Seeing that he was determined to remain willy-nilly, I made the best of +it. + +"You have interpreted my sentiments exactly, Sir Robert," I told him. "But +I fear the wine will have to be postponed till another meeting. My cellar +is not well stocked." + +He drew a flask from his pocket, found glasses on the table, and filled +them. + +"Then let me thus far play host, Mr. Montagu. Come, I give you a toast!" +He held the glass to the light and viewed the wine critically. "'T is a +devilish good vintage, though I say it myself. Montagu, may you always +find a safe port in time of storm!" he said with jesting face, but with a +certain undercurrent of meaning that began to set my blood pounding. + +But though I took a glimmer of the man's purpose I would not meet him +half-way. If he had any proposal to make the advances must come from him. +Nor would I allow myself to hope too much. + +"I' faith, 'tis a good port," I said, and eyed the wine no less judicially +than he. + +Volney's gaze loitered deliberately over the cottage furnishings. "Cozy +enough, but after all not quite to my liking, if I may make so bold as to +criticise your apartments. I wonder now you don't make a change." + +"I'm thinking of moving to-morrow," I told him composedly. "To a less +roomy apartment, but one just as snug." + +"Shall you live there permanently?" he asked with innocent face. + +"I shall stay there permanently," I corrected. + +Despite my apparent unconcern I was playing desperately for my life. That +Volney was dallying with some plan of escape for me I became more +confident, and I knew from experience that nothing would touch the man on +his weak side so surely as an imperturbable manner. + +"I mentioned pique and spite, Mr. Montagu, and you did not take my +meaning. Believe me, not against you, but against that oaf Cumberland," he +said. + +"And what may your presence here have to do with your pique against the +Duke? I confess that the connection is not plain to me," I said in +careless fashion. + +"After you left to-day, Mr. Montagu, I humbled myself to ask a favour of +the Dutchman--the first I ever asked, and I have done him many. He refused +it and turned his back on me." + +"The favour was----?" + +"That you might be taken to London for trial and executed there." + +I looked up as if surprised. "And why this interest on my behalf, Sir +Robert?" + +He shrugged. "I do not know--a fancy--a whim. George Selwyn would never +forgive me if I let you be hanged and he not there to see." + +"Had you succeeded Selwyn would have had you to thank for a pleasant +diversion, but I think you remarked that the Dutchman was obstinate. 'Tis +a pity--for Selwyn's sake." + +"Besides, I had another reason. You and I had set ourselves to play out a +certain game in which I took an interest. Now I do not allow any +blundering foreigners to interfere with my amusements." + +"I suppose you mean you do not like the foreigner to anticipate you." + +"By God, I do not allow him to when I can prevent it." + +"But as in this instance you cannot prevent it----" My sentence tailed +into a yawn. + +"That remains to be seen," he retorted, and whipped off first one boot and +then the other. The unfastened cloak fell to the floor, and he began to +unloose his doublet. + +I stared calmly, though my heart stood still. + +"Really, Sir Robert! Are you going to stay all night? I fear my +accommodations are more limited than those to which you have been +accustomed." + +"Don't stand gaping there, Montagu. Get off those uncivilized rags of +yours and slip on these. You're going out as Sir Robert Volney." + +"I am desolated to interfere with your revenge, but--the guards?" + +"Fuddled with drink," he said. "I took care of that. Don't waste time +asking questions." + +"The Duke will be in a fearful rage with you." + +His eyes grew hard. "Am I a child that I should tremble when Cumberland +frowns?" + +"He'll make you pay for this." + +"A fig for the payment!" + +"You'll lose favour." + +"I'll teach the sullen beast to refuse me one. The boots next." + +He put on the wig and hat for me, arranged the muffler over the lower part +of my face, and fastened the cloak. + +"The watchword for the night is 'Culloden.' You should have no trouble in +passing. I needn't tell you to be bold," he finished dryly. + +"I'll not forget this," I told him. + +"That's as you please," he answered carelessly. "I ask no gratitude. I'm +settling a debt, or rather two--one due Cumberland and the other you." + +"Still, I'll remember." + +"Oh, all right. Hope we'll have the pleasure of renewing our little game +some day. Better take to the hills or the water. You'll find the roads +strictly guarded. Don't let yourself get killed, my friend. The pleasure +of running you through I reserve for myself." + +I passed out of the hut into the night. The troopers who guarded the bothy +were in either the stupid or the uproarious stage of their drink. Two of +them sang a catch of a song, and I wondered that they had not already +brought down on them the officer of the day. I passed them carelessly with +a nod. One of them bawled out, "The watchword!" and I gave them +"Culloden." Toward the skirts of the village I sauntered, fear dogging my +footsteps; and when I was once clear of the houses, cut across a meadow +toward the shore, wary as a panther, eyes and ears alert for signals of +danger. Without mishap I reached the sound, beat my way up the sand links +for a mile or more, and saw a boat cruising in the moonlight off shore. I +gave the whaup's cry, and across the water came an answer. + +Five minutes later I was helping the gillie in the boat pull across to +Raasay. When half way over we rested on our oars for a breathing space and +I asked the news, the rug-headed kerne shot me with the dismal tidings +that Malcolm Macleod and Creagh, rowing to Skyes for a conference with +Captain Roy, had fallen into the hands of the troopers waiting for them +among the sand dunes. He had but one bit of comfort in his budget, and +that was "ta yellow-haired Sassenach body wass leaving this morning with +Raasay hersel' and Murdoch." At least I had some assurance that my +undertaking had secured the safety of the Prince, even though three +staunch men were on their way to their death by reason of it. + +Once landed on Raasay, I made up the brae to the great house. Lights were +still burning, and when I got close 'twas easy to be seen that terror and +confusion filled it. Whimpering, white-faced women and wailing bairns ran +hither and thither blindly. Somewhere in the back part of the house the +bagpipes were soughing a dismal kind of dirge. Fierce-eyed men with mops +of shock hair were gathered into groups of cursing clansmen. Through them +all I pushed my way in to Aileen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LITTLE GOD HAS AN INNINGS + + +By the great fireplace she stood, hands clasped, head upturned as in +prayer. The lips moved silently in the petition of her heart. I saw in +profile a girl's troubled face charged with mystery, a slim, tall, weary +figure all in white against the flame, a cheek's pure oval, the tense +curve of a proud neck, a mass of severely snodded russet hair. So I +recalled her afterward, picture of desolation seeking comfort, but at the +moment when I blundered on her my presence seemed profanity and no time +was found for appraisement. Abashed I came to a halt, and was for +tiptoeing back to the door; but hearing me she turned. + +"Kenneth!" she cried, and stood with parted lips. Then, "They told +me----" + +"That I was taken. True, but I escaped. How, I will tell you later. The +Prince-- Is he safe?" + +"For the present, yes. A lugger put in this morning belonging to some +smugglers. In it he sailed for the mainland with Ronald and Murdoch. You +will have heard the bad news," she cried. + +"That Malcolm, Creagh, and Donald are taken?" + +"And Flora, too. She iss to be sent to London for assisting in the escape +of the Prince. And so are the others." + +I fell silent, deep in thought, and shortly came to a resolution. + +"Aileen, the Highlands are no place for me. I am a stranger here. Every +clachan in which I am seen is full of danger for me. To-morrow I am for +London." + +"To save Malcolm," she cried. + +"If I can. Raasay cannot go. He must stay to protect his clansmen. Murdoch +is a fugitive and his speech would betray him in an hour. Remains only +I." + +"And I." + +"You?" + +"Why not? After 'the '15' women's tears saved many a life. And I too have +friends. Sir Robert Volney, evil man as he iss, would move heaven and +earth to save my brother." + +There was much truth in what she said. In these days of many executions a +pardon was to be secured less by merit than by the massing of influence, +and I knew of no more potent influence than a beautiful woman in tears. +Together we might be able to do something for our friends. But there was +the long journey through a hostile country to be thought of, and the +probability that we might never reach our destination in freedom. I could +not tell the blessed child that her presence would increase threefold my +chances of being taken, nor indeed was that a thing that held weight with +me. Sure, there was her reputation to be considered, but the company of a +maid would obviate that difficulty. + +Ronald returned next day, and I laid the matter before him. He was +extraordinarily loath to let Aileen peril herself, but on the other hand +he could not let Malcolm suffer the penalty of the law without making an +effort on his behalf. Raasay was tied hand and foot by the suspicions of +the government and was forced to consent to leave the matter in our hands. +He made only the one stipulation, that we should go by way of Edinburgh +and take his Aunt Miss MacBean with us as chaperone. + +We embarked on the smuggler next day for the Long Island and were landed +at Stornoway. After a dreary wait of over a week at this place we took +shipping on a brig bound for Edinburgh. Along the north coast of Scotland, +through the Pentland Firth, and down the east shore _The Lewis_ scudded. +It seemed that we were destined to have an uneventful voyage till one day +we sighted a revenue cutter which gave chase. As we had on board _The +Lewis_ a cargo of illicit rum, the brig being in the contraband trade, +there was nothing for it but an incontinent flight. For some hours our +fate hung in the balance, but night coming on we slipped away in the +darkness. The Captain, however, being an exceedingly timid man for one in +his position, refused absolutely to put into the Leith Road lest his +retreat should be cut off. Instead he landed us near Wemyss Castle, some +distance up the coast, and what was worse hours before the dawn had +cleared and in a pelting rain. + +I wrapped Volney's cloak around Aileen and we took the southward road, +hoping to come on some village where we might find shelter. The situation +might be thought one of extreme discomfort. There were we three--Aileen, +her maid, and I--sloshing along the running road in black darkness with +the dreary splashing of the rain to emphasize our forlorn condition. Over +unknown paths we travelled on precarious errand. Yet I for one never took +a journey that pleased me more. The mirk night shut out all others, and a +fair face framed in a tartan shawl made my whole world for me. A note of +tenderness not to be defined crept into our relationship. There was a +sweet disorder in her hair and more than once the wind whaffed it into my +face. In walking our fingers touched once and again; greatly daring, mine +slipped over hers, and so like children we went hand in hand. An old +romancer tells quaintly in one of his tales how Love made himself of the +party, and so it was with us that night. I found my answer at last without +words. While the heavens wept our hearts sang. The wine of love ran +through me in exquisite thrills. Every simple word she spoke went to my +heart like sweetest music, and every unconscious touch of her hand was a +caress. + +"Tired, Aileen?" I asked. "There is my arm to lean on." + +"No," she said, but presently her ringers rested on my sleeve. + +"'T will be daylight soon, and see! the scudding clouds are driving away +the rain." + +"Yes, Kenneth," she answered, and sighed softly. + +"You will think I am a sad blunderer to bring you tramping through the +night." + +"I will be thinking you are the good friend." + +Too soon the grey dawn broke, for at the first glimmer my love disengaged +herself from my arm. I looked shyly at her, and the glory of her young +beauty filled me. Into her cheeks the raw morning wind had whipped the +red, had flushed her like a radiant Diana. The fresh breeze had outlined +her figure clear as she struggled against it, and the billowing sail was +not more graceful than her harmonious lines. + +Out of the sea the sun rose a great ball of flaming fire. + +"A good omen for the success of our journey," I cried. "Look! + + "'Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.' + +"The good God grant it prove so, Kenneth, for Malcolm and for all our +friends." + +After all youth has its day and will not be denied. We were on an anxious +undertaking of more than doubtful outcome, but save when we remembered to +be sober we trod the primrose path. + +We presently came to a small village where we had breakfast at the inn. +For long we had eaten nothing but the musty fare of the brig, and I shall +never forget with what merry daffing we enjoyed the crisp oaten cake, the +buttered scones, the marmalade, and the ham and eggs. After we had eaten +Aileen went to her room to snatch some hours sleep while I made +arrangements for a cart to convey us on our way. + +A wimpling burn ran past the end of the inn garden, and here on a rustic +bench I found my comrade when I sought her some hours later. The sun was +shining on her russet-hair. Her chin was in her hands, her eyes on the +gurgling brook. The memories of the night must still have been thrilling +her, for she was singing softly that most exquisite of love songs "Annie +Laurie." + + "'Maxwelton's braes are bonnie, + Where early fa's the dew, + Where me and Annie Laurie + Made up the promise true.'" + +Her voice trembled a little, and I took up the song. + + "'Made up the promise true, + And ne'er forget will I; + And for bonnie Annie Laurie + I'd lay me doun and dee.'" + +At my first words she gave a little start, her lips parted, her head came +up prettily to attention, and though I could not see them I was ready to +vow that she listened with shining eyes. Softly her breath came and went. +I trod nearer as I sang. + + "'Her brow is like the snaw-drift, + Her throat is like the swan, + She's jimp about the middle, + Her waist ye weel micht span.' + +"Oh, Aileen, if I might--if I only had the right! Won't you give it me, +dear heart?" + +In the long silence my pulse stopped, then throbbed like an aching tooth. + +"I'm waiting, Aileen. It is to be yes or no?" + +The shy blue eyes met mine for an instant before they fluttered +groundward. I could scarce make out the low sweet music of her voice. + +"Oh, Kenneth, not now! You forget--my brother Malcolm----" + +"I forget everything but this, that I love you." + +In her cheeks was being fought the war of the roses, with Lancaster +victorious. The long-lashed eyes came up to meet mine bravely, love lucent +in them. Our glances married; in those clear Highland lochs of hers I was +sunk fathoms deep. + +"Truly, Kenneth?" + +"From the head to the heel of you, Aileen, lass. For you I would die, and +that is all there is about it," I cried, wildly. + +"Well then, take me, Kenneth! I am all yours. Of telling love there will +be many ways in the Gaelic, and I am thinking them all at once." + +And this is the plain story of how the great happiness came into Kenneth +Montagu's life, and how, though all unworthy, he won for his own the +daughter of Raasay. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE AFTERMATH + + +At Edinburgh we received check one. Aileen's aunt had left for the +Highlands the week before in a fine rage because the Duke of Cumberland, +who had foisted himself upon her unwilling hospitality, had eaten her out +of house and home, then departing had borne away with him her cherished +household _penates_ to the value of some hundred pounds. Years later Major +Wolfe told me with twinkling eyes the story of how the fiery little lady +came to him with her tale of woe. If she did not go straight to the dour +Duke it was because he was already out of the city and beyond her reach. +Into Wolfe's quarters she bounced, rage and suspicion speaking eloquent in +her manner. + +"Hech, sir! Where have ye that Dutch Prince of yours?" she demanded of +Wolfe, her keen eyes ranging over him. + +"'Pon honour, madam, I have not him secreted on my person," returned the +Major, gravely turning inside out his pockets for her. + +The spirited old lady glowered at him. + +"It's ill setting ye to be sae humoursome," she told him frankly. "It wad +be better telling ye to answer ceevilly a ceevil question, my birkie." + +"If I can be of any service, madam----" + +"Humph, service! And that's just it, my mannie. The ill-faured tykes hae +rampaigned through the house and taen awa' my bonnie silver tea service +that I hae scoured every Monday morning for thirty-seven years come +Michelmas, forby the fine Holland linen that my father, guid carefu' man, +brought frae the continent his nainsel." + +"I am sorry----" + +"Sorry! Hear till him," she snorted. "Muckle guid your sorrow will do me +unless----" her voice fell to a wheedling cajolery--"you just be a guid +laddie and get me back my linen and the silver." + +"The Duke has a partiality for fine bed linen, and quaint silver devices +are almost a mania with him. Perhaps some of your other possessions"-- + +"His Dutch officers ate me out of house and home. They took awa' eight +sacks of the best lump sugar." + +"The army is in need of sugar. I fear it is not recoverable." + +Miss MacBean had a way of affecting deafness when the occasion suited +her. + +"Eih, sir! Were you saying you wad see it was recovered? And my silver set +wi' twenty solid teaspoons, forby the linen?" she asked anxiously, her +hand to her ear. + +Wolfe smiled. + +"I fear the Duke----" + +"Ou ay, I ken fine you fear him. He's gurly enough, Guid kens." + +"I was about to say, madam, that I fear the Duke will regard them as +spoils from the enemy not to be given up." + +The Major was right. Miss MacBean might as well have saved her breath to +cool her porridge, for the Duke carried her possessions to London despite +her remonstrances. Five years later as I was passing by a pawnbroker's +shop on a mean street in London Miss MacBean's teapot with its curious +device of a winged dragon for a spout caught my eye in the window. The +shopkeeper told me that it had been sold him by a woman of the demi-monde +who had formerly been a mistress of the Duke of Cumberland. She said that +it was a present from his Royal Highness, who had taken the silver service +from the house of a fiery rebel lady in the north. + +Our stay in the Scottish capital was of the shortest. In the early morning +we went knocking at the door of Miss MacBean's house. All day I kept under +cover and in the darkness of night we slipped out of the city southwest +bound. Of that journey, its sweet comradeship, its shy confidences, its +perpetual surprises for each of us in discovering the other, I have no +time nor mind to tell. The very danger which was never absent from our +travel drew us into a closer friendliness. Was there an option between two +roads, or the question of the desirability of putting up at a certain inn, +our heads came together to discuss it. Her pretty confidence in me was +touching in the extreme. To have her hold me a Captain Greatheart made my +soul glad, even though I knew my measure did not fit the specifications by +a mile. Her trust in me was less an incense to my vanity than a spur to my +manhood. + +The mere joy of living flooded my blood with happiness in those days. I +vow it made me a better man to breathe the same air as she, to hear the +lilt of her merry laugh and the low music of her sweet voice. Not a curve +in that dimpled cheek I did not love; not a ripple in the russet hair my +hungry eyes had not approved. When her shy glance fell on me I rode in the +sunshine of bluest sky. If by chance her hand touched mine, my veins +leaped with the wine of it. Of such does the happiness of youth consist. + +'Tis strange how greedy love is in its early days of the past from which +it has been excluded, how jealous sometimes of the point of contact with +other lives in the unknown years which have gone to make up the rungs of +the ladder of life. I was never tired of hearing of her childhood on the +braes of Raasay: how she guddled for mountain trout in the burn with her +brother Murdoch or hung around his neck chains of daisies in childish +glee. And she-- Faith, she drew me out with shy questions till that part +of my life which would bear telling must have been to her a book learned +by rote. + +Yet there were times when we came near to misunderstanding of each other. +The dear child had been brought up in a houseful of men, her mother having +died while she was yet an infant, and she was in some ways still innocent +as a babe. The circumstances of our journey put her so much in my power +that I, not to take advantage of the situation, sometimes held myself with +undue stiffness toward her when my every impulse was to tenderness. +Perhaps it might be that we rode through woodland in the falling dusk +while the nesting birds sang madrigals of love. Longing with all my heart +to touch but the hem of her gown, I would yet ride with a wooden face set +to the front immovably, deaf to her indirect little appeals for +friendliness. Presently, ashamed of my gruffness, I would yield to the +sweetness of her charm, good resolutions windwood scattered, and woo her +with a lover's ardour till the wild-rose deepened in her cheek. + +"Were you ever in love before, Kennie?" she asked me once, twisting at a +button of my coat. We were drawing near Manchester and had let the +postillion drive on with the coach, while we loitered hand in hand through +the forest of Arden. The azure sky was not more blue than the eyes which +lifted shyly to mine, nor the twinkling stars which would soon gaze down +on us one half so bright. + +I laughed happily. "Once--in a boy's way--a thousand years ago." + +"And were you caring for her--much?" + +"Oh, vastly." + +"And she--wass she loving you too?" + +"More than tongue could tell, she made me believe." + +"Oh, I am not wondering at that," said my heart's desire. "Of course she +would be loving you." + +'Twas Aileen's way to say the thing she thought, directly, in headlong +Highland fashion. Of finesse she used none. She loved me (oh, a thousand +times more than I deserved!) and that was all there was about it. To be +ashamed of her love or to hide it never, I think, occurred to her. What +more natural then than that others should think of me as she did? + +"Of course," I said dryly. "But in the end my sweetheart, plighted to me +for all eternity, had to choose betwixt her lover and something she had +which he much desired. She sighed, deliberated long--full five seconds I +vow--and in end played traitor to love. She was desolated to lose me, but +the alternative was not to be endured. She sacrificed me for a raspberry +tart. So was shattered young love's first dream. 'Tis my only consolation +that I snatched the tart and eat it as I ran. Thus Phyllis lost both her +lover and her portion. Ah, those brave golden days! The world, an +unexplored wonder, lay at my feet. She was seven, I was nine." + +"Oh." There was an odd little note of relief in the velvet voice that +seemed to reproach me for a brute. I was forever forgetting that the ways +of 'Toinette Westerleigh were not the ways of Aileen Macleod. + +The dying sun flooded the topmost branches of the forest foliage. My eyes +came round to the aureole which was their usual magnet. + +"When the sun catches it 'tis shot with glints of gold." + +"It is indeed very beautiful." + +"In cloudy weather 'tis a burnished bronze." + +She looked at me in surprise. + +"Bronze! Surely you are meaning green?" + +"Not I, bronze. Again you might swear it russet." + +"That will be in the autumn when they are turning colour just before the +fall." + +"No, that is when you have it neatly snodded and the firelight plays about +your head." + +She laughed, flushing. "You will be forever at your foolishness, Kenn. I +thought you meant the tree tips." + +"Is the truth foolishness?" + +"You are a lover, Kennie. Other folks don't see that when they look at +me." + +"Other folks are blind," I maintained, stoutly. + +"If you see all that I will be sure that what they say is true and love is +blind." + +"The wise man is the lover. He sees clear for the first time in his life. +The sun shines for him--and her. For them the birds sing and the flowers +bloom. For them the world was made. They----" + +"Whiles talk blethers," she laughed. + +"Yes, they do," I admitted. "And there again is another sign of wisdom. +Your ponderous fool talks pompous sense always. He sees life in only one +facet. Your lover sees its many sides, its infinite variety. He can laugh +and weep; his imagination lights up dry facts with whimsical fancies; he +dives through the crust of conventionality to the realities of life. 'Tis +the lover keeps this old world young. The fire of youth, of eternal +laughing youth, runs flaming through his blood. His days are radiant, his +nights enchanted." + +"I am thinking you quite a poet." + +"Was there ever a better subject for a poem? Life would be poetry writ +into action if all men were lovers--and all women Aileens." + +"Ah, Kenneth! This fine talk I do not understand. It's sheer nonsense to +tell such idle clavers about me. Am I not just a plain Highland lassie, as +unskilled in flattering speeches as in furbelows and patches? Gin you will +play me a spring on the pipes I'll maybe can dance you the fling, but of +French minuets I have small skill." + +"Call me dreamer if you will. By Helen's glove, your dreamer might be the +envy of kings. Since I have known you life has taken a different hue. One +lives for years without joy, pain, colour, all things toned to the dull +monochrome of gray, and then one day the contact with another soul +quickens one to renewed life, to more eager unselfish living. Never so +bright a sun before, never so beautiful a moon. 'Tis true, Aileen. No fear +but one, that Fate, jealous, may snatch my love from me." + +Her laughter dashed my heroics; yet I felt, too, that back of her smiles +there was belief. + +"I dare say. At the least I will have heard it before. The voice iss +Jacob's voice, but----" + +I blushed, remembering too late that my text and its application were both +Volney's. + +"'Tis true, even if Jacob said it first. If a man is worth his salt love +must purify him. Sure it must. I am a better man for knowing you." + +A shy wonder filled her eyes; thankfulness too was there. + +"Yet you are a man that has fought battles and known life, and I am only +an ignorant girl." + +I lifted her hand and kissed it. + +"You are my queen, and I am your most loyal and devoted servant." + +"For always, Kenn? When you are meeting the fine ladies of London will you +love a Highland lassie that cannot make eyes and swear choicely?" + +"Forever and a day, dear." + +Aileen referred to the subject again two hours later when we arose from +the table at the Manchester ordinary. It was her usual custom to retire to +her room immediately after eating. To-night when I escorted her to the +door she stood for a moment drawing patterns on the lintel with her fan. A +fine blush touched her cheek. + +"Were you meaning all that, Kennie?" + +"All what, dear heart?" + +"That--nonsense--in the forest." + +"Every bit of it." + +Her fan spelt Kenneth on the door. + +"Sometimes," she went on softly, "a fancy is built on moonlight and +laughing eyes and opportunity. It iss like sunshine in winter on +Raasay--just for an hour and then the mists fall." + +"For our love there will be no mists." + +"Ah, Kenn, you think so now, but afterward, when you take up again your +London life, and I cannot play the lady of fashion, when you weary of my +simpleness and are wishing me back among the purple heather hills?" + +"That will be never, unless I wish myself there with you. I am no London +Mohawk like Volney. To tramp the heather after muircocks or to ride to +hounds is more my fancy. The Macaronis and I came long since to the +parting of the ways. I am for a snug home in the country with the woman I +love." + +I stepped to the table, filled a glass with wine, and brought it to her. + +"Come, love! We will drink together. How is it old Ben Jonson hath it? + + "'Drink to me only with thine eyes, + And I will pledge with mine; + Or leave a kiss but in the cup, + And I'll not look for wine. + The thirst that from the soul doth rise + Doth seek a drink divine; + But might I of Jove's nectar sup + I would not change from thine.' + +"Drink, sweetheart." + +She tasted, then I drained the glass and let it fall from my fingers to +shiver on the floor. + +Before we parted Aileen had one more word for me, "Kennie." + +"Yes, dear heart," I cried, and was back at her side in a moment. + +"What you said in the woods--I am knowing it all true. It is great +foolishness, but my heart is singing the same song," and with that she +whipped the door to in my face. + +I sauntered into the common room, found a seat by the fireplace, and let +my eye wander over the company. There were present some half dozen yokels, +the vicar's curate, a country blood or two, and a little withered runt of +a man in fustian with a weazened face like a wrinkled pippin. The moment I +clapped eyes on him there came to my mind the dim recollection of a former +acquaintance and the prescient fear of an impending danger. That I had +seen him I was ready to take oath, yet I could not put my finger upon the +circumstances. But the worst of it was that the old fellow recognized me, +unless I were much mistaken, for his eyes never left me from the first. + +From my mother I have inherited a Highland jauntiness which comes stealing +over me when sobriety would set me better. Let the situation be a +different one, uncertain of solution, with heads tipping in the balance, +and an absurd spirit of recklessness straightway possesses me. But now, +with this dear child on my hands, carelessness and I were far apart as the +poles. Anxiety gripped me, and I sweated blood. Yet I must play the +careless traveller, be full of good stories, unperturbed on the surface +and apparently far from alarm. I began to overdo the part, recognized the +fact, and grew savage at myself. Trying to conciliate him, I was free with +the ale, and again overdid it. + +He drank my ale and listened to my stories, but he sat cocking on his seat +like an imp of mischief. I rattled on, insouciant and careless to all +appearances, but in reality my heart like lead. Behind my smiling lips I +cursed him up hill and down dale. Lard, his malicious grin was a thing to +rile the gods! More than once I wake up in the night from dreaming that +his scrawny hand was clapping the darbies on my wrists. + +When we were ready to start next morning the post boy let me know that one +of the horses had gone lame. Here was a pretty pickle. I pished and +pshawed, but in the end had to scour the town to find another in its +place. 'Twas well on toward noon when the boy and I returned to the +ordinary with a nag that would serve. + +Of other lovers I have scant knowledge, but the one I know was wont to +cherish the memory of things his love had said and how she had said them; +with what a pretty tilt to her chin, with what a daring shyness of the +eyes, with what a fine colour and impetuous audacity she had done this or +looked that. He was wont in advance to plan out conversations, to decide +that he would tell her some odd brain fancy and watch her while he told +it. Many an hour he spent in the fairy land of imagination; many a one he +dreamed away in love castles built of fancied rambles in enchanted woods, +of sweet talks in which he always said and did the right thing; destined +alas! never to pass from mind to speech, for if ever tongue essayed the +telling it faltered some fatuous abortion as little like love's dream as +Caliban resembled Ariel. Fresh from the brave world of day-dreams, still +smiling happily from some whimsical conceit as well as with anticipation +of Aileen's gladness at sight of me, I passed through the courtyard and +into the ordinary. + +A hubbub at the foot of the stairway attracted me. A gaping crowd was +gathered there about three central figures. My weasened pippin-face of the +malicious grin was one of them; a broad-shouldered, fair-faced and very +much embarrassed young officer in the King's uniform stood beside him; and +from the stairway some three steps up Aileen, plainly frightened, fronted +them and answered questions in her broken English. + +"I am desolated to distress you, madam," the boy officer was saying, "but +this man has laid an information with me that there is a rebel in your +party, one who was in Manchester with the Pretender's force some months +since. It will be necessary that I have speech with him." + +"There iss no rebel with me, sir. The gentleman with whom I travel iss of +most approved loyalty," she faltered. + +"Ah! He will no doubt be able to make that clear to me. May I ask where he +is at present?" + +Aileen went white as snow. Her distress was apparent to all. + +"Sir, I do entreat you to believe that what I say iss true," she cried +whitely. + +The little rat in fustian broke out screaming that he would swear to me +among ten thousand: as to the girl she must be the rebel's accomplice, his +mistress mayhap. Aileen, her big, anxious eyes fixed on the officer, +shrank back against the stair rail at her accuser's word. The lad +commanded him sharply to be quiet, but with the utmost respect let Aileen +understand that he must have talk with me. + +All this one swift glance had told me, and at this opportune moment I +sauntered up, Volney's snuff-box in my hand. If the doubt possessed me as +to how the devil I was to win free from this accusation, I trust no shadow +of fear betrayed itself in my smirking face. + +"Egad, here's a gathering of the clans. Hope I'm not _de trop_," I +simpered. + +The lieutenant bowed to me with evident relief. + +"On the contrary, sir, if you are the gentleman travelling with this lady +you are the desired complement to our party. There has been some doubt +expressed as to you. This man here claims to have recognized you as one of +the Pretender's army; says he was present when you bought provisions for a +troop of horsemen during the rebel invasion of this town." + +"'Slife, perhaps I'm Charles Stuart himself," I shrugged. + +"I swear to him. I swear to him," screamed fustian. + +On my soul merely to look at the man gave me a nausea. His white +malevolence fair scunnered me. + +I adjusted Volney's eye-glass with care and looked the fellow over with a +candid interest, much as your scientist examines a new specimen. + +"What the plague! Is this rusty old last year's pippin an evidence against +me? Rot me, he's a pretty scrub on which to father a charge against a +gentleman, Lud, his face is a lie. No less!" + +"May I ask your name, sir, and your business in this part of the country?" +said the lieutenant. + +Some impulse--perhaps the fact that I was wearing his clothes--put it into +my head to borrow Volney's name. There was risk that the lad might have +met the baronet, but that was a contingency which must be ventured. It +brought him to like a shot across a lugger's bows. + +"Sir Robert Volney, the friend of the Prince," he said, patently +astonished. + +"The Prince has that honour," I smiled. + +"Pray pardon my insistence. Orders from headquarters," says he +apologetically. + +I waved aside his excuses peevishly. + +"Sink me, Sir Robert Volney should be well enough known not to be badgered +by every country booby with a king's commission. Lard, I vow I'll have a +change when Fritz wears the crown." + +With that I turned on my heel in a simulation of petty anger, offered my +arm to Aileen, and marched up the stairs with her. My manner and my speech +were full of flowered compliments to her, of insolence to the young +gentleman below, for there is nothing more galling to a man's pride than +to be ignored. + +"'Twas the only way," I said to Aileen when the door was closed on us +above. "'Tis a shame to flout an honest young gentleman so, but in such +fashion the macaroni would play the part. Had I stayed to talk with him he +might have asked for my proof. We're well out of the affair." + +But we were not out of it yet. I make no doubt that no sooner was my back +turned than the little rat in fustian, his mind set on a possible reward, +was plucking at the lad's sleeve with suggestions and doubts. In any case +there came presently a knock at the door. I opened. The boy officer was +there with a red face obstinately set. + +"Sir, I must trouble you again," he said icily. "You say you are Sir +Robert Volney. I must ask you for proofs." + +At once I knew that I had overdone my part. It had been better to have +dealt with this youth courteously; but since I had chosen my part, I must +play it. + +"Proofs," I cried blackly. "Do you think I carry proofs of my identity for +every country bumpkin to read? Sink me, 'tis an outrage." + +He flushed, but hung doggedly to his point. + +"You gain nothing by insulting me, Sir Robert. I may be only a poor line +officer and you one high in power, but by Heaven! I'm as good a man as +you," cried the boy; then rapped out, "I'll see your papers, if you have +me broke for it." + +My papers! An inspiration shot into my brain. When Volney had substituted +for me at Portree he had given me a pass through the lines, made out in +his name and signed by the Duke of Cumberland, in order that I might +present it if challenged. Hitherto I had not been challenged, and indeed I +had forgotten the existence of it, but now-- I fished out the sheet of +parchment and handed it to the officer. His eye ran over the passport, and +he handed it back with a flushed face. + +"I have to offer a thousand apologies for troubling you, Sir Robert. This +paper establishes your identity beyond doubt." + +"Hope you're quite satisfied," I said with vast irony. + +"Oh, just one more question. The lady travelling with you?" + +I watched him silently. + +"She is from the Highlands, is she not?" he asked. + +"Is she?" + +"To be sure 'tis sufficient if Sir Robert Volney vouches for her." + +"Is it?" + +"And of course the fact that she travels in his company----" + +My answer was a yawn, half stifled behind my hand. The lad glared at me, +in a rage at me for my insolence and at himself for his boyish inability +to cope with it. Then he swung on his heel and stamped down-stairs. Five +years later I met him at a dinner given by a neighbour of mine in the +country, and I took occasion then to explain to him my intolerable +conduct. Many a laugh we have since had over it. + +We reached London on a dismal Wednesday when the rain was pouring down in +sheets. Aileen I took at once to our town house that she might be with +Cloe, though I expected to put up with my old nurse in another part of the +city. I leave you to conceive the surprise of Charles and my sister when +we dropped in on them. + +The news they had for us was of the worst. Every week witnessed the +execution of some poor Jacobites and the arrival of a fresh batch to take +their place in the prisons. The Scotch Lords Balmerino, Cromartie and +Kilmarnock were already on trial and their condemnation was a foregone +conclusion. The thirst for blood was appalling and not at all glutted by +the numerous executions that had already occurred. 'Twas indeed for me a +most dismal home-coming. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A REPRIEVE! + + +"My Lord of March, is Arthur Lord Balmerino guilty of High Treason?" + +Lord March, youngest peer of the realm, profligate and scoundrel, laid his +hand on the place where his heart ought to have been and passed judgment +unctuously. + +"Guilty, upon my honour." + +The Lord High Steward repeated the same question to each of the peers in +order of their age and received from each the same answer. As it became +plain that the prisoner at the bar was to be convicted the +gentleman-gaoler gradually turned the edge of his axe toward Balmerino, +whose manner was nonchalant and scornful. When the vote had been polled my +Lord bowed to the judges with dignity and remarked, "I am sorry to have +taken up so much of your time without avail, my lords. If I pleaded 'not +guilty' my principal reason was that the ladies might not miss their +show." Shortly afterward he was ushered out of Westminster Hall to his +carriage. + +From the view-point of the whigs Balmerino was undoubtedly guilty as +Lucifer and not all the fair play in the world could have saved him from +Tower Hill. He was twice a rebel, having been pardoned for his part in +"the '15," and 'twas not to be expected that so hardened an offender would +again receive mercy. But at the least he might have been given courtesy, +and that neither he nor his two fellows, Kilmarnock and Cromartie, did at +all receive. The crown lawyers to the contrary took an unmanly delight in +girding and snapping at the captives whom the fortune of war had put in +their power. Monstrous charges were trumped up that could not be +substantiated, even the Lord High Steward descending to vituperation. + +Horry Walpole admitted Balmerino to be the bravest man he had ever seen. +Throughout the trial his demeanour had been characteristic of the man, +bold and intrepid even to the point of bravado. The stout old lord +conversed with the official axe-bearer and felt the edge of the ominous +instrument with the unconcern of any chance spectator. There was present a +little boy who could see nothing for the crowd and Balmerino alone was +unselfish enough to think of him. He made a seat for the child beside +himself and took care that he missed nothing of the ceremony. When the +Solicitor-General, whose brother, Secretary Murray, had saved his own life +by turning evidence against Balmerino, went up to the Scotch Lord and +asked him insolently how he dared give the peers so much trouble, +Balmerino drew himself up with dignity and asked, "Who is this person?" +Being told that it was Mr. Murray, "Oh!" he answered smiling, "Mr. Murray! +I am glad to see you. I have been with several of your relations; the good +lady your mother was of great use to us at Perth." + +Through the crowd I elbowed my way and waited for the three condemned +Scotch lords to pass into their carriages. Balmerino, bluff and soldierly, +led the way; next came the tall and elegant Kilmarnock; Lord Cromartie, +plainly nervous and depressed, brought up the rear. Balmerino recognized +me, nodded almost imperceptibly, but of course gave no other sign of +knowing the gawky apprentice who gaped at him along with a thousand +others. Some one in the crowd cried out, "Which is Balmerino?" The old +lord turned courteously, and said with a bow, "I am Balmerino." At the +door of the coach he stopped to shake hands with his fellow-sufferers. + +"I am sorry that I alone cannot pay the debt, gentlemen. But after all +'tis but what we owe to nature sooner or later, the common debt of all. I +bear in mind what Sir Walter Raleigh wrote the night before his head paid +forfeit. + + "'Cowards fear to die; but courage stout, + Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.' + +"Poor Murray drags out a miserable life despised by all, but we go to our +God with clean hands. By St. Andrew, the better lot is ours." + +"I think of my poor wife and eight fatherless bairns," said Cromartie +sadly. + +Rough Arthur Elphinstone's comforting hand fell on his shoulder. + +"A driech outlook, my friend. You must commend them to the God of orphans +if the worst befalls. As for us-- Well, in the next world we will not be +tried by a whig jury." + +Balmerino stepped into the coach which was waiting to convey him to the +Tower. The gentleman-gaoler followed with the official axe, the edge of +which still pointed toward its victim. He must have handled it carelessly +in getting into the carriage, for I heard Balmerino bark out, + +"Take care, man, or you'll break my shins with that d----d axe." + +They were the last words I ever heard from his lips. The door slammed and +the coach drove away to the prison, from which my Lord came forth only to +meet the headsman and his block. + +Sadly I made my way towards the city through the jostling crowds of +sightseers. Another batch of captives from the North was to pass through +the town that day on their way to prison, and a fleering rabble surged to +and fro about the streets of London in gala dress, boisterous, jovial, +pitiless. From high to low by common consent the town made holiday. Above +the common ruck, in windows hired for the occasion, the fashionable world, +exuding patronage and perfume, sat waiting for the dreary procession to +pass. In the windows opposite where I found standing room a party from the +West End made much talk and laughter. In the group I recognized Antoinette +Westerleigh, Sir James Craven, and Topham Beauclerc. + +"Slitterkins! I couldn't get a seat at Westminster Hall this morning for +love or money," pouted Mistress Westerleigh. "'Tis pity you men can't find +room for a poor girl to see the show." + +"Egad, there might as well have been no rebellion at all," said Beauclerc +dryly. "Still, you can go to see their heads chopped off. 'Twill be some +compensation." + +"I suppose you'll go, Selwyn," said Craven to that gentleman, who with +Volney had just joined the group. + +"I suppose so, and to make amends I'll go to see them sewn on again," +returned Selwyn. + +"I hear you want the High Steward's wand for a memento," said Beauclerc. + +"Not I," returned Selwyn. "I did, but egad! he behaved so like an attorney +the first day and so like a pettifogger the second that I wouldn't take +the wand to light my fire with." + +"Here they come, sink me!" cried Craven, and craned forward to get a first +glimpse of the wretched prisoners. + +First came four wagon-loads of the wounded, huddled together thick as +shrimps, their pallid faces and forlorn appearance a mute cry for +sympathy. The mob roared like wild beasts, poured out maledictions on +their unkempt heads, hurled stones and sticks at them amid furious din and +clamour. At times it seemed as if the prisoners would be torn from the +hands of their guard by the excited mob. Scarce any name was found too +vile with which to execrate these unfortunate gentlemen who had been +guilty of no crime but excessive loyalty. + +Some of the captives were destined for the New Prison in Southwark, others +for Newgate, and a few for the Marshalsea. Those of the prisoners who were +able to walk were handcuffed together in couples, with the exception of a +few of the officers who rode on horseback bound hand and foot. Among the +horsemen I easily recognized Malcolm Macleod, who sat erect, dour, +scornful, his strong face set like a vise, looking neither to the right +nor the left. Another batch of foot prisoners followed. Several of the +poor fellows were known to me, including Leath, Chadwick, and the lawyer +Morgan. My roving eye fell on Creagh and Captain Roy shackled together. + +From the window above a piercing cry of agony rang out. + +"Tony! Tony!" + +Creagh slewed round his head and threw up his free hand. + +"'Toinette!" he cried. + +But Miss Westerleigh had fainted, and Volney was already carrying her from +the window with the flicker of a grim smile on his face. I noticed with +relief that Craven had disappeared from sight. + +My relief was temporary. When I turned to leave I found my limbs clogged +with impedimenta. To each arm hung a bailiff, and a third clung like a +leech to my legs. Some paces distant Sir James Craven stood hulloing them +to the sport with malign pleasure. + +"To it, fustian breeches! Yoho, yoho! There's ten guineas in it for each +of you and two hundred for me. 'Slife, down with him, you red-haired +fellow! Throw him hard. Ecod, I'll teach you to be rough with Craven, my +cockerel Montagu!" And the bully kicked me twice where I lay. + +They dragged me to my feet, and Craven began to sharpen his dull wit on +me. + +"Two hundred guineas I get out of this, you cursed rebel highwayman, +besides the pleasure of seeing you wear hemp--and that's worth a hundred +more, sink my soul to hell if it isn't." + +"Your soul is sunk there long ago, and this blackguard job sends you one +circle lower in the Inferno, Catchpoll Craven," said a sneering voice +behind him. + +Craven swung on his heel in a fury, but Volney's easy manner--and perhaps +the reputation of his small sword too--damped the mettle of his courage. +He drew back with a curse, whispered a word into the ear of the nearest +bailiff, and shouldered his way into the crowd, from the midst of which he +watched us with a sneer. + +"And what mad folly, may I ask, brought you back to London a-courting the +gallows?" inquired Volney of me. + +"Haven't you heard that Malcolm Macleod is taken?" I asked. + +"And did you come to exchange places with him? On my soul you're madder +than I thought. Couldn't you trust me to see that my future brother-in-law +comes to no harm without ramming your own head down the lion's throat? +Faith, I think Craven has the right of it: the hempen noose is yawning for +such fools as you." + +The bailiffs took me to the New Prison and thrust me into an underground +cell about the walls of which moisture hung in beads. Like the rest of the +prisoners I was heavily ironed by day and fastened down to the floor by a +staple at night. One hour in the day we were suffered to go into the yard +for exercise and to be inspected and commented upon by the great number of +visitors who were allowed access to the prison. On the second day of my +arrival I stood blinking in the strong sunlight, having just come up from +my dark cell, when two prisoners shuffled across the open to me, their +fetters dragging on the ground. Conceive my great joy at finding Creagh +and Donald Roy fellow inmates of New Prison with me. Indeed Captain Roy +occupied the very next cell to mine. + +I shall not weary you with any account of our captivity except to state +that the long confinement in my foul cell sapped my health. I fell victim +to agues and fevers. Day by day I grew worse until I began to think that +'twas a race between disease and the gallows. Came at last my trial, and +prison attendants haled me away to the courts. Poor Leath, white to the +lips, was being hustled out of the room just as I entered. + +"By Heaven, Montagu, these whigs treat us like dogs," he cried +passionately to me. "They are not content with our lives, but must heap +foul names and infamy upon us." + +The guards hurried us apart before I could answer. I asked one of them +what the verdict had been in Leath's case, and the fellow with an evil +laugh made a horrid gesture with his hands that confirmed my worst fears. + +In the court room I found a frowning judge, a smug-faced yawning jury, and +row upon row of eager curious spectators come to see the show. Besides +these there were some half-score of my friends attending in the vain hope +of lending me countenance. My shifting glance fell on Charles, Cloe, and +Aileen, all three with faces like the corpse for colour and despairing +eyes which spoke of a hopeless misery. They had fought desperately for my +life, but they knew I was doomed. I smiled sadly on them, then turned to +shake hands with George Selwyn. + +He hoped, in his gentle drawl, that I would win clear. My face lit up at +his kindly interest. I was like a drowning man clutching at straws. Even +the good-will of a turnkey was of value to me. + +"Thanks, Selwyn," I said, a little brokenly. "I'm afraid there's no chance +for me, but it's good hearing that you are on my side." + +He appeared embarrassed at my eagerness. Not quite good form he thought +it, I dare say. His next words damped the glow at my heart. + +"'Gad, yes! Of course. I ought to be; bet five ponies with Craven that you +would cheat the gallows yet. He gave me odds of three to one, and I +thought it a pretty good risk." + +It occurred to me fantastically that he was looking me over with the eye +of an underwriter who has insured at a heavy premium a rotten hulk bound +for stormy seas. I laughed bitterly. + +"You may win yet," I said. "This cursed prison fever is eating me up;" and +with that I turned my back on him. + +I do not intend to go into my trial with any particularity. From first to +last I had no chance and everybody in the room understood it. There were a +dozen witnesses to prove that I had been in the thick of the rebellion. +Among the rest was Volney, in a vile temper at being called on to give +testimony. He was one of your reluctant witnesses, showed a decided +acrimony toward the prosecution, and had to have the facts drawn out of +him as with a forceps. Such a witness, of high social standing and +evidently anxious to shield me, was worth to the State more than all the +other paltry witnesses combined. The jury voted guilty without leaving the +court-room, after which the judge donned his black cap and pronounced the +horrible judgment which was the doom of traitors. I was gash with fear, +but I looked him in the face and took it smilingly. It was Volney who led +the murmur of approval which greeted my audacity, a murmur which broke +frankly into applause when Aileen, white to the lips, came fearlessly up +to bid me be of good cheer, that she would save me yet if the importunity +of a woman would avail aught. + +Wearily the days dragged themselves into weeks, and still no word of hope +came to cheer me. There was, however, one incident that gave me much +pleasure. On the afternoon before the day set for our execution Donald Roy +made his escape. Some one had given him a file and he had been tinkering +at his irons for days. We were in the yard for our period of exercise, and +half a dozen of us, pretending to be in earnest conversation together, +surrounded him while he snapped the irons. Some days before this time he +had asked permission to wear the English dress, and he now coolly +sauntered out of the prison with some of the visitors quite unnoticed by +the guard. + +The morning dawned on which nine of us were to be executed. Our coffee was +served to us in the room off the yard, and we drank it in silence. I +noticed gladly that Macdonald was not with us, and from that argued that +he had not been recaptured. + +"Here's wishing him a safe escape from the country," said Creagh. + +"Lucky dog!" murmured Leath, "I hope they won't nail him again." + +Brandy was served. Creagh named the toast and we drank it standing. + +"King James!" + +The governor of the prison bustled in just as the broken glasses shivered +behind us. + +"Now gentlemen, if you are quite ready." + +Three sledges waited for us in the yard to draw us to the gallows tree. +There was no cowardly feeling, but perhaps a little dilatoriness in +getting into the first sledge. Five minutes might bring a reprieve for any +of us, and to be in the first sledge might mean the difference between +life and death. + +"Come, gentlemen! If you please! Let us have no more halting," said the +governor, irritably. + +Creagh laughed hardily and vaulted into the sledge. "Egad, you're right! +We'll try a little haltering for a change." + +Morgan followed him, and I took the third place. + +A rider dismounted at the prison gate. + +"Is there any news for me?" asked one poor fellow eagerly. + +"Yes, the sheriff has just come and is waiting for you," jeered one of the +guards with brutal frankness. + +The poor fellow stiffened at once. "Very well. I am ready." + +A heavy rain was falling, but the crowd between the prison and Kennington +Common was immense. At the time of our trials the mob had treated us in +ruffianly fashion, but now we found a respectful silence. The lawyer +Morgan was in an extremely irritable mood. All the way to the Common he +poured into our inattentive ears a tale of woe about how his coffee had +been cold that morning. Over and over again he recited to us the legal +procedure for bringing the matter into the courts with sufficient effect +to have the prison governor removed from his position. + +A messenger with an official document was waiting for us at the gallows. +The sheriff tore it open. We had all been bearing ourselves boldly enough +I dare say, but at sight of that paper our lips parched, our throats +choked, and our eyes burned. Some one was to be pardoned or reprieved. But +who? What a moment! How the horror of it lives in one's mind! Leisurely +the sheriff read the document through, then deliberately went over it +again while nine hearts stood still. Creagh found the hardihood at that +moment of intense anxiety to complain of the rope about his neck. + +"I wish the gossoon who made this halter was to be hanged in it. 'Slife, +the thing doesn't fit by a mile," he said jauntily. + +"Mr. Anthony Creagh pardoned, Mr. Kenneth Montagu reprieved," said the +sheriff without a trace of feeling in his voice. + +For an instant the world swam dizzily before me. I closed my eyes, partly +from faintness, partly to hide from the other poor fellows the joy that +leaped to them. One by one the brave lads came up and shook hands with +Creagh and me in congratulation. Their good-will took me by the throat, +and I could only wring their hands in silence. + +On our way back to the prison Creagh turned to me with streaming eyes. "Do +you know whom I have to thank for this, Kenneth?" + +"No. Whom?" + +"Antoinette Westerleigh, God bless her dear heart!" + +And that set me wondering. It might be that Charles and Aileen alone had +won my reprieve for me, but I suspected Volney's fine hand in the matter. +Whether he had stirred himself in my affairs or not, I knew that I too +owed my life none the less to the leal heart of a girl. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +VOLNEY'S GUEST + + +Of all the London beaux not one had apartments more elegant than Sir +Robert Volney.[3] It was one of the man's vanities to play the part of a +fop, to disguise his restless force and eager brain beneath the vapid +punctilios of a man of fashion. There were few suspected that his reckless +gayety was but a mask to hide a weary, unsatisfied heart, and that this +smiling debonair gentleman with the biting wit was in truth the least +happy of men. Long he had played his chosen role. Often he doubted whether +the game were worth the candle, but he knew that he would play it to the +end, and since he had so elected would bear himself so that all men should +mark him. If life were not what the boy Robert Volney had conceived it; if +failure were inevitable and even the fruit of achievement bitter; if his +nature and its enveloping circumstance had proven more strong than his +dim, fast-fading, boyish ideals, at least he could cross the stage +gracefully and bow himself off with a jest. So much he owed himself and so +much he would pay. + +Something of all this perhaps was in Sir Robert Volney's mind as he lay on +the couch with dreamy eyes cast back into the yesterdays of life, that dim +past which echoed faintly back to him memories of a brave vanished youth. +On his lips, no doubt, played the half ironic, half wistful smile which +had become habitual to the man. + +And while with half-shut eyes his mind drifted lazily back to that golden +age forever gone, enter from the inner room, Captain Donald Roy Macdonald, +a cocked pistol in his hand, on his head Volney's hat and wig, on his back +Volney's coat, on his feet Volney's boots. The baronet eyed the Highlander +with mild astonishment, then rose to his feet and offered him a chair. + +"Delighted, I'm sure," he said politely. + +"You look it," drolled Macdonald. + +"Off to the wars again, or are you still at your old profession of +lifting, my Highland cateran?" + +Donald shrugged. "I am a man of many trades. In my day I have been +soldier, sailor, reiver, hunter and hunted, doctor and patient, forby a +wheen mair. What the gods provide I take." + +"Hm! So I see. Prithee, make yourself at home," was Volney's ironical +advice. + +Macdonald fell into an attitude before the glass and admired himself +vastly. + +"Fegs, I will that. The small-clothes now-- Are they not an admirable fit +whatever? And the coat-- 'Tis my measure to a nicety. Let me congratulate +you on your tailor. Need I say that the periwig is a triumph of the +friseur's art?" + +"Your approval flatters me immensely," murmured Volney, smiling +whimsically. "Faith, I never liked my clothes so well as now. You make an +admirable setting for them, Captain, but the ruffles are somewhat in +disarray. If you will permit me to ring for my valet Watkins he will be at +your service. Devil take him, he should have been here an hour ago." + +"He sends by me a thousand excuses for his absence. The fact is that he is +unavoidably detained." + +"Pardon me. I begin to understand. You doubtless found it necessary to put +a quietus on him. May one be permitted to hope that you didn't have to +pistol him? I should miss him vastly. He is the best valet in London." + +"Your unselfish attachment to him does you infinite credit, Sir Robert. It +fair brings the water to my een. But it joys me to reassure you at all +events. He is in your bedroom tied hand and foot, biting on a knotted +kerchief. I persuaded him to take a rest." + +Volney laughed. + +"Your powers of persuasion are great, Captain Macdonald. Once you +persuaded me to leave your northern capital. The air, I think you phrased +it, was too biting for me. London too has a climate of its own, a throat +disease epidemic among northerners is working great havoc here now. One +trusts you will not fall a victim, sir. Have you--er--developed any +symptoms?" + +"'Twould nae doubt grieve you sair. You'll be gey glad to learn that the +crisis is past." + +"Charmed, 'pon honour. And would it be indiscreet to ask whether you are +making a long stay in the city?" + +"Faith, I wish I knew. Donald Roy wad be blithe to answer no. And that +minds me that I will be owing you an apology for intruding in your rooms. +Let the facts speak for me. Stravaiging through the streets with the chase +hot on my heels, your open window invited me. I stepped in, footed it +up-stairs, and found refuge in your sleeping apartments, where I took the +liberty of borrowing a change of clothes, mine being over well known at +the New Prison. So too I purloined this good sword and the pistol. That +Sir Robert Volney was my host I did not know till I chanced on some +letters addressed to that name. Believe me, I'm unco sorry to force myself +upon you." + +"I felicitate myself on having you as a guest. The vapours had me by the +throat to-night. Your presence is a sufficing tonic for a most oppressive +attack of the blue devils. This armchair has been recommended as an easy +one. Pray occupy it." + +Captain Roy tossed the pistol on a table and sat him down in the chair +with much composure. Volney poured him wine and he drank; offered him +fruit and he ate. Together, gazing into the glowing coals, they supped +their mulled claret in a luxurious silence. + +The Highlander was the first to speak. + +"It's a geyan queer warld this. _Anjour d'hui roi, demain rien._ Yestreen +I gaped away the hours in a vile hole waiting for my craig (neck) to be +raxed (twisted); the night I drink old claret in the best of company +before a cheery fire. The warm glow of it goes to my heart after that dank +cell in the prison. By heaven, the memory of that dungeon sends a shiver +down my spine." + +"To-morrow, was it not, that you were to journey to Tyburn and from thence +across the Styx?" + +"Yes, to-morrow, and with me as pretty a lot of lads as ever threw steel +across their hurdies. My heart is wae for them, the leal comrades who have +lain out with me in the heather many a night and watched the stars come +out. There's Montagu and Creagh now! We three have tholed together empty +wame and niddering cold and the weariness o' death. The hurly o' the +whistling claymore has warmed our hearts; the sight of friends stark from +lead and steel and rope has garred them rin like water. God, it makes me +feel like a deserter to let them take the lang journey alane. Did you ken +that the lad came back to get me from the field when I was wounded at +Drummossie Moor?" + +"Montagu? I never heard that." + +"Took his life in his hand to come back to that de'il's caldron where the +red bluid ran like a mountain burn. It iss the boast of the Macdonalds +that they always pay their debts both to friend and foe. Fine have I paid +mine. He will be thinking me the true friend in his hour of need," +finished Donald bitterly. + +"You don't know him. The temper of the man is not so grudging. His joy in +your escape will help deaden his own pain. Besides, what could you do for +him if you were with him at the end? 'Twould be only one more sacrifice." + +The grim dour Highland sternness hung heavy on Donald's face. + +"I could stand shoulder to shoulder with him and curse the whigs at all +events. I could cry with him 'God save King James' in the teeth of the +sidier roy." + +Volney clapped his hands softly. "Hear, hear!" he cried with flaming eyes. +"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Jacobite." + +The Gael turned to him impetuously, his blue eyes (as I conceive) moist +with emotion. + +"Man, could I persuade you to be saving the lad? It was for this that I +waited in your rooms to see you. They say that you are a favourite of +princes, that what you ask you get. Do for once a fine thing and ask this +boy's life." + +"They exaggerate my power. But for argument's sake suppose it true. Why +should I ask it? What have I to gain by it?" + +Volney, his eyes fixed on the fire, asked the question as much to himself +as to the Highlander. The manner of his tone suggested that it was not a +new one to him. + +"Gain! Who spoke of gain? Are you a Jew peddler or an English gentleman?" +cried Donald. + +"They call me dissolute, gambler, profligate. These be hard names, but I +have earned them all. I make no apologies and offer no excuses. As I have +lived my life, so have I lived it. For buttered phrases I have no taste. +Call me libertine, or call me man of fashion; 'tis all one. My evil +nature--_C'est plus fort que moi_. At least I have not played the +hypocrite. No canting sighs! No lapses to morality and prayers! No vices +smugly hidden! The plain straight road to hell taken at a gallop!" So, +with chin in hand and dark eyes lit by the flickering flame, this roue and +sentimentalist philosophized. + +"And Montagu?" cried the Gael, harking back to his prosaic text. + +"Has made his bed and he must lie in it." + +"By Heaven, who ruined him and made an outlaw of him? Who drove him to +rebellion?" + +"You imply that I strewed his bed with nettles. Perhaps. 'Tis well my +shoulders are broad, else they could not bear all that is laid upon +them." + +"You would never be letting a petty private grudge influence you?" + +Volney turned, stung to the quick. + +"You go too far, Captain Macdonald. Have I given bonds to save this fool +from the consequences of his folly? I cherish no hatred toward him, but I +play no Jonathan to his David. Egad, it were a pretty role for me to +essay! You would cast me for a part full of heroics, the moving of heaven +and earth to save my dearest enemy. Thank you, I am not for it. Neither +for nor against him will I lift a hand. There is no malice in my heart +toward this poor condemned young gentleman. If he can win free I shall be +glad, even though his gain is my loss, but further than that I will not +go. He came between me and the thing I most desired on earth. Shall I help +him to the happiness which will condemn me to misery?" + +For an instant the habitual veil of mockery was snatched aside and the +tortured soul of the man leaped from his burning eyes. + +"You saved him at Portree," was all that Donald could say. + +"I paid a debt to him and to Cumberland. The ledger is now balanced." + +The Jacobite paced up and down the room for a minute, then stopped and +touched the other on his shoulder where he sat. + +"I too am somewhat in your debt, Sir Robert. When Montagu opposed you he +fought for his own hand. Therein he was justified. But I, an outsider, +interfered in a quarrel that was not mine own, spoiled sport for you, in +short lost you the lassie. You followed her to Scotland; 'twas I that +drove you back to England when Montagu was powerless. From first to last I +am the rock on which your love bark has split. If your cause has spelled +failure I alone am to blame." + +"So? What then?" + +"Why this: without Captain Donald Roy Macdonald the lad had been helpless. +Donald was at his back to whisper words of advice and encouragement. +Donald contrived the plot which separated you from the lady. Donald stood +good fairy to the blessed pair of bairns and made of himsel' a +match-making auld mither. You owe your hatred to Donald Roy and not to the +lad who was but his instrument." + +The macaroni looked at the other with an odd smile twitching at the +corners of his mouth. + +"And so?" + +"And so," continued the Macdonald triumphantly, a challenge in his voice +and manner, "and so, who but Donald should be your enemy? My certes, a +prettier foe at the broadsword you will not find in a' Scotland." + +"I do not quite take your meaning. Would you fight with me?" + +"Blithe would I be to cross the steel with you, but little that would help +Kenneth. My plan is this: save the lad from the halter and I will tak' his +place." + +"You mean that if I compass his freedom you will surrender to be +executed?" + +"I am meaning just that." + +"I thought so from the first. 'Slife, man, do you think I can change my +foes like gloves? _Chacun paie son ecot._" + +"Why not? Iss not a man a better foe than a halfling boy?" + +"I would never seek a better foe or a better friend than either you or +Montagu, Captain. On my soul, you have both the true ring. But as to your +offer I must decline it. The thing is one of your wild impracticable +Highland imaginings, a sheer impossibility. You seem to think I have a +blood feud and that nothing less than a foeman's life will satisfy me. In +that you err. I am a plain man of the world and cannot reach your +heroics." + +The Jacobite's face fell. + +"You are going to let the boy die then?" + +Volney hesitated, then answered with a shrug. + +"I shall be frank with you. To-day I secured Montagu a reprieve for two +weeks. He shall have his chance such as it is, but I do not expect him to +take it. If he shows stubborn I wash my hands of him. I have said the last +word. You may talk till Yule without changing my mind." Then, with an +abrupt turn of the subject: "Have you with you the sinews of war, Captain? +You will need money to effect your escape. My purse is at your service not +less than my wardrobe, or if you care to lie hidden here for a time you +will be quite safe. Watkins is a faithful fellow and devoted to me." + +The Highlander flushed, stammering out: + +"For your proffered loan, I accept it with the best will in the world; and +as to your offer of a hiding-place, troth! I'm badly needing one. Gin it +were no inconvenience----" + +"None in the world." + +"I will be remembering you for a generous foe till the day of my death. +You're a man to ride the water wi'." + +"Lard! There's no generosity in it. Every Mohawk thinks it a pleasure to +help any man break the laws. Besides, I count on you to help drive away +the doldrums. Do you care for a hand at piquet now, Captain?" + +"With pleasure. I find in the cartes great diversion, but by your leave +I'll first unloose your man Watkins." + +"'Slife, I had forgot him. We'll have him brew us a punch and make a night +of it. Sleep and I are a thousand miles apart." + +----- + + [3] The material for this chapter was furnished me with great + particularity by Captain Donald Roy Macdonald. From his narrative + to me, I set down the story in substance as he told it. --K. M. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + +There came to me one day a surprise, a marked hour among my weeks struck +calm. Charles, Cloe, and Aileen had been wont to visit me regularly; once +Selwyn had dropped in on me; but I had not before been honoured by a visit +from Sir Robert Volney. He sauntered into my cell swinging a clouded cane, +dressed to kill and point device in every ruffle, all dabbed with scented +powder, pomatum, and jessamine water. To him, coming direct from the +strong light of the sun, my cell was dark as the inside of Jonah's whale. +He stood hesitating in the doorway, groping with his cane for some guide +to his footsteps. + +For an instant I drew back, thinking he had come to mock me; then I put +the idea from me. However much of evil there was in him, Volney was not a +small man. I stepped forward to greet him. + +"Welcome to my poor best, Sir Robert! If I do not offer you a chair it is +because I have none. My regret is that my circumstances hamper my +hospitality." + +"Not at all. You offer me your best, and in that lies the essence of +hospitality. Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and +hatred, Egad," returned my guest with easy irony. + +All the resources of the courtier and the beau were his. One could but +admire the sparkle and the versatility of the man. His wit was brilliant +as the play of a rapier's point. Set down in cold blood, remembered +scantily and clumsily as I recall it, without the gay easy polish of his +manner, the fineness is all out of his talk. After all 'tis a +characteristic of much wit that it is apposite to the occasion only and +loses point in the retelling. + +He seated himself on the table with a leg dangling in air and looked +curiously around on the massive masonry, the damp floor, the walls oozing +slime. I followed his eye and in some measure his thoughts. + +"Stone walls do not a prison make," I quoted gaily. + +"Ecod, they make a pretty fair imitation of one!" he chuckled. + +I was prodigious glad to see him. + +His presence stirred my sluggish blood. The sound of his voice was to me +like the crack of a whip to a jaded horse. Graceful, careless, debonair, a +man of evil from sheer reckless wilfulness, he was the one person in the +world I found it in my heart to both hate and admire at the same time. + +He gazed long at me. "You're looking devilish ill, Montagu," he said. + +I smiled. "Are you afraid I'll cheat the hangman after all?" + +His eyes wandered over the cell again. "By Heaven, this death's cage is +enough to send any man off the hooks," he shivered. + +"One gets used to it," I answered, shrugging. + +He looked at me with a kind of admiration. "They may break you, Montagu, +but I vow they will never bend you. Here are you torn with illness, the +shadow of the gallows falling across your track, and never a whimper out +of you." + +"Would that avail to better my condition?" + +"I suppose not. Still, self-pity is the very ecstasy of grief, they tell +me." + +"For girls and halfling boys, I dare say." + +There he sat cocked on the table, a picture of smiling ease, raffish and +fascinating, as full of sentimental sympathy as a lass in her teens. His +commiseration was no less plain to me because it was hidden under a +debonair manner. He looked at me in a sidelong fashion with a question in +his eyes. + +"Speak out!" I told him. "Your interest in me as evidenced by this visit +has earned the right to satisfy your curiosity." + +"I dare swear you have had your chance to save yourself?" he asked. + +"Oh, the usual offer! A life for a life, the opportunity to save myself by +betraying others." + +"Do you never dally with the thought of it?" he questioned. + +I looked up quickly at him. A hundred times I had nursed the temptation +and put it from me. + +"Are you never afraid, Montagu, when the night falls black and slumber is +not to be wooed?" + +"Many a time," I told him, smiling. + +"You say it as easily as if I had asked whether you ever took the air in +the park. 'Slife, I have never known you flinch. There was always a +certain d----d rough plainness about you, but you play the game." + +"'Tis a poor hound falls whining at the whip when there is no avoiding +it." + +"You will never accept their offer of a pardon on those terms. I know you, +man. Y'are one of those fools hold by honour rather than life, and damme! +I like you for it. Now I in your place----" + +"----Would do as I do." + +"Would I? I'm not so sure. If I did it would be no virtue, but an +obstinacy not to be browbeat." Then he added, "You would give anything +else on earth for your life, I suppose?" + +"Anything else," I told him frankly. + +"Anything else?" he repeated, his eyes narrowing. "No reservations, +Montagu?" + +Our eyes crossed like rapiers, each searching into the other's very soul. + +"Am I to understand that you are making me an offer, Sir Robert?" + +"I am making you an offer of your life." + +"Respectfully declined." + +"Think again, man! Once you are dead you will be a long time dead. Refuse +to give her up, and you die; she is not for you in any case. Give way, and +I will move heaven and earth for a pardon. Believe me, never was such +perfect weather before. The birds sing divinely, and Charles tells me +Montagu Grange is sorely needing a master." + +"Charles will look the part to admiration." + +"And doubtless will console himself in true brotherly fashion for the loss +of his brother by reciting his merits on a granite shaft and straightway +forgetting them in the enjoyment of the estate." + +"I think it likely." + +He looked at me gloomily. "There is a way to save you, despite your +obstinacy." + +I shuffled across to him in a tumult of emotion. "You would never do it, +would never be so vile as to trade on her fears for me to win her." + +"I would do anything to win her, and I would do a great deal to save your +life. The two things jump together. In a way I like you, man." + +But I would have none of his liking. "Oh, spare me that! You are the most +sentimental villain unhung, and I can get along without your liking." + +"That's as may be," said he laughing, "but I cannot well get along without +you. On my honour, you have become one of my greatest sources of +interest." + +"Do you mean that you would stake my life against her hand?" I demanded +whitely. + +He gave me look for look. "I mean just that. By Heaven, I shall win her +fair or foul." + +I could only keep saying over and over again, "You would never do it. Even +you would never do that." + +"Wouldn't I? You'll see," he answered laughing hardily. "Well, I must be +going. Oh, I had forgot. Balmerino sent you this note. I called on him +yesterday at the Tower. The old Scotchman is still as full of smiles as a +bride." + +Balmerino's letter was the friendliest imaginable. He stated that for him +a pardon was of course out of the question, but that Sir Robert Volney had +assured him that there was a chance for me on certain conditions; he +understood that the conditions had to do with the hand of a young woman, +and he advised me, if the thing were consistent with honour, to make +submission, and let no foolish pride stand in the way of saving my life. +The letter ended with a touching reference to the cause for which he was +about to die. + +I was shaken, I confess it. Not that I thought for a moment of giving up +my love, but my heart ached to think of the cruel position into which she +would be cast. To save her lover's life, she must forsake her love, or if +she elected the other alternative must send him to his death. That Volney +would let this burden of choice fall on her I would scarce let myself +believe; and yet--there was never a man more madly, hopelessly in love +than he. His passion for her was like a whirlwind tossing him hither and +thither like a chip on the boiling waters, but I thought it very +characteristic of the man that he used his influence to have me moved to a +more comfortable cell and supplied with delicacies, even while he plotted +against me with my love. + +After that first visit he used to come often and entertain me with the +news and gossip of the town. I have never met a more interesting man. He +was an onlooker of life rather than an actor, an ironical cynic, chuckling +with sardonic humour. The secret of his charm lay perhaps in a certain +whimsical outlook and in an original turn of mind. + +Once I asked him why he found it worth while to spend so many hours with +me when his society was so much sought after by the gayest circle in the +town. + +"I acquit you of any suspicion of philanthropy, Sir Robert. I give you +credit for pursuing a policy of intelligent selfishness. You must know by +this time that I will not purchase my life, nor let it be purchased, on +the terms which you propose. Well then, I confess it puzzles me to guess +what amusement you find in such a hole as this." + +"Variety spices life. What's a man to do to keep himself from ennui? For +instance, I got up this morning at ten, with Selwyn visited Lady Dapperwit +while she was drinking coffee in her nightrail, talked a vast deal of +scandal with her, strolled in the park with Fritz, from there to White's +in a sedan, two hours at lunch, and an hour with you for the good of my +soul." + +"The good of your soul?" I quizzed. + +"Yes, I visit you here and then go away deuced thankful for my mercies. +I'm not to be hanged next week, you know. I live to marry the girl." + +"Still, I should think you might find more interesting spots than this." + +"I am a student of human nature, Montagu." + +"A condemned prisoner, never a wit at the best of times, full of fears and +agues and fevers! One would scarce think the subject an inviting one for +study." + +"There you do yourself injustice. Y'are the most interesting man I know. A +dozen characters are wrapped up in you. You have the appearance of being +as great a rip as the rest of us, and I vow your looks do not belie you, +yet at times you have the conscience of a ranting dissenter. I find in you +a touch both of Selwyn's dry wit and of Balmerino's frostly bluntness; the +cool daring of James Wolfe combined with as great a love of life as Murray +has shown; the chivalry of Don Quixote and the hard-headedness of +Cumberland; sometimes an awkward boy, again the grand manner Chesterfield +himself might envy you; the obstinacy of the devil and----" + +"Oh, come!" I broke in laughing. "I don't mind being made a composite +epitome of all the vices of the race, but I object to your crossing the +Styx on my behalf." + +"And that reminds me of the time we came so near crossing together," he +broke out, diverting the subject in his inconsequent fashion. "D'ye +remember that Dr. Mead who dressed our wounds for us after our little +argument? It appears that he and a Dr. Woodward fell into some +professional dispute as to how a case should be treated, and Lud! nothing +would satisfy them but they must get their toasting forks into action. The +story goes that they fought at the gate of Gresham College. Mead pinked +his man. 'Take your life,' quoth he. 'Anything but your medicine,' returns +Woodward just before he faints. Horry Walpole told me the story. I suppose +you have heard Selwyn's story of Lord Wharton. You know what a spendthrift +Wharton is. Well the Duke of Graftsbury offered him one of his daughters +in marriage, a lady of uncertain age and certain temper. But the lady has +one virtue; she's a devilish fine fortune. A plum, they say! Wharton wrote +Graftsbury a note of three lines declining the alliance because, as he put +it, the fortune was tied up and the lady wasn't." + +"Not bad. Talking of Selwyn, I suppose he gets his fill of horrors these +days." + +"One would think he might. I met him at the Prince's dinner yesterday, and +between us we two emptied nine bottles of maraschino. Conceive the +splitting headache I'm wearing to-day." + +"You should take a course in Jacobitism," I told him gravely. "'Tis +warranted to cure gout, liver trouble, indigestion, drunkenness, and +sundry other complaints. I can warrant that one lives simply while he +takes the treatment; sometimes on a crust of bread and a bowl of brose, +sometimes on water from the burn, never does one dine over-richly." + +"Yet this course is not conducive to long life. I've known a hundred +followers of it fall victim to an epidemic throat disease," he retorted. +Then he added more gravely, "By the way, you need have no fears for your +friend Miss Flora Macdonald. I learn on the best of authority that she is +in no danger whatever." + +"And Malcolm?" I asked. + +"His name has been put near the foot of the list for trial. Long before +that time the lust for blood will be glutted. I shall make it a point to +see that his case never comes to trial. One cannot afford to have his +brother-in-law hanged like a common cutpurse." + +Day by day the time drew nearer on which my reprieve expired. I saw +nothing of Aileen now, for she had followed the King and his court to +Bath, intent on losing no opportunity that might present itself in my +favour. For one reason I was glad to have her gone; so long as she was out +of town Sir Robert could not urge on her the sacrifice which he intended. + +The time of my execution had been set for Friday, and on the preceding +Monday Volney, just arrived from the executions of Balmerino and +Kilmarnock, drove out to New Prison to see me. He was full of admiration +for Balmerino's bold exit from the stage of life and retailed to me with +great gusto every incident of the last scene on Tower Hill. + +"I like your bluff Balmerino's philosophy of life," he told me. "When I +called on him and apologized for intruding on the short time he had left +the old Lord said, 'O sir, no intrusion at all. I am in no ways concerned +to spend more time than usual at my devotions. I think no man fit to live +who is not fit to die, and to die well is much the easier of the two.' On +the scaffold no bridegroom could have been more cheerful. He was dressed +in his old blue campaign uniform and was as bold and manly as ever. He +expressed joy that Cromartie had been pardoned, inspected with interest +the inscription on his coffin, and smilingly called the block his pillow +of rest. 'Pon honour, the intrepid man then rehearsed the execution with +his headsman, kneeling down at the block to show how he would give the +signal for the blow. He then got up again, made a tender smiling farewell +with his friends, and said to me, 'I fear some will think my behaviour +bold, Volney, but remember what I say, that it arises from confidence in +God and a clear conscience.' He reaffirmed his unshaken adherence to the +house of Stuart, crying aloud, 'God save King James!' and bowed to the +multitude. Presently, still cheerfully, he knelt at the block and said in +a clear voice, 'O Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, bless +Prince Charles and his brother, the Duke, and receive my soul.' His arms +dropped for the signal, and Arthur Elphinstone of Balmerino passed to the +Valhalla where brave men dwell as gods." + +"God bring peace to his valiant restless soul," I said, much moved. + +"'Tis a thing to admire, the sturdy loyalty of you Jacobites," he said +after a pause. "You carry it off like gentlemen. Every poor Highlander who +has yet suffered has flung out his 'God save King James' on the scaffold. +Now I'll wager you too go to death with the grand air--no canting prayers +for King George, eh?" + +"I must e'en do as the rest," I smiled. + +"Yet I'd bet a pony you don't care a pinch of snuff for James Stuart. 'Tis +loyalty to yourselves that animates you." + +Presently he harked back to the topic that was never closed between us. + +"By this time next week you will have touched the heart of our eternal +problem. The mystery of it will perhaps be all clear to you then. 'Tis +most strange how at one sweep all a man's turbulent questing life passes +into the quiet of--of what? That is the question: of unending death or of +achieved knowledge?" Then he added, coming abruptly to the issue: "The day +draws near. Do you think better of my offer now?" + +"Sir Robert, I have lived a tempestuous life these past months. I have +known hunger and cold and weariness; I have been at the top of fortune's +wave and at the bottom; but I have never found it worth my while to become +divorced from honour. You find me near dead from privations and disease. +Do you think I would pay so much for such an existence? Believe me, when a +man has passed through what I have he is empty of fears." + +"I could better spare a better man," he said. + +"Sorry to inconvenience you," I told him grimly. + +"I' faith, I think you're destined to do that dead or alive." + +"I think I am. You will find me more in your way dead than alive." + +"I'll outlive your memory, never fear." Then quietly, after a moment's +hesitation: "There's one thing it may be a comfort for you to know. I've +given up any thought of putting her on the rack. I'll win fairly or not at +all." + +I drew a deep free breath. "Thank you for telling me." + +"I mean to marry her though. I swear to you, Montagu, that my heart is +wrapped up in her. I thought all women alike until I met this one. Now I +know better. She could have made a different man of me; sometimes I think +she could even yet. I vow to you I would not now injure a hair of her +head, but willy-nilly, in the end I shall marry the girl." + +"To ruin her life?" + +"To save mine rather." + +"Do you think yourself able to change the whole course of your life for +her?" + +He mused. "Ah, Montagu! There your finger falls pat on the pulse of my +doubt. My heart cries aye, my reason gives a negative." + +"Don't worry overmuch about it," I answered, railing at him. "She'll never +look at you, man. My grave will be an insurmountable barrier. She will +idealize my memory, think me a martyr and herself a widowed maid." + +The shot scored. 'Twas plain he must have often thought of that himself. + +"It may interest you to know that we are engaged to be married," I added. + +"Indeed! Let me congratulate you. When does the happy event occur, may I +ask? Or is the day set?" + +He had no need to put into words more clearly the irony of the fate that +encompassed us. + +"Dead or alive, as you say, I bar your way," I said tartly. + +"Pooh, man! I give you six weeks of violent grief, six months of tender +melancholy." + +"You do not know the Scotch. She will die a maid," I answered. + +"Not she! A live lover is more present than a dead one. Has she sworn +pretty vows to you, Montagu? 'At lovers' perjuries, they say, love +laughs.' Is there nothing to be said for me? Will her heart not always +whisper that I deserve gratitude and love, that I perilled my life for +her, saved the lives of her brother and her lover, neither of them friends +of mine, again reprieved her lover's life, stood friend to her through all +her trouble? You know a woman's way--to make much of nothing." + +"Forgive, if I prod a lagging memory, Miss Westerleigh?" + +Long he laughed and merrily. + +"Eloped for Gretna Green with Tony Creagh last night, and I, poor forsaken +swain, faith! I do not pursue." + +You may be sure that dashed me. I felt as a trapped fox with the dogs +closing in. The future loomed up clear before me, Aileen hand in hand with +Volney scattering flowers on my grave in sentimental mood. The futility of +my obstinacy made me bitter. + +"Come, Montagu! Listen to reason," urged the tempter. "You get in my way, +but I don't want to let you be sponged out. The devil of it is that if I +get you a pardon--and I'm not sure that I can get it--you'll marry the +girl. I might have you shipped to the Barbadoes as a slave with some of +the others, but to be frank I had rather see you hanged than give you so +scurvy an end. Forswear what is already lost and make an end of it." + +I turned away blackly. "You have my answer. Sir Robert, you have played +your last card. Now let me die in peace." + +He shrugged impatiently and left me. "A fool's answer, yet a brave man's +too," he muttered. + +Aileen, heart-broken with the failure of her mission, reached town on +Thursday and came at once to the prison. Her face was as the face of +troubled waters. I had no need to ask the question on my lips. With a +sobbing cry she threw herself on my breast. My heart was woe for her. +Utter weariness was in her manner. All through the long days and nights +she had agonized, and now at last despaired. There seemed no tears left to +shed. + +Long I held her tight, teeth set, as one who would keep his own perforce +from that grim fate which would snatch his love from him. She shivered to +me half-swooning, pale and of wondrous beauty, nesting in my arms as a +weary homing-bird. A poignant grief o'erflowed in me. + +"Oh, Aileen! At least we have love left," I cried, breaking the long +silence. + +"Always! Always!" her white lips answered. + +"Then let us regret nothing. They can do with me what they will. What are +life and death when in the balance dwells love?" I cried, rapt in +unearthly worship of her. + +Her eyes found mine. "Oh, Kenneth, I cannot--I cannot--let you go." + +Sweet and lovely she was beyond the dream of poet. I trembled in an +ecstasy of pain. From the next cell there came to us softly the voice of a +poor condemned Appin Stewart. He was crooning that most tender and +heart-breaking of all strains. Like the pibroch's mournful sough he wailed +it out, the song that cuts deep to a Scotchman's heart in time of exile. + + "Lochabar no more, Lochabar no more. + We'll maybe return to Lochabar no more." + +I looked at Aileen, my face working. A long breath came whistling through +her lips. Her dear face was all broken with emotion. I turned my eyes +aside, not daring to trust myself. Through misty lashes again I looked. +Her breast lifted and fell in shaking sobs, the fount of tears touched at +last. Together we wept, without shame I admit it, while the Stewart's +harrowing strain ebbed to a close. To us it seemed almost as the keening +of the coronach. + +So in the quiet that comes after storm, her dear supple figure still in my +arms, Sir Robert Volney came in unexpectedly and found us. He stopped at +the door, startled at her presence, and methought a shadow fell on his +face. Near to death as I was, the quality of his courage was so fine and +the strength of the passion in him so great that he would have changed +places with me even then. + +Aileen went up to him at once and gave him her hand. She was very simple, +her appeal like a child's for directness. + +"Sir Robert, you have already done much for me. I will be so bold as to +ask you to do more. Here iss my lover's life in danger. I ask you to save +it." + +"That he may marry you?" + +"If God wills." + +Volney looked at her out of a haggard face, all broken by the emotions +which stirred him. + +A minute passed, two minutes. He fought out his fight and won. + +"Aileen," he said at last, "before heaven I fear it is too late, but what +man can do, that will I do." + +He came in and shook hands with me. "I'll say good-bye, Montagu. 'Tis +possible I'll see you but once more in this world. Yet I will do my best. +Don't hope too much, but don't despair." + +There was unconscious prophecy in his words. I was to see him but the once +more, and then the proud, gallant gentleman, now so full of energy, was +lying on his deathbed struck out of life by a foul blow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SHADOW FALLS + + +It would appear that Sir Robert went direct from the prison to the club +room at White's. He was observed to be gloomy, preoccupied, his manner not +a little perturbed. The usual light smile was completely clouded under a +gravity foreign to his nature. One may guess that he was in no humour to +carry coals. In a distant corner of the room he seated himself and fell to +frowning at the table on which his elbow rested. At no time was he a man +upon whom one would be likely to foist his company undesired, for he had +at command on occasion a hauteur and an aloofness that challenged respect +even from the most inconsiderate. + +We must suppose that he was moved out of his usual indifference, that some +long-dormant spring of nobility was quickened to a renewed life, that a +girl's truth and purity, refining his selfish passion, had bitten deep +into the man's callous worldliness. For long he sat in a sombre silence +with his head leaning on his hand, his keen mind busy with the problem--so +I shall always believe--as to how he might even yet save me from the +gallows. + +By some strange hap it chanced that Sir James Craven, excited with drink, +the bile of his saturnine temper stirred to malignity by heavy losses at +cards, alighted from his four in hand at White's shortly after Volney. +Craven's affairs had gone from bad to worse very rapidly of late. He had +been playing the races heavily and ruin stared the man in the face. More +than suspected of dubious play at cards, it had been scarce a week since +the stewards of a leading racetrack had expelled him for running crosses. +Any day a debtor's prison might close on him. Within the hour, as was +afterward learned, his former companion Frederick Prince of Wales had +given him the cut direct on the Mall. Plainly his star was on the decline, +and he raged in a futile passion of hatred against the world. Need it be +said that of all men he most hated his supplanter in the Prince of Wales' +good-will, Sir Robert Volney. + +To Volney then, sitting gloomily in his distant solitude, came Craven with +murder in his heart and a bitter jest on his lips. At the other side of +the table he found a seat and glared across at his rival out of a +passion-contorted face. Sir Robert looked past him coldly, negligently, as +if he had not been there, and rising from his seat moved to the other side +of the room. In the manner of his doing it there was something +indescribably insulting; so it seemed to Topham Beauclerc, who retailed to +me the story later. + +Craven's evil glance followed Volney, rage in his bloodshot eyes. If a +look could kill, the elegant macaroni had been a dead man then. It is to +be guessed that Craven struggled with his temper and found himself not +strong enough to put a curb upon it; that his heady stress of passion +swept away his fear of Volney's sword. At all events there he sat +glowering blackly on the man at whose charge he chose to lay all his +misfortunes, what time he gulped down like water glass after glass of +brandy. Presently he got to his feet and followed Sir Robert, still +dallying no doubt with the fascinating temptation of fixing a quarrel upon +his rival and killing him. To do him justice Volney endeavoured to avoid +an open rupture with the man. He appeared buried in the paper he was +reading. + +"What news?" asked Craven abruptly. + +For answer the other laid down the paper, so that Sir James could pick it +up if he chose. + +"I see your old rival Montagu is to dance on air to-morrow. 'Gad, you'll +have it all your own way with the wench then," continued Craven +boisterously, the liquor fast mounting to his head. + +Volney's eyes grew steelly. He would have left, but the burly purple-faced +baronet cut off his retreat. + +"Damme, will you drink with me, or will you play with me, Volney?" + +"Thanks, but I never drink nor play at this time of day, Sir James. If it +will not inconvenience you to let me pass----" + +With a foolish laugh, beside himself with rage and drink, Craven flung him +back into his chair. "'Sdeath, don't be in such a hurry! I want to talk to +you about-- Devil take it, what is it I want to talk about?-- Oh, yes! That +pink and white baggage of yours. Stap me, the one look ravished me! Pity +you let a slip of a lad like Montagu oust you." + +"That subject is one which we will not discuss, Sir James," said Volney +quietly. "It is not to be mentioned in my presence." + +"The devil it isn't. I'm not in the habit of asking what I may talk about. +As for this mistress of yours----" + +Sir Robert rose and stood very straight. "I have the honour to inform you +that you are talking of a lady who is as pure as the driven snow." + +Buck Craven stared. "After Sir Robert Volney has pursued her a year?" he +asked with venomous spleen, his noisy laugh echoing through the room. + +I can imagine how the fellow said it, with what a devilish concentration +of malice. He had the most irritating manner of any man in England; I +never heard him speak without wanting to dash my fist in his sneering +face. + +"That is what I tell you. I repeat that the subject is not a matter for +discussion between us." + +Craven might have read a warning in the studied gentleness of Volney's +cold manner, but he was by this time far beyond reck. By common consent +the eyes of every man in the room were turned on these two, and Craven's +vanity sunned itself at holding once more the centre of the stage. + +"And after the trull has gadded about the country with young Montagu in +all manner of disguises?" he continued. + +"You lie, you hound!" + +Sir James sputtered in a speechless paroxysm of passion, found words at +last and poured them out in a turbid torrent of invective. He let fall the +word baggage again, and presently, growing more plain, a word that is not +to be spoken of an honest woman. Volney, eyeing him disdainfully, the +man's coarse bulk, his purple cheeks and fishy eyes, played with his wine +goblet, white fingers twisting at the stem; then, when the measure of the +fellow's offense was full, put a period to his foul eloquence. + +Full in the mouth the goblet struck him. Blood spurted from his lips, and +a shower of broken glass shivered to the ground. Craven leaped across the +table at his enemy in a blind fury; restrained by the united efforts of +half a dozen club members, the struggling madman still foamed to get at +his rival's throat--that rival whose disdainful eyes seemed to count him +but a mad dog impotent to bite. + +"You would not drink with me; you would not play with me; but, by God, you +will have to fight with me," he cried at last. + +"When you please." + +"Always I have hated you, wanted always to kill you, now I shall do it," +he screamed. + +Volney turned on his heel and beckoned to Beauclerc. + +"Will you act for me, Topham?" he asked; and when the other assented, +added: "Arrange the affair to come off as soon as possible. I want to have +done with the thing at once." + +They fought within the hour in the Field of the Forty Footsteps. The one +was like fire, the other ice. They were both fine swordsmen, but there was +no man in England could stand against Volney at his best, and those who +were present have put it on record that Sir Robert's skill was this day at +high water mark. He fought quite without passion, watching with cool +alertness for his chance to kill. His opponent's breath came short, his +thrusts grew wild, the mad rage of the man began to give way to a no less +mad despair. Every feint he found anticipated, every stroke parried; and +still his enemy held to the defensive with a deadly cold watchfulness that +struck chill to the heart of the fearful bully. We are to conceive that +Craven tasted the bitterness of death, that in the cold passionless face +opposite to him he read his doom, and that in the horrible agony of terror +that sweated him he forgot the traditions of his class and the training of +a lifetime. He stumbled, and when Sir Robert held his hand, waiting point +groundward with splendid carelessness for his opponent to rise, Craven +flung himself forward on his knees and thrust low at him. The blade went +home through the lower vitals. + +Volney stood looking at him a moment with a face of infinite contempt, +than sank back into the arms of Beauclerc. + +While the surgeon was examining the wound Craven stole forward guiltily to +the outskirts of the little group which surrounded the wounded man. His +horror-stricken eyes peered out of a face like chalk. The man's own second +had just turned his back on him, and he was already realizing that the +foul stroke had written on his forehead the brand of Cain, had made him an +outcast and a pariah on the face of the earth. + +The eyes of Volney and his murderer met, those of the dying man full of +scorn. Craven's glance fell before that steady look. He muttered a hope +that the wound was but slight; then, in torture, burst out: "'Twas a slip. +By Heaven, it was, Volney! I would to God it were undone." + +"'To every coward safety, and afterward his evil hour,'" quoted Volney +with cold disdain. + +The murderer turned away with a sobbing oath, mounted his horse and rode +for the coast to begin his lifetime of exile, penury, and execration. + +"Do I get my passport?" asked Sir Robert of the surgeon. + +The latter began to talk a jargon of medical terms, but Volney cut him +short. + +"Enough! I understand," he said quietly. "Get me to my rooms and send at +once for the Prince of Wales. Beauclerc, may I trouble you to call on +Cumberland and get from him an order to bring young Montagu to my place +from the prison? And will you send my man Watkins for a lawyer? Oh, and +one more commission--a messenger to beg of Miss Macleod her attendance. In +case she demurs, make it plain to her that I am a dying man. Faith, +Topham, you'll be glad I do not die often. I fear I am an unconscionable +nuisance at it." + +Topham Beauclerc drove straight to the residence of the Duke of +Cumberland. He found the Duke at home, explained the situation in a few +words, and presently the pair of them called on the Duke of Newcastle and +secured his counter-signature for taking me temporarily from the New +Prison. Dusk was falling when Beauclerc and the prison guards led me to +Volney's bedroom. At the first glance I saw plainly that he was not long +for this world. He lay propped on an attendant's arm, the beautiful eyes +serene, an inscrutable smile on the colourless lips. Beside him sat +Aileen, her hand in his, and on the other side of the bed the Duke of +Cumberland and Malcolm. When he saw me his eyes brightened. + +"On time, Kenneth. Thanks for coming." + +Beauclerc had told me the story, and I went forward with misty eyes. He +looked at me smiling. + +"On my soul I believe you are sorry, Montagu. Yes, I have my quietus. The +fellow struck foul. My own fault! I always knew him for a scoundrel. I had +him beaten; but 'tis better so perhaps. After all I shall cross the river +before you, Kenneth." Then abruptly to an attendant who entered the room, +"Has the Prince come yet?" + +"But this moment, sir." + +The Prince of Wales entered the room, and Volney gave him his old winsome +smile. + +"Hard hit, your Highness!" + +"I trust it is not so bad as they say, Robert." + +"Bad or good, as one looks at it, but this night I go wandering into the +great unknown. Enough of this. I sent for you, Fritz, to ask my last +favour." + +The face of the stolid Dutchman was all broken with emotion. + +"'Tis yours, Robert, if the thing is mine to grant." + +"I want Montagu spared. You must get his pardon before I die, else I shall +not pass easy in mind. This one wrong I must right before the end. 'Twas I +drove him to rebellion. You will get him pardoned and see to it that his +estates are not confiscated?" + +"I promise to do my best. It shall be attended to." + +"To-day?" + +"This very hour if it can be arranged." + +"And you, Cumberland, will do your share." + +The Duke nodded, frowning to hide his emotion. + +Volney fell back on the pillows. "Good! Where is the priest?" + +A vicar of the Church of England came forward to offer the usual +ministrations to the dying. Volney listened for a minute or two with +closed eyes, then interrupted gently. + +"Thank you. That will suffice. I'll never insult my Maker by fawning for +pardon in the fag hour of a misspent life." + +"The mercy of God is without limits----" + +"I hope so. That I shall know better than you within the space of +four-and-twenty hours. I'm afraid you mistake your mission here. You came +to marry Antony, not to bury Caesar." Then, turning to me, he said with a +flare of his old reckless wit: "Any time this six weeks you've been +qualifying for the noose. If you're quite ready we'll have the obsequies +to-night." + +He put Aileen's hand in mine. The vicar married us, the Prince of Wales +giving away the bride. Aileen's pale face was shot with a faint flush, a +splash of pink in either alabaster cheek. When the priest had made us man +and wife she, who had just married me, leaned forward impulsively and +kissed our former enemy on the forehead. The humorous gleam came back to +his dulling eyes. + +"Only one, Montagu. I dare say you can spare that. The rest are for a +better man. Don't cry, Aileen. 'Fore Heaven, 'tis a good quittance for +you." + +He looked at the soft warmth and glow of her, now quickened to throbbing +life, drew a long breath, then smiled and sighed again, her lover even to +the last. + +A long silence fell, which Sir Robert broke by saying with a smile, "In +case Selwyn calls show him up. If I am still alive I'll want to see him, +and if I'm dead he'll want to see me. 'Twill interest him vastly." + +Once more only he spoke. "The shadow falls," he said to Aileen, and +presently dozed fitfully; so slipped gradually into the deeper sleep from +which there is no awakening this side of the tomb. Thus he passed quietly +to the great beyond, an unfearing cynic to the last hour of his life. + + + + +THE AFTERWORD + + +My pardon came next day, duly signed and sealed, with the customary rider +to it that I must renounce the Stuarts, and swear allegiance to King +George. I am no hero of romance, but a plain Englishman, a prosaic lover +of roast beef and old claret, of farming and of fox-hunting. Our cause was +dead, and might as well be buried. Not to make long of the matter, I took +the oath without scruple. To my pardon there was one other proviso: that I +must live on my estate until further notice. If at any time I were found +ten miles from Montagu Grange, the pardon was to be void. + +Aileen and I moved to our appointed home at once. It may be believed that +our hearts were full of the most tender joy and love, for I had been +snatched from the jaws of death into the very sunshine of life. We had but +one cloud to mar the bright light--the death of many a dear friend, and +most of all, of that friendly enemy who had given his life for her good +name. Moralists point out to me that he was a great sinner. I care not if +it be so. Let others condemn him; I do not. Rather I cherish the memory of +a gallant, faultful gentleman whose life found wrong expression. There be +some to whom are given inheritance of evil nature. Then how dare we, who +know not the measure of their temptation, make ourselves judges of their +sin? + +At the Grange we found awaiting us an unexpected visitor, a red-haired, +laughing Highlander, who, though in hiding, was as full of merriment as a +schoolboy home for the holidays. To Cloe he made most ardent love, and +when, at last, Donald Roy slipped across the waters to St. Germains, he +carried with him a promise that was redeemed after the general amnesty was +passed. + +Six weeks after my pardon Malcolm Macleod and Miss Flora Macdonald stopped +at the Grange for a short visit with us. They were on their way north, +having been at length released without a trial, since the passion for +blood was now spent. + +"We three, with Captain Donald Roy and Tony Creagh, came to London to be +hangit," smiled Major Macleod as they were about to resume their journey. +"Twa-three times the rope tightened around the gullets of some of us, yet +in the end we all win free. You and Tony have already embraced the other +noose; Donald is in a geyan ill way, writing Latin verses to his lady's +eyes; and as for me,"--he smiled boldly at his companion--"I ride to the +land of heather side by side with Miss Flora Macdonald." + +Here I drop the quill, for my tale is told. For me, life is full of many +quiet interests and much happiness, but even now there grips me at times a +longing for those mad wild days, when death hung on a hair's breadth, and +the glamour of romance beckoned the feathered foot of youth. + +FINIS + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Daughter of Raasay, by William MacLeod Raine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAUGHTER OF RAASAY *** + +***** This file should be named 26692.txt or 26692.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/9/26692/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/26692.zip b/old/26692.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e779c09 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/26692.zip |
