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 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 Of 1LLI NOIS 
 
 .A
 
 MACRIMMON 
 
 A HIGHLAND TALE. 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OP 
 
 REDMOND THE REBEL, COSPATRICK OF RAYMONDSHOLM, ST. 
 KATHLEEN, *c. 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here; 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasins; the deer — 
 
 Chasing the deer and following the roe; 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. Gaelic Hong. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LON DON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 A. K. NEWMAN AND CO. LEA DEN If ALL-STREET. 
 
 1823.
 
 8?-5 
 v.a. 
 
 MACRIMMON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Despite his titles, power, and pelf, 
 
 The wretch, concenter'd all in self, 
 
 Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 
 
 And, doubly dying, shall go down 
 
 To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, 
 
 Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung. Scott. 
 
 Jl OU are but a thankless dog at the 
 best, Charly," said old John Clifford, of 
 Bilton Grange, Northumberland, as from 
 his threshold he watched the retreating 
 steps of a young man, who, with a down- 
 oast, yet somewhat indignant expression 
 of countenance, had newly quitted his 
 dwelling ; " you are but a thankless dog, 
 
 vol. i. b I say
 
 2 MACRIMMON. 
 
 I say — so get ye gone, now and for ever. 
 Instead of waiting patiently until you 
 saw what decent trade I might think it 
 advisable to apprentice you to, you 
 would follow your own vagaries, clap a 
 red rag on your back, and a sword at 
 your side, and so strut forth from your 
 uncle's house like an impudent turkey- 
 cock. You may have forgot that cir- 
 cumstance, but / have not ; and now I 
 neither care where you have been, or 
 what you have been, for the last two 
 years ; neither do I seek to know what 
 you are, or where you are going. I only 
 desire to see my outer gate fairly closed 
 on such a scapegrace ; so get ye gone, 
 now and for ever." 
 
 " I am fast obeying, sir," said the of- 
 fender, though his lagging step cont 
 dieted the assertion. " Yet, before we 
 part for good and all, as you wish, I 
 would fain try to prove that I am not 
 the heartless ingrate you take me for. I 
 would wish to shew, that in procuring 
 
 me
 
 MACRIMMON. 3 
 
 me the appointment I now hold, my 
 friend Coulson has assisted me to reach 
 what I hope is but a stepping-stone to 
 future honour and emolument." 
 
 " It is a stepping-stone, I suspect, you 
 will not be apt to quit in a hurry," said 
 old Clifford, grinning maliciously, " un- 
 less, indeed, a bullet makes you hop 
 from it into the grave. Take my word 
 for it, young man, many a fellow, with 
 more sense than falls to your share, finds 
 his head grow gray with only one epau- 
 let on his shoulder. As to your friend 
 Coulson, as you style him, I have only 
 to say, God send him luck of you ! He 
 has at least done one good turn, in rid- 
 ding the neighbourhood of your precious 
 carcase ; and for that, in common with 
 my neighbours, I feel truly grateful. Of 
 course, now that you can securely calcu- 
 late on his patronage and advice, there is 
 no further necessity for keeping terms 
 with old John Clifford. Comparatively 
 speaking, I can have no claims on your 
 B 2 gratitude.
 
 4 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 gratitude. I merely took you, a puling 
 brat, from the breast of your dying mo- 
 ther ; fed, clothed, educated you, till you 
 acquired sufficient impudence to snap 
 your fingers in my face, and scout my 
 authority, the first moment you could do 
 so with impunity. But such obligations 
 as these are mere trifles, no doubt, in the 
 estimation of a fine dashing fellow like 
 you, entitled to wear a rapier, and to 
 snuff gunpowder in the field, and legal- 
 ly licensed as a public executioner. ,, 
 
 " Heaven can bear witness how unjust 
 are the accusations you bring against 
 me!" said the youth, vexation crimson- 
 ing his cheeks. " Notwithstanding the 
 unkind manner in which you repulse 
 me from your door, I must and will de- 
 clare, that I am and ever have been 
 grateful for the manifold benefits reci Lved 
 at your hand. But can it be, that in 
 trying to render myself no longer bur- 
 thensome, I have utterly forfeited all 
 claim to your affection ? Must I be 
 
 driven
 
 MACRIMMON. 5 
 
 driven, by your aspersions, to proclaim 
 that I found my benefactor too severe a 
 taskmaster; that I proved sneers and 
 insults, heaped alike on the living and 
 on the dead, too galling to be longer 
 borne; and that finally the bread of 
 your charity became too bitter for any 
 human being to subsist on ?" 
 
 " You will get cold, Charly, if you 
 stand fuming and fretting there," said 
 the uncle, ironically ; " so take my ad- 
 vice, draw the gate after you, and be- 
 gone." 
 
 " Before I go," said Charly, in a more 
 resolute voice than heretofore, " there is 
 another point on which I must desire to 
 be enlightened ; for, to confess the truth, 
 anxiety regarding it principally gave 
 rise to this visit. I have hitherto been 
 kept in almost-total ignorance of my 
 family history. You are the only per- 
 son from whom I can expect to learn it 
 correctly ; from you, therefore, now that 
 b 3 we
 
 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 we are on the point of final separation, 
 
 1 seriously demand it." 
 
 " Then, take my word for it," said 
 old Clifford, " if I comply, you will 
 have but little to pride your>elf on at 
 its conclusion. I would, out of sheer 
 friendship, recommend you to rest satis- 
 fied with what you already know, and 
 decamp without delay." 
 
 " Recommend me to rest satisfied 
 with what I already know," repeated 
 his nephew ; " you must think me spar- 
 ingly endued with natural feeling, were 
 I to adopt your advice, for nothing is 
 the sum of my knowledge But, on 
 this subject, I came nol here to dally. 
 I must, and will know, by what unfor- 
 tunate tissue of circumstances I 
 thrown helpless and destitute on your 
 bounty. Speak out. old man ! I am 
 not the timid boy that two ago 
 
 lied your house, without daring to U 
 word of inquiry fall from his lips, or a 
 
 glance
 
 MACRIMMON. 7 
 
 glance of his eye rest on that stern 
 visage." 
 
 " So I perceive," said the uncle, 
 ironically, and waxing cool as his kins- 
 man became heated; " the army is a 
 precious school for acquiring audacity, 
 and a habit of command. I am all over 
 trembling at your resolute style of going 
 to work, and, to the utmost extent in 
 my power, shall immediately deprecate 
 your wrath. Know then that I stood 
 related as half-brother to your mother, 
 of whom you cannot expect me to speak 
 largely, when told that I never set eyes 
 on her, from the time she was a mere 
 child in the nurse's arms, till the day on 
 which she died a parent. Being averse 
 to submitting to a stepfather, I never 
 paid my maternal home a visit; and it 
 was only by the voice of rumour that I 
 learnt sister Ellen, on the death of her 
 a second time widowed mother, had 
 gone to Edinburgh, and there formed 
 an intimacy with some brainless and 
 B 4 beggarly
 
 8 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 beggarly whipper-snapper like yourself, 
 to whom she foolishly entrusted the few 
 pounds her thoughtless parents had be- 
 queathed as her dowry. The next ac- 
 count I had of her went to say, that 
 along with her Scotch friend she had re- 
 turned to Newcastle, and would be 
 amazingly glad to be on good terms 
 with me; but I knew better than to 
 burn my fingers with such a pie, and 
 at that time wisely kept my distance. 
 From the first I saw it was a bad affair, 
 nor was it long before the accuracy of 
 this surmise was verified. I received a 
 very penitent epistle, intimating that 
 her own behaviour had laid her on her 
 deathbed at last — that she was leaving 
 an unchristened child entirely destitute: 
 its father, cautious man ! having, when 
 the storm began to lower, taken leg-bail, 
 and removed himself to America: and 
 that unless I displayed some compassion. 
 and became its protector, her last hours 
 would be embittered past human nature 
 
 to
 
 MACRIMMON. 9 
 
 to bear. After such a letter, there was 
 no help for it but to lend a favourable 
 ear to her petition; so I went to the 
 trouble and expence of a journey to 
 Newcastle, gave sister Ellen as decent a 
 burial as she deserved, and, like a fool, 
 brought you, a helpless brat, to the 
 Grange, that I might rear an object of 
 annoyance to my old age." 
 
 As he had been led to expect, there 
 was indeed little in this detail for his 
 auditor to pride himself on. His glis- 
 tening eyes, and the still-deepening co- 
 lour of his cheeks, declared the pain in- 
 flicted ; and his voice was tremulous and 
 indistinct, as he said — " But a few words 
 more, and I am gone. What was — why 
 bear I not my father's name ?" 
 
 " You bear it not, because I did not 
 choose to have a name I knew to be a 
 bad one, shouted over my house morn- 
 ing, noon, and night," answered old 
 Clifford, exulting in the pain his nar- 
 rative had given. " I found you un- 
 b 5 christened,
 
 10 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 christened, as I said before; your mother 
 was unable to intimate what Christian 
 appellation she choosed you to receive ; 
 so I took the liberty of naming you 
 Charles Clifford, after my worthy father. 
 To that, as soon as you think fit, you 
 can add Mac — Mac — confound the bar- 
 barous sound of it ! it has entirely escaped 
 my memory ! Yet, on the whole, you 
 will suffer little loss, though you never 
 know it; and trust me, the less you 
 boast of your Scottish blood the better.'' 
 " There is small risk of my doing so, 
 I believe," said his nephew, as crest- 
 fallen as he could desire. " Yet I would 
 that you could recollect this despised 
 name, or inform me how I shall be able 
 to find it out." 
 
 " Nay, if I do not recollect it myself," 
 said the old man, " there is no other 
 person you need apply to. Your wor- 
 thy parents knew too well bow little 
 commendation their coixluct deserved, 
 to make friends who would burden their 
 
 memories
 
 MACRIMMON. 11 
 
 memories with their story for twenty 
 years after. I was told that the Scot, 
 previous to his flight, talked bigly 
 about realizing a fine fortune in the 
 course of no time, as soon as he had set 
 his foot on the other side of the At- 
 lantic, and, in due season, sending home 
 for his darling, to rejoin and help him 
 to spend it. I shrewdly suspect, how- 
 ever, he found himself quite competent 
 to fulfil the latter part of the business, 
 and have no authority for saying that 
 he ever became so wealthy as he antici- 
 pated. The only successful speculation, 
 I am aware, he ever engaged in, was 
 digging a grave for sister Ellen, and 
 burdening me with his hopeful off- 
 spring. As to his name, I don't much 
 care if I put myself to some trouble in 
 order to refresh my memory. Stay 
 where you are until I return. It occurs 
 to me that I ought to have a letter 
 from this same Mac — Mac — Mac — " 
 Without ceremony he shut the door 
 b 6 in
 
 12 MACRIMMON. 
 
 in his nephew's face, and before he with- 
 drew from it, to prosecute his search 
 after the document, the latter heard him 
 carefully shoot home the bolts. Up- 
 wards of a quarter of an hour elapsed 
 before they were again undrawn, and 
 during that space of time the youth 
 traversed, with hurried and irregular 
 steps, the small court in which he was 
 left. At length the meagre, crabbed 
 face of old Clifford was once more pro- 
 truded from the small aperture left by 
 the half-open door ; and his shrill scold- 
 ing voice made known that his search 
 had been fruitless, and that no letter 
 was forthcoming. 
 
 The young man actually groaned 
 with anguish and disappointment, when 
 he heard this intimated. — •• Then there 
 is no trace left, no memorial — not even 
 a father's name," he faintly articulated. 
 " Shame is my only birthright, and with 
 that I must depart." 
 
 " To shew that I have no wish to 
 
 withhold
 
 MACRIMMON. 13 
 
 withhold any thing you have the least 
 title to," said the old man, holding out 
 something wrapped in a small piece of 
 paper, " I have brought you the only 
 trifle in my possession belonging to 
 your parents. You will find here two 
 miniatures painted on ivory, a most re- 
 prehensible piece of extravagance for 
 any people, who lived from hand to 
 mouth as they did, to indulge in. That 
 of the woman is sister Ellen, to my own 
 knowledge ; and finding it in such com- 
 pany, there can be no doubt but that 
 the other is your precious vagabond of a 
 father. You are heartily welcome to all 
 the information they can give you, and 
 if the name of the latter should occur 
 to me, or the letter cast up, I will inti- 
 mate the same to your friend, Cleveland 
 Coulson, with whom, like all other wise- 
 acres newly launching into the world, 
 you doubtless maintain an interesting 
 and instructive correspondence, to the 
 no small benefit of his majesty's revenue. 
 
 After
 
 14 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 After this special act of kindness, I may 
 assuredly, without rudeness, shut the 
 door." 
 
 His nephew was in no mood to reply, 
 and the door was closed against him, 
 without his noticing it. Already oc- 
 cupied in scanning the lineaments deli- 
 neated on the ivory with insatiable eyes, 
 he had no further attention to bestow 
 on his irascible and jeering kinsman. 
 He first looked on the female face — the 
 face of his mother, as he had been given 
 to understand ; and for a time, in the 
 intensity of his contemplation, forgot 
 that the reverse side contained the fea- 
 tures of his other parent. The lair and 
 polished brow, the soft dark eye. the 
 curling raven hair, setting off by con- 
 trast the bright face its tresses clustered 
 round, entranced and ri vetted his gaze 
 with no ordinary power. Was that 
 countenance, so full of beauty, already 
 dust? had care furrowed and wrinkled 
 it before death, and had no gentle hand 
 
 been
 
 MACRIMMON. 15 
 
 been near to close those lovely lips and 
 eyes, when it became necessary to con- 
 sign to the earth all that remained of 
 her early charms ? And her conduct, 
 too, had it been blameless ? had she been 
 more " sinned against than sinning?" or 
 had her actions and mind been equally 
 base, and her fate as unworthy of com- 
 miseration as her memory of a child's 
 love ? There was not one of these men- 
 tal interrogations but sent its sting to 
 his heart, and the last stab struck the 
 deepest. 
 
 From the fair face of his mother lie 
 finally directed his attention to the other 
 miniature, in which he dared not hope 
 to meet the same virtuous and benig- 
 nant expression ; but in this he was 
 disappointed, or at least he could dis- 
 cover nothing in the countenance that 
 substantiated his uncle's declaration of 
 utter worthlessness and cruelty having 
 distinguished him of whom it was the 
 semblance. It was the gay, smiling face 
 
 of
 
 16 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 of a youth, fresh as the morning, blue- 
 eyed, and with locks like the beams of a 
 newly-risen sun. Had Clifford given 
 way to his own conceptions of physiog- 
 nomy, and perhaps to the promptings of 
 his heart, he would have pronounced it 
 as his opinion, that in those features 
 there was nothing expressive of depra- 
 vity. He would have said that it was 
 the face of one exuberant in spirit, and 
 immature in character, but neither uni- 
 formly deceptious, nor systematicallv 
 wicked; and yet, when he recalled to 
 mind the many apparently amiable and 
 promising young men he had met with, 
 even in his limited period of observa- 
 tion, who held their honour and their 
 word cheap but in one single point, and 
 in all others were upright and invulner- 
 able, he dared not unreservedly cherish 
 the favourable impression be found take 
 possession of his breast. Fully more 
 dissatisfied than before he obtained them, 
 he at length wrapped up the likenesses 
 
 so
 
 MACRIMMON. 17 
 
 so as to secure them from injury ; and 
 throwing a farewell glance over the in- 
 hospitable walls of Bilton Grange, turn- 
 ed from it with a resolute and hasty 
 step. 
 
 Bilton was a small and retired village 
 on the coast of Northumberland, and 
 the Grange an antiquated mansion on 
 its outskirts. It had for several genera- 
 tions been occupied by the ancestors of 
 its present owner, who was generally 
 looked upon as a wealthy but parsimo- 
 nious man; and, as has been already 
 mentioned, it had sheltered the helpless 
 years and friendless head of him who 
 now found himself repulsed from its 
 gate. As his uncle had, with more 
 truth than regard to his feelings, set 
 forth, he had indeed reared and educat- 
 ed him ; but never for a moment, during 
 his long sojourn under his roof, had he 
 been allowed to forget that he was the 
 child of charity: it was drummed into 
 his ears in infancy and in boyhood — it 
 
 was
 
 18 MACRIMMON. 
 
 was the first full sentence he learned to 
 comprehend, and the last that followed 
 his departing steps, when, gladly grasp- 
 ing at the enVigney offered him by the 
 father of his juvenile friend and school- 
 companion, Coulson, he eventually shook 
 off his iron servitude. Every rent the 
 romping boy made in his scanty apparel 
 had regularly brought down a severe 
 reprimand, coupled with an intimation 
 not to overlook that he was but a beg- 
 gar; every mouthful of food he swal- 
 lowed had for seasoning a miserly grudge 
 at the ravenous appetite of youngsters. 
 To crown all, when the youth, no longer 
 able to endure his taunts, embraced that 
 opportunity of emancipating himself, 
 which his harsh and penurious kinsman 
 gave himself no trouble to bring about, 
 he decidedly refused to advance I shil- 
 ling towards his equipment, but left the 
 same individual who had obtained the 
 young man his appointment to stand 
 his friend in this instance also, and the 
 
 latter
 
 MACRIMMON. 19 
 
 latter to lie under the weight of a debt, 
 which required of him long and strict 
 economy to discharge. 
 
 He had already been upwards of two 
 years in the army, greater part of which 
 he had spent on active service in Por- 
 tugal and Spain. After sharing, under 
 sir John Moore, the hardships attendant 
 on the disastrous retreat on Corunna, 
 and witnessing the death of that brave 
 but unfortunate man, he had again re- 
 turned to England, promoted one step 
 in rank, and unscathed by battle, it is 
 true, yet not altogether unharmed. Fa- 
 tigue and privation had been endured 
 unshrinkingly, and, while suffering un- 
 der them, seemingly without detriment 
 to his constitution ; but when the storm 
 blew over, and the sight of his native 
 land promised a long season of sunshine 
 and quiet, his frame lost its hardihood, 
 and he fevered before his disembarka- 
 tion. It required months to restore him 
 to his pristine vigour, and during the 
 
 interim
 
 20 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 interim his regiment had been marched 
 to Scotland, where it ultimately became 
 necessary he should likewise repair. For 
 this purpose he commenced his journey 
 northward ; and in as short a space as 
 his returning strength admitted, reached 
 Felton-Main, the residence of his friend 
 Cleveland Coulson. 
 
 After passing a few days in his highly- 
 valued society, he took the road to Bil- 
 ton, from which he had been induced 
 partially to deviate, in order to discover 
 whether time and absence had mollified 
 the wrath of his uncle, and, if possible, 
 to learn such points of his family history 
 as were absolutely requisite for him to 
 know. The issue of these inquiries has 
 already been detailed. From his uncle's 
 dwelling he went straight to the village 
 inn, where the postchaise which had 
 brought him from Felton remained in 
 waiting; and by the same conveyance 
 proceeded on to Alnwick, whence the 
 mail carried him on to Scotland. 
 
 CHAP-
 
 MACRIMMON. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 I'll be merry and free, 
 
 I'll be sad for naebody ; 
 If naebody care for me, 
 
 I'll care for naebody. 
 
 Scottish Song. 
 
 Travelling in a coach is, of all modes, 
 the worst calculated for scanning the 
 features, or forming a just opinion, of a 
 country ; but had better opportunity 
 offered, Clifford was not in a propitious 
 mood for deriving benefit, or of feeling 
 at all interested in the aspect of that 
 over which he was whirled. Neverthe- 
 less, when, in the dusk of a gloomy 
 evening, he crossed the Tweed, and, for 
 the first time, inhaled the air, and felt 
 his feet pressing Scottish ground, the 
 idea sent a painful thrill to his heart. 
 
 He
 
 22 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 He stood on the natal soil of his father 
 — that father whose memory he knew 
 not whether it became him to cherish 
 or to forget; and the conviction was rife 
 with many disagreeable and sickening 
 pangs. 
 
 But when he reached Edinburgh, and 
 permitted his eyes to open on the gran- 
 deur and beauty of that country, he 
 might almost be said to feel predisposed 
 not to admire — his mind came to admit 
 of more pleasing and soothing impres- 
 sions. Anxious to devote as much time 
 as he could possibly spare to a survey of 
 the city, he resolved not to quit it until 
 the full expiration of his sick-leave; nor 
 did he find cause to alter or regret his 
 resolution. This delay gave him an op- 
 portunity of getting the miniatures of 
 his parents carefully enclosed in a locket, 
 which he might always retain about his 
 person; for notwithstanding the dark 
 shade thrown over their memory, his 
 heart still attached a sacred value to the 
 
 relic.
 
 MACUIMMON. 23 
 
 relic. This accomplished, and his leave 
 of absence come to a close, he threw 
 himself once more into the coach, and 
 proceeded on to Perth, the headquarters 
 of his regiment. 
 
 Between the capital and Queensferry, 
 he had the society of two fellow-travel- 
 lers ; the one a sandy-haired, grey-eyed, 
 and high cheek-boned man, apparently 
 about thirty-five, and, on the whole, not 
 unhandsome in his tout-ensemble; the 
 other, a youth bordering on his twen- 
 tieth year, with dark auburn locks, ex- 
 pressive blue eyes, and a face intelligent 
 and prepossessing. More than once Clif- 
 ford fancied he could trace a resemblance 
 betwixt them ; yet, at the same time, he 
 was compelled to acknowledge that their 
 expression of character was totally dis- 
 similar. The aspect of the elder was 
 thoughtful, and some might have said in- 
 timidating, notwithstanding the smooth 
 front he invariably tried to maintain. 
 His person was manly, and rather of 
 
 large
 
 24 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 large proportion; his voice full, sono- 
 rous, and slightly marked by an accent 
 new to the Englishman, but which, he 
 rightly inferred, betokened the High- 
 lander. On the contrary, care had not 
 yet hardened one lineament in the face 
 of the youth, nor suspicion ploughed 
 one furrow on his open brow. No 
 thought was concealed, no assiduity 
 evinced, to prove himself what he was 
 not; but goodwill to all men stood con- 
 fessed in every word and look. His 
 figure was slight and graceful, and hi> 
 voice gentle as his nature appeared to 
 be, though, like that of his companion, 
 tinctured with the " accents of the 
 mountain tongue." 
 
 Had it not been that Clifford was as 
 yet a stranger to the Scottish character 
 in its native soil, and, in the present in- 
 stance, set himself to scrutinize it with 
 all the enthusiasm of a novice, it is more 
 than probable he would not have so nar- 
 rowly contrasted his fellow-travellers. 
 
 Be
 
 MACRIMMON. 25 
 
 Be that as it may, he quickly discover- 
 ed, from their learning and conversation, 
 that both must be of at least a respect- 
 able rank in life ; and that if any differ- 
 ence existed in this respect, the balance 
 preponderated in favour of the younger ; 
 not that there was any thing presump- 
 tuous in his demeanour, or servile in 
 that of the other, but merely that he 
 seemed on those easy and familiar 
 terms which entitled him to say spor- 
 tive things without hazard of reproof — 
 sallies the other shewed a wish to en- 
 courage, rather than to repress. Both 
 displayed intelligence, and were gene- 
 rally conversant on such topics as were 
 started, more especially the senior, who 
 soon proved his information, relative to 
 the statistics and capabilities of the coun- 
 try, as highly valuable and comprehen- 
 sive. 
 
 When the coach reached the ferry, 
 immediate preparation was made for 
 crossing without delay, notwithstanding 
 
 vol. i. c it
 
 26 MACRIMMON. 
 
 it blew a strong breeze from the east- 
 ward, and a heavy swell came rolling in 
 from the firth. In a stout well-managed 
 boat thev soon after left the land, and 
 were quickly wafted into the mid-chan- 
 nel. There, by some unfortunate acci- 
 dent, the younger Highlander, whom 
 his companion styled Lochullin, had his 
 hat driven from his head into the water; 
 and in making an effort to regain it, he 
 lost his balance, and pitched headlong 
 out of the boat. A scene of alarm in- 
 tantly ensued. Scudding under a heavy 
 press of sail, it required some time for 
 the boat to stand about ; and before that 
 could be done, the object of general 
 anxiety was already at a considerable 
 distance, a strong ebb-tide carrying him 
 fast towards the open firth, in the wry 
 eye of the gale. He speedily proved 
 himself to be a good swimmer, and for 
 a considerable space Btruggfed bravely 
 against the current; but at length find- 
 ing" hi? exertions availed him nothing. 
 
 and
 
 MACRIMMON. 27 
 
 and that they must eventually end in 
 his total exhaustion, he obliqued to- 
 wards the north shore; and by so doing, 
 permitted the boat to make a tack, with 
 some prospect of reaching him. But 
 the tack was made in vain ; and a second 
 fell equally short of the now-nearly-ex- 
 hausted swimmer, notwithstanding the 
 boat was hauled as close up to the wind 
 as practicable. Thus all chance of sav- 
 ing him appeared at an end, when Clif- 
 ford, as a last resource, threw off his 
 clothes, and with a small rope fastened 
 round his body, prepared to swim to his 
 assistance, provided a third tack should 
 be made with no better success. The 
 crew made some demur to this proposi- 
 tion, conceiving it likely to occasion the 
 loss of a second life ; and even the friend 
 of the drowning man, who evinced won- 
 derful coolness throughout, strongly op- 
 posed it, as savouring of the most mis- 
 taken rashness and temerity; but the 
 Englishman's resolution was not to be 
 c 2 set
 
 28 MACRIMMON. 
 
 set aside. As was anticipated, the boat 
 missed him, as before, but by such a 
 trifling space as proved, that could he 
 but keep his head above water until the 
 next tack, there was every chance of his 
 final rescue. Clifford's ear caught the 
 faint accents that declared this impos- 
 sible, and without further hesitation 
 he flung himself overboard. 
 
 For a time all was speechless anxiety 
 in the boat, and this augmented tenfold, 
 when it was discovered that the line 
 which Clifford carried out with him 
 had slipped its hold, and left him as 
 much a castaway as he to whom he de- 
 sired to give assistance. Two men were 
 now in mortal jeopardy ; and though he 
 who had last plunged into the waves 
 was fresh in vigour, and soon evinced 
 himself an expert swimmer, by the ease 
 with which he floated, and the speed 
 with which he reached the object of his 
 humane attempt, still there were fearful 
 odds against either being picked up in 
 
 sufficient
 
 MACBIMMON. 29 
 
 sufficient time to preserve life. With 
 beating hearts did the crew await the 
 result of this the last tack, they dared 
 hope, had the remotest chance of success. 
 Every arm was stretched forth in readi- 
 ness to lend assistance the moment it 
 could be given — every voice hushed into 
 deathlike silence, as their little vessel 
 dashed roughly through the agitated 
 water. In the end this commendable 
 anxiety had its own reward. Clifford, 
 notwithstanding one hand was occupied 
 in supporting the sinking youth, beat 
 the waves with the other, still fresh and 
 undaunted. When a rope was cast out 
 to him, he expeditiously fastened the 
 ready-prepared noose round Lochullin ; 
 and not till he saw him safely lifted on 
 board, did he accept the help offered to 
 himself. 
 
 His long immersion in the water, and 
 
 the alarm incident to such a perilous 
 
 situation, subsequently left the young 
 
 Highlander in a state bordering on in- 
 
 c 3 sensibility ;
 
 30 MACRIMMON. 
 
 sensibility ; and as little or nothing could 
 be done for his recovery while in the 
 open firth, the wisest plan seemed to be 
 to set all sail for the shore. This was 
 accordingly done ; and Clifford had 
 scarcely resumed his clothes ere the 
 boat reached the pier of North Queens- 
 ferry, and permitted them to land. The 
 invalid was carried to the inn by the 
 boatmen, under the superintendence of 
 his friend ; and anxious to ascertain the 
 extent of the injury he had received 
 previous to bidding him adieu, his pre- 
 server followed. 
 
 When a medical man pronounced 
 this to be nothing more than torpor, 
 arising from the length of time he had 
 been in the water, and debility, occa- 
 sioned by his protracted struggle; and 
 when, along with various medicaments 
 to be taken internally, a tew days rest 
 was also strenuously recommended, Clif- 
 ford, seeing no farther oeeasion for his 
 stay, shook the clammy hand o{ the still- 
 speechless
 
 MACRIMMON. 31 
 
 speechless patient, and withdrew to pro- 
 secute his journey. The friend followed 
 him to the door, and as he did so, said — 
 " I shall never be forgiven, my dear sir, 
 if I permit you to depart without in- 
 quiring the name of him to whom we 
 are so greatly indebted ?" 
 
 Clifford gave him his card. — " I am 
 travelling to Perth," said he, " where 
 my regiment is at present quartered; 
 and if, as I infer, you are journeying to 
 the North, shall feel gratified by your 
 remembrance." 
 
 " We shall not fail to make due use 
 of your address," said the stranger ; " but 
 before we separate, let me return the 
 trinket you entrusted to my keeping 
 previous to leaping into the water. The 
 beauty of the female face has tempted 
 me to examine it, and the close resem- 
 blance it bears to you proclaims it that 
 of a near relation." 
 
 "Near indeed !" said the Englishman. 
 c 4 a flush,
 
 32 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 a flush, partly of vexation, crossing his 
 face ; " she was my mother." 
 
 " And the face on the reverse side of 
 the ivory ?" inquired the other, with in- 
 creasing presumption. 
 
 Clifford almost unconsciously filled 
 up the sentence, by adding — " Is that 
 of my other parent." 
 
 The Highlander blushed, possibly 
 with shame, at his own inquisitiveness, 
 tendered his hand to assist him to get 
 into the coach, bowed, and disappeared. 
 
 It was not till he had been whirled 
 over several miles of road, that the Eng- 
 lishman recollected the Scot had not 
 made him acquainted with his own de- 
 signation in return. The flurry into 
 which his mind had, in all likelihood, 
 been thrown by the recent accident, 
 seemed sufficiently to plead his excuse 
 for the omission; and the certainty that 
 it w r ould be rectified on their passing 
 through Perth deprived it of all singu- 
 larity. 
 
 Arrived
 
 MACRIMMON. 33 
 
 Arrived and settled in Perth, Clifford 
 soon found it a much more agreeable 
 quarter than, owing to his scanty know- 
 ledge of Scotland, he had dared to an- 
 ticipate. The genteel society the town 
 and neighbourhood affords, the prepos- 
 sessing aspect the former internally pre- 
 sents, and, above all, the varied and 
 magnificent features of the surrounding 
 country, had each more or less a share 
 in creating this favourable impression; 
 and disposed, by a long and arduous 
 campaign, to be easily satisfied with any 
 sort of quarters in his own peaceful and 
 happy islands, the restless exhilaration of 
 military bustle was gladly resigned for 
 inactivity and repose. It therefore oc- 
 casioned annoyance to the majority of 
 the officers, when, in little more than a 
 month afterwards, a mandate arrived for 
 the removal of the regiment to Fort 
 George — a station the greater part look- 
 ed upon as nothing better than a place 
 of honourable exile, where they could 
 c 5 calculate
 
 34 MACRIMMON. 
 
 calculate on meeting with few of the 
 comforts, much less the luxuries and 
 amusements, of civilized life. 
 
 As to Clifford, he gave himself little 
 trouble about the matter. His partiality 
 for Perth was not so deeply rooted, 
 to give rise even to a sigh at leaving it ; 
 yet, on the whole, he felt some degree 
 of aversion to the idea of being buried 
 for perhaps twelve months in the High- 
 lands. An excursion of a few weeks, 
 merely to scan the face of the countrv, 
 he would have had no objection to have 
 undertaken ; indeed he had often pro- 
 posed such a ramble to a brother-orhccr, 
 with whom he was on terms of the 
 closest intimacy, and whose mind and 
 principles, on all material points, closely 
 assimilated with his own ; but a sojourn 
 of greater duration appeared by no means 
 desirable. The enthusiastic rant made, 
 by the few Scotch officers belonging to 
 the regiment, of Highland beauty and 
 Highland hospitality, he felt inclined to 
 
 amply
 
 MACRIMMON. 35 
 
 amply curtail, and take in a very modi- 
 fied sense. The first he called not in 
 question, farther than by saying, that 
 men who had been habituated to admire 
 the bright complexions and azure eyes 
 of the English ladies, and the lovely 
 black-eyed brunettes of Portugal and 
 Spain, could hardly expect to find su- 
 perior charms in women born on the 
 confines of the Polar Sea. As to hospi- 
 tality, that he felt inclined almost totally 
 to discredit. The unhandsome neglect 
 manifested by the young Highlander 
 he had preserved, in his having passed 
 through Perth without deigning to 
 make the least inquiry after him, had 
 thoroughly disgusted him with the 
 Highland character; therefore the idea 
 of deriving pleasure from association 
 with the inhabitants was scouted as 
 most improbable. 
 
 The march commenced ; and skirting 
 
 the eastern coast, by short and agreeable 
 
 stages, the lofty snow-clothed mountains 
 
 c 6 of
 
 36 MACRIMMON. 
 
 of Ross-shire, in due time, made their 
 appearance ; and, two days after, the re- 
 giment filed under the cannon of Fort 
 George. From its bastions, the Scotch 
 officers were not dilatory in pointing 
 out to their English and Irish comrades 
 the magnificent scenery amongst which 
 they were thus suddenly thrown ; as 
 they did so, inquiring, with looks of 
 exultation, if the British islands could 
 boast of a more complete fortification, a 
 more beautiful expanse of water than 
 the Moray Firth ; or mountainous Spain 
 itself, of ridges and peaks more majestic 
 and picturesque than those stretching 
 along the western horizon, far beyond 
 the dimly-distinguished spires of Inver- 
 ness ? 
 
 The Englishmen were too polite to 
 answer otherwise than by a smile, a 
 shrug, or a quotation from Johnson's 
 " Journey to the Hebrides;" but the 
 Irishmen laughed outright in the faces 
 of the panegyrists — swore Sawney spoke 
 
 God's
 
 MACRIMMON. 37 
 
 God's truth — but added, that for their 
 part they were well assured no mortal 
 man who had ever had his foot on the 
 Emerald Isle, could seriously think it a 
 country good enough for quartering 
 pigs in, much less men. The Scotch- 
 men found prejudice had taken the field 
 against them, and being the weakest 
 party, and least endowed with the " gift 
 of the gab," gave up the contest — silen- 
 ced, but still maintaining their positions. 
 To do Clifford's discrimination and 
 liberality of opinions justice, it must not 
 be concealed, that, unfavourably biassed 
 as was his mind, he did not withhold 
 that meed of admiration so evidently 
 due to the striking features of the land. 
 One saunter round the ramparts of the 
 fort was sufficient to make him con- 
 fess, that never had his eyes beheld a 
 more glorious prospect, than when, turn- 
 ing his face to the westward, he per- 
 mitted his glance to range over the blue 
 curling billows of the firth, the towns 
 
 and
 
 38 MACRIMMON. 
 
 and hamlets, the woods and rocks, that 
 ornament its shores, or, from these nearer 
 objects, lifted it to the conic summits at 
 its inland extremity, which, rising re- 
 gularly behind each other, ridge above 
 ridge, when thinly crested with snow, 
 traverse the country like lofty broken 
 waves. If his heart was not inclined to 
 christen it the " sweetest land on earth,' 
 he readily admitted that it ranked amoni: 
 the loveliest and the wildest. 
 
 Averse to acquiring the local informa- 
 tion he desired from his Scotch com- 
 rades, who, nettled by the incredulity 
 of John Bull and the jeers of Pat, seem- 
 ed to hold it as a point of honour to say 
 nothing disadvantageous to their native 
 soil, he one day put a few questions to 
 an old invalid, whom he accidentally 
 encountered on one of the bastions. 
 The crippled limbs and scarred coun- 
 tenance of the veteran proclaimed him 
 a solitary memorial of battles long fought 
 and forgotten. He knew little or no- 
 thing
 
 MACRIMMON. 39 
 
 thing of Egypt, of Buenos Ayres, and 
 still less of Maida, of Vimeira, of Co- 
 runna; yet 
 
 a Many a favouring witness he could cite 
 Of young exploits and arduous duty done, 
 From names his younger auditor but knew 
 In history." 
 
 Of Bunker's Hill, Brandy wine, and Sa- 
 ratogaj he could speak for whole days 
 on end ; and Clifford soon found, to his 
 cost, that by indulging him in the out- 
 set, he had opened a masked battery on 
 himself, which he knew not well how 
 to silence, unless he absolutely took to 
 flight. 
 
 After listening, with good-humoured 
 patience, to a story setting forth how, in 
 such and such an action, the general-in- 
 chief had thought proper to object to 
 the Scottish regiments advancing to the 
 charge to the sound of the bagpipe ; 
 how, in consequence, the Highlanders 
 were twice repulsed with great slaugh- 
 ter;
 
 40 MACRIMMON. 
 
 ter; how, on the silence of their na- 
 tional music being assigned as the rea- 
 son why they had not behaved with 
 their usual intrepidity, the general', in a 
 few pithy words, desired the piper to 
 strike up a pibroch again ; and how they 
 then gallantly discomfited the enemy at 
 the point of the bayonet, Clifford took 
 advantage of the narrator having run 
 himself out of breath, and inquired what 
 sort of men were the Highland lairds of 
 the present day ? 
 
 " What sort o' men are they ?" echoed 
 the veteran; " why, just men like our- 
 selves. Gude flesh and blood, when 
 they're abune grund, and filthy yird 
 when they're aneath it." 
 
 " It is of their characters, their dis- 
 positions, the general opinion entertain- 
 ed regarding them, with which I wish 
 to become acquainted," said Clifford. 
 
 " Weel," returned the other, in a tone 
 of conscious independence, " I'se try to 
 answer ye; and as I was born on the 
 
 right
 
 MACRIMMON. 41 
 
 right side o' the Grampians, by which I 
 mean the south, shall speak freely as I 
 think. As to their character, it may 
 pass where there's naebody to find faut 
 wi't. Their disposition is to be aye 
 making money at hame, an' aye spend- 
 ing awa ; and as for the general opinion 
 entertained regarding them, that's weel 
 established — a' body that has oney sense 
 thinks them gaen clean daft wi' pride." 
 
 Clifford could not restrain his mirth 
 at this off-hand sketch, which, he could 
 easily perceive, was indebted for its high 
 colouring to the delineator being born 
 on the " right side of the Grampians." 
 — " And are none excluded from this 
 description ?" inquired he, when laughter 
 permitted him. 
 
 " There's nae rule without exception," 
 replied the veteran ; " and I dare say, 
 you'll find gude, bad, and indifferent 
 fouk in the Hielands, as weel as in ither 
 places. But, to speak the real truth, I 
 ken little about them ; only this much 
 
 I can
 
 42 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 I can tell you, that in my time the pri- 
 vates aye liket a south-country officer 
 best. If he was an Englishman, he let 
 us tak the duty easy, provided we were 
 weel behaved, and never grudged a shil- 
 ling or twa ower head to his company 
 on great occasions. If he was an Irish- 
 man, so as we fought well, we might 
 kick up the devil's delight, morning, 
 noon, or night, without fear o' guard- 
 house, drill, or halberts. If he was a 
 Lowland Scotchman, he was, sure 
 enough, gay and particular; keepit a 
 close nive on the bawbees, and a wary 
 e'e to the commanding offisher ; yet he 
 had a canny, quiet wye o' doing things, 
 and a smooth couthie word for gentle 
 and simple. But if he came frae the 
 hills, ten to one but he had the airi- 
 ness and pride of a Turk, and devil ae 
 gude quality, except that o' handing his 
 face bravely foment the cnem 
 
 Clifford saw that he was already in 
 possession of all the old Serjeant's ideas 
 
 on
 
 MACRIMMON. 43 
 
 on the subject, and that impartiality of 
 judgment was as rarely to be found un- 
 der the private's worsted lace as under 
 the officer's embroidered jacket. Never- 
 theless he could not entirely prevent his 
 mind from being tinctured with pre- 
 judice against the Highlanders, particu- 
 larly when he kept in view the ungrate- 
 ful neglect, for he could give it no better 
 name, displayed by his Queensferry spe- 
 cimens of the Gael. At one time he 
 had some thoughts of making a few in- 
 quiries concerning them, in which his 
 knowledge of the name of the junior 
 promised to be of assistance * but calling 
 to mind, that it was not his part to 
 make even the most trivial exertions to 
 facilitate their future meeting, he un- 
 hesitatingly and finally dismissed the 
 idea.
 
 44 MACRIMMON. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The land of the mountain and flood, 
 
 Where the pine of the forest for ages has stood — 
 Where the eagle comes forth on the wings of the storm, 
 And her young ones are rock'd on the high Cairngorum. 
 
 The first circumstance that promised 
 the officers of the regiment a tran- 
 sient liberation from the monotonous 
 duty of the fort, was the annunciation of 
 an Inverness ball, at which such as chose 
 to attend were offered a tempting oppor- 
 tunity of meeting all the " beauty and 
 chivalry" of the Highlands. 
 
 The commanding officer, colonel Wri- 
 othesley, partly on account of his rank, 
 and partly from the reflected consequence 
 he derived from the noble families with 
 whom he was connected, had previously 
 
 been
 
 MACRIMMON. 45 
 
 been invited to mingle in the private 
 parties of the neighbouring gentry ; and 
 being anxious to make the ball-party as 
 strong as possible, several, who had no 
 decided wish to attend it, were, by his so- 
 licitations, induced to go. 
 
 Of this number was Clifford ; and 
 though he anticipated but little pleasure 
 from the amusements of the evening, he 
 was not sorry at being enlisted in the 
 cause, from the opportunity it promised 
 to afford him of making, in agreeable so- 
 ciety, an excursion he had often contem- 
 plated. 
 
 Accordingly, on the day appointed, 
 the majority of the young men, leaving 
 for a time the superintendence of parades 
 to the u old foggies," started, full of life 
 and gaiety, for Inverness ; and, at an 
 hour sufficiently late to establish their 
 claim to genteel habits, made their ap- 
 pearance in the crowded ball-room. 
 
 A short survey of the female part of 
 the assembly served to convince the 
 
 English-
 
 46 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 Englishmen, that grace and beauty might 
 even be found in a country bordering on 
 the frigid zone; and the Irishmen, like 
 prodigal sons, felt half inclined to desert 
 their father's house entirely, and, pro- 
 vided they could get helpmates, try if 
 pigs would not flit ten within the rocky 
 girdle of the Grampians. 
 
 As to Clifford, he was not allowed a 
 fair opportunity of immediately forming 
 his opinion of Hyperborean charms; for 
 scarcely had he entered the room, when 
 his glance rested on a face which was in- 
 stantaneously recognised. It was that 
 of Lochullin, the youth whose life he 
 had saved ; and the recognition was mu- 
 tual, for, with a start of rapture, the 
 Highlander hurriedly apologized to the 
 lady he was dancing with, and rushed 
 forward to greet him. — H My friend ! my 
 preserver !" he exclaimed, holding out his 
 hand; " am I at last so fortunate as to 
 meet you ?" 
 
 This address was warm ; but Clifford, 
 
 not-
 
 MACRIMMON. 47 
 
 notwithstanding sincerity was develop- 
 ed in the young man's face, could not 
 reconcile his present behaviour with his 
 preceding neglect. He therefore coolly 
 touched the offered hand, stiffly bowed 
 his thanks, and hoped that the gentle- 
 man experienced no bad effects from the 
 accident he met with at the Queens- 
 ferry. 
 
 The youth's eyes glistened as he no- 
 ticed the indifference with which his 
 heart-given salutation was received. — ff I 
 can perceive how it is," said he, in a tone 
 of distress ; " you think me ungrateful, 
 and so treat me as ah ingrate deserves ; 
 yet, if you will but listen, I may, in a 
 certain degree, exculpate myself from so 
 foul a charge." 
 
 " There is not the smallest necessity 
 for your attempting such a thing," re- 
 turned Clifford, whose stiffness began to 
 give way. " I did expect, that when 
 you passed through Perth, you would 
 have gratified me so far as to have per- 
 sonally
 
 48 MACRIMMON. 
 
 sonally announced your perfect recovery ; 
 but no doubt you bad good reasons for 
 tbe omission." 
 
 " When I passed through Perth ! was 
 it then in Perth I should have found 
 you ?" exclaimed the young Highlander, 
 with evident astonishment and regret. 
 " How very, very unfortunate! for I 
 halted fully two days in that town. But 
 the truth of the matter was this : — my 
 friend, Glen Eynort, in the midst of his 
 confusion and anxiety on my account, 
 by some mischance, lost or destroyed the 
 card on which was inscribed your name; 
 and, as if to crown the whole, his me- 
 mory dealt so treacherously with him, 
 that he could neither recall it to his re- 
 membrance, nor decide whether you 
 were bound for Perth. Inverness, or 
 John-o'Groats. In vain did he rack his 
 brain, and in vain did I reproach. All 
 he could trust himself to say was, that 
 he thought you intended quitting the 
 coach at Perth, and from thence pene- 
 trating
 
 MACRIMMON. 49 
 
 trating into the Western Highlands, 
 either to visit a friend, or to gratify your 
 taste for the magnificence of nature, in a 
 ramble over the Perth and Argyleshire 
 hills. This last surmise was the most sa- 
 tisfactory I could draw from him ; and 
 when it was corroborated by the guard 
 of the coach, I no longer hesitated in 
 giving it implicit credence. Nothing 
 therefore could be done, but to pursue 
 my journey northward, in grievous dis- 
 appointment, and trust to fortune for 
 throwing you in my way. This it has 
 at last done, but, I fear, at too late a pe- 
 riod to leave it in my power to atone for 
 past offences." 
 
 " Say no more," said Clifford, in a 
 voice that at once proclaimed his suspi- 
 cions were dissipated. " A much less 
 elaborate and less sufficient apology 
 would have served to make me ashamed 
 of my behaviour. On your friend's me- 
 mory lie the blame, and be the circum- 
 stance remembered no more." 
 
 vol. i. d " Then
 
 50 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 " Then I must include Glen Eynort 
 in the act of grace you are so ready to 
 extend," said Lochullin, a smile of de- 
 light once more spreading over his coun- 
 tenance ; " for I can vouch for the an- 
 noyance and pain his forgetfulness has 
 occasioned him. During the few days 
 he was tied down as my nurse, he alter- 
 ed his mind regarding the prosecution 
 of his journey homeward ; and when I 
 was restored to my former strength, left 
 me to proceed alone, and retraced his 
 steps to Edinburgh. He assigned some 
 transactions of moment he had neglected 
 to settle prior to his departure, as his 1 
 son for so doing ; but to this moment I 
 am satisfied, in my own mind, that it 
 was solely with a view to rectify, if pos- 
 sible, his carelessness of your addn 
 This however he found impracticable; 
 and had not accident favoured me, I 
 question if we should have ever met." 
 
 " Then, to prevent all hazard of such 
 
 a mis-
 
 MACRIMMON. 51 
 
 a misfortune again occurring," said Clif- 
 ford, " I shall now hand the remembrancer 
 over to you." 
 
 " And in return for the uneffaceable 
 manner in which these characters shall 
 be stamped on my heart," said the other, 
 as he ran his eyes over the card, " may I 
 entreat lieutenant Clifford to charge his 
 memory with the name of Mneas Macara 
 of Lochullin ?" 
 
 Clifford readily gave an assurance that 
 he had great pleasure in so doing ; upon 
 which the frank-hearted Highlander, as 
 he took his arm, said — " Then, now that 
 we are friends, let us no longer deprive 
 Glen Eynort of his due share of the sa- 
 tisfaction I experience. He is at the 
 other end of the room, buried, as usual, 
 in a clustre of our mountain belles, and 
 totally ignorant of the agreeable surprise 
 awaiting him." 
 
 They accordingly sauntered to that 
 
 part of the room where, surrounded by 
 
 D 2 a crowd 
 
 UNIVERSITY (£ 
 WOIS LlBRAft
 
 52 MACRIMMON. 
 
 a crowd of ladies, to whom he was deal- 
 ing out compliments by wholesale, Glen 
 Eynort was seated. 
 
 The moment he caught a glimpse of 
 Clifford, his colour heightened to the 
 deepest crimson, and he instantly freed 
 himself from the fair circle, and with a 
 ready hand came forward to meet him. 
 — " I am rejoiced to find," said he, " that 
 my inadvertent fault has not proved ir- 
 reparable. Lochullin, I trust, has advo- 
 cated my cause, as far as it admits of ex- 
 tenuation." 
 
 " I have explained every thing," ex- 
 claimed Lochullin, whose spirits had re- 
 ceived a powerful stimulant in the ren- 
 contre, " and our generous friend willing- 
 ly extends the olive-branch to all, not- 
 withstanding he was at first a little 
 crusty. Clifford, my good sir, was the 
 name you so unfortunately let slip your 
 memory ; and this, Mr. Clifford, is my 
 kinsman, Macrimmon of Glen Eynort" 
 
 This introduction over, and some tri- 
 vial
 
 MACKIMMON. 53 
 
 vial observations made by each, Lochul- 
 lin again took the arm of the English- 
 man. — " There is another individual in 
 the room," said he, as they moved on, 
 " to whom I must introduce you with- 
 out delay. Come here, Unn," and he 
 motioned to a graceful young female, at 
 a short distance, who instantly approach- 
 ed ; when, taking her hand, he put it 
 into that of his companion, adding, as he 
 did so — " This, Mr. Clifford, is my sis- 
 ter, Unn Macara ; and in this gentleman, 
 Unn, you see the generous and intrepid 
 Englishman who was the means of sav- 
 ing my life at the Queensferry." 
 
 The timidity and diffidence incidental 
 to her sex and age, for she was but a 
 mere girl, probably shortened the lady's 
 acknowledgments ; but what she did say 
 was to the purpose, and delivered in a 
 voice that could scarcely fail to please. 
 She was too young to have established 
 her claim to beauty, but the germs were 
 D 3 already
 
 54 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 already beginning to develop them- 
 selves ; and though not promising to be 
 exactly of that style Clifford admired, 
 he could discern that a considerable pro- 
 portion was likely, some day, to fall to 
 her share. In order to leave Loch nil in 
 at liberty to divide his attentions, he so- 
 licited her to join the dance, and they 
 stood up accordingly. 
 
 When the company began to disperse, 
 he again found the young Highlander at 
 his side. — " I am sorry," said he, " that 
 the nature of the evening's amusement 
 has kept us so much asunder ; but hope 
 that for the self-denial I have been com- 
 pelled to display, I shall yet be amply 
 remunerated. Does my acquaintance 
 yet authorize me to inquire how you are 
 to be occupied to-morrow ?"' 
 
 " I intended devoting it to a survey 
 of the town and neighbourhood,' an- 
 swered Clifford ; " and if that proves 
 amusing, to make an excursion as far as 
 
 the
 
 MACRIMMON. 55 
 
 the Fall of Foyers on the ensuing day. 
 That done, I return to the fort." 
 
 " Then you cannot have a better cice- 
 rone than myself," said Lochullin, eager- 
 ly ; " and at any hour in the morning 
 you please to fix upon, I shall be in at- 
 tendance. Were it not that I am de- 
 pendent on hospitality myself at present, 
 I would not submit to lose sight of you ; 
 but I trust, before we again part for any 
 length of time, that some scheme may 
 be adopted for giving me an opportuni- 
 ty of cultivating more extensively a 
 friendship I so anxiously aspire to." 
 
 Clifford returned a suitable reply ; and 
 after intimating the hour at which he 
 should be ready to commence his per- 
 ambulations, they separated for the night, 
 mutually prepossessed in each other's fa- 
 vour. 
 
 True to his appointment, Lochullin 
 
 made his appearance at the hotel where 
 
 Clifford had passed the night, before the 
 
 latter had fully discharged his duty at 
 
 D 4 the
 
 56 MACRIMMOK. 
 
 the breakfast-table, which he had be- 
 leaguered in conjunction with his bro- 
 ther-ofli ers. 
 
 This momentous point carried, to the 
 total discomfiture of eggs, beef-steaks, 
 haddocks, tea, and toast, they sallied 
 forth ; and in the course of the day, not 
 only circumambulated the whole town, 
 but took a bird's- eye view of it from 
 every accessible eminence in its environs, 
 not forgetting the singularly-shaped and 
 insulated hill of Tomnaheurich, nor the 
 vitrified crest of Craig Fhatric. 
 
 Unlike most other Caledonians, Loch- 
 ullin exaggerated no beauty, and con- 
 cealed no detect. The scene lay spread 
 before his companion's eyes, and he mere- 
 ly gave such local information as vrafl re- 
 quisite to make him more fully compre- 
 hend it. 
 
 Clifford's glance wandered up hill and 
 down dale, till it got fatigued with g 
 illg on a prospect full of so much su- 
 blimity and grandeur; to form which, 
 
 wood
 
 MACRIMMON. 57 
 
 wood and water, rock and mountain, 
 each contributed their share ; while, at 
 the junction of the three great valleys, 
 which, like the rays of a star, diverged 
 east, west, and south, before him. sat 
 Inverness, the radiant nucleus of the 
 whole. 
 
 The following day, as Clifford had 
 projected, was devoted to visiting Loch 
 Ness and the Fall of Foyers, which cost 
 both a hard day's riding, but from which 
 the Englishman returned highly gratifi- 
 ed, and more and more delighted with 
 the sternly-magnificent character of High- 
 land scenery. Culloden Moor, the field 
 on which the last Stuart fought his last 
 battle, was also visited in his way back 
 to the fort ; and thus far Lochullin es- 
 corted him, to point out to his southern 
 eye the green spots sprinkled over the 
 dark heath, and to tell, that under them 
 reposed the more fortunate colleagues of 
 those men, who 
 
 d5 « Stood
 
 58 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 * Stood to the last ; and when standing was o T er r 
 All sullen and silent, resign'd tie claymore ; 
 And yielded, indignant, their necks to the blow, 
 Their homes to the flame, and their lands to the foe." 
 
 Clifford saw, in these patches of ver- 
 dure, a more affecting memorial of the 
 slain, than if he had been looking on the 
 proudest mausoleum earthly hands could 
 raise ; for it seemed to his imagination 
 as though, in keeping them perpetually 
 green, Nature had stamped on that black 
 moor an imperishable record of her aver- 
 sion to strife existing between men born 
 in the same land. Considerably more 
 than half-a-century has elapsed since hu- 
 man blood irrigated those heart-speak- 
 ing spots, yet their hue is as rich as 
 though it had been only shed a year ; 
 and bright and unfading will it remain, 
 till the last trumpet shall call upon Cul- 
 loden to give up its dead. 
 
 Before Loch u Hi n parted with his com> 
 panion, he said, in reference to a previ- 
 ous arrangement made betwixt them — 
 
 " Then.
 
 MACRIMMON. 59 
 
 u Then, ten days hence, you meet me at 
 Inverness, content to submit yourself 
 entirely to my guidance ; and with a 
 fowling-piece in your hand, to risk your 
 limbs in a fortnight's ramble over our 
 rugged hills ?" 
 
 " So you have settled," said Clifford, 
 " and I anticipate too much pleasure 
 from my peregrination to retract my as- 
 sent." 
 
 " Then," said the Highlander, " get 
 decked out in a shooting-jacket, on Tues- 
 day the twenty-sixth, and transport your- 
 self to Inverness, by what means you 
 may. After that, I regulate our progress 
 in every respect ; so take care you make 
 no provision for the future, beyond the 
 hour that sees you quartered in Cant's 
 Hotel." 
 
 They exchanged adieus and parted ; 
 
 Lochullin to keep an engagement in the 
 
 neighbourhood of Inverness, which, for 
 
 the sake of his new friend, he had part- 
 
 D 6 ly
 
 60 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 ly broken, and the other to resume the 
 humdrum duty of the fort. 
 
 In the course of the three days they 
 had been together, Clifford had obtained, 
 from the frank and communicative High- 
 lander, and that too without the small- 
 est solicitation, such information respect- 
 ing him and his connexions as was suf- 
 ficient to satisfy moderate curiosity. He 
 was yet a minor and an orphan, heir to 
 a handsome property, the most exten- 
 sive, but not the most valuable part of 
 which lay on the north-west coast of the 
 island. On this there still remained an 
 old mansion, the stronghold of his an- 
 cestors; and he was anxious his English 
 friend should have ocular proof of the 
 vast quantities and varied descriptions of 
 game its bleak moors and hill-slopes 
 sheltered ; but he seldom or never made 
 it a place of residence. The spot he had 
 hitherto been habituated to regard as his 
 home was Dun liimmon Castle, the 
 
 abode
 
 MACRIMMON. 61 
 
 abode of sir Colin Macrimmon, his ma- 
 ternal grandfather and guardian. One 
 of the principal objects he had in view, 
 when he proposed the excursion before 
 alluded to, was to introduce his preserver 
 to this old chieftain, who, notwithstand- 
 ing his hereditary antipathy to the Sas- 
 senach, would, he doubted not, for once 
 make a son of the slighted race a welcome 
 guest at his board. 
 
 Such was the sum of the family expo- 
 se Clifford was favoured with ; and so 
 much had every thing conspired to re- 
 commend the young Highlander to his 
 regard, that frequently, before the expi- 
 ration of the ten days that intervened 
 between their separation and the period 
 appointed for their future meeting, he 
 caught himself marvelling at the laziness 
 with which the wheels of time perform- 
 ed their diurnal revolution. 
 
 At length the wished-for morning ar- 
 rived ; leave of absence was readily 
 
 granted
 
 62 MACRIMMON. 
 
 granted him, and, equipped as had been 
 advised, he reached the hotel in Inver- 
 ness. 
 
 Lochullin was in waiting for him, and 
 similarly prepared, only that he wore 
 tartan, and the national bonnet, totally 
 unornamented. — " Aware," said he, after 
 they had exchanged greetings, " that 
 there is nothing more to interest you in 
 Inverness, I have every thing arranged 
 for our immediate departure. There is 
 a tolerably-good horse ready for each of 
 us, and the old Highlander who acts as 
 our groom will take charge of what lit- 
 tle luggage you may have brought. 
 This night we shall sleep at a small ham- 
 let on the road, and to-morrow, I hope, 
 within the walls of Dun Rimmon. I 
 expected, at one time, we should have 
 had Glen Eynort's company ; and, to in- 
 duce him to delay his return for a day 
 or two, held out the lure of your society ; 
 but he said he could not bring himself 
 
 to
 
 MACRIMMON. 63 
 
 to permit my sister to cross the hills un- 
 escorted, and so set off with her three 
 days ago." 
 
 * He could scarcely have had a better 
 excuse," said Clifford ; " and I begin to 
 apprehend that your delaying for me has 
 put you and others to more inconveni- 
 ence than you are willing to acknow- 
 ledge." 
 
 " By no means," returned Lochullin. 
 * It was a mere whim in Glen Eynort 
 to fancy Unn required such a squire, 
 more especially when she had a careful 
 clansman for an attendant. However, 
 one advantage will accrue from his prov- 
 ing our av ant-courier. He will an- 
 nounce your approach to my grandfa- 
 ther, and pave the way for your receiving 
 a hearty reception. I do not attempt to 
 conceal that sir Colin is, in a certain de- 
 gree, infected with those antiquated pre- 
 judices which have been on the decay 
 for the last century, and are now nearly 
 rooted out ; and that he is apt to ima- 
 gine
 
 64 MACRIMMON. 
 
 gine worth and honour are in a measure 
 peculiarly the Gael's inheritance. But 
 of this failing I am sure you will be per- 
 mitted to discern nothing ; and had you 
 even no claims on his regard, on my ac- 
 count, I am well aware Glen Eynort's 
 recommendation would obtain it for 
 you." 
 
 The conclusion of this speech, in giv- 
 ing an insight into the character of sir 
 Colin Macrimmon, did not increase Clif- 
 ford's pleasurable anticipations. He be- 
 gan to suspect that he should find more 
 enjoyment in beating the hills for game, 
 than in partaking of the hospitality of 
 Dun Rimmon Castle, and felt nowise 
 elated at the idea of being indebted to 
 the good report of Glen Eynort for a ci- 
 vil reception. These cogitations how- 
 ever he could not divulge ; much less 
 could he resolve to incur the charge of 
 instability and fickleness, by declining to 
 adhere to his engagement. The prepa- 
 rations for their journey, therefore, went 
 
 on ;
 
 MACRIMMON. 65 
 
 on ; and when completed, they took their 
 departure. 
 
 Long before they had lost sight of the 
 Firth of Beauly, Clifford could perceive 
 that the small country horses on which 
 they rode were not only mettlesome and 
 pleasant in their movements, but parti- 
 cularly calculated for a hilly district, and 
 capable of enduring much fatigue. From 
 his companion he learned that they were 
 the property of sir Colin, who prided 
 himself on having a fine and numerous 
 stud of the native breed; but when it 
 was added, that greater part of them were 
 allowed to run wild amongst the hills, 
 and rarely, either in summer or winter, 
 knew the luxury of a stable, his respect 
 for this department of the baronet's es- 
 tablishment suffered a sensible diminu- 
 tion. 
 
 Donald Darroch, their squire, also 
 owed fealty to the old chief; and to dis- 
 cern that he belonged to the same coun- 
 try and master as the gerrans, one look 
 
 at
 
 66 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 at his rough stunted form and ancient 
 frosty face was sufficient. He shewed a 
 particular aversion either to attempt 
 speaking, or confessing that he under- 
 stood, English ; and when he inadver- 
 tently made a lajmis lingua* in that re- 
 spect, fully authenticated his claim to ig- 
 norance by the unintelligible jargon he 
 made use of. 
 
 The rapidity of their progress, and the 
 attention the Englishman conceived it 
 requisite to pay to his steed, on account 
 of the hilly tract they had to traverse, 
 necessarily precluded much conversation. 
 Clifford soon found himself in a country 
 totally unknown ; and in vain did he en- 
 deavour to acquire some notion of its to- 
 pography ; for no sooner had Lochullin 
 set about enlightening him, than a string 
 of wild Gaelic names stepped in to in- 
 crease his perplexity. He had therefore 
 no alternative, but to submit to be hur- 
 ried on, blindfold as it were ; and many 
 a hill did he climb — many a winding glen 
 
 did
 
 MACRIMMON. 67 
 
 did he traverse, before, with the sunset, 
 he hailed Ardgy, the hamlet in which 
 they were to pass the night. It lay on 
 the margin of a lake of inconsiderable 
 breadth, but several miles in length ; and 
 a strong and lofty girdle of mountains, 
 on the slopes of which the dwarf oak 
 and the birch grew in great abundance, 
 encompassed the whole. Five or six 
 miserable huts composed the clachan, 
 and of these the public-house or inn was 
 the chief. It stood on a green knoll, 
 apart from the rest; and though in a state 
 of dilapidation, shewed, in the superio- 
 rity of its plan and construction, that it 
 had originally been intended, as Lochul- 
 lin said, for a shooting-box, to a proprie- 
 tor who thought his Highland estates 
 only worth a visit when the grouse were 
 fit for killing. When this sensible man 
 returned to his native dust, an heir step- 
 ped into his shoes, who had even more 
 worldly wisdom in his composition ; for, 
 looking upon every thing north of Che- 
 viot
 
 68 MACRIMMON. 
 
 viot as savage and barbarous, he never 
 set foot on Scottish ground, but left all 
 to the management of a factor, who 
 knew both sides of a shilling too well to 
 undeceive him. 
 
 In consequence of this total desertion, 
 the once trim cottage of Ardgy fell fast 
 to ruin ; and, at last, when it contained 
 scarcely one apartment impervious to the 
 rain, was let, at a few shillings annually. 
 as a house of entertainment; of which 
 metamorphosis a tall pole, fixed in the 
 centre of a cairn of stones, duly inform- 
 ed the public. 
 
 The landlord, whom Lochullin saluted 
 by the name of Murdoch Bain, and who 
 spoke English nearly as well as Donald 
 Darroch, was a squat little man, habited 
 in coarse hodden gray, and with a mo- 
 bility of scalp and activity of gesture 
 truly extraordinary. He exhibited great 
 joy at the arrival of the party, and, out 
 of sheer good-nature, remained bustling 
 about the room, and putting in a word 
 
 asion-
 
 MACRIMMON. 69 
 
 occasionally, for a full half-hour; anxious 
 no doubt that the gentlemen should feel 
 the lapse of time as little as possible 
 while waiting for the loch trout and 
 mutton ham he had promised for their 
 supper. 
 
 " And now," said Lochullin, when the 
 obsequious and considerate host at 
 length retired, ft I believe it is full time 
 to ask you what you think of the High- 
 lands; for, until to-day, you may be said 
 to have seen them only as Moses saw the 
 land of Canaan." 
 
 " If I am to form my opinion," repli- 
 ed Clifford, " from the country I have 
 this day passed over, I must unreserved- 
 ly declare, that it is to the full more 
 gloomy, rugged, and desolate, than I an- 
 ticipated. From the moment we lost 
 sight of the really -beautiful scenery 
 which embosoms the great estuaries of the 
 east coast, I have seen nothing but an 
 endless succession of black sterile hills, 
 gray melancholy rocks and dells, such 
 
 as
 
 70 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 as at every sweep one may expect to 
 meet banditti, or, mayhap, one of Os- 
 sian's spectre-chiefs. In good truth, I 
 hope fate will permit me to pass my 
 days among less majestic scenery, and 
 where I have a chance of seeing more of 
 the ■ human face divine." 
 
 Lochullin laughed as he said — " I find 
 you prefer being conscientious to smooth- 
 ing your words down to a standard like- 
 ly to suit my national prepossessions ; 
 nevertheless I do assure you, that that 
 same frank and unstudied manner of 
 giving an opinion is one of the points I 
 most admire in the English character. 
 Our day's ride has indeed been, for the 
 greater part, over an unseemly track ; 
 but I trust, before the close of to-morrow, 
 you will begin to think the country im- 
 proves. Had I not apprehended that 
 you would have found the accommoda- 
 tions for the night too miserable to be 
 put up with, I would have taken a near- 
 er and perhaps more pleasant route. 
 
 Ardgy
 
 MACRIMMON. 71 
 
 Ardgy is bad, but it is a palace, in com- 
 parison to the shealing on Ben Vhragie." 
 
 " Then it is as well we avoided it," 
 said Clifford, looking first at the green 
 mildewed walls, and then at the rotten 
 fractured flooring. " I do not much heed 
 bad quarters at a time, but I hold it as a 
 maxim, that it is proper to rest satisfied 
 with such only when no better can be had. 
 Besides, had we taken another road, I 
 should have been deprived of a sight of 
 this strange biped we have got for a land- 
 lord ; and a glance at his extraordinary 
 phiz is well worth a few miles riding any 
 day." 
 
 " Ha, honest Murdoch !" exclaimed 
 Lochullin, " I suspected, from the first, 
 that his eccentricities would not go with- 
 out a place in your tablets. He is cer- 
 tainly a rare specimen of a Highland inn- 
 keeper ; and did you mutually and tho- 
 roughly understand each other, you 
 would soon discover that it is not in the 
 outward man alone his singularity lies. 
 
 He
 
 72 MACUIMMOX. 
 
 He has been accustomed to see me pay 
 his house periodical visits, ever since I 
 made my first appearance at the Inver- 
 ness academy, with scarcely sufficient 
 knowledge in my noddle to know A 
 from B, and on that account thinks he 
 has a sort of right to be what you may 
 term officious and presuming; but which 
 I, knowing the character and nature of 
 the man, look upon as springing from 
 genuine kindness of heart and harmless 
 curiosity. Amongst these solitudes, it 
 would require a mind more rudely 
 framed than I believe any Highland 
 gentleman possesses, harshly to repulse 
 civilities that really arise from respect, 
 or refuse to gratify an innocent anxiety 
 concerning the tumults of that world 
 from which nature seems for ever to have 
 shut the inquirer out. But here comes 
 our trout and ham, which, when discuss- 
 ed, and duly qualified with a proper 
 quantity of our mountain beverage, shall 
 be the signal for our retreat to bed, es- 
 pecially 

 
 MACRIMMON. 73 
 
 pecially as we have another day's hard 
 riding before us, and must start with the 
 lark." 
 
 Clifford assented to the judiciousness 
 of this remark, and the conclusion of an- 
 other hour saw them separate for the 
 night, to take possession of the far-from- 
 despicable beds the industrious helpmate 
 of Murdoch Bain had prepared for their 
 reception. 
 
 VOL. L E CHAP-
 
 74 MACRIMMON. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 +*+*++ +r+*»*+*4 
 
 When death's dark stream 1 ferry o'er, 
 
 A time that surely shall come, 
 In heaven itself, I'll ask DO more, 
 
 But just a Highland welcome. Burn?. 
 
 At sunrise on the following day, after 
 having done ample justice to the break- 
 fast honest Murdoch took care should 
 be in waiting, notwithstanding the dark- 
 ness of an October morning, the travel- 
 lers again bestrode their gerrans ; and 
 soon quitting the borders of Loch-na- 
 youn, pushed deeper into the wilds. 
 His companion's affirmation had encou- 
 raged Clifford to expect a decrease in 
 the rugffedness and desolation of the 
 country ; but, for the first half of the 
 day, instead of diminishing in uncouth 
 aspect, its stern features actually seemed 
 
 to
 
 MACRIMMON. 75 
 
 to augment. Never before had he ima- 
 gined that there was any district of 
 Great Britain so savage and sterile as 
 that which, for six hours, he journeyed 
 over. 
 
 With the exception of one solitary 
 hut, termed, in the language of the 
 country, a shealing, and a pedlar hurry- 
 ing, as fast as his pack permitted, to 
 more genial climes, he beheld neither 
 habitation nor human being in all this 
 dreary tract. A wilderness of mountains 
 spread around like the immense waves 
 of a fiercely-agitated ocean, for to no- 
 thing bearing a closer resemblance could 
 be likened the constant succession of 
 heathy ridges, that traversed the coun- 
 try in lofty parallel swells, and which 
 bore to each other the most striking and 
 perplexing similarity. Occasionally, on 
 the more distant slopes, a few sheep re- 
 lieved the eye, by slightly varying the 
 monotonous colour of the heath, as they 
 picked the scanty herbage that had 
 E 2 sprung
 
 76 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 sprung up in the channels of the winter 
 streams ; and at one time a picturesque 
 and glittering peak -was discernible, from 
 which, Lochullin informed him, the 
 snow never entirely disappeared. Clif- 
 ford had beheld regions of perpetual 
 snow before; but never did the sight 
 affect him more strongly than when, 
 through the dim haze of the morning, 
 he descried that lofty isolated cone, its 
 crest reflecting the beams of the rising 
 sun with all the brilliancy of a splendid 
 star. 
 
 At length, after crossing a bleak ele- 
 vated waste, the dismal sameness of 
 which was only broken by a detached 
 pile of rocks, which shot up like a 
 fortress from the surrounding plain, a 
 huge misshapen hill appeared in view, 
 round whose southern shoulder the road 
 eventually wound. From this Cliftbrd 
 once more obtained a view o{ the habi- 
 tations of men., and could discover, from 
 the manner in which the mountains in 
 
 front
 
 MACRIMMON. 77 
 
 front appeared to recede, that he drew 
 near to a less rugged district. A small, 
 thickly-populated glen, which Lochullin 
 named Erridale, was quickly traversed ; 
 another eminence ascended, and from 
 its summit the young Highlander, with 
 a proud wave of his hand, pointed out 
 Glen Rimmon. 
 
 It was a spacious and grandly-shelter- 
 ed valley, about a mile and a half in 
 breadth, and thrice as much in length. 
 High serrated ridges enclosed it on each 
 side, and gently-swelling pine-covered 
 hills shut in its extremities. A smiling 
 and translucent lake of an oblong form, 
 and stretching nearly its whole extent, 
 occupied the hollow of the basin ; the 
 one shore of which presented a range of 
 precipitous cliffs, in whose fissures the 
 birch, the guin, and the hazel, had root- 
 ed themselves; the other, verdant and 
 extensive meadows, covered with houses, 
 and men, and cattle. 
 
 At the extremity of the lake most 
 E 3 remote
 
 78 MACR1MMOX. 
 
 remote from the point from whence the 
 travellers first looked down on it, and 
 perched on an elevated wood-clad steep, 
 appeared a gray and ancient tower, look- 
 ing down from its eyrie like the guar- 
 dian of the scene; and near to it, and 
 on the same mount, a mass of chimneys 
 and turrets peeped out from amongst 
 the dark pines in which they lay em- 
 bosomed. Lochullin anticipated the 
 question of his companion, and, with a 
 smile of pleasure at his unrepressed ad- 
 miration, said — " You are right — the 
 Dun is before us." 
 
 When Clifford had fully comforted 
 his eyesight for the recent penance it 
 had undergone, by a long and minute 
 survey of this delightful scene ; and 
 when, as became him, he had made 
 ample atonement for previous doubts, 
 they descended into the valley, and by 
 the cultivated shore of the loch, pro- 
 ceeded on towards the castle. 
 
 Such of the peasants as they encoun- 
 tered
 
 M ACttlMMON. 79 
 
 tered greeted Lochullin in Gaelic, and 
 it was easy to perceive that the greeting 
 came spontaneously from the heart ; nor 
 did the youth seem insensible to their 
 homage, for he had a kind word and a 
 smile for all, and had invariably the 
 pleasure of seeing the latter reflected 
 back in the transient expansion of the 
 clansman's usually - contracted brow. 
 From witnessing these interchanges of 
 reciprocal regard, Clifford mentally came 
 to acknowledge that there might be 
 joys and binding ties in the Highlands, 
 of which hitherto he had entertained no 
 suspicion. 
 
 Before they commenced the ascent of 
 the mount on which the castle was 
 situated, they had to cross a large and 
 noisy stream, which, sweeping round its 
 base in a deep trough, over-arched with 
 thick and luxuriant coppice-wood, ulti- 
 mately discharged itself into the loch. 
 The deep hollow sound rising from its 
 waters, Clifford attributed to the ca- 
 e 4 vernous
 
 80 MACRIMMON. 
 
 vemous bed over which it ran; but 
 Lochullin assured him that it was the 
 mellowed voice of a distant cataract, 
 which, as if nature had resolved to em- 
 bellish that secluded valley to the ut- 
 most, also displayed its grandeur within 
 the rocky boundaries. Over the narrow 
 gully in which the stream flowed was 
 flung a rude but secure bridge; and 
 by this reaching the slope of the Dun, 
 they quickly ascended it by a winding 
 path, and piercing through the umbra- 
 geous mantle of wood that clothed its 
 brow, at length stood on the open space 
 before the spacious and hereditary dwell- 
 ing of the chiefs of Macrimmon. 
 
 Clifford had scarcely reined in the 
 animal he rode (which was no doubt 
 anxious to get rid of him), and cast a 
 hasty glance along the front of the man- 
 sion, ere the gate was thrown open, and 
 Glen Eynort made his appearance. He 
 had a smile and a welcome ready for 
 them, but the Englishman thought the 
 
 former
 
 MACRIMMOtt. 81 
 
 former sat so ill on his face, that he 
 would have given the latter much more 
 credit for sincerity, if they had never 
 been conjoined. This opinion, however, 
 he did not conceive it his duty to pro- 
 mulgate; and leaving the horses to the 
 care of Donald Darroch, they all three 
 entered the castle with every show of 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Clifford would have preferred an 
 hour's solitude to an immediate presen- 
 tation to sir Colin Macrimmon, but this 
 wish he did not venture to express, in 
 case its indulgence might throw him 
 out of the chief's good graces, and de- 
 tract from the warmth of his reception ; 
 so, unbrushed, and in his travelling- 
 dress, he was ushered into his presence. 
 
 As he had been led to expect, he 
 found sir Colin a majestic old man, with 
 a hoary head, and a severe and venerable 
 countenance. He met his guest at the 
 door of the apartment in which he wait- 
 ed to receive him, apologized that his 
 e 5 age
 
 82 MACRIMMON. 
 
 age prevented him from tendering a 
 welcome on the threshold of the outer 
 gate, and then shook his hand as that of 
 the friend and preserver of his grandson. 
 
 There was an evident stateliness in 
 his manner, notwithstanding the cour- 
 tesy of his words; but, on the whole, it 
 became his years and appearance so well, 
 and was so free from hauteur and pom- 
 posity, that Clifford readily forgave it, 
 and framed his replies accordingly. The 
 chief was pleased to approve of what 
 he said, in return for his hospitable sa- 
 lutation ; and in proof of it, proceeded 
 to present him to such members of his 
 family as he was still unacquainted 
 with. 
 
 These were confined to two indivi- 
 duals; for of Miss Unn, who was also 
 waiting to give him welcome, he was 
 already entitled to claim previous know- 
 ledge. The first introduced was Miss 
 Marjory Macrimmon, a maiden lady, 
 daughter to sir Colin, and conspicuously 
 
 on
 
 MACRIMMON. 83 
 
 on the wrong side of forty. In stature 
 she had taken after her father, being the 
 next thing to gigantic for a woman ; but 
 what nature had kindly conferred in 
 height, she had detracted from in 
 breadth ; for in slimness and hardness of 
 form, she bore a striking similitude to 
 five feet ten inches of a deal-board. An 
 expression of insufferable disdain sat 
 continually on her skinny visage, and 
 pretty plainly told the visitor not to 
 come " between the wind and her no- 
 bility" with his unbrushed boots; but 
 this intimidating look was so happily 
 modified by the ridiculous turn given 
 to it by an inveterate squint, that he 
 whom it was intended to annihilate, ac- 
 tually comforted himself with the idea, 
 that the grim portrait of a bonneted 
 chief, on the opposite wall, was the ob- 
 ject of her aversion. Her dress betrayed 
 her innate conviction, that " beauty, 
 when unadorned, is adorned the most ;" 
 and the volume of Pope, which lay 
 e 6 open
 
 84 MACRIMMON. 
 
 open on the sofa, from which she had 
 newly risen, announced her as an eru- 
 dite and literary character. 
 
 The other was Miss Lillias Macara, 
 another sister of Lochullin's, but at least 
 a couple of years older than Unn. She 
 might be seventeen — had her brother's 
 silky auburn hair and blue eyes, and a 
 face, in contour and expression, so wholly 
 her own, that the bright complexions of 
 England and the brunettes of Spain, by 
 which Clifford had formerly regulated 
 his standard of female beauty, in an in- 
 stant lost all influence over his opinions, 
 and gave precedence to the Highland 
 girl. Had all the others been mute, 
 and her gentle tones and heart-elicited 
 words alone hailed his arrival at Dun 
 Rimmon, the stranger- guest could not 
 have desired more indisputable assur- 
 ance that he was welcome. 
 
 When half-an-hour of his society and 
 conversation had, in a certain degree, 
 familiarized the company in the parlour 
 
 to
 
 MACRIMMON. 85 
 
 to both — when sir Colin had convinced 
 himself, that, for a Saxon born to the 
 south of Cheviot, he was bearable ; and 
 Miss Marjory had discovered, with her 
 squinting eye, that he had dark curling 
 hair, eyes of a similar hue, a pleasant 
 and expressive face, and an unexcep- 
 tionable person — he proposed to Lochul- 
 lin to retire, and make some alteration 
 in his apparel before the dinner-hour. 
 When in the bedchamber, to which 
 the latter conducted him, the young 
 Highlander said — " Now you are do- 
 mesticated under this roof, at least for a 
 time, and however limited that time 
 may be, I trust it is but the forerunner 
 of many a longer visit. Keep in mind, 
 whenever you feel inclined for with- 
 drawing from the tumult and discontent 
 invariably attendant on general society, 
 that this apartment awaits you at Dun 
 Rimmon, where, in comparative retire- 
 ment, you may acquire a new zest for 
 those public scenes that have partially 
 
 satiated ;
 
 86 MACRIMMON. 
 
 satiated ; nor will you find our secluded 
 life so totally destitute of interest as you 
 imagine. While we remain at the cas- 
 tle, we form no despicable society within 
 ourselves : sir Colin is a man of in- 
 formation and abilities, and if you are 
 given to historic research, particularly 
 regarding the Celtic tribes, or have the 
 least turn for antiquities, his own stores 
 of knowledge and his library will be 
 wholly at your service, and himself 
 looked upon as the obliged party, in 
 having an opportunity of displaying 
 them." 
 
 * I am sorry that neither of the pur- 
 suits you name are decidedly to my 
 taste," said Clifford ; " but that I shall 
 have plenty of amusement independent 
 of them, I have not the least cause to 
 doubt." 
 
 " You are very good to take us upon 
 trust," returned Lochullin ; " but I have 
 first brought in view what my grand- 
 father can contribute, not from an idea 
 
 of
 
 MACRIMMON* 87 
 
 of its precedence in worth, but merely 
 because he ranks as our head. After 
 him comes aunt Marjory, who will give 
 you the genealogy of every family in 
 the North who bears a Highland patro- 
 nymic; and to shew the variety of her 
 studies, will enlighten you with elabo- 
 rate criticisms on the works of every 
 son of the muses who has strung his 
 lyre, no matter in what land, from Ho- 
 mer down to Scott. The girls — I mean 
 Lillias and Unn, will sing and dance, 
 when music or a reel is the whim of the 
 moment. Glen Eynort will lead the 
 hunting-field, and look to the circula- 
 tion of the bottle after dinner; and I, 
 having no source of pleasing particu- 
 larly within myself, shall assist all in 
 turn." 
 
 " I shall assuredly deserve no pity, if 
 I shew any symptoms of ennui, when 
 such varied talents conspire to drive it 
 away," said Clifford, laughing. " But 
 what dissonant sounds are those ascend- 
 ing
 
 88 MACRIMMON". 
 
 ing from below ? The whole castle rings 
 again with the hideous noise, yet you 
 appear to give it no attention." 
 
 Lochullin, in his turn, laughed im- 
 moderately. — u My good sir," said he, 
 " if you go on thus, abusing you know 
 not what, I have no hope that you and 
 sir Colin will remain friends two days. 
 Why, God help your southern ears ! 
 that is Caethel Doun Mackennachar 
 piping us to dinner, and never yet has 
 a chief of Macrimmon eat a meal with- 
 out that accompaniment. To be sure, 
 / find little difference in the viands, 
 whether I swallow them to the stirring 
 notes of the pibroch, or in solemn si- 
 lence ; but that is no rule, for my grand- 
 father seldom lets a day pass without 
 plainly telling me that the stock has de- 
 generated by admixture with the blood 
 of Macara; and I will be bound to 
 prove that neither he nor Glen Eynort 
 sit down to table in form if the pipe is 
 silent. But, between ourselves, I think 
 
 Glen
 
 MACRIMMON. 89 
 
 Glen Eynort's fastidious adherence to 
 this ancient custom arises principally 
 from respect to the prejudices of the old 
 chief, whose title and estates he looks 
 forward to as his inheritance." 
 
 " Indeed!" said Clifford, with some 
 surprise ; " I had no idea that matters 
 stood so. I had begun to conjecture 
 that the title was likely to become ex- 
 tinct with him who presently bears it, 
 but never doubted but that the estates 
 would ultimately fall into your posses- 
 sion." 
 
 " These suppositions originated in 
 your ignorance of our family history," 
 observed Lochullin, who was in a com- 
 municative vein ; " and in order to pre- 
 vent similar misconceptions in future, I 
 will sketch off as much of it as will 
 suffice to enlighten you. To heirs-male 
 alone descends the property of Macrim- 
 mon ; and as far as is at present known, 
 Glen Eynort, though but a distant 
 branch, is the nearest claimant, both to 
 
 it
 
 90 MACRIMMON. 
 
 it and to the baronetcy, which ranks 
 amongst the most ancient in the realm. 
 Sir Colin had but one son, and for many 
 years saw in him the future pride of his 
 name, and the link by which the long 
 unbroken chain was to be continued 
 down to the latest posterity ; but death 
 thought it had been sufficiently length- 
 ened out, I suppose, and so swept off 
 poor uncle Norman to the shades below, 
 in his thirtieth year. Glen Eynort was 
 at that time a youth with a scanty in- 
 come, and resident in Edinburgh, where 
 he was qualifying himself for the Scot- 
 tish bar; but the moment my grand- 
 father came to recognise in him the pre- 
 sumptive heir to his name and fortune, 
 he issued an interdict against his defil- 
 ing his fingers with any employment 
 whatsoever, and, in order to remunerate 
 him for the probable loss Ik sustained in 
 quitting a lucrative and honourable pro- 
 fession, allows him a handsome addition 
 to his own narrow patrimony. As the 
 
 world
 
 MACRIMMON. 91 
 
 world goes, I dare say you will give me 
 no credit for sincerity, when I add, that 
 this distribution gives me more satis- 
 faction than would the assurance that a 
 future day would see the properties of 
 Macrimmon and Lochullin united ; yet 
 such is actually the truth. Thanks to 
 my paternal grandfather, who spent more 
 than half his life in India, I inherit 
 more than sufficient to satisfy my most 
 avaricious wishes, as far as regards my- 
 self. My sisters are less liberally pro- 
 vided for, it is true ; but, with sir Co- 
 lin's assistance, I have no fear of not 
 being able to augment their portions to 
 a respectable amount. Looking upon 
 me as but of a puny constitution, sir 
 Colin, I am well aware, has a specula- 
 tion in his head of marrying Lillias to 
 Glen Eynort, and so, in the event of 
 my premature demise, aggrandizing his 
 family name, by enriching his successor 
 with the estates of Lochullin. For my 
 own part, though Glen Eynort is not 
 
 exactly
 
 92 MACRIMMON. 
 
 exactly a man after my heart, I have no 
 aversion to his wishes in this respect 
 meeting with all the success he could 
 desire; but I shrewdly infer there is a 
 chance of opposition from a quarter of 
 which the chieftain has not at present 
 the most remote suspicion. Lillias, I 
 am confident, has no partiality for Glen 
 Eynort; yet there is no calculating on 
 her ultimate decision, for Xinian is 
 noted for his conquests, and well skilled 
 in all the arts that attract and win the 
 female heart. But the strain of Caethel 
 Doun's pipe warns me that I have 
 scarcely time to make a trivial arrange- 
 ment in my dress — so I must drop this 
 womanish garrulity and decamp/' 
 
 He accordingly withdrew, but, after 
 a short absence, returned to conduct his 
 friend to the dining-room, or banquet- 
 ing-hall, as aunt Marjory styled it 
 They found sir Colin and the ladies 
 merely waiting for their presence to sit 
 down to table, and, as a mark of respect, 
 
 Clifford
 
 MACRIMMON. 93 
 
 Clifford was called to a seat on the 
 right-hand of the chief, while his anti- 
 quated daughter flanked him on the 
 other side, and, by the artillery of 
 tongue and eye, endeavoured to amuse 
 him during the meal. Glen Eynort had 
 the more agreeable station of being near 
 the Misses Macara, whom Miss Marjory 
 evidently looked upon as children ut- 
 terly incapable of giving any pleasure 
 by their conversation. The dinner-table 
 was rather plenteously than splendidly 
 loaded, the viands being chiefly such as 
 the neighbouring country produced ; and 
 though such ancient customs as decided- 
 ly militated against the distinctive habits 
 of modern society were not adhered to, 
 there were still a sufficient number re- 
 tained to make it a singular spectacle to 
 the Englishman. The salt no longer 
 stood in the centre of the table as the 
 Rubicon which the vassal dared not 
 pass, neither did the food degenerate in 
 quality below it ; but Caethel Doun, a 
 
 thickset,
 
 94 MACRIMMOK. 
 
 thickset, bandy-legged, dwarfish High- 
 lander, wholly equipped in the national 
 costume, sailed up and down the hall 
 during the whole time, like a turkey- 
 cock in full feather, and playing the 
 pibroch so furiously and indefatigably, 
 that more than once the stranger was 
 nigh starting from the table in absolute 
 despair, and flying, he cared not whither, 
 so his ears were no longer persecuted by 
 his merciless pipe. 
 
 The evening passed over much the 
 same as Clifford had been accustomed 
 to. Deserting Glen Eynort and the 
 bottle at an early hour, he found a piano 
 in the drawing-room, and excellent per- 
 formers in the young ladies. Nor was 
 this the only instrument whose tones 
 made amends for the grating sounds he 
 had previously been condemned to listen 
 to. Sir Colin commanded a splendid 
 harp to be brought forth, as the only 
 rival worthy of the bagpipe, and Lillias 
 was called upon to touch its chords, in 
 
 accompaniment
 
 MACRIMMON. 95 
 
 accompaniment to her own voice. From 
 her songs being in the Gaelic language, 
 Clifford was of course precluded from 
 enjoying their originality and pathos; 
 but in listening to the airs alone he de- 
 rived more pleasure than he remem- 
 bered ever to have done from any si- 
 milar performance in his native tongue. 
 When the annunciation of supper 
 ended the harmony, he found an acci- 
 dental inquiry had brought down a long 
 and intricate disquisition from sir Colin, 
 tending to prove the authenticity of the 
 poems of Ossian, and to refute the scep- 
 tical opinions entertained respecting the 
 validity of Macpherson's translation. In 
 this aunt Marjory frequently joined, but 
 in such a way as to invariably incur the 
 censure of the old chief, whose national 
 spirit could ill brook to hear the Gaelic 
 bard contrasted with the poetasters of 
 later years, whom, one and all (with 
 the exception of an obscure son of the 
 
 Celtic
 
 96 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 Celtic muse, called Rob Doun, or Brown 
 Rob), he heartily despised. 
 
 From what he could learn of Rob 
 Doun Mackay, Clifford understood that 
 he had been the Burns of the North 
 Highlands — a poor and humble man, 
 whose genius had burst forth through 
 all the obstacles that had conspired to 
 crush it, and had, through the medium 
 of his simple lyre, entwined his name 
 with the language, the prejudices, the 
 hills, and the streams of his native coun- 
 try. Like the disputed strains of Os- 
 sian, his were published to his country- 
 men by recitation alone, and, since his 
 death, are preserved from oblivion chiefly 
 by the same means, and amongst the 
 same people. Like Burns, his fame is 
 posthumous, and like the Ayrshire bard, 
 he of Durness, in Sutherland, is to have 
 justice done him but in the tomb. In 
 his native parish (a parish whose cliffy 
 shores act as a barrier against the cold 
 
 and
 
 MACRIMMON. 97 
 
 and stormy ocean that laves Cape Wrath), 
 a monument either has been, or is about 
 to be, erected to his memory : thus 
 while the marble tells, in Dumfries, that 
 the Lowland poet slumbers on the 
 southern confines of the land his muse 
 adorns, admiration has similarly inscrib- 
 ed the name of him who sung to the 
 Gael on one of its most northern pro- 
 montories. 
 
 The three days which succeeded that 
 of the Englishman's arrival at Dun 
 Rim m on, with little variation, passed 
 over as the first had done ; only that the 
 mornings were devoted to beating the 
 hills for game, or to angling for trout in 
 the lake. Clifford found his new mode 
 of life so agreeable, and his friends, es- 
 pecially the female part and Lochullin, 
 so attentive to making the lapse of time 
 unobserved, that he felt no anxiety to 
 vary the one, or to accelerate the flight 
 of the other. Glen Eynort was the only 
 individual who deteriorated in his opi- 
 vol. I. P nion ;
 
 98 MACRIMMON. 
 
 nion ; for regarding sir Colin, aunt Mar- 
 jory, and perhaps Unn, it was stationary 
 — but from what this arose he could not 
 even mentally decide. There was usually 
 a gloominess about him, and at certain 
 moments a ferocity in his eye, ill cal- 
 culated to inspire confidence, or invite 
 familiarity ; but as this was never point- 
 edly directed against himself, but gene- 
 rally against offending menials, Clifford 
 saw little or no reason why he should 
 take it amiss. Nor did this instinctive 
 dislike fail to augment, when he heard 
 him the first to propose their immediate 
 departure for Lochullin. He found his 
 situation in the castle so pleasant, that 
 he had begun to hope the further ex- 
 tension of his excursion was postponed 
 till a future visit, and could not prevent 
 the idea from occurring, that the morose 
 Highlander desired to eject him as 
 speedily as possible from his comfortable 
 quarters. However, as Lochullin was 
 still keen for the ramble, and had, in- 
 dependent
 
 MACRIMMON. 99 
 
 dependent of anticipated amusement, 
 some business to transact on his pro- 
 perty, no objection could consistently 
 be started ; and on the fourth day, there- 
 fore, he again found himself bestriding 
 the fleetest of sir Colin's dwarfish stud, 
 and, in company with the two High- 
 landers, and Glen Eynort's servant in 
 addition to Donald Darroch, leaving 
 Glen Rimmon at a hard canter. Once 
 without the rocky zone that encircled 
 it, they plunged into those bare upland 
 wilds, of which he had had a specimen 
 in the outset of his jaunt. Their horses 
 heads were turned northward, and whe- 
 ther it really was the case, or whether 
 it was that he no longer basked in the 
 sunshine of Lillias Macara's glance, shall 
 not here be determined ; but certainly 
 Clifford did believe that the cold in- 
 creased in a prodigious ratio. 
 
 The first object that diverted his eye 
 
 from dull moors and naked rocks, on 
 
 which even moss refused to vegetate, 
 
 f 2 was
 
 100 MACK I MM OX. 
 
 was the great western ocean ; but no 
 longer sheltered by the mountains, the 
 biting and desolate wind that swept 
 over it chilled every pleasurable sensa- 
 tion, and made him rejoice when an 
 elevated promontory again shut it out 
 for a short space. Their proximity to 
 the coast, however, rather increased than 
 diminished the difficulty of their pro- 
 gress. The hill-paths they depended on 
 generally lay in the hollow of ravines, 
 which, in heavy rains, or during the 
 melting of the snow, were the beds of 
 torrents, and were choked with loose 
 and jagged blocks of stone hurled down 
 from the neighbouring cliffs; and when 
 these were occasionally left for the sum- 
 mit of the precipices, it was only ex- 
 changing comparative security for ab- 
 solute peril, and risking a watery grave 
 in the green billows, some hundred feet 
 below, instead of a broken neck, by the 
 accidental stumble of a hoi>e. 
 
 fJor was it alone in the ruggedncss of 
 
 the
 
 MACRIMMON. 101 
 
 the road, and barbarous aspect of the 
 country,- that Clifford discerned a simi- 
 litude to scenes his imagination had 
 sketched as existing only on the out- 
 skirts of the habitable earth. On the 
 coast they frequently fell in with clus- 
 ters of huts, and in these the same 
 savage and primitive features were per- 
 ceptible. Usually they stood in a clump 
 of three or four, and in the centre of a 
 few misshapen patches of cultivated 
 ground, over which wandered herds of 
 dwarf-cattle, and horses covered with 
 long shaggy hair. Almost without ex- 
 ception, they were dark, smoky hovels, 
 constructed of alternate layers of stone 
 and turf, and roofed with thin sods pared 
 from the adjacent heath. To keep the 
 wind from displacing these, ropes made 
 of heather were slun«- across the whole 
 of the edifice to the amount of several 
 score ; and at the end of these were sus- 
 pended huge stones, to preserve their 
 regularity of position, and to create a 
 f 3 proper
 
 102 MACRIMMON. 
 
 proper degree of pressure on the divots. 
 In general, no particular aperture, either 
 for the admission of light, or emission 
 of smoke, was discernible ; but when 
 such became necessary for either of these 
 purposes, a sod was pushed aside in the 
 roof, and with the darkness departed 
 the risk of suffocation. All had circular 
 ends, each man requiring to have his 
 own kiln, from the ancient habit of 
 grinding grain in the hand-mill, or 
 quern, still prevailing; and this pecu- 
 liarity gave them, when clubbed to- 
 gether, to an English eye, a striking re- 
 semblance to the representation given 
 by travellers of a Hottentot kraal. 
 
 In the occupants of these miserably- 
 fashioned dwellings, there were fewer 
 distinctive marks of uncivilized life than 
 their seclusion led Clifford to expect. 
 For the most part they were habited 
 like Lowlanders, in cloth o( hoddvn- 
 grey, of their own manufacture ; children 
 and boys only wearing the kilt or phi- 
 la beg.
 
 MACRIMMON. 103 
 
 labeg. When in the house, they were 
 commonly employed in putting together 
 rude articles of furniture, or in mending 
 nets or implements of husbandry. Out 
 of doors, they were either at sea in their 
 fishing-boats, tending the cattle on the 
 hills, or turning up the scanty and 
 hungry soil with the cascroim, an an- 
 cient and singularly-shaped spade. 
 
 But very different in exterior aspect 
 from these mean abodes was Lochullin's 
 hereditary home. It sat perched, like 
 an eagle, on a lofty and jutting precipice, 
 that impended over the restless waves ; 
 and though aged and gloomy, yet wore 
 a proud and imposing look. When they 
 came in view of it, Glen Eynort was 
 leading the van in unsocial silence ; 
 Lochullin, therefore, unrestrained by the 
 presence of a third person, said to Clif- 
 ford, in his usual open way — " Yonder 
 it stands, the old crazy pile that has 
 seen ten stout-hearted generations of 
 Macaras pass to the grave. Would you 
 f 4 believe
 
 104 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 believe it, my friend, I gaze on those 
 gray and tottering walls with more ge- 
 nuine pleasure than on all the majesty 
 of Dun Rimmon, with its woods and 
 its waterfalls, its sunshine and its shel- 
 ter?" 
 
 " There are associations which endear 
 any spot," replied Clifford ; " and were 
 Castle Ullin mine by inheritance, I 
 doubt not but I should discover, in its 
 shaken battlements and exposed situa- 
 tion, beauties which I cannot now des- 
 cry. But methinks this part of your 
 property has little besides hereditary 
 partiality to recommend it, for never 
 did my eyes behold a district apparently 
 so desolate and unproductive. 9 
 
 " I have certainly nothing to boast on 
 that score," said Lochullin; " yet barren 
 and bleak as you imagine it, there are 
 resources for its population, which a 
 stranger cannot well comprehend. Ne- 
 vertheless, as I before mentioned, had 
 not my paternal grandfather wisely al- 
 lowed
 
 MACRIMMON. 105 
 
 lowed it to manage itself for some twenty 
 years, and scraped together in India 
 sufficient to purchase my Morayshire 
 property, I should have been but poorly 
 provided for this day. The premature 
 death of my parents has also been in 
 favour of the family estates, inasmuch 
 as it has left, for these last ten years, an 
 annual surplus of income, of which my 
 sisters shall wholly reap the benefit. 
 God knows, that rather than have lost 
 them as I did, I would sooner have 
 thrown myself pennyless on the world !" 
 
 " The circumstances must have been 
 uncommon," observed Clifford, " that 
 the remembrance thus affects you, after 
 the lapse of such a length of time." 
 
 " In a certain measure they were," 
 returned Lochullin, conceiving the ob- 
 servation implied a wish for further in- 
 formation. " In returning to his usual 
 place of residence in the South, from 
 visiting this very property, my father 
 met his death. Crossing one of the 
 f 5 many
 
 106 MACRIMMON. 
 
 many armlets of the sea that intersect 
 our country, in company with a neigh- 
 bouring proprietor, the boatman, who 
 bore a mortal enmity to the latter, was 
 conjectured to have intentionally upset 
 the skiff in which they had embarked, 
 solely with a view to gratify his re- 
 venge. Be this as it may, they all three 
 perished ; and my mother never re- 
 covered the shock his untimely fate oc- 
 casioned, but from that moment gra- 
 dually pined away, until she dropped 
 into the grave. Thus were three help- 
 less children left orphans; and though. 
 as far as lies in human power, the loss 
 has been made up to us by the un- 
 wearied attention and kindness of our 
 remaining friends, yet still. 1 d 
 you will admit that it is, in a certain 
 degree, beyond all reparation." 
 
 Readily indeed did Clifford's heart 
 give the presumed admission ; but see- 
 ing the subject was too painfully affect- 
 ing to his companion to authorise him 
 
 to
 
 MACRIMMON. 107 
 
 to desire its continuance, he merely- 
 bowed his assent; and they finished 
 their journey in silence. 
 
 As sportmen's accommodations were 
 all Lochullin had come good for, and a 
 peasant and his family the only inhabi- 
 tants of his castle, there was little either 
 of good cheer or true comfort within its 
 forsaken walls ; yet nevertheless, by one 
 means or other, the time was made to 
 pass agreeably enough to the stranger, 
 to whom every thing was new. Their 
 success against the moor-game was as 
 great as the most insatiable fowler could 
 desire, and occasionally Clifford had the 
 glory of seeing a deer slain amid its na- 
 tive fastnesses. Nor were these their 
 only sports, for they either, at midnight, 
 and by the light of a log- wood torch, 
 sallied forth to spear the salmon that 
 abounded in the many streams that 
 rushed from the neighbouring moun- 
 tains, or, in the noonday, sailed, by the 
 flame oi the same blazing pine, into the 
 f 6 profound
 
 108 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 profound caverns that abounded on the 
 coast, to hunt the myriads of seals that 
 had taken refuge in their vast recesses. 
 
 To conclude all, Lochullin, with the 
 utmost promptitude, caught at a half- 
 implied wish his guest expressed to vi^it 
 Cape Wrath ; and in a stout boat, man- 
 ned by a few of his hardy clansmen, 
 they made the distant and somewhat 
 perilous voyage. Standing on the ex- 
 tremity of that lofty and savage head- 
 land, the Englishman beheld the sun 
 sink beyond the western ocean, and 
 heard moaning at his feet those waters 
 which stretch, without obstruction, to 
 the polar ice. 
 
 At that moment he could haw 
 joiced that his reliance on the authen- 
 ticity of Ossian had been as invincible 
 as that of sir Colin Macrimmon. for he 
 remembered that the ships of the king 
 of Morven are represented as ploughing 
 these waves on their v< to and 
 
 from Lochlin and Inistore. But, inde- 
 pendent
 
 MACRIMMON. 109 
 
 pendent of such belief, he could still 
 comfort himself with the certainty that 
 the Romans, whose emperor the Gaelic 
 bard denominates the " king of the 
 world," had boldly, and while naviga- 
 tion was in its infancy, doubled this 
 stormy cape, and fancifully laid down 
 the remotest spot of earth on the surface 
 of the globe, as but one degree farther 
 to the north *. 
 
 But the chase, and the stern sublimity 
 of that rugged coast, alike palled in 
 time, and each came at length to feel an 
 ardent desire to return to the milder 
 beauty and exhilarating society of Glen 
 Rimmon. As soon as Clifford acquired 
 resolution to disclose this wish, due pre- 
 parations were made ; and on the seventh 
 day from that of their departure, they 
 were welcomed back to his castle by the 
 
 old 
 
 * Fowla, or Fule, an isolated island, politically an- 
 nexed to Zetland, is generally admitted as having been 
 the Ultima Thule of the ancients— a supposition sup- 
 ported by Tacitus.
 
 110 MACRIMMON. 
 
 old chief. — " It glads my heart, young 
 men," said he, on their arrival, and for 
 a moment forgetting that one of the trio 
 was a southern, " to see you fresh from 
 the heath, and to hear the yelping of 
 these noble hounds. It seems to revive 
 for a moment those days when the chiefs 
 held council, and hunted the deer by 
 the light of the same sun. My father 
 (honour be to his dust for the act!) made 
 one of the great assembly in Kintail, 
 that met ostensibly for a grand hunt, 
 but in reality to pave the way to the 
 Stuart's restoration to the throne of 
 these realms. There was Lochiel, Clan- 
 ronald, Mackenzie, Macleod, and every 
 chief of note in the North, or his de- 
 puty, save Sutherland, the Munros, and 
 Mackay, for which let them this day 
 take the credit ! I was but a boy, not 
 able to lift a ferrara from the ground, 
 even when the good cause suffered its 
 final overthrow ; but I trust, neither on 
 that day, nor any preceding or subse- 
 quent.
 
 MACRIMMON. Ill 
 
 quent, has the name of Macrimmon lost 
 any of its lustre for want of my feeble 
 support." 
 
 " And yet if he who next ranks as its 
 chief," said Glen Eynort, with emphasis, 
 " yields but half that support to prop its 
 glory, even in these degenerate times, I 
 foresee it will not decay." 
 
 " In you, Ninian," said the chieftain, 
 complacently touching him on the shoul- 
 der, " I have a hostage that it will not 
 decay ; and often do I congratulate my- 
 self, that one who so truly inherits the 
 spirit of his race, is to be hailed chief 
 of Macrimmon when I am in the earth. 
 Could my old eyes but see a healthy 
 scion spring from the good old stock, I 
 should then lay me down in content- 
 ment, and * depart in peace." 
 
 His eyes wandered to his grand- 
 daughter Lillias as he spoke, and so did 
 Glen Eynort's ; but neither met in her 
 countenance the approval, or even con- 
 sciousness, they sought. She was think- 
 ing
 
 112 MACRIMMON. 
 
 ing of her brother, and perhaps of his 
 English friend ; and the concluding sen- 
 tence, and the expressive glance that 
 followed it, fell equally short and point- 
 less. 
 
 But one day more did Cliffords leave 
 of absence permit him to spend at Dun 
 Rimmon, and the conviction that his 
 departure was so near made it almost a 
 day of pain. Something was entwin 
 itself round his heart, which he dared 
 not investigate, or give a name, but 
 which he felt strongly and incessantly 
 rivetted his thoughts on this Highland 
 valley. At times he was led to imagine 
 it arose from having little or nothing 
 endeared to him in the world beyond it, 
 and that the attachment he could not 
 conceal included every member of the 
 chieftain's family ; but a deeper scrutiny 
 soon convinced him o{ the fallacy of this 
 idea. In sir Colin, in Glen Eynort, in 
 aunt Marjory, nay, in Unn, there l 
 nothing to particularly value or lot 
 
 Loch u 11 in
 
 MACRIMMON. 113 
 
 Lochullin he did highly regard, but it 
 was with that regard which can calmly 
 speculate on separation, and reflect on 
 future meeting, without extravagant 
 ecstacy and delight. Who was it then 
 that had cast that powerful spell over 
 his lonely heart? The question was 
 fully answered when he heard the trem- 
 bling tones of Lillias Macara reiterate 
 the warm invitation of her grandfather 
 and brother, that he would repeat his 
 visit — when his greedy ear drank in 
 Lochullin's assurance, that he should, 
 before that time, press her hand in In- 
 verness — and when he heard her last 
 adieu follow him faintly down the cas- 
 tled steep. 
 
 Lochullin accompanied him as far as 
 the hamlet of Ardgy, and parted with 
 evident pain ; for his grateful and affec- 
 tionate nature convinced him that it 
 was his duty to value Clifford as a 
 brother. From thence the sturdy Do- 
 nald
 
 114 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 nald Darroch was his sole escort to the 
 fort, and the person who took charge 
 of the pony he rode, when at his jour- 
 ney's end. 
 
 CHAP-
 
 MACRIMMON. 115 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, 
 But that this folly drowns it. Hamlet. 
 
 Clifford had so transiently enjoyed 
 the society of Lillias Macara, and was 
 so superficially acquainted with her in- 
 tellectual charms, that it could hardly 
 be imagined the impression made on his 
 heart was indelible, or that the pang of 
 separation would retain its acuteness be- 
 yond the day on which it occurred. 
 Nevertheless, though regret lost its poig- 
 nancy, the sameness of his life in the 
 fort was well calculated to encourage 
 romantic castle-building; and seldom did 
 twelve hours together pass over his head 
 without seeing him buried in a reverie, 
 which had her and his next visit to 
 
 Dun
 
 116 MACRIMMON. 
 
 Dun Rimmon as the primary objects. 
 He was not insensible to the folly of 
 thus giving way to cogitations which 
 diverted his mind from instructive and 
 necessary pursuits, such as he had been 
 previously in the habit of prosecuting; 
 yet still, with all its baneful conse- 
 quences staring him in the face, he 
 could not entirely forego that sickly 
 happiness derived from dreaming of, and 
 sketching what might have been, and 
 what will never be. 
 
 When winter set in with its UMial 
 severity, and covered the high moun- 
 tains to the westward with a deep coat- 
 ing of snow, he still continued his twi- 
 light saunter on the ramparts; drawn 
 thither by the vague hope that his 
 glance, penetrating through the piles of 
 cold white clouds on the horizon, might 
 descry some loftier summit, on which 
 the blue eyes of the Highland lady had 
 also fixed themselves. Anxiously did 
 he long for the spring, which was to 
 
 sweep
 
 MACRIMMON. 117 
 
 sweep away the spotless veil in which 
 Nature had shrouded her face ; for the 
 return of that harbinger of more genial 
 weather was to be the signal for the re- 
 petition of his visit to Glen Rimmon. 
 But when his watchful ear caught the 
 rumour that went abroad of the im- 
 pending departure of the regiment, a 
 second time destined for Spain, he lost 
 all hope, and resigned himself to the 
 conviction that they were never more to 
 meet. Endeavouring to shake off the 
 inertness of mind ever attendant on such 
 wanderings of the imagination, he adopt- 
 ed the advice of a brother- officer whose 
 regard he valued, and set about increas- 
 ing his knowledge of such Continental 
 languages as were most likely to turn 
 out to his future advantage. 
 
 Three months thus rolled over his 
 head ; and had not a letter from Loch- 
 ullin revived fading recollections, there 
 is little doubt but he would ultimately 
 have ceased to cherish any sentiment for 
 
 Lillias
 
 118 MACRIMMON. 
 
 Lillias Macara, but what friendship freely 
 dared to confess. This letter assured 
 him of the undiminished esteem in 
 which he was still held at Dun Rim- 
 mon, and that the day of his revisiting 
 it would be held as a general jubilee. 
 The old chief, it said, frequently spoke 
 in terms of commendation of the only 
 Sassenach he had ever been on habits of 
 intimacy with ; Glen Eynort let no oc- 
 casion slip of expressing his deep regret 
 that there was every probability the 
 
 regiment would soon be sent on 
 
 service; aunt Marjory declared she had 
 never met a young officer more enter- 
 taining, less conceited, or so truly alive 
 to the beauties of poetical composition; 
 and Lillias and Unn desired it to be 
 told that they were daily practising new 
 music, and teazing all the old women 
 in the country to teach them Gaelic 
 songs, merely that they might have a 
 more inexhaustible budget when Mr. 
 
 CUffbrd
 
 MAC11IMM0N. 119 
 
 Clifford again required of them to ex- 
 hibit. 
 
 Nor was the assurance that, weather 
 permitting, the younger part of the fa- 
 mily were to visit Inverness in a few 
 days, the least agreeable portion of in- 
 telligence it conveyed. The name of 
 the family with whom they were tran- 
 siently to reside was also given ; and a 
 hope expressed, that if the lure thrown 
 out by the knowledge of their proximity 
 was not sufficient to tempt him to quit 
 the fort for a day, an assembly about 
 to take place would perhaps have a 
 more powerful effect, and procure them 
 the pleasure of an interview. 
 
 This letter put all Clifford's pruden- 
 tial reasoning to flight. Books were 
 tossed aside, his studious brow relaxed, 
 and his friend and fellow-student, lieu- 
 tenant Tarleton, was strongly recom- 
 
 l mended to give his brains a holiday, 
 and take a farewell look at the High- 
 
 \ land ladies, before he finally exchanged 
 
 them
 
 120 MACRIMMON". 
 
 them for the olive-complexioned daugh- 
 ters of the south of Europe. The idea 
 of a ball, at any time, sufficed to over- 
 turn all plans of sedentary pursuit with 
 Tarleton; he therefore obediently pitch- 
 ed Gil Bias and Don Quixote under the 
 table, bawled for his servant to come 
 and overhaul his wardrobe, and then 
 hastened to the mess-room, to promul- 
 gate his newly-acquired information, and 
 learn how many would bear him com- 
 pany to the Highland metropolis. 
 
 Unaware of the day on which his 
 friends would actually arrive, Clifford 
 did not set off for Inverness until the 
 morning of that on which the assembly 
 was to take place. Tarleton and se- 
 veral other officers accompanied him ; 
 and finding, on his arrival, that the fa- 
 mily with whom the Glen Rimmon 
 party were to take up their abode re- 
 sided a lew miles out of town, lie drop- 
 ped all idea of paying his respects until 
 they should meet in the ball-room. Often 
 
 did 

 
 MACRIMMON. 121 
 
 did he unwillingly admit the idea that 
 he should be disappointed, that nothing 
 was more possible than that something 
 had occurred to derange the plan hinted 
 at in LochulliiVs letter, or that at least 
 Lillias was not of the number that had 
 found it convenient to leave home at a 
 season so unfavourable for travelling. 
 The gentlemen alone were the only in- 
 dividuals lie felt secure of meeting, and 
 with this conviction haunting him, he 
 joined the assembly at an early hour, 
 anxious to refute or confirm what his 
 fears suggested. 
 
 The room being but thinly peopled 
 when he entered it, he had no difficulty 
 in convincing himself that it contained 
 neither of the friends he was in search 
 of. That they had not yet arrived, 
 owing to the earliness of the hour, was 
 the most obvious and natural inference ; 
 that they would never arrive, was the 
 whisper of his heart ; and a hermit in 
 the midst of a crowd, he alternately 
 
 vol. i. g sauntered
 
 122 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 sauntered about, or seated himself for a 
 few minutes, as the restlessness of his 
 mind prompted. Gradually the buzz 
 of voices, and the number of flitting 
 forms, augmented ; but still he beheld 
 not, nor heard amongst them, that for 
 which he watched ; and faint and dis- 
 pirited, he was about to fly the heartless 
 scene altogether, when suddenly his eye 
 encountered the searching glance of 
 Lochullin. A lady hung on his arm, 
 and not doubting but his fears had at 
 length proved groundless, he hastily ad- 
 vanced to meet them. But, alas ! Jf was 
 aunt Marjory whom the young High- 
 lander supported, and his eye grew dim 
 as he made the unwelcome discow 
 
 " Well, my good sir," said Lochullin, 
 jocularly, when reciprocal greetings had 
 been exchanged, " you were determined 
 not to turn our weak brains with self- 
 conceit, I perceive, otherwise you would 
 have hunted us out before now, and 
 allowed vanity the solace of believing 
 
 that
 
 MACRIMMON. 123 
 
 that we ourselves were the sole magnet 
 of attraction in Inverness, and that the 
 pleasure of a dance went for nothing." 
 
 " I certainly think Mr. Clifford might 
 have taken the trouble of making a 
 forenoon call," said aunt Marjory, draw- 
 ing up her head, so as to display advan- 
 tageously the charms of her long scraggy 
 neck, and never doubting but her ne- 
 phew was serious in his reprimand. 
 * Ladies of condition expect these 
 things, and no gentleman should neglect 
 to shape his conduct accordingly. I be- 
 lieve it is Pope that says " 
 
 " I must really take the liberty of in- 
 terrupting you, my dear madam," said 
 Clifford, who dreaded a long quotation, 
 " and without delay endeavour to repair 
 the unintentional breach of politeness of 
 which I have been guilty. Lochullin 
 most certainly did acquaint me with 
 your present place of residence, but en- 
 tirely omitted to name the probable date 
 of your arrival. In consequence, I saw 
 G 2 in
 
 124 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 in his letter nothing to warrant the hope 
 of meeting you before to-night, more 
 especially when, on reaching Invern 
 I discovered that your friend's dwell 
 was at such a distance from town as to 
 preclude immediate inquiry." 
 
 " Do you hear what is laid to j 
 charge, /Rneas ?" said the lady, mollified 
 more by the appearance than the word> 
 of the apologist. " You will never throw 
 off the reckless ways of the boy, I be- 
 lieve, but go on blundering to your 
 grave. Mr. Clifford, I unhesitatingly 
 extend the olive-branch ; for, with the 
 eccentric Sterne, I look upon the facility 
 of the heart to forgive ' as the most re- 
 fined and generous pitch of virtue hu- 
 man nature can arrive at." 
 
 <J Well then," exclaimed Lochullin, 
 " in proof that you practise what you 
 preach, and that Clifford is a convert to 
 the same doctrine, include me in the act 
 of amnesty you so graciously pass, and 
 
 allow
 
 MACRIMMON. 125 
 
 allow Lillias and Glen Eynort to shake 
 hands with our friend." 
 
 It was indeed Lillias, that, as if by 
 magic, had started up by the side of her 
 aunt, and extended her hand towards 
 Clifford before he perceived her. A few 
 inarticulate and incoherent words were 
 the only reply he could make to her 
 cordial and unaffected salutation ; and so 
 great was his surprise and discomposure 
 at thus finding his hopes realized in the 
 very moment they seemed to suffer 
 total annihilation, that he omitted to be- 
 stow the necessary recognition on her 
 companion. Glen Eynort, for a few 
 seconds, observed him with a full steady 
 eye, and then said, in a sneering tone — 
 * When Mr. Clifford is at leisure, T too 
 will claim a share of his notice." 
 
 Clifford instantly recovered his self- 
 possession, and apologized for his ab- 
 sence; but though the excuse was ac- 
 cepted, his ear still retained recollection 
 of the contemptuous voice in which the 
 G 3 Highlander
 
 126 MACIilMMON. 
 
 Highlander had spoken. The face of 
 Lillias however was before him — that 
 face of gentleness and beauty which he 
 desired no greater happiness than to 
 look upon; and neither the sneer, nor 
 the slight frown which bore it company, 
 gave him protracted uneasiness. After 
 learning that Unn had remained at home 
 with her grandfather, he was preparing 
 to request Lillias to be his partner in 
 the dance, w r hen his evil genius, in the 
 shape of Miss Marjory, unhappily ren- 
 dered it impossible. 
 
 " Mr. Clifford," said she, moving the 
 fan she sported to and fro before her 
 face, as if some project occupied her 
 mind, which she had not fully resolved 
 to put in execution, " I presume — in- 
 deed I cannot fail to remember, that you 
 are fond of dancing." 
 
 " It is not likely you should, Miss 
 Macrimmon," replied Clifford, unsuspi- 
 cious of the bliss in store for him. 
 M While at Dun Rimmon, I more than 
 
 once
 
 MACRIMMON. 127 
 
 once put your complaisance to the test, 
 by compelling you to join in the reel 
 when partners were scarce." 
 
 " I assure you there was no compul- 
 sion in the case," interjoined Glen Ey- 
 nort, with a malicious grin. " Miss 
 Macrimmon is as fond of dancing, as 
 she is remarkable for the exquisite grace 
 of her movements ; in proof of which, I 
 have not the least doubt but she will 
 be most happy to honour you with her 
 hand in the set now forming." 
 
 Miss Marjory lost no time in corrobo- 
 rating this assertion, by simpering out 
 the words — " Most happy indeed ;" add- 
 ing, " there are several young men in 
 the room, Mr. Clifford, whom a female 
 of condition could not with propriety 
 accept as partners, yet whom I am averse 
 to abash by a direct refusal. Your at- 
 tention puts it in my power to decline 
 their civilities, in a manner merciful to 
 the feelings of all parties ; and be as- 
 G 4 sured
 
 128 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 sured I am not insensible of the obliga- 
 tion." 
 
 Clifford made no reply. He was so 
 thunderstruck by his good fortune, that 
 he knew not how to express his thank- 
 either to the lady or Glen Eynort, who 
 was leading out Lillias, with a smile of 
 wicked exultation curling his lip. To 
 submit with what grace might be grant- 
 ed him in such exigency was the only 
 thiug left for him to do; so he handed 
 Miss Marjory into the centre of the 
 room, and she, nothing loth, took her 
 place, humming, in a voice of delight — 
 " Now tread we a measure, said young 
 Lochinvar." 
 
 It was not till his partner had ex- 
 hausted every step she knew, whether 
 acquired by tuition or original, kicked 
 three gentlemen on the shins with the 
 sharp toe of the shoe of her right foot, 
 turned the last couple in the dance, and. 
 between the acts, recited some twenty 
 
 lines
 
 MACRIMMON. 129 
 
 lines of poetry from — (he was happy 
 she had for once forgot who) — that Clif- 
 ford saw himself absolved from his sins, 
 and released from purgatory. 
 
 To do him justice, however, it must 
 be added, that he behaved to his tormen- 
 tor with politeness and attention suffi- 
 cient to establish his credit ever after as 
 a well-bred man ; for which he had his 
 reward in the approving and pitying 
 glance Lillias from time to time ven- 
 tured to bestow. When freed from his 
 galling chains, he took care not to ha- 
 zard the chance of being a second time 
 the victim of such bondage ; for he in- 
 stantly solicited the only hand he va- 
 lued, and readily obtained the boon. 
 
 But if he was thus made happy at last, 
 Glen Eynort's good-humour did not ap- 
 pear to augment with the consciousness 
 that it was so. A heavy scowl settled 
 on his brow, his lips occasionally qui- 
 vered with sudden tremor, and from his 
 dark grey eyes flashed at intervals a wi- 
 G 5 thering
 
 130 MACRIMMON. 
 
 thering brightness, which all who tho- 
 roughly knew him cared not to encoun- 
 ter. 
 
 Lillias was not long in remarking it 
 to her companion. — " Glen Eynort has 
 met with something to vex him," said 
 she, trembling ; " and I dread lest he 
 should forget himself so far as to ruffle 
 the harmony of the evening." 
 
 " I could almost suspect I am the per- 
 son who has raised the storm so evident- 
 ly gathering," observed Clifford. " He 
 may owe me a grudge, for having de- 
 prived him of society he so deservedly 
 estimates as invaluable — the society of 
 Miss Macara." 
 
 " Nay," returned Lillias, in a half-of- 
 fended tone, " that were arrogating too 
 great a liberty to himself. I believe 
 Glen Eynort is better aware of the foot- 
 ing on which we stand with each other, 
 than presume to let it be seen that any 
 act of mine can wrinkle his forehead. It 
 is somewhat of more consequence that 
 
 has
 
 MACRIMMON. 131 
 
 has roused his irascibility of temper ; and 
 of that, I fear, we shall have speedy 
 proof." 
 
 " Be it even something of importance 
 that has irritated him," said Clifford, 
 " surely he will not give way to the 
 promptings of passion in such society." 
 
 '•' You little know him if you think 
 so," replied Lillias, almost shuddering. 
 " Glen Eynort is cool and enduring 
 when he imagines such conduct will 
 avail him, nor will he in trifles act in- 
 temperately ; but once seriously thwart, 
 or palpably circumvent him, and the ti- 
 ger in his lair springs not more fatally, 
 more surely, on his foe. In such mo- 
 ments, he recks not on whom his fury 
 lights ; but a victim he must and will 
 have, and such he has had ere now." 
 
 " Then I pray to God it may not be 
 Tarleton !" exclaimed Clifford, discover- 
 ing, for the first time, that the High- 
 lander and his brother- officer were in se- 
 rious altercation. " Miss Macara, you 
 G 6 must
 
 132 MACRIMMON. 
 
 must pardon me quitting you for a few 
 minutes, until I inquire into this dis- 
 pute." 
 
 " Leave them alone, if you value us!" 
 aspirated Lillias, panting with affright. 
 " One is enough to come under his evil 
 eye at once." 
 
 " But that one is my friend, lady V 
 said Clifford, in a tone of reproach. " He 
 is, besides, a total stranger in this multi- 
 tude, and I at least must countenance 
 him, though a Macrimmon prove his 
 enemy." He arose and left her as he 
 concluded. 
 
 In a few minutes he returned. — " I 
 entreat M iss Macara's pardon," said he. 
 " for the abrupt way in which I deserted 
 her ; but the seeming urgency of the 
 case betrayed me into want of proper re- 
 spect." 
 
 " Your apology is accepted," returned 
 Lillias, " provided you faithfully relate 
 the circumstances and issue of the dis- 
 pute." 
 
 "It
 
 MACRIMMON. 133 
 
 " It was a mere trifle, on the whole," 
 answered Clifford. " Some lady had 
 agreed to dance with Tarleton, but, 
 when he proceeded to lead her out, was 
 claimed by Glen Eynort, on the plea of 
 a previous engagement, and in a manner 
 not quite consonant with my friend's 
 ideas of politeness. From this arose an 
 argument between them, which, I dare 
 say, might have eventually aggravated 
 the matter beyond reconciliation, had not 
 your brother, to whom I had previously 
 made Tarleton known, interfered, and, 
 I have reason to believe, pacified the dis- 
 putants. Knowing, as he does, the terms 
 on which I am with your family, I doubt 
 not but my friend will be the more easi- 
 ly appeased, and resign all thoughts of re- 
 suming the subject." 
 
 " My mind misgives me, if Glen Ey- 
 nort will act in a manner equally de- 
 serving of commendation," observed Lil- 
 lias, as she watched him with an anxious 
 eye. " I do not like that grim smile 
 
 with
 
 134- MACRIMMOX. 
 
 with which his glance follows the object 
 of his anger through the dance : but he 
 is leaving the room, 1 perceive, from 
 which I draw an inference favourable to 
 peace ; the cool air and quiet of an- 
 other apartment may dissipate his choler, 
 and send him back an altered man." 
 
 Clifford hoped so too; but an hour 
 after, when he saw he had not returned, 
 and that Tarleton had also disappeared, 
 he began to apprehend evil. He was 
 preparing to make some inquiries of 
 Lochullin, on purpose to reassure him- 
 self, when he saw him, after speaking to 
 a waiter, suddenly approach with evi- 
 dent marks of dismay in his counte- 
 nance. 
 
 " That madman, Glen Eynort," said 
 he, the moment he had drawn him aside, 
 " has plunged us all into affliction. Mr. 
 Tarleton and he have fought, and the 
 former is wounded — mortally, I fear. " 
 
 Clifford asked no further information. 
 He cast but one look of grief on Lillias, 
 
 and
 
 MACRIMMON. 135 
 
 and hurried from the room. Numbers, 
 more enlightened than himself, were at 
 hand to guide him to his friend, and in 
 a few minutes he stood by the bed on 
 which he had been laid, grasping his 
 clammy hand. 
 
 To his great relief, the surgeon in at- 
 tendance had already been able to pro- 
 nounce the wound severe, but not mor- 
 tal, as rumour, through Lochullin, had 
 at first reported. The hope that a cure 
 would ultimately be effected took away 
 from the pain of the declaration, that, 
 owing to a rib being fractured, it would 
 prove tedious. 
 
 From information he afterwards ac- 
 quired, Clifford discovered, that far 
 from being appeased by the interference 
 of Lochullin, Glen Eynort had only 
 smoothed his brow for a time, the more 
 thoroughly to wreak his fury on the in- 
 offensive man he had forced into a quar- 
 rel. Retiring the moment he thought 
 his motives would be unsuspected, he 
 
 sent
 
 136 MACRIMMON. 
 
 sent a message to Tarleton by a waiter, 
 requesting his presence in another apart- 
 ment ; and when the officer made his ap- 
 pearance, galled and insulted him in such 
 a manner, that he readily acquiesced in 
 the proposition to sally forth instantly ; 
 and in the moonlight, and with the pis- 
 tols ready prepared by the Highlander, 
 settled their dispute in the same hour it 
 had taken place. 
 
 Had Tarleton been allowed time to re- 
 collect himself, it is probable he would 
 have objected to the absence of seconds; 
 but, goaded on by the taunts of Glen 
 Eynort, who, in his infuriate moods, 
 recked neither his own life nor the life 
 of his enemy, he unpremeditatedly took 
 his stand on the retired spot to which 
 the other guided him, and, picked down 
 by an unerring bullet, paid the forfeit of 
 his temerity with his blood. 
 
 His antagonist merely waited to see 
 him fall, and then fled, scared by the 
 shouts of several people who had seen 
 
 the
 
 MACRIMMON. 137 
 
 the blaze of the pistols, and suspected 
 the occasion on which they were fired. 
 To these persons Tarleton was obliged 
 for that assistance which, there is reason 
 to believe, his opponent would not have 
 exerted himself to procure. 
 
 Clifford had been but a short time by 
 the side of the wounded man, when 
 Lochullin appeared, for the purpose of 
 convincing himself that there were 
 hopes, and to express his unqualified de- 
 testation of Glen Eynort's intemperate 
 behaviour. Had he not left his sister in 
 the utmost agony of mind, and half the 
 ladies in the ball-room administering salts 
 and aromatic vinegar to aunt Marjory, 
 who had sentimentally gone off in a faint, 
 he would have protracted his stay; but the 
 excuse was too good to require any thing 
 in addition, and Clifford hurried him 
 away. 
 
 Keeping a lonely vigil by the bed of 
 suffering is, of all occupations, the most 
 calculated to sadden the heart, and to 
 
 bring
 
 138 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 bring the mind into a just train of think- 
 ing. In the solitude and dismal array 
 of a sick chamber, there is something 
 that thoroughly breaks down even the 
 buoyant spirit of youth ; arid Clifford 
 found a night of gloomy and desponding 
 reflection succeed the few hours of ex- 
 hilaration he had enjoyed during the 
 evening. 
 
 He was much attached to Tarleton, 
 and coidd not refrain from blaming him- 
 self for having swayed him to attend the 
 ball, inasmuch as it seemed to render 
 him the original, though innocent cause 
 of his misfortune. Towards Glen Ey- 
 nort he now entertained a feeling bor- 
 dering on absolute antipathy. In his 
 own mind he felt perfectly assured, that 
 his attentions to Lillias had first ruffled 
 the Highlander's temper, and that Tarle- 
 ton had been singled out as a fit object 
 for wreaking his passion on, chiefly be- 
 cause he was his friend ; nor could he 
 
 console
 
 MACRIMMON. 139 
 
 console himself with the hope that this 
 was the last evil turn the same hand 
 would work him. 
 
 Lillias had, in her alarm, sketched a 
 character at once vindictive, furious, and 
 cruel — a character likely to harden and 
 grow more worthless from every addi- 
 tional crime ; and wisdom seemed to 
 point it out as the safest and most com- 
 mendable path to avoid him assiduously 
 for the future. 
 
 But this he could not firmly resolve to 
 do, though he had before his eyes an 
 impressive warning in his suffering 
 friend. He had already given a half- 
 promise to Lochullin, that, on a certain 
 day, only a few weeks distant, he would 
 endeavour to repeat his visit to Dun 
 Rimmon ; and all the danger that might 
 accrue from again coming in contact with 
 the fiery Glen Eynort, conjoined with 
 the deep sentiments of aversion he now 
 felt to associate with a man of so little 
 self-command, were insufficient to coun- 
 terbalance
 
 140 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 terbalance the promised pleasure to be 
 derived from other society. 
 
 When the morning broke, leaving 
 Tarleton in a quiet sleep, he endeavour- 
 ed to obtain some rest himself. In this 
 he finally succeeded ; and when he 
 awoke, Lochullin's was the first face he 
 looked upon. He had rode into town 
 thus early, to inform himself of how the 
 wounded man had passed the night, and 
 to ascertain if, on second examination, 
 his hurt bore the same favourable aspect. 
 
 These questions answered to his satis- 
 faction, he again spoke of the intempe- 
 rance of his kinsman's conduct in the 
 terms it deserved. — " Save my grandfa- 
 ther," said he, " I scarcely think he will 
 meet one individual that approves of his 
 conduct in the whole country. By art- 
 fully representing to sir Colin that your 
 friend insulted him, and that it did not 
 suit his Highland spirit to brook offence 
 from a Saxon beyond the moment in 
 which it was given, he will secure for 
 
 himself
 
 macrimmon. 141 
 
 himself encomiums rather than blame. 
 It is not the first time that the chieftain's 
 voice and fortune have supported him, 
 when all the Highlands rung with com- 
 plaints and condemnation ; but he has 
 little to pride himself on in such sup- 
 port, when every day proves how se- 
 riously my grandfather's prejudices ob- 
 scure the innate justice of his disposition, 
 and, as it were, make him view actions 
 therewith connected through the most 
 deceptious medium. Glen Eynort will, 
 I doubt not, be ready to receive me 
 when I return to Dun Rimmon, but my 
 hand and voice shall not greet him whom 
 my heart condemns ; nor will Lillias 
 hail him as the conqueror he may fancy 
 himself. By this last act he has forfeit- 
 ed her esteem for ever ; and sir Colin's 
 dearest hope, of seeing her future lady 
 of Glen Rimmon, is utterly blasted." 
 
 " Glen Eynort," said Clifford, " has 
 certainly behaved more like a ruffian 
 than a man of magnanimous spirit, yet 
 
 I wish
 
 142 MACRIMMON". 
 
 I wish not that any incident, the most 
 remotely connected with myself, should 
 be the means of sowing disunion in your 
 family. I found it happy, and each 
 member attached to the other. I shall 
 soon, very soon depart, in all likelihood 
 never to return ; let me go, therefore, 
 with the sense that I have not been the 
 means of loosening one family-tie. You 
 will say that I have nothing to do in the 
 matter — that it is Tarleton's cause you 
 espouse ; but I know your generous 
 heart too well to admit this. Tarleton 
 is my friend, and on that account you 
 are doubly enraged against the man that 
 injured him. Had it been my dog that 
 was maltreated, you would have stood 
 up in his defence." 
 
 " Since you give me credit for such 
 stability of friendship," said Lochullin, a 
 flush of pleasure settling on his counte- 
 nance, " I shall not give way to a sense 
 of my own demerits, and degrade the 
 imaginary qualities you endow me with 
 
 to
 
 MACR1MMON. 143 
 
 to their true standard : for I know no 
 happiness more exquisite than that de- 
 rived from the conviction that I am not 
 thought ungrateful or cold-hearted ; 
 nay, I will even threaten Glen Eynort 
 no more with my appalling frown, pro- 
 vided you agree to the proviso I am 
 about to make." 
 
 " Name it," said Clifford ; " and if it 
 is not most decidedly at variance with 
 my principles, your kinsman shall see no 
 wrinkle on your brow." 
 
 " Then it is that you adhere to your 
 engagement of last night," returned 
 Lochullin. " While both of us appre- 
 hended nothing of this rencontre, you 
 almost fixed a day for setting off on a 
 second pilgrimage to our solitary glen. 
 Let it not alter your intention ; but save 
 Glen Eynort from the charge of having, 
 in addition to his other evil works, ba- 
 nished from our hearth a friend we so 
 much love and value as Charles Clif- 
 ford." 
 
 " Your
 
 144 MACRIMMON*. 
 
 " Your generous attentions ill merit a 
 denial," said Clifford, who could not re- 
 sist the yearnings of his heart; " I there- 
 fore acquiesce, and, unless Tarleton's si- 
 tuation is precarious, shall take another 
 look at Glen Ilimmon, before a soldier's 
 destiny renders the wish unavailing. ' 
 
 " And if, amongst others, Glen Ey- 
 nort is there to meet you, shall the past 
 be forgotten ?" inquired the youth. 
 " You have advised me to recc.ve bis 
 hand in friendship — will you press it 
 with the same forgiving clasp ?" 
 
 " Glen Eynort," answered Clifford, 
 " is related to you by ties of blood, and 
 it therefore becomes you to be on terms 
 of amity with each other. Between him 
 and me there exists no such bond, unless it 
 be in that stream which his madness shed, 
 and which rises up to sever, not unite us. 
 I will never act so hypocritically as to 
 profess friendship where I cannot feel it ; 
 but if I make no display of esteem, nei- 
 ther will I irritate him, or pain you, by 
 
 any 

 
 MACRIMMON. 145 
 
 any intended provocation. Provided 
 we can meet in public, and associate for 
 a few days together, without coming to 
 open disagreement, or destroying the 
 happiness of others by our sour looks, I 
 shall be the individual who derives the 
 most pleasure from the circumstance, in- 
 asmuch as it will allow me to enjoy, for 
 the last time I fear, society, for the loss 
 of which I shall not soon find an equi- 
 valent. But should the ill-regulated 
 passions of either burst forth — should he 
 take offence at my cold civility, or I 
 fancy I descry aught disrespectful in his 
 bearing, then I will bid farewell to Dun 
 Rimmon ; and however we may settle 
 differences afterwards, by flight, avoid 
 staining its halls with the shame inva- 
 riably attendant on brawling and alter- 
 cation." 
 
 " Did your disposition bear the least 
 similitude to that of Glen Eynort," said 
 Lochullin, " I should scarcely agree to 
 your coming together on these terms ; 
 
 vol. i. ii but
 
 146 MACRIMMON. 
 
 but as nature has formed you mild and 
 forgiving, and as the recent vent given 
 to his fiery spirit will doubtless be fol- 
 lowed by a long interval of quiescence, 
 the chance of danger resulting sec 
 too insignificant to be paid attention to. 
 This duel has so disgusted my sister 
 with Inverness, that she is determined 
 to return to Dun Rimmon with as little 
 delay as possible; nor can all the en- 
 treaties of aunt Marjory, who is fond of 
 general society, prevail on her to alter 
 her mind. I am under the necc 
 being their escort, and unless you can 
 resolve on leaving Mr. Tarleton for a 
 few hours to-morrow forenoon, and rid- 
 ing out as far as our present abode, mi 
 now bid you adieu. If you can quit 
 your friend's bedside km flD short a space 
 of time, I need not say that your vi 
 will be received with pleasure by the 
 hospitable family with whom we reside. 
 Aunt Marjory too will be gratified, and 
 the uneasiness Lillias Buffers regarding 
 
 Mr
 
 MACRIMMON. 147 
 
 Mr. Tarleton experience great diminu- 
 tion, when she hears from your own lips 
 that he is in a fair way of recovery." 
 
 " I will give no promise," said Clif- 
 ford, notwithstandinginclination prompt- 
 ed him to decide at once. " If Tarleton 
 is no worse, I shall not hesitate to give 
 way to my wishes, and personally pay 
 my respects, before the ladies depart. 
 Should it prove otherwise, to you I de- 
 legate that duty, well assured you will 
 not fail to shield me from a charge of 
 neglect." 
 
 " But one thing more have I to men- 
 tion," observed Lochullin, after stating 
 that the apology would be more than 
 sufficient, without his adducing a word 
 in support. " You have already proved 
 the superiority of our Highland ponies 
 in scrambling over such rugged tracts 
 as lie between this and Glen Ilimmon, 
 and the impracticability of a stranger tra- 
 versing it without a guide. On the day 
 we have fixed upon, old Donald Dar- 
 h 2 roch,
 
 148 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 roch, and the steed you were formerly 
 pleased to commend, shall be in waiting 
 at this same hotel ; and so mounted and 
 piloted, I can insure your safe arrival at 
 the castle within the hour in which we 
 expect you." 
 
 Clifford objected to this arrangement, 
 on the score of the trouble it must ne- 
 cessarily entail on more than one indi- 
 vidual; but Lochullin would not Listen 
 to such reasoning, or on any account 
 consent to the propositions that follow- 
 ed, of engaging a guide and horses for 
 himself. This matter settled, the young 
 Highlander, after bidding Tarleton adieu, 
 mounted his pony and rode away. 
 
 Clifford would have taken shame to 
 himself, had he felt conscious in his 
 heart that his anxiety regarding the 
 health of his friend was at all increased 
 by the foregoing conversation ; yet it ia 
 questionable if the greater half of man- 
 kind, under similar circumstances, would 
 not internally have confessed it so. Self- 
 ish:
 
 MACRIMMON. 149 
 
 ishness is so subtle, and steals so imper- 
 ceptibly into the human heart, that that 
 man can hardly be supposed to exist, 
 whose actions are not more or less tinted 
 from this impure source. Clifford was 
 attached to Tarleton by the ties of 
 esteem and long association ; he would 
 readily have risked his life in his de- 
 fence, and he experienced a sad and so- 
 litary satisfaction in giving the attend- 
 ance his situation required ; yet, even 
 by the sick man's bed, he meditated on 
 the beauty and gentleness of Lillias Mac- 
 ara, and, mingling with his low moans, 
 almost fancied he heard her soft voice 
 murmuring that she was to depart on 
 the morrow. 
 
 The morrow came, and as if Cupid 
 had been on the watch, and smoothed 
 his pillow throughout the night, in or- 
 der to favour the interview, Tarleton 
 awoke considerably better. The mo- 
 ment Clifford intimated his wish to bid 
 his friends adieu, he strenuously insisted 
 h 3 on
 
 150 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 on his so doing, and was so successfully 
 supported by the surgeon in a declara- 
 tion of his rapid amendment, that the 
 other set off to pay his visit, without 
 the least compunction at leaving him. 
 A short and hasty ride brought him to 
 the mansion he was in search of, and by 
 Lochullin he was introduced to the fa- 
 mily, who received him with all the 
 warmth he could desire. Xor did Miss 
 Marjory Macrimmon withhold her share 
 of flattering attention ; her inquiries 
 after his friend were numerous, her quo- 
 tations tender, and, without being guilty 
 of inordinate vanity, frequently admit- 
 ting of personal application. As to Lil- 
 lias, she was niggard of her words ; but 
 the visitor saw more to love and rejoice 
 at in the kind expression of her dove- 
 like eves, than in all the exertions made 
 by the others to prove their sincerity. 
 
 It was not till he was again on the 
 wing, and preparing to depart, in de- 
 fiance of every entreaty used to detain 
 
 him
 
 MACRIMMON. * 151 
 
 him to dinner, that he did more than 
 exchange a few words with her. Loch- 
 ullin proposed that his sister and aunt 
 should walk with him as far as the 
 boundary of the plantations that sur- 
 rounded the house ; and during this 
 saunter, Clifford found himself and Lil- 
 lias a few paces in rear of the other two. 
 In order to break the silence that en- 
 sued, he mentioned the hope he cherish- 
 ed of seeing Dun Rimmon once more, 
 before he finally exchanged the quiet of 
 Fort George for the bustle of a camp.— 
 " I have been the more strongly in- 
 fluenced to accept Lochullin's invita- 
 tion," added he, " from the certainty 
 that many years must necessarily pass 
 without such an opportunity again oc- 
 curring ; I might even assert, that, in all 
 probability, I shall never more look 
 upon those snowy heights, when once 
 distance has shut them out from my 
 sight ; but at this moment my soul 
 h 4 shrinks
 
 1.52 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 shrinks from admitting a thought so 
 gloomy." 
 
 " And never give it admission," said 
 Lillias, earnestly. " Remember that the 
 circumstances of your introduction to 
 our family have, from the first, elevated 
 you in our estimation far above the 
 rank of a common acquaintance. War 
 will have an end ; and however fortune 
 may have dealt with us in the interim, 
 your reappearance among our hills will 
 prove a period of rejoicing. Yet I mu^t 
 be plain with you, and confess that 
 somehow I tremble at the idea of your 
 being our guest at the present juncture; 
 and were it not that Lochullin has in 
 part shewn me the absurdity of my 
 fears, I know not but I might entreat 
 you to delay your visit." 
 
 " I understand you, Miss Macara." 
 said Clifford, reddening from the sup- 
 position that her anxiety concerned Glen 
 Kvnort alone; " but give yourself no 
 
 uneasii
 
 MACRIMMON. 153 
 
 uneasiness on that head. I shall not 
 disgrace the abode of sir Colin Macrim- 
 mon by quarrelling with his kinsman, 
 however slightly I may respect the lat- 
 ter. I had pledged myself thus far be- 
 fore, and need scarcely add, that your 
 solicitude regarding Glen Eynort is, 
 with me, the strongest advocate in fa- 
 vour of peace." 
 
 " It is not for him I tremble," ex- 
 claimed Lillias, in the utmost perplexity 
 how to express herself. " I know Glen 
 Eynort too well to fear he will be the 
 sufferer, or to feel solicitous regarding 
 his safety. But should he burst forth 
 in one of those desolating gusts of rage 
 which at times overtake him, or, what is 
 nearly as bad, should he come to view 
 some innocent man with that silent and 
 deadly malice which it is his pride to 
 cherish, and his joy to gratify, who then 
 shall insure the safety of others ? Alas ! 
 alas ! sorrow will soon be in all our 
 hearts !" 
 
 h 5 " And
 
 154 MACRIMMON. 
 
 " And yet, if I mistake not," said 
 Clifford, " sorrow is the last feeling her 
 kinsman desires to occasion Miss Ma- 
 cara." 
 
 " It may be so," returned Lillias; 
 " but, like many other people, he adopts 
 an improper way to ward it off. I feel 
 that I am acting a part far from becom- 
 ing in thus exposing the failings of a 
 relative, but the recent misfortune he 
 has occasioned renders it almost incum- 
 bent on me so to do, in order to save 
 another from a similar outrage. Glen 
 Eynort is a man I never can look upon 
 without dread, and never do I see his 
 fiery glance rivet itself on the face of 
 a shrinking peasant who has unwit- 
 tingly offended him, But I mourn tor 
 the clan that must soon receive him as 
 its chief. Happy, happy would it be 
 for the Clan Rimmon, if Lochullin \\\ 
 destined to become its future head, in- 
 stead of Ninian of Glen Kynort 
 
 " Sincerely do I coincide in that opi- 
 nion,'
 
 MACRIMMON. 155 
 
 nion," observed Clifford. " Your bro- 
 ther is the most benevolent and humane 
 of human beings : in him the harsh 
 and cruel nature of man is softened 
 down to a standard, of which he stands, 
 as it were, a solitary specimen — at least 
 to me he is as yet such." 
 
 " It is kind of you to commend 
 JEneas," returned Lillias, with evident 
 signs of satisfaction ; " for, though happy 
 in my other kindred, he alone seems to 
 possess the true art of securing affection. 
 But we were speaking of the day that 
 will see Glen Eynort sir Ninian Mac- 
 rimmon, and prognosticating sorrow to 
 the clan when that event takes place. 
 In this we are not singular, for every 
 peasant on my grandfather's estates de- 
 precates his death as the harbinger of 
 certain calamity. Had my uncle Nor- 
 man survived, how very, very different 
 would have been the general anticipa- 
 tion ! but death cut him off in his prime, 
 and gave him for a successor one with- 
 h 6 out
 
 156 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 ou t a single quality to console his people 
 for their loss. For a time hopes were 
 entertained that Glen Eynort's prospect- 
 would be blighted by the restoration of 
 a less remote and more beloved branch 
 to the parent stem, from which it had 
 been rudely severed ; but it proved fu- 
 tile in the end — indeed I have reason to 
 believe sir Colin desired that it should 
 do so throughout. From what I have 
 heard of the unfortunate Ranald Mac- 
 rimmon, I am fully convinced many 
 have cause to bewail his untimely 
 death." 
 
 " And who was this Ranald Macrim- 
 mon ?" inquired Clifford, interested in 
 his fate, chiefly because he had stood 
 between Glen Eynort and a title. 
 
 " The orphan son of Roderick, Hi 
 Colin's only brother," replied Lilliav 
 " Along with uncle Norman, my mo- 
 ther, and aunt Marjory, he was reared 
 and educated at Dun Rimmon, and 
 more beloved than either. Sir Colin 
 
 destined
 
 MACRIMMON. 157 
 
 destined for him the portion of a younger 
 son, in order to supply the want of pa- 
 ternal inheritance; and it was publicly 
 understood, that as soon as the parties 
 were of age, aunt Marjory was to be- 
 come his wife. But this arrangement 
 had been made without consulting the 
 young man's inclinations, and when it 
 came to be proposed to him, he evinced 
 the most determined opposition, not 
 having, as he averred, the smallest de- 
 sire to marry his cousin. In the end he 
 fled the castle, and some connexion he 
 subsequently formed exiled him from 
 it for ever. That he has been dead 
 many years few doubt, but none can 
 tell where he laid his bones. Some of 
 the aged peasants in Glen Rimmon take 
 delight in speaking of him, and predict 
 that he will return; but the credulity 
 incident to their years alone gives rise 
 to this supposition. 1 may also add, 
 that Lochullin has assured me that Glen 
 Eynort is not without his doubts on 
 
 this
 
 158 MACRIMMON. 
 
 this head, and that he has done every 
 thing to obtain substantial evidence of 
 Ranald's death, but without success — 
 no clew remaining by which he can be 
 traced." 
 
 " I am not at all surprised that Glen 
 Eynort should feel restless until his 
 rights are established beyond all possibi- 
 lity of being invalidated," said Clifford. 
 " To a man of his disposition, uncer- 
 tainty must give intolerable pain." 
 
 " I do not believe any fancies of his 
 own would have created a feeling of in- 
 security," observed Lillias; M but, like 
 all Highlanders, his mind is tinctured 
 with superstition, and to that he owes 
 his dread of the resurrection of poor 
 wandering Ranald. Amongst our soli- 
 tary glens there prevails a disease of the 
 mind called the second sight — a sort 
 horrible dreaming, in which the wretch- 
 ed victim imagines futurity revealed to 
 his fear-struck eyes. All I can say of the 
 matter is, that I am firmly convinced the 
 
 unhappy
 
 MACRIMMON. 159 
 
 unhappy beings on whom it is said to 
 have fallen are not systematically and 
 knowingly impostors, but terrifically as- 
 sured, in their own minds, that no 
 phantasy of the imagination deludes 
 them ; for never is misery more affect- 
 ingly and strikingly portrayed in the 
 human countenance that in that of a 
 Highland seer. Such an unfortunate is 
 Riach MacRyri, the foster-father of 
 Glen Eynort. When a youth, he was 
 greatly noticed by the family at Dun 
 Rimmon, and, through the kindness of 
 the chief, received an education that 
 qualified him for the situation of a parish 
 school- master, which office he filled for 
 a considerable time with credit to him- 
 self. Unhappily the death of his wife, 
 added perhaps to an hereditary taint, 
 unsettled his mind, and he became a 
 victim to the awful malady of the gifted 
 eye. To the existence of this, Glen 
 Eynort is said to give implicit credence ; 
 and his consultations with Mac Ryri, 
 
 which
 
 160 MACRIMMON. 
 
 which are known to be frequent and 
 long, corroborate the assertion. Some- 
 thing that has escaped the seer, in one 
 of those interviews, is supposed to have 
 impressed on the other's mind a convic- 
 tion that Ranald Macrimmon is still 
 alive; at least I can assign no better 
 cause for the avidity with which he 
 starts on every new scent that offers, 
 and the pertinacity with which he pur- 
 sues it to the last." 
 
 " I am somewhat astonished," said 
 Clifford, " that I should not have heard 
 of this wizard Mac Ryri while at Dun 
 Rimmon. The proximity of such a 
 person, I should think likely to bf 
 circumstance of the greatest notoriety." 
 
 " He is known to every Highlander 
 north of the Glen More," returned Lil- 
 lias ; " but where shall we find the pea- 
 sant that dares talk lightly of the 
 second sight? If the name of MacRyri 
 is ever mentioned, it is when the family- 
 circle closes in of an evening round the 
 
 bog-
 
 MACRIMMON. 16X 
 
 bog-wood fire, and resorts to preterna- 
 tural tales to beguile those dismal hours 
 when winter and darkness are without 
 the cottage. Even then it is uttered in 
 a whisper, and followed by an invoca- 
 tion, that the God of mercy will pre- 
 serve them and theirs from such a grie- 
 vous calamity. In the castle you had as 
 little chance of hearing aught of the 
 seer as in the peasant's hut; and but 
 for the information I now tender, might 
 have departed ignorant that a man so 
 wretched as Riach MacRyri was in 
 existence. Sir Colin would think him- 
 self guilty of heinous disrespect towards 
 the ancient worthies he shapes his con- 
 duct by, were he to dispute their super- 
 stitious creed, or expose it to the ridi- 
 cule of a Saxon. Glen Eynort, as you 
 may easily infer from what I have al- 
 ready said, was not likely to enter on 
 the subject with a stranger. Aunt Mar- 
 jory indeed might have been betrayed 
 into a full disclosure, had the circum- 
 stance
 
 162 MACRIMMON. 
 
 stance occurred to her; yet, on the 
 whole, I suspect the scepticism she 
 boasts of, and which she grounds on the 
 incontrovertible authority of her dearly- 
 beloved books, is to be found only in 
 her arguments, not in her heart." 
 
 " What is that you say concerning 
 books, my dear?" exclaimed Miss Mac- 
 rimmon, whose acute ear had caught 
 the talismanic word. " Upon my vera- 
 city, Mr. Clifford, I take it very unkind 
 that you waste all your literary convc 
 on that young chit, who has hardly 
 done conning her catechism. Girls in 
 their teens may look wise enough to be 
 sure, and when you make a pause in 
 declamation, simper out ' delightful,' or 
 * very fine indeed ;' but believe me, if 
 you desire to taste the ' feast of reason 
 and the flow of soul,' vou must look to 
 females of mature age — to females who 
 have dived into more erudite works than 
 song-books or novels." 
 
 " You upbraid Mr. Clifford unjustly, 
 
 aunt,"
 
 MACRIMMON. 163 
 
 aunt," interposed Lillias; " for if my re- 
 collection stands me true, nothing bear- 
 ing a resemblance to literary discussion 
 has this day escaped his lips. I only 
 happened to hazard a remark relative to 
 your passion for study, never imagining 
 the breeze was to bear its conclusion to 
 your ears." 
 
 " And I am confident, Lillias," said 
 Miss Marjory, complacently, " none of 
 my kindred are better qualified to hazard 
 a remark on that subject than yourself. 
 To you it is well known how indefatig- 
 ably I have travelled through piles of 
 musty and ponderous tomes — how often 
 I have seen the sun rise and set without 
 moving from my desk — how many long 
 and solitary nights I have ? wasted the 
 midnight oil.' But the world shall ulti- 
 mately bear testimony to the unwearied 
 ardour I have manifested, and my name 
 be 5 honoured by the nations', long after 
 the powerful spirit within has, by its 
 workings, crumbled this frail tenement 
 
 to
 
 164 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 to dust. Yes, Mr. Clifford, the time 
 draws nigh, when from these mountains 
 shall be poured forth a flood of insuffer- 
 able light, such as shall make the up- 
 start geniuses of the present day hide 
 their diminished heads. But I must 
 not anticipate. Suffice it to say, that 
 time and posterity shall acknowledge, 
 that without quitting our own snowy 
 rocks, it is possible to quaff of the pure 
 Castalian fount, and those ■ sons of little 
 men,' who now beleaguer the temple of 
 Fame, shrink back in dismay to that 
 muddy pool, which, from the first, they 
 have mistaken for the true and unpol- 
 luted spring. Miserable drivellers ! they 
 know not what the sweeping pen of a 
 feeble woman is destined to accom- 
 plish !" 
 
 " I wish it may be able to sweep us 
 home before the shower comes on," said 
 Lochullin, laughing, as he cast an arch 
 glance at the sky. " Come, Clifford, 
 mount and be off, if you would save 
 
 your
 
 MACRIMMON. 165 
 
 your smart jacket, and let aunt Marjory 
 reserve further disclosures till she has 
 you laid fast for a fortnight at Dun 
 Rimmon." 
 
 Clifford followed his advice, and carry- 
 ing with him expressions of regard from 
 each, commenced his solitary ride to In- 
 verness. 
 
 CHAP-
 
 166 MACRIMMON. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 She knew she was beloved by him — she knew, 
 For quickly comes such knowledge . eart 
 
 Was darkened with her shadow, and she saw 
 That he was wretched ; but she saw not all. By*o5 
 
 Tarleton had been, for some time, in 
 a state of convalescence, and restored to 
 the society of his brother-officers, ere 
 the day arrived on which Clifford pro- 
 posed setting off for Glen Kimmon; no- 
 thing therefore occurred to dennge his 
 plans, and on the appointed morning he 
 once more bade a transient adieu to gar- 
 rison-duty. 
 
 Donald Darroch and his four-tooted 
 friends were at their post, and suffi- 
 ciently recruited by a nights rest to 
 start without delay ; so that, two hours 
 before noon, the spires of Inverness 
 
 were 

 
 MACRIMMON. 167 
 
 were behind them. For a time Clifford 
 was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, 
 that he made no effort to comprehend 
 the uncouth gibberish of his attendant, 
 farther than was indispensably requisite ; 
 but when the soft features of the dis- 
 tricts bordering the eastern firths were 
 exchanged for the monotonous sterility 
 of the uplands — when, instead of the 
 murmuring of gentle waves, and the 
 cheerful hum of clustering hamlets, he 
 heard the howling of the mountain- 
 blast, and the fierce whoop of those so- 
 litary birds that haunt these uninhabited 
 moors, he came to long for the sound of 
 the human voice. Donald, who had 
 learned to respect him during the for- 
 mer excursion, readily gave way to this 
 humour; and a conversation ensued, un- 
 intelligible in many parts to both, it is 
 true, yet devoid of amusement to nei- 
 ther. When Clifford spoke of his chief, 
 Donald implored Heaven to prolong his 
 life, for the glory and happiness of his 
 
 clan ;
 
 168 MACRIMMON. 
 
 clan ; when Lochullin was the theme, 
 he blessed his fair hair, and uttered an 
 ejaculation of regret that he was not a 
 Macrimmon ; and for Lillias he had so 
 many Gaelic terms of endearment, that 
 his companion began to suspect he had 
 made his last essay at speaking English j 
 but when Glen Eynort was casually 
 mentioned, the old Highlander hung 
 his head, and remained mute. Clifford 
 noticed the sudden change, and inquired 
 the reason. 
 
 " Pecause she no pe fond of speaking 
 of Glen Eynort," was Donald's reply. 
 
 " And why not, Donald ?*' asked the 
 other. " He will be your chief in the 
 course of time, and affection, I believe, 
 is a clansman's duty. 
 
 " And ta chieftain's duty too.' 
 claimed Donald. " If ta one tails to pe 
 friend, ta other will fail to opey ; if ta 
 chief tishonours ta clansman, ta clans- 
 man will hate ta chief. In her r 
 Glen Eynort forgot tat ta plood of Mac- 
 
 rioman 

 
 MACRIMMON. 169 
 
 rioman was in ta veins of Tonald Tar- 
 roch as well as her ain, and tisgraced 
 her gray hairs py a vile plow. For tat 
 plow she has her curse, for tat plow she 
 has her son's curse, and for tat plow, 
 when she'll pe porn, she'll have her 
 son's son's curse." 
 
 " That is cursing him with a ven- 
 geance," said Clifford, looking with 
 amazement on the keen flashing eyes of 
 the old man. " Considering his un- 
 governable temper, and the probability 
 that he struck you in a moment when 
 passion had completely mastered his 
 reason, I think you punish the offence 
 more severely than it deserves." • 
 
 " Py ta God tat made her," returned 
 Donald, " she would have had her 
 heart's plood, had she no peen ta last 
 Macrioman ! Had ta goot and ta gentle 
 Ranald Bane peen petween her and ta 
 chieftain, ta worms had eaten Glen Ey- 
 nort lang ago, though ta teugh neck o' 
 Tonald Tarroch had paid ta forfeit." 
 
 vol. I. i " This
 
 170 MACRIMMON. 
 
 " This Ranald Bane you mention, 
 and the son of your chieftain's brother, 
 were they one and the same person ?" 
 inquired Clifford, absently. 
 
 " Ta were," answered Donald. " Ra- 
 nald Bane, or ta fair Ranald Macrio- 
 man, was ta son of ta Red Roderick, 
 and ta chief tat clan Crioman desired, 
 failing Norman More. Ta plood of Ra- 
 nald Bane was ta pest and ta purest in 
 ta country of ta Gael, for even py ta 
 mother's side she was of a great race, 
 and sprung from ta high chiefs of Kin- 
 tail. Put Glen Eynort has ta pad plood 
 of a pase-porn set in his heart, and ta 
 goot stream of Macrioman runs peside 
 it no more." 
 
 " By all accounts," said Clifford, " it 
 is a great misfortune to the clan, that 
 this Ranald Bane is not forthcoming to 
 assume the chieftainship when sir Colin 
 dies." 
 
 " To pe sure, to pe sure F 1 exclaimed 
 Donald, emphatically. " Ta pairn in 
 
 ta
 
 MACRIMMON. 171 
 
 ta cradle will pe kenning tat, lang after 
 ta bones of Tonald Dhu are peneath ta 
 sod. Put if ta seer speaks true, and 
 herselFs no ta man to tout her, ta clan 
 Crioman may pe keeping up ta heart 
 yet. Ta seas are proad, put ta Gael has 
 peen crossing tern pefore ; and Ranald 
 Bane may pe finding ta way hame, 
 when ta pase heart of Glen Eynort pe 
 least expecting her." 
 
 Clifford would gladly have acquired 
 some additional information respecting 
 the prophecies of the seer, but the mo- 
 ment he uttered the name of MacRyri, 
 a spell seemed cast on Donald's speech. 
 From being unusually garrulous and 
 communicative, he suddenly became ta- 
 citurn and reserved, and occasionally 
 surveyed the distant parts of the moors 
 over which they were travelling, with 
 the wandering uneasy glance of one 
 who expected his eyes were to be blast- 
 ed with some hideous spectacle. Such 
 questions as he did reply to were either 
 i 2 answered
 
 172 MACRIMMON. 
 
 answered by evasive sentences, or so 
 much Gaelic intentionally interlarded, 
 that he might as well have been silent 
 altogether ; and as this unsocial mood 
 continued until they reached Ardgy, 
 Clifford's curiosity remained ungratified. 
 Murdoch Bain received him with all 
 the contortions of face, and variety of 
 gesture, that had distinguished him on 
 former occasions, and was so evidently 
 inclined to make himself and his house 
 agreeable, that had his guest shewn the 
 least desire to lay himself under so 
 much obligation, there is no doubt but 
 mine host would have favoured him 
 with his company throughout the even- 
 ing. As no hint to this effect was 
 given, however, Murdoch was partly 
 consoled by the assurance that the 
 stranger, if he knew all, suffered the 
 greatest loss of the two, inasmuch as 
 he foolishly denied himself several hours 
 of his delectable conversation, by mop- 
 ing alone over his jug of punch ; and 
 
 this
 
 MACRIMMON. 173 
 
 this opinion he did not neglect to in- 
 timate to Donald, in the course of a 
 long confabulation that took place be- 
 twixt them, as they sat by the kitchen- 
 fire, momentarily exchanging mulls, and 
 gulping down copious libations of pure 
 usquebaugh. 
 
 On the ensuing morning, Clifford 
 hardly took time to swallow his break- 
 fast before he recommenced his journey, 
 so eager was he to press on, and meet 
 the welcome he anticipated. Donald's 
 talkative humour had returned, but the 
 rapidity of their progress precluded his 
 taking advantage of it, notwithstanding 
 he still felt somewhat inquisitive regard- 
 ing the Highland prophet. Had he 
 been aware, that, in a huge pile of rocks, 
 lifting their gray heads, in solitary isola- 
 tion, in the centre of a wide heath they 
 necessarily crossed previous to entering 
 Glen Rimmon, he beheld one of Mac 
 Ryri's favourite and most dreaded 
 haunts, it is possible he might have felt 
 I 3 inclined
 
 174 MACRIMMOtf. 
 
 inclined to slacken his pace, and turn 
 aside to visit it. As it was, he only re- 
 marked that Donald seemed to eye the 
 mass with suspicion ; that he persisted in 
 keeping his horse abreast of him, and 
 on the farther side of the way, all the 
 while it was in sight; and that when 
 interrogated as to its name, he, with 
 a trembling voice, designated it the 
 U Giant's Cairn." 
 
 Lochullin met them in the small cul- 
 tivated valley leading into Glen Rim- 
 mon, and Clifford learned, with undis- 
 guised satisfaction, that Glen Eynort 
 had been for some time absent from the 
 castle, and was not expected to return 
 for at least another week. — " But in his 
 stead," added Lochullin, u we have got 
 a sprightly nymph from the shores of 
 Loch Ruart, Miss Morag Catanach, 
 with whom no Highland lady between 
 Loch Assint and Kintail, Ben Wivis 
 and the Culinn Hills, in Skye, dare risk 
 comparison. I may likewise mention, 
 
 that
 
 MACRIMMON. 175 
 
 that her brother Hugh is also our guest, 
 and a most serviceable fellow, as you 
 will find, either as a partner in a reel, a 
 musician, vocal or instrumental, or a 
 leaning-post for the ladies. With such 
 a vara avis as Morag, to delight our 
 eyes, and such a good-humoured, frank, 
 accommodating lad as Hugh, to dance, 
 sing, play, and flirt with aunt Mar- 
 jory, who fears the longest and most in- 
 clement evening it pleases Heaven to 
 send us for the next fortnight ?" 
 
 Clifford laughed, and assured him 
 that ennui would seek in vain for vic- 
 tims at Dun Rimmon, while his own 
 smiling face and cheerful heart remained 
 as antidotes for those in danger. As to 
 himself, though delicacy to a kinsman's 
 feelings forbade the declaration, he found 
 sufficient surety of enjoyment in the ab- 
 sence of Glen Eynort. Had the latter 
 been of the party waiting to give him 
 welcome, he felt conscious that disap- 
 pointment must have followed; for every 
 I 4 day
 
 176 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 day seemed destined to bring to his 
 knowledge some additional trait of cha- 
 racter tending to increase aversion. Stir- 
 red up by the remembrance of his brutal 
 conduct to Tarleton, and kept continu- 
 ally fermenting by the idea that he as- 
 pired to, and would most likely win the 
 hand of Lillias Maeara, his antipathy 
 threatened to burst forth the moment 
 they came in contact ; and aware that 
 self-command might desert him, not- 
 withstanding every prior resolution, he 
 felt thankful at not being thrown in the 
 way of temptation. 
 
 His reception at the castle was, as on 
 his former visit, warm and hospitable; 
 yet he could not overcome the idea that 
 sir Colin was less affable and more osten- 
 tatious. He gave him the greeting of 
 a guest, it is true, but with something 
 forced and studied in his manner — some- 
 thing that seemed to say there were cold- 
 ness and suspicion at his heart, whatever 
 might be on his tongue; and this no- 
 tion,
 
 MACRIMMON. 177 
 
 tion, once admitted, Clifford found im- 
 possible to displace. Without hesitation, 
 he ascribed it to the malice of Glen Ey- 
 nort; but as the chieftain struggled to 
 conceal his change of sentiment, and no 
 other member of the family betrayed 
 symptoms of infection, he came to the 
 resolution of not letting what might, 
 after all, be but an idle conjecture, de- 
 stroy the pleasure of his visit. The 
 blue eyes of Lillias were smiling on 
 him — friendship was in every sentence 
 that fell from her brother's lips; where 
 then was there cause to reck the stately 
 stride and sidelong glance, piercing 
 though it was, of an irascible old man ? 
 
 In Miss Morag Catanach, though he 
 could not discover the superlative beauty 
 Lochullin had ascribed her, he found an 
 amiable, light-hearted, romping girl, who 
 had seen nothing more of the world 
 than what lay between her father's house 
 and Glen Rimmon. Her brother Hugh 
 had been more faithfully delineated, for 
 I 5 he
 
 178 MACRTMMON. 
 
 he was on his feet the moment a dance 
 was mentioned, tortured catgut most 
 delectably, or squalled like a ballad- 
 singer whenever he was requested so to 
 do — nay, by the way of compliment to 
 the good society he was thrown amongst, 
 did not grudge a volunteer on extraor- 
 dinary occasions, of which Clifford had 
 proof positive, when, during the evening, 
 he burst into a Gaelic war-whoop, which 
 was soon understood to be a song in 
 honour of the stranger's arrival. As to 
 being the cecisbeo of Miss Marjory, that 
 seemed much less to his taste than any 
 other employment imposed on him ; 
 and to do that studious lady justice, she 
 displayed no anxiety for his attentions, 
 farther than regarded his own personal 
 benefit. Hugh was destined for expor- 
 tation to the East Indies in the course 
 of a few months ; and Miss Marjory 
 therefore exerted all the ingenuity she 
 was mistress of, to store his mind with 
 necessary information concerning the 
 
 country
 
 MACRIMMON. 179 
 
 country he was going to, and to stir up 
 and quicken any taste he might chance 
 to have for oriental literature. Unfor- 
 tunately Hugh proved a most incorri- 
 gible dunce, and so disconcerted the 
 lady, by his egregious misconceptions of 
 some part of the Hindoo mythology, 
 that, in despair, she gave up the task of 
 enlightening him, which revolution took 
 place on the very evening Clifford was 
 added to the party. 
 
 It was not till they had assembled 
 round the supper- table, that Glen Ey- 
 nort's absence was alluded to, for the 
 chieftain was perhaps the only indivi- 
 dual who had him in remembrance. — 
 " We miss Ninian much," said he, as 
 he slowly stirred the steaming bowl be- 
 fore him; " therefore our first toast shall 
 be to his welfare. May every chief who 
 fills this chair inherit the spirit and 
 pride of Glen Eynort !" 
 
 Hugh Catanach repeated the toast, 
 
 and emptied his glass ; but Clifford and 
 
 i 6 Lochullin
 
 180 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 Lochullin carried theirs to their lips in 
 silence. Sir Colin observed that they 
 did so, and his brow fell as he said — 
 " Mneas, it is not thus you are accus- 
 tomed to quaff off a bumper to a friend's 
 honour." 
 
 " I would do much for the honour of 
 my kindred," answered Lochullin, "and, 
 in proof, forbear to pledge the sentiment 
 you have now given. When Glen Ey- 
 nort's spirit aims at a nobler end than 
 fastening a quarrel on an inoffensive 
 stranger — when he takes pride in some 
 pursuit less perilous to the dignity of an 
 ancient name than duelling, then, and 
 not till then, will I toast him as a fit 
 prototype for every future chief of Mac- 
 rimmon." 
 
 " I see not where he swerved from 
 the principles it becomes him to cherish," 
 said sir Colin, somewhat swayed by the 
 foregoing declaration. " If the Sasse- 
 nach dared to violate an acknowledged 
 right, Ninian was bound to beard him ; 
 
 and
 
 MACMMMON. 181 
 
 and if they met each other fair and 
 openly in the field, wherefore could the 
 rencontre be attended with dishonour, 
 or what further satisfaction could the 
 Southron desire? I tell you, iEneas 
 Macara, that the times are not yet be- 
 yond the memory of man, when such 
 an insult, given to a person of Glen Ey- 
 nort's lineage, had deluged the room in 
 which it happened with blood. There 
 was then no milder mode of putting an 
 edge on the memory of a blundering 
 lady, than dirking, before her eyes, the 
 male conspirator against a Highlander's 
 dignity." 
 
 " Thank God we live in a more hu- 
 mane and civilized age!" exclaimed 
 Lochullin, carried away by the warmth 
 of his nature ; " for rash and reprehen- 
 sible as my kinsman's conduct appears, 
 such a savage mode of proceeding as 
 you mention far exceeds it in enormity. 
 Yet, on the whole, I suspect we have 
 reason to rejoice that his less-fortunate 
 
 antagonist
 
 182 MACRIMMON. 
 
 antagonist outlived the wound he re- 
 ceived, or the stern hand of justice 
 might have eventually torn up our fa- 
 mily-honours by the roots." 
 
 " I adopt your side of the argument, 
 Lochullin," interposed aunt Marjory, 
 who had been on the watch for an op- 
 portunity to chime in. " Glen Eynort 
 most unquestionably did peril the ho- 
 nour of our house, by going out under 
 the covert of night, and fighting with- 
 out witnesses. No later than this fore- 
 noon, I met with a very luminous and 
 concise treatise on duelling, recently 
 translated from the French, in which it 
 
 is clearly made to appear But stay ; I 
 
 will find it in five minutes, and give 
 you the paragraph I allude to verba- 
 tim." 
 
 " Not to-night, Marjory, not to-night," 
 said sir Colin, convinced, though unwill- 
 ing to confess it, that his opponents 
 were in the right. " It is my sorrow to 
 be the first chief of Macrimmon who 
 
 has
 
 MACRIMMON. 183 
 
 has not the sole administration of justice 
 over his own possessions, and who can- 
 not, with impunity, laugh at the distant 
 bay of the licenced bloodhounds whose 
 kennel is beneath the gibbet. The last 
 sixty years have done more to break 
 down and subdue the spirit of the Gael 
 than the efforts of centuries can contri- 
 bute to its revival; so it were better 
 that I were with those who lived not to 
 see their national honours tarnished, or 
 the chieftain seated a vassal by his own 
 hearth. I might forebode that darker 
 years are yet in reserve for my country 
 and my people — I might prognosticate 
 that the children of the Gael will be 
 strangers in the land of their fathers, 
 and, like the homeless Jews, scattered 
 over the face of the earth ; but my heart 
 feels the sentence of condemnation too 
 keenly to give me resolution to utter 
 it." 
 
 " And who is so blind as not to per- 
 ceive, that not only our own country, 
 
 but
 
 184 MACRIMMON. 
 
 but the whole nations of the earth, are 
 tottering on the verge of ruin !" ex- 
 claimed Miss Marjory, worked up, by 
 her father's harangue, into a similar spirit 
 of prophecy. " Where are the heroes, 
 the poets, the philosophers, of the olden 
 time ? Gone, gone for ever ! The 
 learned and the mighty are in their 
 graves, and puny, despicable tribes have 
 succeeded, who are nevertheless as giants 
 in every thing that is good and great to 
 the generations that shall in turn drive 
 them off the stage. Who that takes 
 these matters into serious consideration 
 is not ready to exclaim, with the Fourth 
 Harry ? 
 
 " Therefore my grief 
 
 Stretches itself beyond the hour of death; 
 The blood weeps from my heart when [ do shape, 
 Id forms imaginary, the unguided days 
 And rotten times that you shall look upon, 
 When I am sleeping with my ancestors." 
 
 This unlooked-for explosion from Miss 
 Marjory completely banished all recol- 
 lection
 
 MACRIMMON. 185 
 
 lection of the foregoing dispute, and the 
 genera] attention was directed to tran- 
 quillizing the inspired lady, who threat- 
 ened to turn tiresome, provided she was 
 not called to order in time. Sir Colin's 
 choler smoothed down into gravity bor- 
 dering on sadness; and during the re- 
 mainder of the evening he endeavoured, 
 by the most marked attention, to dis- 
 sipate any annoyance he might have 
 given his guest. In this he finally suc- 
 ceeded; and when they parted for the 
 night, it was upon the most amicable 
 terms. 
 
 It was not the season for field-sports 
 or genial weather ; yet, for the first five 
 days of his stay, Clifford was continually 
 bewailing, when alone, the rapid flight of 
 time. Deluges of rain, and boisterous 
 winds, such as generally herald a High- 
 land spring, rendered him, in common 
 with the others, a willing prisoner; and 
 except a few hours spent in unsuccessful 
 angling, in the turbid stream that swept 
 
 round
 
 186 MACItlMMON. 
 
 round the base of the Dun, and a Sun- 
 day forenoon devoted to attending the 
 parish kirk, which stood in a distant 
 glen, he quitted not the magic circle 
 within the castle. 
 
 Anxious to carry away with him 
 some lasting memento of his residence 
 in the Highlands, he had expressed, in 
 his former visit, a wish to acquire as 
 much of the Gaelic language as possi- 
 ble; and though holding out but faint 
 hopes of his becoming a proficient in 
 that difficult tongue, all were eager to 
 yield him assistance. Happily Miss 
 Marjory was too deeply engaged with 
 her private studies to demand, as her 
 right, the task of instructing him ; Loch- 
 ullin professed himself unequal to it ; he 
 was therefore, as he had all along de- 
 sired, given over to the tuition of Lil- 
 lias. That he improved rapidly cannot 
 be averred, yet no pupil ever evinced 
 more docility, or less impatience at the 
 duration of his lessons. Every word 
 
 that
 
 MACRIMMON. 187 
 
 that fell from the lips of his fair pre- 
 ceptress was indelibly inscribed on the 
 tablet of memory ; every look and ges- 
 ture were treasured up in remembrance, 
 as a store from which he was to extract 
 consolation and happiness,when he again 
 resumed his wanderings, and returned 
 to buffet alone the troublous billows of 
 life. 
 
 It cannot be said that even a tacit 
 understanding subsisted between them, 
 as to the mutual attachment gradually 
 twining round their hearts. Lillias was 
 so careful to conceal every symptom 
 likelv to disclose that her bosom had 
 unwarily admitted an insidious guest, so 
 watchful over the sentiments she utter- 
 ed, and the glances her eyes sent forth, 
 that Clifford, had he dared to seek for 
 hope in either, must have turned away 
 in despair. But hope, as far as regarded 
 her, found no resting-place in his breast. 
 He had sufficient judgment to perceive 
 the manifest absurdity of indulging the 
 
 belief,
 
 188 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 belief, that any revolution within the 
 range of probability could enable him 
 to surmount the obstacles that conspired 
 to keep them separate ; and though this 
 conviction did not extinguish the flame, 
 it greatly contributed to prevent its 
 bursting out ungovernably. All he de- 
 sired was, for a few short days, to gaze 
 on and listen to one, such as he never 
 more expected to hear or see in his 
 earthly pilgrimage. — " In my lonely 
 moods," said he, while mentally can- 
 vassing the matter, " she will rise up, 
 like a bright dream, to make me think 
 better of my species. When this visit 
 comes to an end, we part to meet not 
 again in life; and as the poison is dif- 
 fused through my veins alone, let me 
 not deny myself the melancholy plea- 
 sure of imbibing it. It will be soon 
 enough to search for an antidote when 
 I have nothing else to attend to." 
 
 It was unanimously agreed, that when 
 two or three successive days of good 
 
 weather
 
 MACRIMMON. 189 
 
 weather held oat a prospect of the ex- 
 cursion being made with comfort, the 
 whole of the young people should escort 
 Hugh Catanach and his sister across the 
 mountains, as far as Craig Aral, their 
 father's place of abode, and, for one 
 night at least, partake of his hospitality. 
 In consequence of this arrangement, the 
 first blink of sunshine was hailed with 
 delight by the majority, who were eager 
 to emerge from their confinement ; and 
 as a prelude to the projected ride, it was 
 proposed, in the whim of the moment, 
 to visit the cataract in the vicinity of 
 the Dun, called Eass na Smudh, or the 
 Fall of Smoke. Clifford had seen it in 
 the preceding autumn, when a long sea- 
 son of drought had dried up the stream 
 to a mere ribbon; but the late heavy 
 falls of rain, and melting of the snows 
 in the uplands, warranted the expecta- 
 tion of its now presenting a different 
 appearance, and he readily acceded to 
 the proposition. Aunt Marjory, for a 
 
 wonder,
 
 190 MACRIMMON. 
 
 wonder, chose to remain at home; so 
 that Lillias, her sister, Morag Catanach, 
 and the three young men, composed the 
 party. 
 
 Guided by Lochullin, who, as usual, 
 was buoyant in spirit, they plunged into 
 the deep woods behind the castle; and 
 crossing a gloomy hollow, which parted 
 the Dun from the adjacent mountain, 
 and which their leader termed the Mile 
 of Darkness, gained the thickly-wooded 
 brow of the opposite steep. Along this 
 ran a narrow path, by following which 
 they gradually wound round the craggy 
 shoulder of the hill, and came to over- 
 look the vast rent in the stony ridge 
 by which the river entered Glen Rim 
 mon. Still the cataract was unseen, 
 though a light fleecy vapour, floating in 
 the gorge of the dell, and a sound like 
 to the " voice of many waters," an- 
 nounced its proximity, and prepared the 
 mind for some grand and impressive 
 spectacle. For a time they were again 
 
 buried
 
 MACRIMMON. 191 
 
 buried in coppice- wood, and kept climb- 
 ing the side of a rugged eminence; but 
 amply was their labour repaid, when, 
 attaining a small terrace, and looking 
 over a low artificial breastwork of turf, 
 one glance sufficed to take in the con- 
 centrated sublimity of the fall, the dingy 
 whirlpool that received the raging tor- 
 rent, and the shattered weather-worn 
 rocks hemming it in. 
 
 Clifford recoiled with horror when he 
 found he had unwittingly stretched his 
 neck over the very abyss, and that a 
 trivial start would inevitably precipitate 
 him into the unfathomable bowl, which 
 looked the more profound and intimi- 
 dating, from the greater part retaining 
 an inky hue and unbroken placidity, al- 
 though encompassed by foam and up- 
 roar. He was given to understand by 
 his companions, that, from the awful 
 height on which he knelt, a wretched 
 man had, some years before, cast him- 
 self in a fit of despair and jealousy. 
 
 Fancy
 
 192 MACRIMMON. 
 
 Fancy sickened at picturing the terrors 
 of a leap, which, in a descent of up- 
 wards of four hundred feet, there was 
 neither crag nor bush to interrupt. Once 
 over the cliff, and the suicide rested not 
 till hidden for ever in the gloomy cal- 
 dron which had swallowed up the tor- 
 rents of ages. 
 
 As was anticipated, the melting of 
 the snow on the hills enclosing the 
 fountains of the river had greatly in- 
 creased the body of water ; and its 
 brown mossy tinge contributed to dis- 
 play, by contrast, the dazzling white- 
 ness of the falling sheet that shot head- 
 long down the rock. Not satisfied with 
 the view from above, it was determined 
 to descend the steep bank, by a path 
 which the ladies had often before proved 
 practicable, and witness its grandeur 
 from below. Clifford would have op- 
 posed this motion, under the plea that 
 no female could summon courage suffi- 
 cient to attempt a feat, by failing in 
 
 which
 
 MACRIMMON. 193 
 
 which she insured to herself a horrid 
 death; but all held his fears in utter 
 scorn, and while he was yet speaking, 
 Morag and Unn set up a shout of ex- 
 ultation, to intimate they had already 
 weathered the most perilous point. Lil- 
 lias was bent on following their example; 
 so he had nothing for it but to give up 
 the contest, and watch her progress the 
 best way he could. In a short time 
 however she proved herself quite equal 
 to the undertaking ; for, clinging by the 
 uncovered roots of the trees that vege- 
 tated in the rifts of the crag, she quickly 
 reached a secure station in the bosom of 
 the ravine, while, instead of being able 
 to tender assistance, he found it required 
 all his exertion to pursue her footsteps. 
 
 Lochullin and his venturous com- 
 panions, satisfied with a momentary 
 view of the fall, had paused but a few 
 minutes after attaining its level; and 
 then bent on making new discoveries, 
 pushed heedlessly down the dell, leap- 
 
 vol. i. k ing
 
 194 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 ing from rock to rock, in the channel of 
 the whirling stream, with startling te- 
 merity. In the end, not only their 
 forms, but their voices, were lost among 
 the massy blocks, round which the strug- 
 gling water fought its way ; and Clifford 
 saw himself left alone with Lillias, in 
 the very bosom of a scene such as na- 
 ture rarely discloses. They stood on a 
 small verdant projection, in the simili- 
 tude of a half-demolished arch, which 
 impended over the narrow bed of the 
 river, at the elevation of a few feet. 
 The snowy unbroken column fell so 
 near, that its steam-like spray alighted 
 on their clothes in a heavy dew ; the 
 solemn and profound whirlpool that re- 
 ceived it wheeled, and bubbled, and 
 moaned, within a few yards ; and from 
 the environing woods and cliffs, and the 
 thousand caverns in which the pent-up 
 torrent toiled, rose that deep and nv 
 terious roar, which seems to tell the 
 wondering and awe-struck soul that it 
 
 hears
 
 MACRIMMON. 195 
 
 hears the voice of Him who shall, in 
 the end, cause u heaven and earth to 
 pass away." 
 
 Familiarity had not destroyed in Lil- 
 lias a taste for sublimity such as the 
 Fall of Smoke thus presented, and for 
 a time she remained nearly as much en- 
 tranced as her companion. Their ram- 
 bling friends were forgotten — the whole 
 world seemed shut out from the magni- 
 ficent hermitage to which they had re- 
 tired 3 and too interestingly occupied to 
 desire a change of position, they, in si- 
 lence, yet simultaneously, seated them- 
 selves on the short grassy carpet that 
 covered the jutting crag on which they 
 were stationed. Sadness came gradually 
 to displace admiration in the heart of 
 Clifford, and he could not resist the 
 temptation of saying — " When Miss 
 Macara next visits this glorious scene, 
 her English friend will be far — far 
 away." 
 
 " I fear as much," replied Lillias, in a 
 k 2 tone
 
 196 MACBIMMOX, 
 
 tone of regret ; " but though gone, he 
 shall not be forgotten." 
 
 " And yet time and separation are 
 mortal foes to memory," said Clifford, 
 unwilling to drop the subject, yet trem- 
 bling at the promptings of his heart. 
 
 " In your country they may be so,^ 
 was her rejoinder; " but among our 
 mountains the past and the departed 
 furnish our chief happiness. You can 
 bear witness how many trivial circum- 
 stances of old occurrence — how many 
 names that are now the only relics on 
 earth of those who bore them, are re- 
 called to mind over our evening-fire, 
 and commented on with a far deeper 
 interest than the present ever seems to 
 obtain. When you are gone many a 
 long year, yours will hold a similar 
 place in our remembrance. When our 
 heads are gray, and Dun Rimmon Cas- 
 tle no longer our habitation, bv the 
 hearth of Lochullin shall be uttered, 
 with a blessing, the name of his pre- 
 server ;
 
 MACRIMMON. 197 
 
 server; and when I, in turn, am called 
 upon for some anecdote of the valued 
 stranger, it shall be to say, that JEass na 
 Smudh remains as a witness to my pro- 
 mise that he should never be forgot- 
 ten." 
 
 " And shall it remain as a witness to 
 no warmer promise than that of mere 
 remembrance?" inquired Clifford, to- 
 tally losing his self-command. " Will 
 not Miss Macara allow the stranger to 
 resume his wanderings, with the con- 
 viction that she knew he loved her, and 
 that she not only knew, but forgave?" 
 
 The glance of Lillias wandered rest- 
 lessly among the gigantic fragments that 
 blocked up the passage to her friends, 
 and then earnestly measured the bank 
 she had to climb. — " This conversation 
 must be dropped, Mr. Clifford," said 
 she, at length, while her confusion was 
 evident, from the involuntary manner 
 in which she brushed the moss away 
 from the stones beside her. " I had no 
 K 3 suspicion
 
 198 MACRIMMON. 
 
 suspicion that the sentiments of friend- 
 ship I expressed would have produced a 
 declaration which must throw a painful 
 constraint over our future intercourse — 
 but I am a silly, miscalculating girL 
 Let us endeavour, by our shouts, to re- 
 call Lochullin. 
 
 " Not till I have avowed all," ex- 
 claimed Clifford, rendered heedless by 
 the assurance that his error was irreme- 
 diable. " Let me first protest, that in 
 publishing my folly I have no presump- 
 tous hopes; that while I look upon and 
 adore, I know and confess, in the deep- 
 est recesses of my heart, that there is 
 nought in reserve but misery. Why 
 then, in this last hour we may ever 
 spend alone, prevent me from pouring 
 forth those feelings I shall never more 
 seek to divulge?" 
 
 " Because it will save both from 
 being guilty of manifest impropriety, 
 answered Lillias. " Were I to remain 
 your willing auditor for hours, vexation 
 
 only
 
 MACRIMMON. 199 
 
 only must be the result, for no earthly- 
 purpose can it answer." 
 
 " It might create an interest in my 
 favour in the only heart that has power 
 over my future happiness," said Clifford, 
 forgetting that but a moment before he 
 had disclaimed all hopes. 
 
 " And if that were done ?" questioned 
 Lillias, scarcely able to restrain a smile 
 at his inconsistency. 
 
 Clifford breathed a heavy sigh, as he 
 answered, in a faint voice — " I have 
 dared to sketch nothing beyond." 
 
 " So I presumed," returned she, in a 
 steady tone; " but I have sketched 
 much in the short time we have been 
 seated here, and the picture teems with 
 sorrow and disappointment, even allow- 
 ing you had obtained interest in my 
 heart to the extent you solicit Take 
 all I can or dare bestow — the affection 
 of a sister. It is already yours, and 
 shall remain so through life, provided 
 this ruinous suit is recurred to no more. 
 K 4 Harsh
 
 200 MACRIMMON. 
 
 Harsh as it may seem, I will, in order 
 to reclaim your mind from its wander- 
 ings, repeat a sentence that often falls 
 from my grandfather, when addressing 
 Unn and myself on the possibility of 
 our leaving his protection. These are 
 his words — * Ye know, young ones, the 
 stocks of the land on which ye may be 
 engrafted ; if mates spring not from 
 these, ye wither alone in Glen Rim- 
 mon.' Such is his declaration, and need 
 I tell one who knows him, that it is 
 immutable? or intimate that an Eng- 
 lishman branches from a forbidden 
 stem ?" 
 
 " I admit all you adduce against me," 
 replied Clifford, sickening to the soul : 
 " our fortunes can never be blended, 
 and our lives must be dragged out 
 apart ; nor, if there is faith to be put in 
 presentiment, ought I to wish it other- 
 wise. Yet, when the dark days of ex- 
 istence set in, when the present becomes 
 intolerable, and the future holds out no 
 
 hope
 
 MACRIMMON. £01 
 
 hope till I pass the confines of the grave, 
 let me have one sweet and sunny recol- 
 lection to rescue from the sorrows of the 
 past, and to cheer through the midnight 
 that is before me. Let me have the 
 solace of remembering, that the only 
 being to whom my proud and solitary 
 heart humbled itself was not insensible 
 to the offering ; and that though our 
 paths of life were divided, yet our souls 
 were one." 
 
 Lillias was about to answer this ap- 
 peal, when the wild start her companion 
 gave checked her utterance. To his no 
 small consternation, he had seen one, if 
 not two, human heads rise from the 
 trough of the stream, within arm's length 
 of where he sat, and instantaneously 
 disappear the moment they arrested his 
 eye. Transient as was the glance he 
 obtained, it yet sufficed to assure him 
 that neither of the ramblers that had 
 deserted them were the eavesdroppers; 
 for such he hesitated not mentally to 
 k 5 designate
 
 202 MACRIMMON. 
 
 designate the unknown ; and bent on 
 solving the riddle, he caught at a pen- 
 dent branch, and, without answering 
 his companion's trembling interrogation, 
 swung himself to a stone in the bed of 
 the agitated stream. Immediately un- 
 der the projecting crag on which they 
 had been seated, a deep and spacious 
 cavity presented its gloomy mouth, and, 
 like the Cerberus of the gulf, a few feet 
 within, stood the spectre-like figure of 
 an aged man. 
 
 The obscurity in which the stranger 
 was shrouded admitted of no minute re- 
 marks, had Clifford's temper allowed 
 him time to make any ; but enraged at 
 the idea of having been overheard, he 
 sprung into the cavern, and, in a pas- 
 sionate tone, demanded what brought 
 him skulking there? Xo answer was 
 given to his question, but a voice, sad 
 and thrilling, emphatically shouted — 
 " Blood ! blood ! blood !" and the next 
 instant the phantom vanished. 
 
 All
 
 MACRIMMON. 203 
 
 All the philosophy with which he was 
 fortified could not prevent a sort of panic 
 from striking to Clifford's heart, when 
 he thus beheld, what he had the mo- 
 ment before deemed of earthly mould, 
 apparently dissolve into impalpable air. 
 In vain did he endeavour to grope his 
 way through the mighty fragments, 
 amongst which he suspected the figure 
 to be hidden — in vain did he risk his 
 limbs, and plunge fearlessly into the 
 deep pots hollowed by the restless stream, 
 in hopes of discovering some obscure 
 passage. All his research was insuffi- 
 cient to guide him ten paces beyond the 
 cavern's mouth ; and wet and bruised, 
 he eventually saw himself necessitated to 
 forego the pursuit, and lend an ear to the 
 reiterated entreaties of Lillias, who, half- 
 frantic at his incomprehensible desertion, 
 strongly conjured him to return. Un- 
 willing to alarm her by describing an 
 appearance for which he could assign no 
 k 6 cause,
 
 204 MACRIMMON. 
 
 cause, he gave an evasive answer as to 
 the object of his wild research. 
 
 The incredulous look she vouchsafed 
 in return declared her dissatisfaction, 
 and the hazard he ran of being consider- 
 ed in the light of a lunatic ; but know- 
 ing the shock her delicacy would receive 
 from the surmise that a third person was 
 privy to the avowal he had ventured on. 
 he could not resolve to give the requisite 
 explanation. 
 
 Mutually silent and perplexed, they 
 scrambled up the bank, and seating 
 themselves on the terrace overhanging 
 the cataract, awaited, with manifest im- 
 patience and constraint, the return of 
 their friends. 
 
 In this unsocial mood they had sat for 
 nearly half-an-hour, Clifford endeavour- 
 ing, at intervals, but in vain, to start 
 some fit subject of conversation, when 
 shouts were heard ascending from the 
 woods below ; and it soon became appa- 
 rent
 
 MACRIMMON. 205 
 
 rent that the exploratory party had de- 
 serted the rugged channel of the stream, 
 and were advancing towards them, 
 through the brake that clothed the slope 
 of the hill. 
 
 In a short time, and with much noise 
 and merriment, the whole made their 
 appearance ; and, to Clifford's deep and 
 heartfelt vexation, Glen Eynort was of 
 the company. At no time would his re- 
 ception of that personage have savoured 
 of more than cold civility ; but at such a 
 juncture he felt instigated to deny him 
 even that. There was a strong impres- 
 sion on his mind, that the most conspi- 
 cuous of the two faces that had startled 
 him was that of Glen Eynort ; and what 
 had been previously mere suspicion 
 seemed now indisputably established as 
 a fact. A stiff and indignant bend was 
 therefore the only notice he felt inclined 
 to bestow in recognition ; and a smile of 
 disdain, the answer he gave when he 
 heard recounted the surprise experienced 
 
 by
 
 206 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 by the party, on seeing such an addition 
 made to it in the most rugged part of 
 the dell. 
 
 Glen Eynort evinced a spirit equally 
 remote from conciliation, though at first 
 he tried to banish the wrinkles from his 
 brow, and play the hypocrite. The mo- 
 ment he came to understand the expres- 
 sion of the Englishman's countenance, his 
 cheeks grew pale as ashes, and the sneer 
 that lingered for a time on his lip ren- 
 dered his aspect almost repulsive. 
 
 Clifford easily divined that these symp- 
 toms of internal commotion foreboded 
 him no goodwill ; but so violent had 
 become his antipathy, that it might be 
 said he sought his hatred in preference 
 to his friendship. 
 
 Far different was the effect produced 
 on Lillias. In that cold marblv visage, 
 in those lurking downcast eyes, and, 
 above all, in the tremulous curl of his 
 thin skinny lip, she traced sufficient to 
 make her heart falter within her breast. 
 
 Had
 
 MACRIMMON. 207 
 
 Had she been aware that Clifford ap- 
 prehended he was in possession of his 
 sentiments regarding her, how much 
 more distracting must have been her 
 alarm, and how doubly agonizing the 
 terror with which she marked these first 
 blossoms of rancorous enmity ! 
 
 As the ladies professed themselves 
 tired, and Glen Eynort expressed a wish 
 to pay his respects, without delay, to the 
 chieftain, a movement towards home 
 succeeded their reunion. Hugh Cata- 
 nach, his sister, and Unn, were the only 
 individuals who, during the walk, shew- 
 ed signs of having enjoyed it. 
 
 Glen Eynort and Lillias sauntered 
 side by side, in gloomy cogitation, now 
 and then interrupted by feeble attempts 
 at conversation, which served no other 
 purpose than to display the thorough ab- 
 sence and constraint under which both 
 laboured. 
 
 The former, when he remarked this 
 derangement of ideas, bit his lip, and 
 
 smiled
 
 208 MACRIMMON. 
 
 smiled with portentous significance ; the 
 latter trembled, looked foolish, and 
 plunged deeper in the mire by the efforts 
 she made to extricate herself. 
 
 As to Lochullin, he had been render- 
 ed sedate by observing the hostile ex- 
 pression of countenance with which his 
 friend and kinsman had met; and, as in 
 company with Clifford, he brought up 
 the rear, he endeavoured to ameliorate 
 those feelings of animosity it pained him 
 to notice. 
 
 Clifford entreated him to drop a dis- 
 agreeable subject ; and when the gene- 
 rous-hearted mediator complied, proceed- 
 ed to relate the recent alarm he had ex- 
 perienced, but without disclosing his sus- 
 picions that Glen Eynort had connexion 
 with it. 
 
 Lochullin patiently heard him to the 
 end, and then burst into an immoderate 
 fit of laughter. — " Set your heart at rest, 
 my good sir," cried he, when his mirth 
 had somewhat abated ; " for be assured 
 
 that
 
 MACRIMMON. 209 
 
 that you have seen neither * ghost 01 
 goblin damned,' as aunt Marjory would 
 say, but a person of mere flesh and blood 
 like yourself, who, nevertheless, if report 
 speaks true, defies even futurity and the 
 grave to lock up secrets, far less a dusky 
 cavern. To talk rationally, I must in- 
 form you that you have seen the seer 
 Riach MacRyri, a personage of no mean 
 repute among our mountaineers." 
 
 " I believe you are right," observed 
 Clifford, thoughtfully. " Yet there is 
 something strange in the two faces — the 
 singularity of the old man's disappear- 
 ance, and in the words he made use of." 
 
 " Why, to be sure," returned Loch- 
 ullin, with mock gravity, " I never 
 heard it averred that MacRyri, among 
 his other perfections, possessed the power 
 of multiplying his own form ; neither 
 have I before met with an eyewitness 
 to his suddenly rendering himself invi- 
 sible. As to the words he horrified you 
 with, may he not, at that identical mo- 
 ment,
 
 210 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 ment, have had a glimpse of your future 
 destiny, and, by reason of his mystical 
 lore, seen you striding triumphant over 
 some bloody field ?" 
 
 " Ridicule will not assist in clearing 
 up the matter to my satisfaction," said 
 Clifford, somewhat annoyed at his com- 
 panion's levity. " I shall, most assured- 
 ly, seek to satisfy myself more fully be- 
 fore I leave Glen Rimmon." 
 
 " By daring the terrors of the seer's 
 abode, I presume," remarked Lochullin. 
 " Well, if you so desire, I heed not if 1 
 bear you company, provided you defer 
 entering on the adventure till we return 
 from Craig Aral. But, seriously, I am 
 of opinion that your imagination de- 
 ceived you respecting the vision of two 
 heads. The disappearance of the seer is 
 a matter of no surprise, considering his 
 intimacy with the different avenues and 
 recesses, and the obscurity of his den. 
 His shouting ' Blood ! blood ! blood !' is 
 quite in character : no one encounters 
 
 Mac
 
 MACRIMMON. 211 
 
 MacRyri without having every sense 
 palsied by hearing some terrific aspira- 
 tion." 
 
 With this explanation, which had ration- 
 ality to support it, Clifford was obliged to 
 rest satisfied. Uninteresting topics were 
 discussed during the remainder of the 
 walk ; and though sir Colin evinced 
 great pleasure at the arrival of Glen Ey- 
 nort, and every disposition to be gay, 
 few seconded him throughout the day. 
 So deep a shade did this ill-timed addi- 
 tion cast over the circle, that from being 
 eager to postpone it, all became anxious 
 for making the projected excursion ; 
 trusting that change of scene would re- 
 store that gaiety and good fellowship 
 which the intrusion of one sullen visage 
 had put to flight. 
 
 CHAP-
 
 212 MACRIMMON. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 That mild eye had mi-fortune's doubtful presage ; 
 ft had that troubled m.-l.uicholy lo\el 
 ' Twas like the fabled flower of wo, that lines 
 Of sorrow in its cup of beauty bears. 
 Great God ! wh.tt man could lift his band against him I 
 
 Matikis. 
 
 Silt Colin and aunt Marjory were the 
 only individuals who chose to remain at 
 home, in preference to joining the caval- 
 cade bound for Loch Ruart ; the former 
 because his years rendered him averse to 
 travelling, except in cases of necessity ; 
 the latter in consequence of the extreme 
 assiduity with which she had of late de- 
 voted herself to the enlightening of man- 
 kind. More than one person would 
 have rejoiced from the heart had some 
 cause likewise prevented Glen Eynort 
 
 from
 
 MACHIMMON. 213 
 
 from accepting Hugh Catanach's invita- 
 tion ; but in this instance fortune was 
 unaccommodating. 
 
 It is possible Glen Eynort was aware 
 his company would gladly have been 
 dispensed with ; and if so, his was a spi- 
 rit that could have met with no stronger 
 incentive to persist in joining it. Had 
 he supposed that he would be missed — 
 that his absence would mar the pleasure 
 of others, then he would probably have 
 set himself down with the old chief, and 
 proved immoveable. But to know that 
 no better guarantee for the general 
 amusement was desired than his seced- 
 ing from the party — to know that Lil- 
 lias's eyes would wax brighter, and. that 
 Clifford would exult in happiness, the 
 moment they escaped from his keen, 
 never-sleeping glance, were considera- 
 tions sufficient to bind him to their side, 
 had their destination been the Antipodes. 
 
 As they had a considerable distance to 
 ride, the cavalcade marshalled at an early 
 
 hour.
 
 214 MACRIMMON". 
 
 hour. Hugh Catanach and Morag had 
 brought ponies of their own ; and sir 
 Colin's stud could have furnished dou- 
 ble the number required in addition, and 
 even mounted the troop of gillcn-rnidh> 
 or running footmen, that were in attend- 
 ance, had it been thought necessary. 
 The ladies and their steeds were too well 
 acquainted with each other to prove any 
 obstacle to the rapid progress it was the 
 general desire to make; and, about noon, 
 after traversing for several hours hilly 
 and uninhabited tracts, the waters of 
 Loch Ruart and Craig Aral became vi- 
 sible. The loch, which was in reality 
 an arm of the sea, and upwards of a mile 
 in breadth, stretched in a longitudinal 
 form between serrated ridges of bleak 
 desolate-looking mountains, on whose 
 dusky sides not so much as a speck of 
 verdure was discernible. Along the 
 shores of the lake, however, there was a 
 narrow strip under cultivation, and fre- 
 quently intersected by deep ravines, in 
 
 which
 
 MACRIMMON. 215 
 
 which flourished the birch and the hazel. 
 On this green belt, and at more or less 
 distance from the strand, as fancy had 
 prompted the builder, stood the dwell- 
 ings of the occupants of the soil. On 
 the farther shore these were intermingled 
 with several habitations of a superior 
 cast — that is, with houses two stories 
 high, erected of stone and mortar ; but 
 on the near side only one mansion seem- 
 ed entitled to precedence, in point of as- 
 pect and construction. It was a forlorn- 
 looking pile, elevated on a shelterless 
 mound, about half-a-mile from the beach, 
 and without the boundaries of the arable 
 girdle. The moment Hugh got a view 
 of it, he waited till Clifford came up, 
 and then pointed it out as Craig Aral. 
 
 The latter could not repress some sur- 
 prise when he beheld its comfortless and 
 uninviting exterior. He had formed his 
 opinion of all Highland mansions from 
 Dun Rimmon, and ceuld hardly bring 
 himself to believe that the vulgar-look- 
 ing
 
 216 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 ing discoloured mass before him was a 
 northern laird's residence. — " It must 
 prove an excessively-cold situation at 
 times," said he, shivering, from sympathy, 
 while he gazed. 
 
 " Not at all," answered Hugh, who 
 was partial to his home. " I never feel 
 so warm and snug anywhere as at Craig 
 Aral. Some people, and, among others, 
 our friend Lochullin, aver that it would 
 be a great improvement were my father 
 to plant a few trees round the house ; 
 but, in my opinion, it would spoil its ap- 
 pearance altogether. I am fond of see- 
 ing about me, and you may perceive I 
 can, from our own door, overlook every 
 baile* in the strath. They may talk as 
 they please about the grandeur of India, 
 but I am perfectly sure I shall see no- 
 thing like Craig Aral, after I leave it. i 
 as God permits, it is here I shall spend 
 my old age and die." 
 
 " I fear our party is stronger than you 
 
 will 
 
 * Ilnmlct or farm-town.
 
 MACRIMMON. 217 
 
 will be able conveniently to accommo- 
 date," said Clifford, who had been mea- 
 suring with his eye the size of the 
 edifice; " for, if I recollect aright, your 
 own family is pretty numerous." 
 
 " If we were all collected," replied 
 Hugh, " you might well say so ; for, in- 
 dependent of father and mother, my 
 uncle the major, and two sisters at home, 
 waiting to receive us, I have two as 
 brave brothers as ever stepped in shoe- 
 leather, by your leave, both serving his 
 majesty, the one in the East, the other 
 in the West ; not to speak of the gallant 
 lad who lies buried in the sands of 
 Egypt — white be the home of his soul ! 
 As to accommodating you all, leave that 
 to my mother and Morag. Morag will 
 stow the ladies past so snugly, that you 
 will scarcely believe a female is in the 
 house. You and Lochullin, myself and 
 Glen Eynort, will have to double up, I 
 suppose, as far as rooms are concerned, 
 but all shall have separate beds." 
 
 VOL. I. L " But
 
 218 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 " But what is to become of the train 
 that follows us ?" inquired Clifford, look- 
 ing at the pedestrian troop, who, with- 
 out the smallest difficulty, had kept up 
 with them the whole way. 
 
 " Oh !" answered Hugh, laughing, 
 " give yourself no uneasiness on that 
 head. The best of them will think him- 
 self comfortably quartered, if he is turn- 
 ed into a barn, with a blanket to wrap 
 round him. But I perceive you are al- 
 together ignorant of the schemes a High- 
 lander falls upon to accommodate his 
 friends. Why, God bless you ! on a 
 sacrament-day, when the great Paul of 
 the North comes to preach in our kirk, 
 I have seen as good as thirty shake- 
 down beds on our floors for two nights 
 running, and upwards of a hundred 
 commoners sleeping in bams, lofts, and 
 byres." 
 
 " I should scarcely have supposed 
 your parish would produce respectable 
 
 occupants
 
 MACRIMMON. 219 
 
 occupants for thirty beds," observed Clif- 
 ford, highly amused. 
 
 " Nor do I assert it would give as 
 many to our share at least," returned 
 Hugh ; " but when a noted preacher is 
 to fill the pulpit, people come from far 
 and near to hear him. At such times, 
 I have known strangers come from the 
 north coast of Sutherland to swell the 
 congregation, and from Skye we regu- 
 larly have them in boat-loads. There is 
 not a house you can now descry but is 
 then filled to the very door; and the 
 more strange, the nearer the hearth." 
 
 " And where may such a multitude 
 find provisions?" questioned the Eng- 
 lishman. 
 
 " Where they find beds, to be sure," 
 replied Hugh. " People make prepara- 
 tions accordingly, and there is a mouth- 
 ful for every one. I do not mean to 
 deny that it weighs heavy on the enter- 
 tainers, but it was the friendly custom 
 of our fathers, and disrepute would be 
 L 2 attached
 
 220 MACItlMMON*. 
 
 attached to him who swerved from it. 
 But I see the boat putting off — so the 
 rogues deserve commendation for their 
 punctuality." 
 
 " What boat ? what rogues do you 
 allude to ?" inquired Clifford, with some 
 surprise, knowing they were not to cross 
 the loch. 
 
 " I allude to yonder boat and the 
 freight it carries," was the reply, as the 
 speaker pointed to a small skiff leaving 
 the opposite shore, with a favouring 
 breeze filling her light sail. " Remem- 
 bering the good old adage, * The more 
 the merrier,' I yesterday dispatched a 
 notification to three cheerful young 
 dogs, who live over the water, to give 
 you the meeting, and, if possible, banish 
 the sour grin that sits on every coun- 
 tenance since we visited that cursed 
 Eass na Smadh. Their names are Al- 
 lan Breck Mac-an-Rhi, Dugald Macrae 
 of Fasnacloich, and young Alister Chis- 
 holm ; all gentlemen born, and the pick 
 
 of
 
 MACRIMMON. 221 
 
 of warm-hearted honest fellows. Allan 
 Breck is the only one of the three on whom 
 fortune has not bestowed her gifts with 
 sufficient liberality, but he has the blood 
 of kings in his veins, and that is surely 
 more than an equivalent. Fasnacloich 
 is of the black Macraes of Kintail, than 
 which a worthier race treads not on 
 Highland heather. As to Alister Chis- 
 holm, his handsome face alone will in- 
 form you that he inherits the true spirit 
 of the Gael, and springs not from vassal 
 lineage." 
 
 Hugh accelerated his pace as he con- 
 cluded this brief sketch of the tribe, 
 character, and prospects, of his friends ; 
 and greatly interested in its crew, Clif- 
 ford watched the boat till it was hidden 
 by the high banks that overhung the 
 strand it was making for. Little then 
 did he imagine how closely disaster 
 tracked its lightsome course, or how 
 long and bitterly he should remember 
 L 3 his
 
 222 MACRIMMON. 
 
 his last glance of its white and fluttering 
 sail. 
 
 Leaving the voyagers to disembark, 
 and reach the house when and how they 
 pleased, Hugh guided his less-indepen- 
 dent guests across the quagmire that 
 surrounded the base of the hillock on 
 which stood his home, and then, by a 
 steep neglected path, led them to the 
 door of the mansion. As yet Clifford 
 beheld nothing to increase his admira- 
 tion of the edifice, either in regard to 
 site, construction, or state of repair. Not- 
 withstanding it was situated on an emi- 
 nence, the feet of some scores of cattle, 
 repeatedly passing to and fro, added to 
 the laziness of the housemaids, had form- 
 ed an almost-impassable gutter in front. 
 The windows were small and misplaced, 
 and the hall-door minus a hinge, in con- 
 sequence of which it was constantly un- 
 shut during the day. The interior how- 
 ever was better than its external appear- 
 ance
 
 MACRIMMON. 223 
 
 ance entitled the beholder to expect. 
 The rooms, though confined and wretch- 
 edly planned, were comfortably furnish- 
 ed; and the only thing novel to an 
 English eye was the absence of a grate 
 in the fireplace of the principal apart- 
 ment. Turf and billets of bog- wood 
 intermixed were piled up against a so- 
 litary bar protruding from the wall; and 
 these soon formed so lively and genial a 
 blaze, that Clifford almost came to agree 
 with Hugh, that the hearth derived no 
 comfort from being fenced in with steel 
 and cast metal. 
 
 In the old laird no extraordinary cha- 
 racter was developed, but in his com- 
 position there was much to admire and 
 esteem, notwithstanding, like all other 
 men, he had his peculiarities. He was 
 blunt-spoken, and homely in his appear- 
 ance, yet bearing, in his language and 
 behaviour, those traces of good-breeding 
 and polish which are more or less dis- 
 tinguishable in all Highlanders, what- 
 l 4t ever
 
 224 MACRIMMON. 
 
 ever may be their rank. His wife was, 
 in every respect, his counterpart, having 
 entirely adopted, though on a reduced 
 scale, his manners and opinions. Their 
 two youngest daughters were growing 
 girls, with the somewhat masculine yet 
 pleasing expression of face, and angular 
 form, prevalent in their country. Major 
 Catanach, or " The Major," as he was 
 simply styled, was the laird's brother, 
 and as melancholy a relic of battle as 
 government ever turned over to the in- 
 valid list. In the last of the many ac- 
 tions he had witnessed, an unlucky shot 
 had severely wounded him in the head ; 
 and from that moment he became af- 
 flicted with almost-childish imbecility. 
 Except on military topics connected 
 with the campaigns in which he had 
 shared, his memory was a blank ; yet 
 Craig Aral himself was not paid more 
 deference to by every member of the 
 household, nor would a personal insult 
 have been so warmly resented, as any 
 
 slight
 
 MACRIMMON. 225 
 
 slight or ridicule levelled at his unfortu- 
 nate brother. 
 
 In the three strangers, whom Hugh's 
 invitation had brought from the op- 
 posite side of the loch, the company, 
 as he had previously prognosticated, 
 found a pleasant addition. Allan Breck, 
 as he was familiarly termed, was a per- 
 sonable young fellow, with more man- 
 ners than fortune, and every desire in 
 the world to serve the king in any ca- 
 pacity not derogatory to his royal de- 
 scent, which, rumour said, made prince 
 Charles Stuart his grandsire. Macrae 
 of Fasnacloich was less indebted to mo- 
 ther Nature for comely looks ; but, in 
 lieu, she had given him a thorough bass 
 voice, which accorded well in a duet 
 with his friend Hugh, and a good bow- 
 hand for the violin — no despicable talent 
 in the Highlands. His manners might 
 have been deemed bordering on clown- 
 ishness, had not a lurking fondness for 
 Miss Morag latterly smoothed down the 
 l 5 most
 
 226 MACRIMMON. 
 
 most prominent asperities ; thereby shew- 
 ing John of Badenyon to be quite cor- 
 rect, when he asserts, that 
 
 " Love, 'tis said, gives one an ar, 
 And ev'n improves tlie mind." 
 
 Of the three, however, young Chisholm 
 claimed the superiority, whether in point 
 of looks, intelligence, or bearing. He 
 had scarcely passed the years of boy- 
 hood, and was just such a partner in a 
 dance as Unn Macara, or the younger 
 Misses Catanach, could desire. 
 
 The long ride of the morning had 
 whetted the appetites of the Dun Rim- 
 mon party ; full justice was tin retort 
 done to the plenteous, rather than varied 
 dishes, that graced the good lad] 
 Craig Aral's dinner-table. Every one 
 seemed bent on being happy tor 
 day at least, come with the narrow 
 what might, save Glen Eynort. The 
 sullen scowl never for a moment left hi> 
 brow; and though (along with Allan 
 
 Breck,
 
 MACRIMMON. 227 
 
 Breck, who seldom made a demur about 
 one glass more or less, provided he was 
 in good company) he stiffly attacked 
 Craig Aral's bottle, the gloomy cloud 
 refused to pass away. Little heed ne- 
 vertheless was paid to his morose hu- 
 mour; and conscious of this temporary 
 insignificance, his ire augmented. 
 
 Obstinately refusing to join in the 
 dance, which commenced with the night- 
 fall, and expending his bitter gibes on 
 all who dared to tempt them by re- 
 mark, he sat solitary and shunned 
 throughout the evening, with that same 
 portentous malignity of visage which 
 Clifford had seen herald Tarleton's mis- 
 fortune, and which Lillias knew so well 
 how to fear. To Unn alone did he 
 shew any thing resembling courtesy, 
 and this was solely because her cold, 
 heartless nature had from the first dis- 
 played no partiality for her brother's 
 preserver. When supper put an end to 
 the amusements in which he disdained 
 l6 to
 
 228 MACRIMMOK. 
 
 to participate, he seated himself by her 
 side, and, except by sneers and irony, 
 betrayed not his sense of any other per- 
 son's proximity. Both host and hostess 
 were annoyed by this irascible and dis- 
 satisfied mood, but good-breeding with- 
 held them from declaring it. Allan 
 Breck and Fasnacloich were equally so, 
 their good-humour and vivacity having 
 more than once brought down on them 
 some scoffing taunts ; and had not re- 
 gard for Hugh deterred him, the flash- 
 ing eyes of the former frequently an- 
 nounced he had every inclination to 
 come to an open rupture. 
 
 Owing to the untoward disposition 
 thus manifested by one of the party, a 
 gloominess and unwonted taciturnity 
 came to overpower all. The song and 
 the glass went round in vain, and finally 
 Allan Breck and his companions rose, 
 and intimated their resolution of depart- 
 ing. Every entreaty hospitality could 
 suggest was made use of to detain them, 
 
 but
 
 MACRIMMON. 229 
 
 but the Highlanders were nettled by- 
 Glen Eynort's satire, and roused by the 
 fumes of the punch-bowl into the stiffest 
 obstinacy. Craig Aral's remarks con- 
 cerning the strength and contrariety of 
 the wind were despised, as were his 
 wife's hints, that during the evening she 
 had seen a coffin start from the fire and 
 fall at Alister Chisholm's foot, and that 
 for many hours an ominous death-speal 
 had sat perched on the candle directly 
 opposite Fasnacloich. Across the loch 
 they were positive to go, though all the 
 winds of heaven were ahead, and all the 
 coffins and death-speals superstition ever 
 saw, in array, to intimidate them. Fur- 
 ther resistance to their departure was 
 thus proved useless, and all that could 
 be done was to see them afloat. For 
 this purpose, Hugh Catanach and Loch- 
 ullin put on their bonnets ; and at their 
 request, Clifford also prepared to join 
 the escort. 
 
 On inquiry, it was found that the old 
 
 boatman
 
 230 MACRIMMON. 
 
 boatman who had brought them over 
 had made so free with the usquebaugh, 
 as to be scarcely able to walk; but, as 
 the young men were fully competent to 
 manage the boat without his assistance, 
 this gave no trouble, farther than what 
 promised to fall to the share of Allan 
 Breck, he having volunteered to sup- 
 port the toper to the beach. 
 
 Clifford was the last to quit the room ; 
 and as he was on the point of so doing, 
 he saw Glen Eynort take up the bonnet 
 he usually wore, and approach Lillias. — 
 " These pettish boys had better have a 
 care that the fishes of Loch Ruart have 
 not a banquet before the morning/' said 
 he to her, in a low voice ; " and in order 
 to keep Lochullin from carrying his 
 kindness so far as to put his life in dan- 
 ger, I must perforce bear them company 
 to the beach, intrusive though I prove." 
 
 " If you are really of opinion that 
 there is danger," exclaimed Lillias, in 
 evident alarm, " endeavour to dissuade 
 
 all
 
 MACRIMMON. 231 
 
 all from venturing on the water. Surely 
 they will listen to Craig Aral " 
 
 " They will listen to no mortal man," 
 returned Glen Eynort, contemptuously ; 
 " so let them go. Death will have his 
 due, whether guilt or idiotism be the 
 purveyor. At all events, I shall look to 
 Lochullin." 
 
 *. And to " Mr. Clifford, Lillias 
 
 would have added ; but sensible of her 
 folly, she uttered not his name. 
 
 Glen Eynort however drew his own 
 inference, and the crash of his teeth, as 
 he shut them violently, proclaimed the 
 ire he dared not vent in words. — " He 
 shall be taken care of too," was all he 
 trusted himself to say, as he wheeled 
 towards the door, on the threshold of 
 which Clifford still lingered. The sen- 
 tence was trivial in itself, but the man- 
 ner in which it was spoken expressed 
 volumes. 
 
 Instead of hurrying to overtake the 
 string-on noisy youths, who, in " spite 
 
 of
 
 232 MACRIMMON. 
 
 of wind and weather," led the way with 
 shouts and songs, Clifford sauntered on 
 slowly ; for he was anxious to give Glen 
 Eynort an opportunity of putting his 
 worst intents in practice. The inequality 
 of the ground occasioned him to stumble 
 as the latter reached his side, and the 
 scornful laugh that ensued told the con- 
 struction put upon it. — " You are pleased 
 to be merry, sir," said Clifford, in an 
 irritated tone, as he turned round with 
 a face of defiance, which the darkness hid. 
 
 " But so so," was the answer, accom- 
 panied by an insulting chuckle; " I 
 dipped not deep enough into Craig 
 Aral's bowl, to have attained a buoyancy 
 of spirit sufficient to encourage me in 
 an attempt to cast a somerset." 
 
 " Doubtless you displayed a wonder- 
 ful degree of temperance, ,, observed Clif- 
 ford, attacking him with his own wea- 
 pons ; " your self-adopted title of pro- 
 tector to us pettishboys, of itself, proves 
 as much." 
 
 " Since
 
 MACRIMMON. 233 
 
 " Since Mr. Clifford thus gives me 
 credit for temperance," returned the 
 other, " he shall also confess that I am 
 not destitute of liberality. As I have 
 taken the title of protector to myself, be 
 the dignity of an eaves-dropper and 
 listener your award !" 
 
 " Then I set aside a prior claim," said 
 Clifford ; " for these titles, as well as the 
 protectorate, are Glen Eynort's right, to 
 which let the Fall of Smoke bear wit- 
 ness ! — I was not prepared for this mo- 
 desty." 
 
 " Nor I for solving riddles," was the 
 succeeding remark, while the changing 
 of the speaker's voice told that the hint 
 had struck home. " But keep in re- 
 membrance, that whatever I licence my 
 tongue to say, I have accustomed my 
 arm to support. I bid you beware in 
 time, rash stranger ! for as a stranger do 
 I hold you, though for a time permitted 
 to abuse hospitality and confidence in 
 the situation of a guest. By my mo- 
 ther's
 
 234 MACRIMMON. 
 
 ther's grave, I will overlook neither 
 open insult nor skulking inuendo, while 
 I retain the power and the inclination 
 to silence babblers !" 
 
 " Your spirit soars high in words," 
 returned Clifford, rushing recklessly on 
 the quarrel he now saw inevitable ; " and 
 the moment you find it convenient to 
 display this boasted prowess, hesitate 
 not to give the proof. As to the mys- 
 tery you say is couched in my foregoing 
 expressions, it shall no longer be a mat- 
 ter of complaint. From accidentally 
 overhearing a few insignificant word*, 
 uttered in a public company, you brand 
 me as a listener. What appellation, in 
 that case, can be sufficiently contemp- 
 tuous for Macrimmon of Glen Eynort, 
 who could meanly conceal himself 
 amongst stones and rocks, for no other 
 purpose than acting the part of a worth- 
 less spy ? Shame on his spirit ! it has 
 nothing in common with that of a High- 
 lander,
 
 MACMMMON. 235 
 
 lander, and I hold it in sovereign de- 
 spite!" 
 
 " And to recriminate," rejoined Glen 
 Eynort, with wonderful self-command, 
 but with the voice of one who has an 
 intent of deadly malice at his heart; 
 " what shall he be termed, who, under 
 the semblance of a conscientious and 
 deserving friend, carries treachery and 
 poison into the heart of the family that 
 cherish and confide in him ? Is there a 
 word black enough in all your barren 
 language to denominate that man? I 
 fear not; yet, in the presence of those 
 he deceives, I will speedily try to dis- 
 cover one. Yes, yes, the traitor — the 
 wolf in sheep's clothing, shall shortly 
 be unmasked, and his character set forth 
 in all its infamy. He shall prove, to 
 his sorrow, that Highland dames have 
 sterner guardians than a woman's will ; 
 and where he dared to look for love, 
 shall find contempt, cold and marked as 
 such perfidy deserves. Does Mr. Clif- 
 ford
 
 236 MACRIMMON. 
 
 ford require a key to all this ?" He 
 stooped to pick up something, as he put 
 the interrogatory. 
 
 " I require no key to discover that he 
 who now addresses me is capable of all 
 he lays to my charge," replied Clifford, 
 cut to the heart by the conviction that 
 his conduct had not been altogether free 
 from blame; " and nothing can persuade 
 me that Glen Eynort is not a character 
 it becomes all honourable minds to de- 
 test." 
 
 During this conversation, the path 
 which the star-light enabled them to ad- 
 here to had led into one of the deep 
 narrow ravines by which the strand of 
 the loch was accessible. A noisy stream 
 brawled through it, and the lofty bank^ 
 rose so precipitously, and were so frin- 
 ged with wood, that it was scarcely prac- 
 ticable to advance without a guide. Be- 
 coming sensible of this, Clifford called 
 to the party before to return and give 
 him assistance, for his companion had 
 
 suddenly
 
 MACRIMMON. 237 
 
 suddenly fallen to the rear, and seemed 
 inclined to go no further. Fasnacloich 
 and Alister Chisholm accordingly retro- 
 graded about twenty yards, and took 
 each an arm, while Lochullin and the 
 others made a halt until they should 
 form a junction. This effected, they 
 again proceeded to advance; Allan Breck 
 and the drunken boatman in front, Hugh 
 Catanach and Lochullin in the centre, 
 and the other three, linked arm and 
 arm, bringing up the rear. Already 
 was the mouth of the dell faintly dis- 
 cernible, and the dash of the surf plainly 
 heard, when suddenly some massive 
 body rushed through the air, and the 
 next moment Lochullin, with a deep 
 groan, sank to the ground. He how- 
 ever remained prostrate but for a few 
 seconds, and then, without assistance, re- 
 gained his feet. — " I am murdered, I be- 
 lieve," were his first words ; " and by 
 whom, let those in rear of me tell. — Clif- 
 ford,
 
 238 MACRIMMON. 
 
 ford ! Clifford ! could it be your mad 
 hand that launched that fatal stone?" 
 
 " Thank God, I am not the wretch !" 
 exclaimed Clifford, earnestly, but taking 
 no further pains to repel the criminating 
 inquiry at the moment, when he saw 
 the youth reclining for support on the 
 shoulder of Hugh Catanach. 
 
 The partial faintness however went 
 off. Lochullin declared that he had 
 been struck by something on the head, 
 and that he already felt his bonnet soak- 
 ed with blood, yet endeavoured to make 
 light of his wound ; and Glen Eynort 
 having joined them, they all descended 
 to the beach. The boat was quickly 
 unmoored, the drunken boatman tum- 
 bled neck and heels on board; and, in 
 spite of a squally, unfavourable breeze, 
 and broken sea, her crew hoisted sail, 
 and stood off. 
 
 Seeing their friends thus safely launch- 
 ed, the remainder of the party turned 
 
 their
 
 MACRIMMON. 239 
 
 their steps homeward. Clifford was 
 pained to observe that Lochullin took 
 Glen Eynort's arm, in preference to his, 
 and that he deigned not to address him 
 during the walk ; but when he did 
 speak, pointedly named the others. Lit- 
 tle conversation however passed, for the 
 wounded man felt his strength declin- 
 ing, and was anxious to reach the house 
 without delay. This he effected with 
 difficulty ; and as the situation of the 
 various apartments prevented conceal- 
 ment, made his appearance, bloody as 
 he was, in the midst of the terrified fe- 
 males. Lillias was the only individual 
 whom the sight of his haggard counte- 
 nance wholly overpowered. The instant 
 she noticed the crimson drops oozing 
 through his bonnet, she uttered a cry of 
 wo, fixed her eyes upbraidingly on 
 Glen Eynort, and swooned away. 
 
 Before she recovered, Lochullin had 
 been removed to the apartment he was 
 to occupy in common with Clifford, and 
 
 his
 
 240 MACRIMMON. 
 
 his head examined. On cutting off the 
 blood-matted hair covering the back of 
 the skull, a severe contusion, evidently 
 inflicted by a jagged piece of rock, dis- 
 played itself; but whether of a trifling 
 or dangerous nature, none of the exa- 
 minators were sufficiently skilled to de- 
 termine. Farther than washing away 
 the clotted g©re, and carefully binding 
 up the wound, nothing could be done; 
 he was therefore put to bed, some 
 homely medicaments administered, at 
 the recommendation of the lady of the 
 house, and a declaration made, that if 
 the matter looked serious on the mor- 
 row, a messenger should be dispatched 
 for a surgeon to give his attendance. 
 Lillias was pacified by the assurance 
 that he had received a mere scratch, and 
 Glen Eynort took care to insinuate that 
 it was inflicted by Clifford. A look of 
 incredulity was the only answer he ob- 
 tained. 
 
 CHAP-
 
 MACRIMMON. 241 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " The warmest heart, tlie brightest eye, 
 
 Is earliest doom'd to love and die. 
 
 The sweetest, gentlest, and the best, 
 
 Seek earliest out the land of rest. 
 
 The noblest mind, the bravest spirit, 
 
 Ts briefly doom'd life to inherit. 
 
 This world holds nought that's worth the trust 
 
 Of earthly love, since thou art dust." 
 
 When Clifford retired to bed, Loch- 
 ullin was in a sound sleep ; consequently 
 no conversation passed between them. 
 After seeing his wound dressed, he had 
 returned to the parlour, and, as far as 
 lay in his power, explained the circum- 
 stances under which the blow had been 
 received; but an account so vague only 
 served to increase the general perplexity. 
 Craig Aral, in the goodness of his heart, 
 was inclined to believe that a fragment 
 vol. i. M had
 
 24-2 MACItlMMOX. 
 
 had rolled down from the cliffs beneati. 
 which they were walking; his son ex- 
 pressed himself of a similar opinion ; but 
 neither Clifford nor Glen Eynort coin- 
 cided in this, the most charitable con- 
 struction that could be put upon it. 
 The former felt convinced, in his own 
 mind, that the rushing sound of the 
 missile, as it clove the air, betrayed a 
 greater impetus than it could possibly 
 have acquired by its own weight, in a 
 descent of from fifty to a hundred feet. 
 He had also a faint recollection of hav- 
 ing seen the object, while in flight be- 
 tween him and the sky. visible at the 
 mouth of the dell, and a strong im- 
 pression remained that its direction ¥ 
 horizontal. That it came from behind, 
 was a truth sufficiently obvious from 
 the part injured j and to Loch nil in'> 
 knowledge of his being immediately ill 
 rear of him, did he attribute the im- 
 plied accusation that he was the person 
 guilty. As to Glen Eynort, he gave 
 
 himself
 
 MACRIMMON. 243 
 
 himself no trouble to solve the enigma. 
 He corroborated nothing, neither did he 
 stand forward to confute; but, as he 
 listened, there sat an equivocal smile on 
 his face, which even those best acquaint- 
 ed with him knew not how to construe. 
 When this consultation ended, and 
 all separated for the night, Clifford soon 
 found that he courted repose in vain. 
 The breadth of a small apartment was 
 all the space that intervened between 
 him and Lochullin; he heard, with pain- 
 ful solicitude, his low quick breathing, 
 and all his strength of mind was in- 
 sufficient to reassure him, that the mu- 
 tual friendship hitherto subsisting was 
 not about to suffer decrease, if not an- 
 nihilation. The threats of Glen Eynort, 
 with whom he had already, in imagina- 
 tion, planned a full and early reckoning 
 — the dryness of sir Colin, and, above all, 
 the injurious suspicions which the young 
 man himself had rashly given utterance 
 to, were each, in their turn, reviewed as 
 M 2 harbingers
 
 244 MACRIMMOK. 
 
 harbingers of disunion. To meet the 
 storm bravely — to cast off, with the in- 
 dignation that became him, the foul as- 
 persions that malice and misconception 
 might level — and, lastly, to visit, on the 
 guilty head of his enemy, that punish- 
 ment he conceived himself entitled to 
 inflict, were what he prepared sternly to 
 perform. Overpowered by the fatigue 
 he had undergone on the preceding day, 
 and the subsequent irritation of his 
 mind, he at length dropped into an 
 uneasy slumber, from which he awoke 
 not until roused by the voice of Loch- 
 ullin. It was broad daylight, and Clif- 
 ford inquired anxiously how he felt 
 himself. 
 
 " I can hardly say," was the answer, 
 in his usual kind tone of voice, u but I 
 hope any disagreeable feeling will soon 
 go off. To tell you the truth, Clifford, 
 I have lain awake for the last two hours, 
 fretting myself at the surly manner in 
 which I treated you last night. What, 
 
 m
 
 MACRIMMON. 245 
 
 in the name of every thing unjust and 
 unfriendly, could have tempted me to 
 demean myself so harshly, even admit- 
 ting the fact that it was you who, in 
 the height of frolic, gave me this broken 
 head?" 
 
 " And can it really be that you think 
 me capable of such barbarity, however 
 thoughtless and unguarded the mo- 
 ment ?" exclaimed Clifford, in a tone of 
 reproach. " Lochullin, my friend ! be- 
 lieve me, I hold your blood and life too 
 precious, to lightly shed the one or en- 
 danger the other." 
 
 " There were three of you in rear of 
 me, Clifford," returned Lochullin, " and 
 the blow came from behind. I was 
 thinking of you at the moment I was 
 struck down, and forgetting you had 
 companions, blundered out some dis- 
 trustful words. Forgive and forget them ; 
 and whether Fasnacloich or Alister Chis- 
 holm did the mischief, let it not be 
 known. It was done in light-hearted- 
 M 3 ness
 
 246 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 ness and innocence of intent, and shall 
 not be noted down in memory to their 
 disadvantage." 
 
 " I must not be indebted for my ac- 
 quittal to the implication of others equal- 
 ly guiltless," said Clifford, firmly. " My 
 companions had each an arm interlinked 
 with mine, and it was as impossible for 
 either to hurl the stone without my 
 knowledge, as it was for me to do so 
 without theirs. In this mysterious busi- 
 ness, I feel thankful that we were all so 
 situated as to have it in our power to 
 stand forward to each other's entire ex- 
 culpation. At breakfast I shall certainly 
 insist on a messenger being dispatched, 
 requesting them to appear and corrobo- 
 rate what I have averred." 
 
 " There is no occasion to raise such a 
 hubbub about a trifling scratch," re- 
 turned Lochullin, thoughtfully. * Vet 
 it is strange — pray where was Glen Ky- 
 nort at the moment ?" 
 
 " I know not exactly, " answered Clif- 
 ford.
 
 MACRIMMON. 247 
 
 ford, perceiving his friend's suspicions 
 were taking the same bent as his own ; 
 " but unquestionably he must have been 
 the last of the party. He overtook me 
 a short time before I entered the dell ; 
 and when in the darkest part, I fancied 
 that he turned back, either owing to 
 the roughness of the path, or to some 
 altercation that passed betwixt us. His 
 reappearance, however, after you were 
 hurt, proved this supposition incorrect." 
 
 " It did so," rejoined the other ; " but, 
 in case further inquiry gives birth to 
 more pain than pleasure, let us not pry 
 deeper into the matter. Give me your 
 word, that you forgive suspicions which 
 I here solemnly retract, and that the 
 punishment shall be nothing worse than 
 the reproaches of my own heart." 
 
 Clifford gave the desired surety, and 
 Lochullin, finding conversation injurious, 
 consented to remain quiet till breakfast. 
 As the morning was already far advan- 
 ced, the other deserted his bed, and sal- 
 M 4 lied
 
 248 MACRIMMON. 
 
 lied forth, with the hope of encountering- 
 Glen Eynort, with whom he was anx- 
 ious to come to a proper under- 
 standing. In this he was disappoint- 
 ed, for the latter did not quit his apart- 
 ment until the whole party, with the 
 exception of the invalid, had assembled 
 for the morning repast. As might be 
 expected, it passed over heavily. Xo 
 one was in spirits to maintain a conver- 
 sation of longer duration than the inter- 
 change of a few sentences regarding the 
 event of the preceding night, the state 
 of the sufferer, or the boisterous breeze 
 that had rocked the house for the last 
 twelve hours. Clifford felt uncomfort- 
 able, and distrustful of the looks of all ; 
 and descrying from the window a white 
 sail flapping amid the foam of the loch, 
 and evidently belonging to some boat 
 coming from the farther side, he hastily 
 left the house, and bent his steps to- 
 wards the beach. He flattered himself 
 that it contained the merry trio he had 
 
 parted
 
 MACRIMMON. 249 
 
 parted with over-night, and, by anticipa- 
 tion, exulted in the speedy revolution in 
 his favour their arrival would create. 
 At the breakfast-table he had disdained 
 to speak in his own exculpation, because 
 he considered his so doing would be de- 
 rogatory to the dignity of conscious in- 
 nocence. He postponed all defence, un- 
 til, from the mouth of others, ample 
 justice should be done him. 
 
 As the wind had changed with the 
 daybreak, he reached the landing-place 
 before the boat, and, in a perturbed state 
 of mind, sat down on a crag to watch its 
 approach. As it neared the land, he 
 could discern that it carried but two 
 persons, and these he finally distinguish- 
 ed to be a common peasant and Allan 
 Breck Mac-an-Rhi. While yet at a 
 distance, the doleful countenance of the 
 latter proclaimed him the bearer of dis- 
 astrous news. He waved his hand with 
 a gesture of melancholy recognition, and 
 Clifford felt it was feverish and clammy, 
 m 5 as
 
 250 MACRIMMON. 
 
 as he assisted him to step ashore. — 
 " Your friends, Fasnacloich and Chis- 
 holm ?" gasped forth the Englishman, 
 as he scanned his lineaments with a 
 glance of horrid inquiry. 
 
 The Highlander looked at him mourn- 
 fully for a moment, and then, as he 
 pointed to the loch, said, with quivering 
 lips — " They are at rest !" 
 
 Clifford had seen comrades fall by his 
 side in battle ; he had smoothed the pil- 
 low of the dying, whether brought to 
 dissolution by sword or by pestilence ; 
 but in neither instance had the throes of 
 expiring nature smitten him so tho- 
 roughly to the heart as these four words. 
 It was not selfish considerations that 
 gave this shock the superiority — it v. 
 the instantaneous contrast he felt im- 
 pelled to make between the hilarity and 
 noise the unfortunate had shared in on 
 the bygone evening, and the eternal 
 silence and incogitancv that had so soon 
 succeeded. He had parted with them a 
 
 few
 
 MACRIMMON. £51 
 
 few short hours before, their health 
 vigorous, and their spirits contemning 
 all earthly peril. In that transient space 
 they had gasped their last, and found a 
 grave beneath the weltering billows. 
 Their souls had already tasted of im- 
 mortality, and all that remained of them 
 on earth was the frail tenements, whose 
 boastful promise of long continuing im- 
 passable to death, a moment had served 
 to prove presumptuous. 
 
 When the first shudder of conviction 
 had passed, and Allan Breck gained self- 
 possession sufficient for the undertaking, 
 they proceeded towards the house ; Clif- 
 ford gathering, by the way, the more 
 minute circumstances of the disaster. It 
 appeared, that notwithstanding the vio- 
 lent headwind and strong ebb of the 
 tide, they had completed better than 
 half the voyage in safety, when a sud- 
 den gust, streaming down one of the 
 narrow glens, capsized their frail bark in 
 an instant. With the exception of the 
 m 6 intoxicated
 
 252 MACRIMMON. 
 
 intoxicated boatman, who sunk without 
 a struggle, all managed to regain the 
 skiff by swimming; and finding it im- 
 possible to right her, mounted on the 
 keel. Notwithstanding their proximity 
 to the land prevented them from being 
 exposed to a heavy sea at the time of 
 the accident, yet a short trial convinced 
 them, that should they be driven into 
 rougher water, as the setting of the tide 
 rendered probable,they dared not trust to 
 maintaining for any duration their shel- 
 terless seat. The cold, which speedily 
 began to benumb their limbs, and the 
 rapidity with which they drifted towards 
 the mouth of the gulf, also served to 
 corroborate this disheartening proof of 
 their peril, when, at the moment all 
 hopes of salvation had departed, Allan 
 Breck was swept off by a wave, and 
 hurled to such a distance, that when lie 
 recovered himself, his friends were ren- 
 dered invisible by the intervening waves. 
 Though fully assured that he was doom- 
 ed
 
 MACRIMMON. 253 
 
 ed to perish, and almost incapable of 
 exertion, from the torpidity of his limbs, 
 he nevertheless, with that instinctive 
 feeling which departs but with dissolu- 
 tion, turned his face towards the shore, 
 and combated manfully against the 
 surge. In the end his efforts were 
 crowned with success, and he reached 
 the land, though so spent with exertion, 
 as to be, for a time, necessitated to re- 
 main prostrate on the beach. When 
 his strength in some measure returned, 
 he managed to crawl to the nearest cot- 
 tage, which his knowledge of the coun- 
 try enabled him easily to find ; and while 
 endeavouring to reinvigorate his weak- 
 ened frame, by such means as a peasant's 
 hovel afforded, the owner and his son 
 set off to examine the strand, in hopes 
 Fasnacloich or Chisholm might likewise 
 be cast ashore. 
 
 About sunrise however they returned 
 from an unsuccessful search, but which 
 they readily renewed, under the gui- 
 dance
 
 254 MACRIMMON. 
 
 dance of the survivor. In the end the 
 capsized boat was descried rolling amid 
 the waves, and drifting inward again 
 with the rising tide ; but there was no 
 one on its keel. No doubt remained on 
 the mind of Allan Breck, but that his 
 hapless companions had been unable to 
 keep their hold, when driven to the 
 mouth of the loch, where they would 
 be exposed to all the fury of the open 
 sea, and inevitably find that watery 
 grave from which he had been, almost 
 miraculously, preserved. The melan- 
 choly duty of announcing their fate to 
 their relatives was thus imposed on him : 
 but this task he felt it impossible to per- 
 form alone. His reason for making Craig 
 Aral the first place to which he directed 
 his course, was to solicit Hugh Catanach 
 to bear him company on his errand of 
 sorrow. 
 
 This narrative, and the comments 
 thereon, occupied him during their walk 
 from the beach to the house. When, 
 
 on
 
 MACRIMMON. 255 
 
 on arriving there, it was more widely 
 promulgated, wailing and lamentation 
 resounded on all sides. Allan Breck's 
 hand was wrung in agony by every 
 member of the household, from the 
 " laird himsel" down to the lowest 
 kitchen drudge, and he was made again 
 and again to repeat his dismal tale. Glen 
 Eynort coolly congratulated him on his 
 own fortunate escape, but the generous- 
 hearted Highlander was in no mood to 
 think he had cause of thankfulness.— 
 " Let me think of those that are gone," 
 was his stern reply, " not of my own 
 worthless life. Such a man as I am — 
 without friends,without fortune, is death's 
 fair prey in the field, or on the wave — 
 in green age, as when withering. But 
 Fasnacloich was the son of a mother 
 who has no joy left behind — no other 
 child to inherit her honest name; and 
 young Alister Chisholm, the darling 
 and hope of his whole race. Who, 
 when lives such as these are taken, can 
 
 idly
 
 S56 MACRIMMON. 
 
 idly rejoice that fate has granted a few 
 years more to Allan Maoan-Rhi ?" 
 
 The voice of mourning soon reached 
 the ears of Lochullin, and, in the general 
 consternation, no attention being paid 
 to his repeated summons, he ultimately 
 rose, dressed himself, and hurried down 
 to the parlour. — " This has been al- 
 together a visit of mischance," said he 
 to Craig Aral, when made acquainted 
 with the cause of lamentation ; " there- 
 fore it is better we conclude it now. 
 Sorrow has come in our train, and with 
 us may it depart ! Lillias — Unn — Mr. 
 Clifford, in half-an-hour we start for 
 home." 
 
 Many objections were, of course, al- 
 leged against such a measure, but with- 
 out sufficing to alter his determination. 
 Though his glittering, humid eye, and 
 feverish hand, spoke to the contrary, he 
 persisted in saying he was equal to the 
 exertion of an instantaneous return, and 
 preparations were made accordingly. 
 
 The
 
 MACRIMMON. 257 
 
 The same hour that saw Allan Breck 
 and Hugh Catanach depart on their 
 mournful mission, witnessed the Dun 
 Rim mon party marshalled and ready to 
 commence their journey ; and before the 
 boat carrying the former had gained the 
 farther shore, Clifford, from the brow of 
 a barren hill, took his last look of Craig 
 Aral and Loch Ruart. 
 
 Lochullin had mounted his horse with 
 seeming ease ; but it soon became appa- 
 rent that he had overrated his strength, 
 and that though he might reach Dun 
 Rimmon, the consequences promised to 
 be serious. The late disasters had al- 
 most banished personal resentment from 
 the breast of Clifford ; he therefore evin- 
 ced no desire to renew the over-night 
 altercation with Glen Eynort, but,watch- 
 ful and attentive to his sick friend, rode 
 close by his side, leaving the ladies to 
 be escorted by the other. Whether it 
 arose from this pleasing duty having 
 devolved on him, or whether some un- 
 
 divulged
 
 258 MACRIMMON. 
 
 divulged cause for good-humour existed 
 in his own heart, cannot be determined ; 
 but so it was that the cloud, which, 
 during the preceding day, had never, for 
 a moment, deserted Glen Eynort's brow. 
 in the course of this ride rolled off en- 
 tirely. With the exception of Clifford, 
 he was affable to all, smiled at every re- 
 mark that could possibly bear a smile, 
 and sometimes merely from the frolics 
 of his own fancy ; and more than once 
 even whistled a few bars of a lively 
 pibroch, in the midst of some affecting 
 comments on the castaways of Loch 
 Ruart. He deigned not so much as a 
 look to the Englishman — far less did he 
 sneer at or address him ; and, in short, 
 the suspicious Lillias herself was com- 
 pelled to acknowledge his evident im- 
 provement, and internally confess that 
 she might have wronged him. 
 
 They reached Dun llimmon about 
 sunset; but it was with infinite difficulty 
 that Lochullin bore up against the lan- 
 guor
 
 MACRIMMON. 259 
 
 guor that was stealing over him, and 
 concluded the journey. Glen Eynort 
 had voluntarily rode on as avant-coitrier, 
 to prepare sir Colin for his grandson's 
 arrival; consequently the whole castle 
 was in a state of agitation when he was 
 lifted off his horse, and carried into the 
 presence of the chief. Some bitter ex- 
 pressions in Gaelic escaped the old man's 
 lips, when he beheld the flushed face, 
 and felt the quick throbbing pulse, of 
 the invalid ; but both the latter and 
 Glen Eynort hastily answered it in the 
 same tongue, and Clifford could only 
 guess that it alluded to him, and was of 
 unfavourable import. To Lillias it seem- 
 ed to sound the knell of despair, for, 
 with a low cry of unutterable woe, she 
 pressed her hands on her ears, and fled 
 the apartment. 
 
 A few minutes served to convince 
 Lochullin, that his strength would not 
 support him in his struggle to take his 
 place at the dinner-table ; he was there- 
 fore
 
 260 MACRIMMON. 
 
 fore assisted to his own room, and a 
 gille dispatched to insure a surgeon's 
 attendance on the morrow. At his 
 friend's desire, and notwithstanding the 
 evident aversion to the measure shewn 
 by sir Colin, Clifford became his nurse, 
 thereby leaving the coast more clear for 
 the machinations of his enemy. But 
 that circumstance was of trivial import- 
 ance, assured, as he felt, that not only 
 Lochullin, but Lillias, held him inno- 
 cent. He was disgusted with all but 
 themselves, and totally reckless of what 
 opinion was entertained regarding him, 
 by people who daily displayed an utter 
 want of stability and justice. All he 
 waited for was to hear his friend pro- 
 nounced out of danger. That done, he 
 purposed to quit Dun Rimmon instant- 
 ly, though nearly a week required to 
 elapse before he completed the promised 
 term of his visit. 
 
 Throughout the evening he was little 
 disturbed by the intrusion of those he 
 
 had
 
 MACRIMMON. 261 
 
 had no desire to see ; but the females 
 made frequent inquiries after his charge. 
 Aunt Marjory appeared with a huge 
 volume in her hand, which she termed 
 " Buchan's Domestic Medicine," and 
 would fain have evinced her surgical 
 skill in a minute inspection and lecture 
 on the nature of the wound ; but in this 
 she was not indulged, and therefore left 
 the room in high dudgeon. Lillias 
 would gladly have remained by her 
 brother's side, but her grandfather's 
 commands chained her to Glen Eynort's 
 society. Unn was every half-hour in 
 the sick chamber, having been prevailed 
 upon to act in the double capacity of 
 messenger and spy to the chieftain — a 
 post for which a stony, selfish heart 
 well qualified her. 
 
 Towards midnight, Clifford was grie- 
 ved to remark that the patient came to 
 betray an incoherency of speech, and 
 slight symptoms of delirium. In con- 
 sequence of this observation, he resolved 
 
 not
 
 262 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 not to quit his side, and was rewarded 
 for his watching, when, in the morning, 
 this alarming accompaniment of fever 
 disappeared. The dressing of his wound, 
 however, seemed to fatigue him greatly ; 
 and a peevishness was perceptible in his 
 answers to all inquiries, which declared 
 him in no state of amendment. As the 
 day advanced, this grew more apparent, 
 and anxiously was the medical man's ar- 
 rival looked for. The spirits of the suf- 
 ferer also underwent a revolution ; for, 
 grasping the Englishman's hand with 
 kindly warmth, whilst with the other 
 he held that of Lillias, who had stole in 
 to see him, he said — " I feel this anxiety 
 on my account more than I can express, 
 and only regret that a short time must 
 prove it vain. I grieve not at my fate, 
 since it is the will of Heaven that I thus 
 early depart; but I could have wished 
 that vague apprehensions of impending 
 evil to those I love had not threatened 
 to embitter my last hours." 
 
 Lillias
 
 MACRIMMON. 263 
 
 Lillias could not control her grief, 
 and Clifford, likewise deeply affected, 
 could scarcely articulate the hopes he 
 hardly ventured to cherish. Lochullin 
 smiled faintly when he heard long life 
 promised him. — " You are a flattering 
 prophet, Clifford," said he, in return, 
 " but, I fear, a false one. There is that 
 at my heart which tells me I am called 
 away, and whether the presentiment is 
 well founded or erroneous, it is proper 
 I prepare for the worst. In the impe- 
 tuosity and rashness of momentary irri- 
 tation, I foolishly made use of an ex- 
 pression which tended to fix on you, 
 my friend, the guilt of having laid me 
 here. For that act of injustice I have 
 already obtained your forgiveness, but 
 have not atoned sufficiently to satisfy 
 my own heart. Lillias, promise to your 
 dying brother, and in the face of Heaven, 
 that you will testify my declaration of 
 Clifford's innocence ; that if all the world 
 should calumniate and seek to find him 
 
 guilty,
 
 264 MACRIMMON. 
 
 guilty, you, resting your conviction on 
 the last words of a passing soul, will still 
 adhere to the affirmation, that his was 
 not the hand which hurled that fatal 
 stone." 
 
 Lillias was drowned in tears, yet ima- 
 gining that it would quiet her brother, 
 she answered with firmness — " The pro- 
 mise is yours, and no earthly considera- 
 tion shall tempt me to break it. My 
 heart acquitted him from the first, and, 
 I fear, too truly pointed out, as the au- 
 thor, him from whom all mischief seems 
 to emanate." 
 
 " But surmises tending to criminate 
 any one must not be promulgated," said 
 her brother, divining her thoughts. " I 
 fall by an untoward accident, not by 
 malice ; therefore let no man be charged 
 with my death. Yet a timid girl may 
 bear but feeble testimony in your be- 
 half, Clifford ; so it were better I secured 
 you sir Colin's at once. Lillias, go en- 
 treat my grandfather to pay me a visit ; 
 
 and
 
 MACRIMMON. 265 
 
 and, if he is in the way, invite Glen 
 Eynort to bear him company. Who 
 knows but the latter may find a death- 
 bed a spectacle improving to his heart ?" 
 
 Lillias left the room in compliance 
 with his request, and during the time 
 she was absent he lay silent, as if en- 
 deavouring to arrange his ideas prepara- 
 tory to the interview; but the unusual 
 wildness gathering in His eye declared 
 the attempt fruitless. It was an interval 
 of deep despondency and awe to Clif- 
 ford. He saw before him, with the dew 
 of death on his face, a being whom he 
 had become attached to in an uncommon 
 manner, and who promised, in no mean 
 degree, to supply his want of any fra- 
 ternal tie. There was also strong reason 
 to suppose that the missile which rob- 
 bed him of life was aimed at another 
 head — the head of him who was thus 
 doomed to mourn his untimely end. In 
 that moment Clifford almost cursed the 
 selfishness that had impelled him to re- 
 
 vol. i. n peat
 
 266 MACRIMMON. 
 
 peat his visit to Dun Rimmon ; nor 
 could he divest himself of the notion, 
 that he had cheated the king of terrors 
 only by surrendering Lochullin to his 
 scythe. From reveries so painful, the 
 return of Lillias, accompanied by sir 
 Colin and Glen Eynort, procured him a 
 transient respite. 
 
 Notwithstanding the capacity of re- 
 flection, and coherency of speech, he had 
 so lately manifested, the dying man re- 
 ceived the visitors with strong symp- 
 toms of delirium. Instead of greeting 
 them with kindly recognition, his gfahee 
 wandered restlessly from face to face, 
 and a deep silence prevailed. Alarmed 
 at this unexpected change, Lillias drew 
 near, and bending over him, intimated 
 that sir Colin and Glen Eynorfl had 
 obeyed his summons, and were in his 
 presence. The name of the latter ap- 
 peared to possess a cabalistic power over 
 his darkened mind; for on hearing it lie 
 suddenly sat erect, and waving his hand 
 
 l
 
 MACRIMMON. 267 
 
 in a frenzied manner, exclaimed — " Glen 
 Eynort! Glen Eynort! what brings him 
 here? Comes he to see how a murdered 
 kinsman can die, or to tell what dastard 
 hand flung that vile stone in the Glack 
 of Craig Aral ? Like an idiot, I said it 
 w r as Clifford's, but — no, no, no! Men, 
 when they aim at life, should strike at 
 the heart, and perpetrate the deed at 
 once. It is the height of cruelty to 
 doom a wretch to pine and die in mad- 
 ness !" 
 
 * Lochullin," said Glen Eynort, whose 
 pallid lips bore witness to the manner in 
 which he was affected, " I am here by 
 your desire. If my presence is disagree- 
 able, I will depart, and leave you with 
 dearer friends." 
 
 " Ay, do, do!" returned the other; 
 " and if you meet with Fasnacloich or 
 Alister Chisholm, send them here with- 
 out delay, for Clifford needs their sup- 
 port. Hollo ! hollo! if humanity is a 
 Highland virtue, now is the tire 
 
 )
 
 268 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 play it; for a boat is sinking in the 
 surges of Loch Ruart, and Clifford's fair 
 fame hangs on the lives of those two 
 men who sit shivering on its keel. Will 
 no man risk his life for his fellow-crea- 
 tures, and drag them from the ravenous 
 billows? Shame on ye, Highlanders ! is 
 it for you to fear the deep-sea wave ? I 
 would breast these foamy ridges myself, 
 but there is a feebleness and pain that 
 will not permit it. That base blow — 
 yet, Clifford, I blamed you not ; neither 
 said I it was Glen Eynort. Alas ! alas ! 
 the boat still drifts on the tide, but bet 
 keel is bare — the tremblers cling to it 
 no longer. That was a sweeping sea 
 that carried them off in its bosom, and 
 whiter than the fairest shroud that mor- 
 tal hands might weave. Clifford ! Clif- 
 ford ! you will never find them in it^ 
 wrappings !" 
 
 Fear and grief were portrayed in every 
 countenance during this frenzied ha- 
 rangue. At its conclusion, the speaker 
 
 sunk
 
 MACRIMMON. 269 
 
 sunk back in a state of exhaustion, and 
 for a time the sobs of Lillias alone in- 
 terrupted the stillness of the chamber of 
 death. At length Glen Eynort breath- 
 ed into sir Colin's ear a few words in 
 Gaelic, which he suffered not to trans- 
 pire. In a moment the chieftain's sor- 
 row was transformed into fury. He ad- 
 vanced hastily towards Clifford, dragged 
 him by the arm closer to the bed, and 
 pointing to the prostrate form of his 
 grandson, exclaimed, in a voice hoarse 
 with rage and wo — " Man of an ac- 
 cursed hand ! behold your work !" 
 
 Had the archangel blown his awful 
 blast at that moment, Clifford could 
 have felt no more. His knees knocked 
 against each other, his cheeks blanched 
 to the ghastliness of the grave, and his 
 lips quivered so violently, that it was in 
 vain he sought by words to repel the 
 odious imputation. But the ear of the 
 dying man had also caught its import, 
 and,with preternatural strength, he again 
 N 3 sat
 
 270 MACIUMMOX. 
 
 sat upright, in order to be his defender. 
 — " It is as I feared/ 1 he exclaimed, in a 
 hollow sepulchral tone; "and Clifford. 
 my bosom friend ! he who, when a 
 stranger, perilled his life on my account, 
 will be arraigned for a crime, the true 
 author of which I may not name. Hear 
 me, my revered grandfather ! Let not 
 calumny defame the innocent, or injus- 
 tice disgrace your hospitable dwelling. 
 Keep in remembrance that I lav guilt 
 to no man's charge, neither do I permit 
 my kindred to hunt for a foul revenge. 
 And to you, Ninian Macrimmon, be my 
 last words spoken. Danish malice ftnd 
 envy from your heart, as you wish here- 
 after to enjoy peace, or go down re- 
 spected to the grave, ficfore my God 
 do I declare, that Clifford- that Clif- 
 ford rt 
 
 He clasped his hands tightly across 
 his forehead for a few seconds, then, 
 with a gesture expressive rif what hi< 
 tongue refused to utter, caught hold of 
 
 Clifford,
 
 MACRIMMON. 271 
 
 Clifford, and strove to unite him with 
 sir Colin in a friendly clasp. The old 
 man sternly recoiled, and, with a look of 
 wo, Lochullin seized the hand of his 
 sister, and placed it within the English- 
 man's. For an instant a gleam of satis- 
 faction lingered on his face, after which 
 he suddenly restored his head to its pil- 
 low. The heralds of death rapidly made 
 their appearance, and finally, with a 
 shudder and a sigh, the warm-hearted, 
 generous Lochullin lay stretched out a 
 corpse. 
 
 Lamentation and despair usually fol- 
 low in the train of dissolution, but sel- 
 dom or never are wrath and discord in 
 their company. The rugged spirit of 
 the living is so humbled, and so chas- 
 tened, by witnessing the perishable na- 
 ture of the human body, that the defil- 
 ing passions of the heart have no power 
 to play ; but round the deathbed of 
 iEneas Macara, " hatred and malice, and 
 all uncharitableness," were called on to 
 M 4 appear.
 
 272 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 appear. While Lillias yet lay insen- 
 sible by the side of the departed — while 
 the warmth of life still existed in the 
 insensate frame, and the glassy set eye 
 remained unshut, sir Colin, lifting up 
 his stern condemnatory voice, saluted 
 Clifford by the name of murderer ! On 
 the eve of leaving the room, to procure 
 assistance for the removal of Lillias, he 
 was flung from the door, with a rude, 
 unmannerly grasp, while the chieftain 
 exclaimed — " Murderer of my boy ! you 
 go not hence till surrendered to that 
 punishment a crime so monstrous merits. 
 Till then I hold you prisoner in Dun 
 Rimmon." 
 
 Clifford required nothing more to un- 
 nerve and render him tractable. He 
 mechanically seated himself, in a stupor 
 of mind that promised to be eternal, and 
 what afterwards passed before his eye* 
 left no deeper impression than a troubled 
 dream. 
 
 CHAP-
 
 MACRIMMON. 27* 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ++ * ■»■* * **■ ++ **r **■+*■* * *-r 
 
 Thou stood'st as stands a lovely tree, 
 
 That, all unbroke, though gently bent, 
 Still waves, with fond fidelity, 
 
 Its boughs above a monument. 
 The winds might rend, the skies might pour ; 
 
 But there thou wert, and still would'st be, 
 Devoted, in the stormiest hour, 
 
 To shed thy weeping leaves o'er me. Byron. 
 
 Throughout the night that succeeded 
 Lochullin's death, grief and wailing 
 reigned in Dun Rimmon Castle; yet 
 the spirit of vengeance slumbered not. 
 Under the superintendence of Glen Ey- 
 nort, Clifford was removed to an apart- 
 ment, looked upon as calculated for the 
 reception of a criminal who might be 
 bent on escape ; and when the night set 
 in, a sentinel was stationed in the pas- 
 sage into which it opened. Man is so 
 N 5 prone
 
 274 MACRIMMON. 
 
 prone to condemn his fellow on the 
 slightest grounds, that the whole house- 
 hold gave implicit credence to the tale 
 of his guilt; and in compliment to the 
 memory of his victim, evinced the most 
 commendable anxiety to prejudge his 
 cause, and hold up his name as meriting 
 signal detestation. Had it not been 
 that it might ultimately have brought 
 down condign punishment on their own 
 heads, they would readily have taken 
 upon themselves the duty of execu- 
 tioners, and forestalled the rights of the 
 law, by tearing him limb from limb. 
 Glen Eynort, however, kept this blood- 
 thirsty spirit under due control, by net- 
 ting forth the danger of such a measure, 
 and the far more complete satisfaction 
 all would experience in seeing him 
 strung up ignominiouslv like a flbg. 
 When the first hour of turbulencr and 
 consternation had pa>«cd, me&eflg 
 were dispatched to various parts of the 
 country, in order to publish the din 
 
 event.
 
 MACRIMMON. 275 
 
 event. Two of these started for Craig 
 Aral, for the purpose of summoning the 
 laird, in his capacity of justice of the 
 peace, to ride over and take immediate 
 precognition of the matter. Hugh Ca- 
 tanach and Allan Breck were also re- 
 quested to give their attendance, and 
 bear witness for or against, as the case 
 might be. The surgeon, who had ar- 
 rived too late to lend assistance in any 
 other way, was detained to bear testi- 
 mony relative to the cause of death. 
 
 Rendered for a time insensible, by 
 the shock of her brother's unexpected 
 demise, Lillias had been carried in that 
 state to her own apartment, where she 
 was permitted to indulge her grief un- 
 disturbed until the ensuing morning. 
 Owing to this circumstance, she remain- 
 ed in ignorance of what had succeeded, 
 and totally unsuspicious that her cup of 
 sorrow was not yet full. About the 
 breakfast- hour, aunt Marjory made her 
 appearance, prepared to recommend re- 
 N 6 signation,
 
 276 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 signation, by stringing together the 
 names of a long catalogue of worthies 
 who had practised it to their imperish- 
 able honour; but for once the erudite 
 lady betrayed that it was easier to give 
 precept than example. — " He was the 
 pride and hope of his name, Lillias," said 
 she, joining in her niece's lamentation ; 
 " and, shed for him, tears will not dis- 
 grace us. In my studious and moody 
 hours, I have sometimes longed to pierce 
 futurity, and discover which of our fa- 
 mily-circle was to acquire that sublimity 
 of knowledge which the freed and pure- 
 ly-spiritual soul riots in after death. I 
 invariably set it down, as a matter of 
 course, that the silvered head of Mac- 
 rimmon was first to fall. JEneas looked 
 a sapling so fresh and so green, that I 
 never doubted but that he would shoot 
 and flourish vigorously, long after I my- 
 self had become a withered leaf. Truly 
 may we exclaim, in the words of the 
 poet, 
 
 1 Deat!»
 
 MACRIMMON. 277 
 
 ' Death, ere thou shalt strike another, 
 Gentle, good, and wise as he, 
 Time shall throw his dart at thee.' 
 
 But bear up, my child, and remember 
 the high duties that have now devolved 
 on you. In your person has this fatal 
 event concentrated the hopes and ho- 
 nours of an ancient race." 
 
 u I understand you, aunt," returned 
 Lillias; " but remind me not, at such a 
 moment, of my dreary responsibility. 
 Alas, alas ! that I should live to inherit 
 his possessions ! Timid and feeble-mind- 
 ed as I am, it was never designed that I 
 should rule !" 
 
 " A vicegerent will soon make his ap- 
 pearance," said aunt Marjory. " As the 
 old havering song goes, alluding to a 
 female possessing a handsome dowry, 
 
 1 Take and set her on a hill, 
 
 The wind will blow a man till her.' 
 
 Glen Eynort, for instance " 
 
 " Name
 
 278 MACIUMMON. 
 
 " Name him not," exclaimed Lillias, 
 in a voice of agony. " A curse attends 
 on that man, go where he will, and I 
 tremble at the very idea of the appella- 
 tion I feel tempted to confer on him. 
 The walls of Dun Ritnmon ought in- 
 cessantly to shriek death while they en- 
 close him. For the sake of the departed 
 I will be silent, but may God keep 
 these eyes from ever more beholding 
 him r 
 
 " You are raving, Lillias," returned 
 her aunt, " and in your delirium con- 
 found Glen Eynort with your brothers 
 murderer. Thank Heaven, our kinsman 
 can lay his hand on his heart, and, with 
 more truth than the hero of the drama, 
 exclaim, * Thou canst not say I did it 
 It was a stranger that • did the deed,' 
 and on the vile Saxon name of Clifford 
 fall the infamy !" 
 
 " Clifford !" shrieked the horror-struck 
 girl — " is it Clifford they have arraign- 
 ed?" 
 
 n Even
 
 MACRlMMOtf. 879 
 
 " Even so," was the reply ; " and well 
 may you look incredulous, for that coun- 
 tenance had certainly not the expression 
 that betokens a man of blood. But sir 
 Colin affirms his guilt, Glen Eynort 
 swears he has ' proofs strong as holy 
 writ,' and even Hugh Catanach and Al- 
 lan Breck Mac-an-Rhi are prepared to 
 speak to his condemnation." 
 
 " They will condemn him falsely 
 then," exclaimed Lillias, energetically; 
 " and if so, be his death visited on the 
 black heart that worked his ruin ! But 
 I will not crouch timidly in my cham- 
 ber, while bloodhounds run down my 
 brother's friend. I will confront and 
 denounce the vile author in the face of 
 the whole world. No, no ! Clifford shall 
 not be sacrificed, if my feeble word can 
 avail ! Where is he now ? — where is my 
 grandfather?" 
 
 " Be pacified, Lillias," returned aunt 
 Marjory, alarmed at what she conceived 
 a burst of mental derangement " Sir 
 
 Colin
 
 280 MACRIMMON. 
 
 Colin is in the great hall, assisting Craig 
 Aral and MacCorquodale of Ben Ard 
 to hold the scales of justice. There too 
 are Glen Eynort, Hugh Catanach, and 
 Allan Breck ; and there the wretch 
 whom it becomes us all to abominate." 
 
 " And there also must be Lillias Mac- 
 ara," added her niece, with suddenly-ac- 
 quired composure. " If Clifford is be- 
 fore his accusers, it is meet that I give 
 my evidence along with others. As the 
 holder of my brother's dying declaration. 
 I may assist in throwing some light on 
 the case ; so, in kindness to your sister's 
 child, bear me company to the hall." 
 
 " As you will it, dear," answered aunt 
 Marjory, dubious as to whom her testi- 
 mony was to favour. " All I entreat is, 
 that you will keep in remembrance what 
 we have scripture for — ■ whosoever shed- 
 deth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
 be shed." 
 
 Lillias made no rejoinder to this coun- 
 sel, but proceeded to arrange her dress 
 
 with
 
 MACRIMMON. 281 
 
 with the utmost celerity. In a few mi- 
 nutes she had completed what necessity 
 required, and then, supported by her 
 aunt, descended to the hall. 
 
 With Clifford the night had passed in 
 a manner too horrible for description. 
 Left to solitude and darkness, Reason had 
 gradually regained her energy, and ter- 
 rific were the meditations in which she 
 rioted. He had heard himself denounced 
 as a murderer — as the murderer of a man 
 he had valued as a brother, and between 
 whose breast and danger he would joy- 
 fully have thrown his own ; and so as- 
 tounding was the shock, so hostile to 
 every feeling of fortitude he was endued 
 with, that, in a short space of time, fancy 
 had traced his course to a jail and fetters, 
 to conviction, and to the gallows. He 
 forgot that a false accusation had been 
 preferred against him — that all hope of 
 exculpation was not yet set aside. He 
 only remembered that misfortune was 
 
 his
 
 282 MACUIMMON. 
 
 his birthright, and that in having his fair 
 fame blighted, till doom was pronounced 
 In such a night Reason totters on her 
 seat; and recoiling from the dismal path 
 yet to be traversed, the shrinking soul 
 would fain, by one bound, gain the ha- 
 ven of eternity. 
 
 But this deep despondency, in a cer- 
 tain measure, fled with the darkness ; 
 and as he watched from the windows of 
 his prison the rising of a glorious sun, 
 his spirit seemed to receive fre&h vigour 
 to oppose the tide of adversity. On re- 
 volving the events of the two preceding 
 days in his mind, he saw not so much 
 cause to anticipate a disastrous issue to 
 his misfortune; at all events, he was de- 
 termined not to perish without an effort 
 towards his own salvation. 
 
 When the domestic stationed as sen- 
 tinel at his door brought his morning re- 
 past, it was accompanied with the inti- 
 mation, that, early in the forenoon, pre- 
 cognition
 
 MACRIMMON. 283 
 
 cognition of his alleged crime would be 
 taken ; and for this he was requested to 
 prepare accordingly. 
 
 The recommendation was not thrown 
 away; and when Glen Eynort and a troop 
 of menials appeared, to conduct him before 
 this preparatory tribunal, they found 
 him calm and collected. It was with 
 some satisfaction, that, notwithstanding 
 the sedate, unconcerned look his enemy 
 attempted to maintain, he could trace 
 anxiety and restlessness in every linea- 
 ment. No conversation passed between 
 them, and in a few minutes the accused 
 stood before his judges. 
 
 The hall was a spacious apartment, 
 only thrown open on momentous occa- 
 sions, such as marriage and death, and, 
 it may be added, in times of public tu* 
 mult; for the chieftain took pride in pro- 
 claiming that it had seen more than one 
 meeting about the period of" the forty- 
 five." Its walls were ornamented with 
 numerous weapons of Highland warfare, 
 
 trophies
 
 284 MACRIMMON. 
 
 trophies torn from the deer and the eagle, 
 and grim portraits of chiefs, who had, 
 for more than a century, been food for the 
 worm. 
 
 Many of these worthies presented mu- 
 tilated faces, in consequence of some 
 sharp-pointed instrument having pierced 
 the canvas ; but what to others might 
 have appeared a misfortune was, to sir 
 Colin, their chief recommendation; for 
 the bayonets of the Hanoverian soldiery 
 had done the damage, in the heat of their 
 resentment at the Clan Rimmon's obsti- 
 nate adherence to the house of Stuart. 
 
 Nor were the disfigured portraits of 
 his ancestors the only memorial he pos- 
 sessed of unfortunate royalty. Under 
 the same canopy where, in company with 
 Craig Aral and MacCorquodale of Ben 
 Ard he was seated, had sat prince 
 Charles Edward ; and never did he oc- 
 cupy it without retrospection rousing all 
 his latent animosity against the Sasse- 
 nach. On the present occasion, a table, 
 
 covered
 
 MACRIMMOX. 285 
 
 covered with books, papers, and writing 
 apparatus, stood before him ; and the 
 major part of the household and neigh- 
 bouring tenantry thronged the opposite 
 extremity of the hall. 
 
 A low murmur of detestation rose 
 from the assembly, as Clifford was led in; 
 and his knowledge of Gaelic was suffi- 
 cient to make him understand that his 
 doom was already decided in the general 
 opinion. For a moment his glance has- 
 tily scrutinized the mass of faces, and 
 more particularly such as appertained to 
 females, but it rested not on that he 
 sought. Unn, with her proud, unpity- 
 ing stare, sat near to her grandfather ; 
 but Lillias was nowhere to be discern- 
 ed. Unheeding the solemn adjuration 
 of her brother, she seemed to have de- 
 serted him in his need, and desperation 
 nerved his heart as he admitted the con- 
 viction. 
 
 Craig Aral was the first that broke si- 
 lence, after the prisoner had been led up 
 
 to
 
 286 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 to his proper station. — " Mr. Clifford," 
 said he, with commiseration of look and 
 voice, u common expressions cannot de- 
 scribe the sorrow I feel at having so soon 
 exchanged the duties of a landlord for 
 those of a judge, more especially as this 
 distressing occurrence may be looked 
 upon as having happened under my \ 
 roof. When I prepared to bid you wel- 
 come, I trusted that we should pan such 
 a happy season together, as either might 
 for years l^ok back to with joy ; but, to 
 my sorrow do I say it! the inhabitant! of 
 Craig Arcfl shall never see a darker d.w. 
 Honest Fasnacloich and our brave 
 young Alistcr Chisholm beheld not an- 
 other Sunrise ; but these came fairly by 
 their death — the sea, not man, has to ac- 
 count for it. But Lochullin's fate was 
 different : in the deck, leading from 
 mv house to the beach, he i d a base 
 
 and treacherous blow, of which on 
 
 declares it his opinion that lie died. 
 You, I grieve t ) intimate, are the per-
 
 MACRIMMON. 287 
 
 son charged with having flung, with a 
 malicious intent, the stone that slew 
 him. Is there any thing you can bring 
 forward in defence? any thing that can 
 be adduced in opposition to your being 
 immediately delivered over to be tried 
 by the laws of your country?" 
 
 " Much ! much !" answered Clifford, 
 with emphasis. " I am innocent of this 
 heinous crime; and such shall be my de- 
 claration, though falsehood and perver- 
 sion should bring me to the scaffold! 
 But, before I say more, 1 would know 
 who are my accusers, and where are the 
 proofs against me?" 
 
 " Both shall speedily appear !" exclaim- 
 ed sir Colin, no longer able to maintain 
 his self-command. " Stand forth, Glen 
 Eynort, and confront the murderer to his 
 teeth." 
 
 Glen Eynort obeyed, and was re- 
 quested to give his deposition, that it 
 might be taken down. At first his fal- 
 tering step and unsettled mien evinced 
 
 rplnH an* a
 
 288 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 reluctance, and it seemed to Clifford as 
 though he was startled at the enormity 
 of his guilt. Suddenly he shook off this 
 trepidation, and, with the bold, relent- 
 less front of a man who must advance or 
 perish, entered on his task. In the out- 
 set, the affection subsisting between him 
 and the defunct was descanted on, in the 
 most pathetic terms ; then he touched on 
 Clifford's introduction at the Queensferry, 
 and did full justice to his intrepidity on 
 that occasion ; next he led his auditors 
 on to the Englishman's arrival at Dun 
 Rimmon, confessed that circumstances 
 had early engendered suspicions disad- 
 vantageous to the stranger; and added, 
 that he soon came to discover that the 
 want of confidence was reciprocal. — 
 " Yes, I saw he was worthless," were his 
 words, u and from that reason I sus- 
 pected and avoided him. This he can- 
 not deny, nor has he tried to conceal that 
 the aversion was mutual. It may ap- 
 pear somewhat extraordinary that I pre- 
 mise
 
 MACRIMMON. 289 
 
 mise thus my deposition ; but I desire 
 6 nought to extenuate — nought set down 
 in malice." 
 
 Here he paused, as if overcome by the 
 keenness of his feelings, but in a short 
 space resumed— 
 
 " I will dwell no longer on these mat- 
 ters, but conduct you at once to the scene 
 of disaster, or rather to the time when, 
 in company with Hugh Catanach, and 
 the three young men from the farther 
 shore of the loch, we left Craig Aral's 
 mansion. I take no credit to myself 
 when I aver, that I was the most sedate 
 and rational of the party ; for, during the 
 evening, I had been too sad at heart to 
 join in the mirth around me. It was 
 from this disinclination to noise, that I 
 lingered behind with an intention of not 
 visiting the beach, until Miss Lillias Mac- 
 ara's entreaty, that I would look to the 
 safety of her brother, altered my resolu- 
 tion. The prisoner, from what motive 
 I know not, had also kept in the rear. 
 
 vol. i. o He
 
 290 MACRIMMON. 
 
 He had heard a casual remark, that fell 
 from me, relative to the exuberance of 
 spirits manifested by himself and others, 
 and feeling his consequence hurt by it, I 
 was assailed with rude and threatening 
 language. I need not put you in re- 
 membrance, gentlemen, that one bearing 
 the name of Macrimmon is not accus- 
 tomed to listen to reproach in silence ; 
 yet, on this occasion, I did bear much, 
 from a sense that he derived his bravery 
 solely from too copious libations of our 
 mountain dew. That I mentally resolv- 
 ed on chastising him, when in a w 
 temperate humour, I will not go to de- 
 ny ; and, in all likelihood, it was the 
 prospect of future satisfaction that en- 
 abled me coolly and tamely to listen to 
 his braggart language. In the heat of 
 altercation we entered the dell, leading 
 to the landing-place called the Glack of 
 Craig Aral. Most of those who hear me 
 are aware that the path then becomes 
 extremely rugged, and that the steep- 
 in >s
 
 MACRIMMON. 291 
 
 ness of the enclosing cliffs, and their 
 proximity to each other, render it mur- 
 ky and difficult of access. Divining the 
 bitter enmity the prisoner bore me, I was 
 unwilling to keep him company through 
 the Glack, the obscurity of which was so 
 favourable to any vindictive scheme his 
 fiery brain might give birth to. I there- 
 fore wheeled about, and, without cere- 
 mony, made a retrograde movement, 
 leaving him to be his own pilot. In 
 about two minutes after, I heard him 
 shouting to Lochullin, and declaring he 
 found it impossible to proceed, unless 
 some one better acquainted with the dell 
 undertook to act as his guide. Repent- 
 ing of my desertion, when I thus learn- 
 ed his perplexity, I again turned ; but 
 before I could come near enough to be 
 of service, the party in advance had given 
 him aid, and were once more on the 
 move. I continued to grop my way in 
 silence, till the extremity of the Glack, 
 opening on the beach, became visible, 
 o 2 and
 
 292 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 and the dim outline of those in front 
 perceptible between me and the horizon. 
 It was at that moment that I marked 
 the prisoner fall behind, and elevate his 
 hand. There followed a hollow boom- 
 ing sound, as though some missile sped 
 through the air, and instantaneously 
 Lochullin fell, shouting that he was mur- 
 dered, and by Clifford." 
 
 " Recollect yourself, Glen Eynort, 
 interrupted Craig Aral, as the other 
 paused. " You declare that you noticed 
 Mr. Clifford fall behind, and elevate his 
 hand. How r are w T e to reconcile this with 
 your previous description of the duski- 
 ness, nay, absolute darkness, that reign- 
 ed in the Glack ? The outline of his fi- 
 gure might be visible — but how was lie 
 to be identified or distinguished from his 
 companions?" 
 
 " Easily !" was the answer. " With 
 the exception of the prisoner, all of us 
 wore our own national bonnet, as is our 
 practice when at home among our moun- 
 tains.
 
 MACRIMMON. 293 
 
 tains. The stranger wore the Southron 
 hat, as you yourself, laird, must remem- 
 ber ; and, deep as was the obscurity, it 
 enabled my eye to detect him." 
 
 " The deposition is quite consistent, 
 in all its parts," said the laird of Ben Ard, 
 who had been employed in taking it 
 down in writing. " If Glen Eynort has 
 finished, we had better proceed to exa- 
 mine the others having knowledge of 
 this atrocious crime, and, if aught is 
 adduced in corroboration, make out a 
 committal without delay." 
 
 Hugh Catanach was accordingly call- 
 ed on to give in and subscribe his depo- 
 sition, which went merely to corrobo- 
 rate the fact of Lochullin having return- 
 ed, in obedience to the call of the pri- 
 soner, when in the deepest part of the 
 Glack ; the subsequent advance of the 
 whole party, with the exception of Glen 
 Eynort, whom he did not see ; and 
 Lochullin's fall, and questioning excla- 
 mation regarding Clifford. He also 
 o 3 averred,
 
 294 MACRIMMOX. 
 
 averred, that only the latter wore a hat. 
 and, notwithstanding the manifest pain 
 with which he acknowledged it. confess- 
 ed, that the impression made on his mind 
 at the moment was unfavourable to the 
 Englishman. 
 
 After Hugh, Allan Mac-an-Rhi came 
 forward ; but the circumstance of the 
 hat, and remembrance of hearing from a 
 distance Lochullin's exclamation, proved 
 the extent of his evidence. He had 
 been so much occupied with supporting 
 the drunken boatman as to pay little or 
 no heed to what was going on in his 
 rear ; and when on board the boat, at- 
 tending to her course, and baling out 
 the water she drew, prevented any con- 
 versation relative to the accident passing 
 between him and his unfortunate friends. 
 From a few words, however, which had 
 dropped from Alister Chisholm, he felt 
 inclined to exculpate Clifford ; but the 
 purport alone of these was all with which 
 he could charge his memorv. Like 
 
 Hugh,
 
 MACRIMMON. 295 
 
 Hugh, he displayed much sorrow at the 
 Englishman's misfortune, and subjoined 
 a hope that ultimately he would be pro- 
 nounced guiltless. 
 
 " Enough," said Craig Aral, when Al- 
 lan Breck had signed his deposition. 
 " Nothing more remains for us to do 
 but to draw up the necessary warrant, 
 and commit the accused to the jail of 
 
 . Yet I could have wished that, 
 
 prior to his death, Lochullin had been 
 minutely interrogated, especially as the 
 untimely fate of Fasnacloich and Alister 
 Chisholm creates so material a blank in 
 the evidence." 
 
 " I was present when my grandson 
 died," interposed sir Colin ; " and though 
 given in no judicial form, his last words 
 were assuredly corroborative of all that 
 has been deposed. A denunciation 
 against his murderer lingered on his 
 lips at the moment his soul took flight ; 
 and with that denunciation was coupled 
 o 4 the
 
 296 MACRIMMON. 
 
 the loathsome name of the wretch before 
 us." 
 
 As sir Colin began to speak, Lillias. 
 leaning on her aunt, entered the hall ; 
 and prepared as was her mind for the 
 scene before her, she instantly compre- 
 hended the purport of the chieftain's 
 speech. Dragging her supporter along, 
 she advanced between the rows of obse- 
 quious dependants, who had opened a path 
 for her approach, and, without waiting 
 to be interrogated, exclaimed — ■ Not so, 
 not so, my grandfather ! iEneas never in- 
 tended to criminate Mr. Clifford ; but by 
 his last words, spoken in sanity, sought 
 to establish his innocence, and efface 
 those suspicions a rashly-uttered question 
 had given rise to." 
 
 " What means the frantic girl ?* in- 
 quired sir Colin, as he viewed her with 
 an aspect similar to what he might have 
 put on, had the shade of his d* 
 grandson started up before him. " Sor- 
 row
 
 MACRIMMON. 297 
 
 row has shaken her reason, I apprehend. 
 Unn," and he turned to her sister, " lead 
 Miss Macara to her room ; and let care 
 be taken, that on an occasion so momen- 
 tous we are not a second time disturb- 
 ed." 
 
 " Not yet — I go not yet !" cried Lil- 
 lias, refusing Unn's tendered assistance. 
 " I have much to say touching this mat- 
 ter; and though never permitted to speak 
 again, must speak now." 
 
 " Speak then, in God's name !" said 
 the chieftain. " Your brother's murder- 
 er is before you — so the moment brooks 
 not trifling." 
 
 " He may be before me," said Lillias, 
 glancing her eyes round the hall, till 
 they encountered and steadily fixed on 
 the whitened cheeks of Glen Eynort ; 
 " but if a dying man is to be believed, 
 he whom I see a prisoner is not the man. 
 In my hearing, and with his hand lock- 
 ed in that of Mr. Clifford, Lochullin 
 made and desired me to bear witness to 
 o 5 this
 
 298 MACRIMMOtf. 
 
 this declaration. I pledged myself so to 
 do, when he should be on his bier ; and 
 that you, sir Colin, might give similar 
 testimony, was I sent to require your at- 
 tendance. Alas ! before you reached his 
 apartment, my brother's reason had be- 
 gun to wander ; and the incoherences 
 of delirium were what you misconstru- 
 ed into testification against our guest.'" 
 
 Sir Colin was staggered for a moment, 
 as was Craig Aral ; and the latter made 
 haste to assert as much. — " She is the 
 sister of the departed," said he, " and. 
 instead of having a desire to screen Ihn 
 murderer, must naturally incline to bring 
 him to punishment. It really appear^ 
 so improbable that the young English- 
 man should, without motive or provoca- 
 tion, wantonly take the life, or even seek 
 to injure, one with whom he was on 
 terms of the most friendly intimacy, that 
 I confess myself reluctant to airix my 
 name to an instrument branding him 
 with infamy." 
 
 " The-
 
 MACRIMMON. 299 
 
 " The deed might be perpetrated with- 
 out malice prepense," observed the laird 
 of Ben Ard; " consequently we require to 
 find neither motive nor provocation. I 
 do not hesitate to express my conviction 
 that Lochullin came accidentally by his 
 death, or, at least, that the stone which 
 slew him was flung without a wicked in- 
 tent " 
 
 " That is not here to be determined," 
 interrupted sir Colin, gruffly. " Homi- 
 cide has been committed, and a higher 
 tribunal must decide under what cir- 
 cumstances." 
 
 " It is serious matter," said Craig Aral, 
 doubtingly, " to give a verdict which, 
 though hereafter set aside, must have a 
 most injurious effect on the future for- 
 tune of the young man. If cause could 
 be shewn " 
 
 " Cause can be shewn," interposed 
 Glen Eynort, who liked not the bias the 
 affair was taking. "Sir Colin, it is in 
 my power to assign a motive for the pri- 
 soner's
 
 300 MACRIMMON. 
 
 soner's conduct, which will go nigh to 
 prove that it was a premeditated act; 
 but I hesitate to speak — a family- secret 
 is involved." 
 
 " Out with it !" exclaimed sir Colin, 
 attending to nothing but the instiga- 
 tions of revenge. " At such a moment 
 family-secrets must give way to family- 
 duty." 
 
 Not only the prisoner, but almost 
 every person in the hall, started with sur- 
 prise at Glen Eynort's declaration ; and 
 there was somewhat of sternness in Craig 
 Aral's voice, as he said — " This is going 
 far, sir. Keep in remembrance that the 
 life of a fellow-creature may hereafter de- 
 pend on your present adherence to 
 truth, and that the least show of incon- 
 sistency may go far to invalidate your 
 foregoing deposition." 
 
 " I shall keep your advice in view. 
 Craig Aral," answered Glen Eynort. 
 proudly. " At present I tread ground 
 too well known to get bewildered. A\ 
 
 rice
 
 MACRIMMON. 301 
 
 rice was the motive that raised the hand 
 of a false friend against my kinsman." 
 
 " Avarice !" echoed many voices at 
 once, while a murmur of incredulity 
 spread through the assembly. 
 
 " Yes, avarice !" returned the depo- 
 nent, firmly. " I do not mean to aver 
 that it was for the sake of what might 
 be in his victim's pockets that the pri- 
 soner perpetrated so heinous a crime. 
 Lillias Macara, by the death of her bro- 
 ther, inherits his estate, and this stran- 
 ger had dared to purpose sharing it with 
 her !" 
 
 " Monster of iniquity !" ejaculated sir 
 Colin, turning furiously on the prisoner, 
 while all stood aghast, " can it really be 
 so ? To the proof, Ninian — to the proof! 
 we have dallied long enough." 
 
 " The proof is this," resumed Glen 
 Eynort. " Two days preceding that on 
 which we visited Craig Aral, I returned 
 to Glen Rimmon, after a short absence. 
 The interest I take in the affliction of 
 
 Riach
 
 302 MACRIMMON. 
 
 Riach MacRyri, my unhappy foster-fa- 
 ther, is generally known ; I therefore, 
 before announcing my arrival at the cat- 
 tle, first visited the Fall of Smoke, in 
 the caverns of which he is frequently 
 to be found. While in his miserable 
 abode, the sound of voices from above 
 attracted my attention, and, anxious to 
 know from whence the shouts proceeded, 
 I sallied forth. On the projection over- 
 hanging the mouth of the cave, I found 
 two of the intruders seated, and in ear- 
 nest converse i those two persons were 
 Miss Macara and the prisoner ; and 
 their tete-a-tete seemed interesting, I was 
 too gallant to break in upon it, yet, 
 with shame, confess I could not resist the 
 temptation of learning its import. How 
 I blush to declare, that I heard a taU 
 love poured by such a man into the 0KB 
 of a daughter of Macrimmon ! Yet so it 
 was; and let him who can confute it. 
 
 " Are ye both dumb?" exclaimed sir 
 Colin, wrathfully rolling his glance on 
 
 Clifford
 
 MACRIMMON. 303 
 
 Clifford and his granddaughter. " Trem- 
 bling girl ! have you not one drop of Mac- 
 rimmon's blood, that you stand tamely 
 by, and hear an honourable name thus 
 degraded ?" 
 
 " It is not Miss Macara that ought to 
 speak," said Clifford, desperately. " If 
 I did for a moment lose self-command, 
 and avow how much I admired her, her 
 situation was such as to leave her no al- 
 ternative but to listen. Aware that false 
 witness bears strongly against me, I will 
 here enter into no personal defence; but 
 whatever death I die, the recollection of 
 this hour shall sweeten it. With such 
 an advocate — a defender, I submit that 
 for the present all the world believe me 
 guilty." 
 
 " Take the presumptuous caitiff from 
 my sight !" exclaimed sir Colin, foaming 
 with rage. " He shall die, though 
 Macrimmon's own hand should shed 
 his blood ; and that mean-spirited girl 
 
 too
 
 304 MaCRIMMON. 
 
 too — why is she left here to dishonour 
 me?" 
 
 The last remains of that firmness and 
 resolution, which only such an event 
 could have called forth from the mild 
 and timid Lillias, had not yet totally 
 evaporated. As she saw the attendants 
 about to lead Clifford away, she once 
 more spoke in his behalf. — " Then false- 
 hood triumphs," were her words, " and 
 the innocent must submit. But one 
 struggle more shall be made, if I have 
 life granted to make it. Hear me, Mr. 
 Clifford, before you go to your lonely 
 cell, and take comfort from my promw . 
 if comfort yet can reach your heart. At 
 the bar of that tribunal, whose preroga- 
 tive it is to award punishment or acquit- 
 tal, I will appear, and repeat the la>t 
 words of our sainted Loch u Hi n ! If 1 
 save your life, I shall accomplish more 
 good than I ever hoped to perform du- 
 ring my sojourn on earth — if I fail, 
 
 then
 
 MACRIMMON. 305 
 
 then let the name of Macrimmon bear 
 the credit of the deed !" 
 
 Clifford heard not the conclusion of 
 this address, but he heard sufficient to 
 yield consolation, terrible as was the mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Lillias was conducted to her apart- 
 ment, in a state of agony that seemed to 
 threaten her intellect, to the partial de- 
 rangement of which sir Colin attributed 
 her behaviour. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 Printed by J. Darling, Leadenhall-Street, London.
 
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