Audrey

"You do wrong to allow so much dust and disorder," he said sharply. "I

could write my name in that mirror, and there is a piece of brocade fallen

to the floor. Look to it that you keep the place more neat."

There was dead silence for a moment; then MacLean spoke in an even voice:

"Now a fool might call you as brave as Hector. For myself, I only give you

credit for some knowledge of men. You are right. It is not my way to

strike in the back an unarmed man. When you are gone, I will wipe off the

mirror and pick up the brocade."

He followed Haward outside. "It's a brave evening for riding," he

remarked, "and you have a bonny bit of horseflesh there. You'll get to the

house before candlelight."

Beside one of the benches Haward made another pause. "You are a Highlander

and a Jacobite," he said. "From your reference to Forster, I gather that

you were among the prisoners taken at Preston and transported to

Virginia."

"In the Elizabeth and Anne of Liverpool, alias a bit of hell afloat; the

master, Captain Edward Trafford, alias Satan's first mate," quoth the

other grimly.

He stooped to the bench where lay the débris of the coast and mountains he

had been lately building, and picked up a small, deep shell. "My story is

short," he began. "It could be packed into this. I was born in the island

of Mull, of my father a chieftain, and my mother a lady. Some schooling I

got in Aberdeen, some pleasure in Edinburgh and London, and some service

abroad. In my twenty-third year--being at home at that time--I was asked

to a hunting match at Braemar, and went. No great while afterwards I was

bidden to supper at an Edinburgh tavern, and again I accepted the

invitation. There was a small entertainment to follow the supper,--just

the taking of Edinburgh Castle. But the wine was good, and we waited to

powder our hair, and the entertainment could hardly be called a success.

Hard upon that convivial evening, I, with many others, was asked across

the Border to join a number of gentlemen who drank to the King after our

fashion, and had a like fancy for oak boughs and white roses. The weather

was pleasant, the company of the best, the roads very noble after our

Highland sheep tracks. Together with our English friends, and enlivened by

much good claret and by music of bagpipe and drum, we strolled on through

a fine, populous country until we came to a town called Preston, where we

thought we would tarry for a day or two. However, circumstances arose

which detained us somewhat longer. (I dare say you have heard the story?)

When finally we took our leave, some of us went to heaven, some to hell,

and some to Barbadoes and Virginia. I was among those dispatched to

Virginia, and to all intents and purposes I died the day I landed. There,

the shell is full!"