ou are just the warst rebel between the seas! King
George ought to hang you up at Carlisle-gate. And this is painting!
This is artist's wark! And you choose your subjects wisely, Colin: it
is a gift the angels might be proud o'." He lingered long in the room,
and when he left it, "Prince Charlie" and the "Clan's Farewell" were
his own. They were to go back with him to the manse at Crawford.

CHAPTER IX.

It was, upon the whole, a wonderful week to Tallisker; he returned
home with the determination that the laird must recall his banished.
He had tried to induce Colin to condone all past grievances, but Colin
had, perhaps wisely, said that he could not go back upon a momentary
impulse. The laird must know all, and accept him just as he was. He
had once been requested not to come home unless he came prepared to
enter into political life. He had refused the alternative then, and he
should refuse it again. The laird must understand these things, or the
quarrel would probably be renewed, perhaps aggravated.

And Tallisker thought that, in this respect, Colin was right. He would
at any rate hide nothing from the laird, he should know all; and
really he thought he ought to be very grateful that the "all" was so
much better than might have been.

The laird was not glad. A son brought down to eat the husk of evil
ways, poor, sick, suppliant, would have found a far readier welcome.
He would gladly have gone to meet Colin, even while he was yet a great
way off, only he wanted Colin to be weary and footsore and utterly
dependent on his love. He heard with a grim silence Tallisker's
description of the house in Regent's Place, with its flowers and
books, its statues, pictures, and conservatory. When Tallisker told
him of the condition of the Crawfords in Canada, he was greatly moved.
He was interested and pleased with the Texan struggle. He knew nothing
of Texas, had never heard of the country, but Mexicans, Spaniards, and
the Inquisition were one in his mind.

"That at least was Crawford-like," he said warmly, when told of
Colin's part in the struggle.

But the subsequent settlement of the clan there hurt him terribly. "He
should hae told me. He shouldna hae minded what I said in such a case.
I had a right to know. Colin has used me vera hardly about this. Has
he not, Tallisker?"

"Yes, laird, Colin was vera wrong there. He knows it now."

"What is he doing in such a grand house? How does he live?"

"He is an artist-