lord, who is your drummer?' Upon which his
lordship turned pale, Lady Airlie looked distressed, and several of
the company, who all heard the question, embarrassed; whilst the lady,
perceiving that she had made some unpleasant allusion, although she
knew not to what their feelings referred, forebore further inquiry
till she reached the drawing-room; when, having mentioned the
circumstance again to a member of the family, she was answered, 'What,
have you never heard of the drummer boy?' 'No,' replied Miss D.; 'who
in the world is he?' 'Why,' replied the other, 'he is a person who
goes about the house playing his drum, whenever there is a death
impending in the family. The last time he was heard was shortly before
the death of the last Countess (the Earl's former wife); and that is
why Lord Airlie became so pale when you mentioned it. The drummer boy
is a very unpleasant subject in this family, I assure you.'

"Miss D. was naturally much concerned, and indeed not a little
frightened at this explanation, and her alarm being augmented by
hearing the sounds on the following day, she took her departure from
Cortachy Castle, and returned to Lord C.'s, where she related this
strange circumstance to the family, through whom the information
reached me.

"This affair was very generally known in the north, and we awaited the
event with interest. The melancholy death of the Countess about five
or six months afterwards, at Brighton, sadly verified the
prognostications. I have heard that a paper was found in her desk
after her death, declaring her conviction that the drum was for her."

Mrs. Crowe goes on to explain the origin of the phenomenon. According
to legend, she says, there was once at Cortachy a drummer, who,
incurring the jealousy of the then Lord Airlie, was thrust into his
own drum and flung from a window of the tower (in which, by the way,
Miss D. slept). Before being put to death thus, the drummer is stated
to have said he would for ever after haunt the Airlie family--a threat
he has obviously been permitted to fulfil.

During one of my visits to Scotland, I stayed some days in Forfarshire
not far from Cortachy. Among the visitors at my hotel was a very old
gentleman of the name of Porter, who informed me that, when a boy, he
used to visit some relatives who, at that time, lived within easy
walking distance of Cortachy. One of these relatives was a lad of
about fourteen, named Alec, with whom he had always been the