sanction
of society and yet quite natural. I had fought for her, and her warm heart
forbade her to go her way and leave me to live or die as chance might
will. As she would move about the room ministering to our wants, wrapped
in her sweet purity and grace, more than once I caught on his face a pain
of wistfulness that told me of another man beneath the polished heartless
Macaroni. For the moment I knew he repented him of his attempted wrong,
though I could not know that a day of manly reparation would come to blot
out his sin against her.

As we grew better Aileen's visits became shorter and less frequent, so
that our only temptation to linger over our illness was removed. One day
Sir Robert limped slowly across the floor on the arm of Creagh while I
watched him enviously. From that time his improvement was rapid and within
a week he came to make his adieux to me. Dressed point-devise, he was once
more every inch a fop.

"I sha'n't say good-bye, Montagu, to either you or the lady, because I
expect to see you both again soon. I have a shot in my locker that will
bring you to mighty short one of these days. Tony Creagh is going to
London with me in my coach. Sorry you and the lady won't take the other
two seats. Well, au revoir. Hope you'll be quite fit when you come up for
the next round." And waving a hand airily at me he went limping down the
stairs, devoid of grace yet every motion eloquent of it, to me a living
paradox.

Nor was it long before I too was able to crawl out into the sunshine with
Aileen Macleod and Captain Macdonald as my crutches. Not far from the inn
was a grove of trees, and in it a rustic seat or two. Hither we three
repaired for many a quiet hour of talk. Long ago Donald had established
his relationship with Aileen. It appeared that he was a cousin about eight
degrees removed. None but a Highlander would have counted it at all, but
for them it sufficed. Donald Roy had an extraordinary taking way with
women, and he got on with the girl much more easily than I did. Indeed, to
hear them daffing with each other one would have said they had been
brought up together instead of being acquaintances of less than three
weeks standing.

Yet Donald was so clever with it all that I was never the least jealous of
him. He was forever taking pains to show me off well before her, making as
much of my small attainments as a hen with one chick. Like many of the
West country Highlanders he was something of a sch