ed fitfully; so slipped gradually into the deeper sleep from
which there is no awakening this side of the tomb. Thus he passed quietly
to the great beyond, an unfearing cynic to the last hour of his life.

THE AFTERWORD

My pardon came next day, duly signed and sealed, with the customary rider
to it that I must renounce the Stuarts, and swear allegiance to King
George. I am no hero of romance, but a plain Englishman, a prosaic lover
of roast beef and old claret, of farming and of fox-hunting. Our cause was
dead, and might as well be buried. Not to make long of the matter, I took
the oath without scruple. To my pardon there was one other proviso: that I
must live on my estate until further notice. If at any time I were found
ten miles from Montagu Grange, the pardon was to be void.

Aileen and I moved to our appointed home at once. It may be believed that
our hearts were full of the most tender joy and love, for I had been
snatched from the jaws of death into the very sunshine of life. We had but
one cloud to mar the bright light--the death of many a dear friend, and
most of all, of that friendly enemy who had given his life for her good
name. Moralists point out to me that he was a great sinner. I care not if
it be so. Let others condemn him; I do not. Rather I cherish the memory of
a gallant, faultful gentleman whose life found wrong expression. There be
some to whom are given inheritance of evil nature. Then how dare we, who
know not the measure of their temptation, make ourselves judges of their
sin?

At the Grange we found awaiting us an unexpected visitor, a red-haired,
laughing Highlander, who, though in hiding, was as full of merriment as a
schoolboy home for the holidays. To Cloe he made most ardent love, and
when, at last, Donald Roy slipped across the waters to St. Germains, he
carried with him a promise that was redeemed after the general amnesty was
passed.

Six weeks after my pardon Malcolm Macleod and Miss Flora Macdonald stopped
at the Grange for a short visit with us. They were on their way north,
having been at length released without a trial, since the passion for
blood was now spent.

"We three, with Captain Donald Roy and Tony Creagh, came to London to be
hangit," smiled Major Macleod as they were about to resume their journey.
"Twa-three times the rope tightened around the gullets of some of us, yet
in the end we all win free. You and Tony have already embraced the other
noose; Donald