the Lord liveth," cried Venner, "I hear my sainted father laying
down the law, and I do Captain MacKay filial reverence. May I inquire
whether Scotland is raising many such noble Puritans, for they are
quickly dying out in England. Such savory and godly conversation have
I not heard for years, and it warms my heart."

"The sooner the knaves die out in England the better," cried Collier;
"but I mean no offence to Venner, who is no more a Puritan than I am,
though he has learned their talk, and none at all to Captain MacKay,
whom I salute, and of whose good services when he was fighting on the
other side we have all heard. Nor can I, indeed, believe that he is a
Roundhead, for I was always given to understand that Highland
gentlemen were always Cavaliers, and high-spirited soldiers."

"Ye be wrong then, good comrades," broke in Claverhouse, "for all
Highlanders be not of the same way of thinking, though I grant you
most of them are what ye judge. But have you never heard of the godly
Marquis of Argyle, who took such care of himself on the field of
battle, but afterwards happened to lose his head through a little
accident, and his swarm of Campbells, besides some other clans that I
will not mention? My kinsman of immortal memory, whom I maintain to be
the finest gentleman and most skilful general Scotland has yet reared,
could have told you that there were Highland Roundheads; he knew them,
and they knew him, and I hope I need not be telling this company what
happened when they met." As Graham spoke, it may have been the
firelight on MacKay's face, but it seemed to flush and his expression
to harden. However, he said no word and made no sign, and Claverhouse,
whose voice was as smooth as ever, but whose eyes were flashing fire,
continued: "If there should be trouble soon in Scotland, and my advice
from home tells me that the fanatics in the West will soon be coming
to a head and taking to the field, we shall know that some of the
clans are loyal and some of them are not. And for my own part, I care
not how soon we come to our duel in Scotland. Please God, I would
dearly love to have the settling of the matter. With a few thousand
Camerons, Macphersons, MacDonalds, and such like, I will guarantee
that I could teach the Psalm-singing canters a lesson they would never
forget. But I crave pardon for touching on our national differences,
when we had better be employed in cracking another flask of that good
Burgundy." And Grah