lished and glittering as they had not been
since he rode to Glenogilvie, and he suspected that an old hand had
been at work. Another day his cuirass was so well and carefully
done, his uniform so perfectly brushed and laid out, and his lace
cravat so skilfully arranged that he was certain Grimond was doing
secret duty. Day by day the signs of his attention grew more
frequent and visible, till at last one morning he appeared in person,
and without remark began to assist his master with his arms. Nothing
passed between them, and for weeks relations were very strained,
but before the end Grimond knew that he had been forgiven for his
superfluity of loyalty, and Dundee was thankful that, as the
shadows settled upon his life blacker and deeper every day, one
honest man was his companion, and would remain true when every
fair-weather friend and false schemer had fled. One can make
excuses for jealousy when it is another name for love; one may not
quarrel with doggedness when it is another name for devotion. There
are not too many people who have in them the heart to be faithful unto
death, not too many who will place one's interest before their own
life. When one's back is at the wall, and he is not sure even of his
nearest, he will not despise or quarrel with the roughest or plainest
man who will stand by his side and share his lot, either of life or
death. So Jock was reinstated without pardon asked or given, and
with no reference to the tragedy of Glenogilvie, and Dundee knew that
he had beside him a faithful and fearless watchdog of the tough old
Scottish breed. As Grimond busied himself with preparations for the
evening meal--among other dark suspicions he had taken into his head
that Dundee might be poisoned--his master's eye fell on him, and
at the sight memory woke. John Graham recalled the days when Grimond
received him from the charge of his nurse, and took him out upon
the hills round Glenogilvie. How he taught him to catch trout with
his own hands below the big stones of the burn, how he told him the
names of the wild birds and their ways, how he gave him his first
lesson in sport, how one day he saved his life, when he was about to
be gored by an infuriated bull. All the kindness of this hard man
and his thoughtfulness, all his faithfulness and unselfishness,
touched Dundee's heart--a heart capable of affection for a few,
though it could never be called tender, and capable of sentiment,
though rather that which i