tory. And the Whispers are, I suppose, said to be the
ghostly conspirators in conclave."

"That's what folk say, miss. They div say as weel that Auld Nick himsel'
was present, an' gied the decision that the Cardinal, wha was to be
askit ower frae Stirlin', should dee. It is his evil counsel that is
h'ard by those whom death will quickly overtake."

"Really, Stewart," she laughed, "you make me feel quite uncomfortable."

"But, miss, Sir Henry already kens a' aboot the Whispers," said the man.
"I h'ard him tellin' a young gentleman wha cam' doon last shootin'
season a guid dale aboot it. They veesited the auld castle thegither,
an' I happened tae be hereaboots."

This caused the girl to resolve to learn from her father what she could.
He was an antiquary, and had the history of Glencardine at his
finger-ends.

So presently she strolled back to Stewart's cottage, and after receiving
from the faithful servant urgent injunctions to "have a care" of
herself, she walked on to the tennis-lawn, where, shaded by the high
trees, Lady Heyburn, in white serge, and three of her male guests were
playing.

"Father," she said that same evening, when they had settled down to
commence work upon those ever-arriving documents from Paris, "what was
the cause of Glencardine becoming a ruin?"

"Well, the reason of its downfall was Lord Glencardine's change of
front," he answered. "In 1638 he became a stalwart supporter of
Episcopacy and Divine Right, a course which proved equally fatal to
himself and to his ancient Castle of Glencardine. Reid, in his _Annals
of Auchterarder_, relates how, after the Civil War, Lord Dundrennan, in
company with his cousin, George Lochan of Ochiltree, and burgess of
Auchterarder and the Laird of M'Nab, descended into Strathearn and
occupied the castle with about fifty men. He hurriedly put it into a
state of defence. General Overton besieged the place in person, with his
army, consisting of eighteen hundred foot and eleven hundred horse, and
battered the walls with cannon, having brought a number of great
ordnance from Stirling Castle. For ten days the castle was held by the
small but resolute garrison, and might have held out longer had not the
well failed. With the prospect of death before them in the event of the
place being taken, Dundrennan and Lochan contrived to break through the
enemy, who surrounded the castle on all sides. A page of the name of
John Hamilton, in attendance upon Lord Dundrennan, w