d Hope Park
and Pilrig, and poor old Lochend--if it still be standing, and the
Figgate Whins--if there be any of them left; or to push (on a long
holiday) so far afield as Gillane or the Bass. So, perhaps, his eye
shall be opened to behold the series of the generations, and he shall
weigh with surprise his momentous and nugatory gift of life.

You are still--as when first I saw, as when I last addressed you--in the
venerable city which I must always think of as my home. And I have come
so far; and the sights and thoughts of my youth pursue me; and I see
like a vision the youth of my father, and of his father, and the whole
stream of lives flowing down there, far in the north, with the sound of
laughter and tears, to cast me out in the end, as by a sudden freshet,
on those ultimate islands. And I admire and bow my head before the
romance of destiny.

R.L.S.

VAILIMA,
UPOLU,
SAMOA,
1902.

* * * * *

CONTENTS

Part I

_THE LORD ADVOCATE_

I. A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK
II. THE HIGHLAND WRITER
III. I GO TO PILRIG
IV. LORD ADVOCATE PRESTONGRANGE
V. IN THE ADVOCATE'S HOUSE
VI. UMQHILE THE MASTER OF LOVAT
VII. I MAKE A FAULT IN HONOUR
VIII. THE BRAVO
IX. THE HEATHER ON FIRE
X. THE RED-HEADED MAN
XI. THE WOOD BY SILVERMILLS
XII. ON THE MARCH AGAIN WITH ALAN
XIII. GILLANE SANDS
XIV. THE BASS
XV. BLACK ANDIE'S TALE OF TOD LAPRAIK
XVI. THE MISSING WITNESS
XVII. THE MEMORIAL
XVIII. THE TEE'D BALL
XIX. I AM MUCH IN THE HANDS OF THE LADIES
XX. I CONTINUE TO MOVE IN GOOD SOCIETY

Part II

_FATHER AND DAUGHTER_

XXI. THE VOYAGE INTO HOLLAND
XXII. HELVOETSLUYS
XXIII. TRAVELS IN HOLLAND
XXIV. FULL STORY OF A COPY OF HEINECCIUS
XXV. THE RETURN OF JAMES MORE
XXVI. THE THREESOME
XXVII. A TWOSOME
XXVIII. IN WHICH I AM LEFT ALONE
XXIX. WE MEET IN DUNKIRK
XXX. THE LETTER FROM THE SHIP
XXXI. CONCLUSION

* * * * *

PART I

THE LORD ADVOCATE

* * * * *

CHAPTER I

A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK

The 25th day of August, 1751, about two in the afternoon, I, David
Balfour, came forth of the British Linen Company, a porter attending me
with a bag of mo