inking that
Flora and her stepfather must have had a good deal of amusement
concocting this circumstantial and picturesque falsehood.

As soon as she was set at liberty Flora went to Ormaclade, where Lady
Clanranald entered heartily into the plan. Among her stores they chose a
light coloured quilted petticoat, a flowered gown--lilac flowers on a
white ground, to be particular--an apron and a long duffle cloak.
Fortunately Highland women are tall and large, for the Prince's height,
5 feet 10 inches, though moderate for a man, looked ungainly enough in
petticoats.

[Illustration]

It was Friday the 25th before the way was clear for Flora and Lady
Clanranald to meet the Prince at the rendezvous at Rossinish in
Benbecula. The four intervening days had been full of difficulties for
Charles and O'Neal. The fords between the two islands were so well
guarded that there was no chance of their being able to cross them on
foot; they had no boat, and the hours were passing for them in an agony
of suspense. At last they risked asking a chance boat which was passing
to set them across, and accomplished the passage in safety. But when
they did arrive at the hut at Rossinish, cold, wet, and wearied, they
found that a party of militia were encamped within half a mile, and that
the soldiers came every morning to that very hut for milk. Charles was
by this time accustomed to the feeling that he was carrying his life in
his hands. At daybreak he had to leave the hut to make room for his
pursuers, all day he had to lie in an unsheltered fissure of a rock,
where the rain--the heavy, relentless rain of the West Highlands--poured
down on him; if it did clear at all, then that other plague of the
Highlands, swarms of midges, nearly drove him distracted. On Friday the
militiamen moved off, and the way being clear, Lady Clanranald, Miss
Flora Macdonald, and a certain Mrs. Macdonald of Kirkibost came to visit
him and O'Neal in their hut, bringing the female attire with them.
These loyal ladies found their lawful sovereign roasting a sheep's liver
on a spit; but neither discomfort, danger, nor dirt could do away with
the courtly charm of his manner or the fine gaiety of his address. He
placed Miss Macdonald on his right hand--he always gave his preserver
the seat of honour--and Lady Clanranald at his left, and the strange
little dinner-party proceeded merrily. But before it was finished a
messenger broke in to tell Lady Clanranald that the infam