mine."

"Ah, we'll see about that, Jamie."

"We will, Ballengeich," said MacDonald with confident precision. And
so the contest began.

The girl, who saw few in her father's castle to be compared with those
whom she supposed to be mere visitors at Dunvegan, was at first
equally charming to each. A younger sister was her almost constant
companion, which was very well at first but latterly became irksome to
both the suitors. Occasionally, however, one James or the other saw
her alone and made the most of the opportunity presented, but the king
soon found himself tremendously handicapped in the matter of language.
The young lady possessed a keen sense of humour, and this, with the
ever present knowledge that her English was not that of the schools,
made her loth to adventure in that tongue before one accustomed to
its polished use. This same sense of humour was equally embarrassing
when the king madly plunged into the intricacies and ambushes of
the Gaelic. His majesty was brave enough for anything and did not
hesitate, as a forlorn hope, to call his scant knowledge of the Gaelic
to his aid, but even he could see that the result was invariably
unhappy, for although the girl made every endeavour to retain her
composure, there were times when some unfortunate phrase made her
slight frame quiver with suppressed merriment, and no one knew better
than the baffled king, that laughter banishes sentiment. The serious
Highlander, not less manly and handsome than his competitor, was
gifted with an immeasurable advantage in his familiarity with every
phase and inflection of his native vernacular. In his despair the
king struck up a close friendship with Donald, the second son of
the MacLeod, the elder son being absent on some foray or expedition,
and his majesty made a frantic effort to learn the only speech with
which his new comrade was equipped. But this race against time gave
MacDonald long and uninterrupted conferences with his inamorata, and
the king saw, too late, the futility of his endeavour. It might have
been wiser if he had taken his lessons from the girl herself instead
of from her brother, but his majesty was more proficient in teaching
than in learning from the fair sex. He had come to the conclusion that
his uninteresting rambles with Donald were not likely to further his
quest, and was sitting in his room cogitating upon some new method of
attack when MacDonald burst into the apartment with radiant face. The
king