ser, for high treason, in forming unlawful associations,
collecting an armed force, occupying and fortifying houses and
garrisons, &c.," was left by the herald, pursuant to an old Scottish
custom, in a cloven stick which was deposited at the river side,
opposite to the Isle of Aigas.[151] Of this no notice was taken by
Simon, except to renew his addresses to his clan, and to hasten, as far
as he could from his secluded retreat, a systematic resistance to the
Marquis of Athole, and even to the royal troops, whose approach was
expected. But his fears were aroused. Again he sought to avert the
coming danger by concession; and he determined, in the first instance,
on restoring Lady Lovat to her friends.

It is stated by Mr. Arbuthnot, but still on the authority of the Master
of Lovat, that Lady Lovat had now become reluctant to return to her
relations. Nor is it improbable that this statement is true, without
referring that reluctance to any affection for the wretch with whom her
fate was linked. She complied, nevertheless, with the proposal of the
Master; and leaving the Island of Aigas, she proceeded first to Castle
Downie, and afterwards to Dunkeld, where, according to Arbuthnot, she
was obliged by her brother, the Marquis, to join in a prosecution
against her husband, for a crime which she had forgiven. According to a
letter from the Duke of Argyle, addressed to the Rev. Mr. Carstares,
chaplain to King William, she fully exculpated the Master from the
charges made against him on her account.[152] This exculpation was
doubtless given when the unhappy woman was under the influence of that
subtle and powerful mind, which lent its aid to its guilty schemes.
Simon Fraser himself, as we have seen, in writing to Duncan Forbes,
declared--"I am very hopeful in my dear wife's constancy, if they do not
put her to death." This might be only a part of his usual acting,--a
trait of that dissimulation which was the moral taint of his character;
or it may have been true that the humiliated being whom he called his
wife had really learned to cherish one who seemed born to be distrusted,
hated, and shunned.

The return of Lady Lovat to her family was of no avail in mitigating the
indignation of the Marquis of Athole. By his influence with the Privy
Council, who were, it is said, completely under his control, he procured
an order from King William for the march of troops against the clan of
Fraser, with instructions, according to Simon F