tioned. Some, indeed, surmised that he caused the enterprise to
be suggested to Donald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconciliation,
which, supposing that to be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine two
good milch-cows. This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart repaid
with a considerable share of their confidence, an occasional supply of
louis d'or, abundance of fair words, and a parchment, with a huge waxen
seal appended, purporting to be an Earl's patent, granted by no less
a person than James the Third King of England, and Eighth King of
Scotland, to his right leal, trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of
Glennaquoich, in the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland.

With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plunged
deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy period; and,
like all such active agents, easily reconciled his conscience to going
certain lengths in the service of his party, from which honour and pride
would have deterred him, had his sole object been the direct advancement
of his own personal interest. With this insight into a bold, ambitious,
and ardent, yet artful and politic character, we resume the broken
thread of our narrative.

The Chief and his guest had by this time reached the house of
Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, a high
rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a lofted house, that is,
a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus's grandfather when he
returned from that memorable expedition, well remembered by the western
shires under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of this
crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian Vohr
of the time had probably been as successful as his predecessor was in
harrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rival
edifice, as a monument of his magnificence.

Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a narrow
Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention to convenience,
far less to ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds a
gentleman's habitation. An enclosure or two, divided by dry-stone walls,
were the only part of the domain that was fenced; as to the rest,
the narrow slips of level ground which lay by the side of the brook
exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant depredations from
the herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent
hills. These ever and anon