wn a tartan shawl.

"Eh, Dickson, but I'm blithe to see ye. And puir man, ye've been sair
mishandled. This is the awfu'est Sabbath day that ever you and me pit
in. I hope it'll be forgiven us.... Whaur's the young leddy?"

"Dougal was saying she was in the House with Sir Archibald and the men
from the Mains."

"Wae's me!" Mrs. Morran keened. "And what kind o' place is yon for
her? Thae laddies tell me there's boatfu's o' scoondrels landit at the
Garplefit. They'll try the auld Tower, but they'll no' wait there when
they find it toom, and they'll be inside the Hoose in a jiffy and awa'
wi' the puir lassie. Sirs, it maunna be. Ye're lippenin' to the
polis, but in a' my days I never kenned the polis in time. We maun be
up and daein' oorsels. Oh, if I could get a haud o' that red-heided
Dougal..."

As she spoke there came on the wind the dull reverberation of an
explosion.

"Keep us, what's that?" she cried.

"It's dinnymite," said Peter Paterson.

"That's the end o' the auld Tower," observed Thomas Yownie in his
quiet, even voice. "And it's likely the end o' the man Heritage."

"Lord peety us!" the old woman wailed. "And us standin' here like
stookies and no' liftin' a hand. Awa' wi ye, laddies, and dae
something. Awa' you too, Dickson, or I'll tak' the road mysel'."

"I've got orders," said the Chief of Staff, "no' to move till the
sityation's clear. Napoleon's up at the Tower and Jaikie's in the
policies. I maun wait on their reports."

For a moment Mrs. Morran's attention was distracted by Dickson, who
suddenly felt very faint and sat down heavily on a kitchen chair. "Man,
ye're as white as a dish-clout," she exclaimed with compunction. "Ye're
fair wore out, and ye'll have had nae meat sin' your breakfast. See,
and I'll get ye a cup o' tea."

She proved to be in the right, for as soon as Dickson had swallowed
some mouthfuls of her strong scalding brew the colour came back to his
cheeks, and he announced that he felt better. "Ye'll fortify it wi' a
dram," she told him, and produced a black bottle from her cupboard. "My
father aye said that guid whisky and het tea keepit the doctor's gig
oot o' the close."

The back door opened and Napoleon entered, his thin shanks blue with
cold. He saluted and made his report in a voice shrill with excitement.

"The Tower has fallen. They've blown in the big door, and the feck o'
them's inside."

"And Mr. Heritage?" was Dickson's anxious inquiry.

"When