oken

As the unhappy bride came out to the beggar-man he bent his head in
greeting, and she noticed his travel-stained dress and said: "You have
come from far, good man"; and he replied: "Yes, lady, I have seen many
distant lands." "Alas! others have gone to see distant lands and have
not returned," said she. "If you would have a drink from the hands of
the bride herself, I am she, and you may take your wine now"; and,
holding a bowl in her hands, she bade the servant fill it with wine,
and then gave it to Colin. "I drink to your happiness," said he, and
drained the bowl. As he gave it back to the lady he placed within it
the token, the half of the engraved ring. "I return it richer than I
took it, lady," said he, and his wife looked within and saw the token.

The Recognition

Trembling violently, she snatched the tiny bit of gold from the bottom
of the bowl, which fell to the ground and broke at her feet, and then
she saw her own name engraved upon it. She looked long and long at the
token, and then, pulling a chain at her neck, drew out her half of the
ring with Colin's name engraved on it. "O stranger, tell me, is my
husband dead?" she asked, grasping the beggar's arm. "Dead?" he
questioned, gazing tenderly at her; and at his tone she looked
straight into his eyes and knew him. "My husband!" was all that she
could say, but she flung her arms around his neck and was clasped
close to his heart. The servants stood bewildered, but in a moment
their mistress had turned to them, saying, "Run, summon all the
household, bring them all, for this is my husband, Black Colin of Loch
Awe, come home to me again." When all in the castle knew it there was
great excitement and rejoicing, and they feasted bountifully, for the
wedding banquet had been prepared.

The Baron's Flight

While the feast was in progress, and the happy wife sat by her
long-lost husband and held his hand, as though she feared to let him
leave her, a distant sound of bagpipes was heard, and the lady
remembered that the Baron MacCorquodale would be coming for his
wedding, which she had entirely forgotten in her joy. She laughed
lightly to herself, and, beckoning a clansman, bade him go and tell
the Baron that she would take no new husband, since her old one had
come back to her, and that there would be questions to be answered
when time served. The Baron MacCorquodale, in his wedding finery, with
a great party of henchmen and vassals and pipers blowing