ained?' cried he, somewhat louder.

'That's what Kinloch said,' burst in Kelly; 'you remember the song--

'The Prince he swore, on his broad claymore,
That he 'd sit in his father's chair,
But there wasn't a man, outside his clan,
That wanted to see him there, boys,
That wanted to see him there.'

'A black falsehood, as black as ever a traitor uttered!' cried Gerald,
whose passion burst all bounds.

'Here's to the traitors--hip, hip! To the traitors, for it was--

'The traitors all in St. Cannes's hall,
They feasted merrily there,
While the wearied men sought the bleak, wild glen,
And tasted but sorry fare, boys,
Tasted but sorry fare.

'Oh, if I 'd a voice, and could have my choice,
I know with whom I 'd be,
Not the hungry lads, with their threadbare plaids,
But the lords of high degree, boys,
The lords of high degree.'

'And so thought the Prince too, cried he out fiercely, and in a tone
meant for an insolent taunt. 'He liked the easy life and the soft couch
of St. Germains far better than the long march and the heather-bed in
the Highlands.'

'How long must I endure this fellow's insolence?' whispered Gerald to
Marietta, in a voice trembling with passion.

'For my sake, Gherardi,' she began; but the Fra overheard the words, and
with a drunken laugh broke in--

'If you have a drop of Stuart blood in you, you 'll yield to the woman,
whatever it is she asks.'

Stung beyond control of reason, Gerald sprang to his feet; but before
he could even approach Kelly, the stout friar had grasped his short
blunderbuss and cocked it.

'Another step--one step more, and if you were the anointed King himself,
instead of his bastard, I 'll send you to your reckoning!'

With a spring like the bound of a tiger, Gerald dashed at him; but the
Fra was prepared, and, raising the weapon to his side, he fired. A wild,
mad cry, blended with the loud report echoed in many a mountain gorge,
and the youth fell dead on the sward.

Marietta threw herself down upon the corpse, kissing the lifeless lips,
and clasping her arms around the motionless body. With every endearing
word she tried to call him back to life, even for a momentary
consciousness of her devotion. The love she had so long denied him, she
now offered; she would be his and his only. With the wild eloquence of a
mind on fire, she pictured forth a future, now brightened with all that
successful