or three years, a fellow about Perth, a sort of messenger, who came
and went under divers pretences, but was, in fact, the means of
communication between Gilchrist MacIan and his son, young Conachar, or,
as he is now called, Hector. From this gillie I learned, in general,
that the banishment of the dault an neigh dheil, or foster child of
the white doe, was again brought under consideration of the tribe. His
foster father, Torquil of the Oak, the old forester, appeared with
eight sons, the finest men of the clan, and demanded that the doom of
banishment should be revoked. He spoke with the greater authority, as
he was himself taishatar, or a seer, and supposed to have communication
with the invisible world. He affirmed that he had performed a magical
ceremony, termed tine egan, by which he evoked a fiend, from whom he
extorted a confession that Conachar, now called Eachin, or Hector,
MacIan, was the only man in the approaching combat between the two
hostile clans who should come off without blood or blemish. Hence
Torquil of the Oak argued that the presence of the fated person was
necessary to ensure the victory. 'So much I am possessed of this,' said
the forester, 'that, unless Eachin fight in his place in the ranks of
the Clan Quhele, neither I, his foster father, nor any of my eight sons
will lift a weapon in the quarrel.'

"This speech was received with much alarm; for the defection of
nine men, the stoutest of their tribe, would be a serious blow, more
especially if the combat, as begins to be rumoured, should be decided by
a small number from each side. The ancient superstition concerning
the foster son of the white doe was counterbalanced by a new and later
prejudice, and the father took the opportunity of presenting to the
clan his long hidden son, whose youthful, but handsome and animated,
countenance, haughty carriage, and active limbs excited the admiration
of the clansmen, who joyfully received him as the heir and descendant of
their chief, notwithstanding the ominous presage attending his birth and
nurture.

"From this tale, my lord," continued Simon Glover, "your lordship may
easily conceive why I myself should be secure of a good reception among
the Clan Quhele; and you may also have reason to judge that it would be
very rash in me to carry Catharine thither. And this, noble lord, is the
heaviest of my troubles."

"We shall lighten the load, then," said Sir Patrick; "and, good glover,
I will take ris