d two or three chairs.

The countess remained chatting with him until a servant came out,
to say that three Austrian officers had called; and she went in,
leaving him to the charge of Thirza. For two or three hours they
talked together, and were then joined by the count and countess;
when Fergus told them the piece of good fortune that had befallen
him, by recovering his father's estates. They were greatly pleased
and interested.

"And are they extensive?" the count asked.

"They are extensive," he said, "if taken by acreage; but if
calculated by the revenue that they bring in, they would seem small
to you. But at any rate, they suffice to make one wealthy in
Scotland. The large proportion of it is mountain and moorland; but
as the head of my clan, I shall hold a position far above what is
represented by the income. Two hundred men were ready to draw
sword, at my father's orders, and to follow him in battle.

"I don't know that, here in Germany, you can quite understand the
ties that bind the members of a clan to their head. They do not
regard him as tenants regard a lord; but rather as a protector, a
friend, and even a relation. All disputes are carried to him for
arbitration. The finest trout from the stream, the fattest buck
from the hills, are sent to him as an offering. They draw their
swords at his bidding, and will die for him in battle. To them he
is a sort of king, and they would obey his orders, were he to tell
them to rise in rebellion.

"The feeling is to some extent dying out and, since Culloden, the
power of the clans has greatly abated. Nevertheless, some of the
Highland regiments in our army were raised by chiefs wholly from
their own clansmen.

"In many respects this restoration of my inheritance changes my
position altogether. As I told you the last time I was here, I
shall stop until this terrible war is over. The king has been most
kind and gracious to me, and to leave before the struggle is over I
should feel to be an act of desertion. Once the sword is sheathed,
I intend to return to Scotland; for I should not care to remain in
the service, when there is nought but life in garrison to look
forward to. Moreover, the strength of the army would, of course, be
largely diminished, at once.

"What I should do afterwards, I know not. Perhaps I might obtain a
commission in our own army, for there are always opportunities of
seeing service in America, India, or elsewhere, under the British
flag.