the
property, a little way up the glen, a mile or two from the castle. But
when her husband deserted her, she was removed by her father-in-law to
his own house for greater security. Months rolled away, and the various
fortunes of the rebels were reported, from time to time, in the remote
glen where the chief strength of the M'Alisters lay. News did not travel
swiftly then, and often they heard what was little to be relied on, so
much did hope or fear magnify any slight success, or any ill-fortune. At
last, there came a sough of a great battle having been fought somewhere
in the west country, which had decided the fate of the opposing parties.
The young laird and his valiant band had turned the fortune of the day.
Argyle was defeated and slain, and the Earl of Marr was victorious;--King
James had arrived, and was to be crowned at Scone, and all Scotland was
his own.

It was on a cold, bleak, stormy, November evening, when this news was
brought, by a Brae-Marr-man, to the laird's tower. He was wise and
prudent, and he would give no ear to a tale so lightly told: but his
beautiful daughter-in-law, sanguine for her husband's sake, cherished
reports that brightened all her prospects. She retired to her chamber,
almost hoping that another day might see it enlivened by his presence,
without whom life to her was a dreary blank. She was lodged in a small
apartment on the third story of the tower, opening straight from a
narrow passage at the head of the winding stairs. It had two small
windows, which looked on the paved courtyard of the castle; and beyond,
to what was then a bare meadow, and the river. The moon gave little
light, and she turned from the gloomy prospect to the ample hearth, on
which the bright logs were blazing. Her heart was full, and her mind so
restless, that after her maidens left her, she continued to pace up and
down her little chamber, unwilling to retire to rest. At length she
threw herself upon her bed, exhausted by the eagerness of her feelings,
and in the agitation of her ideas she forgot to say her prayers. Yet
she slept, and calmly, but her sleep was short. She awakened suddenly,
and starting half up, listened anxiously for some minutes. The wind blew
strongly round the old tower, and a thick shower of sleet was driving
fast against the casements; but, in the pauses of the storm, she thought
she heard distinctly, though at a distance, the tramp of a horse at his
speed. She bent forward and watched th