ave
Kate welcome as one whose ancestors had for four generations served the
Carnegies, since the day Black John had married a Macpherson.

[Illustration: Janet Macpherson was waiting in the deep doorway.]

"Calf of my heart," she cried, and took Kate in her arms. "It is your
foster-mother that will be glad to see you in the home of your people,
and will be praying that God will give you peace and good days."

Then they went up the winding stone stair, with deep, narrow windows,
and came into the dining-hall where the fifty Jacobites toasted the
king and many a gathering had taken place in the olden time. It was
thirty-five feet long by fifteen broad, and twenty-two feet high. The
floor was of flags over arches below, and the bare stone walls showed
at the windows and above the black oak panelling which reached ten feet
from the ground. The fireplace was six feet high, and so wide that two
could sit on either side within. Upon the mantelpiece the Carnegie
arms stood out in bold relief under the two crossed swords. One or two
portraits of dead Carnegies and some curious weapons broke the monotony
of the walls, and from the roof hung a finely wrought iron candelabra.
The western portion of the hall was separated by a screen of open
woodwork, and made a pleasant dining-room. A door in the corner led
into the tower, which had a library, with Carnegie's bedroom above, and
higher still Kate's room, each with a tiny dressing closet. For the
Carnegies always lived together in this tower, and their guests at the
other end of the hall. The library had two windows. From one you
could look down and see nothing but the foliage of the den, with a
gleam of water where the burn made a pool, and from the other you
looked over a meadow with big trees to the Tochty sweeping round a
bend, and across to the high opposite banks covered with brush-wood.
First they visited Carnegie's room.

"Here have we been born, and died if we did not fall in battle, and
it's not a bad billet after all for an old soldier. Yes, that is your
mother when we were married, but I like this one better," and the
General touched his breast, for he carried his love next his heart in a
silver locket of Indian workmanship.

Three fine deerskins lay on the floor, and one side of the room was
hung with tapestry; but the most striking piece of furnishing in the
room was an oak cupboard, sunk a foot into the wall.

"I 'll show you something in that cabinet