nst each other, as ours had been
doing, they speak quicker than words. A kind of communication springs
up, vague of detail, but unfailing in its general import.

I was not surprised, therefore, when the Black Colonel put his hand
within his coat and drew a paper from a pocket there. But I was
surprised when he said, "I have something here which I owe to the
favour of my friends in the south, and you will find that it bears upon
our conversation." He unfolded the paper slowly, I seeing, as he did
so, that it was an official paper, and then he handed it to me.

It was not easy to read, in the dim light of the Colonel's Bed, thanks
to its crabbed orthography and its long formal phrasing, but gradually
I made out its wording to be this:

"Greetings:

"Whereas, trusty and well-beloved councillors advise it in the interest
of our cause in the Scottish Highlands, that influential gentlemen who
have been Jacobite in sympathy, and even act, be won over to Our
Settled Sovereignship;

"Therefore it is ordered that they shall, wherever possible, be
installed in the headship of houses and estates kindred to them, which
have been forfeit and estreated, all on strict condition of loyalty to
Ourselves and our Crown for ever;

"And this wisely considered and, in our graciousness of heart, clement
policy, shall, we instruct, apply to John Farquharson of Inverery,
commonly called the Black Colonel, if, and when, he is able to
implement its essence in reference to the Forbes estate of Corgarff in
the far uplands of Aberdeenshire, where we wish to be loyally regarded
by our subjects.

"In token of all which foregoing greetings and intimations on our part,
herewith witness our royal signature.

"GEORGE REX."

"You understand?" said the Black Colonel, as I lifted my eyes from the
document and handed it back to him.

I nodded, mechanically, for I was thinking--thinking chiefly of Marget
and myself.

_VIII.--The Conquering Hero_

It is unbelievable how the sweet face of a lass, or her soft figure,
with its air of passion song, will come between two men and make any
great affairs of state dividing them, seem as nothing by comparison.
The Black Colonel and I would hardly, as individuals, have quarrelled
about Stuart and Guelph, knowing well the value which Stuart and Guelph
would have put on us. But with Marget Forbes as prize it was another
affair altogether, for, in her, a whole bouquet of calling qualities
united