er begin
or end. Thus a simple Highland ball which we soldiers organized at
Corgarff Castle, to while away a night, and be a token of friendliness
towards our neighbours, developed a deep import in my true story.

It was natural for me to smooth and sweeten, as far as I could, the
relations between those in formal authority whom I represented, and the
local clan-folk. To that end I organized this dance in the ancient
Castle, and made it known that anybody and everybody would be welcome.
Any misgiving I had about the response, was balanced by my knowledge of
the Highland fondness for dancing. It has been in the Celtic blood
from the beginning of time; and gillie-callum, over the swords, the
throbbing, squeezing, square reel, the sultry Highland Schottische, and
the rest of the figures, will last until the last trump sounds the last
morning.

You dance for the joy of life, if you are born in a land of the sun,
and in a land of cold you dance for the joy which springs from warmth.
It is a primal expression of feeling, and the Scottish Highlanders have
always had beautiful dances, and danced them well; dances with the
music of sex in them, though they might not admit it, or did not know
it. Religion and dancing have often been the only things in their
lives, apart from the common round of fighting and working, when they
cared for work. Thus, my ball, though it might be an affair of the
enemy, had a subtle call to the Highland blood, especially in the women.

My first invitation was to Marget Forbes and her mother, because, if I
could only persuade them to be present everything would be well. Let
the ladies of the ancient great house come, and there was no reason why
the commonalty should stay away. The times had been sorrowful for
mother and daughter, as the black they wore betokened, but, I wrote
gently, "We must let the dead bury their dead, and try and build some
bridge on which the living may meet."

So it was arranged that Marget, the young chieftainess of the Corgarff
Forbeses, with her mother, should open the ball. This news was out a
week before the event, and we soon learned that, as I had thought, we
should have a good muster of guests. I took my soldier men entirely
into my confidence, and they grew keen to make the dance a success,
being kindly fellows and open to softer adventures, as well as the
other kind.

They were collectively to be hosts, and whoever crossed the doorstep on
the night was to