elf had been a Seaton, and had been educated at the nunnery
of Dunfermline, and she now taught Archie to read and write,
accomplishments by no means common even among the better class in
those days. Archie loved not books; but as it pleased his mother,
and time often hung heavy on his hands, he did not mind devoting
two or three hours a day to the tasks she set him. At other times
he fished in the stream, wandered over the hills, and brought in
the herbs from which Dame Forbes distilled the potions which she
distributed to the villagers when sick.

Often he joined the lads of the village in their games. They
all regarded him as their leader; but his mother had pressed upon
him over and over again that on no account was he to assume any
superiority over the others, but to treat them strictly as equals.
Doubtless the Kerrs would from time to time have news of what was
doing in Glen Cairn; and while they would be content to see him
joining in the sports of the village lads, with seemingly no wish
beyond that station, they would at once resent it did they see
any sign on his part of his regarding himself as a chief among the
others.

No inconsiderable portion of Archie's time was occupied in acquiring
the use of arms from Sandy Grahame. His mother, quiet and seemingly
resigned as she was, yet burned with the ambition that he should
some day avenge his father's death, and win back his father's lands.
She said little to him of her hopes; but she roused his spirit by
telling him stories of the brave deeds of the Forbeses and Seatons,
and she encouraged him from his childhood to practise in arms with
Sandy Grahame.

In this respect, indeed, Archie needed no stimulant. From Sandy
even more than from his mother he had heard of his brave father's
deeds in arms; and although, from the way in which she repressed any
such utterances, he said but little to his mother, he was resolved
as much as she could wish him to be, that he would some day win
back his patrimony, and avenge his father upon his slayers.

Consequently, upon every opportunity when Sandy Grahame could spare
time from his multifarious work, Archie practised with him, with
sword and pike. At first he had but a wooden sword. Then, as his
limbs grew stronger, he practised with a blunted sword; and now
at the age of fifteen Sandy Grahame had as much as he could do to
hold his own with his pupil.

At the time the story opens, in the springtime of the year 1293,
he