ssible to say; but this much is true, he never had a son. His lady
had a daughter, at which he was greatly disappointed; she had a second
daughter, at which he exhibited marked signs of displeasure; and in
course of time a third daughter was born to the churlish parent.
Disappointed and enraged at not having a son, he abused the mother and
daughters to such an extent that the unhappy lady, for the sake of
peace, and to save the lives of her children, sent them away
privately, to be brought up by friends. They grew up beautiful and
accomplished young ladies, while at the time their cruel father
thought they were dead. Morrar-na-Shean, after the lapse of years,
despaired of having any children to survive him, and therefore gave
himself up to grief. In bitterness of soul, he wished that he had now
even one of the little girls he spurned as if she were not his own
flesh and blood. His lady, finding his mind so much changed, embraced
a favourable opportunity of presenting him with his three daughters.
Immediately, on seeing them, he was overcome by tender affection,
evoked by the charms of three blooming girls he was privileged to call
daughters. He lived to be grateful that fortune had so willed it that
his estates would not be in the possession of one child, but would be
claimed by three children whom he dearly loved. The daughters were
soon disposed of in marriage--the eldest to a gentleman named
Sinclair, an ancestor of the well and favourably known Caithness-shire
family of that name; the second to a gentleman named Keith, whose
descendants have long borne an honourable name in Scotland; and the
third, to a nobleman, the scions of whose house have carved out for
themselves niches in the temple of fame.

"The curse of Moy" was a fearfully realised one. On the larger of two
small islands at Loch Moy (a beautiful lake, twelve miles from
Inverness), may be seen the ruins of an ancient castle. Centuries ago
a noble edifice stood where those decayed buildings are, occupied by a
cruel chieftain of Clan Chattan. He and his followers had an encounter
with another Highland chieftain and his retainers from Glenmorriston,
when the latter chief, his fair daughter Margaret, and her lover
Allan, the young heir of Alvie, were taken prisoners, and carried to
Castle Moy. While the captured chieftain and Allan were immured in the
dungeon, Margaret was conveyed to a feast in the hall, thence she was
transferred to an apartment in the tower