into the open air, to behold the lifeless forms of both her
father and Allan. In derision, the monster asked what she thought now
of her beardless boy, and said, "That is the way I tame haughty
maids." Again she was conveyed to her lonely room in the castle tower
to spend the night in solitude, and again the daylight broke in
through the small window of her strongly-guarded prison. She heeded
not the sun, nor the singing of birds as they warbled their matin
songs--no, sorrow lay too heavy near her heart. None can ever tell the
grief she endured in the dark watches of the lonely night, or when
relief came; but come it did. Nature took its own way of causing the
unhappy lady to forget her sadness of heart--reason left its seat, and
the orphaned Margaret, instead of grieving over the past, was found
singing as sweetly as if she were a bride in a peaceful bower. Now and
again the shrill clear voice in song ceased, and then she talked (so
the attendants said) to the unseen spirits of those dear to her, whose
bodies were still suspended over the castle gate.

The fierce chieftain approached her again with overtures of love,
offering her his hand, titles, and estates. To avoid his unholy
embrace, she, without waiting to deign a reply, sprang past him with
an agility which appeared superhuman, and rushed to the ramparts, that
were skirted by the blue waters beneath; then, turning round to the
chief of Clan Chattan, she uttered dreadful maledictions against him,
ending with the prediction that he would die a bloody death, leaving
neither wife nor child behind. Having said this, she leaped from the
giddy height into the lake below, in whose waves she preferred to
take refuge rather than yield to the tyrant's solicitations. As far
as can be ascertained, the wicked Macintosh repented not of his deeds,
but continued to conduct himself in a tyrannical manner to all weaker
than himself. At last a day of reckoning came--the day when Lady
Margaret's curse was to alight upon the head of the murderer of her
father and lover. In the summer of 1378, a short time after these
deeds of darkness happened, the Monroes of Foulis were returning from
a foraying expedition, and asked permission from the chief of Clan
Chattan to pass through his country for half the booty they had with
them. Macintosh demanded the whole spoil; but, his unreasonable
request being refused, a sanguinary conflict ensued, in which the Clan
Chattan chief was slain. The vic