passion; he exclaimed in a furious
tone, "I have always known you for an obstinate, insolent rascal; I
don't know what should hinder me from cutting off your ears, or from
throwing you into a dungeon, and bringing you to the gallows, as your
treasons against the Government so richly deserve." Simon, having never
before been accustomed to such language, immediately stuck his hat on
his head, and laying his hand upon the hilt of his sword, was upon the
point of drawing it, when he observed that Lord Tullibardine had no
sword: upon this he addressed him in the following manner.

"I do not know what hinders me, knave and coward as you are, from
running my sword through your body. You are well known for a poltroon,
and if you had one grain of courage, you would never have chosen your
ground in the midst of your guards, to insult a gentleman of a better
house, and of a more honourable birth than your own; but I shall one day
have my revenge. As for the paltry company that I hold in your regiment,
and which I have bought dearer than ever any company was bought
before,--it is the greatest disgrace to which I was ever subject, to be
a moment under your command; and now, if you please, you may give it to
your footman."[132]

Such was the beginning of a long course of hostilities which were
thenceforth carried on between the Murrays and the clan of Fraser, and
which was productive of the deepest crimes on the part of the Master of
Lovat. That he was fully prepared to enter into any schemes, however
desperate, to ensure the succession of the estates of Lovat, cannot be
doubted. He prosecuted his designs without remorse or shame. The matter
of surprise must be, that he found partisans and followers willing to
aid him in crime, and that he possessed an influence over his followers
little short, on their part, of infatuation.

The first suggestion that occurred to the mind of this bold and reckless
man was, perhaps, a natural and certainly an innocent method of securing
tranquillity to the enjoyment of his inheritance. He resolved to engage
the affections of the young daughter of the late Lord Lovat, and, by an
union with that lady, to satisfy himself that no doubt could arise as to
his title to the estates, nor with regard to any children whom he might
have in that marriage; nor was the hand of the Master of Lovat, if we
put aside the important point of character, a proffer to be despised.
The estate of Beaufort had long been in t