om his cot ruled the order of the house,
and made even the cheerful hum of the fireside, the yard cock-crowing of
the fowls, and the egg-kekkling in the barn yield to his imperious
will. For he had them banished the precincts and shut up till his
highness should please to awaken.

But when we got to the Heathknowes road-end, we beheld a yellow coach,
with four horses, a coachman and two outriders, all three in
canary-coloured suits.

It was early days for such equipages to be seen in Galloway, where,
excluding the post-road on which the Irish mail ran from Dumfries to
Stranraer, there were few roads and fewer bridges which would bear a
coach-and-four. Owing to the pirn-mill, our bridges were a little
stronger than usual, though the roads were worn into deep ruts by the
"jankers," or great two-wheeled wagons for the transport of trees out of
the woods.

The carriage drove right up to the outer gate of the yard of
Heathknowes, half the idle laddies of Eden Valley running shouting after
it. The "yett," as usual, was barred, and it is more than doubtful
whether, even if open, the coach could safely have passed within--so
narrow was the space between post and post.

But the man inside put his head out of the window and gave a short,
sharp order. Whereupon the postilions leaped down and stood to their
horses' heads. The canary coachman held his hands high, with the reins
drooping upon his knees. A footman jumped out of a little niche by the
side of one window in which his life must have been almost shaken out of
him. He opened the door with the deepest respect, and out there stepped
the bravest and finest-dressed gentleman that had ever been seen.

He was middle-sized and slight, no longer young, but of an uncertain
age. He wore a powdered wig, with sky-blue coat and shorts, a white
waistcoat embroidered with dainty sprig patterns of lavender and
forget-me-not. He had on white silk stockings and the most fashionable
shoes, tied with blue-and-gold governmental favours instead of ordinary
buckles. By his side was a sword with a golden hilt--in short, such a
cavalier had never been seen in Galloway within living memory.

And at the sight of him Louis ran forward, calling, "Uncle, uncle!" But
Irma sank gently down on my shoulder, so that I had to take her in my
arms and carry her to her chamber.

At first I stood clean dumfounded, as indeed well I might. When Lalor
came last to Eden Valley he had been one of the Black Smu