BY
JAMES GRANT
AUTHOR OF
"THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "THE CAMERONIANS,"
"THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER,"
ETC., ETC.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1884.
All rights reserved.
Contents
Chapter
I. Mystery
II. A Modern Use for a Mediæval Institution
III. Holcroft Departs
IV. Suspense
V. The Oubliette
VI. Cead Mille Maloch!
VII. Lovers
VIII. At Maviswood
IX. 'Alice!'
X. 'The Mysteries of Udolpho.'
XI. 'Gup,' and What Came of It
XII. Olive's Visitor
XIII. Wedded
XIV. Mistrust
XV. The Black Watch
XVI. In the Belvidere
XVII. The Route
XVIII. 'Idiots only will be Cozened Twice.'
XIX. In the Land of the Pharaohs
XX. The March through Goshen
THE MASTER OF ABERFELDIE.
So all the guests had quitted Dundarguenow but Hawke Holcroft. In two dayshe was to depart for what he called 'hischambers in town;' thus Allan wascompelled to continue his polite dissimulation,and be on suave and apparently easy termswith him as a guest, though the latter feltthat there was an undefinable change inhis manner towards him.
Indeed, it was only by a great effort ofself-control that the Master of Aberfeldie,a man with the highest and keenest senseof honour, and knowing all he did,continued to treat Holcroft with politeness;but he writhed and shivered when heheard him, in the drawing-room orelsewhere, address Olive or Eveline.
All the forenoon after Cameron'sdeparture, when poor little Eveline was mosttriste and miserable, our other pair oflovers were very happy. They had whatthey were pleased to call 'a picnic' on thetower-head of Dundargue. Allan's portionthereof was cigars, and Olive's a littlebasket of purple grapes and lusciousstrawberries (though the season wasautumn) from the hothouses.
So with these two, the hours passedsweetly and swiftly, with the blue skyoverhead, while far away in the distance,and steeped in sunny haze, stretched thelovely Carse of Gowrie; and talking ofthemselves, their past folly, their presentjoy, and the brilliant future that was tocome, they billed and cooed after thefashion of all lovers since flowers grew inEden.
Allan lolled at length on the stonebartizan of the tower whence molten leadand arrows had more than once beenlaunched on a foe beneath, Olive with her