Summer at the Lake of Monteith

The Earl's Niece. 49
the archer is gory with his blood." The Earl looked pale;
a scalding tear filled his eye; and he paced the room
impatiently. " What made Stoat-the-Vrouach obey such
foolish orders'?" he asked. " The archer remonstrated, and
you threatened to hang him," replied the Countess. " Ay,"
responded the Earl; "pity I did not; but what is done
cannot be undone. I will see to the widow," and he
threw himself back on his couch. The Earl was true to
his promise ; he gifted the widow her lifetime of Gloschoil,
and otherwise saw to the well-being of the family, for it is
said he was deeply grieved for the loss of his friend.
Malise Graham had two sons, Malise the elder, and Robert
the younger. Malise was of a mild and gentle nature, and
inherited in a large degree the character of the Grahams.
Robert was a reckless spirit, in fact " a wild M'Farlane,"
and partook deeply of the spirit of the robber clan. All
the wild fancies of youth floated through his brain; the loch,
the glen, and the hill were his favourite delights; and he
loved to rob the eyrie, and possess himself of the young
eagle. He would climb the rocks where no human foot
had ever been but his own, and whose brown surface was
disturbed only by the claws of wild cats, the talons of eagles,
and by a thousand storms. The sea-gull's nests floating on
the bosom of the wide-spreading loch, or hidden among the
reeds of the deep mountain tarn, were alike insecure from
the agile form of Robert Graham. From a mere boy he
bore a mortal hatred towards the Earl; and to be revenged
for his father's death was his only and darling ambition.
During the long wintry nights, when the mother and her
two sons sat by the blazing peat fire in their lone High-