Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

mary Campbell's marriage.
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tnem, and dripping with moisture. On making
inquiry, they were informed that these belonged
to a young woman who had arrived there shortly
before, behind Hugh, the son of big John M'Allis-
ter of the manse, who had returned with the horse
by another road over the hill. The woman was
on her way to Lochaber, but her name was not
known. Poor Mary was caught! Her pursuers
need not have verified their conjectures by enter¬
ing her room and upbraiding her in most un¬
feeling terms, telling her, before locking the door
in order to secure her, that she must accompany
them back in the morning and be married to
Duncan Stewart, as sure as there was justice in
the land. Mary spoke not a word, but gazed
at them as in a dream.
At early dawn she was mounted behind one of
these moss-troopers, and conducted in safety to
the manse, as she had requested to see the family
before she went through the ceremony of mar¬
riage. That return to the manse was an epoch
in its history. The shepherd in the meantime had
disappeared, and so had Hugh M'Allister. When
Mary was ushered into the presence of the
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