Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 3

THE CELTIC :MAGAZI:S"E. 395
.111 was now confusion and perplexity. Sir Kenneth hastened to his
Avife's assistance. The queen rose and stood with an agitated face and
"I ~; retched hands, looking earnestly at Ewen. The older chieftains, A\ho
inhered his father, began to remark the extraordinary likeness Ewen
to the late king ; clansmen caught up the excitement and began to
shuut " A MacCoinnich More ! A MacCoinnich More !"
After a while, when the Lady Flora had regained consciousness, and
some degree of order was restored, the queen began to closely question
her sister as to the identity of Ewen ; " For," she sagely remarked,
" although that mantle and sword did indeed belong to my husband, that
does not jDrove its present possessor to be his heir ; and further, though I
admit I perceive a great resemblance in that young man to the late king,
y t ]k3 might be his son without being mine, and until I am persuaded
tii : he is indeed my oaati lawful son, I will not yield up this honoured
siat to him." This spirited speech was received with approval by the
nobles, but still the common people kept up the cry of " A iMacCoiunich
Mure ! A MacCoinnich More !"
" Stay, stay," exclaimed Kenneth, " I think I shall be able to decide if
he is indeed MacGabhar; do you remember. Flora, the day when little Ewen
was playing with my hunting knife and inflicted a severe cut on his arm?
Now, if this young man has tlie mark of that wound, it wiU be con-
clusive. Approach then, and bare your left arm, MacClabhar."
Ewen stood forward, and amid the anxious, breathless attention of
all, bared his muscular arm, when there plainly appeared a large cicatrice,
evidently of many years standing.
All doubt was now removed ; the queen embraced him and owned
him her son. The chieftains crowded round to offer their congratula-
tions, and the clansmen shouted loud and long.
IMacGabhar bore himself throughout this strange and excited scene
with a dignity and composure of manner which greatly raised him in the
estimation of his new found friends. His first act was to beg the lives
antl liberty of his late fellow prisoners, which Avas readily granted ; and
when he had explained to his mother how indebted he was to Gillespick
for his kindness in bringing him up, and had also told Sir Kenneth how
well treated his mother had been, their indignant feelings towards GU-
lespick gave way to more kindly emotions, and a firm and lasting peace
was concluded between the two clans. Sir Kenneth hastened to fetch
his mother, whose joy at being thus re-united to her beloved son, after so
many years separation and anxiety, was almost overpoAvering to the noAV
aged Avoman. Sir Kenneth took up his alwde in his A\'ife's native country,
and by his AArise and sagacions council greatly assisted EAven in the
management of his kingdom, the queen, his mother, resigning all her
autliority in his favour. He ruled his people firmly and AveU, and by his
courage in the field, and AAdsdom in the council, he so raised the strength
and increased the dimensions of his kingdom that it became the most
prosperous and poAverfid in the Higiilands. He married the only daugh-
ter of the Lord of Castle Donain, and by her inherited all that vast
estate, in this way fulfilling the old prophecy which had caused so much
uneasiness for years to his future father-in-law.
M. A. EOSE.