Three generations

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CHAPTER III
There were other acquaintances settled willy-nilly
in the town of Cupar, subjects for my grandfather's
hospitality, still more fascinating than poor young
Richard Gall. There were the French officers living
and lodging on parole in the little town, while the
rank and file of that particular consignment of
prisoners were kept under strictest surveillance in
the depot at Perth. The Cupar party were so many
Othellos, with their strange adventures and pathetic
misfortunes.
The Scotch and the French were old allies in history,
and however unlike superficially, they seem never to
have failed in experiencing a subtle attraction for each
other. Certainly the foreign officers were made curi-
ously welcome in the country town, which their
presence seemed to enliven rather than to offend.
The strangers' courageous endurance, their perennial
cheerfulness, their ingenious devices to occupy their
time and improve the situation, aroused much friendly
interest and amusement. The position must have
been rendered more bearable to the sufferers, and
perhaps more respectable in the eyes of the spectators,
from the fact, for which I am not able to account, that,
undoubtedly, the prisoners had among themselves,
individually and collectively, considerable funds.
The residents treated the jetsam and flotsam of war
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