Historical memoirs of Rob Roy and the Clan Macgregor

THE CLAN MACGREGOR. 6 I
of Highland hospitality. She, however, placed
some bread and cheese before them, until better
entertainment could be prepared, and left the
room for that purpose. Before she returned,
they placed her brother's head, still dropping
with blood, on the table, and put a piece of
bread and cheese in its mouth, in derision of
such fare. She recognised the horrid spectacle,
and was so much affected that she ran out of
the house in a state of furious distraction. Her
disconsolate husband long sought her through
the woods and mountains ; and to heighten his
distress, she was in the condition of pregnancy.
The season of harvest was fortunately conducive
to her preservation, and though a wretched
maniac, heedless of her own deplorable situa-
tion, or the misery of her friends, she continued
to wander over hills and lonely glens, living on
such fruits and berries as grew spontaneously
among those wilds. After a long absence, some
of her own servants, employed in milking cattle
on the high pastures of the farm, beheld a half-
famished female form, lurking among the brush-
wood. Terror had painted her in their imagina-
tion as the spectre of their lady, and they told
their master the frightful tale. He conjectured
the truth, and means were concerted for recover-