with any of the enemy, and I found shelter for several hours--you will
hardly guess where."

"At Castle Bracklan, perhaps," said Lady Margaret, "or in the house of
some other loyal gentleman?"

"No, madam. I was repulsed, under one mean pretext or another, from more
than one house of that description, for fear of the enemy following my
traces; but I found refuge in the cottage of a poor widow, whose husband
had been shot within these three months by a party of our corps, and
whose two sons are at this very moment with the insurgents."

"Indeed?" said Lady Margaret Bellenden; "and was a fanatic woman capable
of such generosity?--but she disapproved, I suppose, of the tenets of her
family?"

"Far from it, madam," continued the young nobleman; "she was in principle
a rigid recusant, but she saw my danger and distress, considered me as a
fellow-creature, and forgot that I was a cavalier and a soldier. She
bound my wounds, and permitted me to rest upon her bed, concealed me from
a party of the insurgents who were seeking for stragglers, supplied me
with food, and did not suffer me to leave my place of refuge until she
had learned that I had every chance of getting to this tower without
danger."

"It was nobly done," said Miss Bellenden; "and I trust you will have an
opportunity of rewarding her generosity."

"I am running up an arrear of obligation on all sides, Miss Bellenden,
during these unfortunate occurrences," replied Lord Evandale; "but when I