BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XIX 



give her. Though her hand closed over the silver, she con- 

 tinued to regard me with a stern and forbidding countenance, 

 — I -was a stranger and a foreign body, not one of their 

 island folk. In wild, impassioned tones she entreated the 

 master to stay in his ' ain countrie an' amang his ain people 

 and kin. 1 Then turning to me she said angrily, 'An' it is ye 

 that are takin' him awa' frae us. Ye are bonnie eneuch, an' 

 if ye wad but speak the word he maunna deny ye ; but ye 

 wauna, ye wauna dae it,' and flinging back my hand she 

 threw herself on her knees at her master's feet, sobbing out, 

 'Ye will gae awa, an' these e'en that see ye the noo wull see 

 ye nae mair.' 



" My husband lifted and tried to soothe her, but she would 

 not be comforted. Ah, Jean ! you spoke truly ; the master 

 you so loved and honored lies in the little churchyard on 

 the banks of the Otonabee, far from the Lady Kirk of his 

 Orkney Island home." 



At Inverness, Mrs. Traill first saw a Highland regiment 

 "all plaided and plumed in their tartan array," and heard the 

 pipes playing the grand Highland " March of the Cameron 

 Men." Her enthusiasm, as well as her intimate knowledge 

 of the Scottish writers, won her golden opinions, and the 

 English bride received much attention from the Highland 

 descendants of the men who had striven to the death for the 

 cause of the Stuarts. 



" I was far from quite well when we left Inverness by the 

 little passenger steamer Highland Chieftain, yet not too ill to 

 find myself, in company with others of the passengers, climb- 

 ing the steep winding path which led from the waters of Loch 

 Ness to the Falls of Foyers and plucking many sweet wild- 

 flowers by the way. My love for flowers attracted the atten- 

 tion of two of my companions, a Mr. Allen, of Leith, and a 

 Mr. Sterling, of Glasgow, both of whom I found were horti- 

 culturists and well acquainted with the flora of the country. 

 We entered into conversation, and they added much to the 



