of things, and happening daily in the immediate vicinity, without his
having crossed the seas, and while he was yet in the otherwise well-ordered
island of Great Britain.30
 

                               Chapter Sixteenth.

                          An Unexpected Ally Appears.

The Baron returned at the dinner-hour, and had in a great measure recovered his
composure and good humour. He not only confirmed the stories which Edward had
heard from Rose and Bailie Macwheeble, but added many anecdotes from his own
experience, concerning the state of the Highlands and their inhabitants. The
chiefs he pronounced to be, in general, gentlemen of great honour and high
pedigree, whose word was accounted as a law by all those of their own sept, or
clan. »It did not, indeed,« he said, »become them, as had occurred in late
instances, to propone their prosapia, a lineage which rested for the most part
on the vain and fond rhymes of their Seannachies or Bhairds, as æquiponderate
with the evidence of ancient charters and royal grants of antiquity, conferred
upon distinguished houses in the Low Country by divers Scottish monarchs;
nevertheless, such was their outrecuidance and presumption as to undervalue
those who possessed such evidents, as if they held their lands in a sheep's
skin.«
    This, by the way, pretty well explained the cause of quarrel between the
Baron and his Highland ally. But he went on to state so many curious particulars
concerning the manners, customs, and habits of this patriarchal race, that
Edward's curiosity became highly interested, and he inquired whether it was
possible to make with safety an excursion into the neighbouring Highlands, whose
dusky barrier of mountains had already excited his wish to penetrate beyond
them. The Baron assured his guest that nothing would be more easy, providing
this quarrel were first made up, since he could himself give him letters to many
of the distinguished chiefs, who would receive him with the utmost courtesy and
hospitality.
    While they were on this topic, the door suddenly opened, and, ushered by
Saunders Saunderson, a Highlander, fully armed and equipped, entered the
apartment. Had it not been that Saunders acted the part of master of the
ceremonies to this martial apparition, without appearing to deviate from his
usual composure, and that neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Rose exhibited any
emotion, Edward would certainly have thought the intrusion hostile. As it was,
he started at the sight of what he had not yet happened to see, a mountaineer in
his full national costume. The individual Gael was a stout, dark, young man, of
low stature, the ample folds of whose