In silence Mackenzie caught his horse and mounting it took the road for home, all the courage gone out of him. All that night he rode, and the next day, and when he reached Loch Carron he gave no word at all, but bore the aspect of a man who fears to look over his shoulder in the gloaming.
As for Castleleathers and Miss Macpherson, being both people over middle life, they made their way stiffly homewards to an inn near Fort Augustus.
It was over a basin of hot brose that he turned to her.
"I am past ploys like these," he said, "but it smacks of the old days."
"The young ones are no like the old ones," sighed Miss Macpherson.
"None so old," rejoined Castleleathers, smiling at her suddenly.
Miss Macpherson busied herself with her plate.
"It's after Rob we must go the morn," she said.
"It has been a great night," he remarked, nodding before the fire, "that Mackenzie was sair taken aback."
"The Duke is no sae difficult to manage as folk say," hazarded Miss Macpherson.