“Except,” said Sir Alexander, “that you have nothing else to think about here; and nothing to do but to think, for this day, at least. We must remain here. So safe as it is, in comparison with any part of Skye, or even Barra, I should recommend your staying here till we have some assurance of safety elsewhere.”
“I will venture to offer something for the Lord President to think of and to do,” said the widow, coming forward with an earnestness which fixed everybody’s attention at once, and made Sir Alexander stop in his walk. He was about to command silence on Annie’s part, but a glance at her face showed him that this would be useless.
“Let me first be sure that I am right,” said Annie. “Is the Lord President whom I speak to named Duncan Forbes? And is he a friend of Lord Carse?”
“I am Duncan Forbes, and Lord Carse is an acquaintance of mine.”
“Has he ever told you that his unhappy wife is not dead, as he pretended, but living in miserable banishment on this island?”
“On this island! Nonsense!” cried Sir Alexander.
When assured by the hostess and Annie that it was so, he swore at his steward, his tenant, and himself. On first hearing of the alarm being taken by the lady’s friends at Edinburgh, he had ordered her removal to Saint Kilda, and had supposed it effected long ago. The troubles of the time, which left no boat or men disposable, had caused the delay; and now, between his rage at any command of his having been disregarded, and his sense of his absurdity in bringing a friend of his prisoner to her very door, he was perfectly exasperated. He muttered curses as he strode up and down.
Meantime the Lord President was quietly preparing himself for a walk. Everybody but Annie entreated him to stay till he had breakfasted, and warmed himself, Lord Loudon adding that the lady would not fly away in the course of the next hour if she had been detained so many years. It did not escape the President’s observant eye that these words struck Sir Alexander, and that he made a movement towards the door. There being a boat and rowers at hand, she might be found to have flown within the hour, if he stayed to breakfast.
He approached Sir Alexander, and laid his hand on his arm, saying—
“My good friend, I advise you to yield up this affair into my hands as the first law officer of Scotland. All chance of concealment of this lady’s case has been over for some time. Measures have been taken for some months to compel you to resign the charge which you surely cannot wish to retain—”