CHAPTER XXXV
The soldiers, having fruitlessly searched Black Hill, for the present set up quarters there, and searched the neighborhood. They gave a wide cast to that word. It seemed to include all this part of Scotland. Before long they appeared, not unforeseen, at Glenfernie.
The lieutenant was a wiry, wide-nostriled man, determined to please superiors and win promotion. He had now men at the Jardine Arms no less than men at Black Hill. Face to face with the laird of Glenfernie in the latter's hall, he explained his errand.
"Yes," said Glenfernie. "I saw you coming up the hill. Will you take wine?"
"To your health, sir!"
"To your health!"
The lieutenant set down the glass and wiped his lips. "I have orders, Mr. Jardine, which I may not disobey."
"Exactly so, Lieutenant."
"My duty, therefore, brings me in at your door—though of course I may say that you and your household are hardly under suspicion of harboring a proscribed rebel! A good Whig"—he bowed stiffly—"a volunteer serving with the Duke in the late trouble, and, last but not least, a personal enemy of the man we seek—"