“They accused me of crime!”
“Of crime, Mr. Allan?” Maclise stiffened in haughty surprise.
“Yes, of base crime!”
“But this letter completely clears him,” cried Martin eagerly.
Maclise turned upon him with swift scorn, “There was no need, for anyone in this Glen whatever.” The Highlander's face was pale, and in his light blue eyes gleamed a fierce light.
Martin flashed a look upon the girl standing so proudly erect beside her brother, and reflecting in her face and eyes the sentiments of the schoolmaster.
“By Jove! I believe you,” cried Martin with conviction, “it is not needed here, but—but there are others, you know.”
“Others?” said the Highlander with fine scorn, “and what difference?”
The Glen folk needed no clearing of their chief, and the rest of the world mattered not.
“But there was myself,” said Allan. “Now it is gone, Maclise, and I can give my hand once more without fear or shame.”