``Yes,'' she said, ``calf of my
heart, the moon shall arise and set to thee, and so
shall the sun; but not to light thee from the land
of thy fathers, or tempt thee to serve the foreign
prince or the feudal enemy! To no son of Dermid
shall I be delivered, to be fed like a bondswoman;
but he who is my pleasure and my pride shall be
my guard and my protector. They say the Highlands
are changed; but I see Ben Cruachan rear
his crest as high as ever into the evening sky---no
one hath yet herded his kine on the depths of Loch
Awe---and yonder oak does not yet bend like a
willow. The children of the mountains will be such
as their fathers, until the mountains themselves
shall be levelled with the strath. In these wild
forests, which used to support thousands of the
brave, there is still surely subsistence and refuge
left for one aged woman, and one gallant youth, of
the ancient race and the ancient manners.''
While the misjudging mother thus exulted in
the success of her stratagem, we may mention to
the reader, that it was founded on the acquaintance
with drugs and simples, which Elspat, accomplished
in all things belonging to the wild life which
she had led, possessed in an uncommon degree, and
which she exercised for various purposes.
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