Even this kind of thing may show that my life was a peculiar one; but
the strangest part of it was that, while I was at the head of so many
people, I did not really belong to any one, and I did not know that this
was unusual. One of my early memories is that I heard an under-nursemaid
say to another this curious thing: "Both her father and mother were dead
when she was born." I did not even know that was a remarkable thing to
say until I was several years older and Jean Braidfute told me what had
been meant.
My father and mother had both been very young and beautiful and
wonderful. It was said that my father was the handsomest chieftain in
Scotland, and that his wife was as beautiful as he was. They came to
Muircarrie as soon as they were married and lived a splendid year there
together. Sometimes they were quite alone, and spent their days fishing
or riding or wandering on the moor together, or reading by the fire in
the library the ancient books Angus Macayre found for them. The library
was a marvelous place, and Macayre knew every volume in it. They used
to sit and read like children among fairy stories, and then they would
persuade Macayre to tell them the ancient tales he knew--of the days
when Agricola forced his way in among the Men of the Woods, who would
die any savage death rather than be conquered. Macayre was a sort of
heirloom himself, and he knew and believed them all.
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