Produced by Al Haines. DONALD ROSS OF HEIMRA BY WILLIAM BLACK _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. I. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY _LIMITED._ St. Dunstan’s House FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1891. (_All rights reserved._) LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. Godiva II. Young Donald III. The Cave of the Crowing Cock IV. The Baintighearna V. The Meall-na-Fearn Bog VI. Gilleasbuig Mòr VII. The Pirate’s Lair VIII. Face to Face IX. The Battle of Ru-Minard DONALD ROSS OF HEIMRA. CHAPTER I. GODIVA. "Well, Mary, it is a pretty plaything to have given you—a Highland estate!—and no doubt all your fine schemes will come right. But you will have to change three things first." "Yes?" "And these are human nature and the soil and climate of Scotland." "Avaunt, Mephistopheles!—and go and give that porter a shilling." The two speakers were on the platform of Invershin station, on the Highland line of railway. One of them was a tall young woman of distinguished presence and somewhat imperious carriage, as you could gather at a first glance; but the next second, if she happened to turn her face towards you, you would have perceived that her expression meant nothing but a bland gentleness and a prevailing and excellent good-humour. Perhaps it was the dimple in her cheek that did it—a dimple that came there readily whenever she regarded any one, and that seemed to say she was very willing to be pleased and to please: at all events, she found it easy, or had hitherto found it easy, to make friends. For the rest, she was of an erect and elegant figure; her complexion fair; her eyes grey-green, and full of light; her abundant hair of a sunny brown; her features regular enough and fine enough for all practical purposes. It was of this young woman that her friend and now her travelling companion, Kate Glendinning, was in the habit of saying— "There’s one thing I will confess about Mary Stanley: she’s not quite honest. She is too happy. She is so happy in herself that she wants every one she meets to share in her content; and she is apt to say clever and flattering little things that are not quite true. It is for no selfish purpose; quite the reverse: still—you mustn’t believe all that Mary says to you."