"I feel," said I, "as if I had won you at the pistol's point." "My lad," said he, laughing, "as I told thee before, I am glad to have thee in my company and under my command." "You shall find me," said I, "a faithful comrade, a dutiful and obedient..." I paused ... "soldier," I managed to say before he clasped me close again. BOOK II THE KEEPING OF A WIFE _As described by the Gentleman who did it, with an incidental Digression by the Lady herself_ _Chapter_ XII _In which I, Sir Hugh Richmond, who tell this Tale, find that it is easier to marry Lady Katharine Clanranald than to keep her for my own_ Being a soldier and a veteran of many an out-fall and on-fall, of frequent battle and stubborn leaguer, I know that to get and to keep are two entirely different operations. To have and to hold, which go together in the phrase, are not always associated in life, especially in a soldier's life. Through a series of the most romantic adventures and perils, which she herself most gallantly, with some slight assistance from me, had overcome, I had got myself a wife; but as I stood on the low bluff near Cockenzie that afternoon and watched her being borne away, swiftly away from me, by a small boat to a smart brigantine hove to in the offing, it seemed to me that I had won her but to lose her. Enlarged from prison by her woman's wit and married that very morning, I had counted myself the happiest of men; now I was the most miserable. Exiled by the King, my estates confiscate, broke in rank--these I could have borne. But to find my wife torn from me by force of arms, myself regarded with sudden hatred and suspicion by those by whom I was surrounded, surely I might have been forgiven if I had fallen into utter despair. But I was a soldier, I had bided the shock in many a stricken field, and I knew that the battle was not lost or won whiles I, or the enemy, could keep that field. Therefore I did not despair; on the contrary, I was white hot with growing rage. The Majesty of England was a large thing. I was but a poor soldier, an outlaw and an exile, a proscribed man, a death sentence hanging over my head if I were found within the confines of the three kingdoms within four days. So far so good, no worse sentence could be passed upon me. If I failed, I would liefer die than not without Lady Katharine Clanranald--this morning by the grace of God become Lady Katharine Richmond, and my wife. Losing her, I did not care what happened to me.