"Well, old friend," he said as he went out to where the little
party of Scotchmen were standing in a group, "what are your plans
and wishes? 'Tis a pity now that I persuaded you to leave Paris
and go down to la Villar, but I did it for the best. I thought of
you much as I rode hither."

"Do not trouble about me, colonel, I am by no means sorry at the
change. I was getting tired of the cabaret, and should soon have
given it up even had you not come to offer me the wardenship of your
chateau. I have chatted matters over with my two friends, and we
have not yet agreed whether to return to Scotland or to remain in
France. At any rate we shall go to Paris first; my money is there
all in good keeping, together with the two years' payment for the
cabaret. Are you thinking of going to Scotland yourself, colonel?"

"Certainly not to Scotland, I have no friends there, and from all
that I have heard the people are so hard and bigoted, so full of
their religious differences, that I should feel sorely out of place
with them.

"Well, MacIntosh, as soon as I am settled in England I will have a
letter conveyed to you in some way at the address of The Scottish
Soldier. Wherever I am, there will be a home always open to you,
and glad indeed I shall be to have you near me. My four troopers
are going to accompany me. I have talked the matter over with
them, and have promised that I will find a house with a small farm
for them on any estate I may purchase, where they can do such
an amount of work as pleases them, or that they can remain in my
service on the present conditions. You can make the same offer in