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" O young Lochinvar has come out of the west. Of all the wide border, his steed was the best." -Sir Walter Scott- Young Duncan MacDougall of Loch Invar presented himself to Laird MacKay as a suitor for the hand of his daughter, Kate. The Mackay was not pleased. "Aw'm a mon o' few worrrds and they are 'Keep awa' frae me dochter or ye'll rue the day. Ye're a MacDougall and aw'll nae hae ye in the family. Noo, gae and ne'er darrken me doorr again." Young Lochinvar, as he was called, had expected no better reception to his suit, but presented it pro forma. He was well aware of the bad blood between their families and the reason for it. Colin Mackay's father, Angus Mackay, was a wastrel and a spendthrift who had squandered his patrimony and plunged the family deeply into debt. Upon his death, Laird Colin Mackay had had to sell over half of their land. Ian MacDougall had driven a very hard bargain and bought it for a scandalously low price. The MacDougalls lived adjacent to the Mackays and, with his father's creditors nipping at his heels like curs, Colin was desparate. He called Ian MacDougall a Jew to his face, but he sold him the land. Young Duncan, being but four years old at the time, had no part in this but shared in the Mackay's hatred for his father . It was very regrettable that, of all the maids in the Highlands, he had to fall in love with Kate Mackay. The Mackay was still desparate for funds and had other plans for his daughter than to marry her to a damned MacDougall whose father would probably demand a ruinously high dowry with her. Having anticipated the Mackay's response to his suit, young Lochinvar was prepared for it. He had already spoken to Kate of elopement and found her amenable to the idea, for she knew that her father intended to marry her to a Lowland fop, one Brian Stevenson frae Glesca, whom she had met and despised. Lochinvar's steed was the fastest in the Highlands and though he told Kate that "They'll hae swift steeds that follow." he knew well that he could out-distance them. The plan, then, was that Kate would step outside the garden gate at noon four days before the wedding. Duncan would gallop by and seize her with his strong right arm, lifting her onto the saddle before him, without stopping or pausing. "The best-laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley." -Robert Burns- Who had overheard their plan as they whispered to each other through the hedge, neither of them ever knew, but it was made known to the Mackay. When Lochinvar galloped up to the garden gate, Kate was not there, but a dozen of the Mackay's men were. They stopped him and pulled him from his saddle.Tying his wrists behind his back, they brought Duncan into the house. Kate was there weeping and the Mackay was nearly apoplectic with rage. "Aw tauld ye tae bide awa' frae me dochter ! And aw tauld ye that ye'd rue the day. Weel, noo ye shall." What happened next was so shocking, so brutal and indecent that Lochinvar would not have expected it even of the Mackay. Like all Highlanders, Lochinvar wore nothing under his kilt. To his astonishment, horror, and disgust, Laird Mackay walked up to Duncan, reached up under his kilt, seized his stanes, and with one wrenching jerk, tore them out of his body and held them up before his eyes . "Wi'oot these, ye willnae need a woman and dootless, Kate will find ye less attractive." Kate screamed and fainted. Lochinvar stared in shocked disbelief at his stanes, now hanging by their cords from the Mackay's hand. Kate regained consciousness and began screaming again and was led, shrieking and sobbing from the room. Though it was not evident at the time, witnessing her lover's castration had unhinged Kate's mind .After she stopped screaming hours later, Kate became unnaturally silent and moved as one in a trance. Lochinvar stood there wi' the bluid rinnin' doon his legs. "Stap bleedin' on me flair and git oot o' here." snarled the Mackay. Duncan ran outside and remounted his steed and, with blood trickling from his stirrups, rode hell for leather to his home where a family retainer with some skill in such matters managed to stanch the bleeding. Kate silently went through the motions of being prepared for her wedding, and four days later, it took place in the kirk with Kate on her father's arm, walking like a sleepwalker. She had to be asked twice "Do ye, Kate tak' this mon, Brian as ye'r lawfully wedded maun" Finally she replied "Aye", which, though not the expected response, was acceped. Throughout the wedding feast Kate was inattentive and distant. No one noticed when she slipped a sharp meat knife into her reticule. Finally the bridal pair adjourned to the nuptial bedroom. The ladies of the house gathered outside to hear, if possible her cry of pain at the taking of her maidenhead, which would signify the consummation of the marriage.. What they heard instead was a terrible cry in a man's voice. They rushed into the bedroom to see Kate holding a bloody knife while, at her feet lay her husband breathing his last with a stab wound in his chest. Kate raised the knife and, before their horrified eyes, plunged its point into her breast and fell dead beside her husband's corpse. The Mackay was much vexed at this. He had lost his intended access to the Stevenson fortune and had no other daughters to marry off.. Besides, now he would have to travel to the lowlands to attend Brian Stevenson'e funeral in Glesca, a city which he hated. What with arranging his daughter's funeral and consoling his wife (the stupid auld biddy), the Mackay was late setting out for Glesca a week after the wedding day . He left alone in his carriage, accompanied only by the coachman, after sunset. The side lamps were lit and the Last Quarter moon would provide barely adequate illumination. It was not yet the end of twilight when a highwayman appeared before the carriage brandishing two pistols. The coachman, without waiting for orders, stopped the carriage. The highwayman snarled "Ye in there, get oot." The Mackay hesitated. "Aw said GET OOT !" shouted the highwayman in a voice which seemed somehow familiar to the Mackay. He alighted and stood facing the cloaked, booted highwayman who wore a scarf over his face and a broad-brimmed slouch hat, almost a theatrical costume for a highwayman. Without another word or an instant's hesitation, the highwayman discharged his pistol into the Mackay's belly just above his sporran. The 16-bore ball tore through his bowels, dooming the Mackay to a slow agonizing death. "AAAAAAAGH !" screamed Laird Mackay "Ye've shot me thru the tripes." "Aye" replied the highwayman, no more than that.. Then he wheeled his steed and thundered off into the darkness, out of history, out of legend, ne'er to be heard of again, nor was the young Lochinvar. |