From the white quarter he procured a facile lad who could read and write, and who, through too much quickness of wit, had failed to prosper in England.  Him he installed as secretary, and forthwith began a correspondence with friends in England, as well as a long poem which was to serve the double purpose of giving Mr. Pope a rival and of occupying the mind of Mr. Marmaduke Haward.  The letters were witty and graceful, the poem was the same; but on the third day the secretary, pausing for the next word that should fall from his master’s lips, waited so long that he dropped asleep.  When he awoke, Mr. Haward was slowly tearing into bits the work that had been done on the poem.  “It will have to wait upon my mood,” he said.  “Seal up the letter to Lord Hervey, boy, and then begone to the fields.  If I want you again, I will send for you.”

The next day he proposed to himself to ride to Williamsburgh and see his acquaintances there.  But even as he crossed the room to strike the bell for Juba a distaste for the town and its people came upon him.  It occurred to him that instead he might take the barge and be rowed up the river to the Jaquelins’ or to Green Spring; but in a moment this plan also became repugnant.  Finally he went out upon the terrace, and sat there the morning through, staring at the river.  That afternoon he sent a negro to the store with a message for the storekeeper.

The Highlander, obeying the demand for his company,—­the third or fourth since his day at Williamsburgh,—­came shortly before twilight to the great house, and found the master thereof still upon the terrace, sitting beneath an oak, with a small table and a bottle of wine beside him.

“Ha, Mr. MacLean!” he cried, as the other approached.  “Some days have passed since last we laid the ghosts!  I had meant to sooner improve our acquaintance.  But my house has been in disorder, and I myself,”—­he passed his hand across his face as if to wipe away the expression into which it had been set,—­“I myself have been poor company.  There is a witchery in the air of this place.  I am become but a dreamer of dreams.”

As he spoke he motioned his guest to an empty chair, and began to pour wine for them both.  His hand was not quite steady, and there was about him a restlessness of aspect most unnatural to the man.  The storekeeper thought him looking worn, and as though he had passed sleepless nights.

MacLean sat down, and drew his wineglass toward Mm.  “It is the heat,” he said.  “Last night, in the store, I felt that I was stifling; and I left it, and lay on the bare ground without.  A star shot down the sky, and I wished that a wind as swift and strong would rise and sweep the land out to sea.  When the day comes that I die, I wish to die a fierce death.  It is best to die in battle, for then the mind is raised, and you taste all life in the moment before you go.  If a man achieves not that, then struggle with earth or air or the waves