THE hue-and-cry subsided,* and Forbes found sanctuary with his son near Rosehearty,* taking the name of Mr Brown. Also living with them was Mrs Sophia Donaldson. Early one March morning in 1756, she was wakeful through anxiety about soldiers coming to the house; and looking out into the night-grey garden, saw the very thing she feared: English troops, whispering and pointing.

At once Lord Forbes was bundled into a space behind the wainscot, with a bed shoved up against it. The soldiers burst in and checked every room; they even checked the elderly Miss Gordon, whose bed it was, to make sure she was not Lord Forbes in a nightdress; fortunately, she had the presence of mind to cough pitiably, to explain the curious sounds coming from the vicinity of the wainscot.

They had no sooner left the room, than Forbes emerged and ordered a hot breakfast for the King’s men. ‘They are only doing their duty,’ he said. The English apparently forgot about him soon after, and he died peacefully on December 21st, 1762.