The wicked uncle alleged that the heir was also dead.

The child, ignorant of his birth, grew up, ran away from the Jesuits at the age of sixteen, enlisted in the French army, fought at Fontenoy, got his colours, and, later, landed in the Moray Firth as a French officer in 1745.

He went through the campaign, was in hiding in Lochaber after Drumossie, and in making for a Galloway port, was seized, and imprisoned in Dumfries.

Here an old woman of his father's household recognized him by "a mark which she remembered on his body." His cause was taken up by friends; but the usurping uncle died, and Sir Robert Maxwell recovered his estates without a lawsuit.

This anecdote is quoted from the "New Monthly Magazine," June, 1819.