The Master of Stair found no difficulty in the royal closet.

William had, in all probability, never heard the Glencoe men mentioned except as banditti.

He knew that they had not come in by the prescribed day.

That they had come in after that day he did not know.

If he paid any attention to the matter, he must have thought that so fair an opportunity of putting an end to the devastations and depredations from which a quiet and industrious population had suffered so much ought not to be lost.
An order was laid before him for signature.