The troubled spirit of Mary Campbell (Highland Mary) has plagued all the biographers of Robert Burns. Fascinated and yet baffled, they have produced a wide variety of hypotheses, but no one of them has been able to write a wholly satisfactory account of her romance with Burns. The lack of information about her has led some critics to question her existence. It is, therefore, of considerable interest that facts have recently come to light which demonstrate her living presence conclusively and which enable a biographer for the first time to present a clear-cut account of her relations with Burns.