e, the physician Dwining, and the domestic already mentioned; one of
whom seemed always to remain in the apartment, while the others observed
a degree of precaution respecting their intercourse with the rest of the
family, so strict as to maintain the belief that he was dangerously ill
of an infectious disorder.

CHAPTER XXXII.

In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire,
With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales
Of woeful ages, long ago betid:
And, ere thou bid goodnight, to quit their grief,
Tell thou the lamentable fall of me.

King Richard II Act V. Scene I.

Far different had been the fate of the misguided heir of Scotland from
that which was publicly given out in the town of Falkland. His ambitious
uncle had determined on his death, as the means of removing the first
and most formidable barrier betwixt his own family and the throne.
James, the younger son of the King, was a mere boy, who might at more
leisure be easily set aside. Ramorny's views of aggrandisement, and the
resentment which he had latterly entertained against his masters made
him a willing agent in young Rothsay's destruction. Dwining's love of
gold, and his native malignity of disposition, rendered him equally
forward. It had been resolved, with the most calculating cruelty,
that all means which might leave behind marks of violence were to be
carefully avoided, and the extinction of life suffered to take place
of itself by privation of every kind acting upon a frail and impaired
constitution. The Prince of Scotland was not to be murdered, as Ramorny
had expressed himself on another occasion, he was only to cease to
exist. Rothsay's bedchamber in the Tower of Falkland was well adapted
for the execution of such a horrible project. A small, narrow staircase,
scarce known to exist, opened from thence by a trapdoor to the
subterranean dungeons of the castle, through a passage by which
the feudal lord was wont to visit, in private and in disguise, the
inhabitants of those miserable regions. By this staircase the villains
conveyed the insensible Prince to the lowest dungeon of the castle,
so deep in the bowels of the earth, that no cries or groans, it was
supposed, could possibly be heard, while the strength of its door and
fastenings must for a long time have defied force, even if the entrance
could have been discovered. Bonthron, who had been saved from the
gallows for the purpose, was the willing agent