g's
followers. If not, and if he cometh to meet the king, heaven look down
in mercy on these poor children, who still cry for their mother, and
will not rest!"

Thomas obeyed; and, as she turned to comfort her children, before she
again betook herself to her weary station, she heard the clatter of the
horse's heels over the gateway. The restlessness of her little ones
pained her: she imagined she saw, in their instinctive anxiety and fear,
some presage of coming evil, whereby, before another night, they might
be orphans; and all her efforts to remove the impression only tended to
confirm it--thus strangely and fantastically prophetic, is the
apprehensive heart. After again assuring them that their father was
coming, she sought her seat at the casement; and saw, now, the grey
dawn, throwing a stronger light over the bleak hills, and exhibiting the
white, foaming cataracts, dashing from brae to brae! Any hope of seeing
Cockburn, now, before the coming of the king, had gradually dwindled
away, and was extinct; and she as much feared to hear a sound from the
direction of Tushielaw, as she, an hour before, was anxious for that
indication of her husband's approach. Every instant she might expect to
hear the tramp of the king's horses; nothing could avert that sound from
her ear, or prevent it beating upon her heart. It came at last; she
heard it audibly, mixed with the discordant jingle of armour, and
striking her ear at the same time that a horrid glare of torch-light
pierced the deep wood, and arrested her eye. In a few minutes more, a
trumpet sounded a shrill blast; the feet of many restless horses raised
a confused noise, that was mixed with broken, under-toned ejaculations,
and clanking of swords and bucklers, and, after a minute or two of
comparative silence, came the high tones of a herald's voice, demanding
admittance in the name of King James. The warder repaired to his
mistress, and got his answer. The gate was opened, and Marjory saw the
cavalcade enter the base court surrounding the castle; while two large
bodies of soldiers, coming up about the same time, took their stations
on each side of the entrance. A circle was now formed by those who were
within the court; and the grim faces of the nobles, as they reflected
the glare of the torches, were revealed clearly to her gaze. In the
middle stood the young king, in close and secret counsel with his
confidential advisers, and, at last, the warder was called before hi