to the ground as the sound fell on her ear,
but that the recess of the casement sustained her powerless frame. After
a few moments of insensibility, she again opened her eyes; and the first
vision that presented itself to her, was her husband marching into the
castle between two rows of the king's troops. He came nobly forward,
with a free, erect carriage, and a look undaunted by the scowls that
fell on him from every side. On coming up to the king, who stood in a
haughty, indignant attitude, he was prepared to throw himself at his
feet, when his eye caught the rope, with the noose at the end of it,
hanging from the buttress. He started, and threw a hurried look up to
the casement, where Marjory sat watching his every movement; but his
fortitude returned again, and making a step forward, he threw himself at
the feet of the king.

"Here doth an humble subject," he said, "deposit the loyalty he oweth to
his lawful king."

"On the eve, or in the midst of rebellion," cried James, in ironical
anger. "Seize the rebel! One caught in the act, maketh a good beginning.
Four reigns of Jameses have been merely borne or suffered, by beggarly
tolerance, by these Border sovereigns, and the best part of a kingdom
made an arena for the strife of the contention of petty kings, who rob,
and steal, and kill on all hands, heedless whether the victim be king or
knave. This shall be ended--by the faith of Scotland's king it shall!
'Habit and repute,' is good evidence by our old law against common
thieves; and I ask my nobles, too good a jury for such caitiffs, what a
common thief deserves?"

"To be strung up to the buttress," replied several voices, in deep
hollow sounds, that rung fearfully round the recesses of the ballium,
and reached the ear of Marjory.

"Parys Cockburn of Henderland," cried James, "hath, by a jury of our
nobles, been deemed worthy to die the death of a thief, and a rebel
against our authority. Let him be forthwith hanged till he be dead, on
the buttress of his own tower, as an example to evil doers in time to
come."

A quick movement of simultaneous, and, in many cases, intuitive
agitation, followed this order. Two men seized the unfortunate
gentleman, and proceeded to bind his hands behind his back, while the
executioner proceeded to let go the end of the rope, so as to bring
within his reach the noose, which had previously been purposely
elevated, so as to be more exposed to the eyes of the beholders. Every
ste