St. Katharine's, and this would be the signal for dissolving
the contract of marriage, after which his present vision was to bestow
Lilias upon Patrick, make over his estates to them, take minor orders,
and set forth for Italy, there to pursue those deeper studies in theology
and language for which Padua and Bologna were famous. It was many months
since he had heard of Lilias; but this did not give him any great
uneasiness, for messengers were few, and letter-writing far from being a
common practice. He had himself written at every turning-point of his
life, and sent his letters when the King communicated with Scotland; but
from his sister he had heard nothing.

He had lately won his first degree as Bachelor of Arts, and was
descending the stair from the Hall after a Lenten meal on salt fish, when
he saw below him the well-known figure of King James's English servant,
who doffing his cap held out to him a small strip of folded paper,
fastened by a piece of crimson silk and the royal seal. It only bore the
words:--

'_To our right trusty and well-beloved Cousin the Lord Malcolm Stewart
of Glenuskie this letter be taken_.

'DEAR COUSIN,

'We greet you well, and pray you to come to us without loss of time,
having need of you, we being a free man and no captive.

'Yours,
'JAMES R.

'Written at the Castle of Windsor this St. David's Day, 1424.'

'A free man:' the words kept ringing in Malcolm's ears while he hastened
to obtain license from Warden John Bonke, and to take leave of Dr.
Bennet. He had not left Oxford since the beginning of his residence
there. Vacations were not general dispersions when ways and means of
transit were so scarce and tardy, and Malcolm had been long without
seeing his king. Joy on his sovereign's account, and his country's,
seemed to swallow up all other thoughts; as to himself, when he bade his
friends and masters farewell, he declared it was merely for a time, and
when they shook their heads and augured otherwise, he replied: 'Nay,
think you I could live in the Cimmerian darkness yonder, dear sirs? Our
poor country hath nothing better than mere monastery schools, and light
of science having once shone on me, I cannot but dwell in her courts for
ever! Soon shall I be altogether her son and slave!'

Nevertheless, Malcolm was full of eagerness, and pressed on rapidly
through the lanes between Oxford and Windsor, rejoicing to find himself
amid the noble tree