ertaining
two of his fellows, one with the Douglas Bloody Heart, the other
with the Lindsay Lion on a black field, besides two messengers of the
different clans, who looked askance at one another.

Leaning against the wall near the window stood the young King with
two or three youths beside him, laughing and talking over three great
deer-hounds, and by the hearth were two elder men--one, a tall dignified
figure in the square cap and purple robe of a Bishop, with a face of
great wisdom and sweetness; the other, still taller, with slightly
grizzled hair and the weather-beaten countenance of a valiant and
sagacious warrior, dressed in the leathern garments usually worn under
armour.

As Jean emerged from the turret she was met and courteously greeted
by Sir Patrick Drummond and his sons, as were also her sisters, with a
grace and deference to their rank such as they hardly ever received from
the nobles, and whose very rarity made Eleanor shy and uncomfortable,
even while she was gratified and accepted it as her due.

The Bishop inclined his head and gave them a kind smile; but they had
already seen him in the morning, as he was residing in the castle. He
was the most fatherly friend and kinsman the young things knew, and
though really their first cousin, they looked to him like an uncle. He
insisted on due ceremony with them, though he had much difficulty in
enforcing it, except with those Scottish knights and nobles who, like
Sir Patrick Drummond, had served in France, and retained their French
breeding.

So Jean, hawk and all, had to be handed to her seat by Sir Patrick as
the guest, Eleanor by her brother, not without a little fraternal pinch,
and Mary by the Bishop, who answered with a paternal caress to her
murmured entreaty that she might keep wee Andie on her lap and give him
his brose.

It was not a sumptuous repast, the staple being a haggis, also broth
with chunks of meat and barleycorns floating in it, the meat in strings
by force of boiling. At the high table each person had a bowl, either
silver or wood, and each had a private spoon, and a dagger to serve as
knife, also a drinking-cup of various materials, from the King's gold
goblet downwards to horns, and a bannock to eat with the brose. At the
middle table trenchers and bannocks served the purpose of plates; and at
the third there was nothing interposed between the boards of the table
and the lumps of meat from which the soup had been made.

Jean's