the morn?'

'With morning light, if it be possible, fair ladies,' said Sir Patrick.

'Ay,' said James, 'then will we take Mary and the weans to the nunnery
in St. Mary's Wynd, where none will dare to molest them, and I shall go
on to St. Andrews or Stirling, as may seem fittest; while we leave old
Seneschal Peter to keep the castle gates shut. If the Hielanders come,
they'll find the nut too hard for them to crack, and the kernel gone, so
you'd best burn no more daylight, maidens, but busk ye, as women will.'

'Oh, Jamie, to speak so lightly of parting!' sighed Eleanor.

'Come--no fule greeting, now you have your will,' hastily said James,
who could hardly bear it himself.

'Our gear!' faltered Jeanie, with consternation at their ill-furnished
wardrobes.

'For that,' said the Bishop, 'you must leave the supply till you are
over the Border, when the Lady Glenuskie will see to your appearing as
nigh as may be as befits the daughters of Scotland among your English
kin.'

'But we have not a mark between us,' said Jean, 'and all my mother's
jewels are pledged to the Lombards.'

'There are moneys falling due to the Crown,' said the Bishop, 'and I can
advance enow to Sir Patrick to provide the gear and horses.'

'And my gude wife's royal kin are my guests till they win to their
sister,' added Sir Patrick.

And so it was settled. It was an evening of bustle and a night of
wakefulness. There were floods of tears poured out by and over sweet
little Mary and good old Ankaret, not to speak of those which James
scorned to shed. Had a sudden stop been put to the journey, perhaps,
Eleanor would have been relieved but Jean sorely disappointed.

It was further decided that Father Romuald should accompany the party,
both to assist in negotiations with Henry VI. and Cardinal Beaufort, and
to avail himself of the opportunity of returning to his native land, fa
north, and to show cause to the Pope for erecting St. Andrews into an
archiepiscopal see, instead of leaving Scotland under the primacy of
York.

Hawk and harp were all the properties the princesses-errant took with
them; but Jean, as her old nurse sometimes declared, loved Skywing
better than all the weans, and Elleen's small travelling-harp was all
that she owned of her father's--except the spirit that loved it.

CHAPTER 2. DEPARTURE

'I bowed my pride,
A horse-boy in his train to ride.'--SCOTT.

The Lady of Glenuskie, as she was