ely did as he was bidden.
All night the brothers had sat looking out on the city humming
sleeplessly beneath them, till the light slowly dawned over the Forth
and away to the eastward Berwick Law stood dwarfed and clear. At first
they had sat apart, but as the hours stole on David came a little
nearer and his hand sought that of his brother, clasped it, and abode
as it had been contented. The elder brother returned the pressure.

"David," he said, "if perish we must, at least you and I will show
them how Douglases can die."

So when they rose to follow the seneschal who summoned them, as they
left the chamber of detention and the clanking guard fell in behind
them, Earl William put his hand affectionately on his young brother's
shoulder and kept it there. In this wise they came into the great
hall wherein yester-even the banquet of treachery had been served. The
dais had been removed to the upper end of the room, and upon it in the
furred robes of judges of the realm, there sat on either side of the
empty throne Crichton the Chancellor and Sir Alexander Livingston.
Behind were crowded groups of knights, pages, men-at-arms, and all the
hangers-on of a court. But of men of dignity and place only the
Marshal de Retz, ambassador of the King of France, was present.

He sat alone on a high seat ranged crosswise upon the dais. The floor
in the centre of the hall was kept clear for the entrance of the
brothers of Douglas.

Crichton and Livingston looked uneasily at each other as the feet of
the guard conducting the prisoners were heard in the corridor without,
and with a quick, apprehensive wave of his hand Crichton motioned the
armed men of his guard closer about him, and gave their leader
directions in a hushed voice behind his palm.

The seneschal who had summoned them strode in first, and then after a
sufficient interval entered the young Lords of Douglas, William and
David his brother. The elder still kept one hand affectionately on the
shoulder of the younger. His other was set as usual in the silken belt
which he wore about his waist, and he walked carelessly, with a high
air and an easy step, like one that goes in expectantly to a pleasant
entertainment.

But as soon as the brothers perceived in whose presence they were, an
air of pride came over their faces and stiffened their figures into
the sterner aspect of warriors who stand on the field of battle.

Some three paces before the steps of the dais on which sa