nswer his father. What he would have said none
knows, but ere he could voice a word, the eyes of his brother, stern
as the law given to Moses on the mount, were bent upon him. He
straightened himself up, and, with a look carefully averted from the
palsied man before him, he said, in a steady tone, "What my brother
William says, I say."

His father looked at him again, as if still hoping against hope for
some kinder word. Then he turned to his younger sons.

"Archie, Hugh, little Jockie, ye willna take part against your ain
faither?"

"We hold with our brothers!" said the three, speaking at once.

At this moment there came running in at the door of the tent a lad of
ten--Henry, the youngest of the Avondale brothers. He stopped short in
the midst, glancing wonderingly from one to the other. His little
sword with which he had been playing dropped from his hand. James the
Gross looked at him.

"Harry," he said, "thy brothers are a' for leavin' me. Will ye gang
wi' them, or bide wi' your faither?"

"Father," said the boy, "I will go with you, if ye will let me help to
kill Livingston and the Chancellor!"

"Come, laddie," said the Earl, "ye understand not these matters. I
will explain to you when we gang back to the braw things in Edinbra'
toon!"

"No, no," cried the boy, stooping to pick up his sword, "I will bide
with my brothers, and help to kill the murderers of my cousins. What
William says, I say."

Then the five young men went out and called for their horses, their
youngest brother following them. And as the flap of the tent fell, and
he was left alone, James the Gross sank his head between his soft,
moist palms, and sobbed aloud.

For he was a weak, shifty, unstable man, loving approval, and a burden
to himself in soul and body when left to bear the consequences of his
acts.

"Oh, my bairns," he cried over and over, "why was I born? I am not
sufficient for these things!"

And even as he sobbed and mourned, the hoofs of his sons' horses rang
down the wind as they rode through the camp towards Galloway. And
little Henry rode betwixt William and James.

CHAPTER XLI

THE WITHERED GARLAND

Meanwhile Sholto fared onwards down the side of the sullen water of
Dee. The dwellers along the bank were all on the alert, and cried many
questions to him about the death of the Earl, most thinking him a
merchant travelling from Edinburgh to take ship at Kirkcudbright.
Sholto answered shortly but civilly, f