ese was Malise the Smith, towering like a giant. His hands
rested on the hilt of a mighty sword, whose blade sparkled in the
lamplight as if the master armourer had drawn it that moment from the
midst of his charcoal fire.

A little in front of Malise there stood another figure, less imposing
in physical proportions, but infinitely more striking in dignity and
apparel. This second was a man of tall and spare frame, of a
countenance grave and severe, yet with a certain kindly power latent
in him also. He was dressed in the white robe of a Cistercian, with
the black scapulary of the order. On his head was the mitre, and in
his hand the staff of the abbot of a great establishment which he
wears when he goes visiting his subsidiary houses. More remarkable
than all was the monk's likeness to the young man who now stood before
him with an expression of indignant surprise on his face, which slowly
merged into anger as he understood why these two men were there.

He recognised his uncle the Abbot William Douglas, the head of the
great Abbey of Dulce Cor upon Solway side.

This was he who, being the son and heir of the brother of the first
Duke of Touraine, had in the flower of his age suddenly renounced his
domains of Nithsdale that he might take holy orders, and who had ever
since been renowned throughout all Scotland for high sanctity and a
multitude of good works.

The pair stood looking towards the lady and William Douglas without
speech, a kind of grim patience upon their faces.

It was the Earl who was the first to speak.

"What seek you here so late, my lord Abbot?" he said, with all the
haughtiness of the unquestioned head of his mighty house.

"Nay, what seeks the Earl William here alone so late?" answered the
Abbot, with equal directness.

The two men stood fronting each other. Malise leaned upon his
two-handed sword and gazed upon the ground.

"I have come," the Abbot went on, after vainly waiting for the young
Earl to offer an explanation, "as your kinsman, tutor, and councillor,
to warn you against this foreign witch woman. What seeks she here in
this land of Galloway but to do you hurt? Have we not heard her with
our own ears persuade you to accompany her to Edinburgh, which is a
city filled with the power and deadly intent of your enemies?"

Earl William bowed ironically to his uncle, and his eye glittered as
it fell upon Malise MacKim.

"I thank you, Uncle," he said. "I am deeply indebted for your s