to pay homage, it will be but a
mockery. Neither he nor Angus had ever any good-will to my father, and
they have none to me."

"Ah, do not be angry, William," cried the little maid. "It will be
beautiful. They will come at a fitting time. For to-morrow is the
great levy of the weapon-showing, and our cousins will see you in your
pride. And they will see me, too, in my best green sarcenet, riding on
a white palfrey at your side as you promised."

"A weapon-showing is not a place for little girls," said the Earl,
mollified in spite of himself, casting himself down again on the
couch, and playing with the serpent ring on his finger.

"Ah, now," cried his sister, her quick eyes dancing everywhere at
once, "you are not attending to a single word I say. I know by your
voice that you are not. That is a pretty ring you have. Did a lady
give it to you? Was it our Maudie? I think it must have been our Maud.
She has many beautiful things, but mostly it is the young men who wish
to give her such things. She never sends any of them back, but keeps
them in a box, and says that it is good to spoil the Egyptians. And
sometimes when I am tired she will tell me the history of each, and
whether he was dark or fair. Or make it all up just as good when she
forgets. But, oh, William, if I were a lady I should fall in love with
nobody but you. For you are so handsome--yes, nearly as handsome as I
am myself--(she passed her hands lightly through her curls as she
spoke). And you know I shall marry no one but a Douglas--only you must
not ask me to wed my cousin William of Avondale, for he is so stern
and solemn; besides, he has always a book in his pocket, and wishes me
to learn somewhat out of it as if I were a monk. A Douglas should not
be a monk, he should be a soldier."

So she lay snugly on the bed and prattled on to her brother, who,
buried in his thoughts and occupied with his ring, let the hours slip
on till at the open door of the Earl's chamber there appeared the most
bewitching face in the world, as many in that castle and elsewhere
were ready to prove at the sword's point. The little girl caught sight
of it with a shrill cry of pleasure, instantly checked and hushed,
however, at the thought of her mother.

"O Maudie," she cried, "come hither into William's room. He has such a
beautiful ring that a lady gave him. I am sure a lady gave it him. Was
it you, Maud Lindesay? You are a sly puss not to tell me if it was.
William, it is