" replied William, "we know since yesterday that, for the
welfare of Scotland, my brother has been named regent; and as he is a son
as respectful to his mother as he is devoted to his country, we hope that
he will repair the evil that for five years favourites of every sort and
kind have done to both."

"It is like a good son, and at the same time like a courteous host, to go
back no farther into the history of Scotland," replied Mary Stuart, "and
not to make the daughter blush for the father's errors; for I have heard
say that the evil which your lordship laments was prior to the time to
which you assign it, and that King James V. also had formerly favourites,
both male and female. It is true that they add that the ones as ill
rewarded his friendship as the others his love. In this, if you are
ignorant of it, my lord, you can be instructed, if he is still living, by
a certain. Porterfeld or Porterfield, I don't know which, understanding
these names of the lower classes too ill to retain and pronounce them,
but about which, in my stead, your noble mother could give you
information."

With these words, Mary Stuart rose, and, leaving William Douglas crimson
with rage, she returned into her bedroom, and bolted the door behind her.

All that day Mary did not come down, remaining at her window, from which
she at least enjoyed a splendid view over the plains and village of
Kinross; but this vast extent only contracted her heart the more, when,
bringing her gaze back from the horizon to the castle, she beheld its
walls surrounded on all sides by the deep waters of the lake, on whose
wide surface a single boat, where Little Douglas was fishing, was rocking
like a speck. For some moments Mary's eyes mechanically rested on this
child, whom she had already seen upon her arrival, when suddenly a horn
sounded from the Kinross side. At the same moment Little Douglas threw
away his line, and began to row towards the shore whence the signal had
come with skill and strength beyond his years. Mary, who had let her
gaze rest on him absently, continued to follow him with her eyes, and saw
him make for a spot on the shore so distant that the boat seemed to her
at length but an imperceptible speck; but soon it reappeared, growing
larger as it approached, and Mary could then observe that it was bringing
back to the castle a new passenger, who, having in his turn taken the
oars, made the little skiff fly over the tranquil water of the l