le recompense attending the toils and struggles of a
patriot. The only emotion of any weight with him was the remembrance of
and desire of avenging petty injuries, fancying and aggravating them
when, in fact, none was intended.

Very different was the character of the Earl of Buchan; morose, fierce,
his natural hardness of disposition unsoftened by one whisper of
chivalry, although educated in the best school of knighthood, and
continually the follower of King Edward, he adhered to him first, simply
because his estates in England were far more to his taste than those in
Scotland, towards which he felt no filial tie; and soon after his
marriage, repugnance to his high-minded and richly-gifted countess,
which ever seemed a reproach and slur upon himself, kept him still more
aloof, satisfied that the close retirement in which she lived, the
desert and rugged situation of his castle, would effectually debar her
from using that influence he knew she possessed, and keep her wholly and
solely his own; a strange kind of feeling, when, in reality, the wide
contrast between them made her an object of dislike, only to be
accounted for by the fact that a dark, suspicious, jealous temper was
ever at work within him.

"Now, do but look at that fellow's doublet, Comyn. Look, how gay they
pass below, and here am I, with my new, richly-broidered suit, with
which I thought to brave it with the best of them--here am I, I say,
pent up in stone walls like a caged goldfinch, 'stead of the
entertainment I had pictured; 'tis enough to chafe the spirit of a
saint."

"And canst thou think of such things now, thou sorry fool?" demanded
Buchan, sternly, pausing in his hurried stride up and down the narrow
precincts of the chamber; "hast thou no worthier subject for
contemplation?"

"None, save thy dutiful wife's most dutiful conduct, Comyn, which,
being the less agreeable of the two, I dismiss the first I owe her small
thanks for playing the representative of my house; methinks, her
imprisonment would better serve King Edward's cause and ours too."

"Aye, imprisonment--imprisonment for life," muttered the earl, slowly.
"Let but King Edward restore me my good sword, and he may wreak his
vengeance on her as he listeth. Not all the castles of Scotland, the
arms of Scottish men, dare guard a wife against her husband; bitterly
shall she rue this deed."

"And thy son, my gentle kinsman, what wilt thou do with him, bethink
thee? Thou wilt find hi