real cause
of his mother's terror flashed on his mind; her lips, parched and
quivering, parted as to speak, but there was no sound.

"Mother," he said, "mother, speak to thy son. Why, why art thou thus?
it is not the dread of imprisonment, of death. No, no; they have no
terrors for such as thee. Who is this man?"

Engrossed in his own agitation, Alan had not heard the muttered
exclamation which burst from Buchan's lips with his first words, for
great was the earl's surprise as he looked on his son; the impression he
was still a child had remained on his mind despite all reports to the
contrary, but no softer feeling obtained dominion.

"Who and what am I?" he continued, after a brief pause. "Wouldst thou
know, Alan of Buchan? Even a faithful knight, soldier, and subject of
his Royal Highness Edward, king of England and Scotland, and
consequently thy foe; the insulted and dishonored husband of the woman
thou callest mother, and consequently thy father, young man. Ha! have I
spoken home? Thy sword, thy sword; acknowledge thy disloyalty to thy
father and king, and for thee all may yet be well."

"Never!" answered Alan, proudly, the earl's concluding words rousing the
spirit which the knowledge of beholding his father and the emotion of
his mother seemed to have crushed. "Never, Lord of Buchan! for father I
cannot call thee. Thou mayest force me to resign my sword, thou mayest
bring me to the block, but acknowledge allegiance to a foreign tyrant,
who hath no claims on Scotland or her sons, save those of hate and
detestation, that thou canst never do, even if thy sword be pointed at
my heart."

"Boy!" burst from the earl's lips, in accents of irrepressible rage, but
he checked himself; "thou hast learned a goodly lesson of disobedience
and daring, of a truth, and I should tender grateful thanks to thy most
worthy, most efficient and virtuous teacher," he added, in his own
bitterly sarcastic tone. "The Lady Isabella deems, perchance, she has
done her duty to her husband in placing a crown on the head of his
hereditary and hated foe, and leading his son in the same path of
rebellion and disloyalty, and giving his service to the murderer of his
kinsman."

"Earl of Buchan, I have done my duty alike to my country and my son,"
replied the countess, her high spirit roused by the taunts of her
husband. "According to the dictates of my conscience, mine honor as a
Scottish woman, the mother of a Scottish warrior, I have done my