with his own emotion, and repeated all the
information he had obtained. Guardedly as he spoke, evidently as he
endeavored to prepare the mind of Agnes, and thus soften its woe, his
tale was yet such as to harrow up the hearts of all his hearers, how
much more the frail and gentle being to whom it more immediately
related; yet she stood calm, pale, indeed, and quivering, but with a
desperate effort conquering the weakness of her nature, and bearing that
deep woe as the daughter of her mother, the betrothed of Nigel Bruce.

The young lord's information was simply this. On nearing the
hunting-lodge, which was his first object, he found it very nearly
deserted, but a few stragglers, amounting perhaps to fifty in number of
the followers of Buchan, remaining behind, with orders to follow their
master to Dunkeld without delay. Mingling with these as a countryman of
the more northern counties, eager to obtain every species of
intelligence respecting the movements of the English and the hunted
Bruce, whom he pretended to condemn and vilify after the fashion of the
Anglo-Scots, and feeling perfectly secure not only in the disguise he
had assumed, but in the peculiar accent and intonation of the
north-country peasant, which he could assume at pleasure, he made
himself a welcome guest, and with scarcely any trouble received much of
the information he desired. He was told of the first capture and rescue
of the Countess of Buchan; that it was through one of the men left for
dead on the scene of the skirmish the earl had received such exact
information concerning the movements and intended destination of the
Bruce; that immediately on receiving this intelligence he had gathered
all his force, amounting to five hundred men, and dividing them into
different bands, sent skilful guides with each, and was thus enabled to
surround the lodge, and command five different avenues of the forest,
without interruption or discovery. He learned, too, that a stormy
interview had taken place between the earl, his wife, and son, the
particulars of which, however, had not transpired; that the earl's rage
had been terrific when he found the night passed, and the Bruce had not
fallen into the snare laid for him; and he had sworn a fearful oath,
that if the countess would not betray him into his power, her son should
die; that both mother and son had stood this awful trial without
shrinking; that no word either to betray their king or implore life and
merc