gain she returned to that faithful heart which bore
so fondly, so forbearingly, with all her faults and weaknesses; and
Margory, although she could not comprehend the extent of sorrow
experienced by her mother, wept bitterly at her side. Nor were they the
only sufferers. Some indeed were fortunate enough to have relatives amid
the band which accompanied them to Kildrummie, but by far the greater
number clung to the necks of brothers, fathers, husbands, whose faithful
and loving companions they had been so long--clung to them and wept, as
if a long dim vista of sorrow and separation stretched before them.
Danger, indeed, was around them, and the very fact of their being thus
compelled to divide, appeared to heighten the perils, and tacitly
acknowledge them as too great to be endured.

With pain and difficulty the iron-souled warriors at length tore
themselves from the embrace of those they held most dear. The knights
and their followers had closed round the litters, and commenced their
march. No clarion sent its shrill blast on the mountain echoes, no
inspiring drum reverberated through the glens--all was mournfully still;
as the rudest soldier revered the grief he beheld, and shrunk from
disturbing it by a sound.

King Robert stood alone, on the spot where Sir Christopher Seaton had
borne from him his wife and child. His eyes still watched their litter;
his thoughts still lingered with them alone; full of affection, anxiety,
sadness, they were engrossed, but not defined. He was aroused by the
sudden appearance of his younger brother, who, bareheaded, threw himself
at his feet, and, in a voice strangely husky, murmured--

"My sovereign, my brother, bless me, oh, bless me, ere we part!"

"My blessing--the blessing of one they deem accursed; and to thee, good,
noble, stainless as thou art! Nigel, Nigel, do not mock me thus,"
answered the king, bitterness struggling with the deepest melancholy, as
he laid his hand, which strangely trembled, on the young man's lowered
head. "Alas! bring I not evil and misery and death on all who love me?
What, what may my blessing bring to thee?"

"Joy, bright joy in the hour of mirth and comfort; oh, untold-of comfort
in the time of sorrow, imprisonment, death! My brother, my brother, oh,
refuse it not; thou knowest not, thou canst not know how Nigel loves
thee!"

Robert gazed at him till every thought, every feeling was lost in the
sudden sensation of dread lest ill should come to hi