resign this castle to my brother's
hands unscathed, even as he intrusted it; to hold it for him, threatened
as it is!"

He smiled gayly as he spoke, for the consciousness of power was upon
him--power to _will_ and _do_, to win and to retain--that most blessed
consciousness, whether it bless a hero's breast or poet's soul, a
maiden's heart or scholar's dream, this checkered world can know.

"I did look forth, my Nigel, for I could not rest; yet ask me not to
tell thee how the battle went," she added, with a faint flush, as she
looked up in his noble face, beaming as it was with every feeling dear
to the heart that loved, "for I traced but the course of one charger,
saw but the waving of one plume."

"And thou didst not fear the besiegers' arrows, my beloved? Didst stand
in the shelter I contrived? Thou must not risk danger, dearest; better
not list the urgings of thy noble spirit than be aught exposed."

"There was no danger, Nigel, at least there seemed none," she said. "I
felt no fear, for I looked on thee."

CHAPTER XVIII.

Had the gallant defenders of Kildrummie Castle been conscious that the
at first dilatory and then uncertain measures of their foes originated
in the fact that the Earls of Hereford and Lancaster were not themselves
yet on the field, and that they had with them a vast addition to their
forces, they would not perhaps have rested so securely on the hopes
which their unexpected success very naturally engendered. Attack on one
side they knew they could resist; their only dread had been that, from
the numbers of the English, the angle towers, each of which covered a
postern, might be attacked at once, and thus discover the real weakness
of their forces. The obstinate struggle for the barbacan, the strongest
point of the castle, had been welcomed with joy by the Scotch, for there
they could overlook every movement of the besiegers. Some wonder it did
cause that such renowned knights as the earls were known to be, should
not endeavor to throw them off their guard by a division of attack; but
this wonder could not take from the triumph of success.

It was from no want of observation the absence of the two earls remained
undiscovered by the besieged. Engaged on a secret expedition, whose
object will be seen in the sequel, they had commanded the message
demanding surrender to be given in their names, their pavilions to be
pitched in sight of the castle as if they were already there, their
bann