ir gaze, their expression
changed not; she placed her hand in his, she spoke his name to her
conductor, but it was as if a statue was suddenly endowed with voice and
motion, so cold was the touch of that hand, so sepulchral was that
voice; she motioned him aside with a gesture that compelled obedience,
and again she looked upon the scaffold. The earl welcomed the old man
gladly, for the tale of Agnes had already prepared him to receive him,
and to rely on his care to convey her back to Scotland. Engrossed with
his anxiety for her, and whenever that permitted him, speaking earnestly
to the old man, Gloucester remained wholly unconscious of the close
vicinity of one he was at that moment most desirous to avoid.

The Earl of Buchan, in the moment of ungovernable rage, had indeed flung
himself on horseback and galloped from the castle the preceding night,
intending to seek the king, and petition that the execution might be
deferred till the torture had dragged the retreat of Agnes from Nigel's
lips. The cool air of night, however, had had the effect of so far
dissipating the fumes of passion, as to convince him that it would be
well-nigh impossible to reach Carlisle, obtain an interview with Edward
at such an unseasonable hour, and return to Berwick in sufficient time
for the execution of his diabolical scheme. He let the reins fall on his
horse's neck, to ponder, and finally made up his mind it was better to
let things take their course, and the sentence of the prisoner proceed
without interruption; a determination hastened by the thought that
should he die under the torture, all the ignominy and misery of a public
execution would be eluded. The night was very dark and misty, the road
in some parts passing through, woods and morasses, and the earl, too
much engrossed with his own dark thoughts to attend to his path, lost
the track and wandered round and round, instead of going forward. This
heightened not the amiability of his previous mood; but until dawn his
efforts to retrace his steps or even discover where he was were useless.
The morning, however, enabled him to reach Berwick, which he did just as
the crowds were pouring into the castle-yard, and the heavy toll of the
bell announced the commencement of that fatal tragedy. He hastily
dismounted and mingled with the populace, they bore him onward through
another postern to that by which the other crowds had impelled
Gloucester. Finding the space before them already occu