r was engaged with her royal mistress.

The next day found him more determined than ever; but another, a
greater, and more unexpected obstacle was in the way. He went to his
mother's apartments, to find that, worn out with sorrow and anxiety, she
had taken to her bed, and the Princess's physician had seen her and
ordered complete rest, and that she should be kept free from every
anxiety.

"How can I go now!" thought the boy; "and how can she be kept free from
anxiety!"

It was impossible in both cases, while with the latter every scrap of
news would certainly be brought to her, for the Palace hummed with the
excitement of the troubles in the north; and as the day glided by there
came the news that the Earl of Mar had set up the standard of the
Stuarts in Scotland, and proclaimed Prince James King of Great Britain;
but the Pretender himself remained in France, waiting for the promised
assistance of the French Government, which was slow in coming.

Still the Scottish nobles worked hard in the Prince's cause, and by
degrees the Earl of Mar collected an army of ten thousand fighting men,
including the staunch Highlanders, who readily assumed claymore and
target at the gathering of the clans.

It was over the English rising that Frank was the more deeply
interested, and he eagerly hungered for every scrap of news which was
brought to the Palace, Captain Murray hearing nearly everything, and
readily responding to the boy's questions, though he always shook his
head and protested that it would do harm and unsettle him.

"You'd better shut up your ears, Frank lad, and go on with your duties,"
he said one day. "But tell me first, what is the last news about Lady
Gowan?"

"Ill, very ill," said the boy wearily. "All this is killing her."

"Then the bad news ought to be kept from her."

"Bad news!" gasped Frank. "Is it then so bad?"

"Of course; isn't it all bad?"

"Oh!" ejaculated the boy; "I thought there was something fresh--
something terrible. But how can the news be kept from her? The
Princess goes and sits with her every day, and then tells her
everything. She learns more than I do, and gets it sooner; but I can't
go and ask her, for I always feel as if it were cruel and torturing her
to make her speak about our great trouble while she is so ill. Now,
tell me all you know."

"It is not much, boy. The Duke of Argyle is busy; he is now appointed
to the command of the King's forces in Scotland, and some