England was now the Queen of Scotland. But while on that embassy to York
Earl Hamish of Bute won more than the gratitude of his sovereign, for he
won the heart of the Lady Adela Warwick, and, making her his wife, he
brought her to his castle of Rothesay, where she had lived happily ever
since.

She was thinking of these matters as she heard Earl Roderic's story of
his great unhappiness, and her eyes were fixed dreamily before her.

Now Roderic, to whom the presence of this sweet and beautiful lady was a
new experience, observed her pensiveness and wondered thereat. His
roving glance presently fell upon her plate.

"Ah!" said he, "you have no salt, my lady."

And thereupon he took her knife and dug its point into the salt horn.

"Nay, nay!" she cried in alarm; and she grasped his wrist so that he
spilled the salt upon the table.

"What have you done?" he exclaimed. "This is the most unlucky thing that
could have happened! Alas, alas!"

"Would you, then, have helped my lady to sorrow?" cried Sir Oscar
Redmain, rising wrathfully. "By the rood, but you are a thoughtless loon!"

Earl Hamish at the head of the board, hearing his lady's cry, rose
hastily and approached her, and saw that she was very pale.

"I will retire," said she, "for the hall is over warm. I am faint and