gentle patience to the hasty tale told by Maud Lindesay.

"I will speak with William," she answered, with a certain hopelessness
in her voice, "but I know well he will go his own gait for aught that
his mother can say. He is his father's son, and the men of the house
of Douglas, they come and they go, recking no will but their own. And
even so will my son William."

"But he is taking David with him also!" cried Margaret. "I met him
even now on the stair, wild in haste to put on his shirt of mail and
the sword with the golden hilt which the ambassador of France gave
him."

A quick flush coloured the pale countenance of the Lady Countess.

"Nay, but one is surely enough to meet the Chancellor. David shall not
go. He is but a lad and knows nothing of these things."

For this boy was ever his mother's favourite, far more than either her
elder son or her little daughter, whom indeed she left entirely to the
care and companionship of Maud Lindesay.

My Lady of Douglas went slowly downstairs. The Earl, with Sholto by
his side, was ordering the accoutrement of the mounted men-at-arms in
the courtyard.

"William," she called, in a soft voice which would not have reached
him, busied as he was with his work, but that little Margaret raised
her childish treble and called out: "William, our mother desires to
speak with you. Do you not hear her?"