disturbed her when he first spoke.

"'Twas of my mother, Nigel, of my beloved, my noble mother that I
thought; proscribed, hunted, set a price upon as a traitor. Can her
children think on such indignity without emotion--and when I remember
the great power of King Edward, who has done this--without fear for her
fate?"

"Sweetest, fear not for her; her noble deed, her dauntless heroism has
circled her with such a guard of gallant knights and warriors, that, in
the hands of Edward, trust me, dearest, she shall never fall; and even
if such should be, still, I say, fear not. Unpitying and cruel as Edward
is, where his ambition is concerned, he is too true a knight, too noble
in spirit to take a woman's blood; he is now fearfully enraged, and
therefore has he done this. And as to indignity, 'tis shame to the
proscriber not to the proscribed, my love!"

"There is one I fear yet more than Edward," continued the maiden,
fearfully; "one that I should love more. Oh, Nigel, my very spirit
shrinks from the image of my father. I have sought to love him, to
dismiss the dark haunting visions which his name has ever brought before
me. I saw him once, but once, and his stern terrible features and harsh
voice so terrified my childish fancies, that I hid myself till he had
departed, and I have never seen him since, and yet, oh yet, I fear him!"

"What is it that thou fearest, love?"

"I know not," she answered; "but if evil approach my mother, it will
come from him, and so silently, so unsuspectedly, that none may avoid
it. Nigel, he cannot love my mother! he is a foe to Bruce, a friend of