damp the bright glowing views of others, they did but call the indignant
blood to his cheek, and add greater firmness to his impatient step, for
yet more powerfully did they awake his indignation against Edward. Till
now he had looked upon him exclusively in the light of Scotland's
foe--one against whom he with all true Scottish men must raise their
swords, or live forever 'neath the brand of slaves and cowards; but now
a personal cause of anger added fuel to the fire already burning in his
breast. His mother was proscribed--a price set upon her head; and as if
to fill the measure of his cup of bitterness to overflowing, his own
father, he who should have been her protector, aided and abetted the
cruel, pitiless Edward. Traitress! Isabella of Buchan a traitress! the
noblest, purest, bravest amid Scotland's children. She who to him had
ever seemed all that was pure and good, and noblest in woman; and most
noble and patriot-hearted now, in the fulfilment of an office inherent
in the House of Fife. Agitated beyond expression, quicker and quicker he
strode up and down the precincts marked for his watch, the increasing
tempest without seeming to assimilate strangely with the storm within.
Silence would have irritated, would have chafed those restless smartings
into very agony, but the wild war of the elements, while they roused
his young spirit into yet stronger energy, removed its pain.

"It matters not," his train of thought continued, "while this brain can
think, this heart can feel, this arm retain its strength, Isabella of
Buchan needs no other guardian but her son. It is as if years had left
their impress on my heart, as if I had grown in very truth to man,
thinking with man's wisdom, fighting with man's strength. He that hath
never given a father's love, hath never done a father's duty, hath no
claim upon his child; but she, whose untiring devotion, whose faithful
love hath watched over me, guarded, blessed from the first hour of my
life, instilled within me the principles of life on earth and