the former, who had inherited much of his talent and poetical
nature, had availed herself of every scanty opportunity of
feeding her imagination by book or ballad, story-teller or
minstrel; and the store of tales, songs, and fancies that she
had accumulated were not only her own chief resource but that of
her sisters, in the many long and dreary hours that they had to
pass, unbrightened save by the inextinguishable buoyancy of
young creatures together. When their mother was dying, Hepburn
could not help for very shame admitting a priest to her bedside,
and allowing the clergy to perform her obsequies in full form.
This had led to a more complete perception of the condition of
the poor Princesses, just at the time when the two worst tyrants
over the young King, Crichton and Livingstone, had fallen out,
and he had been able to put himself under the guidance of his
first cousin, James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews and now
Chancellor of Scotland, one of the wisest, best, and truest-
hearted men in Scotland, and imbued with the spirit of the late
King.

By his management Hepburn was induced to make submission and
deliver up Dunbar Castle to the King with all its captives, and
the meeting between the brother and sisters was full of extreme
delight on both sides. They had been together very little since
their father's death, only meeting enough to make them long for
more opportunities; and the boy at fifteen years old was
beginning to weary after the home feeling of rest among kindred,
and was so happy amidst his sisters that no attempt at breaking
up the party at Dunbar had yet been made, as its situation made
it a convenient abode for the Court. Though he had never had
such advantages of education as, strangely enough, captivity had