pardon me, lady, only one thing is wanting to complete your work,
and that is hope.'

'Hope is always before a holy man, Sir.'

'O, madame! but we peer earthly beings require an earthly hope, nearer
home, to brace our hearts, and nerve our arms.'

'I thought the Sieur de Glenuskie was destined to a religious life.'

'Never by any save his enemies, lady. The Regent Albany and his fierce
sons have striven to scare Malcolm into a cloister, that his sister and
his lands may be their prey; and they would have succeeded had not I come
to Scotland in time. The lad never had any true vocation.'

'That may be,' said Esclairmonde, somewhat sorrowfully.

'Still,' added James, 'he is of a thoughtful and somewhat tender mould,
and the rudeness of life will try him sorely unless he have some cheering
star, some light of love, to bear him up and guide him on his way.'

'If so, may he find a worthy one.'

'Lady, it is too late to talk of what he may find. The brightness that
has done so much for him already will hinder him from turning his eyes
elsewhere.'

'You are a minstrel, Sir King, and therefore these words of light romance
fall from your lips.'

'Nay, lady, hitherto my romance has been earnest. It rests with you to
make Malcolm's the same.'

'Not so, Sir. That has long been out of my hands.'

'Madame, you might well shrink from what it was as insult to you to
propose; but have you never thought of the blessings you might confer in
the secular life, with one who would be no hindrance, but a help?'

'No, Sir, for no blessings, but curses, would follow a breach of
dedication.'

'Lady, I will not press you with what divines have decided respecting
such dedication. Any scruples could be removed by the Holy Father at
Rome, and, though I will speak no further, I will trust to your
considering the matter. You have never viewed it in any light save that
of a refuge from wedlock with one to whom I trust you would prefer my
gentle cousin.'

'It were a poor compliment to Lord Malcolm to name him in the same day
with Sir Boemond of Burgundy,' said Esclairmonde; 'but, as I said, it is
not the person that withholds me, but the fact that I am not free.'

'I do not ask you to love or accept the poor boy as yet,' said James; 'I
leave that for the time when I shall bring him back to you, with the
qualities grown which you have awakened. At least, I can bear him the
tidings that it is not your feelings, but your scruples