ce upon the head of Graham, to be
paid to any one who should capture and deliver him up to justice; but
he managed to keep himself safely concealed in the mountains.

For the Christmas following this, the poor, doomed king had appointed a
feast to be held at Perth. As he was about to cross a ferry on his way
to attend this feast, he was stopped by a Highland woman, who professed
to be a prophetess. She called out to him in a loud voice, "My lord,
the king, if you pass this water, you will never return alive." The
king had read in some book of prophecy, that a king would be killed in
Scotland during that year, and was much struck by this speech of the
old woman.

Better would it have been for both himself and Scotland had he given
heed to this warning, which the old woman doubtless had better
authority than her claim to prophecy for making; but he turned
jestingly to a knight of the court, to whom he had given the title of
"the King of Love," saying, "Sir Alexander, there is a prophecy that a
king shall be killed in Scotland this year; now this must mean either
you or me, since we are the only kings in Scotland." Several other
things occurred which, if attended to, might have saved the king; but
they were all suffered to pass unheeded.

When the king arrived at Perth, there being no castle or palace
convenient, he selected for his residence an abbey of Black Friars,
which made it necessary, unfortunately, to distribute his guards among
the citizens, and thus make comparatively easy the execution of the
design of the conspirators.

On the night of the 20th of February, 1437, after some of the
conspirators, selected for that purpose, had knocked to pieces the
locks of the doors of the king's apartment, carried away the bars which
fastened the gates, and provided planks with which the ditch
surrounding the monastery was to be crossed, Sir Robert Graham left his
hiding-place in the mountains and entered the convent gardens, with
about three hundred men.

The king had spent the evening with the ladies and gentlemen of the
court, in singing, dancing, playing chess, and reading romances aloud.
All the court had retired, and James was standing before the fire, in
night-gown and slippers, talking with the queen and her ladies, when
the same Highland prophetess that had warned him at the ferry, begged
to speak with him, but was refused, because it was so late.

Suddenly there was heard without the clash of men in armor,