while his
attendants speedily cleared the board, a delicious drowsiness stole
over him. He was partially aroused from this by the entrance of his
poetical friend and confidant, Sir David Lyndsay.

"Your majesty," said the rhymster, "the constable of these towers
craves permission to pay his respects to you, extending a welcome on
behalf of his master, the King of France."

"Bring him in, Davie," cried James; "for in truth he has already
extended the most cordial of welcomes, and I desire to thank him for
my reception."

Shortly after Sir David Lyndsay ushered into the room a young man of
about the same age as the king, dressed in that superb and picturesque
costume which denoted a high noble of France, and which added the
lustre of fine raiment to the distinguished court of Francis the
First. The king greeted his visitor with that affability, which
invariably drew even the most surly toward him, without relaxing the
dignity which is supposed to be the heritage of a monarch.

"I am delighted to think," said the newcomer, "that the King of
Scotland has honoured my house by making it his first halting-place in
that realm which has ever been the friend of his country."

"Sir," replied James, "the obligation rests entirely upon me. After a
stormy voyage and an inclement land journey, the hospitality of your
board is one of the most grateful encounters I have ever met with. I
plead an ignorance of geography which is deplorable; and cannot in the
least guess where I am, beyond the fact that the boundaries of France
encompass me."

"I shall not pretend," said the young man, "that my house is unworthy
even of the distinguished guest which it now holds. Your majesty
stands within historic walls, for in an adjoining apartment was born
William, the founder of a great race of English kings. Scotchmen have
defended this castle, and Scotchmen have assaulted it, so its very
stones are linked with the fortunes of your country. Brave Henry the
Fifth of England captured it, and France took it from his successor.
My own family, like the Scotch, have both stood its guard and have
been the foremost through a breach to sack it. I am but now employed
in repairing the ravages of recent turmoil."

Here the King interrupted him, as if to mend the reputation of
ignorance he had bestowed upon himself.

"I take it, then, that I speak to one of the renowned name of Talbot,
and that this fortress is no other than the Castle of Falaise?" and