ented, and get ready for our wedding."

"And my mother kens," Janet was proceeding to say, when her mother's
voice was heard, crying from the house--

"Come in, Janet--what are ye doing oot there in the cauld?--ye hae been
lang enough wi' Florence the nicht--but the morn's nicht ye may speak to
him as lang as ye like. Sae come in, lassie."

As the reader may suppose, Madge was not one whose commands required to
be uttered twice; and, with a troubled heart, Janet bade Florence
"good-night," and returned to the cottage.

It was a little after sunrise on the following day, when a body of more
than a hundred peasantry, agreeably to the command of the governor,
appeared before the castle, laden with provisions. Some of them had the
stores which they had brought upon the backs of horses, but which they
placed upon their own shoulders as they approached the bridge. Amongst
them were fishermen from Eyemouth and Coldingham, shepherds from the
hills with slaughtered sheep, millers, and the cultivators of the
patches of arable ground beyond the moor. With them, also, were a few
women carrying eggs, butter, cheese, and poultry; and at the head of the
procession (for the narrowness of the drawbridge over the frightful
chasm, beyond which the castle stood, caused the company to assume the
form of a procession as they entered the walls) was Madge Gordon, and
her intended son-in-law, Florence Wilson.

The drawbridge had been let down to them; the last of the burden-bearers
had crossed it; and Madge had reached the farthest sentinel, when
suddenly dropping her basket, out from beneath her grey cloak gleamed
the sword of her dead husband!

"Now, lads!--now for Scotland and our Queen!" she exclaimed, and as she
spoke, the sword in her hand pierced the body of the sentinel. At the
same instant every man cast his burden to the ground, a hundred hidden
swords were revealed, and every sentinel was overpowered.

"Forward, lads! forward!" shouted Madge.

"Forward!" cried Florence Wilson, with his sword in his hand, leading
the way. They rushed into the interior of the castle; they divided into
bands. Some placed themselves before the arsenal where arms were kept,
while others rushed from room to room, making prisoners of those of the
garrison who yielded willingly, and showing no quarter to those who
resisted. Many sought safety in flight, some flying half-naked, aroused
from morning dreams after a night's carouse, and almost all fled w