strength to his frame.

"I ask ye, where be these truant lords? There be some of ye who _can_
reply; aye, and by good St. Edward, reply ye shall. Gloucester, my lord
of Gloucester, stand forth, I say," he continued, the thunderstorm
drawing to that climax which made many tremble, lest its bolt should
fall on the daring baron who rumor said was implicated in the flight of
the Bruce, and who now stood, his perfect self-possession and calmness
of mien and feature contrasting well with the fury of his sovereign.

"And darest thou front me with that bold, shameless brow, false traitor
as thou art?" continued the king, as, with head erect and arms proudly
folded in his mantle, Gloucester obeyed the king's impatient summons.
"Traitor! I call thee traitor! aye, in the presence of thy country's
noblest peers, I charge thee with a traitor's deed; deny it, if thou
darest."

"Tis my sovereign speaks the word, else had it not been spoken with
impunity," returned the noble, proudly and composedly, though his cheek
burned and his eye flashed. "Yes, monarch of England, I dare deny the
charge! Gloucester is no traitor!"

"How! dost thou brave me, minion? Darest thou deny the fact, that from
thee, from thy traitorous hand, thy base connivance, Robert of Carrick,
warned that we knew his treachery, fled from our power--that 'tis to
thee, we owe the pleasant news we have but now received? Hast thou not
given that rebel Scotland a head, a chief, in this fell traitor, and art
thou not part and parcel of his guilt? Darest thou deny that from thee
he received intelligence and means of flight? Baron of Gloucester, thou
darest not add the stigma of falsity to thy already dishonored name!"

"Sovereign of England, my gracious liege and honored king," answered
Gloucester, still apparently unmoved, and utterly regardless of the
danger in which he stood, "dishonor is not further removed from thy
royal name than it is from Gloucester's. I bear no stain of either
falsity or treachery; that which thou hast laid to my charge regarding
the Earl of Carrick, I shrink not, care not to acknowledge; yet, Edward
of England, I am no traitor!"

"Ha! thou specious orator, reconcile the two an thou canst! Thou art a
scholar of deep research and eloquence profound we have heard. Speak on,
then, in heaven's name!" He flung himself back on his cushions as he
spoke, for, despite his wrath, his suspicions, there was that in the
calm, chivalric bearing of the earl t