-of John Comyn, Earl of
Buchan, who speaks with thee, sir knight. It may well be, my very age,
my very existence hath been forgotten by my father," he added, with a
fierceness and bitterness little in accordance with his years, "aye,
and would have been remembered no more, had not the late events recalled
them; yet 'tis even so--and that thy memory prove not treacherous, there
lies my gage. Foully and falsely hast thou spoken of Isabella of Buchan,
and her honor is dear to her son as is his own. In Methven Park we _two_
shall meet, sir knight, and the child, the puny stripling, who hath of
his own nor voice nor will, will not fail thee, be thou sure."

Proudly, almost sternly, the boy fixed his flashing orbs on the English
knight, and without removing his glance, strode to the side of his
mother and drew her arm within his own. There was something in the
accent, in the saddened yet resolute expression of his countenance,
which forbade all rejoinder, not from Sir Henry alone, but even from his
own friends. Seymour raised the gage, and with a meaning smile secured
it in his helmet; then respectfully saluting the group around him,
withdrew, attended as desired by the Bruce.

"Heed it not, my boy, my own noble boy!" said the Countess of Buchan, in
those low, earnest, musical tones peculiarly her own; for she saw that
there was a quivering in the lip, a sudden paleness in the cheek of her
son, as he gazed up in her lace, when he thought they stood alone, which
denoted internal emotion yet stronger than that which had inspired his
previous words. "Their scorn, their contumely, I heed as little as the
mountain rock the hailstones which fall upon its sides, in vain seeking
to penetrate or wound. Nay, I could smile at them in very truth, were it
not that compelled as I am to act alone, to throw aside as worthless and
rejected those natural ties I had so joyed to wear, my heart seems
closed to smiles; but for words as those, or yet harsher scorn, grieve
not, my noble boy, they have no power to fret or hurt me."

"Yet to hear them speak in such tone of thee--thee, whose high soul and
noble courage would shame a score of some who write themselves
men!--thee, who with all a woman's loving heart, and guileless,
unselfish, honorable mind, hath all a warrior's stern resolve, a
patriot's noble purpose! Mother, mother, how may thy son brook scorn and
falsity, and foul calumny cast upon thee?" and there was a choking
suffocation in his