red her, at least to the fact that no immediate danger
was to be apprehended, and for a while she indulged the hope that safety
might be found in this hidden spot until the peril passed. She had full
confidence in the fidelity of the old retainers who had guided them to
the spot, and sought to feel satisfied that its vicinity was unknown to
the earl, her husband; but, whether from the restlessness of a slight
degree of fever, or from that nervous state of mind attendant on
worn-out strength, ere the Bruce departed the same foreboding came on
her again, and all her desire was the absence of her sovereign and his
followers, to have some hold upon his almost too exalted sense of
chivalry, which would prevent any rash act of daring on his part; and
this, as we have seen, she obtained.

Could she but have prevailed on her son to accompany them, she would
calmly and resignedly have awaited her fate, whatever it might be; but
the horror of beholding him a prisoner in the hands of his father--that
father perhaps so enraged at the boy's daring opposition to his will and
political opinions, that he would give him up at once to the wrath of
Edward--was a picture of anguish from which her mind revolted in such
intense suffering, she could not rest. She strove with the fancy; she
sought to rouse every energy, to feel secure in her present
resting-place. But who can resist the influence of feelings such as
these? What mother's heart cannot enter into the emotions of Isabella of
Buchan, as she gazed on her noble boy, improved as he was in manliness
and beauty, and with the dread anticipation of evil, believing only
absence could protect him; that perchance the very love which kept him
by her side would expose him to danger, imprisonment, and death? She did
not speak her fears, but Alan vainly sought to soothe that unwonted
restlessness. She had endeavored to secure the Bruce's safety by the aid
of Malcolm, the young page, by whose instrumentality she had been both
captured and released. Taking advantage of Sir Alan's absence, she had
called the boy to her side, and made him promise that, at the first
manifest sign of danger, he would make his escape, which, by his extreme
agility and address, would easily be achieved, seek the king, and give
him exact information of the numbers, strength, and situation of the
foes, reminding him, at the same time, of his solemn pledge. She made
him promise the profoundest secrecy, and adjured him at al