ue his disguise.

He accompanied them to Dunkeld, and found the earl had proceeded with
his wife as prisoner to the castle of Stirling, there to deliver her
over to the Earl of Hereford, through whom to be sent on to Edward.
Determined on seeing her, if possible, Douglas resolved on daring the
danger, and venturing even to the very stronghold of his foes. The
horror which this unnatural act of the earl had excited in the minds of
his men, he found had extended even over those in Dunkeld, and through
them he learned that, directly on reaching the town, the earl had sought
the countess, brutally communicated the death of her son, and placed in
her hands the raven curls as all which remained of him, some of which
were dabbled in blood; that she had remained apparently unmoved while in
his presence, but the moment he left her had sunk into a succession of
the most fearful fainting fits, in one of which she had been removed to
Stirling.

Withdrawing himself from his companions, under pretence of returning to
his home in the north, having, he said, loitered too long, Douglas
concealed himself for some days in the abbey of Scone, the holy inmates
of which still retained their loyalty and patriotism, notwithstanding
their revered abbot, unable to remain longer inactive, had donned the
warrior's dress, and departed to join and fight with his king. Assuming
the cowl and robes of one of the lay brothers, and removing the red wig
and beard he had adopted with his former costume, the young lord took
the staff in his hand, and with difficulty bringing his hasty pace to a
level with the sober step and grave demeanor of a reverend monk, reached
Stirling just as the cavalcade, with the litter intended for the captive
countess, had assembled before the castle gate. Agitated almost beyond
the power of control, Douglas made his way through the gathering crowds,
and stood unquestioned close beside the litter. He did not wait long.
Respectfully supported by the Earl of Hereford himself, the Countess of
Buchan, with a firm, unfaltering step, approached the litter. The hood
was thrown back, and Douglas could read the effects of withering agony
on the marble stillness of those beautiful features, though to all else
they spoke but firm and calm resolve; there was not a vestige of color
on cheek or lip or brow; and though her figure was as commanding, as
majestic as heretofore, there was a fearful attenuation about it,
speaking volumes to Lord J