her to the
grave; her child, indeed, he still idolized, but it was a fearful
affection, and a just heaven permitted not its continuance. The child,
to whom many had looked as likely to ascend the Scottish throne, from
the failure of all direct heirs, the beautiful and innocent child of a
most guilty father, faded like a lovely flower before him, so softly, so
gradually, that there came no suspicion of death till the cold hand was
on his heart, and he lay lifeless before him who had plunged his soul in
deadliest crime through that child to aggrandize himself. Then was it
that remorse, torturing before, took the form of partial madness, and
there was not one who had power to restrain, or guide, or soothe.

"Then it was the fearful tale was told, freezing the blood, not so much
with the wild madness of the tone, but that the words were too
collected, too stamped with truth, to admit of aught like doubt. The
couch of the baron was, at his own command, placed here, where we now
stand, covering the spot where his first-born fell, and that portrait,
obtained from Normandy, hung where it now is, ever in his sight. The
dark tale which those wild ravings revealed was simply this:

"He had married, as was suspected, during his wanderings, but soon tired
of the yoke, more particularly as his wife possessed a spirit proud and
haughty as his own, and all efforts to mould her to his will were
useless, he plunged anew into his reckless career. He had never loved
his wife, marrying her simply because it suited his convenience, and
brought him increase of wealth and station; and her ill-disguised
abhorrence of many of his actions, her beautiful adherence to virtue,
however tempted, occasioned all former feelings to concentrate in hatred
the most deadly. More than one attempt to rid himself of her by poison
she had discovered and frustrated, and at last removed herself and her
child, under a feigned name, to Normandy, and ably eluded all pursuit
and inquiry.

"The baron's search continued some time, in the hope of silencing her
forever, as he feared she might prove a dangerous enemy, but failing in
his wishes, he travelled some time over different countries, returned at
length to Scotland, and acted as we have seen. The young knight had been
informed of his birthright by his mother, at her death, which took place
two years before he made his appearance in Scotland; that she had
concealed from him the fearful character of his father, be