ay, one little day after the departure of
Sir Robert, Isabella woke to the consciousness that the calm which had
so long rested on her spirit bad departed, and forever; and to what had
it given place? Had she dared to love, she, the betrothed, the promised
bride of another? No; she could not have sunk thus low, her heart had
been too long controlled to rebel now. She might not, she would not
listen to its voice, to its wild, impassioned throbs. Alas! she
miscalculated her own power; the fastnesses she had deemed secure were
forced; they closed upon their subtle foe, and held their conqueror
prisoner.

But Isabella was not one to waver in a determination when once formed;
how might she break asunder links which the dead had hallowed? She
became the bride of Lord John; she sought with her whole soul to forget
the past, and love him according to her bridal vow, and as time passed
she ceased to think of that beautiful vision of her early youth, save as
a dream that had had no resting; and a mother's fond yearnings sent
their deep delicious sweetness as oil on the troubled waters of her
heart. She might have done this, but unhappily she too soon discovered
her husband was not one to aid her in her unsuspected task, to soothe
and guide, and by his affection demand her gratitude and reverence.
Enwrapped in selfishness or haughty indifference, his manner towards her
ever harsh, unbending, and suspicious, Isabella's pride would have
sustained her, had not her previous trial lowered her in self-esteem;
but as it was, meekly and silently she bore with the continued outbreak
of unrestrained passion, and never wavered from the path of duty her
clear mind had laid down.

On the birth of a son, however, her mind regained its tone, and inwardly
yet solemnly she vowed that no mistaken sense of duty to her husband
should interfere with the education of her son. As widely opposed as
were their individual characters, so were the politics of the now Earl
and Countess of Buchan. Educated in England, on friendly terms with her
king, he had, as the Earl of Fife anticipated, lost all nationality, all
interest in Scotland, and as willingly and unconcernedly taken the vows
of homage to John Baliol, as the mere representative and lieutenant of
Edward, as he would have done to a free and unlimited king. He had been
among the very first to vote for calling in the King of England as
umpire; the most eager to second and carry out all Edward's views,