"Heaven forfend! no; 'twas he who saved her from Gray," whined the sycophant vassal. "It is well," said the earl in a quiet voice, but with fury still kindling in his eye and quivering on his lip; "were it otherwise, by St. Bryde, I'd unfrock and scourge him through these streets of Bommel with a horse halter, a mitred abbot and my confessor though he be!" "Who, think you, my lord, brought to Lady Murielle at Thrave, the tidings that Gray still lived?" "I would give this golden chain to know." "I overheard----" "His name--his name?" "Sir Thomas MacLellan, of Bombie." "Gray's kinsman, the lieutenant of the guard?" "Yes, my lord," said Achanna, sweeping into his girdle pouch the gold chain which the earl quietly passed to him; "and long ago I had further proof that it was he." "But for the assurance she received, by letter, of Gray's existence, she would now, I doubt not, have been duchess of Albany, and might have spared us this journey to Rome." "You remember, my lord, that the letter was tied to an arrow, which struck the turf at her feet as she walked by the side of the Dee?" "Yes, I remember to have heard so." "I found that arrow, and a week after, Malise MacKim, the smith, found a quiver full lying among the rushes. The two chevrons _sable_ of MacLellan were painted on it, and the letter which bore the arrow was one of the same sheaf, the same shaft, notch, and feather; for, but a week before, Sir Thomas had bought them in the Friars Wynd, at Dumfries, as he passed south from Edinburgh." "So, so!" said the earl, grinding his teeth; "if God and St. Bryde of Douglas permit me once again to cross the bridge of Dumfries I shall have a vengeance on MacLellan, so sure and deadly, that all Scotland shall ring with it from sea to sea." And terribly the earl kept his vow. "But where," he added, "is our lover at present?" "That I have yet to discover." "The Dyck Graf," began the earl, starting up; but Achanna caught his sleeve, saying, "Nay, nay, my lord, he will be certain to protect him. We cannot make a raid in Flanders as we might in Nithsdale." "True, we must be secret. Oh, that I had them both, this Gray and MacLellan within ten Scottish miles of our gallows knob at Thrave, I would soon mar the interference of the one and the wooing of the other. I would summon all the Corbies in Deeside to his spousals." "Leave the sequel to me, lord earl," said Achanna, in a low impressive whisper, "and Sir Patrick shall be punished even to _your_ heart's content." "Assure me but of that, Achanna, and thou shalt pocket a thousand silver crowns," said Douglas, pressing the hand of his trusty vagabond.