Gray did not reply, for at that moment the castle bell was tolled slowly, and a strange foreboding seized him. "With the recollection of the Black Dinner of 1440 before me, by the Devil's mass! I would require some great boon to tempt me, assuredly," said the earl, with a laugh which had something diabolical in its sound. "My lord, there will be the king's safe conduct." "King's memories are precarious. Since the day of the bloody banquet at which my kinsman perished, I have been, as it were, a man of granite in a shirt of steel--immoveable, implacable--and feeling no sentiment but the longing for revenge!" The earl, with a sparkling eye and a flushing cheek, spoke as feelingly as if he had _not_ had a secret hand in the execution of his nephews, nor won anything by it. "King James," he added, "has yet to learn what a ten years' hatred is!" "Ten years?" reiterated Gray, as he thought of Murielle. "Ten years--we are in the year 1450, and for the ten which have preceded it, my armour has scarcely ever been off," said the earl; "and even in my own hall the sword and dagger have never been from my side." "For the same reason, my lord, you have kept other men's armour on, and others' weapons on the grindstone," replied Gray; "but endeavour to be as good and loyal as your fathers were, earl of Douglas--renounce your evil leagues, and bonds for rebellion, else you may find the king alike more wise and powerful than you imagine." "I seek not advice from you, laird of Foulis," said Douglas, with proud disdain. "Within sound of the bells of Holyrood, or those of St. Giles, your king may be both powerful and wise; but on this side the Moat of Urr, I have my doubts of his power or wisdom." "How, my lord?" "He would scarcely be wise to venture into the wilds of Galloway, even with all the forces he and that fangless wolf, his chancellor, may collect; and never powerful enough to do so, with the hope of success."----"Daring words, when said of one who is king of all Scotland." "But I am lord of all Galloway, and I shall uphold its ancient rights and laws in battle, as stoutly as Earl Archibald did in Parliament." "An old story, my lord," said Gray, rising. "True; in the days of Robert II.," added Douglas, rising also. "In 1385," observed Gray, with a scarcely perceptible smile. "I forget."----"Though you forget many things, my lord," said Gray, rashly and impetuously, "do not imagine that you or they are forgotten." "Does this imply a threat, my cock-laird of the north country?" asked Douglas, with profound disdain. "As you please--I am a plain soldier." A ferocious expression darkened the earl's face; but Gray drew back a pace, and laid a hand significantly on his tabard. "Sir Patrick Gray, I advise you to get your horse and begone!" thundered Douglas, starting to his feet. "Without there! Order Sir Patrick's horse to the barbican-gate!"