"He would shut her up in some remote Welsh castle, or perhaps the Red Tower of the Dudleys near Wem, where she would never be heard of again. Like a wise old fellow, King Henry knows well that love is fed by the society of lovers; but that, in absence or separation, the fire goes out, and the passion dies. Thus, if we could spirit this dainty dame on board the _Harry_----" "Easier said than done. I have reason to believe," said Borthwick, "that the young prince loves her better than life, and would never survive her loss." "I have heard it said that thy mother was a witch, Borthwick," said Gray, tauntingly; "I would we had the old dame's aid to-night." Borthwick darted secretly at the speaker one of his sinister and ferocious glances, for this taunt stung him deeply. "The prince is only seventeen--a chit, a child--and may yet love twenty better than little Margaret Drummond," said Sir James Shaw; "but to engage in a plan so desperate, I would require King Henry's written assurance of a safe sanctuary in England, for myself and friends, in case this plot were blown and we obliged to fly; moreover, I would require another written assurance that, if all succeeded--that is, if Lady Margaret _disappears_, and Rothesay marries your Margaret Tudor----" "Princess," suggested Howard, stroking his mustachio. "Well--well--your Princess Margaret--that Henry will use all his influence with Rothesay and the king to have my lands of Sauchie, in the shire of Stirling, created into an earldom, together with a gift of two of the best baronies now possessed by the Duke of Montrose, supposing that by the same happy intrigue the said dukedom is abolished, Angus made Lord Chancellor, and the Lindesays driven to Flanders or the devil!" "Um--um--Flanders, or the devil," muttered Master Quentin Kraft, writing very literally and very fast. "And I," said Sir Patrick Gray, "require the same royal assurances, with Henry's recommendation to have my barony of Kyneff and estate of Caterline created into a lordship, with the captainrie of Broughty to me and my heirs, heritably and irredeemably, and the salmons' cruives of the Dichty, now pertaining to the Laird of Grange, who must fish for his salmon elsewhere." "In all these particulars, if Henry's interest fail not, you shall be perfectly satisfied. Write carefully, Master Kraft." "And I--" began Borthwick. "Shall have two hundred crowns yearly, to be paid by the English ambassador. Ah! your eyes open like port-holes at that." "But suppose there is no ambassador, which happens very often, Captain Howard?" "Ah! to be sure; then the Governor of Berwick shall pay thee." "But how are we to have this pretty maiden brought on board an English ship?" asked Howard. "'Tis the most difficult matter of all. A dose of poison might serve us better, and obtain our ends without much trouble," suggested Borthwick. The ruffian barons eyed each other, but did not speak.