The Days of Bruce

The Days of Bruce

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Days of Bruce Vol 1, by Grace
Aguilar This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
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Title: The Days of Bruce Vol 1 A Story from Scottish History
Author: Grace Aguilar
Release Date: May 14, 2006 [EBook #18387]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: p. 148.]
The
DAYS OF BRUCE

BY
GRACE AGUILAR
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
THE
DAYS OF BRUCE;
A Story
FROM
SCOTTISH HISTORY.
BY
GRACE AGUILAR,
AUTHOR OF "HOME INFLUENCE," "THE MOTHER'S
RECOMPENSE," "WOMAN'S FRIENDSHIP," "THE VALE OF
CEDARS" ETC. ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & CO., 90, 92 & 94 GRAND ST. 1871.

PREFACE.
As these pages have passed through the press, mingled feelings of pain
and pleasure have actuated my heart. Who shall speak the regret that
she, to whom its composition was a work of love, cannot participate in
the joy which its publication would have occasioned--who shall tell of
that anxious pleasure which I feel in witnessing the success of each and
all the efforts of her pen?

THE DAYS OF BRUCE must be considered as an endeavor to place
before the reader an interesting narrative of a period of history, in itself
a romance, and one perhaps as delightful as could well have been
selected. In combination with the story of Scotland's brave deliverer, it
must be viewed as an illustration of female character, and descriptive of
much that its Author considered excellent in woman. In the high
minded Isabella of Buchan is traced the resignation of a heart wounded
in its best affections, yet trustful midst accumulated misery. In Isoline
may be seen the self-inflicted unhappiness of a too confident and self
reliant nature; while in Agnes is delineated the overwhelming of a mind
too much akin to heaven in purity and innocence to battle with the stern
and bitter sorrows with which her life is strewn.
How far the merits of this work may be perceived becomes not me to
judge; I only know and feel that on me has devolved the endearing task
of publishing the writings of my lamented child--that I am fulfilling the
desire of her life.
SARAH AGUILAR.
May, 1852.

THE DAYS OF BRUCE.
CHAPTER I.
The month of March, rough and stormy as it is in England, would
perhaps be deemed mild and beautiful as May by those accustomed to
meet and brave its fury in the eastern Highlands, nor would the evening
on which our tale commences bely its wild and fitful character.
The wind howled round the ancient Tower of Buchan, in alternate gusts
of wailing and of fury, so mingled with the deep, heavy roll of the
lashing waves, that it was impossible to distinguish the roar of the one
element from the howl of the other. Neither tree, hill, nor wood
intercepted the rushing gale, to change the dull monotony of its gloomy

tone. The Ythan, indeed, darted by, swollen and turbid from continued
storms, threatening to overflow the barren plain it watered, but its voice
was undistinguishable amidst the louder wail of wind and ocean.
Pine-trees, dark, ragged, and stunted, and scattered so widely apart that
each one seemed monarch of some thirty acres, were the only traces of
vegetation for miles round. Nor were human habitations more abundant;
indeed, few dwellings, save those of such solid masonry as the Tower
of Buchan, could hope to stand scathless amidst the storms that in
winter ever swept along the moor.
No architectural beauty distinguished the residence of the Earls of
Buchan; none of that tasteful decoration peculiar to the Saxon, nor of
the more sombre yet more imposing style introduced by the Norman,
and known as the Gothic architecture.
Originally a hunting-lodge, it had been continually enlarged by
succeeding lords, without any regard either to symmetry or proportion,
elegance or convenience; and now, early in the year 1306, appeared
within its outer walls as a most heterogeneous mass of ill-shaped turrets,
courts, offices, and galleries, huddled together in ill-sorted confusion,
though presenting to the distant view a massive square building,
remarkable only for a strength and solidity capable of resisting alike the
war of elements and of man.
Without all seemed a dreary wilderness, but within existed indisputable
signs of active life. The warlike inhabitants of the tower, though
comparatively few in number, were