The Days of Bruce | Page 2

continually passing to and fro in
the courts and galleries, or congregating in little knots, in eager
converse. Some cleansing their armor or arranging banners; others,
young and active, practising the various manoeuvres of mimic war;
each and all bearing on their brow that indescribable expression of
anticipation and excitement which seems ever on the expectant of it
knows not what. The condition of Scotland was indeed such as to keep
her sons constantly on the alert, preparing for defence or attack, as the
insurging efforts of the English or the commands of their lords should
determine. From the richest noble to the veriest serf, the aged man to
the little child, however contrary their politics and feelings, one spirit

actuated all, and that spirit was war--war in all its deadliest evils, its
unmitigated horrors, for it was native blood which deluged the rich
plains, the smiling vales, and fertile hills of Scotland.
Although the castle of Buchan resembled more a citadel intended for
the accommodation of armed vassals than the commodious dwelling of
feudal lords, one turret gave evidence, by its internal arrangement, of a
degree of refinement and a nearer approach to comfort than its fellows,
and seeming to proclaim that within its massive walls the lords of the
castle were accustomed to reside. The apartments were either hung with
heavy tapestry, which displayed, in gigantic proportions, the combats
of the Scots and Danes, or panelled with polished oak, rivalling ebony
in its glossy blackness, inlaid with solid silver. Heavy draperies of
damask fell from the ceiling to the floor at every window, a pleasant
guard, indeed, from the constant winds which found entrance through
many creaks and corners of the Gothic casements, but imparting a
dingy aspect to apartments lordly in their dimensions, and somewhat
rich in decoration.
The deep embrasures of the casements were thus in a manner severed
from the main apartment, for even when the curtains were completely
lowered there was space enough to contain a chair or two and a table.
The furniture corresponded in solidity and proportion to the panelling
or tapestry of the walls; nor was there any approach even at those
doubtful comforts already introduced in the more luxurious Norman
castles of South Britain.
The group, however, assembled in one of these ancient rooms needed
not the aid of adventitious ornament to betray the nobility of birth, and
those exalted and chivalric feelings inherent to their rank. The sun,
whose stormy radiance during the day had alternately deluged earth and
sky with fitful yet glorious brilliance, and then, burying itself in the
dark masses of overhanging clouds, robed every object in deepest
gloom, now seemed to concentrate his departing rays in one living
flood of splendor, and darting within the chamber, lingered in crimson
glory around the youthful form of a gentle girl, dyeing her long and
clustering curls with gold. Slightly bending over a large and cumbrous

frame which supported her embroidery, her attitude could no more
conceal the grace and lightness of her childlike form, than the glossy
ringlets the soft and radiant features which they shaded. There was
archness lurking in those dark blue eyes, to which tears seemed yet a
stranger; the clear and snowy forehead, the full red lip, and
health-bespeaking cheek had surely seen but smiles, and mirrored but
the joyous light which filled her gentle heart. Her figure seemed to
speak a child, but there was a something in that face, bright, glowing as
it was, which yet would tell of somewhat more than childhood--that
seventeen summers had done their work, and taught that guileless heart
a sterner tale than gladness.
A young man, but three or four years her senior, occupied an
embroidered settle at her feet. In complexion, as in the color of his hair
and eyes, there was similarity between them, but the likeness went no
further, nor would the most casual observer have looked on them as
kindred. Fair and lovely as the maiden would even have been
pronounced, it was perhaps more the expression, the sweet innocence
that characterized her features which gave to them their charm; but in
the young man there was infinitely more than this, though effeminate as
was his complexion, and the bright sunny curls which floated over his
throat, he was eminently and indescribably beautiful, for it was the
mind, the glorious mind, the kindling spirit which threw their radiance
over his perfect features; the spirit and mind which that noble form
enshrined stood apart, and though he knew it not himself, found not
their equal in that dark period of warfare and of woe. The sword and
lance were the only instruments of the feudal aristocracy; ambition,
power, warlike fame, the principal occupants of their thoughts; the
chase, the tourney, or the foray, the