Two Penniless Princesses | Page 8

them. The girls only wore
the plain black kirtles that had been brought from Haddington at the
time of the funeral, and the little boys had such homespun garments as
the shepherd lads wore.
Partly scolding, partly caressing, partly bemoaning the condition of her
young ladies, so different from the splendours of the house of Somerset,
Ankaret saw that Eleanor was as fit to be seen as circumstances would
permit; as to Jean and Mary, there was no trouble on that score.
The whole was not accomplished till a horn was sounded as an
intimation that supper was ready, at five o'clock, for the entire
household, and all made their way down--Jean first, in all the glory of
her fair face and beautiful hair; then Eleanor with little Lorn, as he was
called, his Christian name being James; then Annaple and Johnnie
hand-in-hand, Mary carrying Andrew, and lastly old Ankaret, hobbling
along with her stick, and, when out of sight, a hand on Annaple's
shoulder. In public, nothing would have made her presume so far. The
hall was a huge, vaulted, stone-walled room, with a great fire on the
wide hearth, and three long tables--one was cross-wise, on the dais near
the fire, the other two ran the length of the hall. The upper one was
furnished with tolerably clean napery and a few silver vessels; as to the
lower ones, they were in two degrees of comparison, and the less said
of the third the better. It was for the men-at-arms and the lowest
servants, whereas the second belonged to those of the suite of the King
and Chancellor, who were not of rank to be at his table. The Lord Lion
King-at-Arms was high-table company, but he was absent, and the
inferior royal pursuivant was entertaining two of his fellows, one with
the Douglas Bloody Heart, the other with the Lindsay Lion on a black
field, besides two messengers of the different clans, who looked
askance at one another.
Leaning against the wall near the window stood the young King with
two or three youths beside him, laughing and talking over three great
deer-hounds, and by the hearth were two elder men-- one, a tall
dignified figure in the square cap and purple robe of a Bishop, with a
face of great wisdom and sweetness; the other, still taller, with slightly
grizzled hair and the weather-beaten countenance of a valiant and

sagacious warrior, dressed in the leathern garments usually worn under
armour.
As Jean emerged from the turret she was met and courteously greeted
by Sir Patrick Drummond and his sons, as were also her sisters, with a
grace and deference to their rank such as they hardly ever received
from the nobles, and whose very rarity made Eleanor shy and
uncomfortable, even while she was gratified and accepted it as her due.
The Bishop inclined his head and gave them a kind smile; but they had
already seen him in the morning, as he was residing in the castle. He
was the most fatherly friend and kinsman the young things knew, and
though really their first cousin, they looked to him like an uncle. He
insisted on due ceremony with them, though he had much difficulty in
enforcing it, except with those Scottish knights and nobles who, like Sir
Patrick Drummond, had served in France, and retained their French
breeding.
So Jean, hawk and all, had to be handed to her seat by Sir Patrick as the
guest, Eleanor by her brother, not without a little fraternal pinch, and
Mary by the Bishop, who answered with a paternal caress to her
murmured entreaty that she might keep wee Andie on her lap and give
him his brose.
It was not a sumptuous repast, the staple being a haggis, also broth with
chunks of meat and barleycorns floating in it, the meat in strings by
force of boiling. At the high table each person had a bowl, either silver
or wood, and each had a private spoon, and a dagger to serve as knife,
also a drinking-cup of various materials, from the King's gold goblet
downwards to horns, and a bannock to eat with the brose. At the middle
table trenchers and bannocks served the purpose of plates; and at the
third there was nothing interposed between the boards of the table and
the lumps of meat from which the soup had been made.
Jean's quick eyes soon detected more men-at-arms and with different
badges from the thyme spray of Drummond, and her brother was
evidently bursting with some communication, held back almost
forcibly by the Bishop, who had established a considerable influence
over the impetuous boy, while Sir Patrick maintained a wise and
tedious political conversation about the peace between France and
England, which was to be cemented