'Was it not there,' said the page in a low voice, 'that the Queen held her court?'
'Ay, ay,' replied the falconer, 'Queen she was then, though you must not call her so now. Well, they may say what they will?many a true heart will be sad for Mary Stewart, e'en if all be true men say of her; for look you, Master Roland?she was the loveliest creature to look upon that I ever saw with eye, and no lady in the land liked better the fair flight of a falcon. I was at the great match on Roslin Moor betwixt Bothwell?he was a black sight to her that Bothwell?and the Baron of Roslin, who could judge a hawk's flight as well as any man in Scotland?a butt of Rhenish and a ring of gold was the wager, and it was flown as fairly for as ever was red gold and bright wine. And to see her there on her white palfrey, that flew as if it scorned to touch more than the heather blossom; and to hear her voice, as clear and sweet as the mavis's whistle, mix among our jolly whooping and whistling; and to mark all the nobles dashing round her; happiest he who got a word or a look?tearing through moss and hagg, and venturing neck and limb to gain the praise of a bold rider, and the blink of a bonny Queen's bright eye!?she will see little hawking where she lies now?ay, ay, pomp and pleasure pass away as speedily as the wap of a falcon's wing.'
'And where is this poor Queen now confined?' said Roland Graeme, interested in the fate of a woman whose beauty and grace had made so strong an impression even on the blunt and careless character of Adam Woodcock.
'Where is she now imprisoned?' said honest Adam; 'why, in some castle in the north, they say?I know not where, for my part, nor is it worth while to vex one's sell anent what cannot be mended?An she had guided her power well whilst she had it, she had not come to so evil a pass. Men say she must resign her crown to this little baby of a prince, for that they will trust her with it no longer. Our master has been as busy as his neighbours in all this work. If the Queen should come to her own again, Avenel Castle is like to smoke for it, unless he makes his bargain all the better.' 'In a castle in the north Queen Mary is confined?' said the page. 'Why, ay?they say so, at least?In a castle beyond that great river which comes down yonder, and looks like a river, but it is a branch of the sea, and as bitter as brine.'
'And amongst all her subjects,' said the page, with some emotion, 'is there none that will adventure anything for her relief?'
'That is a kittle question,' said the falconer; 'and if you ask it often, Master Roland, I am fain to tell you that you will be mewed up yourself in some of those castles, if they do not prefer twisting your head off, to save farther trouble with you?Adventure any thing? Lord, why, Murray has the wind in his poop now, man, and flies so high and strong, that the devil a wing of them can match him?No, no; there she is, and there she must lie, till Heaven send her deliverance, or till her son has the management of all?But Murray will never let her loose again, he knows her too well.?And hark thee, we are now bound for Holyrood, where thou wilt find plenty of news, and of courtiers to tell it?But, take my counsel, and keep a calm sough, as the Scots say?hear every man's counsel, and keep your own. And if you hap to learn any news you like, leap not up as if you were to put on armour direct in the cause?Our old Mr. Wingate says?and he knows court-cattle well?that if you are told old King Coul is come alive again, you should turn it off with, 'And is he in truth??I heard not of it,' and should seem no more moved, than if one told you, by way of novelty, that old King Coul was dead and buried. Wherefore, look well to your bearing, Master Roland, for, I promise you, you come among a generation that are keen as a hungry hawk?And never be dagger out of sheath at every wry word you hear spoken; for you will find as hot blades as yourself, and then will be letting of blood without advice either of leech or almanack.'
'You shall see how staid I will be, and how cautious, my good friend,' said Graeme; 'but, blessed Lady, what goodly house is that which is lying all in ruins so close to the city? Have they been playing at the Abbot of Unreason here, and ended the gambol by burning the church?'
'There again now,' replied his companion, 'you go down the wind like a wild haggard, that minds neither lure nor beck?that is a question you should have asked in as low a tone as I shall answer it.'
'If I stay here long,' said Roland Graeme, 'it is like I shall lose the natural use of my voice?but what are the ruins then?'
'The Kirk of Field,' said the falconer, in a low and impressive whisper, laying at the same time his finger on his lip; 'ask no more about it?somebody got foul play, and somebody got the blame of it; and the game began there which perhaps may not be played out in our time.?Poor Henry Darnley! to be an ass, he understood somewhat of a hawk; but they sent him on the wing through the air himself one bright moonlight night.'
The memory of this catastrophe was so recent, that the page averted his eyes with horror from the scathed ruins in which it had taken place; and the accusations against the Queen, to which it had given rise, came over his mind with such strength as to balance the compassion he had begun to entertain for her present forlorn situation.
It was, indeed, with that agitating state of mind which arises partly from horror, but more from anxious interest and curiosity, that young Graeme found himself actually traversing the scene of those tremendous events, the report of which had disturbed the most distant solitudes in Scotland, like the echoes of distant thunder rolling among the mountains.
'Now,' he thought, 'now or never shall I become a man, and bear my part in those deeds which the simple inhabitants of our hamlets repeat to each other, as if they were wrought by beings of a superior order to their own. I will know now, wherefore the Knight of Avenel carries his crest so much above those of the neighbouring baronage, and how it is that men, by valour and wisdom, work their way from the hoddin-gray coat to the cloak of scarlet and gold. Men say I have not much wisdom to recommend me; and if that be true, courage must do it; for I will be a man amongst living men, or a dead corpse amongst the dead.'
From these dreams of ambition he turned his thoughts to those of pleasure, and began to form many conjectures, when and where he should see Catherine Seyton, and in what manner their acquaintance was to be renewed. With such conjectures he was amusing himself, when he found that they had entered the city, and all other feelings were suspended in the sensation of giddy astonishment with which an inhabitant of the country is affected, when, for the first time, he finds himself in the streets of a large and populous city, a unit in the midst of thousands.
The principal street of Edinburgh was then, as now, one of the most spacious in Europe. The extreme height of the houses, and the variety of Gothic gables and battlements, and balconies, by which the sky-line on each side was crowned and terminated, together with the width of the street itself, might have struck with surprise a more practised eye than that of young Graeme. The population, close packed within the walls of the city, and at this time increased by the number of the lords of the King's party who had thronged to Edinburgh to wait upon the Regent Murray, absolutely swarmed like bees on the wide and stately street. Instead of the shop-windows, which are now calculated for the display of goods, the traders had their open booths projecting on the street, in which, as in the fashion of the modern bazaars, all was exposed which they had upon sale. And though the commodities were not of the richest kinds, yet Graeme thought he beheld the wealth of the whole world in the various bales of Flanders cloths, and the specimens of tapestry; and, at other places, the display of domestic utensils and pieces of plate struck him with wonder. The sight of cutlers' booths, furnished with swords and poniards, which were manufactured in Scotland, and with pieces of defensive armour, imported from Flanders, added to his surprise; and, at every step, he found so much to admire and gaze upon, that Adam Woodcock had no little difficulty in
