And all the while the henchman’s song of triumph reached their ears from the halls below.

CHAPTER V. A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.

Kenric tarried not long in search of the ghostly figure that had appeared before him so mysteriously in the dark forest of Barone.  Whence that figure had come and whither it had gone he could not tell.  Nor did he exercise his mind in fruitless questionings concerning her.  Leaving the rock behind him, he set off at a brisk pace through the shadows of the trees, more timid than ever, and came out upon the high ground that is behind Rothesay Bay.

Down by the water’s brink, outlined against the moonlit waves, stood the dark towers of Rothesay Castle.  A light shone dimly in his mother’s chamber window; but the great banqueting hall wherein his father was wont to entertain his guests was dark, and Kenric thought this passing strange.  Where were the strangers of whom he had heard?  If they were not in the banqueting hall, then they must surely have already left the island.

Hastening down the hillside, he hied him to the castle, and as he neared the little postern in the western walls, a burst of boisterous song reached his ears from the guardroom.  Taking up a stone from the ground he was about to knock three loud knocks, when the door was opened from within, and a tall man with a thick plaid over his broad shoulders slipped out, almost overthrowing Kenric as he ran against him.

“Duncan!” exclaimed Kenric, perceiving his father’s seneschal, “whither go you at this late hour of night?”

“Ah, master Kenric, and that is yourself, eh?  And you are here, and not at the abbey of St. Blane’s?  Well, sir, it’s a bonnie night, you see, and I even thought I would take a quiet saunter along the side of Loch Fad.”

“Then,” said Kenric, “I warn you, go not near to the forest of Barone, Duncan; for I have but now come through, and therein I saw a sight that would raise your hair on end.  It was, as I believe, none other than the werewolf that I saw.  First there was an old gray wolf with a white patch on its breast, and then, even as I looked, that wolf was spirited into the form of a fair lady, and I was like to sink into the ground with fear.”

“’Tis the first time that I have heard of a son of the house of Rothesay knowing fear,” said Duncan, smiling and showing his great yellow teeth in the moonlight. “’Twas but the maid Aasta of Kilmory that you saw.”

“Aasta?  Then it is true that the maid has been bewitched?  It is true that she has that power of turning herself at will into the form of a wolf?”

“Men say so,” answered Duncan.  “But methinks ’tis no more true than that other thing they say of her —­ that though she looks but a girl of eighteen, she is yet full five score winters old.  ’Tis idle talk, Kenric.  But where saw you this sight?  Was it not by the Rock of Solitude, in the heart of the forest?”