“A weapon-showing is not a place for little girls,” said the Earl, mollified in spite of himself, casting himself down again on the couch, and playing with the serpent ring on his finger.

“Ah, now,” cried his sister, her quick eyes dancing everywhere at once, “you are not attending to a single word I say.  I know by your voice that you are not.  That is a pretty ring you have.  Did a lady give it to you?  Was it our Maudie?  I think it must have been our Maud.  She has many beautiful things, but mostly it is the young men who wish to give her such things.  She never sends any of them back, but keeps them in a box, and says that it is good to spoil the Egyptians.  And sometimes when I am tired she will tell me the history of each, and whether he was dark or fair.  Or make it all up just as good when she forgets.  But, oh, William, if I were a lady I should fall in love with nobody but you.  For you are so handsome—­yes, nearly as handsome as I am myself—­(she passed her hands lightly through her curls as she spoke).  And you know I shall marry no one but a Douglas—­only you must not ask me to wed my cousin William of Avondale, for he is so stern and solemn; besides, he has always a book in his pocket, and wishes me to learn somewhat out of it as if I were a monk.  A Douglas should not be a monk, he should be a soldier.”

So she lay snugly on the bed and prattled on to her brother, who, buried in his thoughts and occupied with his ring, let the hours slip on till at the open door of the Earl’s chamber there appeared the most bewitching face in the world, as many in that castle and elsewhere were ready to prove at the sword’s point.  The little girl caught sight of it with a shrill cry of pleasure, instantly checked and hushed, however, at the thought of her mother.

“O Maudie,” she cried, “come hither into William’s room.  He has such a beautiful ring that a lady gave him.  I am sure a lady gave it him.  Was it you, Maud Lindesay?  You are a sly puss not to tell me if it was.  William, it is wicked and provoking of you not to tell me who gave you that ring.  If it had been some one you were not ashamed of, you would be proud of the gift and confess.  Whisper to me who it was.  I will not tell any one, not even Maudie.”

Her brother had risen to his feet with a quick movement, girding his red gown about him as he rose.

“Mistress Maud,” he said respectfully, “I fear I have given you anxiety by detaining your charge so late.  But she is a wilful madam, as you have doubtless good cause to know, and ill to advise.”

“She is a Douglas,” smiled the fair girl, who stood at the chamber door refusing his invitation to enter, with a flash of the eye and a quick shake of the head which betokened no small share of the same qualities; “is not that enough to excuse her for being wayward and headstrong?”

Earl William wasted no more words of entreaty upon his sister, but seized her in his arms, and pulling the coverlet in which she had huddled herself up with her pert chin on her knees, more closely about her, he strode along the passage with her in his arms till he stopped at an open door leading into a large chamber which looked to the south.