‘Madame!’ entreated Esclairmonde, with agitation; ’at least, infirmity should be spared.’

‘It touches her deeply!’ exclaimed the Duchess.  ’Ah! to see her in the mountains teaching the wild men to say their Aye, and to wear culottes, the little prince interpreting for her, as King James told us in his story of the saint his ancestor.’

Raillery about Malcolm had been attempted before, but never so pertinaciously; and Esclairmonde heeded it not at all, till James himself sought her out, and, within all his own persuasive grace, told her that he was rejoiced to hear from Madame of Hainault that she had spoken kindly of his youthful kinsman, for whose improvement he was sure he had in great measure to thank her.

Esclairmonde replied composedly, but as one on her guard, that the Sieur de Glenuskie was a gentle and a holy youth, of a good and toward wit.

‘As I saw from the first,’ said James, ’when I brought him away from being crushed among our rude cousins; but, lady, I knew not how the task of training the boy would be taken out of my hands by your kindness; and now, pardon me, lady, only one thing is wanting to complete your work, and that is hope.’

‘Hope is always before a holy man, Sir.’

’O, madame! but we peer earthly beings require an earthly hope, nearer home, to brace our hearts, and nerve our arms.’

‘I thought the Sieur de Glenuskie was destined to a religious life.’

’Never by any save his enemies, lady.  The Regent Albany and his fierce sons have striven to scare Malcolm into a cloister, that his sister and his lands may be their prey; and they would have succeeded had not I come to Scotland in time.  The lad never had any true vocation.’

‘That may be,’ said Esclairmonde, somewhat sorrowfully.

‘Still,’ added James, ’he is of a thoughtful and somewhat tender mould, and the rudeness of life will try him sorely unless he have some cheering star, some light of love, to bear him up and guide him on his way.’

‘If so, may he find a worthy one.’

’Lady, it is too late to talk of what he may find.  The brightness that has done so much for him already will hinder him from turning his eyes elsewhere.’

’You are a minstrel, Sir King, and therefore these words of light romance fall from your lips.’

’Nay, lady, hitherto my romance has been earnest.  It rests with you to make Malcolm’s the same.’

‘Not so, Sir.  That has long been out of my hands.’

’Madame, you might well shrink from what it was as insult to you to propose; but have you never thought of the blessings you might confer in the secular life, with one who would be no hindrance, but a help?’

’No, Sir, for no blessings, but curses, would follow a breach of dedication.’

’Lady, I will not press you with what divines have decided respecting such dedication.  Any scruples could be removed by the Holy Father at Rome, and, though I will speak no further, I will trust to your considering the matter.  You have never viewed it in any light save that of a refuge from wedlock with one to whom I trust you would prefer my gentle cousin.’