"I was seeking for flowers to dress your pottage, because you said you loved them yesterday; my poor little dog, thrusting himself into a thicket of yew and holly bushes that grow out of some old ruins close to the castle wall, came back whining and howling.

I crept forward to see what might be the cause--and, oh! I heard a groaning as of one in extreme pain, but so faint, that it seemed to arise out of the very depth of the earth.

At length, I found it proceeded from a small rent in the wall, covered with ivy; and when I laid my ear close to the opening, I could hear the Prince's voice distinctly say, 'It cannot now last long'-- and then it sunk away in something like a prayer." "Gracious Heaven! did you speak to him ?" "I said, 'Is it you, my lord ?' and the answer was, 'Who mocks me with that title ?' I asked him if I could help him, and he answered with a voice I shall never forget, 'Food--food! I die of famine!' So I came hither to tell you.

What is to be done?
Shall we alarm the house ?" "Alas! that were more likely to destroy than to aid," said Catharine.
"And what then shall we do ?" said Louise.
"I know not yet," said Catharine, prompt and bold on occasions of moment, though yielding to her companion in ingenuity of resource on ordinary occasions: "I know not yet, but something we will do: the blood of Bruce shall not die unaided." So saying, she seized the small cruise which contained their soup, and the meat of which it was made, wrapped some thin cakes which she had baked into the fold of her plaid, and, beckoning her companion to follow with a vessel of milk, also part of their provisions, she hastened towards the garden.
"So, our fair vestal is stirring abroad ?" said the only man she met, who was one of the menials; but Catharine passed on without notice or reply, and gained the little garden without farther interruption.
Louise indicated to her a heap of ruins, which, covered with underwood, was close to the castle wall.

It had probably been originally a projection from the building; and the small fissure, which communicated with the dungeon, contrived for air, had terminated within it.