"If he return not, he has been forewarned, prepared, and I, fool as I was, have thought not of this danger.

Look to it, proud boy, if the Bruce return not forty-eight hours hence, and thou art still silent, thou diest." He held up his clenched hand in a threatening attitude, but Alan neither moved nor spoke, firmly returning the earl's infuriated gaze till the door closed on his father's retreating form.

He heard the bolts drawn, the heavy tramp of the guard, and then he threw himself on the couch, and buried his face in his hands..