He spent many years abroad; indeed, was supposed to have married and settled there, when, to the surprise of his vassals, he suddenly returned unmarried, and soon after uniting himself with a beautiful and accomplished girl, nearly related to the blood-royal of Scotland, settled quietly in this tower, which was the stronghold of his possessions.

Years passed; the only child of the baron, a son, born in the first year of his marriage, grew up in strength and beauty, the idol not only of his mother, but of his father, a man stern and cold in seeming, even morose, but with passions fearful alike in their influence and extent.

Your eye glances to that pictured face, he was not the baron's son of whom I speak.

The affections, nay, the very passions of the baron were centered in this boy.

It is supposed pride and ambition were their origin, for he looked, through his near connection with the sovereign, for further aggrandizement for himself.