Look not thus dejected;" he held out his hand, which his brother knelt to salute.
"Nay, nay, thou foolish boy, forget my new dignity a while, and now that rude brawler has departed, tell me in sober wisdom, how camest thou here?
How didst thou know I might have need of thee ?" A quick blush suffused the cheek of the young man; he hesitated, evidently confused.
"Why, what ails thee, boy?
By St.Andrew, Nigel, I do believe thou hast never quitted Scotland." "And if I have not, my lord, what wilt thou deem me ?" "A very strangely wayward boy, not knowing his own mind," replied the king, smiling.

"Yet why should I say so?
I never asked thy confidence, never sought it, or in any way returned or appreciated thy boyish love, and why should I deem thee wayward, never inquiring into thy projects--passing thee by, perchance, as a wild visionary, much happier than myself ?" "And thou wilt think me yet more a visionary, I fear me, Robert; yet thine interest is too dear to pass unanswered," rejoined Nigel, after glancing round and perceiving they were alone, for the abbot had departed with Sir Edward, seeking to tame his reckless spirit.
"Know, then, to aid me in keeping aloof from the tyrant of my country, whom instinctively I hated, I confined myself to books and such lore yet more than my natural inclination prompted, though that was strong enough--I had made a solemn vow, rather to take the monk's cowl and frock, than receive knighthood from the hand of Edward of England, or raise my sword at his bidding.

My whole soul yearned towards the country of my fathers, that country which was theirs by royal right; and when the renown of Wallace reached my ears, when, in my waking and sleeping dreams, I beheld the patriot struggling for freedom, peace, the only one whose arm had struck for Scotland, whose tongue had dared to speak resistance, I longed wildly, intensely, vainly, to burst the thraldom which held my race, and seek for death beneath the patriot banner.

I longed, yet dared not.

My own death were welcome; but mother, father, brothers, sisters, all were perilled, had I done so.