And have they not met since then until now ?" he demanded, stopping suddenly before his companion.
"Even so, fair kinsman.

Whilst thou wert doing such loyal duty to Edward, after the battle of Falkirk, forgetting thou hadst a wife and castle to look after, Robert Earl of Carrick found a comfortable domicile within thy stone walls, and in the fair, sweet company of thine Isabella, my lord.

No doubt, in all honorable and seemly intercourse; gallant devotion on the one side, and dignified courtesy on the other--nothing more, depend on't; still it seems but natural that the memory of a comely face and knightly form should prove incentives to loyalty and patriotism." "The foul fiend take thy jesting!" exclaimed Buchan.

"Natural, forsooth; aye, the same nature that bade me loathe the presence, aye, the very name of that deceiving traitress.

And so that smooth-faced villain Carrick found welcome in the castle of a Comyn the months we missed him from the court.