"Then thou wilt sail"——
"From Westeray; and, like Æneas, leaving my Dido behind me."
"Right! Sir Gilbert shewed me letters from Lethington the secretary, and his brother Sir James of Pittendriech, wherein they state that her Majesty is most anxious for your return, and daily groweth more weary of her husband; that Huntly (the moment thou art fairly espoused to his sister) will strike some vigorous blow to lay for ever prostrate the adherents of Morton and of Moray."
"What a jack-a-lent! what a blockhead I have been, to give way thus to my passion for the niece of Rosenkrantz! I have done myself, and so may mar a thousand giant schemes of triumph and ambition."
"I thought that sense would return when perhaps too late; but the affair is not irredeemable."
"Ha!—how?"
"A marriage tie blessed by yon mad priest cannot be very indissoluble, and the damsel may easily be got rid of."
"Dog of hell!" exclaimed the Earl furiously, "wouldst thou counsel me to murder her?"
"Nay," replied Hob sternly; "may God forgive thee the thought, so freely as I do this foul offence; but as Sir Gilbert offers to keep thy troublesome lemane, let him do so a-God's name. He is a gay man and a gallant, this old Balfour—we know him well; and, cock and pie! I warrant he will soon find means to turn this damsel's sorrow into joy."
At this probability a darker frown gathered on the brow of Bothwell; for, though half tired of Anna, and wholly repenting of his intrigue with her, he felt a pang at the idea of another supplanting his image in her heart.