"His eminence," said Millheugh, "aye deemed himself on better terms with Heaven than other men."
"Weel, weel," said the impudent butler, "he hath since, peradventure, discovered his mistake in that matter."
"Thou saucy varlet," exclaimed Fawside, making at him a blow, which he eluded by leaping on one side, "darest thou speak of him so in the presence of a loyal gentleman?"
"Peace, I command you," cried Millheugh; "for, by the hoof of Mahoun, here come more visitors!"
As he spoke the jangle of spurs was heard on the stair that gave access to the upper stories of the tower. Several gentlemen, well armed, and richly clad in riding-coats, with long boots of Spanish leather, and having, mostly, helmets, cuirasses, and gorgets, hurriedly thronged into the hall; and Fawside felt a momentary emotion of alarm on recognizing among them the voices and figures of Patrick Earl of Bothwell, the Earl of Glencairn, and the sinister visage of his son, the Lord Kilmaurs.
CHAPTER XXI.
A BOTHWELL! A BOTHWELL!
Yet might not Aquilante's spirit fail,
Though shivered was his shield, and gashed his mail!
Cautious but firm he struck; no sign of dread,
His aspect or his manly port displayed.
Roncesvalles.
With a burst of laughter these turbulent nobles and their armed followers, who were numerous, unsheathed their swords; and Florence boldly confronted them all, while his heart beat rapidly,—-for he knew that entreaty or concession would avail him nothing. He knew, too, that he had been foully ensnared. He found himself in a perilous predicament, for he soon recognized the voices, if not the faces, of nearly all the same men by whom he had been so sorely beset on the first night of his landing from the galley of M. de Villegaignon.
"So, so! Our worthy Millheugh has brought the boar to bay!" exclaimed Kilmaurs, the wound on whose sinister visage grew purple in his excitement as he pressed forward.