It is not the fine west window which overlooks the wooded path that winds by the river-side, and is known as "the Good Bishop's walk," nor the ruined shrine where sleeps St. Blane of Bute—he whose boat sailed upon the Clyde without sail or oar; he who (as the veracious Breviary of Aberdeen tells us) struck fire with his fingers when the vesper lights went out; and who raised from the dead the English heir of Appleby and Trodyngham, that attract most particularly the attention of visitors, but three plain slabs of blue marble, that lie side by side on the grassy floor, and nestling, as it were, together, as if to show that those they cover had loved each other in life too well to be separated even in death.
The fall of the ponderous and once magnificent roof; the action of the weather, and the footsteps of visitors, have defaced the legends that were originally carved there; but the memory of those who sleep below these marble labs yet lingers in Dunblane and Strathearn.
Under the first lies the affianced bride of one who was a good and valiant soldier, and faithful to his king.
Under the second lies the betrothed of a stout Scottish mariner, as brave a fellow as ever faced salt water or cannon-shot.
Under the third sleeps the youngest—she who perhaps was the fairest—the wife (but not the queen) of one who in his time was the most gallant and magnificent monarch that ever wore the Scottish diadem.
These three ladies were sisters; and their story is a strange and a dark one.
History, tradition, and an old manuscript, that was found (no matter when) among the Records of the Scottish Court of Admiralty, have enabled me to lay their lives and narrative before the reader in the following pages.
CONTENTS.
I. [ON BOARD]
II. [THE SWASHBUCKLER]
III. [BONNY DUNDEE]
IV. [THE SISTERS]
V. [JAMES III]
VI. [PALACE OF SAINT MARGARET]
VII. [MARGARET DRUMMOND]
VIII. [THE FISHERMAN OF BROUGHTY]
IX. [THE BANE OF SCOTLAND]
X. [THE BOATSWAIN'S YARN]
XI. [CHAINING THE UNICORN]
XII. [EMBASSY OF THE SIEUR DE MONIPENNIE]
XIII. [TO SEA!]
XIV. [THE OGRE OF ANGUS]
XV. [CONCLAVE OF MALCONTENTS]
XVI. [ANOTHER SON-IN-LAW]
XVII. [THE WARLOCK OF BALWEARIE]
XVIII. [FATHER AND SON]
XIX. [HOW BORTHWICK FULFILLED HIS PROMISE]
XX. [WOOD MEETS HOWARD]
XXI. [THE PRICE OF THREE TENEMENTS]
XXII. [THE SILKEN CORD]
XXIII. [LORD DRUMMOND AND ROBERT BARTON]
XXIV. [DAVID FALCONER]
XXV. [HOWARD AND MARGARET]
XXVI. [THE CHAPLAIN'S CABIN]
XXVII. [THE ISLES OF THE FORTH]
XXVIII. [THE FIRST SCOTTISH REVOLUTION]
XXIX. [THE MARCH TO STIRLING]
XXX. [THE GOOD SHIP HARRY]
XXXI. [THE TORWOOD]
XXXII. [THE DOUBLE BRIBE]
XXXIII. [THE GREY HORSE]
XXXIV. [THE BATTLE OF SAUCHIEBURN]
XXXV. [THE FOUR HORSEMEN]
XXXVI. [THE MILL ON THE BANNOCK]
XXXVII. [THE REGICIDES]
XXXVIII. [THE HOUSE OF THE BARTONS]
XXXIX. [THE PRINCE AND THE ADMIRAL]
XL. [CLEARED FOR ACTION]
XLI. [THE ENGLISH BOAT]
XLII. [THE LOVER AND THE SPY]
XLIII. [THE BATTLE OF THE MAY]
XLIV. [LARGO]
XLV. [ST. ANTHONY'S BELL]
XLVI. [THE GUNNER]
XLVII. [BORTHWICK'S NEW MISSION]
XLVIII. [TIB'S HOWFF]
XLIX. [THE KING'S WARK]
L. [THE SUMMER SPEAT]
LI. [LADY EFFIE'S LETTER]
LII. [THE HERMIT OF LORETTO]
LIII. [THE TRYSTE AT LORETTO]
LIV. [THE WEIRDWOMAN'S TREE]
LV. [THE ESCAPE]
LVI. [THE UNICORN LOOSE]
LVII. [CAMBUSKENNETH]
LVIII. [DOUBT, FEAR, AND SECRECY]
LIX. [REUNITED]
LX. [LONDON IN 1488]
LXI. [THE ADMIRAL'S STORY—THE LEGEND OF CORA LYNN]
LXII. [STORY CONTINUED—"ERIS-SKENE!"]
LXIII. [THE BROKEN WEDDING-RING]
LXIV. [THE BATTLE OFF FIFENESS]
LXV. [THE ENGLISH PRISONERS]
LXVI. [THE STANE BICKER]
LXVII. [THE MAUCHLINE TOWER]
LXVIII. [DUNBLANE]
LXIX. [THE MIDNIGHT TRYSTE]
LXX. [THE IRON BELT]
[CONCLUSION]
[NOTES]