While the King rode slowly back to the convent which he then occupied, Albany, with a discomposed aspect and faltering1 voice, asked the Earl of Douglas: “Will not your lordship, who saw this most melancholy2 scene at Falkland, communicate the tidings to my unhappy brother?”
“Not for broad Scotland,” said the Douglas. “I would sooner bare my breast, within flight shot, as a butt3 to an hundred Tynedale bowmen. No, by St. Bride of Douglas! I could but say I saw the ill fated youth dead. How he came by his death, your Grace can perhaps better explain. Were it not for the rebellion of March and the English war, I would speak my own mind of it.”
So saying, and making his obeisance4 to the King, the Earl rode off to his own lodgings5, leaving Albany to tell his tale as he best could.
“The rebellion and the English war!” said the Duke to himself. “Ay, and thine own interest, haughty6 earl, which, imperious as thou art, thou darest not separate from mine. Well, since the task falls on me, I must and will discharge it.”
He followed the King into his apartment. The King looked at him with surprise after he had assumed his usual seat.
“Thy countenance7 is ghastly, Robin8,” said the King. “I would thou wouldst think more deeply when blood is to be spilled, since its consequences affect thee so powerfully. And yet, Robin, I love thee the better that thy kind nature will sometimes show itself, even through thy reflecting policy.”
“I would to Heaven, my royal brother,” said Albany, with a voice half choked, “that the bloody9 field we have seen were the worst we had to see or hear of this day. I should waste little sorrow on the wild kerne who lie piled on it like carrion10. But —” he paused.
“How!” exclaimed the King, in terror. “What new evil? Rothsay? It must be — it is Rothsay! Speak out! What new folly11 has been done? What fresh mischance?”
“My lord — my liege, folly and mischance are now ended with my hapless nephew.”
“He is dead!— he is dead!” screamed the agonized12 parent. “Albany, as thy brother, I conjure13 thee! But no, I am thy brother no longer. As thy king, dark and subtle man, I charge thee to tell the worst.”
Albany faltered14 out: “The details are but imperfectly known to me; but the certainty is, that my unhappy nephew was found dead in his apartment last night from sudden illness — as I have heard.”
“Oh, Rothsay!— Oh, my beloved David! Would to God I had died for thee, my son — my son!”
So spoke15, in the emphatic16 words of Scripture17, the helpless and bereft18 father, tearing his grey beard and hoary19 hair, while Albany, speechless and conscience struck, did not venture to interrupt the tempest of his grief. But the agony of the King’s sorrow almost instantly changed to fury — a mood so contrary to the gentleness and timidity of his nature, that the remorse20 of Albany was drowned in his fear.
“And this is the end,” said the King, “of thy moral saws and religious maxims21! But the besotted father who gave the son into thy hands — who gave the innocent lamb to the butcher — is a king, and thou shalt know it to thy cost. Shall the murderer stand in presence of his brother — stained with the blood of that brother’s son? No! What ho, without there!— MacLouis!— Brandanes! Treachery! Murder! Take arms, if you love the Stuart!”
MacLouis, with several of the guards, rushed into the apartment.
“Murder and treason!” exclaimed the miserable22 King. “Brandanes, your noble Prince —” Here his grief and agitation23 interrupted for a moment the fatal information it was his object to convey. At length he resumed his broken speech: “An axe24 and a block instantly into the courtyard! Arrest —” The word choked his utterance25.
“Arrest whom, my noble liege?” said MacLouis, who, observing the King influenced by a tide of passion so different from the gentleness of his ordinary demeanour, almost conjectured26 that his brain had been disturbed by the unusual horrors of the combat he had witnessed.
“Whom shall I arrest, my liege?” he replied. “Here is none but your Grace’s royal brother of Albany.”
“Most true,” said the King, his brief fit of vindictive27 passion soon dying away. “Most true — none but Albany — none but my parent’s child — none but my brother. O God, enable me to quell28 the sinful passion which glows in this bosom29. Sancta Maria, ora pro30 nobis!”
MacLouis cast a look of wonder towards the Duke of Albany, who endeavoured to hide his confusion under an affectation of deep sympathy, and muttered to the officer: “The great misfortune has been too much for his understanding.”
“What misfortune, please your Grace?” replied MacLouis. “I have heard of none.”
“How! not heard of the death of my nephew Rothsay?”
“The Duke of Rothsay dead, my Lord of Albany?” exclaimed the faithful Brandane, with the utmost horror and astonishment31. “When, how, and where?”
“Two days since — the manner as yet unknown — at Falkland.”
MacLouis gazed at the Duke for an instant; then, with a kindling32 eye and determined33 look, said to the King, who seemed deeply engaged in his mental devotion: “My liege! a minute or two since you left a word — one word — unspoken. Let it pass your lips, and your pleasure is law to your Brandanes!”
“I was praying against temptation, MacLouis,” said the heart broken King, “and you bring it to me. Would you arm a madman with a drawn35 weapon? But oh, Albany! my friend — my brother — my bosom counsellor — how — how camest thou by the heart to do this?”
Albany, seeing that the King’s mood was softening36, replied with more firmness than before: “My castle has no barrier against the power of death. I have not deserved the foul37 suspicions which your Majesty38’s words imply. I pardon them, from the distraction39 of a bereaved40 father. But I am willing to swear by cross and altar, by my share in salvation41, by the souls of our royal parents —”
“Be silent, Robert!” said the King: “add not perjury42 to murder. And was this all done to gain a step nearer to a crown and sceptre? Take them to thee at once, man; and mayst thou feel as I have done, that they are both of red hot iron! Oh, Rothsay — Rothsay! thou hast at least escaped being a king!”
“My liege,” said MacLouis, “let me remind you that the crown and sceptre of Scotland are, when your Majesty ceases to bear them, the right of Prince James, who succeeds to his brother’s rights.”
“True, MacLouis,” said the King, eagerly, “and will succeed, poor child, to his brother’s perils43! Thanks, MacLouis — thanks. You have reminded me that I have still work upon earth. Get thy Brandanes under arms with what speed thou canst. Let no man go with us whose truth is not known to thee. None in especial who has trafficked with the Duke of Albany — that man, I mean, who calls himself my brother — and order my litter to be instantly prepared. We will to Dunbarton, MacLouis, or to Bute. Precipices44, and tides, and my Brandanes’ hearts shall defend the child till we can put oceans betwixt him and his cruel uncle’s ambition. Farewell, Robert of Albany — farewell for ever, thou hard hearted, bloody man! Enjoy such share of power as the Douglas may permit thee. But seek not to see my face again, far less to approach my remaining child; for, that hour thou dost, my guards shall have orders to stab thee down with their partizans! MacLouis, look it be so directed.”
The Duke of Albany left the presence without attempting further justification45 or reply.
What followed is matter of history. In the ensuing Parliament, the Duke of Albany prevailed on that body to declare him innocent of the death of Rothsay, while, at the same time, he showed his own sense of guilt46 by taking out a remission or pardon for the offence. The unhappy and aged34 monarch47 secluded48 himself in his Castle of Rothsay, in Bute, to mourn over the son he had lost, and watch with feverish49 anxiety over the life of him who remained. As the best step for the youthful James’s security, he sent him to France to receive his education at the court of the reigning50 sovereign. But the vessel51 in which the Prince of Scotland sailed was taken by an English cruiser, and, although there was a truce52 for the moment betwixt the kingdoms, Henry IV ungenerously detained him a prisoner. This last blow completely broke the heart of the unhappy King Robert III. Vengeance53 followed, though with a slow pace, the treachery and cruelty of his brother. Robert of Albany’s own grey hairs went, indeed, in peace to the grave, and he transferred the regency which he had so foully54 acquired to his son Murdoch. But, nineteen years after the death of the old King, James I returned to Scotland, and Duke Murdoch of Albany, with his sons, was brought to the scaffold, in expiation55 of his father’s guilt and his own.
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1
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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carrion
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| n.腐肉 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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conjure
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| v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法 | |
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faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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hoary
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| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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quell
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| v.压制，平息，减轻 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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pro
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| n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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perjury
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| n.伪证；伪证罪 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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45
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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50
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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51
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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52
truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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53
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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54
foully
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| ad.卑鄙地 | |
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expiation
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| n.赎罪，补偿 | |
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