"To the Right Honorable my very good Lord and especial friend, James
Earl of Bothwell, Lord of Hailes, Liddesdale, and Shetland, High
Admiral, Sheriff of Haddington, and Bailie of Lauderdale, _Give this in
haste--haste--haste_.
"We write to hasten your return, as the Queen's Majesty hath relaxit
your Lordship and the worshipful Laird of Ormiston from the horn, and
hath banished the Lords Moray, Morton, and others, your enemies, into
England, quhere they are now residing and resett at the frontier town of
Berwick, for the slaughter of umquhile David Rizzio, her Grace's Italian
secretary. Her Majesty desireth me to recal you to her presence, with
solemn assurance that your sentence of forfeiture is reversed, your
fiefs and honours restored. My dearest sister, the Lady Jane, and my
bedfellow, the Lady Anne, send their devoted love to your Lordship.
"So the blessing of our Lady be with you, and grant you long life and
great commoditie!
"Done at our castle of Strathbolgie in the Garioch, on the vigil of St.
Cuthbert the Confessor, 1565.
"HUNTLIE."
Ormiston threw up his bonnet, his black eyes flashed and filled with
tears, as he exclaimed--
"Now, God's blessing on her Grace! from this hour I am her leal man and
true. Now man, Bothwell, I am sick to death of this grim Norwayn
castle, and its old ale-drinking, chess-playing, and pudding-pated
castellan, who is part woodman, part fisherman--half knight, half
bear--and I long to see the yellow corn waving on my ain rigs of
Ormiston, with the grey turrets of my auld peel-tower, looking down on
bonny Teviotdale. Would I were there now, and three hundred of my tall
troopers with lance, and horse, and bonnets of steel, all trotting by my
side. Benedicite!"
"Three hundred devils! thy wits have gone woolgathering. I have
promised love and troth to Anna; and if I return with her as my bride,
Huntly and Aboyne, Black Arthur and Auchindoune, will all come down like
roaring lions from the hills of Badenoch and the wilds of
Strathbolgie--so that I may as well stay here and face Frederick."
"What! dost thou fear a feud with the gay Gordons?"
"Thou knowest," replied the Earl haughtily, "that I fear nothing, as I
shall show thee. I love this girl with my whole heart, Ormiston; yet
now, when the first fierce burst of love is past, I see the folly of a
man like me being tied like a love-knot to a woman's kirtle."
"Leave her behind thee here."
"I cannot--I cannot! What a moment of imbecility was that, when I
betrothed myself to Jane of Huntly!"
"A cursed coil! women on both hands; danger in returning and danger in
remaining. Our Lady direct us!"
"Dost think she will interest herself in the affairs of such a couple of
rascals as we are?"
"Thou speakest for thyself."
"Nay, I speak for thee in particular."
"Thou gettest angry," said Ormiston; "remember the old saw--'He that is
angry is seldom at ease.'"
"Tush! .... True it is," said Bothwell musingly, after a long pause--"I
love Anna better than my own life, and, because winning her may cost me
some trouble and danger; yet I feel that to wed her is to wreck my ship
on a dangerous shore. I am grown indifferent to Lady Jane, because I
may have her for the asking--besides, I am sick of dark eyes."
"Especially Parisian!"