He received Albany, Douglas, March, and the prior, those ill assorted members of his motley council, with a mixture of courtesy and loftiness, which reminded each haughty peer that he stood in the presence of his sovereign, and compelled him to do the beseeming reverence.
Having received their salutations, the King motioned them to be seated; and they were obeying his commands when Rothsay entered.

He walked gracefully up to his father, and, kneeling at his footstool, requested his blessing.

Robert, with an aspect in which fondness and sorrow were ill disguised, made an attempt to assume a look of reproof, as he laid his hand on the youth's head and said, with a sigh, "God bless thee, my thoughtless boy, and make thee a wiser man in thy future years!" "Amen, my dearest father!" said Rothsay, in a tone of feeling such as his happier moments often evinced.

He then kissed the royal hand, with the reverence of a son and a subject; and, instead of taking a place at the council board, remained standing behind the King's chair, in such a position that he might, when he chose, whisper into his father's ear.
The King next made a sign to the prior of St.Dominic to take his place at the table, on which there were writing materials, which, of all the subjects present, Albany excepted, the churchman was alone able to use.
The King then opened the purpose of their meeting by saying, with much dignity: "Our business, my lords, respected these unhappy dissensions in the Highlands, which, we learn by our latest messengers, are about to occasion the waste and destruction of the country, even within a few miles of this our own court.

But, near as this trouble is, our ill fate, and the instigations of wicked men, have raised up one yet nearer, by throwing strife and contention among the citizens of Perth and those attendants who follow your lordships and others our knights and nobles.
I must first, therefore, apply to yourselves, my lords, to know why our court is disturbed by such unseemly contendings, and by what means they ought to be repressed?
Brother of Albany, do you tell us first your sentiments on this matter." "Sir, our royal sovereign and brother," said the Duke, "being in attendance on your Grace's person when the fray began, I am not acquainted with its origin." "And for me," said the Prince, "I heard no worse war cry than a minstrel wench's ballad, and saw no more dangerous bolts flying than hazel nuts." "And I," said the Earl of March, "could only perceive that the stout citizens of Perth had in chase some knaves who had assumed the Bloody Heart on their shoulders.