Then came the foreign leader of a foreign army, and lo! in a day, there were a hundred dead men in the valley, all honourable men slain in defence of their own doors.

The smoky flicker of flames broke through the roof in the daylight.

There was heard the crying of many women.

And the man who wrought this was an Earl of Douglas." The girl paused, and in a low whisper, intense as the breathing of the sea, she said: _"And for this will I deliver into your hands his grandson, William of Douglas!"_ Then her voice came again to the ears of the four listeners, in a note low and monotonous like the wind that goes about the house on autumn evenings.
"There was also one who, being but a child, had escaped from that tumult and had found shelter in a white convent with the sisters thereof, who taught her to pray, and be happy in the peace of the hour that is exactly like the one before it.

The shadow of the dial finger upon the stone was not more peaceful than the holy round of her life.
"Then came one who met her by the convent wall, met her under the shade of the orchard trees, met her under cloud of night, till his soul had power over hers.