In this wise they came into the great hall wherein yester-even the banquet of treachery had been served.

The dais had been removed to the upper end of the room, and upon it in the furred robes of judges of the realm, there sat on either side of the empty throne Crichton the Chancellor and Sir Alexander Livingston.
Behind were crowded groups of knights, pages, men-at-arms, and all the hangers-on of a court.

But of men of dignity and place only the Marshal de Retz, ambassador of the King of France, was present.
He sat alone on a high seat ranged crosswise upon the dais.

The floor in the centre of the hall was kept clear for the entrance of the brothers of Douglas.
Crichton and Livingston looked uneasily at each other as the feet of the guard conducting the prisoners were heard in the corridor without, and with a quick, apprehensive wave of his hand Crichton motioned the armed men of his guard closer about him, and gave their leader directions in a hushed voice behind his palm.
The seneschal who had summoned them strode in first, and then after a sufficient interval entered the young Lords of Douglas, William and David his brother.

The elder still kept one hand affectionately on the shoulder of the younger.