We should assert falsehood did we say she did not suffer; she did, but it was a mother's agony heightened by a patriot's grief.

She believed her son, who had been in truth the idol of her mourning heart, had indeed fallen.

Her Agnes was not amongst the queen's train, of whose captivity she had been made aware, though not allowed speech with them.
Where was _she_--what would be her fate?
She only knew her as a lovely, fragile flower, liable to be crushed under the first storm; and pictured her, rudely severed from Nigel, perchance in the hands of some lawless spoiler, and heart-broken, dying.

Shuddering with anguish, she thought not of her own fate--she thought but of her children, of her country; and if King Robert did enter these visions, it was simply as her sovereign, as one whose patriotism would yet achieve the liberty of Scotland; but there was a dimness even o'er that dream, for the figure of her noble boy was gone, naught but a blank--dull, shapeless--occupied that spot in the vision of the future, which once his light had filled.
The castle-yard was at length gained, and a half and some change in the line of march ensued; the officers and men formed in a compact crescent, leaving the countess, a herald, trumpeters, and some of the highest knights, in front.

So intense was the interest of the crowd at this moment, that they did not heed the rapid advance of a gallant body of horse and foot from the north, except to rail at the pressure they occasioned in forcing their way through.