"
"Possibly, my lord," replied the Queen, "it may have done service to
my ancestors--Your ancestors were men of loyalty"
"Ay, madam," replied he, "service it hath done; but such as kings love
neither to acknowledge nor to reward. It was the service which the
knife renders to the tree when trimming it to the quick, and depriving
it of the superfluous growth of rank and unfruitful suckers, which rob
it of nourishment."
"You talk riddles, my lord," said Mary; "I will hope the explanation
carries nothing insulting with it."
"You shall judge, madam," answered Lindesay. "With this good sword was
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, girded on the memorable day when he
acquired the name of Bell-the-Cat, for dragging from the presence of
your great grandfather, the third James of the race, a crew of
minions, flatterers, and favourites whom he hanged over the bridge of
Lauder, as a warning to such reptiles how they approach a Scottish
throne. With this same weapon, the same inflexible champion of
Scottish honour and nobility slew at one blow Spens of Kilspindie, a
courtier of your grandfather, James the fourth, who had dared to speak
lightly of him in the royal presence. They fought near the brook of
Fala; and Bell-the-Cat, with this blade, sheared through the thigh of
his opponent, and lopped the limb as easily as a shepherd's boy slices
a twig from a sapling."
"My lord," replied the Queen, reddening, "my nerves are too good to be
alarmed even by this terrible history--May I ask how a blade so
illustrious passed from the House of Douglas to that of
Lindesay?--Methinks it should have been preserved as a consecrated
relic, by a family who have held all that they could do against their
king, to be done in favour of their country.
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