fire, and conversing gaily with the queen and her ladies before he went to rest. All now were ordered to withdraw.

At this moment there was a noise and clashing heard, as of men in armour, and the torches in the garden cast up great flashes of light against the windows. The king then recollected his deadly enemy, Sir Robert Graham, and guessed that he was coming to murder him. He called to the ladies who were left in the chamber to keep the door as well as they could, in order to give him time to escape. He first tried to get out at the windows, but they were fast barred, and defied his strength. By help of the tongs, which were in the chimney, he raised, however, a plank of the flooring of the apartment, and let himself down into a narrow vault beneath, used as a common sewer. This vault had formerly had an opening into the court. of the convent, by which he might have made his escape. But all things turned against the unfortunate James; for, two or three days before, he had caused the opening to be built up, because, when he played at ball in the court-yard, the ball used to roll into the vault through that hole.

While the king was in this place of concealment, the conspirators were seeking him from chamber to chamber throughout the convent, and, at length, came to the room where the ladies were. The queen and her women endeavoured, as well as they might, to keep the door shut, and one of them, Catherine Douglas, boldly thrust her own arm across the door, instead of the bar, which had been taken away beforehand. But the brave lady's arm was soon broken, and the traitors rushed into the room with swords and daggers drawn, hurting and throwing down such of the women as opposed them. The poor queen stood half undressed, shrieking aloud, and one of the assassins would have slain her, had it not been for a son of Sir Robert Graham, who said to him,

"What would you do to the queen? She is but a woman-Let us seek the king."

They accordingly commenced a minute search, but without any success; so they left the apartment, and sought elsewhere about the monastery. In the meanwhile the king turned impatient, and desired the ladies to help him out of the inconvenient lurking-place. At this unlucky moment the conspirators returned, one of them having recollected that there was such a vault, and that they had not searched it. And when they tore up the plank, and saw the king standing beneath in the vault, one of them called to the others, "Sirs, I have found the bride for whom we have been seeking all night." Then, first one, and then another of the villains, brethren of the name of Hall, descended into the vault, with daggers drawn, to despatch the unfortunate king, who was standing there in his shirt, without weapons of any kind. But James, who was an active and strong man, threw them both down beneath his feet, and struggled to wrest the dagger from one or other of them, in which attempt his hands were severely cut and mangled. The murderers were also so vigorously handled, that the marks of the king's gripe were visible on their throats for weeks afterwards. Then Sir Robert Graham himself sprang down on the king, who, finding no further defence possible, asked him for mercy, and for leisure to confess his sins to a priest. But Graham replied fiercely, "Thou never hadst mercy on those of thine own blood, nor any one else, therefore thou shalt find no mercy here; and as for a confessor, thou shalt have none but this sword." So speaking, he thrust the sword through the king's body. And yet it is said, that when he saw his prince lying bleeding under his feet, he was desirous to have left the enterprise unfinished; but the other conspirators called upon Graham to kill the king, otherwise he