Page:The Queens of England.djvu/23

MATILDA OF SCOTLAND. 13 will. She had another daughter, Mary, and several sons ; so that the race of murdered Duncan bade fair to be as numer- ous as the shadowy kings in Macbeth's vision; but the flower of them all was Matilda. This young princess grew from childhood to girlhood, beautiful as her mother had been, and resembling her, too, in sweetness of disposition. While still very young, she was asked in marriage by Alan of Bretagne, the same who had witnessed her father's anger at seeing her with the nun's veil, and who was.a frequent guest at Malcolm's court. Alan had previously married Constance, daughter of William the Conqueror, who died in. the bloom of womanhood. He was a man of mature years, and not very well suited to the fair young princess of Scotland. Matilda rejected him in a manner which showed her gentleness and good sense even at the dawn of life. The residence of Edgar Atheling at the English court, and the friendly ties which ought to have connected the two coun- tries, did not prevent various wars between England and Scot- land. Malcolm, in 1093, left Scotland, heedless even of the failing health of his beloved Margaret, and, burning with indignation at some fancied wrong, entered England, deter- mined to carry fire and sword into the hills and valleys of fair Northumberland. The chieftain king of Scotland was triumphant to his heart's desire. He laid waste wherever he came, and at last besieged the castle of Alnwick, the chief stronghold of the 'English power. The governor of the fortress sent a messenger to his formidable opponent, offering to give up Alnwick to Mal- colm's conquering power, provided that the king would receive the keys with his own hand. Malcolm consented, and a knight rode forward from the besieged castle, bearing the keys on the point of his lance. Eager to seize the tokens of his victory, the king stooped to receive the keys, and his wily adversary pierced the spear through the eye of the unfortunate monarch into his very brain. Malcolm lingered during a few hours of terrible agony, and then died. While this horrible tragedy took place at Alnwick, Queen Margaret lay dying in her palace at Dunfermline; her last moments being agonized by anxiety for her absent lord, and her son, Prince Edward, who, young as he was, had accom- panied his father to the field. Not even the religious consola- tions of the good Turgot, nor the affectionate care of her