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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36030-8.txt b/36030-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c38558 --- /dev/null +++ b/36030-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8176 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2), by Jonathon Holt Ingraham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2) + or, The Wizard of the Sea + +Author: Jonathon Holt Ingraham + +Release Date: May 4, 2011 [EBook #36030] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN KYD (VOL 1 OF 2) *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + CAPTAIN KYD; + + OR, + + THE WIZARD OF THE SEA. + + A ROMANCE. + + BY J. H. INGRAHAM + + AUTHOR OF "THE SOUTHWEST," "LAFITTE," "BURTON," &c. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + NEW-YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET. + 1839. + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, + By HARPER & BROTHERS, + In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. + + TO + THE AUTHOR OF THE + "WINTER IN THE WEST," + CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN, ESQ., + THESE VOLUMES ARE, + WITH SENTIMENTS OF ESTEEM, + Respectfully Inscribed. + + + "There's many a one who oft has heard + The name of Robert Kyd, + Who cannot tell, perhaps, a word + Of him, or what he did. + + "So, though I never saw the man, + And lived not in his day, + I'll tell you how his guilt began-- + To what it led the way." + + H. F. GOULD. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The following dramatic romance consists of two acts, with an interval of +five years between them. The time and action of the first part, the +scene of which is placed in the south of Ireland, are comprised in +something less than three days; that of the second, the scenes of which +are laid in New-York Bay and on its adjacent shores, embraces a somewhat +longer space of time, the two comprising the most prominent crises of +the hero's life--one giving the colouring to the whole of his subsequent +career, which in the other is brought to its close. + +Natchez, Miss., Jan., 1839. + + + + +BOOK I. + +THE CAUSE. + + + "A lady should not scorn + One soul that loves her, howe'er lowly it be." + + BARRY CORNWALL. + + "'Twere idle to remember now, + Had I the heart, my thwarted schemes. + I bear beneath this alter'd brow + The ashes of a thousand dreams-- + Some wrought of wild Ambition's fingers, + Some colour'd of Love's pencil well-- + + * * * * * + + Ambition has but foil'd my grasp, + And Love has perish'd in my clasp." + + _Melanie._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Oh, bold Robin Hood + Was a forester good + As ever drew bow in the merry green wood, + And what eye hath e'er seen + Such a sweet maiden queen + As Marian the pride of the forester's green." + + +On a rocky headland that stretches boldly out into the bosom of one of +the lakelike bays that indent the southern shore of Ireland, stands a +picturesque ruin, half hidden to the eye of the voyager amid a group of +old trees. With its solitary square tower, and warlike battlements +jagged and stern in their desolation, it still wears an air of imposing +grandeur, that conveys some idea of its ancient baronial state. It is +known by the name of "old Castle Cor;" and in its palmy days was the +summer abode of the last Earl of Bellamont. + +On a bright morning in the merry month of May, in the year sixteen +hundred and ninety-four, its now silent halls rung with the joyous +voices and noisy sports of a score of gallant youths and noble maidens, +gathered there, from many a lordly roof both far and near, to celebrate +a rural fête in honour of the sixteenth birthday of the only child of +this ancient house, the beautiful Kate Bellamont, better known +throughout the barony as "wild Kate of Castle Cor." In the pastimes of +the day, archery, then much practised by ladies of gentle blood, was to +hold a conspicuous place, and a silver arrow was to be awarded to the +victor by the hands of Lady Bellamont herself. As the hour of noon +approached, the earl's chief forester, Cormac Dermot, his gray locks +covered with a red cloth bonnet, in which was fastened an eagle's plume, +and his goodly person arrayed in a holyday suit of green and gold, made +his appearance on the lawn by the west side of the castle, and wound his +horn, loud and long, as the signal that the "gentle sporte of archerie" +was now about to begin. + +The place chosen for the trial of skill was an ample lawn of the softest +and greenest verdure, lying between the wall of the castle and the verge +of the cliff. A few ancient oaks grew here and there upon it; and +towards the south it was open to the land-locked bay and far-distant +sea, which, wide as the vision extended, seemed to belt the horizon like +a shining band of silver. At each extremity of the field, one hundred +yards apart, was pitched upon the sward a gorgeous pavilion, one of +blue, the other of orange-coloured silk: the hangings of the former were +fringed with silver; and from the festooned curtains of the latter +pended tassels of silk and gold. In these were laid tables spread with +cloths of crimson damask, and covered with every luxury that could tempt +the palate or gratify the eye. From the summit of one of the pavilions +fluttered a crimson banneret, displaying the arms of Bellamont, its +boar's-head crest pierced through with an arrow, emblematical of the +occasion; and from the top of the other waved a white banner, in the +centre of which, according to the rules of heraldry, a bow, quiver, +target and other signs of archery were tastefully emblazoned. + +Twenty-five yards in front of each pavilion, two targets were placed, +fifty yards apart, so that, after sending all their arrows at one, the +archers might walk up to it and gather them, and, taking their stand by +it, shoot back to the other; thus alternately reversing the direction of +their shots, and adding healthful exercise to their graceful pastime. +The targets were both very beautiful, and gay with colours; being round +wooden shields half an inch in thickness and three feet in diameter, +with four circles painted on the faces: the outer white, with a green +border; the next black; the next within it orange; and the inner circle +red, encompassing a gold centre. They were elevated, at a slight angle, +twenty inches from the ground, on a light frame resembling a painter's +easel. + +Midway between the targets, but safely placed several paces back from +the erratic path of the arrows, was erected beneath an ancient +linden-tree a sylvan throne, surmounted by a canopy of silk, elaborately +worked with the needle to represent Diana, with her nymphs and hounds, +pursuing a herd of deer with flights of arrows. This was the seat of the +umpire of the sports--Katrine, the lovely Countess of Bellamont. +Altogether, it was an imposing and gorgeous scene; and, with its stern +castle rising boldly from the verdant lawn topped with battlements and +towers; with its boundary on the north side, of green, dark old woods, +and the calm, deep bay beneath, with a yacht sleeping on its bosom; with +its extended prospect of the illimitable sea forever breathing with a +mysterious life, the field of archery at Castle Cor, for the natural +beauty of the spot and the taste displayed in its adornment, has +doubtless had no parallel in the annals of archery. + +Scarcely had the echoes of old Cormac's horn died away in the forest, +startling many a stately stag to flight, when the castle poured forth +its gay throng of archers towards the lists. In their midst was the +Countess of Bellamont, escorted by a bodyguard of young archeresses. She +was then in the prime and beauty of ripe womanhood: at that delightful +age when the wife and mother, all the charms of mind and person fully +developed and refined by taste and elegant culture, fascinates by a +thousand nameless graces, and captivates and enslaves even the youthful +crowd that sigh at the feet of her lovely daughter of seventeen--the age +that leaves one in doubt whether beautiful women arrive at the zenith of +their beauty and power under five-and-thirty. + +This was the age of Katrine of Bellamont; and though at eighteen (when +she became a bride) the loveliest of all Irish maidens either of gentle +or lowly birth, yet now, as the Countess of Bellamont, far-famed for her +rare and stately beauty. She was arrayed in a simple white robe; and a +laced jacket of royal-purple velvet closely fitted her magnificent bust. +When she entered the field she was conducted by her juvenile escort to +the throne, on which she seated herself, and with a playfully assumed +queenly dignity that became her highborn air. A coronet of pearls graced +her brow; and her symmetrical hand, that rivalled pearls in its soft +transparency, gracefully held, like a sceptre, the miniature arrow which +was to be the prize for excelling in archery. Her deep blue eyes, as she +looked around, reflected, in a thousand smiling beams, the joy that +danced on each youthful face, and the sunny light of her own countenance +communicated sunshine of the heart wherever it fell. + +On each side of the throne stood a well-born youth habited as a page, +and behind her were stationed two beautiful young girls attired as +sylphides. On her right hand, a few feet in the rear, leaning on a yew +bow six feet in length, stood Cormac Dermot, his stag's horn, richly +inlaid and curiously carved with woodland devices, slung beneath his +left shoulder, with the mouthpiece brought round in front ready for use. +A little farther beyond, and nearer the castle-wall, was assembled a +group of lower degree, consisting of under-foresters, retainers of the +household, and neighbouring peasants; while on the opposite side of the +lawn might be seen, relieved against the sky, the forms of two or three +fishermen, whom curiosity had led to climb the dizzy precipice from the +beach--far along the white line of which were visible their scattered +huts, looking like black specks upon the sand. + +All was now animation with the preparations for the lists. From bundles +of bows thrown by Dermot on the ground before each pavilion, the youths +began busily to select weapons for the fair archers, who were themselves +earnestly engaged in choosing arrows from quivers that were hung on the +front of the tent; fastening braces of thick fawn's leather on their +left or bow arm just above the wrist to preserve it from injury by the +rebound of the bow-string; and drawing on the right hand, from parcels +handed them by pages, shooting-gloves, with three finger-stalls, fitted +with a strap and button to fasten at the wrist, to protect their fingers +in drawing the arrow. Besides these appendages of archery, each +archeress wore a belt buckled about the waist, to which pended a tassel +of the softest floss of Brussels, to wipe away the soil that adhered to +the arrows when drawn from the ground; and also an ivory box with a +metal lid, containing a perfumed paste for anointing the finger-stalls +of the shooting-gloves and the brace on the arm, that the bow-string +might the more easily quit the fingers and pass over the guarded wrist. +A small pouch, either of tortoise-shell or of silver, in shape and +dimensions like a sportsman's cup or a dicebox, was suspended on the +right side to receive two or three arrows; the more cumbersome quiver, +while in target-shooting, being left on the ground near at hand, filled +with shafts to replace those broken or lost. + +The party of archeresses consisted of seven fair girls, the eldest +scarce seventeen. They were fancifully attired, some in green, and +others in orange or blue hunting-jackets, after the tasteful fashion of +the period; a costume admirably calculated to display their sylphan +shapes. They all wore hats of the colour of their spencers, looped up in +front, and ornamented with waves of snowy plumes. Long white trains +descended from their waists to the ground, but, in shooting, were +gathered beneath the belt on the left side, and, thence falling down +again to the feet in numerous folds, added to the grace and +picturesqueness of their appearance. Each archeress was attended by a +favoured youth as an esquire, habited in a green or gray hunting-frock, +bordered with a wreath of embroidered oak-leaves, with an arrow worked +in silver thread on each lappel. They wore broad flapping hats, turned +boldly back from the forehead, and shaded in front with a drooping black +plume. Each carried a short hunting-spear, decked with ribands of the +colour of his mistress' jacket, gifts from her own hand and tied thereon +with her own fingers, in token that she acknowledged him as her "Esquire +of the Bow." The duty of these youthful cavaliers was to select a bow +suited to the strength of the archeress whose colours they wore; to fit +it with an arrow of a weight proportioned to its power, having a nock +exactly receiving the string; to assist, if the lady is unskilled, in +stringing the bow; to draw the arrows from the butt, or collect the +far-shot shafts and return them to the owner; and otherwise, as courtesy +and gallantry prompted, to do their duty as "esquires of archerie." + +Once more the sonorous horn of old Cormac was heard winding, now high, +now low, in a long, wild strain, and then ending in three sharp blasts, +like the stirring notes of a bugle sounding to the charge. Every +archeress now had her brace buckled on her arm, and her shooting-glove +buttoned about her wrist; every one had two good arrows in the pouch at +her belt, and a third on the string; and each fair girl, attended by her +esquire, hastened to the stand by the southernmost target at the sound +of the forester's horn--save, in each instance, Kate Bellamont! Her +brace would not buckle all she could do; her shooting-glove would not go +on, and three, that she had pulled off, were lying rent at her feet; and +not an arrow was to be seen in her tortoise-shell pouch, though half a +dozen fair ones lay about her on the ground! It was very plain that +something was going wrong with the maiden. Such a dilemma could not have +happened without a cause. The braces of the rest buckled with ease; +their shooting-gloves fitted beautifully; and there had been time enough +to fill twenty pouches. Why, then, was Kate Bellamont not ready? Her +brace, both strap and buckle, was perfect; and the wrist it was destined +to compass was not to be matched for its smallness of size! The gloves, +plainly were just what they should be! Her companions had been fitted, +and her hand was the smallest as well as the fairest of the party; +besides, there were a dozen pairs on the ground that evidently were made +for no other hand. The cause could not lie in the arrows, for they were, +to the eye, without fault, and of every variety of shape and fashion +known to archery; nor in her handsome esquire, who, save when requested +by some eager girl to assist her, had been diligently serving her with +arrow after arrow, until he had emptied two quivers, the contents of +which now lay strewn around. The cause is not to be found in either of +these. The truth is, Kate Bellamont was playing with her little foot +against the ground when she should have been trying on her glove. No +sooner was one pulled half way on than she suffered it to remain so, +drumming the while in a fit of absence on the sward, while her eyes +followed the motions of her handsome esquire. The next moment, +recovering herself, she would tear it off impatiently, and, with a +laugh, fling it to the ground. She would then take up another, and go +through the same process, or play with her brace instead of buckling it; +and when the young gentleman gave her an arrow, without scarcely +touching it to the bow-string she threw it down, saying it was too heavy +or too light, too long or too short, had too much feather or had not +feather enough; so that, when the rest of the party were ready, Kate +Bellamont was just where she was at the outset. The result of all this, +whether brought about designedly or not by a little female +manoeuvring, being a question to be solved by such as are skilled in +the ways and means by which women work out their ends, was, that when +the last notes of Cormac's horn died away in the forest, Kate Bellamont +found herself and her esquire, the noble and youthful heir of the broad +lands of the earldom of Lester, left quite alone. The brace was on her +arm unbuckled, and she held a glove in her hand. + +"Lord Robert, do clasp this troublesome brace for me. Strange you could +not see what difficulty I have had to get ready! But I suppose you were +so engaged fitting an arrow to pretty Gracy Fitzgerald's bow, that you +had no eyes for any one else!" + +This was said half in pique, half laughingly; and holding, with a +pouting lip, her snowy arm towards her esquire as she spoke, he +gallantly received it, and with the merest effort in the world clasped +the rebellious brace. But he did not release her soft hand without +giving it a slight pressure, and looking into her face with an eloquent +gaze, which she consciously met with eyes half downcast, yet beaming +through their long dark lashes with a gentle fire that young love only +could have kindled. + +"Now, Sir Esquire, fasten this glove." + +The youth bent till the black plume of his bonnet rested on her arm, +and, with some difficulty apparently, for he was a very long time about +it, succeeded in buttoning the silken strap across the blue-veined +wrist; nor did he lift his head from the fair hand, which lay nestled +like a bird in his beneath the thick covert of his drooping feather, ere +he had touched it with his bold lip. + +"Ha, Sir Forester, is this a part of your service as squire of archery?" +she demanded, with the blood mounting to her cheek in maidenly surprise; +though the pouting smile on her mouth, which she vainly tried to turn +into a frown, and the dancing light in her telltale eyes, betokened +anything besides resentment at the bold deed; "I see I must resign you +to my sly little cousin Gracy, and take her well-behaved esquire; +doubtless you better understand her humour than you seem to do mine." + +By the time she had ended she had succeeded in calling up a small cloud +on her brow, which struggled very hard to cast a shadow over the sunny +light that played around her lovely mouth and was reflected back in a +thousand rays from the deep wells of her black, Castilian eyes. + +"Forgive me, sweet Lady Kate," said the esquire, dropping on one +knee--disguising his attitude to the eyes of others by gathering +carelessly one or two arrows from the ground--to her eyes alone a +suppliant. The expression of his face amusingly wavered between playful +mockery and seriousness, as if greatly fearing, yet doubting much, that +his daring act had really given offence: a sort of neutral ground +between mirth and grief, with the advantage of enabling him to fall +readily into the one or the other, as he should find the needle of her +humour pointed. + +"See, then, you offend not again, sir," she said, laughing at the +troubled expression of his serio-comic countenance. "Haste! choose me an +arrow that tapers from the pile to the feather." + +"One that tapers each way from the middle will suit you better for +shooting in this light wind," said the young esquire, the puzzled play +of his handsome features changed to sunshine by her voice. As he spoke +he brought a quiver full of arrows and poured them out at her feet, and, +kneeling on the thick verdure, selected an arrow of the kind he had +named. + +"No, no," she said, putting it aside; "they always curve from the line +of sight; and, besides, fly unsteady." + +"Not in a wind, Kate. The fulness in the middle counteracts the weight +of the ends, and drives it more evenly." + +"Do as you are bidden, Sir Esquire," she said. "Don't think now you are +going to have your own way." A second arrow was placed in her hand by +the youth. + +"Why, Lord Robert, what _is_ the matter with your wits! This is an arrow +of the same kind; and, besides, it is without a cock-feather. I shall +have to call yonder handsome fisher's lad, who is watching me so +admiringly, to my assistance." + +The esquire, without looking up, mechanically handed to her a third +arrow, with the head broken and the feathers ruffled. Without being able +to speak in her surprise, she looked quietly down and beheld the young +man so intently contemplating one of her exquisite little feet, that +twice she spoke to him ere he looked up to encounter her gaze of arch +astonishment. It was very plain what had become of her esquire's wits. +The youth blushed, and hastily rose to his feet; but the maiden could +not disguise a little female vanity, though she shook her finger at him, +and said mischievously, + +"Do you propose becoming a cordwainer, and making me a pair of slippers, +Lord Robert, that you are so busy taking the dimensions of my foot?" + +"I would willingly become apprentice to the meanest cobbler, to be +suffered to take the measure of that tiny foot, and fit it with a shoe," +said the youth, with gallantry. + +The maiden laughed, and, unwilling to betray the feeling his words had +created, said, "Do be quick, Lord Robert; my bow is not yet strung with +our foolish idling here, and I shall be too late for the lists." + +As she spoke she grasped her bow firmly in the middle, and extending her +hand, containing the string terminating with a loop, to the upper limb, +she pulled smartly upward, pressing the limb downward at the same time +with her left wrist, and skilfully and accurately carried the eye of the +bow-string into the nock. Her bow, like those of her companions, was +five feet in length, neatly made of dark wood highly polished, and +rounded on the inner side to increase its power in shooting. + +"Well and featly done! That's a tough yew, and a man's strength could +not have better done what your little fingers, with skill to guide them, +I have just seen do. You were an apt pupil, young mistress, and do +honour to old Dermot's lessons." + +Kate Bellamont turned and saw the old forester close at her side. "If I +have any skill, good Cormac," she said, "I do owe it all to your kind +teaching; and if I win the arrow this day, you shall have it as a +birthday gift from me, to wear in your bonnet instead of your pipe." + +The forester lifted his bonnet with a gratified air, mingled with +respect, at this expression of kindness from his lovely young mistress, +and said, + +"I know you would give Cormac, sweet lady, even the fair white plume +that graces your brow if you thought it would gratify the old man. God +bless you, noble child; may you live to see many such bright birthdays +as this!" The rough huntsman brushed a tear from his eyes as he spoke; +for the experience of years had told him that clouds would obscure the +bright sky of her young hopes, and that each returning birthday might be +but a sad waymark to denote the slow passage of a life of sorrow and +trial. "The countess has bid me come and see if you need my aid in +fitting your shafts, that you delay." + +"No, no, Cormac," said the maiden, blushing; but directly she cried, +"Yes, you can help me. I am undecided whether to shoot an arrow that +tapers from the head to the feathers, or from the feathers to the head, +or from the middle both ways." + +"What says Master Robert?" asked Dermot, smiling archly through one of +his little gray eyes, the other, from the long habit of shutting it in +shooting, having at last got to be so firmly closed up in a radiating +network of fine wrinkles as to have been for the last ten years of his +life invisible. + +"Pshaw, Cormac!" she cried, stooping till her snowy plumes shaded her +burning cheek; "I did not ask Lord Robert, but you." + +"I have advised Lady Kate, forester, to shoot arrows that taper both to +feather and pile," said the youth, haughtily. + +"And she chooses--" + +"Those that taper from the pile to the feather," said the maiden, +quickly. + +"If the distance were seventy yards instead of fifty," said the +forester, measuring the ground with his eye, "it would be a good shaft +for a steady hand; but, if you will let me decide, I would recommend you +to take the taper from the feather, especially as the air is in motion." + +"Your skill is at fault for once, old man," said the young noble, with a +flushed brow; "the best bowmen in England--ay, Robin Hood himself, were +he here this day--would teach you your craft better." + +"You are in error, Master Robert," said the forester, with some warmth, +in defence of his profession; "and he who taught you that a double taper +is better in a wind than--" + +"Hist, old graybeard! you know nothing of woodscraft; yonder fisher's +lad will even tell you a shaft swelling in the middle will waver in its +passage through the wind like a weathercock." + +"Nay, Master Robert--" + +"Speak again, old man, and I strike you!" said the young noble, +imperiously, angry that his skill should be called in question; feeling +positive that he alone was right, or else too proud to acknowledge his +conviction. + +"For shame, Lester," cried Kate Bellamont, with an indignant look; "I +did not think you were of so overbearing and ungracious a temper! +Besides," she added, proudly, "I sought Cormac's opinion! Strike an old +man, and in a lady's presence! Out upon thy manhood, Robert. Ask +Cormac's forgiveness, or never speak to me more." + +"Pardon my hasty speech, Kate," he said, abashed by her look, and +reproached by the cutting irony of her words, approaching her as he +spoke with an air of deep mortification, "forgive--" + +"To Cormac, sir, not me." + +"For Cormac, in atonement, I will send from Castle More a fat buck, with +this very arrow sticking in its heart; but," he added, with haughty +fierceness, "I will ask no man's forgiveness. If I have offended, I am +ready to stand by my words." + +"Marry come up! we are like to have a letting of blood here," said the +maiden, between jest and seriousness. "Will you be docile, Robert?" + +"At your bidding, Kate, as a lamb." + +"_Very_ like a lamb. Forget it, Dermot. You have made his pride a little +sore to tell him, before a lady, he knew not how to choose a shaft, and +so unfit to be an esquire of archery." + +"Young blood will up," said the forester. "I meant not to gainsay your +skill, Master Robert, for it's known to every bowman that no young hand +in the county can send a shaft farther or surer than young Lord Robert +of Castle More." + +"That will do, Cormac. Now, Robert, see that you henceforward take fire +less readily; and you, good Dermot, refrain from wounding the esteem of +these young lords. Verily, it behooves me to look to my own speech in +such fiery company. Nay, Robert," she added, laughing, "I have done. +Give me the shafts; and, as we are to have three shots apiece at the +target, I will shoot one of each kind, and be the prize his whose arrow +wins! Give me them, Robert!--nay, don't press my fingers so hard; I +don't want them in my hand, but in the pouch. Go, Cormac, I am ready. I +see my lady mother is shaking her silver arrow at me already for +loitering here when I should be at the post." + +The next moment she had joined the archers, and the trial of skill +forthwith commenced. The first arrow that was shot was from the bow of a +fair-haired girl, in a blue hat and a silken bodice of the same colour; +it flew wide of the mark, and quivered in the trunk of a tree sixty +yards off. + +"There was nerve in that, Lady Eustace," said old Cormac, who watched +each shot with professional interest; "but you grasped the handle of +your bow too tightly, and so made your aim unsteady. Hold your bow as +lightly as you would a hunting-whip. 'Tis not strength, but skill, that +sends the bolt into the eye of the butt." + +The young archeress laughed at her failure, and resigned her place to +another, who was distinguished by an orange-coloured spencer. This +second shot was more successful; for, swiftly cleaving the air, the +arrow stuck in the orange circle. + +"Bravo! orange to orange!" was the cry that on all sides hailed this +appropriate hit. + +The third shaft was still better directed; and, hitting the red or inner +circle, stuck there for a moment trembling like an aspen-leaf, and then +fell to the ground. + +"A brave bolt that! a brave bolt that," said the forester, "and drawn +well to the head. But you should have brought the nock of your arrow +down more towards your ear. The ear in shooting an arrow; the eye in +firing a pistol or harquebuss. That shaft was a taper from the feather, +Master Robert." + +"Hush, Cormac," cried Kate Bellamont, quickly; "would you get your gray +beard into a broil. Robert, bring me my quiver," she said, as she saw +the young man's eye light up; "one of my arrows, the very one you gave +me, has the cock-feather awry! Stay! you need not bring the quiver, but +select a shaft for me yourself. I will keep it as my forlorn hope, and +mark me if it do not carry off the prize." She sought his eyes and +looked so bewitchingly after a manner maidens have of their own, that +his brow coloured and his eyes beamed with a different emotion, while, +with a fluttering heart, he went to do her bidding. + +Oh, gentle and angelic woman! ever ready to calm the ruffled brow with +words of peace! to bring good out of evil! to step between fierce man +and his reinless passions! with an eye to sooth, a voice to disarm, a +smile to win! Blessings on thee, woman! whether in thy happy and +innocent girlhood, or fair and gentle maidenhood; whether maid or +matron, young or old, lovely or homely! Blessings on thee, sweet leaven +of humanity! yet partaking so much of the heavenly nature, that the sons +of the gods, we are told, were lured from their celestial thrones to +cast their crowns at thy feet! + +A fourth arrow hit the black circle; and the fifth, sent from the bow of +a tall, graceful girl, struck on the outer edge of the target and +splintered it, while the bow itself snapped in two in her hand. + +"What a mischievous shot, Fanny," cried Lady Bellamont, smiling; "if +by-and-by you launch Cupid's shafts at your lovers' hearts in that way, +you will make sad havoc." + +"It was all, your ladyship, of placing the short limb of the bow +uppermost. Hugh Conor must be getting old that he teacheth not his pupil +better to handle the bow," said old Cormac, shaking his snowy locks as +the next archeress, a sylph-like little being, about fifteen, with +dangerous hazel eyes; rich chestnut-coloured hair, that flowed in curls +all over her shoulders; a voice like some merry bird's, and a wild, +joyous spirit lighting up like a sunbeam her whole countenance, took her +place at the stand. + +"Now, cousin Gracy, do be steady!" cried Kate Bellamont; "take heed! you +will shoot my esquire through the heart if you handle your bow so +carelessly." + +"And then you would shoot me through the head in return, I dare say." + +The laughing girl bounded to the stand as she spoke, carelessly drew her +arrow to the head, and, ere she had well taken aim, away it flew, and +passed through the centre of the emblazoned target waving on the summit +of the pavilion, and continued its wild flight into the wood beyond. + +"Bravo, cousin Gracy! you have won the silver arrow," cried Kate +Bellamont. "Lord Robert, I wonder if that was the arrow you chose for +Lady Grace. A taper both ways, or I'll forfeit my jennet!" + +"Who makes the broil now, young mistress?" asked the old forester, with +a glance of humour. + +"You and I, worthy Cormac, are two very different people where a young +gentleman is concerned," said the maiden, laughing. + +The forester shook his head incredulously, and, turning to Grace +Fitzgerald, said, "Faith, but it was a brave shot that, my young lady! +You have done what old Dermot could not have done at a target, playing +in the wind like that. But, with the leave of my lady the queen, you +must have a second shot at the real target. Take this arrow, that tapers +from the feather to the pile; fit it to your bow-string exactly at the +spot where it is wound round with silk; and, if you will follow my +directions, I will teach you to strike the centre of the true butt, or +never draw arrow to head again." Leave being granted by acclamation, the +archeress merrily resumed her attitude and prepared to follow his +instructions. + +"Hold the bow easily in your hand. Throw your head back a little. That +will do. Now keep your bow-arm straightened, and bend the wrist of your +gloved hand inward. Now raise your bow, steadily drawing the arrow at +the same time--not towards your eye, but towards your ear. Be steady! +When it is three parts drawn, take your aim at the centre. Keep the head +of the arrow a little to the right of the mark. Be cool, and, if you are +sure of your aim, draw the arrow quickly and steadily to the head, and +gently part your fingers and let it go!" + +The shaft, loosened from the string, cut the air and buried itself in +the very centre of the golden eye of the target. A shout from every part +of the field acknowledged the success of the quick pupil, and bore +testimony to the skill of the experienced old archer. + +"It is Cormac's shot, not mine," said the archeress; "I am satisfied +with piercing the glittering centre of yonder escutcheon." + +"The queen shall decide," cried several of the party, turning towards +the throne where sat the lovely countess, amid her youthful attendants, +participating with girlish interest in the scene, and prepared to decide +all appeals to her royal umpirage. + +"Gracy is right. Cormac's skill directed the shaft. She has no honest +claim to the honour of the hit, save the credit of having stood quiet +longer than she was ever known to before! The banner with its perforated +target she is justly entitled to; and," added the countess, with a +smile, "I here award it to her." + +"And if I ever get a husband he shall carry it before him into battle," +said the merry sylph. "Now, divine Kate, see that you don't wound my +arrow. I would not have it injured for a silver one." + +"It tapers from the middle in each direction, I have no doubt," said +Kate, archly, glancing mischievously towards her esquire as she prepared +to take her place at the stand. + +"Your speech tapers in both directions, wild Kate," retorted the other, +blushing. "I wonder what you and Lord Robert could have been doing, that +you loitered so long about the pavilion! There, I declare, if you are +not holding your bow with the short limb uppermost!" + +Kate blushed in her turn, and reversed it. + +"Why, cousin Kate Bellamont, you are going to shoot with the feather +towards the target!" cried the tantalizing little maiden. "Really, I +_do_ begin to wonder what you and Lester _could_ have been about, that +the mention of it scatters your wits and makes you look so _very_ +foolish!" + +Kate shook her head with a playful menace at her tormentor, placed her +arrow with the right end to the bow-string, and took her stand by the +target. The instant she fixed her eyes on it her self-possession +returned, and, elevating her bow, she threw herself with careless grace +into the attitude of an accomplished archeress. + +A more beautiful object than this young creature, standing in the +strikingly spirited attitude she had assumed, can hardly be imagined. +Though but sixteen, her form was divinely perfect. Every limb--foot, +hand, and arm--was a rare model for the sculptor's chisel. The +undulating outline of her shoulders was faultless; and her figure, +perhaps, was the more beautiful that her bust and waist, and the wavy +symmetry of her whole person, was just receiving that harmony of touch +and roundness of finish which marks the era when the wild romping girl +is merging into the blushing, conscious, loving, and loveable maiden of +seventeen. Descended from an ancient Milesian family, she betrayed her +origin in her complexion, which was a rich brunette, reflecting in warm, +sunny tints the mantling blood, which came and went at every emotion. +Her eyes were dark and sparkling as night with its stars, and as, with a +slightly bent brow, she fixed them on the target, they had a cool and +steady expression remarkable in one of her years and sex. She wore a +dark ruby velvet jacket, laced over a stomacher rich with brilliants, +and a velvet hat of the same dark ruby, surmounted by a plume of white +ostrich feathers, in that day a rare and costly ornament, which +gracefully drooped about her head in striking contrast with her raven +locks that floated around her superb neck in the wildest freedom. Her +lips, like most of the lips of Erin's fair maidens, were of a rich coral +red, and, just parted as she took sight, rendered visible a pearly line +of beautifully-arranged teeth. Her mouth, when closed, was finely +shaped, and sometimes wore an air of decision, that did not, however, in +any way diminish its witchery. The glow of health, and the pride of +birth and beauty, were upon her countenance, and every feminine grace +and charm seemed to play around her. + +As she stood with one foot a little advanced, her neck slightly curved +to bring her eyes down to a level with the mark, her left side, but no +part of the front of the body, accurately turned towards the target, the +eyes of old Cormac Dermot glistened with pride. Slowly she elevated the +bow, drawing the arrow simultaneously towards the ear with the first +three gloved fingers of her right hand, till she had drawn it out three +quarters of its length, when, pausing till she had filled her eye with +the golden eye of the target, she drew it smartly to its head and let it +loose from her fingers. For an instant she stood following its swift +flight: the pupils of her dark eyes dilated and eager; her lips closely +shut; her chest advanced; her right arm elevated and curved above her +shoulders, the wrist bent, and the fingers of the hand turned gently +downward; the left arm extended at full length, and grasping the relaxed +bow; her neck curved; her spirited head thrown back, and her whole +action animated and commanding; presenting altogether, perhaps, the most +graceful attitude the female form is susceptible of assuming. + +The arrow was sent with unerring aim, struck the golden eye within half +an inch of Grace Fitzgerald's, and buried itself to its feather. The +lawn rung with the plaudits of both archeresses and esquires; and even +the retainers and fishermen, who were humble but curious spectators of +the sports, gave vent to their admiration in shouts of clamorous +applause. Old Cormac swung his long yew bow above his head with delight, +and looked as if, in the pride of the moment, he would have hugged his +accomplished pupil to his heart. + +"Do not be so elated, good Dermot," she said, laughing; "it was the +arrow I chose--a taper from the pile." + +"The more skill in the hand that drove it so truly," said the forester. + +"I must do still better than this, else neither you nor Lord Robert, +who, methinks, looks somewhat blank to find I have not missed to gratify +him, will neither of you get the prize." + +"It was not a fair trial, Kate," said the esquire, gayly; "the wind has +lulled; and, as you drew your bow, there was not a breath of air." + +"If, nevertheless, that had been a taper from the feather," said the +forester, after surveying the target earnestly for a moment, as +obstinately bent on adhering to his original opinion as even the +spirited young noble himself, "it would have cleft the arrow of Lady +Gracy through its length to the pile." + +"We will see to that anon, worthy Cormac. I have two shots more. Here is +the arrow you chose for me, which I will fit to my bow-string, and do my +best to drive it through my cousin's." + +"I dare say you will if you can, and would like, also, to destroy +everything else Lord Robert gives me," said the roguish Grace, putting +up her lip and tossing her head, with its cloud of rich hair, in +admirably affected pique. + +The young esquire of Kate Bellamont looked embarrassed; Kate laughed and +drummed on the ground with her foot, while the whole party began +forthwith to prepare for the next round. The customary mode of +ascertaining the value of the hits in archery, by estimating it in +proportion to their distance from the centre, was departed from in the +present instance. By the method alluded to, a hit in the gold counts +nine; in the red, three; in the orange, two; in the black, one; and +their sum is the value of the hits: a process which makes three hits in +the red circle of the same value, or nearly so, of one in the gold. In +the present case, the shots were limited to three, and the prize awarded +to the greatest number of hits in the gold. + +In the second round, the first three arrows struck three different +circles; and one well-directed shaft, shot by the archeress who had +before broken her bow, hit the gold, though at its junction with the +red. Grace Fitzgerald bent her bow without aim, but the courteous arrow +went accurately to the mark, and struck within a finger's breadth of the +centre, much to the delight of Cormac, the forester, who took himself +all the credit of the fair shot. Kate, with the arrow given her by +Cormac fitted to her bow-string, took somewhat less careful aim than +with her first shot, and was about to loose the arrow, when a hawk, +bearing a live fish in his talons, soared above the cliff, and with +swift wing flew high across the lawn in the direction of the forest. +Quicker than thought, the point of the arrow was elevated from the +target into the air, drawn to its head with a stronger arm and more +resolute eye, and launched from the bow-string. With irresistible force +and unerring aim, it cleft the air and struck the proud bird of prey +beneath the wing. He uttered a wild cry, flew heavily a few feet +perpendicularly upward, and then, whirling round and round in concentric +circles, each gyration bringing him nearer the earth, fell, transfixed +with the arrow, among the fishermen: fluttering wildly on the ground in +agony, he succeeded, before they could secure him, in flapping himself +over the precipice. He was instantly followed by a daring young +fisherman, who had been endeavouring to capture him--the same youth +whose admiration of her had before attracted the notice of Kate +Bellamont. + +For a moment the generous heart of the fair archer shrunk from the wreck +she had made, and she turned away her head from the dying struggles of +the dark bandit of the air. But maidens of that period were too familiar +with the more revolting scenes of the chase to show emotion at +witnessing the death of a hawk; and, therefore, sympathy for the fate of +the victim of her skill gave place to the pride of the successful +archer. + +"There is a prize for you, Cormac, better than a golden arrow," she +said, with a flashing eye; "and, when next I go a hawking," she archly +added, "I will be sure to use arrows that taper from the feather." + +The third and final round now followed. Each archeress had shot her last +arrow save Kate Bellamont, yet but three arrows besides her own and the +equivocal shot of Grace Fitzgerald were in the centre, and these from as +many different bows. Grace had made a wilder shot even than her first; +for her arrow, jeopardizing the lives of the poor fishermen, flew far +over the cliff out of sight. Four of the companions of Kate had, equally +with herself, each an arrow in the gold; but as she had yet to shoot her +third arrow, she had yet a chance of making a second hit and winning the +prize. Glancing with proud consciousness of her own skill towards her +young esquire, she drew her remaining arrow through her fingers, +carefully examining each one of its three feathers, and fitted it +accurately to the bow-string; then elevating her bow, she steadily drew +the arrow. All was breathless expectation. The old archer looked on as +if he would not grieve if for once his pupil should miss; while her +young esquire watched her with the anxiety of one who felt that his +judgment and skill in the noble science of archery were at stake. As she +was ready to loose the arrow, the wind, which had hitherto gently fanned +her cheek, increased suddenly to a strong breeze, lifting the hair from +her brow and tossing her tresses in wild confusion about her neck. The +eyes of Cormac lighted up with triumph, while Lord Robert himself curled +his lip scornfully and smiled with confidence. The archeress, who had +dropped the point of the arrow with a misgiving, remembering what Cormac +had said of it as ill adapted to a wind, on catching the confident eye +of her esquire again raised the bow, and coolly and steadily drew the +shaft to its head. Every eye followed it in its swift course, and saw it +strike the arrow of Grace Fitzgerald on the end, shiver it to its pile, +and drive itself through the target to the feather. A general +exclamation of surprise and admiration bore testimony to the skill of +the victor; the dark eyes of the young esquire sparkled with triumph, +while the discomfited Dermot said, with a broad laugh of good-humour, + +"Well, Master Robert, it's your time to boast now. By the boar's head o' +Castle Cor! I shall never hear the end of your double taper. Faith, +masters, no hand but my young Lady Kate's could have sent a double taper +with such an aim and in this wind, which young Lord Robert there has got +old Elpsy to set a blowing to triumph over the old man's skill. Well +a-day! What the gray-headed forester said of it is true, nevertheless; +but when such a hand and eye as Lady Kate's sends the bolt to the butt, +there is no depending on old rules; especially," he added, laughing, +"with a witch's wind to carry the arrow to its centre." + +The young noble frowned darkly on the speaker, and joined not in the +laugh of his companions. Lady Bellamont now commanded Cormac to sound +his horn three times, and bid, in the name of the queen of archery, the +band of archeresses, with their esquires, who were hastening towards the +target to collect their arrows, to approach the throne, and witness the +award of the prize to the victor. + +Amid the congratulations and applauses of the whole field, for, +unenvious, each light-hearted girl seemed to share the triumph of the +accomplished archeress, the victoress advanced to the rustic footstool +of the throne, and gracefully knelt to receive, from the hand of the +beautiful queen of the sports, the glittering prize--a finely-wrought +arrow of silver, five inches in length, with a chased gold head, on +which was graven, in small Gothic characters, these words: + + "Field of Archery, Castle Cor, May, MDCXCIV." + +"Victorious archeress," said the queen, rising, her face beaming with +maternal love and pride, and extending her arm containing the prize, +"receive this fair token of your matchless skill, so well displayed this +day. May you in every other female accomplishment, my sweet Kate, be as +successful as in archery." + +"She'll be a match for poor little Cupid, with his tiny bow and arrow, I +dare say," said Grace Fitzgerald, with a roguish eye. "Poor youth!" she +continued, glancing significantly towards the handsome Lord Robert, who +stood at the right hand of the victress, "I pity him if he's like to +have such a hole made in his heart as Kate has made in yonder target." + +This sally of the sprightly maiden was merrily received by all the +youthful circle save the conscious two who were its subjects. The lovely +countess now left the throne, embraced and kissed her noble Kate, whom +her companions, gathering around her, playfully forced into the vacant +seat. She was about to bound from it again, when she checked the +impulse, reseated herself, and bade her esquire advance and kneel before +her. The gallant youth obeyed; when, bending gracefully forward, she +fastened the silver arrow in the loop of his bonnet, and bade him wear +it on every return of that day in memory of the field of archery at +Castle Cor. + +The noble youth accepted the gift, won by the arrow he had chosen, with +the same playful, half-serious spirit in which it was bestowed, and then +kissed the fair hand that presented it with at least full as much +passion as gallantry. Amid the merry sallies, especially from Grace +Fitzgerald, this scene created, the whole party of archers bounded away +like a troop of wild deer towards the target, to ascertain more +accurately the nature, of the several hits, while the countess, at a +more dignified pace, attended by the forester, returned to the castle to +prepare for the further entertainments of the day. But the fleetest of +foot among the youthful bevy of fair girls had not measured half the +green space between the linden-tree and bristling target, when a +thrilling outcry of terror from a fisherman on the cliff, who wildly +waved his arms to some one below, and the next moment clasped his hands +together in despair, checked them in mid career; and, with hearts +palpitating with vague apprehensions of danger, they flew to the +precipice to ascertain the cause of this sudden alarm. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "From crag to crag descending--swiftly sped + Stern Conrad down, nor once he turned his head; + He bounds, he flies, until his footsteps reach + The verge where ends the cliff, begins the beach." + + _The Corsair._ + + "Dark was the flow of Oscar's hair, + But Allan's locks were bright and fair." + + _Oscar of Alva._ + + "But who is he, whose darken'd brow + Glooms in the midst of general mirth?" + + _Ibid._ + + +When the hawk, which had been so skilfully struck by the arrow of Kate +Bellamont, flapped himself, in his violent death-throes, over the edge +of the cliff, a gallant young fisher's lad, seeing him lodge in the +topmost branches of a blasted tree twenty feet below, fearlessly flung +himself off the precipice, and lighted, by the aid of a limb, on a +projecting rock within twelve feet of him. The cliff at this place was +one hundred and forty feet in height, and, except where its surface was +opened by narrow crevices, in which a few shrubs and dwarf cedars found +precarious roothold, or where a fragment, hurled from its seat by the +lightning, or fallen through age into the sea, left a narrow shelf, it +presented to the passing boatman on the bay below a naked and gigantic +wall, of nearly perpendicular ascent and inaccessible to human foot: +indeed, from a midway brow seventy feet from the base, it receded, +leaving a sheer descent of that space from the water, which lay black, +still, and of profound depth beneath. Near the top of the cliff grew a +scathed cedar, clinging with its hardy roots into a cleft in its face, +and leaning threateningly over the flood. Its top reached within twenty +feet of the summit of the precipice; but, inclining at an angle away +from it, stood full seven feet out from its side. It was the ragged arms +of this tree which caught the hawk in his descent, and where, with +fierce cries of rage and pain, he struggled to free himself from the +fatal shaft, but which he drove deeper and deeper into his side with +every beat of his strong wing. + +The young man paused after lighting upon the first landing-place, and +measured with a cool glance the dizzy descent; and then fixed his gaze +on the bird, whose blood-red eyes flashed forth vindictive fire as they +met his, with a resolute look that conveyed a determination to capture +him at whatever risk. The pliant limb of a tree growing on the summit, +by which he had let himself down to the place where he stood, had, on +being released, sprung back to its natural position far beyond his +reach: the surface of rock, eight feet in height above him, was as even +as a wall of masonry; and an upward glance satisfied him that, without +assistance from those above, to reascend again would be impossible. +Quietly smiling at the difficulty in which he had involved himself, the +fearless lad placed his eyes again on the hawk with the confident and +resolute, and almost stern, expression they had before borne, and began +to examine narrowly his position, and to look about for some safe way of +descending to a perilous spur, the breadth of a man's two hands, which, +on peering down, he discovered projecting from the side of the rock on a +level with the top of the tree. Whether governed solely by that pride of +spirit which is found in most youths of high-toned feelings, he +internally resolved to accomplish what he had thoughtlessly undertaken; +whether actuated by the spirit of adventure, or whether fascinated by +the beauty of Kate Bellamont, he wished to preserve the proud bird as a +trophy of her skill; whether one or all of these motives influenced the +daring fisher's lad, remains to be unfolded. + +The spot on which he stood was the projecting edge of the second stratum +of rock, twenty inches wide, running irregularly along the face of the +precipice, and appeared to have been formed by the falling away of large +chips or flakes from the upper and softer stratum. From this rim there +ran a zigzag crevice, an inch wide, obliquely downward along the rock to +the shelf below, on which grew a handful of long grass and two or three +slender shrubs. On a level with it was the top of the tree; underneath, +thirty feet below, were visible its gnarled roots clinging to a mere lip +of the rock, yet vigorously inserting themselves in the neighbouring +crevices; farther down, on the edge of the brow where the cliff began to +incline inward, was visible yet one more foothold, scarcely a palm in +breadth; below that, the shrinking eye measured a dizzy vacancy till it +fell upon the still, pool-like bay beneath. + +The youth surveyed these features of the dangerous precipice with a +steady eye; and having coolly calculated his chance of accomplishing +safely the descent of the twelve feet below him, sat down with his legs +hanging over, and deliberately drew off his stout fisher's boots and +hung them on a twig beside him. Then turning round, he carefully slid +off and suspended his body an instant by his right hand, till he had +firmly inserted the tip of one foot and the fingers of the other hand in +the zigzag crevice. Releasing his right hand from its grasp on the +shelf, he then carried it below the left, and having got a firm hold of +the edge of the fissure, let go with the left and passed it in its turn +under the right: he changed the position of his feet in the same manner +so long as he could obtain, which was not always the case, a +resting-place for his toes; and in this way, with cool self-possession +and undaunted nerve, which even the wild cries and beating wings of the +bird could not move, he succeeded in safely reaching the small +projecting leaf, and stood on a level with the top of the tree. The +falcon was now within seven feet of him horizontally; but he seemed as +far from the attainment of his object as before. It was impossible to +spring into the tree, even if its roots should not be torn from their +rocky bed by the force of the leap and his weight. But the young +fisherman possessed a temper that never yielded to obstacles, and seemed +to be governed by a spirit that scorned defeat. Stretching himself out +upon the shelf, which was just broad enough to contain his body lying +sideways to the face of the rock, he looked down, and saw within reach +of his arm a stout root, the strength of which he tested; and below +this, within reach of his feet if he should swing himself off, was a +sharp projection scarce the size of his foot; and a few inches below +that, a stout limb of the tree rested against the precipice. His eye +embraced at once these advantages, and he did not hesitate to avail +himself of them. + +Lightly, but yet with care, he committed his weight to the root, and, +hanging at the full length of his arm, reached, after three unsuccessful +trials, the spur below with the tip end of one of his toes. This, to one +like him, was a sufficient hold to authorize him to release his grasp +above. Lying, like a fly upon a wall, close against the side of the +rock, he now fearlessly yet cautiously let go his hold, and stood with +one foot on the projection, with no other support but his muscular +adhesion to the wide wall of the precipice. This was a situation +attended with the most imminent peril; and by the firmly-closed lips and +the almost stern expression of his eyes, it was clear that he was fully +conscious of his dangerous position. But there was no shrinking, no +pallor, no sign of fear! He was equal to the danger he had braved; and, +as this increased, the powers of his mind and body seemed to expand to +compass it. + +The branch of the tree was within a few inches of the point on which his +foot rested. Slowly and cautiously he dropped his unsupported leg, while +he pressed his cheek and shoulder close against the side of the cliff; +for he knew that the slightest deviation from the equilibrium would be +fatal. His foot at length touched the horizontal limb, which was the +thickness of a man's arm where it met the rock. He repeatedly pressed +upon it, each successive time harder and heavier, until he found that it +would bear his whole weight. Then directing his hand carefully downward +towards his feet, he placed it on the point of rock, removing his foot +at the same instant to make room for it, and stood upright and with +confidence on the limb. + +Satisfied that the branch, which, turned back by the cliff, had forced +the tree to lean over the water, would safely sustain him, he now +glanced down to the foot of the tree, and began to inspect the hold of +the trunk upon the shelf from which it grew. The examination afforded +him no very great assurance; nevertheless, he determined to test its +strength by advancing out on the limb, though aware that, if it should +yield to his weight, he would be hurled with it into the sea. Even this +reflection did not present any weighty objection to his making the +trial; for with a fearless recklessness, for which there is no +sufficient term in language, he half anticipated the possibility of such +a catastrophe, and caught himself calculating the chances in favour of +his taking in safety a flight into the deep pool beneath. Letting go his +grasp on the point of rock, he now settled himself astride the branch, +and made gradual approaches towards the trunk. It remained firm as the +rock in which it was imbedded, and scarcely gave signs of feeling his +weight till he touched the body, when the top slightly vibrated. He +paused; but, finding it still remain fast, rose to his feet and clasped +the scathed trunk, at first lightly, and then more firmly; and at last, +gaining confidence, he shook it till the hawk fluttered anew in its +perch. Assured of its security, his lips unclosed, and his eyes lost +their severity, and with a smile of success he cast them triumphantly +upward, where, but a few feet above him, entangled by the long shaft of +the arrow and his broken wing, he saw the falcon secured in the crotch +formed by a fork of three stumps of limbs (all that decay had left) that +terminated its summit. + +Without hesitation he began to climb the trunk, which, save the limb by +which he had reached it, and the branches crowning it, was bare from its +roots upward. This was the least difficult part of his hazardous +enterprise, and he soon got within reach of the bird, and stretched one +arm forth to seize him by the wing. But the fierce animal, who had for a +few moments ceased his struggles to watch, with a quick and guarded +glance, the movements of the young fisherman, no sooner saw this hostile +demonstration on the part of his human foe, than, with an intelligence +supernaturally called forth by existing suffering and anticipated +danger, he struck at him fiercely with his sharp, glittering talons; +while, stretching downward his head to the full extent of his neck, he +uttered long, wild cries of mingled fear and menace. Nothing daunted by +what, in itself, was sufficiently appalling, the young man coolly +watched his opportunity, and, at the expense of several severe wounds in +the wrist from his talons, caught the hawk by the throat. Clinging round +a limb with the disengaged arm, he raised himself higher in the tree, +and lifting his prize, which still struck at him with his armed feet, he +skilfully extricated the wing and arrow from the crotch: the next +instant, with the huge, fluttering bird in his hand, he had slidden down +the trunk, and was standing on the transverse limb with a flushed brow, +and a triumphant look illuminating his handsome and fearless +countenance. + +With one arm bent around the tree, and the other holding the hawk at +full length, he now began to cast his eyes upward. They travelled over +the bare surface, scarcely without lighting upon a resting-place for a +squirrel; and he began, for the first time, to question the possibility +of reascending; it having been comparatively easy for him to let his +body down by the crevice, as he had descended, while it would be +impracticable for him to lift its whole weight up again by the mere +effort of the fingers. A glance demonstrated this to him at once. But +time was not given him to reflect on a plan for surmounting a difficulty +which, in reality, was insurmountable, his faculties being at once +called into action to save himself from being thrown from this dizzy +perch by the struggles of the hawk. This ferocious creature had been +wounded by the arrow in the side just beneath the wing, which was broken +by the fall to the earth, and, thence passing upward, the barb had come +out through his back, without touching any vital part. His strength was, +therefore, through pain, rather augmented than diminished; and +notwithstanding the manual pressure upon his windpipe, he now began to +battle fiercely with his captor, fighting both with his claws and +remaining wing. Though holding him out at arm's length, the young man +was unable wholly to defend himself from the strong blows of the wing, +which was three feet in length, with which he violently assailed him +about the head, while with his talons he succeeded in striking his +person and inflicting a deep wound in his breast. He for a time coolly +bore the heavy sweeps of the wing, hoping he would soon tire; but he +forgot that his terrible antagonist was "the bird of tireless wing;" +and, at length, finding his own strength beginning to fail, though his +spirit was unsubdued, he loosened his hold from the trunk of the tree +which his arm had hitherto encircled, and, leaning his back against it, +watched his opportunity, and suddenly, with a firm grasp, seized the +wing as it was beating against his temples, and, by a sudden and skilful +turn of his wrist, dislocated it. This bold act nearly destroyed his +equilibrium; and, after its successful accomplishment, he just had time +to recover his hold on the tree to save himself from falling into the +dark wave below. For a moment afterward his heart throbbed tumultuously; +and reflecting on the imminent peril he had incurred by this necessary +exposure, he trembled with emotion and several times breathed heavily, +as if to relieve his breast of a weight of suffocating sensations--the +tribute which nature demanded of humanity. + +Goaded to increased rage by the additional pain, and maddened at his +vain efforts to lift his useless wing, the eyes of the hawk glittered in +his head like a snake's, and, opening his red jaws, he thrust forth his +long, narrow tongue, and hissed at his captor like an angry serpent. It +was a moment that called for all the moral energy and physical nerve man +is capable of exercising in the hour of danger. The extraordinary young +fisherman evinced the possession of these qualities in a degree adequate +to the crisis which called them into action. With his eyes fixed +unflinchingly on the burning eyeballs of the hawk, and calmly +indifferent the while to the terrible hisses which came hot from his +throat and fell warm upon his face, he continued to keep him at bay so +that his talons should not reach his person, and put forth all his +strength to strangle him. There was a moral grandeur in the spectacle +this young fisher's lad presented, fearlessly perched on his fearful +eminence, as regardless of the depth below as if standing in his own +cottage door, battling at such odds with the fiercest warrior of the +air! + +It was at this crisis that one of the fishermen, a very old man, whose +attention, with that of his companions, had been hitherto too much +occupied by the trial at archery to give a thought to the youth, after +having remained to see the prize awarded to the victress, turned to +leave the ground, when missing the young man, he recollected that he had +seen him follow the hawk to the verge of the cliff. Calling him by name +and not receiving any reply, he approached the precipice; but finding +that he was on the most perpendicular part of it, he cast only a hasty +glance down, and was about to turn away, supposing he had, unseen, +descended to the beach by the usual route a little farther to the north, +when a movement far below arrested his eyes. Looking steadily, he beheld +the youth with one arm clasped round the tree, and the other stretched +out, holding the bird by the neck, while all his moral and physical +energies were called into action to enable him to defend himself against +the talons of the savage creature. + +A glance conveyed to the fisherman the whole extent of the danger; and, +after looking down upon him for a moment in speechless horror, his limbs +trembled with fear, and, giving utterance to a wild cry, he would have +fallen from the precipice had he not caught by a tree that hung over its +verge. Kate Bellamont was the first to reach the cliff on hearing the +alarm given by the old man; and, glancing down, she intuitively +comprehended the peril in which the youth had placed himself. With +wonderful presence of mind, waving her hand back to those advancing, she +said with energy, + +"Hold! all of ye! Breathe not a word! He is in mortal danger! A shriek, +or a sign of fear among us may unnerve his bold spirit and be fatal to +him!" + +Several of the young archeresses stopped suddenly, and turned pale at +this intimation of danger; while one or two, with more sensibility of +nerves, unable to control their fears, turned and fled towards the +castle, as if in the retirement of their closets they would shut out all +sense of the threatened evil. Young Lord Robert was the first by Kate +Bellamont's side. + +"By Heaven! a bold peasant!" he said, his eyes sparkling with +admiration; "but--" + +"Lester, this is no time for words," spoke the maiden, quickly. +"Something must be done for him. How could he have got there in safety! +Poor, rash youth!" + +"Alas! my child, my lost, lost child!" cried the old fisherman, who was +seated on the ground shaking his head mournfully, turning his eyes away +from the trying scene. "God protect thee, lad, for no human aid will +avail thee!" + +"Do not despair, good Dennis, he may yet be saved," said Kate, +encouragingly. + +"Let go the bird!" shouted Lester. + +The fisher's lad, whose attention had been called to the top of the +cliff by the shout of the old man, and who had watched the movements of +those above, smiled proudly at this request, and firmly shook his head +in the negative. + +"He deserves to perish if he will peril his life for that bird," said +the young noble. + +"Hush, Lester, he must be aided. Mark, drop the bird, or he will throw +you off. How could you be so foolish as to adventure your life for that +fierce hawk!" + +"There is humble gallantry at the bottom of it, I dare swear," said +Lester, with a tone in which there was a slight shade of scorn. + +"Perhaps there may be!" was the quiet reply of the maiden. "Mark, let +the bird go, I command you. If your life is sacrificed, I shall feel +that I am the cause of it." + +"By the bow of Dan Cupid! I would change places with the serf to have my +situation create such an interest in your breast, fair lady." This was +spoken, partly with sincere feeling, partly with derision, by the +haughty Lester. + +The full, dark gaze of Kate Bellamont encountered his; and with a manner +that eloquently conveyed the feeling of contempt that sprang up in her +heart, she said, + +"Robert Lester must have fallen low in his own self-esteem to be jealous +of a fisher's lad!" + +The young noble, with all his native haughtiness and pride of spirit, +possessed a generous nature, and was ever ready to atone for the wounds +which his wayward temper might have caused him unawares to inflict. +Especially was this the case where Kate Bellamont was the party +interested. With an instantaneous change peculiar to hasty spirits, he +sought pardon of the offended maiden with his eyes, and at once appeared +so different, that she saw that she could fully rely on him; plainly +reading in his face, with unerring feminine tact, that he nobly had +resolved to banish every feeling but the humane one the occasion +demanded. + +"Lester, he will not release the bird for which he has perilled so +much," she said, with frank confidence in her tones, "and we must devise +some means to save both him and his prize. Haste to the castle, and get +a rope to save your comrade!" she cried to the remaining fisherman. + +"I will save him with my life!" said the young noble. "How many bows +have we here?" + +"A dozen," said Kate, at once comprehending the object of his inquiry. +"But are they strong enough, Robert?" + +"To bear the weight of three men. Aid me, Kate, in making a chain of +them." + +In a few seconds they had prepared a rope or chain nearly threescore +feet in length, of bows strung together, each link being five feet long. +Firmly securing one end to the top of the precipice by carrying it over +an upright limb, they successfully tested the strength of the whole by +extending it along the lawn, half a dozen drawing on it at once without +breaking it. + +"This will do," he said with confidence, approaching the cliff to let it +down; but, to his surprise, he saw that the youth no longer retained the +bird, which, notwithstanding the command of the maiden, he had hitherto +seemed resolved, as Lester had hinted, to preserve, at the peril of his +life. + +While these preparations had been making on the cliff, the hawk, not +being any longer able to reach the young fisher's body with his talons, +began to strike and lacerate his wrists. Finding at length that his +strength was unequal to the effort of strangulation (his intention +having been, if he could have killed him, to have lashed him to his +back, and so ascended with him), and satisfied that, while holding him +in his hand alive, he could not reascend, he reluctantly had been +compelled by a severe wound in the hand to let him go. In his fall the +bird struck heavily against the root of the tree, and, bounding off, +descended twenty feet lower, when the point of the arrow, which passed +through him like a spit, caught in a cleft and firmly held him on the +little shelf before described, which projected from the brow that +beetled over the sea at the height of seventy feet from it. The youth +watched him a few moments steadily, and saw that he moved neither wing +nor talon. He was dead! + +When the intrepid lad saw him arrested in this manner, and that life was +now extinct, the cloud of regret that began to darken his face was all +at once chased away by a sunbeam of pleasure; for he discovered, as he +followed the bird's course with his eye, that the cleft in which he was +caught commenced at the very foot of the tree, and offered him the same +perilous facilities of descent that the zigzag one above had afforded. +When Lester looked over the cliff preparatory to letting down the chain +of bows, he beheld him, therefore, to his astonishment, in the act of +swinging himself from the horizontal limb, and the next moment clinging +about the trunk below it. Before either Kate or he could speak to warn +him, so sudden was their surprise, the daring youth had effected a +cautious and rapid descent of the tree, and was standing safely at its +roots: on casting their eyes farther below, they discerned, hanging over +the very verge of the brow, midway the precipice, the lifeless +ger-falcon, which instantly accounted to them for this new and +unexpected movement. + +"His blood be upon his own head!" cried the maiden, shrinking from the +sight. "Lester, look! Is he not attempting to reach the bird? Or perhaps +he finds that he cannot climb the precipice again, and is trying to +descend to the water!" + +"It is a long step of seventy feet from where that bird hangs to the +bottom," said the old fisherman, for an instant rousing himself. "He +will die, lady, and I shall have to convey his mangled corpse in my +skiff to my lonely hut, and dig for the poor boy a grave in the sand. I +loved him as if he had been my own flesh and blood!" + +Kate was about to ask him, with surprise, if he were not his own son, +when a cry of alarm caused her to turn round just in time to see Lord +Robert commit himself fearlessly to the chain of bows and swing himself +over the dizzy verge. As he descended from her sight, with a smile on +his lip and a devotion of the eyes as he met hers, that told her, +plainer than words could convey it, that he ventured his life for her +sake prompted by his sympathy with the interest she took in the daring +fisher's boy, he said resolutely, + +"I will save him in spite of himself, or share his fate!" + +She was about to speak, but her voice failed her; and covering her eyes +to hide him, as he hung suspended above the sea, from her swimming +sight, for a few seconds she appeared as if her presence of mind had +deserted her. This weakness, if an emotion so natural can be termed +such, was but momentary. Recovering herself by a strong mental effort, +she once more looked over the cliff, and calmly watched the descent of +the daring Lester, whom she knew to be a skilful cragsman, with a prayer +on her lip for his safety. The novel chain by which he descended reached +to within ten feet of the spot where the young fisherman stood, and the +intention of Lord Robert was to take the tree, and reach the roots of it +as the other had done before him. He had accomplished, however, but a +few feet of his passage down the rock, not without great peril, though +at each junction of the bows he found a resting-place for his feet and a +hold for his hands, when the young fisher's lad lowered himself from his +shelf, and, getting his fingers in the cleft, began to descend, +alternately supporting his weight by his arms, with a celerity and +apparent recklessness that, to the spectators above, was fearful to +witness: he, however, took a firm grasp of the rock each time, and with +a cool head and steady eye, gained the spur where the hawk was fixed. In +the mean while Lord Robert had reached the tree; and leaving the chain +swinging in the air, he clasped the trunk, and quickly descended it: but +the object for which he had so generously ventured his life was now +twenty feet below him. With all his nerve, the fearless young noble +shuddered when he looked down and beheld the means by which the fisher's +lad had made his last descent. Both had reached the points at which they +aimed at the same instant; and when Lord Robert bent over to look down, +holding firmly by the roots of the tree, the other was standing with +perfect self-possession on his dizzy foothold, holding the hawk in one +hand, and waving with the other to those above. + +"Do you value your life so lightly, peasant, without saying anything of +the painful sympathy your folly produces in those who are spectators of +your foolhardiness, that you peril it after this fashion?" said the +young noble, passionately, yet unable to refuse the admiration due to +his fearless character. + +"I am not your serf, Lord Robert of Castle More, that my life should be +of value in your eyes," said the youth, with a look and bearing as +haughty as the young noble's. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Lord Robert, with astonishment and anger; "these are +brave words to come from beneath a homespun jerkin. By the cross of St. +Peter! fisherman, thou dost presume too much upon that equality to which +mutual danger has for the moment brought us. I have periled my life to +assist thee--not by mine own will, by Heaven! for thou deservest to be +rewarded for thy temerity by a bath in the sea; but at the bidding of a +lady, who, perforce, thinks, if thou shouldst, by any lucky chance, +break thy neck for the hawk her arrow has sent over the cliff, thy blood +will be on her head. So I have explained to thee the height and depth of +my charity, lest thou shouldst swell still bigger to think that, peasant +as thou art, thou hast made a noble thy servant." + +"A very proper speech, I have no doubt, Lord Robert More," answered the +fisherman, with a quiet smile of superiority (as the noble construed +it). "I need none of your lordship's aid. Without it I came down, and +without it I can go up again." + +"The devil have thee, then, for thy obstinacy," cried Lester, his eyes +flashing with anger; "by the rood, if I had thee there, I would be of a +mind to help thee down rather than up." + +"The path by which I came is equally open to your lordship," was the +cool answer. "Robert More, thrice have I saved your life; and though you +have thanked me like a noble for the deed at the time, have after +cancelled it by treating me like a slave, because the accident of birth +has made you noble and me base. Leave me again. I will not owe my life +to your lordship!" This was said in a steady and determined, but very +quiet tone. + +"My good Meredith, I will forgive thy rudeness of speech, for thou hast +had offence," said the young man, struck with his proud and independent +character, so nearly akin to his own. "The haughtiness with which I have +treated thee is one of the consequences of this accident of birth. +Believe me, I have never forgotten what I owe to thy courage: once saved +from drowning by thee! once snatched from a peril almost equal to that +thou art now in! once preserved from death beneath the antlers of an +enraged stag! I have not forgotten these debts, thou seest. If I have +seemed to thee ungrateful, set it down, brave Mark, to pride of birth +rather than want of feeling. Shall I aid thee, lad, in gaining the top?" + +"Lord Robert, your words have atoned for the past," said the young +fisherman, not unmoved by this generous and manly defence of the proud +young noble; "nevertheless, I will not owe my life to you!" + +The noble fastened his penetrating gaze on the upturned face of the +young fisherman, and thought he discovered a meaning there that was a +key to his refusal. + +"Ha! I have it!" he said, internally, after a few moments' reflection. +"_He dares to place his thoughts on her!_" + +Instantly, with that lightning-like rapidity with which his impulsive +feelings changed, he shouted in a loud, haughty tone of voice, + +"Ho, Sir Peasant! prithee tell me what strange fondness for dead hawks +set thee to jeoparding thy life after this sort?" + +"Lester," cried Kate Bellamont from the summit of the cliff, hearing +their voices without understanding the words, "why this delay? Can there +be no means of reaching the noble youth?" + +"Noble youth!" repeated the young man, scornfully, to himself; "it will +be a _princely_ next. By the cross! If he does not smile and wave his +daring hand to her! And she answers it back! Fellow!" he added, +fiercely, "I will come down and hurl thee into the sea!" + +"You are welcome, Lord Robert," replied the other, unmoved; "yet, as +there is barely room for me, it is certain that, if you do descend, +_one_ of us only can remain upon it." + +The impetuous Lester was already preparing to descend by the crevice; +but the coolness of the other at once disarmed his anger. + +"Thou art a brave fellow, Mark, and I would not injure thee. But," he +added, sternly, "see that thou cross not my path!" + +"How mean you, Lord Robert?" he inquired, concealing his penetration of +the lover's motives under a look of simplicity that embarrassed the +haughty and sensitive noble. + +Before he could reply, the voice of the Countess of Bellamont, +encouraging them both, was heard from the summit. She only had this +instant arrived, drawn hither by the rumour of the danger of the +fisher's lad, accompanied by Dermot, and one or two men-servants, with +ropes and other means of assisting those below. + +Her first proceeding, on discovering the position of the parties, was to +attach the rope to the chain of bows, and have the end of it firmly tied +to the tree. She then bade the men to lower it steadily till it could be +reached by Lord Robert, and in a few seconds he held it in his grasp. + +"Now, Sir Peasant," said Lester, relaxing into his former haughty mood, +"here is the means of reascending the cliff." + +"You may profit by it, my lord, I will not," said the youth, firmly. "I +will receive no favour at your hands." + +"Then, by Heaven, thou shalt ascend, whether thou wilt or no," said the +noble, with energy. "I have pledged my word to save thee, and I will +redeem my pledge. Ho! there above! Drop a piece of cord a few yards in +length, so that it will fall at my feet." + +The coil was placed by Kate Bellamont on the rope, and the next moment, +sliding down like a ring along the chain of bows, it was caught in his +hand. + +"Let out twenty feet more of the rope," he again shouted, "and see that +it is well fast above." + +As it passed through his hands, he conducted it over the shelf on which +he stood till it touched the feet of the young fisherman. He had quietly +watched these preparations, and, as they were completed, he coolly +glanced into the depth beneath, and then upward to the young noble, with +an air so resolute that the other paused ere he descended by the chain, +on a link of which one foot already rested. + +"Surely thou wilt not be so mad!" exclaimed Lester, reading a fatal +determination in his lofty and intrepid look. + +"Robert More, I will owe you no favour. Rather than be beholden to you +for my life, I will fling it away, as freely as I have now hazarded it +to win a smile from the fair maiden of Castle Cor." + +"THOU! By Heaven, I thought it!" he shouted, with scorn and indignation. +"If I had thee on a piece of ground two feet square that would hold us +both, I would waive my birth, and do battle with thee on that score, +hind as thou art! and see if I could not beat out of thy bones this +leaven of insolence! I will now assuredly aid thy return to the summit, +that I may have the pleasure afterward of doing for thee this good +service." + +As Lester spoke, he committed himself with cool intrepidity to the +chain, holding in one hand the coil of line, by which it was evidently +his intention to lash the young fisherman to the rope, and began rapidly +to descend. + +"Robert More, I do not fear to meet you on any ground. If I did, I +should hardly take _this leap_ to avoid the lesson you have in +contemplation for me! But I will owe you no favour, not even that of +life. Nor shall you lay a finger upon me to force me to do your pleasure +in this thing. Hold! place your foot on the nock of this second bow +above me, and I will take a free spring out into the air." + +This was said in a tone and manner--a steady uplighting of his clear +dark eyes, and a firm, muscular compression of the lip--that made the +other hesitate; but it was only for an instant: the next moment he let +the bow to which he held slip through his hands, and he descended with +velocity till his foot struck upon the last link, which was on a level +with the young fisherman's head. At the same moment the latter elevated +his arms high above his head, holding the hawk between his hands, and, +placing his feet close together, made a spring into the air! + +Lester, with a full knowledge of his cool and resolute character, had +not anticipated this result; and, in his surprise, had nearly let go his +hold. He at the same time uttered a cry of horror, which was answered +from the summit by a loud wail of anguish from many voices; for this act +had been witnessed by all, without the cause which influenced it being +apparent. Preserving the erect attitude with which he had left the rock, +the young fisherman descended like lightning, cut the still bosom of the +black wave beneath, and disappeared below the agitated surface; the +heavy, splashing sound of his fall striking on the ears of those on the +summit of the cliff like his death-knell. Wild and full of mortal +anguish was the shriek that echoed it! + +A flush of hope lighted up the countenance of Lester when he saw the +accuracy with which he had struck the surface, and thought upon the +manner of his descent. At the same time Kate Bellamont, who had been an +interested but puzzled spectator (for their voices, at the height she +stood, had not distinctly reached her) of the previous conduct of the +parties, and had beheld with horror the seemingly fatal act of the +adventurous youth, also marked the natatory art with which he had taken +the spring; and, scarcely hoping, watched, equally with Lester, the +circling waves, as they widened from the centre, with an intensity +amounting to agony. + +After an interval of full thirty seconds, which seemed an age to those +who watched, the water, which had once more become nearly smooth, was +seen to part many yards from the point of descent, and the head of the +daring youth appeared above the surface. A shout, loud and long, greeted +him from the cliff; and no voice was louder or more glad in the joyful +welcome than Lord Robert's. With the hawk elevated in one hand, and +buffeting the waves with the other, he swam bravely towards a belt of +sand a few yards farther northward; and in a few moments afterward he +safely landed, full in sight of those standing anxiously on the cliff. +Pointing to his prize, and waving his hand to Kate Bellamont with native +gallantry, he disappeared around an angle of the shore, to reascend, by +a beaten and easy path, to the summit of the promontory. + +In the mean time Lord Robert became an object of renewed interest to the +party. He was sixty feet from the top of the cliff, with no other means +of reaching it than the precarious chain of bows and a few additional +feet of rope: even the permanent safety of this was doubtful. It +depended solely for its strength on the goodness of the yews and the +entire soundness of the slender bow-strings; and one of these he +discovered, on running his eyes upward, was chafed by some sharp point +of the rock with which it had come in contact. There remained, however, +no alternative. It was plain that he must either trust himself to it, or +follow the example of the young fisherman, and take the leap into the +sea. For a moment he gazed down into the water, and seemed to measure +with deliberate purpose the empty void between; but, shaking his head +with doubt, he once more turned his attention to the equally dangerous, +but more probable, means of escape. The catgut which had stranded +belonged to the third bow above him. Drawing hard upon it with his whole +weight, he saw that it was slowly untwisting, and that it would be +madness to trust himself to it. His self-possession, however, did not +desert him. + +"Can you obtain no stout rope that will reach me here, 'wild Kate?'" he +said, in a careless tone; "I fear the ragged points of the rock will cut +your bow-strings, and spoil them for further shooting." + +"No, Lester, there is none!" answered the maiden, in a deep voice, that +betrayed the depth and intensity of her feelings at this crisis; "men +have been sent to the cove for ropes, but it is far, and it will be long +before they return, even if they succeed in getting them. God protect +you! Preserve your coolness, for my sake, Robert!" she added, with that +force and truth that spurned, at such a moment, all disguise. + +Her words seemed to have awakened anew the spirit within him. Placing +his hand on his heart, he carried it to his lips, and gallantly waved it +towards her. She answered it encouragingly in return; but instantly +turning away overcome by her feelings, cast herself on the bosom of her +mother, and burst into tears. + +Necessarily ignorant of this touching testimony of her attachment to +him, which his imminent danger now forbade her to disguise longer under +a mask of badinage, Lester concentrated all his energies to the task +before him. He felt that before the lapse of one or two hours, which it +would require to get ropes from the cove which was more than a league +distant, the inconvenience of his position would have left him with +little strength to climb the cliff, even with the assistance that might +then be rendered. He was now in the full possession of his physical and +mental energies, and resolved, without longer delay, to avail himself of +them. Taking the cord, which he had demanded for a very different +intention, he fastened one end around his wrist; then leaning backward +from the rock, sustaining himself by the grasp of one hand on the chain, +he threw it upward with such accurate aim that it passed through the bow +next above the one with the stranded string, and fell down within his +reach. He then loosened it from his wrist, firmly secured the ends to +the lower bow on which he was sustained, and so made the cord supply the +place of the weak bow-string, and bear the whole strain. This done, he +prepared to ascend the smooth face of the rock twenty feet to the foot +of the tree. Grasping the cord with both hands, he braced himself in a +horizontal position, one of most imminent hazard which demanded all the +coolness, self-possession and physical strength he was possessed of, and +began literally to walk up the perpendicular side of the precipice. The +stranding of a string; a sudden strain upon the tensely bent bows; the +least deviation from the horizontal, would have been instantly fatal! +Coolly, slowly, steadily, lifting himself, step by step, hand after +hand, he at last got to a level with the tree, firmly grasped one of its +roots, and by its aid sprung lightly upon the shelf on which it grew. + +His preparations had been watched, and it was told Kate Bellamont that +he was preparing to ascend. But the maiden had yielded her full heart to +her woman's nature; and while he was making the perilous ascent, with +her head lifted from her mother's bosom, and with tearful eyes and +clasped hands, she was looking heavenward, breathing a silent prayer for +his safety. A shout of joy announced to her his success! Once more she +dropped her face and wept with joy. Lady Bellamont, who felt that all +had been done that circumstances admitted of, refrained from watching +his perilous feat; and, while she solaced her daughter, calmly directed +Cormac the forester to steady the rope, and keep it from rubbing against +the rocks. + +Quitting the chain, Lester now ascended the tree to the transverse +branch, which he had scarcely reached when a loud crack at the root +warned him that the scathed solitary of the cliff, unused to such +repeated trials, was giving way under his weight. Hardly had he time to +throw himself upon the chain, and hang by a bow-string with one hand, +when a series of loud reports rapidly followed each other as one after +another the roots snapped; the top of the tree waved wildly to and fro, +and then the huge trunk plunged, crashing and roaring, into the flood +beneath. For an instant afterward the appalled Lester continued to cling +to the fragile chain with nervous solicitude; but at length assured that +he was not to be carried along with it into the frightful gulf, he +prepared to continue, by the same process of horizontal walking he had +hitherto adopted, his upward progress to the next shelf, six feet above +him, and with which the top of the tree had been on a level. + +The effect of the fall of the tree on those so deeply interested above +can scarcely be imagined. Lady Bellamont answered the heavy crash by a +wild shriek, echoed by all around save Kate. With her the dreadful +suspense and anxiety were now lost in the certainty of his fate. She +calmly raised her head, approached the cliff with a firm step, and +looked steadily down, not with hope, but with a settled gaze of despair, +as if she would take a last look at his grave, and for ever impress upon +her heart's tablet his sea-covered tomb. It was at this moment of her +soul's anguish she confessed within her own heart that, notwithstanding +the lightness with which she might have attempted to disguise it, she +loved him with all the fervour and devotedness of a first passion. +Approaching the verge with such feelings, her surprise was only equalled +by her joy when she saw him in the act of climbing on the shelf above +described. A joyful cry escaped her; and the bold youth, looking up, +acknowledged her presence with a proud smile and wave of his hand. From +this moment Kate Bellamont was herself again. He was safe! The change +from grief to joy in her countenance was electrical! and she prepared to +watch and aid his ascent with all the coolness and energy she was +possessed of. + +He had accomplished thus far his arduous task in comparative safety; and +as he had now but twenty feet more to ascend, she looked with confidence +to its successful accomplishment. This space, however, save a shelf +within eight feet of the top on which the young fisherman had alighted, +and the zigzag crevice by which he had descended the remaining twelve +feet, was steep as a wall, and as difficult of ascent. The young man, +after having hitherto passed through such trying scenes, was not now to +be daunted by any obstacles, of whatever magnitude, that opposed his +farther progress. Nerving himself to the effort, he grasped the rope, +which here had taken the place of the chain of bows, and extended +himself, as before, into a horizontal position, meeting and returning +with a smile, as he did so, her look of solicitude. As he slowly and +laboriously ascended, she inspired the men to their task of keeping the +rope from the cliff, often assisting them with her own fingers, till at +length she was rewarded by seeing him safely reach the shelf, and stand +within eight feet of the summit. By her direction the men now bent the +projecting branch of the tree until it was within his reach; when, aided +by one hand placed on the rope, he lightly climbed the limb, and with a +spring stood in safety on the top of the cliff. + +Kate, who had scarcely breathed as she watched this final effort, guided +by the impulse of the moment, flung herself at once, grateful, happy, +weeping, into his arms!--so certain it is that true love will out, give +it occasion to speak for itself! And what fitter one than this? At such +a time, love is both deaf and blind. It sees, hears, knows no voice but +its own; is indifferent to the opinions of a world of witnesses, and, +setting aside all canons of propriety and discretion, abandons itself to +the impulses of its ardent nature. Such was the love of Kate Bellamont. + +But love, like all other emotions, is but short-lived in its excess. The +temporary excitement passes away; reflection follows; notions of +propriety return; and the conscious victim, blushing, mortified, angry +with shame, feels that there _is_ a world of witnesses to whose canons +she is amenable, and shrinks at the judgment that will be passed on her +outrage of its received notions of maidenly propriety. Such, the next +moment after abandoning herself to the first wild gush of joy at his +escape, were the thoughts that rushed thick on the mind of the proud and +sensitive maiden. She sprang away from him; hid her face in her hands; +and, for the moment, scarcely knew whether her wounded feelings would +have vent in tears or laughter. True to her character as "Wild Kate of +Castle Cor," the latter prevailed; and, exposing her face, she broke +into a fit of merry laughter, which was caught up and continued, with +many a lively witticism, by those around, who, the moment before, were +sad and gloomy under the pressure of fatal forebodings: for so +wonderfully, yet wisely, is the human heart constituted, that smiles +never come so readily, and are never so bright, as when heralded by +tears. + +The gratified Lester was too happy to receive such an ingenuous, +impulsive token of her love, and of its deep, womanly sincerity, to feel +hurt at this change in her manner, which his good sense enabled him to +refer to its true cause. With deep and silent pleasure, he felt that +that moment had fully repaid him for all he had risked. + +Grace Fitzgerald, who had been by no means an indifferent spectator of +his hazardous adventure, now advanced, grasped his hand with great +warmth, and congratulated him on his safety. + +"You need not look so very fond, Sir Cragsman," she said, gayly; "I am +not about to follow the example cousin Kate has so generously set for +us. Oh no! What with your exploit and Kate's folly, you will be +completely spoiled for me! I dare say you would go down that horrid +place again for another such hug as my cousin Kate gave you. Really, I +am shocked!" + +"I will go down and take the leap off into the sea for a similar +reception from Grace Fitzgerald," said Lester, with an air of gallantry. + +"And do you think I would come near such a dripping monster as you would +make of yourself? No, no, I am no Nereid to fancy a man coming out of +the sea." + +"By which I infer, fair lady," he said, archly, "that, if I will go down +and come up dry, you will give me such a welcome as--" + +"Kate gave you? Really, you are quite spoiled. Kate, come and take care +of your beau cavalier, for he is no longer fit for any company but +yours. But here comes one I will welcome, dripping or dry!" + +She bounded forward as she spoke, and met, at the head of the path, the +gallant fisher's lad, who just then appeared, on his way up from the +water, bearing in his hand the ger-falcon which had been the cause of +putting in peril two human lives. He was accompanied by the old +fisherman, who, having remained on the summit of the cliff, paralyzed +and inert through alarm and anxiety until assured of his safety, had +gone down to the beach to meet him on his return. She approached the +young adventurer with one hand extended to welcome him, the forefinger +of the other at the same time lifted with censure. + +"I will shake hands with you, Mark; but you deserve, handsome as you +are, to have your ears boxed. See what a to-do you have been the cause +of; and all for that great black bird, which Kate, forsooth, must shoot +instead of sending her arrow at the target. Well, you are a noble and +gallant young man, and I like you. Do you hear that, Kate? I too have +made a declaration! Well, but I won't embrace you, I think, for you are +too wet." + +While the lively girl was speaking, the rest of the party, including +Lord Robert and Kate, approached and joined in welcoming him. + +"My brave Meredith," said Lester, frankly extending his hand, "you +deserve a better career than that before you. Henceforth let us be +friends." + +The hand of the young noble was received without embarrassment and with +a native dignity of manner by the humble youth, that, to all present, +atoned for his want of high birth; while he said, with a firm yet +respectful tone, + +"We may not be enemies, but we can never be friends, Lord Robert: +friendship between the high and low is but another name for dependance +to the latter." + +"I fear you speak too truly, Mark," said Kate, who had congratulated him +on his escape with an honest warmth and sincerity of manner that sent +the blood like lightning to his brows. + +"Not in my case, brave Mark," said the noble, earnestly; "I will become +your patron and--" + +"And is there patronage without dependance, my lord?" he asked, in a +quiet tone. + +"Well, well," said Lester, colouring, "have it your own way. You have +pride enough for Lucifer!" + +"But not enough for a noble," said the other, with a very slight curl of +the lip. + +"Mark Meredith," said Kate, reprovingly, "you forget your station. A +proper degree of pride is the secret of independence. Perhaps you have +too much. Lord Robert is sincere, and means well by you." + +"Believe her, Mark," said Grace Fitzgerald, with playful raillery; +"nobody ought to know so well what Lord Robert means as my cousin Kate." + +"Stop your saucy tongue, Grace," said the maiden, placing a finger on +her bright lips. "What will you now do, Mark, with this bird, that has +cost us, through your thoughtlessness, so much anxiety and suffering?" + +"And betrayed a secret that was not quite a secret before," said the +mischievous Grace. + +"Grace, prithee hist!" cried Kate, with a spice of asperity. + +"Give me the bird, peasant!" said Lester, in a tone of authority. "I +will nail it on the door of the lodge at Castle More, in honour of the +fair archer who shot it." + +"Here is the gentle owner," replied the youth, turning towards Kate +Bellamont; and gracefully kneeling as he spoke, he gallantly laid the +bird at her feet, saying, + +"Gentle archeress, deign to accept--it is the only boon I crave for my +peril--this trophy of thy skill. I have obtained it for thee at the risk +of life and limb, valuing neither, so that I might do thee a service, +and save what I know thou wilt be proud to preserve in remembrance of +this day." + +"By the cross! a forward youth! an Alfred in disguise, I would swear!" +said Lester, haughtily, his quick spirit kindling at the scene. "He will +be offering next, fair Kate," he added, scornfully, "to share with thee +his palace of bark and poles, and his wide realm of sand and seashells. +S'death! a proper peasant!" The young noble's eyes sparkled, and he +paced the sward with angry impatience, as he concluded. + +Kate Bellamont was not indifferent to the tone, manner, and language +with which the hawk was presented by the humble youth. She was flattered +by his well-directed compliments, and pleased, without knowing why, with +the deep, silent admiration with which he regarded her. Was it the +language of love? His manner reminded her of Lester in his most +impassioned moments of devotion; but there was in the fine face of the +young fisherman a calmer, sweeter, more chastened expression; a +reverence without humility; devotion without awe. Was it love? She +trembled, as she thought so, and dared not a second time meet his +dark-beaming eyes. The peculiar character of the expression of his face +was read aright by none but herself and Lester: for only love and +jealousy can translate the language of love. The light blue eyes of the +young noble flashed fierce fire as he witnessed what he deemed palpable +proof of his suspicions. His glance turned rapidly from the face of one +to the face of the other. The expression of his maddened him; that of +hers troubled and puzzled him; and he turned away, grinding his teeth +with bitterness: for what is there on earth so bitter as jealousy? + +The contrast between the appearance of these two haughty young men was +as great as that existing between their ranks in life. The young noble +was in his eighteenth year, tall, and firmly made, with uncommon breadth +and expansion of chest, which gave a striking appearance of compactness +and muscular finish to his frame, that promised, in manhood, nobleness +of carriage as well as great personal strength. His complexion was fair +as the Saxon's; his features regular as the Greek's; but, unlike his, +stamped with that union of manly grace and strength, and bold, fiery +energy, supposed to be characteristic of the ancient Briton. Over his +clear, high forehead fell locks of light flaxen hair of rare beauty, and +shining tresses of the same pale, golden hue floated about his +shoulders. His eyes were his most remarkable feature. They were large +and blue, clear as light, and of a beautiful shape, glowing with +intellect and sparkling with animation, and, when undisturbed, beaming +with a soft and gentle expression betokening gayety of temper and +lightness of spirit; but, when roused by anger, they flashed fierce +fire, and seemed literally to blaze, so bright was the light they +emitted. They further possessed a striking peculiarity, which so marked +his angered glance that he who once encountered it never forgot it till +his dying day. This was a habit, or, rather, nature had given it to him, +when under the influence of angry passions, of lowering his brows down +over his eyes in such a way as to destroy their fine, oval form, and +give them a strange, triangular shape; and the pupil of his eyes +darkening at the same time till they grew black as night, communicated +to them a singularly wild and terrible expression. + +His lips were very beautiful both in form and colour; but the upper wore +a haughty curl that marred the beauty of a mouth which nature had +chiselled with the nicest hand. He carried himself at all times with a +gallant but proud air; and his demeanour was like that of the highborn +youths of his time, taught to regard all of low degree as created for +their use and pleasure. His faults were those of education rather than +of the heart; and, where these deeply-grafted prejudices were not +attacked, he was frank, noble, and generous, and not unworthy the love +of a noble maiden like Kate Bellamont. At the moment seized upon to +describe his appearance, he was standing within a few feet of the young +fisherman, his eyes sparkling with anger and assuming that remarkable +shape which has been described, with his head and one foot advanced, and +his whole attitude hostile and threatening. + +The fisher's lad, who continued kneeling for an instant at the feet of +the fair archeress awaiting her acceptance of the trophy he had +presented, met his dark look unmoved, and, as he thought, with a smile +of proud defiance. The appearance of this bold youth, whose bearing +caused the haughty Lester to question if nature had not a nobility of +her own creation, was, save in his proud carriage, strikingly opposite +to that of the young noble. He was about the same age, and nearly as +tall, but had not such fulness in the chest, and was wanting something +of his breadth of shoulders; but his figure, if lighter, was more +elegant, and united great muscular activity with native dignity and ease +of motion. He wore fishermen's loose trousers, with a coarse jacket of +brown stuff, and was both barefooted and bareheaded. His face was +exceedingly fine. It was oval in shape, with an olive complexion, still +more darkened by exposure to wind and sun: now, with the glow of +exercise and the magic presence of her before whom he bent, it had +become of the richest brown colour. His dark hair was glossy with +sea-water, and, parted naturally on his brow, fell in long raven waves +adown his well-shaped neck. His eyes were dark as hers on whom he gazed, +exceedingly large-orbed, and eloquent with thought and feeling. + +"What handsome eyes!" thought Grace Fitzgerald, as she gazed on them. + +"What dangerous eyes!" thought Kate. + +His eyebrows were as even and accurately arched as if pencilled; but +they were redeemed from anything like effeminacy, on account of the +delicacy of their outline, by the intellectual fulness of the brow. His +nose was straight, and of just proportions; his mouth beautiful as a +girl's, yet full of character, decision, and strength, and oftener it +was the seat of dejected thought than of smiles. Its expression was +generally quiet; yet the finely chiselled lips were full of spirit; and, +when silent, seemed most to speak, so eloquent were the thoughts that +coloured them with their ruby life. The merest movement of the upper +conveyed the intensest feelings with the vivid rapidity of the +lightning's flash, whether they were begotten of scorn or irony, love or +hatred. His bearing, as well as his appearance, was above his station; +and he manifested a haughty independence of spirit that scorned the +distinctions of rank, and a pride of character that, in one of his +humble grade, was not far from being closely allied to audacity. But +perhaps this only proceeded from a certain impatience at being +compelled, nevertheless, to admit in his own person a conventional +inferiority to those with whom he felt he was on that broad basis of +equality, the elements of which are equal physical and intellectual +qualifications. + +Though a poor fisher's lad, he possessed all the feelings and sensations +common to humanity, and experienced emotions both of pleasure and pain; +could feel disgusted at what was revolting, and be pleased at what was +agreeable. He shared, therefore, with all men, of whatever rank, from +the prince to himself--for there could scarcely be a lower scale--that +mysterious principle of the heart by which it attracts, and is attracted +to, woman--he beheld Kate Bellamont, and this moral loadstone, acting as +nature intended it should do, irresistibly drew him towards her. Without +reflection, without cherishing either a hope or a fear, but simply happy +in the contiguity, he gave himself up to the new and delightful +sensations produced by the flow of love's magnetic fluid through his +heart. In plain words, the poor fisher's lad fell deeply in love with +the highborn heiress of Castle Cor. + +No one of the wonderful phenomena of the human mind so fully +demonstrates that it is a mesh of anomalies, as the existence of the +fact that, when a man loves a woman, he has only to learn that another +regards her with the same flattering sentiments, to hate him most +cordially, seek him out, quarrel with him, and even take his life. It +would seem to be taken for granted that the knowledge of this fact would +have a directly contrary effect; for the presumption irresistibly +follows, that whoever feels an interest in the object to which we +ourselves are so closely bound by ties of love, must, without regarding +the delicacy of the compliment to our individual tastes, be +proportionably loved by us. But experience has too often demonstrated +this by no means to be the case; but, on the contrary, the knowledge of +the existence of a parallel attachment produces in the breast of the +legitimate admirer wrath, malice, and hatred, filling his soul towards +the subject of it with all manner of evil. + +True to this feeling of the human heart, the young noble and fisher's +lad forthwith felt rising in their breasts towards each other emotions +of a hostile character; for love is a famous leveller, and the prince +can deign even to hate his slave if love raises him to a rival. In one +of the youths it manifested itself in the cool expression of defiance: +in the other, by haughty scorn and indignant surprise. + +When the fisher's lad had finished his manly and gallant address, he +modestly continued to await, with his hand upon the bird, the +acknowledgments of the fair maiden. Gratified, yet embarrassed, Kate +remained silent, knowing not how to reply to the chivalrous lad, who, +under the magic tuition of love, had suddenly assumed a character that +alarmed her; who, all at once, had been converted, as if by a spell, +from the quiet, yet handsome fisher's boy, who was accustomed to attend +her in her excursions along the beach, into a bold and daring lover! She +could not be insensible to the compliment. She loved Lester with all her +heart; therefore she could not have requited the youth's boyish love, +had his blood been noble as her own. Yet there remained a place in her +heart for kindly gratitude, and with a smile that sent the quick colour +to the forehead of the boy, she said, in a voice that thrilled to his +soul, + +"I thank you, Mark, for the gift. I will keep it in remembrance of your +courage, as well as a trophy of my skill in archery; notwithstanding, I +fear good Cormac will lay claim to it, as it was hit with his own arrow. +It would make a brave ornament, with its wings spread at length above +the door of his cot," she added, turning to the old forester, who stood +respectfully on the outskirts of the party that was gathered about Mark +and his ger-falcon. + +As she spoke her thanks she extended to Mark her hand, which he took +with blushing embarrassment, and, after a moment's hesitation, +gracefully carried to his lips. The eyes of the young noble sparkled +with anger as he saw the offer of the hand, but they shot forth a +menacing glare as he witnessed the act on the part of the youth: turning +on his heel with an execration, he would have left the ground but for +the eye of Kate Bellamont, which he caught fixed upon him. + +"Come, Mark," said Grace, "you must join us all in the pavilion; for you +need refreshment after your fatigue. I wish, Robert, you would present +him with one of your green hunting-suits. I declare, I should like to +see if he would not outbrave you all. Do! good Lord Robert." + +"You are perfectly crazy, Grace," said Kate, aside. + +"Am I? was the quiet reply, accompanied by a quizzical look, which +conveyed far more than the words to Kate's comprehension, and made her, +in spite of her efforts to maintain indifference, look exceedingly +foolish. + +"You are all beside yourselves, I verily believe," said Lester, in a +tone that his accent alone made biting; "I have no doubt whatever that +it would oblige you excessively, Lady Grace, if I would exchange attire +with your fishy favourite." + +"Really, Lord Robert, I wish you would. I have a curiosity to know what +sort of a fisherman you would make. I dare say a very nice one, save a +spice or so of pride, that would hardly suit your station." + +"Pride in a peasant is impertinence. But 'tis an attribute most +congenial to the station, I discover," he added, with cool irony, "and +doth recommend its possessor, I see, most particularly to the favour of +noble ladies." + +"I advise you, then, Lester, when you chance to fall in their good +graces," said Kate, assuming the same tone, yet qualifying its +bitterness with good-humour, "that you renew your suit under a fisher's +garb; believe me, it will assuredly restore you to favour." + +"I have no hesitation in believing it," said Lester, in a grave tone, +and with a marked emphasis of manner that excited both maidens to +laughter; but he was far from participating in their merriment, and +turned from them with an angry brow. + +"I have delayed the banquet too long with this folly," said Kate; "hie +to the pavilion, fair archers and gallant esquires all," she added, +gayly, "and I will soon follow you. As for you, Mark, I will send to you +some of the choicest viands on the board, and cousin Grace shall be the +bearer of them. Cormac, take up the hawk." + +"This honour will please Lord Robert better," replied Grace, glancing at +him with an archly malicious look. + +"Lord Robert will have nothing to do with this piece of folly," cried +he, in a tone that made her start. "By the cross of Christ! peasant, if +you betake not yourself speedily to thy hovel, I will hurl thee with +mine own hand from the cliff upon its roof." + +As he spoke he advanced upon him. Mark looked apologetically at Kate, +and then sprang to his feet, and confronted him with that calm courage +which had hitherto characterized him. His coolness maddened the +impulsive Lester, and with a bound he leaped upon him, and caught him by +the throat; but, ere he could get his fingers firmly clinched upon his +windpipe, he reeled violently backward by the force of a blow upon his +chest, dealt with a skill and accuracy of aim that compensated for any +inequality of physical strength. With eyes darkening with rage, he +recovered himself, and seeing lying not far from him on the ground his +short hunting-spear, he snatched it up, and launched it at his breast +with a force and direction that would have transfixed him on the spot +but for his presence of mind; anticipating its flight, he quietly moved +from its path, when it passed within a few inches of his head with a +loud whirring noise, and, striking against a distant rock, shivered into +a thousand fragments. + +"Robert Lester," exclaimed Kate Bellamont, with a flashing eye and a +voice of indignant horror, "by that act you have forfeited all that +belongs to you as a noble gentleman, and also," she added, with deep +feeling and a proud spirit, "all that connects you with any person (I +speak for all) that is here present." + +"Pardon me, lady," he said, throwing himself at her feet, and attempting +to take her hand. + +"Never, Robert Lester. Touch me not! Leave me--leave me! Leave us all! +The farther festivities of the day will be marred by your presence!" + +"Lady--" + +"Silence, assassin!" and the dark eyes of the roused heiress of +Bellamont flashed with such a light as might burn in an indignant +seraph's. + +"Ha!" he cried, starting to his feet, "this to me!" + +"This to you, Robert Lester, who now have made yourself lower than the +meanest peasant. I degrade you from your esquireship; and, faith! if the +more noble Mark Meredith shall not take your place. Mark, approach and +be my esquire of archery!" + +The youth proudly smiled, but hesitated. + +"I command you. As true as my father's blood runs in my veins, thou art +the more noble!" + +"God of Heaven! this is too much to bear calmly," cried Lester, his eyes +assuming that remarkable shape that characterized them when his anger +had grown to its height. + +"Mercy!" cried Grace Fitzgerald, with real alarm; "what a fearful look! +I wonder," she added, with a slight touch of her usual manner, "that I +ever could have had the courage to coquet with such a terrible +creature." + +The fierce noble made no reply, but, glancing from her to Kate, looked +pleadingly, as if about to speak; but she shook her head with a motion +scarcely perceptible, but in a firm manner, that left no hope to his +repentant spirit. Striking his forehead violently, with mingled shame +and rage he rushed from the spot towards the castle, and walked rapidly +until he disappeared behind an angle of one of the towers. Kate +Bellamont followed him with her eyes, her brow unbent, her proud manner +and high-toned look unchanged; but, when he could no longer be seen, +there was perceptible a struggle on her eloquent countenance to restrain +the emotion with which her heart was full. With an even voice and forced +gayety, she said, + +"We will now to the pavilion, maidens fair and cavaliers; and I trust +this rudeness of yonder haughty boy will not mar our festivities. Mark, +you will attend me. What! has he gone too? God grant two such fiery +youths meet not again this day." + +"Didst observe, my lady," said Cormac, who had been a silent spectator +of the exciting scene, "didst take note of that look out of the eyes of +Lord Robert? Well, if it did not remind me of Hurtel o' the Red Hand, as +if he had stood before me." + +And the old forester ominously shook his head, as if it contained +something very mysterious, yet untold, and followed the party to the +pavilion, whither they had already directed their steps, to partake, +with what spirits they might after the scenes that had transpired, of +the luxurious banquet therein spread for their entertainment. + +Here Kate Bellamont, who preserved a calm dignity the while, and, save +to the eye of Grace, whose generous spirit sympathized warmly and +sincerely in her feelings, betrayed no outward signs of emotion, with a +tranquilly-spoken excuse for her absence left them and fled to the +castle: she ran through its long hall like a hunted hart; flew up the +broad staircase to her boudoir, and entering it, closed the door. Then +uttering a gasping cry of suffering, she threw herself, with a wild +abandonment of passion, upon a seat; the fountains of her bursting +heart, so long choked up, were opened; and she gave way to an +irresistible flood of tears. + +It is ever thus with woman! Although, in the moment of just resentment, +pride and anger may for a while check the flow of affection, and harden +the wounded heart as if bound about with bands of steel, yet love will +return again, dissolve these bands, and convert resentment into +tenderness. It is its nature to obliterate all dark spots that wrong may +have cast upon the heart; to palliate offences, and to forgive even +where forgiveness is a weakness: it makes itself half sharer of the +fault; is ever ready to bear the whole weight of the blame, and with +open arms to receive back again, without either atonement or +acknowledgment, the guilty but still loved offender. + +In a few moments the current of her feelings had changed. She thought of +the thousand noble qualities of Lester's head and heart, shaded only by +the faults of pride of birth and a hasty temper. + +"For these," she asked of her heart, "shall I break his high spirit? For +these shall I inflict a pang on his noble nature? For these, which among +men are regarded praiseworthy attributes of highborn gentlemen--for +_these_ shall I make him unhappy, and myself--for it will kill +me--miserable? Oh, Lester, dear Lester, I was too, too cruel! You had +cause for anger; but oh, that fatal spear! Would that it had been far +from your hasty arm!" + +At this moment she heard the sound of horses' feet moving rapidly across +the court towards the forest. With a foreboding of the cause she flew to +the lattice, and beheld Lester, mounted on his coal-black steed, +galloping at the top of the animal's speed away from the castle, each +moment burying his armed heels into his sides, and riding as if he would +outstrip the winds. For a moment she watched him with an earnest gaze, +then threw open the lattice, shouted his name, and waved her hand! But +his back was towards her, and he was too far off to hear even _her_ +voice calling him to return; and in a few seconds afterward he entered +the wood. With tearful eyes she saw the last wave of his dark plume as +he disappeared in the winding of the road; and, leaning her hand upon +the window, she sobbed as if her young heart would break. Oh love, love, +what a mystery thou art! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Alas! the love of women! it is known + To be a lovely and a fearful thing; + For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, + And if 'tis lost, life hath no more to bring + To them but mockeries of the past alone, + And their revenge is as the tiger's spring, + Deadly, and quick, and crushing; yet, as real + Fortune is theirs--what they inflict they feel." + + _Don Juan._ + + +Kate Bellamont gazed after the departing Lester until his receding form +became indistinct, and his dancing plume mingled with the waving foliage +of the forest into which he rode; she then bent her ear and listened +till his horse's feet ceased longer to give back a sound, when, overcome +by the depth and strength of her feelings, she leaned her head upon the +lattice and wept like a very child; at length she recollected the duties +that devolved upon her as entertainer of the party of archers; and, +forcing a calmness that she did not feel, she descended to the lawn, and +once more mingled in the festivities of her birthday. + +Notwithstanding all her self-possession, her eyes often filled with +tears when they should have lighted up with smiles; and even her smiles +were tinged with sadness! And how could it be otherwise, when her heart +and her thoughts were at no moment with the scenes before her? She +longed for the day to close--for the night to approach--that she might +fly to her solitary chamber, and there, hidden from every eye, indulge +her feelings. At length the long, long day came to an end, and with it +departed the youthful company on horse-back to their several homes. A +gay and gallant appearance the cavalcade presented as it rode away from +the castle--a youthful cavalier prancing by the bridle of each maiden, +and a band of armed retainers of the several families bringing up the +rear. Kate bade them adieu, and stood in the hall-door following them +with her eyes till the last horseman was lost in the windings of the +forest; she then flew to her chamber, and, turning the bolt of her door, +cast herself upon her bed and once more gave free vent to the gushing +tears which she could no longer restrain. + +Twilight was lost in night: the round moon rose apace, and, shining +through the Gothic lattice, fell in a myriad of diamond-shaped flakes on +the floor; yet had she not lifted her face from her pillow since first +she had buried it there, though the violence of her grief had long since +subsided; and so still was she that she seemed to sleep. But the soft +influence of this gentle blessing was a stranger to her aching eyelids. +Her soul was sad and dark! her sensitive spirit had been wounded! the +wing of her heart was broken. Her thoughts rushed wild and tumultuous +through her brain, and her young bosom, torn by strong emotions, heaved +like the billow when lashed by the storm. She mourned in the silence of +her heart's depths, without solace, and without hope; condemning her own +hasty act, and, like a very woman, excusing his conduct by every +invention that her true love could find in palliation. + +All at once she was disturbed by a light tap at her door. She started +suddenly, aroused from that world of troubled thought in which she had +so long been lost to the exclusion of everything external, and lifted +her face. Her surprise was great on seeing the moon looking in upon her, +and filling her little room with an atmosphere like floating dust of +silver. A glow of pleasure warmed her heart, and an exclamation of +delight unconsciously escaped from her lips--it was so calmly bright, so +richly beautiful! Like a blessing sent from heaven, the sweet moonlight +fell upon her soul, and all the softer and holier sympathies of her +nature were touched by its celestial beauty. She approached the lattice +and threw it open, forgetting the cause that had aroused her from her +mood of grief, in admiration of the loveliness to which she had +awakened. + +A second tap was heard at her door. She started with instant +consciousness; and throwing back from her face the cloud of raven +ringlets that had fallen about it, tried to assume a cheerful look, and +bade the applicant enter. + +"I can't, cousin Kate," said the sweet voice of Grace Fitzgerald, in a +low tone; "you have locked yourself in." + +Kate blushed, stammered something, she scarcely knew what, in excuse, +and turning the key, admitted her mischievous cousin. + +"In the dark, Kate!" exclaimed Grace, as she entered. + +"'T were sacrilege, cousin, to bring a lamp in presence of this lovely +moon! Come stand by the lattice with me," she said, throwing her arms +about her and drawing her towards her. + +The fair cousins leaned together from the window and looked out upon the +silvery scene. There was something in the quiet loveliness of the lawn +beneath, spangled with myriads of dewdrops like minute fragments of +diamonds; in the deep repose of the dark woods; in the majesty of the +ocean, which sent its heavy, sighing sound to their ears with every +passing breeze; in the glory of the glittering firmament, with the moon +like a bride walking in its midst, and in their own lonely situation, +which the silence of the castle and the lateness of the hour contributed +to increase, to make both silent and thoughtful. + +At length a deep sigh escaped the bosom of Kate, and Grace turned to +contemplate her unconscious face, as with thoughtful eyes, her head +resting in her hand, she gazed on vacancy, evidently thinking on +subjects wholly separated from the natural scenery before her. + +"Dear Kate," said Grace, after watching for some time in silence the +sad, pale brow of her cousin, and speaking in a tone of tender and +affectionate sympathy; "dear Kate, I pity you!" She gently threw her +arms about her neck as she spoke, and, drawing her towards her, kissed +her cheek. + +The touching sincerity of her manner, unusual to the merry maiden, came +directly home to her heart. She felt that she was understood; that her +sorrow was appreciated! She struggled with virgin coyness for a few +seconds, and then, yielding to her increasing emotions, threw herself +into her arms and wept there. How grateful to her full heart to find +another into which it could freely empty itself! How happy, very happy +was she, that that heart was, of all others, her beloved cousin's! How +unexpected her sympathy! How soothing, how welcome to her sad and +isolated bosom! At length she lifted her face, and, smiling through her +tears, said, after dwelling an instant on the lovely features of her +cousin, + +"You are a sweet, noble creature, Grace! You don't know how happy your +kind sympathy has made me! and all so unlooked for! Yet I know you will +think me very silly; and I fear your natural spirit will break out +again, and that you will, ere long, ridicule what you now regard with +such sweet charity!" + +"Believe me, Kate, I feel for you with all my heart. I could have cried +for you a dozen times to-day, when I saw how very unhappy you looked!" +she added, with tenderness beaming through her deep shaded eyes. + +"And yet, dear Grace, I think I never saw you so gay, nor those little +lips so rich with merry speeches," pursued Kate, playfully tapping her +rosy lips with her finger. + +"It was for your sake, dear cousin Kate. I saw that your feelings were +wrought up to just that point when you must either laugh or cry, and one +as easy for you to do as the other; so, trembling lest, in spite of +yourself, you should lean towards the tragic vein, I did my little best +to make you laugh." + +"You were a kind, generous creature, Grace," said the maiden, with a +glow of grateful energy in her manner. "I have not half known your +worth, though you have been full six months at Castle Cor." + +"And now, just as you are beginning to know what a nice, good cousin I +turn out to be, I am, hey for merry England again!" + +"I cannot part with you, Grace; my father must sail to-morrow without +you. You will stay with me, won't you?" she added, with sportive +earnestness. + +"I have twice delayed my departure, and poor father will need my nursing +in this recent return of his old complaint. I fear we may not meet again +for many years. I shall then," she said, with her usual thoughtlessness, +"perhaps, find you Lady Lester! Forgive me, cousin Kate," she instantly +added, as she saw the expression of her face change; "I am a careless +creature, to wound at one moment where I have healed at another. But," +she added, with playful assurance, "this may yet be even as I have said! +Nay, don't shake your head so determinedly! Lester is not so angry that +a word from you will not bring him to your feet." + +"Cousin Grace, do you know what and of whom you are speaking?" said +Kate, startled that her feelings should have been so well divined; +shrinking with maidenly shame that the strength of her love and the +weakness of her resolution should be discovered to her observing cousin, +and involuntarily resenting, with the impulse of a woman at such a time, +the imputation. + +"Indeed I do, dear coz! so do no injustice to your own feelings by +denying them. You will forgive Lester if I will bring him to your feet?" +she inquired, archly. + +"Yes--no--that is--" + +"That _you will_. Very well. Before to-morrow's sun be an hour old, he +shall kneel there." + +"Not for the world, Grace!" she cried, trembling between fear and hope; +her love struggling with the respect due to her maidenly dignity, which +she could not but feel, still, that Lester had outraged. + +"I don't care for your words, Kate; I know they mean just the opposite +of what you say. Robert Lester shall kneel at your feet to-morrow +morning, and sue for pardon for his offence," she added, with gentle +stubbornness. + +"Without compromising my--" she half unconsciously began. + +"I shall not compromise you in the least. There shall be no syllable of +concession on your part mentioned; let me manage it my own way, and see +if you do not love each other the better for it yet?" + +"Coz!" she cried, placing her fore finger on her mouth reprovingly, yet +pleased and smiling with the first dawnings of bright returning hope. + +"I am glad to see you smile once more, and I am resolved you shall yet +be happy," added Grace, who had shown that, beneath the light current of +gayety that usually characterized her, there was a flow of deep and +generous feeling; and that, with all her thoughtless levity, she was +susceptible both of the sincerest attachment and of the warmest +friendship. Her words conveyed the germe of hope to the breast of her +cousin. Her confident manner inspired confidence; and the happy Kate, +giving herself up to the direction of the sanguine feelings her language +and presence had caused to spring up in her sinking heart, became all at +once a different being. + +"If I am happy in the way you mean, I shall owe it all to you," she +said, kissing her. "Now for your plan, my sweet diplomatist." + +"Now for my plan, then. That Lord Robert has gone home very angry +indeed, there can be no question. Now, when a lover is angry, justly, +with his mistress, he will be ever ready to meet her, not only half, but +the whole, of the way, to bring about a reconciliation. When he has no +right to be angry with her, and is so foolish as to be so, how much the +more readily then will he be brought to her feet! There is a spice of +argument for you. Now, as Lord Robert has no cause in the world to be +offended with you, it follows that he has every cause in the world to +induce him to acknowledge his offence, and ask pardon therefor on the +very first opportunity. Now all that he wants cheerfully to do this, it +appears to me, is the assurance that, after such a philippic as that +with which you were pleased to send him off, he will be received +graciously." + +"But how, if I should be inclined to be gracious, sage cousin of mine, +is Lester to know it?" + +"That will very easily be brought about, I think. Let me see!" and she +seemed to muse very profoundly for a few seconds. "Ha! I have it. I will +borrow that curious locket he gave you--" + +"Locket, Grace--Lord Robert gave me!" repeated Kate, colouring, and +looking out of the lattice as if some interesting object had at that +moment drawn her attention. + +"Yes," replied Grace, dryly, and with a look of the most provoking +positiveness. + +"It is no use, I see, to conceal anything from you, mischief! How _did_ +you know he gave it to me?" + +"Young ladies are not wont to take from their bosoms a boughten trinket, +and slyly kiss it a hundred times a day, and--" + +"Grace, Grace!" cried Kate, attempting to stop her saucy speech. + +"And sleep with it under their pillow." + +"Cousin Grace!" + +"I have done," she said, quietly. + +"You well may be. Oh, if I do not wish you had a lover, that I could +repay you in kind!" + +"Perhaps I have!" was the imperturbable rejoinder of the maiden. + +"I dare say fifty whom you call so. Among the gay Oxford gallants, the +heiress of a coronet could not be without admirers; but oh, if I knew +only of one _lover_ who could set that little heart of yours a +trembling!" + +"You forget your locket, cousin," said the other, gravely. + +"What shall be done with it, Grace?" + +"Send it to Lester, with this message: '_He who returns this gift of +love to her who sends it, shall with love be met_.' Now is not that very +pretty, and as it should be?" + +"What a wild creature! Would you have me send such a message to Lester, +child? He would think me jesting with him." + +"No, never. Is it not just what you want to say--what you feel--what you +wish, above all things, he should know you feel?" + +"Yes, indeed, Grace," she replied, with the most ingenuous naïveté. + +"Then it shall go. Give me the token. Nay, part not with it so +reluctantly; 'twill soon be back, with a prize worth a thousand of it. +Give it me, coz. Nay, then, kiss it! and so will I." + +"No, you shall not!" cried Kate, with laughing earnestness. + +"Oh, I _do_ hope _I_ never shall be in love!" said Grace, getting +possession of the locket. "Here is pencil and paper. Can you write by +this moonlight? Lovers, methinks, should write by no other light." She +spread the paper on the window as she spoke. + +"Write! what do you mean, Grace?" exclaimed Kate, with surprise. + +"I mean for you to put down, in your nicest hand, my gem of a message to +Robert." + +"Never, Grace. What will he think of me?" + +"He will think you love him very much." + +"Just what I don't wish him to think," she said, with singular decision. + +"Was there ever!" cried Grace, holding up both hands. "Well, this love +is an odd thing! What instinctive coquetry! Like John Milton's Eve, + + 'All conscious of your worth, + You would be woo'd, and, not unsought, be won.' + +I don't understand this disguising love under a show of +coldness--seeming to hate where the heart pants and glows with devotion. +Oh, if this be love, I'll none of it. Here is the pencil, and there is a +fair sheet, and the moon is patiently holding her silver lamp for you; +will you write?" + +"I will, to gratify you, cousin Grace;" she said, taking the pencil and +placing her fingers lightly on the paper which lay in the window. + +"To please _me_! very well, be it so. Who could have believed, a quarter +of an hour ago, that I should have had to coax you to send a line to +Robert Lester! You may well hide your telltale face." + +Kate bent her head over the gilded sheet and began to write, or, at +least, to make characters with her pencil, when Grace, impatient at her +slow progress, looked over her shoulder and exclaimed, + +"Why, what are you writing? _Lester Robert, Robert Lester, Robert +Lester, Lester Rob--._" + +Kate glanced at what she had written, hastily run her pencil through it, +and said, with a mortified laugh, + +"I had forgotten what to write." + +"And so put down what was deepest in your memory," said Grace, with a +vexatious air. "Now take this fair page, and write as I repeat: + +"'_He who shall bring again this gift of love to her who sends it, shall +with love be met._' + +"Is it written?" + +"Letter for letter." + +"And you will find that each letter will act as a charm. Never so few +monosyllables as I have strung together here held so much magic." + +"Who will be its bearer?" Kate now inquired in a lively tone. + +"I will find a Mercury both sure and swift," she said, folding the +locket in the billet. + +This _gage d'amour_ was oval in shape, of plain gold, with a chased rim, +a little raised, enclosing an azure field, on which, in exquisite +enamel, were inlaid the crests of Lester and Bellamont, joined together +by two clasped hands: beneath was the sanguine motto, + + DURANTE VITÂ. + +"Now, coz, for one of your raven ringlets to bind around it!" + +"No, I will not, Grace!" + +"Then I will tie it with a lock of my own hair," she said, in a sportive +manner, running her fingers through her auburn tresses; and, selecting +one that was like a silken braid for its soft and shining texture, she +prepared to sever it from her temples. + +"You provoking child, you will have your own way," said Kate, shaking +forward the dark cloud of her abundant hair, and intwining her finger in +a jetty tress that rivalled the sable hue of the night swallow's dark +and glossy wing. + +"Half an hour since you verily would have parted with every lock to be +assured the sacrifice would bring him to you; and now, forsooth, +scarcely will you part with a strand to bind a note. There!" she added, +clipping a beautiful ringlet that Kate had selected from the rest; "now +all that is wanted is wax--no, not that! I will fasten it with a +true-lover's-knot, which will be far better; will it not, coz?" + +As she said this she looked up with a bright light dancing in her dark +hazel eyes; and, without waiting for a reply, in a few seconds tied, +with great gravity, the mysterious knot she had mentioned, and gave the +billet to her cousin for the superscription. "Write, 'These: to the +hands of Robert, Lord Lester, of Castle More, greeting,'" she said, with +gravity. + +"Nay, I will direct it simply 'Lester, Castle More,'" she said, +decidedly. + +"By which," said Grace, laughing, "you avoid the distant respect +conveyed in my own on the one hand, and the tenderness that is ready +to gush from your heart on the other. Love certainly does make his +votaries skilful tacticians! Truly, now, is not this a proper +love-billet--written in a lattice by the light of the moon, and tied +with a braid of the lady's hair in a true-love-knot? Well, when I am in +love I shall know how to manage rightly all these little affairs." + +"Who is to be our Mercury on this occasion?" inquired Kate, with a +little doubt in the tones of her voice. "I fear we shall have to trust +it to a moonbeam also." + +"Something more substantial, I assure you," said the good-humoured +maiden, in a very positive manner. + +"Not one of the menials, for the world!" + +"No, no!" she answered, with quickness; and then approaching her +cousin's ear, she pronounced, very mysteriously, the very homely +monosyllable, + +"Mark!" + +"That proud boy! _He_ become the bearer of a message to Lester!" she +exclaimed, looking at her with surprise. + +"For _me_ he will!" replied Grace, confidently. + +"Two such spirits to come in contact! No, no! Have you forgotten how +they parted to-day?" + +"No." + +"Then why do you propose so wild a scheme?" + +"Mark will do as I bid him," she said, with a naïve and pertinaciousness +that was wholly irresistible. + +Kate burst into such a merry, musical peal of laughter, that at first +the maiden looked very grave, but at length found it in vain to withhold +her sympathy, and laughed with her; while the rich blood mounted to her +cheeks, and invested her with surpassing beauty. + +"Oh, oh!" cried Kate, triumphantly, "so you are a _very_ little in love! +I half guessed it! Doubtless there is blood enough in thy noble veins +for both of you." + +"Very well, cousin, you may think what you choose," she replied; adding, +in a tone and manner that left her cousin in doubt if she were not half +in earnest, "but if I were in love with him, is he not noble in person? +handsome, gallant, and brave? Why may he not be worthy a noble maiden's +love? I would not give him as he is, for Lester, with all his nobility, +coupled as it is with his terrible passions." + +"Out upon you, jade," said Kate, good-humouredly; "will you revile in +this vein my noble Lester--compare him to a fisher's lad? Where is your +pride of birth and rank, Grace Fitzgerald! Really, I should not wonder +if, with your levelling notions, you should some day throw yourself away +upon some one unworthy to wear so fair and rich a flower in his bosom." + +"I have both wealth and rank, and shall be my own mistress soon! that I +will give my hand where my heart goes, you may rest assured, cousin +Kate," said the maiden, with spirited, yet sportive decision. + +"Marry come up! I shall not wonder if I come to be cousin to a +cordwainer's 'prentice yet! I shall assuredly allow you to go to the +good old earl, your father, to-morrow, and shall not fail to bid him, in +a letter, to lock you up." + +"Love laughs at locksmiths, you have heard it said, cousin. But a truce +to this. I am not yet in love, so be not alarmed. I will sally forth and +find Mark, and at once despatch him with this message to Castle More." + +As she spoke she threw a cloak over her shoulders and prepared to +envelop her head and face in its hood. At this crisis Kate's troubled +countenance indicated a wavering purpose; and as Grace was fastening the +hood beneath her chin, she laid her hand on her arm: + +"No, Grace, you must not. Lester will scorn me; let him go for ever +first!" she added, in a sad, irresolute tone of voice. + +"No, no! In ten minutes afterward you would be playing Niobe. Have your +feelings towards Lester changed an iota?" + +"No; but--" + +"Yet you know not, if you delay, how his may change, nor what rash act +he may commit!" + +"I will send the token," she said, after a moment's struggle. + +"I will soon return with news of my success," she said, placing her hand +on the latch of the door. + +"Go, then, quickly! But you will not venture to the beach alone?" + +"'Tis light as noonday! A step across the lawn, and a short trip down +the path, and old Meredith's hut is within a stone's throw. I will not +be three minutes gone." + +"I must certainly go with you, Grace." + +"Not for the world!" + +"Lest I interrupt the tender moonlight interview you have in prospect +with the handsome fisherman, I dare say. Ah, you arch girl! I verily +believe you have an eye to your own interests, which accounts for your +devotion to me in this matter," said Kate, laughing, and shaking her +head at her. + +"A fisher's lad!" she repeated, in the slightly scornful tone her cousin +had hitherto used. + +"Nay, I was not in earnest, Grace," said Kate, apologetically, kissing +her as she was leaving the chamber. + +"Nor was I," replied the lively maiden. "Watch me from the opposite +window as I cross the lawn. Courage, dear cousin! You will soon have +Lester at your feet, and be folded in his--" + +"Go!" cried the blushing Kate, closing the door upon her ere she could +finish her sentence. + +She listened to her light footstep echoing through the hall till it was +lost on the lawn; then turning to her window, she shortly afterward +discovered her gliding across the archery-field towards the cliff, and, +with a wave of her hand towards the lattice, rapidly descend the path +that led to the beach. With her heart fluttering with mingled hopes, +fears, and desires, she sat watching in the window for her return. Her +thoughts the while were busy. She followed, in imagination, the message +to Castle More; pictured Lester's reception of the token; fancied his +surprise, his rapture, perhaps his scornful indifference! No! she would +not believe he could feel _this_, for she judged his truth by her own! +Then, in her imagination, she heard his loud and hasty demand for his +horse! she could see him on his swift course towards Castle Cor. He +approaches! she can almost hear his horse's hoofs in the court! the next +moment he is kneeling at her feet for forgiveness! Wonderful power of +the imagination! How delightful to yield the soul to its influences when +the images it paints on the mind are all pleasing; all as vivid as the +reality of which they are only the shadows! While the meditative maiden +is leaning from her lonely lattice, indulging her happy visions, the +mind naturally turns to the adventurous Grace and the young fisher's +lad, who was to become the bearer of the message which should be the +magical instrument of converting all these delightful dreams into +reality. + +After the attack upon his life by the impetuous noble, taking advantage +of the exciting scene that followed between him and Kate Bellamont, Mark +quietly withdrew from the party, gained, unobserved, the path, and was +out of sight, far down the cliff, before his absence was discovered. He +had remained long enough, however, to witness the disgrace of Lester, +and to hear the indignant and bitter words of the offended maiden. With +a fleet foot he reached the beach, hastened along the shore to his cot, +and, crossing its lonely threshold, cast himself upon a block by the +hearth, and buried his face between his hands. His heart heaved +strongly, and he seemed to labour under deep and great emotion. It was +clearly apparent that he was undergoing a severe mental struggle, and +that the tide of his life would turn on the issue. At length he lifted +his fine face and looked around upon the interior of his humble home; +poverty and its signs met his eye wherever it fell! His glance then +rested on his own coarse habiliments, and he started to his feet, and +with a lofty expression of resolution and an air of stern decision, +said, half aloud, + +"This day shall end my servitude to poverty. Because the accident of +_birth_ has cast my lot within these wretched walls, and made me +fellow-prisoner with penury, therefore shall I not throw off my chains +when I will? Have I not a soul--a mind? Do I not think, feel, act, +speak, like those whom men call noble? May I not, in spite of nature, +yet become the builder of my own name--the carver of my own fortunes? By +the light of the bright sun, I will no longer be the slave of others! +the 'lowborn serf'--the 'humble fisher's lad'--the peasant, hind, and +what not, that means baseness of birth and degradation of soul! No; +henceforth I will take my place among the highest of them all, or leave +my bones to bleach on the sand!" + +He paced the bare ground-floor of the wretched shed for a few moments +with an energy of tread and a determined air that well harmonized with +his words. At length he stopped short in his excited walk; his face +assumed a gentler aspect; and in a voice low and melancholy, he +continued, + +"And this beauteous being, whose bright form fills my dreams like a +celestial visitant; who is in all my thoughts; whom to gaze upon at an +_humble_ distance is bliss; whose voice strangely thrills my soul: her, +for whom I would lay down my life! whom to make happy I would forego all +earthly, ay, future hopes of happiness, I am forbidden to love! I cannot +gaze on her without reproof! I am denied the bliss of speaking to her +and listening to the music of her voice in reply; of attending her in +her walks; of sharing in her pursuits and pleasures, because I am +_lowborn_. Yes, I am 'the poor fisher's lad!' and scarce deemed worthy +to be her footman. My approach into her presence is rudeness! my adoring +gaze vulgar impertinence! _I am the fisher's lad!_ 'Tis not for such to +love such a glorious creature! Though his heart may be of the noblest +mould; his taste refined; his spirit proud; his nature lofty and +aspiring, yet he may not love where love points him. 'Tis not for him to +place his affections on the gentle and lovely: on those worthy of his +heart's deep devotion, and to whom he can distribute the rich treasure +of his love. He must degrade his pure and sacred passion by linking his +fate with one of his own class, who may never appreciate him; or let his +wealth of love exhaust itself on his own life, and consume it with its +fire! Nevertheless," he added, with a sparkling eye, "the fisher's boy +dares to love, and love _high_! Love knows no rank. I have placed my +affections on a noble object, my gaze on a lofty eyry--and never will I +clip the wing that once has taken so high and bold a flight. I love her! +highborn as she is, I have dared to send my thoughts up to her! Yet, +alas!" he continued, moodily folding his arms on his breast, and +speaking slowly and bitterly, "alas! what shall this avail? Will she +requite the daring love of a peasant? Will she not scorn--will she not +laugh at me? Will she listen to the deep outpourings of my passion? No, +no, no! She must mate with _her_ mates, and she would bid me mate with +_mine_! Yet, may I not rise above my condition," he exclaimed, with a +glowing brow and flashing eye; "may I not win rank and name that shall +make me worthy of her? Shall I stand here idle, and see this haughty +Lester bear away a prize of which he is no more worthy than I? No, I +will perish first. From this day I am a man! Henceforth I belong to no +degree, no rank. I am to choose what I will be. This hour I burst the +degrading fetters that chain me to the class in which birth has cast me. +From this moment I am the architect of my own fortune, and I will erect +a temple that men shall admire, or bury myself beneath its ruins! The +sea, on which I have been cradled, is open before me like a mother's +bosom, welcoming me to its embrace; and on it, with the aid of God and +my own spirit, I will win a name that shall hide the humble one I wear, +and under it yet lay at the feet of her, who would scorn me under my +present one, laurels that shall have made me worthy of her love!" + +As he concluded his cheek was flushed; his eye sparkling; his step rapid +and firm; his countenance elevated and glowing; and he strode the little +cabin as if he was for the moment all that he had resolved to be. He was +so lost in his feelings, so wrapped in the noble vision of the future +his ambitious and ardent mind had pictured, that the old fisherman, who +had slowly followed him from the cliff, entered without attracting his +notice. The aged man gazed on the animated and excited youth with +astonishment, and for a few moments was silent from surprise. At length +he called him by name. He started, and was for the first time sensible +that he was not alone: + +"Well!" was the short, stern response. + +"Do you know who speaks to you, my boy?" asked the old man, with mild +reproof. + +"Yes I do, my good father," he said, instantly resuming his wonted +kindness of manner, and taking his hand; "forgive me; I had forgotten +myself!" + +"Do not be angry, child, at this freak of my young lord," said the old +fisherman, in a tone habitual to his class in speaking of those above +them; "it was but a little outbreak of spirit; and you know it is not +for the like of us to be angry at the nobility for such things. They are +our lords, and we must do as they will." + +"And let them take my life--ay, if they will, make me their slave, which +is far worse! Never! 'Tis the language of a bondman you utter, and +unworthy the lips of manhood!" + +"You talk as if you was one of the quality, boy! You will find it +different when you get to be as old as I am. I have put up with many +wrongs in my day from gentle blood." + +"And have not resented it?" demanded the youth, with spirit. + +"What could a poor fisherman do? Is it not their right to act what they +will to? We poor fishermen have only to pray to God to give them gentle +wills towards us!" + +"And is this the creed you would teach me? Debasing, grovelling, mean +obedience to the tyranny of an order! Before I do it, may my hand wither +at the shoulder, my tongue palsy in my mouth! I should indeed deserve to +be a slave! You would forbid me to resent this wrong from this hotheaded +young noble?" + +"It will do thee no good; if thou shouldst take his life, thou wouldst +hang for't." + +"And, if he should take mine?" + +"There would be none to avenge thee, boy. The judges, who are always on +the side of the great, would say thy life was forfeited because thou +hadst lifted thy hand against one of the privileged." + +"God! I cannot believe that all men do spring from Adam and Eve," +exclaimed the youth, impetuously. "Father," he said, after a moment's +silence, speaking in a tone of mingled shame and sorrow, "thou hast, +fortunately, a spirit fitted to thy station--I pity thee! For myself, I +will be no man's serf, no lord's menial! If accident has made me almost +on a level with the brute, nature has endowed me with the feelings of a +man. Father, I leave you with to-morrow's sun." + +"My child! my child! what evil hath taken possession of thee?" cried the +old man, holding him by both hands. + +"No evil, but good! To-morrow I go from you!" he replied, resolutely. + +"And leave me destitute in my old age, my boy?" + +The youth was touched more by the accent in which this was said than by +the words. He buried his face in his hands and groaned aloud; then, with +a sudden burst of filial affection, he cried, throwing himself upon his +aged breast, + +"No, no! I will bend my neck to every insult, rather than thou, my more +than father, shouldst be left helpless." + +"Thou wilt not go away?" reiterated the old man, pleadingly, as if +doubting the sincerity of his words. + +"Not while thou art spared to me, beloved grandsire. Thou hast protected +my infancy and youth! been to me both father and mother. If I be not a +faithful son to thee, and protect not thy old age, may I fail to attain +the rank and honour among men to which I aspire, and which, if purchased +at the expense of filial gratitude, I should be unworthy to wear!" + +"Bless thee, bless thee, Mark!" said he, fondly embracing him. +"Providence has made our lot a humble one; let us submit to it with +obedience. Come, my boy, think no more of it, but launch the skiff, and +bring home our evening meal from the vast storehouse that has ever fed +us, and which never holds its life even from the undeserving. Go, my +son: on the rocking wave, and in the silence of the lone deep, your +heart will become calm, and peace will return to your soul. At such +times it is that the good and devout Christian is the most happy! I +sometimes think the holy apostles did owe much of the holy piety which +they possessed to their lowly occupation of fishers." + +"_They were Christians._ You are a Christian, father! I am not one save +in name. Would to God I were! perhaps I then might bear my humble lot +more calmly. Now farewell a while; I will be in again ere the moon +rises." + +He rushed from the cabin with his heart almost bursting in his breast, +launched his little bark, hoisted the frail latteen sail, and committed +himself to the deep. + +Seated in the narrow stern of his fragile skiff, the thwarts and bottom +of which were covered with fishing-lines, a dip-net, and other signs of +his lowly pursuit, holding the rude tiller in one hand and the sheet of +his narrow white sail in the other, he shot swiftly out from the shore, +wafted by a light and fitful wind. From habit he steered his course, and +shifted the sail from side to side to woo the baffling airs, without +giving his thoughts to his occupation. His lips were compressed with +thought, his brow was set, and every feature of his silent face was +eloquent with the feelings that occupied his bosom. His mind was +struggling between filial affection and ambition--between love for the +highborn maiden and duty to his grandsire. The sufferings of the latter, +who looked to his labours for his daily bread, were, if he should desert +him, present and positive. The hopes connected with the former were +altogether future and uncertain. Should he inflict a present evil for a +future good? Would his filial attachment compare with his love? Which +should he sacrifice? He felt that he could not make his grandsire the +victim, either of his love or of his ambition, without the forfeiture of +that filial virtue, wanting which he would be unworthy the prize he +should incur this penalty to obtain. His thoughts became insupportable; +and, for a time, he was nearly wrought up to phrensy by the intensity of +the mental conflict. At this crisis, while his eyes were fixed vacantly +on the crisp waves as they went singing and rippling past him, his bosom +far more disturbed than they, he was startled by a loud, quick hail. + +"Boat ahoy! Helm-a-starboard, or you will be into us!" + +He mechanically obeyed; and, as he looked up, saw the dark hull of the +yacht, that had lain all day at anchor in the bay, within reach of his +hand, while his boat was gliding safely along its side, directly against +which he had been unconsciously steering. + +"You must keep a look-out, lad, how you run aboard a king's yacht, or +you will stand a chance of getting a shot in your locker!" said a gruff, +yet good-humoured voice. "But you have a quick ear and ready hand to +clear our counter as you did. What say you to serving his majesty, my +lad? It's better than catching herring; and, then, many's the younker of +your inches that's come in over the cat-head, and afterward walked the +quarter-deck with a brace of gold bobs on his shoulders." + +The young fisherman's ears greedily received every word; they struck a +chord within his bosom that strongly vibrated again. Involuntarily he +put his helm down, and brought his boat up into the wind. He looked +longingly upon the vessel's deck; measured the beautiful and light +proportions of her hull, and surveyed with delight the graceful spars, +following them with his eye to their tapering tops, from which gay flags +streamed in the breeze: he admired, apparently with all a seaman's +gratification, the tracery and interlacing of the neatly-set rigging, +and the snowy sails, some of which were hanging in festoons from the +yards, while one or two lazily spread their broad white fields from yard +to yard: he observed the neat appearance of the men; their happy faces; +their frank, good-humoured manners: he thought over the blunt but kindly +offer he had received, and his hopes whispered, + +"Fortune has opened this way for me! my destiny must be linked with this +vessel!" + +He then thought of his father, and his head dropped despondingly on his +bosom; he thought of Kate Bellamont, and his eyes sparkled, and he felt +like bursting all filial ties and leaping at once on board. + +"What say you, my lad, will you ship?" said the man, observing his +hesitation; "I'll give you ten rix-dollars as bounty." + +"Now?" he eagerly asked, starting up in his boat, and extending his +hands with intense earnestness. + +"The instant you enter your name on the yacht's books." + +"I will go with you." + +"Done! come alongside." + +Mark hesitated ere he obeyed. Ten rix-dollars had, at first, seemed to +him an inexhaustible sum: a moment's reflection convinced him that it +would not support his grandfather six months without labour, for which +he was nearly unfitted on account of his age. If, he thought, at the end +of six months, therefore, he should not be able to return to him, or if +his own life should be lost in the interim, would not the misery and +want such an event would entail upon him fall heavy to his charge? + +All this passed through his mind as he drew aft the tack and pressed the +tiller up to windward to run under the vessel's bows. Instantly he +shifted his helm, let the sheet fly free to the wind, and shot suddenly +away in the opposite direction. + +"He's off with a flowing sheet!" said one of the seamen, laughing. + +"He's gone to bid the old man good-by," cried another; "he'll be +alongside before morning, kit and kid." + +"He's gone to take leave of his lass," added a third. "A wise lad to +anchor his last night ashore." + +"I wouldn't lose him for six months' pay," said the captain of the +forecastle, who had first hailed him; "but I am afraid we shall see no +more of him than what he now shows us," he added, shaking his head, and +turning to pace the deck. + +Scarce hearing, and heedless of these characteristic remarks, the young +fisherman kept on his course seaward till he had got a league from the +land, when he hove to and lowered his sail; then baiting and casting his +lines, he plied his humble task, his eyes the while often fixed on the +distant towers of Castle Cor, and his thoughts now with its fair inmate, +now brooding over his own lowly destiny. When at length the sun dipped +the edge of his burnished shield into the sea, he for the last time drew +in his lines, each heavy with a fish, hoisted his sail, flung it broad +to the evening wind that blew gently landward, and, taking the helm, +steered towards home. But the wind grew lighter, and soon came only at +intervals in "cat's-paws;" his progress was therefore slow, and he was +yet a mile from the land when it left his sail altogether. Night came +on, and the moon rose above the battlements of the castle, and flung its +scarf of silver far out upon the scarcely dimpled bay. From time to time +he held his open palm to windward, in vain trying to catch a passing +current. He threw back the dark curls that clustered about his forehead, +and laid it bare to receive the faintest breath that might promise the +return of the wind. But the air was motionless! His boat rose and fell +on the glassy undulations, but moved not towards the shore, save by the +slow landward heave of the sea. Springing upon the thwarts, he brailed +up his sail and bound it to the mast, and then, bending to the slender +oars, sent his light skiff over the water with a speed that mocked the +idle winds. He soon got within the dark shadow flung by the cliff along +the water far beyond the land, and run his boat on the beach beside his +cot. The old fisherman welcomed him with a kindness that not only +touched his heart, but rewarded him for the sacrifice he had made on his +account. He also assisted him in conveying the fish into the hut, and +set about himself to prepare their rude repast. Mark placed his oars in +the beckets over the door, and walked out to indulge his thoughts; to +brood over his deferred, if not blasted hopes; and to struggle again and +again against the unfilial temptations that assailed him. He insensibly +wandered along the beach, that sparkled in the moonlight like snow +beneath his feet, until he came to the narrow strip of sand that +stretched beneath the over-hanging cliff from which he had leaped, and +connected his hut with the path up the rocks. He looked up to its dark +and terrific roof, and then down into the black pool at his feet, and a +half-formed wish that he had never risen again from its silent depths, +escaped him. + +"That I had perished, ere life had been preserved to be dragged out in +this miserable servitude," he said aloud. "What is life to me? Its +refined joys; its courtly pleasures; its fair forms; its wealth; its +honours! This is _my_ world--these slimy rocks--this lonely bay; yonder +hut my palace, and to fish for daily sustenance my pastime. This is _my_ +life--this my universe! What have I to do with aught beyond it? The +world was made for others, not for me--not for the peasant boy! No, no! +Madness! Must I endure this?" he cried, with fierce impatience. "Filial +love, filial gratitude, how bitter, bitter are ye!" + +He struck his forehead violently, and turned on the belt of sand with a +fevered step. Suddenly he felt a touch on his shoulder, as light as if a +fairy's foot had lit upon it. He started, and, turning quickly round, +beheld a female, enveloped in a hood and cloak, standing immediately +behind him. The grace of her attitude, and the easy decision of her +whole manner, assured him that she was not lowborn. His heart would have +whispered the name that was enshrined in it, but the figure was not tall +enough for _hers_. With an instinctive consciousness that he was in the +presence of rank and beauty, to which, in this union, his independent +spirit never refused to do homage, he doffed his cap, and addressed her +with that native grace and dignity which characterized him: + +"Lady, seek you aught in which I can aid you, that you have come to the +seaside at this lonely hour?" + +The moon shone full on his youthful features, which were shaded with +locks of dark-flowing hair, parted across his high, pale forehead, and +descending to his shoulder. She gazed for an instant, ere she replied, +on his youthful face, on each lineament of which his bold character was +written, while his ardent spirit spoke eloquently in every look. As he +bent forward to catch her answer, with his bonnet in his hand, the cloud +had vanished from his brow before the supposed presence of youth and +beauty, and his deferential manner, so opposite to his former bearing, +seemed to inspire her with confidence. + +"My business is with you alone, Mark!" spoke, from beneath the shaded +hood, the sweet, hesitating voice of Grace Fitzgerald, intuitively +shrinking within the shadow of the cliff as she addressed him, just out +of which, in the full light of the moon, the young fisherman himself +stood. + +"Lady Grace!" he exclaimed, with surprise, as her voice fell on his ear. + +"Grace Fitzgerald, in body and spirit," said she, with her usual gayety. + +"Can the highborn heiress of Earl Fitzgerald be served by one so +humble?" he asked, in a tone slightly tinged with his former gloomy +humour. + +She seemed to be at a loss, for a moment, how to reply, scarcely knowing +in what way to interpret his words. At length she said, advancing +frankly towards him, + +"I have not come to command your services, Mark, but to beg of you a +favour; to ask you to execute a mission of delicacy, that can be +intrusted to no one so well as yourself." + +The frank and kind manner in which she spoke, the graceful propriety +with which she overstepped the barrier of _caste_ that separated them, +sensibly affected him. It was the first time he had been so addressed by +those above him in birth and station; the first time his services had +not been demanded as a right by those who needed them. + +Her suavity and condescension of manner were perhaps prompted by the +remembrance of the outrage he had received at Lester's hands, and by a +knowledge of his intrepidity, and of his pride of spirit, which she knew +to be chafed and goaded by the insults inseparable from his station. She +therefore generously wished to sooth and bind up his injured feelings. +She had, too, her own notions of what constitutes true nobility; and it +is plain, from her conversation with Kate, that she was less governed by +the social canons which regulate such things, and was infinitely more of +a democrat than her haughty and beautiful cousin. That her heart had +anything to do in the matter, though Mark was so handsome, so gentle, +and so brave withal, cannot be supposed; inasmuch as the little god +seldom ensconces himself behind a peajacket to take aim at a heart +mailed beneath a silken spencer. But, then, Cupid is very blind, and, +besides, is so given to odd whims, that but little calculation can be +made as to the direction from which his shafts will fly. + +"Command me, lady," he replied, with grateful emotion, as she concluded. + +"Are you angry with Lord Robert?" she asked, falteringly. + +"Can I forgive him?" + +"But you will forgive him--for--for--the sake of--my cousin Kate!" + +"If _she_ were to bid me kiss his hand, I would not refuse her," he +exclaimed, with a sudden glow of animation. + +Grace sighed, and was for a moment silent; for she plainly saw that her +influence had but little weight in this quarter in comparison with her +cousin's. She then took the locket from the folds of her cloak, and +said, in a very slightly mortified tone, + +"It is _her_ wish that you bear this token of her forgiveness to Lord +Robert. You will see that it is tied with a braid of _her own hair_!" + +(Was there not a spice of feminine pique in this last clause, lady?) + +"Bear this from _her_ to _him_?" he inquired, in a voice trembling with +emotion. + +"Yes." + +"Never!" replied he, with vehemence. + +"Mark!" she said, in a tone of gentle reproof, placing her hand lightly +upon his arm. + +"Pardon me," he said, hastily, "but--but--" His voice choked for +utterance. "Oh God! Lady Grace," he suddenly cried, with an outbreak of +terrible and ungovernable emotion, "you know not what it is to be--to +be--" Here his feelings were too strong to be controlled, and, turning +his face from her, he gave way to a paroxysm of the wildest grief. + +She stood by in silence! She appreciated fully his feelings, for she had +overheard the soliloquy he gave utterance to before he had become aware +of her presence. She knew what he was and what he aspired to be, and how +deeply his degradation preyed upon him. She sympathized with him with +her whole heart; and with her sympathy there entered into her breast +another emotion, which in woman's heart is so nearly allied to love, +namely, gentle pity! When she saw that the first strong tide of his +feelings had in some degree subsided, in a voice so full of what she +felt that it touched all the finer sensibilities of his nature, and +seemed to breathe peace throughout his soul, stilling every billow of +passion, she said to him, + +"Mark, I do pity you from my heart! I know you are not fitted by nature +for the state to which you were born. But to the bold spirit and +determined will there is a wide road open to distinction; and in it men, +humble as yourself, have won honourable renown, in the splendour of +which the mere accident of their birth has been lost. The same road to +honour lies open before you!" + +The vivid eloquence, the animation of voice, the spirited manner, and +the lofty energy of look with which this was spoken, united with the +depth and sincerity of her interest in him, which she disdained to +disguise, language can inadequately express. Its effect on him was +electrical. He sprang forward, knelt at her feet, seized her hand, and, +in the fulness of his heart, pressed it gratefully to his lips. She +withdrew it in confusion, and he instantly buried his face in his hands, +overcome with the painful feeling of having offended. She was the first +to speak. + +"Mark, bear this packet to Lord Robert; deliver it into his own hand, +and immediately leave him, so that you give him no opportunity of +renewing his feud. In the morning, on the earl's return from Kinsale, +come to the castle, and I will represent your case to him." + +"Dear lady, I will leave this message for you at Castle More; but pardon +me if I decline your offer to serve me!" + +"Then cousin Kate shall make it," she said, good-humouredly. + +"Forgive me, but it will be still more firmly declined." + +Grace was puzzled; and half sportively, half sincerely, it entered her +thoughts that she had played her hand well if already, as his words +seemed to imply, she had found more favour in the young fisherman's eyes +than her cousin. But, all at once, the thought flashed upon her mind +that it was alone the pride of love that led him to refuse any favour at +her cousin's hands. + +"You mean," she said in revenge, smiling as she spoke, "that you dislike +my cousin Kate so much that you will not receive any kindness at her +hands." + +"If such could be inferred from my words, I recall every letter of +them," he said, with an earnestness that amused her. + +"I will then speak for you to my uncle." + +"Lady, you will think me very ungrateful," he replied, "but--" + +"But you will take no favour from the father of Kate Bellamont. Really, +my cousin is complimented." + +He was embarrassed by the light in which she seemed to take his words, +and, in attempting to explain, involved himself still deeper. + +"Do not be distressed; I perfectly understand you, Mark," she said, with +a laugh that relieved him. "Will you be obliged to _me_?" + +"Pardon me if I say no!" he answered, gratefully but firmly. "No, lady," +he added, in a grateful tone of voice, yet sadly, "I must work out +brighter fortunes for myself by my own energies." + +"I admire your independence. But, if you should need my--I would say, +the assistance of any one--will you remember Grace Fitzgerald?" + +He did not reply; his heart was swelling, but he laid his hand upon his +bosom with an eloquent gesture that conveyed more than words. + +"Enough!" she said, touched with his impressive manner. "I shall ever be +ready to do for you all that can advance you to name and rank; and for +your own sake, for the sake of--" here she paused with embarrassment, +and then added, "those who take an interest in you, it becomes you to +rise from this humble station, and win for yourself a name and station +among men. Do not forget that the proudest names in England sprang from +the lowest rank. My own maternal ancestor was a favourite groom of +William the Conqueror, who, for his prowess in a certain battle, +knighted and parcelled out to him an equal division of land with his own +knightly companions in arms. Shall I not yet hear of _you_ with pride?" +she added, extending her hand to him with characteristic frankness. + +"Lady," he said, with animation, "if ever a lowborn youth, who would +rise above his adverse fortunes, had cause to go forward, have I. The +memory of your words will shine like a star of hope to guide me through +the future. God help me! Lady Grace, you shall never blush with shame +for him in whose fate you this night have shown an interest," he +continued, with emotion. "For your sake I will achieve whatever man can +accomplish." + +"And will you do nothing for my poor cousin's sake?" she asked, +significantly, and in a tone of raillery, not able, even at such a time, +to subdue altogether her natural temperament. + +"There is little hope that one so humble is ever in her thoughts," he +replied, doubting, yet half believing. + +"Little hope, I fear, while Lester lives," she said, smiling. "But think +not of her--think not of love now," continued she, with animation; "let +honour be your idol, and woo fame alone as your bride. There are +some--there is _one_, Mark, who would rather see you honoured and +ennobled by your own hand than--than--but no matter, I have already said +too much. Kate will have good reason to suspect I had cause to come +alone," she said, mentally, "if I linger here longer;" she then added +aloud, + +"Fly, Mark, with this message. If you would serve me, bear it safely; if +you would do my cousin Kate a favour, bear it quickly; and, lastly, for +your own sake, get into no quarrel." + +They had insensibly walked along while speaking, and were now at the +foot of the path by which she had descended to the beach. + +Mark took the packet from her hand, and, as he did so, pressed it with +an air of native gallantry blended with gratitude, greatly to her not +unpleasurable surprise and confusion, and then hastened at a rapid pace +along the beach in the direction of Castle More. She followed him for a +few moments with her eyes, and then, sighing unconsciously (for it is in +vain longer to disguise the interest she felt in the interesting +fisher's lad), ascended the steep path and safely gained the castle, +where, still at her lattice waiting her return, she found her cousin, to +whom forthwith she communicated her success. + +With a swift tread Mark traversed the curving shore till he had left a +full league between him and the spot where he had separated from Grace +Fitzgerald. Then striking into a path that led inland, he followed it +with undiminished speed, and with a light and confident step, that +showed his familiarity with every intricate winding of his moonlit way. + +How often he pressed to his adoring lips the locket of hair that secured +the billet; how often he paused to read over and over again, by the +light of the moon, the delicate characters traced by the pencil her +fingers had guided, let each one that has loved enumerate for himself. +As he went along, he could not help revolving in his mind the manner of +Grace Fitzgerald, and asking himself a hundred times if she could mean +anything; and when it could not be concealed from his penetrating mind +that she did mean something, or affected to do so--the wish rose to his +lips that Kate Bellamont had been in her place. Yet the very next +moment, so contradictory is love, he congratulated himself that she was +not, feeling that he should never have had the courage to meet her face +to face alone, as he had met her cousin. Love surely endows his votaries +with a singular union of boldness and timidity! Your lover is either an +arrant coward or a lion, and sometimes he is both in one, as he happens +to be in or out of his mistress's presence. + +At length he came in sight of an ancient and extensive ruin in the midst +of the forest, and was picking his way among the fallen fragments, along +which his road wound, when he was startled by the sound of horses' feet +coming from the direction of Castle More; the moment afterward, he saw, +by the light of the moon, two horsemen emerge from the wood, and rapidly +approach the ruin. He instinctively drew to one side of the path to +escape observation, when he heard one of them utter an exclamation of +surprise; both then suddenly reined up, and, from the sound of a third +voice, they appeared to be holding conversation with some one they had +unexpectedly encountered. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Away, away my steed and I + Upon the pinions of the wind!" + + _Mazeppa._ + + "Thou false fiend, thou liest! + I do defy--deny--spurn back and scorn ye!" + + "That thus a son should stand and hear + The tale of his disgrace." + + BYRON. + + +The indignant Lester, to whom the story now reverts, had no sooner left +the presence of Kate Bellamont and the field of archery, than he +hastened to the stables, saddled his horse with his own hand, and threw +himself across his back. Then, turning his head northward towards Castle +More, he gave him the rein, and, without forming any definite aim or +object, but goaded onward simply by the fiery impetus of his feelings, +with a feverish desire to leave far behind the scene of his disgrace, +rode away at full speed. + +His thoughts were dark and confused; his heart full; his spirit sore! He +looked neither to the right nor left, and gave backward glance to turret +nor lattice--for he was all unskilled in that book of riddles, woman's +heart! and what hope then had he, that he should turn his head for beck +or signal of return? If he had been a little more experienced, or +somewhat better read in this book of mysteries, where every line of the +text is contradicted by a page of annotations, he might have known that +a signal would have been flying for him--at the very last moment! But, +alas for poor Kate Bellamont! alas for both! her voice, and the wave of +her snowy arm were alike in vain! He rode onward, seeing, feeling, being +conscious of nothing save his own deep disgrace and misery; and at each +fierce pang that reflection inflicted, he buried his spurs deep, and +dashed forward as if he would fly from his thoughts, or find relief from +them in swift motion. + +The forest into which he rode, and in the depths of which he disappeared +from the earnest gaze of Kate Bellamont, was very ancient and of great +extent, and intersected by many roads winding in all directions through +its dark bosom: it was inhabited chiefly by woodsmen and foresters, but +contained, besides, two solitary hunting-lodges, a league asunder, +appertaining to the contiguous estates of Bellamont and Castle More. At +the northern termination of this wood, two leagues distant from Castle +Cor, on the crest of a rock that overhung a small woodland lake or mere, +was situated Castle More; a single square tower, with a low turret +rising at each angle, and defended on the inland side by a high wall +with bastions and a deep moat. It was, at the date of this narrative, +the abode of Lady Lester, the widow of General Lord Lester, who had +fallen a few years before while gallantly fighting in Spain. Since his +death she had withdrawn herself from the sphere of the court, and +excluded herself almost altogether from society; devoting her time to +the performance of the severe religious duties usually imposed by the +Catholic church only on religieuses, and to the observance of rigorous +and frequent fasts; and it was rumoured that she even inflicted upon +herself painful penance with rods, and slept through Lent in a crown of +thorns. In these austerities her friends, and, also, sensible and +discreet people, saw only the diseased melancholy of a widowed wife who +had been fondly devoted to her departed lord, finding relief, as woman's +sorrow often will, in a life of religious seclusion. But the suspicious +and evil disposed, the humble labourer and marvel-loving hind, saw in +her stern religious life only painful penance for crimes committed in +early life, and were wont to shake their heads and lower their voices +whenever the "Dark Lady of the Rock" was named. + +But, notwithstanding her austere life, Lady Lester was not indifferent +to the claims of young Lord Robert. Her heart had been wrapped up in the +high-spirited boy from his childhood; and as he grew in stature and +grace, next to her graven images, she worshipped him. Unrestrained by +paternal fear, and indulged by Lady Lester in every idle wish, he grew +up to the age of seventeen with a spirit that never had been curbed; +with a temper that never had known a check. Though by nature of a +generous and noble disposition, as the unavoidable result of such a +course, he was the slave of passion and the victim of self-impulse; with +the will to act justly, but without the power to guide that will: like a +noble bark that has lost its rudder and is driven furiously along by its +out-spread sails, which, managed by skill and discipline, might yet +become the instruments of its safety, to irremediable shipwreck and +ruin. If educated at all, he was taught to regard all the retainers of +his vast estates as vassals; beings of meaner mould; a race of mortals +who had somehow smuggled themselves into existence long after Adam +founded his ancient family--poachers on the world's manor--now doomed, +for their punishment, to crawl as slaves on the earth they had dared to +come upon unbidden. He was taught to regard all unnoble as ignoble; and +to consider them as an inferior and secondary race, and only created to +be subservient to the will of those of his caste and rank. With such +notions he became haughty and arrogant, and cherished a spirit of pride +of birth, combined with a jealousy of his privileges, that at all times +was sufficiently prompt to show itself. + +With two such opposite characters; a generous and just one--the gift of +nature; an imperious and haughty one--the result of education, he was as +uncertain as the wind, variable as the evening cloud. There was but one +mind that could control his; one spirit to whose power his own would +bend; but one voice that could act upon his passions with a gentle +influence, and, with a word, chase the darkest cloud from his brow, even +as the harp of the youthful minstrel banished the gloomy spirit of evil +from the soul of Saul! This potent person was Kate Bellamont: the wand +she used, Cupid's magical bow. By its aid she brought his haughty will +in subjection to her own mild sway, and converted the lion into the +lamb. She had been his playfellow from childhood; they had strolled, +fished, hunted, boated together. Others might be in company, but somehow +Kate and Robert seemed to be attracted to each other by a mysterious +affinity: if they fished, he baited her hook and took off the fish when +she caught them; if there was a ramble, they were certain to stray off +together and lose themselves in the forest, and always were the last +back to the castle; if there was a party to sail on the mere, Robert and +Kate were sure to be seated near each other! + +By-and-by they began to advance into their teens: when Kate got to be +fifteen, she began to grow very shy of her playfellow; would not let him +kiss her as he was wont; nor ramble with her his arm encircling her +little round waist. She ceased running races with him, and began to call +him "Lord Robert;" and would blush if he happened to turn and catch her +eye fixed musingly upon his face. Robert himself also began to show +signs of change. He grew diffident and silent in her company; looked at +her for a long time together without saying a word; then would turn away +and sigh, and look again, and sigh again. He became less violent, less +frequently angry; his voice became gentle and subdued: and he began to +show signs of fear in her presence, and trembled if she laid her hand on +his arm, which, of late, she was very careful not to do. Indeed, there +is no describing half the signs by which their progress from the +playmate state of chrysalis to the lovemate state of ripe youth was +marked. Robert Lester very soon found that he was very unhappy away from +Kate, and very happy in her presence. The maiden, on her part, was not +long in discovering that the days were very long when Robert did not +visit Castle Cor, and that she thought of him, somehow, a great deal +more than she used to do. It evidently was very clear that she loved to +look from the battlement of the tower at the four distant turrets on the +top of Castle More, when he was away, much oftener than she had done the +year before. Things went on in this manner, though from worse to worse, +till about a week before Kate's sixteenth birthday, when it chanced that +she and her quondam playfellow were riding slowly homeward, after an +unsuccessful pursuit of a stag, which, after having led them within a +mile of Castle More, doubled and turned upon its track towards the +south, and plunged into a morass not far from Castle Cor; so, as night +was approaching, they had given up the pursuit, and turned their horses +heads towards the castle. + +They had been slowly riding side by side for some time, breathing their +horses, neither speaking a word, but occasionally exchanging timid +side-glances in the way young people sometimes do without lifting their +eyelids. If by chance their eyes met, both instantly averted their +heads, switched their horses, or plucked a leaf; but, in a few seconds, +their heads would gradually come round, the pupil of the eyes steal into +the corners and again meet, causing a second time very great +embarrassment, and very guilty colouring of cheek and brow, as if each +had been detected by the other in some crime. So they rode together in +this pleasant manner for full half a mile; and one would believe, from +their silence and the wide space they guardedly preserved between each +other, that they had quarrelled. But their countenances, though grave, +looked too happy and sentimental for that; besides, a slight smile, or, +rather, just the soft reflection of one, played about their mouths. This +for several weeks past had been precisely their bearing towards one +another whenever they happened to be alone together; but, when in the +presence of others, they both gave way to the highest tone of gayety and +spirits. It was all very strange, very! + +The lover at length looked ahead, and saw, through an opening in the +forest, the towers of Castle Cor not a quarter of a mile distant. He +involuntarily reined in his horse, and looked full in Kate's face; his +lips parted; he essayed to speak, but his voice adhered to his jaws. So +he gasped, sighed, and laid his hand eloquently on his heart. Kate also +saw the towers, and reined up at the same moment he did; looked demurely +on the ground, and then, as if she had nothing better to do, let fall +her riding whip, notwithstanding she had to untie it from her wrist to +do so. Instantly Lord Robert threw himself from his saddle, giving the +bridle a slight shake as his foot left the stirrup, a hint which the +sagacious animal obeyed by bounding off towards the stables, and took it +from the ground; then blushingly, and with a conscious look, as if +contemplating a daring deed, he presented it to her. As, with averted +eyes, she extended her hand for it, he placed in it tremblingly, instead +of the whip, his own hand. She neither started nor turned her head, but +her young bosom rose and fell quick, and he thought the hand fluttered +with a new pulsation as it lay in his. She did not withdraw it. He grew +confident, and slightly, very slightly, pressed a finger. Thereupon the +little hand only throbbed the quicker. He pressed two, then three +fingers, and then, with a boldness that grew with the occasion, he +folded the soft, gloved hand all in his own. The next moment he coloured +with conscious guilt, and looked up into her face as if about to throw +himself upon her mercy. But she was so intently watching the rich dies +of a sunset cloud that she evidently did not know what he was about; so, +instead of asking pardon and looking very sad, he put on a very happy +countenance, and, ever and anon casting his glance upward to her face, +began, little by little, to draw off her glove. But, as she made no +demonstrations of being aware of what he was doing, he pulled the glove +quite off. For an instant he held it suspended, while he stole a very +doubtful glance into her half-averted face; the next moment the warm, +snowy hand was pressed between his own, and then, growing bolder apace, +he began to cover it with kisses. Hereupon the maiden slowly turned her +head and looked down at the bold youth with a look that she doubtless +meant to be a reproving one; he cast his eyes to the ground, still +holding the quiet hand nestled between both his own, and said, in a soft +whisper, + +"Kate!" + +"Robert!" was the equally gentle suspiration in reply. + +"Are you angry?" + +"I ought to be." + +"Then you are not?" was the half-joyful, half-doubting interrogation. + +"No," was breathed in accents so very gentle that it was conveyed to him +by the movements of the lips alone. + +"Shall we walk to the castle?" + +"Yes." + +And the young lady, studiously avoiding his eyes, was gently and +passively assisted to the ground; as she touched it, his arm glided +about her taper waist, and somehow their lips met, and again met, and +met again, and met so often, that the horse was far out of sight before +the fact forced itself on the mind of the maiden. + +"Robert, desist! There! my horse has galloped off!" + +"Shall I bring him to you?" asked the delighted youth, in a tone that +showed he did not very much apprehend she would despatch him on such a +mission. + +"No, we can walk. But it is so foolish!" + +"What?" + +"Nothing." + +And they walked on together for a few moments in silence. + +"Kate!" + +"Robert." + +"Do you love me?" + +"Yes." + +"May I seal the confession?" + +"A fine time to ask leave now!" she said, laughing. + +Another kiss, and then another, and then a great many others, firmly +sealed this little love affair, and placed them on a perfect +understanding with each other. They were from this moment lovers! They +quarrelled only twenty times in the subsequent interval of a week that +preceded her birthday; than which no greater proof need be advanced to +show the new relation in which they stood to each other. But, then, they +always made up again; the youth, whose hasty spirit caused him five +times out of seven to be the offender, being ever ready to atone by +every loverlike device. + +But such a sad breach as had been made between them this day was without +a parallel. To his own mind it seemed too wide to be repaired; too gross +to be atoned for by words. He, on his part, felt that the lofty +character and proud spirit of Kate, though love plead never so loudly, +would not brook the insult her feelings had received by the wild +outbreak of his passions in her presence. He felt that he had forfeited +all title to a place in her affections; and that her indignation was +justly roused by the outrageous deed he had madly attempted: with +bitterness of heart he acknowledged that he deserved to be banished for +ever from her presence, and to be remembered by her only with contempt. +But he knew not of what enduring material a maiden's heart is composed; +he knew not that, when love takes possession of it, like a magnet thrown +among some delicate machinery of steel communicating to every part a +portion of its own mysterious nature, it penetrates and pervades every +attribute, converts every passion to its own hue, and renders each +feeling subservient to itself. To its arbitrament all things are +referred. Reason, judgment, prudence, and even piety become secondary to +the will of this autocrat of the heart; and a deaf ear is turned even to +the counsels of the wise and good when they do not conform to its +dictates. Such is the power of love--wondrous, vast, incomprehensible! A +religion without a god or a future; unbounded in its power; universal in +its extent; all-pervading in its influences! + +He galloped along through the winding avenues of the silent forest, +scarce roused from his sad meditations by the startled deer that fled at +his approach, yet stooping mechanically as some old oak flung its +gigantic arm low across the path. Unconsciously he urged on his noble +horse to its utmost speed; his bonnet pressed down over his gloomy brow; +his eyes dark and settled in their expression; and his hand nervously +grasping the rein. At one moment he would drop his head upon his breast, +and be overcome by the bitterness of grief. At the next he would throw +back his head, and with eyes flashing fire, gnash his glittering teeth, +shake his clinched hands above his head, and curse in the face of +Heaven; while the horse, catching his fierce spirit, would erect his +bristling mane, and bound madly forward like the wind. These terrible +paroxysms of mingled grief and rage would pass away, and then he would +ride slowly, with his arms folded, and with an expression of settled +despondency. Three several times did he check his horse, and, +half-turning him round towards Castle Cor, pause, and seem to deliberate +between the suggestions of mingled hope and doubt. But, after a few +seconds' thought, he would shake his head despairingly and again spur +forward. + +In one of his moods of sullen gloom, with his arms folded across his +breast, his head drooped, the reins lying loosely upon the horse's neck, +he came upon an old ruin half a league from Castle More, and within the +boundaries of its wide domain. Here and there, amid a confusion of +moss-grown fragments that everywhere strewed the ground, rose to his eye +a mouldering buttress; the half of a Gothic window; a ruined tower, +lifting itself in melancholy loneliness, in the last stages of decay; +or, a doorway choked to its lintel with rubbish. Over all crept the ivy, +that lovely emblem of charity, binding up, with its slender fingers, the +wounded towers; covering with its thick robe of leaves the nakedness +that time had exposed; and, where it could neither heal nor strengthen, +wreathing about the dilapidated walls garlands of enduring verdure. + +It was the ruins of a chapel, where, centuries before, the barons of +Castle More had worshipped. Now all was desolation. Its bell was hushed; +its choir for ever silent. The priests--the worshippers, where were +they? sleeping beneath the ruins of the crumbling chancel; their high or +holy names, which no man remembers, carved deep in the superincumbent +marble. Apparently coeval with the fallen temple, near its eastern end +grew an aged tree, spreading over half the ruin its huge broad arms as +if it would fain protect, in its desolation, the relics of that +structure whose days of honour it had witnessed. A soft evening +sunlight, struggling through the tops of the surrounding forest, shed a +crimson glow over the whole scene, and imparted a quiet and sacred +character to the spot that took from it its aspect of desolation. It +stood there lonely and majestic in its ruin, forcibly suggesting to the +mind the idea (for there does exist a mysterious sympathy of association +between man and inanimate objects) of calm, Christian old age, ripe in +years and holiness, gathering about itself, with dignity and grace, its +mantle of decay. + +Wrapped in his gloomy thoughts, the horseman was absently following the +path that wound among the ruins, when, as he turned a sudden angle of +the pile, his horse started and nearly threw him from his saddle. Roused +to a sense of his situation, he recovered his seat, seized the bridle, +and looked up. Directly in his path stood a woman, in a short scarlet +cloak, then, as now, the favourite colour of the Irish peasantry, +leaning on a long white staff, curiously carved with mysterious figures. +She was beneath the middle height, and hideously hunch-backed. Her hair +was bright red, of extraordinary length, and hung down in masses nearly +to the ground. Around her forehead was bound a cincture of beads, woven +into singular devices, which confined a sort of turban of green silk. +Her complexion was bronzed by exposure, but evidently once had been +fair. Her features were stern and almost masculine, yet bearing traces +of feminine beauty: the straight forehead, contracted by a rigid frown; +the aquiline nose; the arched brow, and thin, well-shaped lips, with a +roundly turned chin, were all, evidently, wrecks of what had once been +beautiful. Her eye was large, full, and clear, and would still have been +handsome but for a lurking devil in it. But the unsightly deformity of +her person, if natural, must always have served to render nugatory any +charm of countenance; and, whatever might have been her attractions in +youth, her present appearance was calculated to excite only feelings of +mingled fear and disgust. The young man gazed at her a moment as she +stood in his path, and then, in a tone that was in unison with his +present humour, said fiercely, + +"Curses light on thee, hag! Stand from my path, or I will ride over +thee, and trample thy hideous carcass with my horse's hoofs." + +"Robert Lester, as men call thee," she said, without changing her +position, in a cold, hard voice, and with a malicious laugh, "thou hast +been crossed in thy will, and art out of temper. Dost wish revenge?" + +"Woman, avaunt! I want none of thy counsel. From my path, or I will ride +thee down!" + +As he spoke, the impatient horseman struck his spurs deep into his +horse's flanks, and urged the animal forward; the beast reared and +plunged fearfully to either side, but refused to advance. + +"Ha, ha, Robert More! If men will obey thee thy brute will not. He has +the eye to see dangers that are hidden from mortal vision." + +"Witch--fiend!" cried the young man, fiercely, "I will dismount and hurl +thee from the path if thou bar my way farther. Stand aside and let me +pass!" + +And a second time the infuriated rider urged the terrified beast +forward, but was nearly unhorsed by his efforts to turn from the road. +In an instant he leaped to the ground and advanced upon her. She smiled +scornfully as he approached, caught the arm he extended to seize her, +and held him in her grasp with the force of a vice. + +"Ha, ha, Robert More! thou art defeated." + +Quick as lightning, with his other hand he drew from his breast a +hunting-knife, and, elevating it above her head, said, in a cool, +decided tone, + +"Elpsy, release me, or I sheath this blade in thy heart!" + +She fixed her dark wild eyes upon his face an instant, and reading +aright its resolute expression, let go her grasp. + +"'Tis well for thee, Elpsy," he said, returning the blade to his bosom; +"thou hast saved thy wretched life, and thy blood is not on my soul. Now +leave the path!" he added, sternly. "By the cross! ere I will be bearded +thus on my own lands, I will command my retainers to hurl thee into the +sea." + +"_Thy_ lands! _thy_ retainers! Ha, ha, ha, Robert _More_! I have in +store a punishment for thee and for thy pride, that will repay me for +all thy arrogance! Oh, how thy haughty soul will writhe! how thy proud +spirit will groan! _Have I not a cup for thee to drink?_--Oh, have I! +Ha, ha, ha!" + +The foreboding words and wild laugh of the hag sunk deep into the soul +of the young man. He was impressed by her manner as much as by her +language, and, with a changing cheek, said quickly, + +"What mean these dark words, Elpsy?" + +"Dark! yes, they are dark to thee now, but I can make them clear as the +sun at noon; ay, proud Robert of Lester! they shall scorch thee! wither +thy soul! cause thy heart to shrink! thy neck to bow! thy head to lie in +the very dust! Oh, will not the lowest slave among the vassals that wait +thy word pity thee, when thine ears receive what I would reveal!" + +The wild prophetic air, the energy and taunting scorn with which she +spoke, alarmed while it enraged him. + +"Madness! Woman--fiend! monster of deformity! speak, I command thee." + +"_Thou_ command _me_, Robert Lester! Well, there will be a time! Wouldst +thou know what I have to reveal?" she asked, fixing on him her scorching +eyes. + +"Beware if thou art mocking my fears! I will pluck thy tongue from thy +throat, and fling it to my hounds if thou hast trifled with me!" + +"What I will tell thee will be so true, thou wilt indeed wish the tongue +that spoke it had been plucked from its roots ere it had given it +utterance. Nevertheless, the time has come for thee to hear; and I may +no longer delay the recital of what, for thy sake," she added, with a +softer manner, "I would bear close locked in my breast to the grave. +But," she concluded, in a lofty tone, "what is to be revealed must be +made known, though the heavens were to fall and the earth to quake. Who +shall stay the hand of fate when once it is lifted to destroy?" + +"Elpsy," said Lester, in a deep and earnest voice, unable to throw off +the presentiment of coming evil her words had awakened, "I would believe +thou hadst something to make known to me either of good or evil, though +of the latter alone I know thou art the minister. Yet, if thou hast +aught to say, I am ready to listen, good mother!" he added, in a mild +and persuasive tone. + +"Robert More," she said, in a voice of super-human softness, while the +frigid and austere character of her face passed away, and her features +assumed a more womanly and gentler expression; "those last few words +were kindly spoken, and became thee: they have touched my heart--for +even Elpsy has a heart," she said, with sarcastic bitterness; "for those +kind expressions I would withhold from thee the knowledge of the doom +that awaits thee. But it is not for me," she added, in an enthusiastic +voice, and with returning wildness of the eye; "it is not for one like +me to refuse to obey the decree that has gone forth against thee. As a +mortal, I pity thee! as a woman, I could weep for thee! and as--No," she +interrupted herself, and muttered, "no, he shall not know all now; he +shall not learn all till my soul is on the wing; then, _then_ will it be +time enough!" She then added aloud, "as the minister of the invisible +world, I must do as I am commanded. Robert More, if you can bear to hear +what I am doomed to tell, follow me!" + +"Nay, Elpsy, speak to me here." + +"Obey me!" she commanded, in an authoritative voice, that had a singular +power over his will, and which he had not the ability to resist. + +Without waiting for a reply, or looking round to see if she were +followed, she turned from the bridle-path, and, bounding with great +activity and with a sort of mad exhilaration of spirits over the +fragments of stone that lay in her way, directed her course towards a +low door at the foot of the crumbling tower. He hesitated a moment, and +then, leaving his horse cropping the long rich grass that grew among the +ruins, followed her. She entered the ruin, and, guided by a dim twilight +that penetrated through the top of the ruinous arch, led the way along a +covered passage which ran in the direction of the chancel. Its extremity +was wrapped in total darkness. + +"Elpsy, I will follow thee no farther," he called, after advancing till +he could no longer take a step safely in the impenetrable gloom that +surrounded him, while she walked before him with a free, rapid, and +confident pace. + +"Take the end of my staff," she said, returning a few steps and placing +it within his reach. + +"Thy cabalistic wand, woman!" he repeated, in a tone of horror, +recoiling from her several paces and crossing himself. "Avoid thee!" + +Like many among the highborn and educated of that day, Lester was not +above the superstitious notions of the times, and assented to, perhaps +without firmly believing, the existence and power of sorceresses. Among +the great number of these singular beings that about this time rose up +and filled the minds of all men, both in Great Britain and the +New-England colonies, with pious alarm and godly horror, was Elpsy More, +or "Elpsy of the Tower," for by both of these names she was known, who +had the reputation, above all others who practised the black art, of +being on the most intimate footing with his Satanic highness. Dark and +wild were the tales that had gone forth, and were repeated in hall and +cot, of the supernatural deeds of this communer with the world of +spirits. By the imaginations of the credulous and timid she was invested +with powers that could belong only to the Creator of the universe; and +it was believed by all good Catholics, that every Whitsuntide the devil +came to dine with her in the chancel of the old church, making a table +of the marble tomb of Black Morris O'More; who, as the tradition went, +sold his soul for the love of a beautiful lady, who turned out to be a +fiend, and on the bridal night flew away with him into the regions of +wo. + +When Lester crossed the threshold of the gloomy gallery, these tales of +diablerie had come crowding thick upon his memory, painted in their most +vivid hues by his imagination; and with all his daring his blood ran +cold in his veins: nevertheless, he had continued to grope on until he +could go no farther, when he called to her. As the staff she offered +came in contact with his hand, he had shuddered and shrunk back, +remembering how that it was said her crutch was given her by her master, +who had charmed it by hardening it in the fires of the ever-burning +lake; and that whomsoever she touched with it, or even pointed it to, +that wore neither cross, bead, nor blessed relic about his neck, his +soul would surely be lost. Lester trembled as these legends passed +through his mind, crossed himself, and with great devotion muttered a +_paternoster_. + +"Here, then, is my hand!" she said, seeing his hesitation. + +"Fearful being, I will not go with thee." + +"Robert More, obey me! There is my hand. It shall not harm thee," she +added, in that peculiar tone which held such a singular power over his +volition. + +Without replying, he took the extended hand and followed her through the +dark passage a few yards farther, when she stopped and said, + +"Heed thy footsteps! Here are steps--thou must go down with me." + +As she spoke she began to descend a flight of stone stairs into a vault +beneath. He would have held back, but she gently and irresistibly led +him down, when they stood upright in a damp chamber, in which a faint +light struggled through an opening in the floor of the chapel above. The +dank, noisome atmosphere of the place, and its subterraneous position +beneath the chancel, filled him with awe and fear. + +"Woman, whither have you led me?" he asked, in a voice deep with the +mingled emotions of suspicion, alarm, and resentment. + +"Into the tomb where rest the bones of Black Morris O'More," she +answered, in a voice that sounded hollow and sepulchral. + +"Mother of Heaven!" he gasped, "then is my soul lost!" + +"Thou wilt little heed thy soul, proud youth, when thou hast heard my +tale." + +"Be speedy with thy story, then; for, good or ill befall, I will not +long remain here." + +"Fear not; thou art in no danger! Step cautiously, and I will guide thee +across this chamber to my own house. This is only the anteroom to it. +Ha, ha!" she laughed frightfully. "See! I have grim Morris O'More to +stand guard over my door." + +As she said this she struck something, which, in the darkness, rattled +like bones suspended from the ceiling of the vault. + +"Sorceress!" cried he, shuddering at the sound, "I will go no farther." + +"Come with me, Robert More!" she said, firmly; "and see thou fall not +over the tomb of Black Morris in the way." + +She drew him by the arm as she spoke with a strength far beyond his own. +He felt for his hunting-knife, determined to free himself by striking +her with it. + +"Hold!" she cried, divining his intentions; "I will not harm thee. Here +is my abode!" + +While speaking, she struck against the opposite wall with her staff, and +a door flew open, exposing the interior of a small circular chamber +receiving a dim light from the sky, which was seen calm and blue through +the roofless tower above. + +"Welcome to the abode of Elpsy of the Tower!" she said, with irony. +"'Tis not the princely one thou art accustomed to, but it will serve thy +present purpose. Didst know that on thy domains thou hadst such a brave +woodland palace? Look about thee!" + +The young man entered the room with a feeling of relief that he no +longer was in the very sepulchre, though still within reach, of the tomb +of Black Morris the accursed. The apartment in which he now found +himself originally had been constructed by the priests for the +preservation of the sacred vessels of the church in times of hostile +invasion of their domains. It was a subterranean room, situated beneath +a circular tower or turret that rose at the southeast angle of the +chapel. The tower once had contained three floors, one above the other; +the mortises for the sleepers being yet visible, ranged regularly and at +equal distances around the inner side. The top or roof of the tower, +with its battlement and Gothic ornaments, had long since fallen in; and +the floors, down even to the ground that formed the floor of the witch's +apartment and the very foundation of the tower, had successively decayed +and disappeared. The only entrance to this tunnel-like turret was the +door from the sepulchre by which he had been admitted. From this vault +to the chambers formerly above, access had been obtained by a circular +stairway within the tower and conducting from floor to floor, the beds +of the beams and fixtures which supported them still remaining in the +masonry. The object of these once-existing upper chambers of the round +tower is involved in mystery, though tradition hath given to the "three +tower-chambers" each their own wild tale of dark superstition and +priestly crime. + +As he stood in the vault in the bottom of the tower, and looked far out +at the sky, it was like gazing upward from the bottom of a well. The +light came in strongly at the top, but grew fainter and fainter as it +penetrated deeper, till only a dim twilight reached the chamber below. +He recognised the tower as the loftiest of the ruin which often he had +made a landmark when hunting, and ascertained thereby his position: this +discovery rendering him more at his ease, he turned to survey the +subterranean abode which Elpsy had chosen. + +In the midst of the floor was a heap of cinders, on which stood a small +iron kettle, apparently the only utensil she used for preparing her +food. A stone escutcheon, broken from one of the tombs, served her for a +seat, and a pile of fern and leaves for a bed. These constituted all the +necessaries that her singular and solitary way of life called for. But +there were other objects that attracted his attention, and thrilled his +blood as he gazed on them. Beside the door, its bones tied together with +strips of deer's hide, hung a skeleton of great size, its ghastly jaws +carefully bound up and grinning horribly, and its hollow, bony sockets +filled with stag's eyes wildly staring at him. Sculls, cross-bones, and +other hideous mementoes of the charnel-house were arranged along the +sides of the walls; while charms, amulets, and all the numerous +instruments of sorcery lay about. Through the open door he beheld the +stone effigy of Black Morris, which had slided from its recumbent +posture above his tomb by the sinking of the earth, standing nearly +upright, staring with his stony gaze into the round chamber, before +which swung the skeleton of which his tomb had been despoiled. The tomb +itself was open, and its black sepulchral mouth yawned as if it would +gladly receive a new occupant. + +Terrible to Lester's nerves was the trial produced by this scene. Bold +and fearless as he was by nature, he could not suppress emotions of fear +(the cowardice of superstition) at the situation and circumstances in +which he had suffered himself to be drawn by the taunting language of a +wild weird woman, who not only was the professed enemy of all mankind, +but had manifested hostile feelings towards himself. He nevertheless +resolved that, having adventured, he would go through with it, trusting, +with religious faith, that all good saints would help him against +spiritual foes; while for protection against mortal ones, ay, even Elpsy +herself, he trusted to his own coolness, and, if it should come to that, +the broad sharp blade of his hunting-knife. Having fortified his mind +with this resolve, he felt more confidence; and being now in some degree +familiarized with his situation and the ghastly objects around him, he +turned to address the sorceress, who, on entering, had seated herself on +a scull, and, with her chin buried between her hands, continued to fix +her dark eyes upon his face with a mingled expression of pity and +malignant triumph. Before he could speak she rose, and, laying her hand +on his arm, said, in a tone between sadness and derision, + +"How like you my abode, my lord?" + +"'Tis a gloomy place." + +"Ay, and many a gloomy day have I spent in it. Sit ye down on that +stone, _Lord Lester_!" she added, laying a peculiar emphasis upon the +last two words; "'tis a knight's shield, and should be a fit seat for +_thee_!" + +"Is it thus, Elpsy, you use the sculptured armour and the sepultured +bones of my ancestors?" he said, in an indignant tone. + +"_Thy_ ancestors?" she repeated, scornfully. "Sit thou there, _Lord +Lester_. Dost hear, Lord Lester? Open thine ears, and drink in the title +and style well--for 'twill be the last time they will fall upon them." + +"Cease your mockery, woman! Say what thou hast to say, and quickly." + +"Listen!" she said, seating herself on a scull opposite to him, while a +struggle between sympathy and malicious exultation was visible on her +features. "Young, and fair, and brave to look upon withal!" she said, +muttering to herself, and gazing on him steadfastly and thoughtfully; "a +coronet would grace that brow even as if 'twere born to it. Robert +Lester, or Robert More, for men call thee both," she said aloud, bending +her face towards him, and speaking in an impressive manner, "now listen +to the tale I have in store for thee. Fix thine eye upon me that I may +see it blench as I go on. Oh! it's a tale for a Christmas eve, I trow!" + +She was silent a few seconds, as if sending her thoughts back through +the past; then, in a low voice, which rose or fell, was wild or sad, +slow or rapid, as her subject moved her, she began: + +"Eighteen long years ago there dwelt by the seaside a poor fisherman, +honest, hard labouring in his vocation, but contented with his lot, +never having known better. He was a widower, but had an only daughter, +his sole companion, and the only link that bound him to his kind. This +child grew up to be a tall and comely maiden. Her eyes were of the rich +brown hue of the ripe chestnut. Her hair, soft as the floss of Florence, +was a fair brown; but when the winds that came off the sea would toss it +in the sunlight, there played over it a blaze of gold. It never had +known confinement, but floated like a sunset cloud about her head." + +"What has this to do with thy tale?" demanded Lester, impatiently. + +"Listen!" she said, calmly but firmly; her features, as her thoughts +seemed to dwell pleasurably on the beauty of the maiden, becoming more +humanized, while her voice modulated and harmonized with the words she +uttered. "This fair maid grew up, unknowing and unknown; budding and +blooming like a lone flower by the seaside. Her laugh was merry as the +carol of the glad lark as it soars and sings; her spirits were light as +the sparkling foam of the summer's sea; her heart as pure as the +moonbeam that slept on the wave. Her happiness was in her father's smile +and in his paternal love; and, besides her little cot, and the wide sea +which she loved, and the tall cliff that towered above her home, she +knew not, until she had entered her eighteenth year, that there was any +other world. Alas, for that maiden, that she had not remained in +ignorance! Alas, for her, that her heart was not as cold as the moonbeam +it resembled in its purity! One black and stormy night, a voice, +shouting for aid, reached the ears of the old fisherman and his child, +heard above the howlings of wind and roaring of the angry deep. + +"'Rise, my child!' he cried, 'there is life in peril.' + +"In a few moments they were by the seaside, and by flashes of lightning +beheld a small bark driving towards the shore before the tempest. On its +prow stood a group of men, who waved their arms wildly as the lightning +showed to them the forms of the old man and his daughter standing on the +beach, and shouted for help. Swift and irresistible, like an affrighted +courser, the fatal vessel drove onward, now lifted high on a surge, now +plunging into a yawning chasm, till at length, borne to a great height +on a wave, she trembled an instant on its top, and then, descending like +an arrow, struck against the bottom and was dashed to pieces. Wild, +fearful, unearthly was the shriek that pierced the ears of the fisherman +and his child! They looked where, a moment before, it went careering +over the foaming billows, and the lightning gleamed only upon fragments +of the wreck, human heads, and wildly waving arms. One solitary cry rent +the air after she struck, and then naught but the shriek of the winds, +like a human wail, and the tumult of the sea as it lashed the shore in +its fury, was to be heard." + +"What has this to do with the tale I came hither to learn?" asked the +youth, impatiently; nevertheless, had he listened to her with interest, +deeply impressed by the energy of her voice and manner, as she warmed in +her narrative. + +"Much," she said, quietly. "Listen! The fisherman, with his hair +streaming in the wind, and his garments wet with the spray, long +traversed the beach to see if human life had been cast on shore. He was +accompanied by his daughter, who, with her golden locks glancing in the +lightning, her lofty forehead calm and firm with womanly energy, and her +fair young face lighted up with the noble spirit that inspired her to +the task, looked like some bright spirit of peace that had come to stay +the tempest. They watched by that lonely shore till the dawn broke, +when, by its first faint glimmer, the maiden discovered an object like a +human form lying on the edge of the sea beside a rock, whither it had +been tossed by the stormy waves. With a cry between hope and mistrust +she sprang fearlessly towards the object--for, in the stern duties of +humanity to its suffering kind, fear nor false delicacy have no place, +and, if they had, that maiden was too good, too ignorant of life to know +either. As she came close to it, she saw that it was the body of a man. +She placed her hand upon his temples. They were warm. He was alive! +Alas, far better would it have been for her had he been cold as the +stone beside which he lay! His pulse was very faint; she could just feel +it throb like a fine chord vibrating against her finger. He was lying +upon his side naturally, like one in sleep. It was not yet light enough +to see whether he was young or old, but she knew, from the soft smooth +skin of his brow, that many winters of manhood had not passed over his +head. With her aid her father bore him to their hut, and, after bathing +his forehead and hands in spirits, and applying for his restoration the +few but effective means known to those whose lives are passed on the +sea, he opened his eyes, and, after a little while, was able to sit up. +After having waited a few moments to recall his faculties, he seemed to +have become conscious of his situation, and the fatal cause which led to +it: with a smile of gratitude he looked up, and, glancing first at the +father and then at the daughter, acknowledged, in a voice and with a +look that thrilled to the heart of the poor maiden, how much he owed +them for their exertions in saving his life." + +"This is a long story, Elpsy, and, methinks, little to the purpose!" +interrupted Lester. + +"Listen! His language was courteous, and his speech addressed alone to +her; his manner was also gentle, and such as would please a maiden. He +got up and walked to the window to look out upon the beach, which was +strewn with fragments of the wreck; and, as he did so, she was struck +with his noble figure, and proud, soldierly air; and the soft sadness +that came over his face, as he surveyed the melancholy relics of his +gallant vessel, touched her heart. He was not above thirty years of age, +with a high, fair brow, and a cheek, though sunburnt, bright as a +child's. His hair was of a silvery hue, that harmonized with his +complexion, and flowed long and in shining waves about his shoulders. +His eyes were as blue as if they had been mirrors to reflect the +summer's sky, and, as she met them, were tender, yet ardent, in their +expression. His smile was fascinating, and his rich voice was full of +melody and most manly in its tones. Poor fisher's daughter! She gazed on +him bewildered with love, and lost her heart ere she scarce knew she +possessed one! He turned away from the window, and his eyes met the +fervent gaze of the maiden. She blushed; her eyelids fell; her young +bosom heaved tumultuously, and the worldly-wise stranger read her heart +at a glance. + +"The evening of that day (for hour after hour did he linger beneath the +fisherman's lowly roof) they sat together in the door of her cot. He +took her hand, and told her, in a low, gentle voice, how he had sailed +homeward from Spain, where he had been fighting as a soldier; and how, +with his companions, he had been, the last night, driven by the tempest +on that inhospitable shore when within five leagues of his destination; +and how that he had lost much treasure by the shipwreck, but that her +presence had made him forget all he had lost; that her smile repaid him +for all that he had suffered. Poor maiden! The hours wore away, yet they +seemed minutes to her; the stars came out, and the tardy moon rose! He +discoursed to her of love, and she listened! Her ears drank in his +words! Her heart was no longer her own. He told her that he loved her, +and received her ingenuous confession in return. He then told her of a +brave tower, that stood amid broad lands five leagues northward, which +owned him as master, and this, he said, he would make her the mistress +of if she would become his bride. She believed and promised. He then +said he must leave her, but would return in a few days in a fair ship, +and claim its fulfilment. The next morning he took his departure. She +wept sorely in his arms when he left her. But, ere her father, who had +been pursuing his daily toil on the deep, returned, she had dried up her +tears and clothed her face with smiles to meet him, lest her sorrow +should make him sad. She did not tell him of her love or the promise of +the stranger: it was the first time she had harboured a secret in her +guileless heart. She was silent from maidenly modesty; for, with the +love that had got into her heart, had entered many new feelings hitherto +unknown to her. + +"Sad and heavy passed the days, when one evening, as she stood upon the +beach looking, now southward for the light skiff of her father, and, +much oftener, northward for the expected bark of her lover, she saw the +evening sun glancing on a white sail that appeared coming round a +promontory a league distant to the north. It bent its course towards the +beach. Her heart fluttered. She knew not what to do for joy; and, in her +impatience, could have flown along the white sand to meet it! Steadily +it bore down towards her. She now forgot to look for the little skiff of +her father; her eyes were fixed alone on the coming bark! It approached +nearer and nearer. She could see forms on the deck. As it came closer, +high on the poop, standing alone like its master spirit, she discovered +her lover. He waved his hand to her, and, as she answered it, the vessel +came to; a boat was launched, and he sprang into it. A few strokes of +the oar sent it to the land, and, leaping out, the handsome stranger +clasped the lovely maiden in his arms. + +"'Come, gentle maid,' he said, in accents of love; 'come and be the +bride of my home and heart.' + +"'Not without my father!' she said, looking anxiously to see if she +could descry his boat. + +"'Think not of him now,' said he; 'he shall soon come, and cheer with +his presence your new home.' + +"'He will grieve when he finds I have left him,' she said, with filial +tenderness. 'I cannot go.' + +"'He shall, ere long, see you again,' he said, gently leading her along; +'come, dearest, fly with me to the abode I have prepared for you. This +shall be our bridal night!' + +"The maiden suffered herself to be borne to the waiting bark; its sails +were trimmed to the breeze, and swiftly it cut its way through the +crested billows towards the direction from which it came." + +"Hast done?" asked the impatient Lester. + +"Hear me!" said Elpsy, in a stern tone. "The morning's sun shone upon a +dark square tower, with a single wing that looked upon the sea, and his +beams penetrated a stained lattice, and fell in brilliant and varied +dies on the floor of a chamber within it. In that chamber sat the +fisher's daughter; and the fair-locked stranger was bending over her as +she sat by the window, dallying with her golden tresses. The night upon +the sea had been her bridal night! But, alas! unblessed by priest, +unmarked by altar, or prayer, or vow! She was neither bride nor maid." + +Here the witch's voice trembled with emotion, while her eyes grew rigid, +and her brow became gloomy and fearful to look upon. + +"Who did this maiden this foul wrong?" asked the youth, with a flashing +eye. + +"Hurtel of the Red-Hand!" + +"Ha! that rebel Irish chief, who, to save his head, fled to the +Colonies, and who, for his bloodthirsty spirit, got the title of 'The +Red-Hand?'" demanded Lester, with interest. + +"The same." + +"I would have sworn it! Go on." + +She smiled grimly, and then continued: + +"For many days he was devoted to his victim; but amused her, when she +besought him to heal her wounded honour by the words of the holy mass of +marriage, with idle excuses; and so she was put off from day to day, +till she found there was life within her bosom, and that she was about +to become a wedless mother. + +"Gradually he got to neglect her, and daily grew more and more estranged +from her; and at length, heading a secret conspiracy, his tower became +the rendezvous of insurgent leaders, and day and night rung with +bacchanalian revels. Lonely she sat, evening after evening, in her +solitary chamber, with her face resting on her hand, and her eyes +looking south over the sea; her thoughts winging their way to her lowly +cot and its humble occupant, who, perhaps, mourned his daughter as +having perished in the deep. + +"At length she became a mother. _He_ was away at the time, at the head +of a party of conspirators bound on an expedition of treason and +bloodshed. On the third day afterward he returned. She heard the tramp +of horses, and with hurried joy opening the lattice--for, +notwithstanding his neglect, she loved him still--saw him riding rapidly +towards the tower, followed only by a single rider, and leading by the +rein a palfrey, on which was mounted a beautiful lady; she saw that her +head drooped, that she appeared sick and faint, and that he supported +her by passing one arm about her waist. A pang of jealousy, the first +she had ever known, shot through her bosom. They reined up beneath the +window: she saw him take her in his arms from the saddle, and bear her +within the tower. Then, with surprise, she heard him, in a loud tone, +give commands for all the defences of the castle to be put up, as if he +expected to encounter a siege. She returned again to her couch faint and +sick at heart, and waited his appearance. An hour elapsed ere he came, +and painful were the thoughts that agitated her bosom. When at length +she heard his footsteps, she rose to meet him with a smile of love, with +her infant extended in her arms. His dress was disordered and bloody, as +if he was just from conflict; and she at once saw, for affection is +quick and suspicious ever, that his brow was dark and angry. + +"'Ha!' he cried, scornfully, 'what have we here?' + +"'The pledge of your former love,' she said, with gentle reproof, +offering it to his arms. + +"'By the head of St. Peter!' he exclaimed, pushing her rudely away, and +fixing upon her a terrible look (which but one other living can give," +said Elpsy, with peculiar emphasis, fixing her gaze upon Lester), "'I +brought thee not hither to breed brats! Fling it from the window!' + +"And, without deigning to cast a glance upon it, he strode across the +chamber, while, with a cry of pain and mortal anguish, she sunk down +upon the floor. He turned and looked back at her for a few seconds, and +then said fiercely, + +"'Rise, woman! I have brought a lady hither who will need thy services +ere the dawn. Up, I say. Thou shalt be her servant if I bid thee. Such a +station will best suit thy birth. Up, or I will tear thy brat from thee +and cast it from the balcony.' + +"She clung convulsively to her babe and rose from the ground. But was +she not changed in that little while, Robert More? Was not her deep love +turned into deep hate? Ay! as if by the wave of a wand her soul was +changed, and she became a different being. 'Tis but a step from the +deepest love to the deepest hate in woman's heart, when she feels that +she is deliberately injured. Then lightning is not quicker than the +change--hell not deeper than her hate! She rose from the floor another +creature. He saw the alteration in her countenance, and, for a moment, +his guilty spirit cowered. But Satan helped him to banish all feeling +from his breast, and he waved her sternly away. + +"'Whither?' she asked, meeting his fierce gaze with a cool glance of +contempt. + +"'To the chamber opening from the hall,' he said, in a tone of less +authority, dropping his eyes before her steady look. + +"As he went out he muttered to himself, but the mother's open ears +caught the meaning of the words, + +"'That child shall die!' + +"She shuddered, but spoke not: clasping her child to her bosom after he +had left her, she tottered from the room and descended to the hall. +Entering the apartment designated, she there beheld the lady whom she +had seen ride up to the tower. She was reclining on a couch, and +appeared to be overpowered by fatigue and grief. She was very lovely, +with fine dark eyes that were filled with tears, and raven hair that was +spread dishevelled over her pillow. She turned her face as the door +opened, and her countenance brightened with hope as she saw the approach +of one of her own sex. The young mother advanced to the couch and +offered her consolation. The lady glanced at the swaddled infant, and +asked if she were the wife of 'Hurtel of the Red-Hand.' + +"'No,' was the sad, yet stern, reply. + +"The lady ceased to inquire further, and, being in her turn asked how +she came there, said that she was a noble lady and a wife." + +"A noble lady!" repeated Lester, with interest. + +"Now that there is high blood spoken of, you can feel an interest in my +story," she said, sarcastically. "Listen! She told how her lord had gone +that morning at the head of a party of gentlemen to attack a strong +position of the insurgents, when, anxious and impatient for +intelligence, she rode out, accompanied by several servants, nearly a +league from her castle, in hopes of meeting him or a messenger. She got +no tidings of him, and was on her return, when one overtook her with a +message from her lord, saying that he had gained a signal victory over +the conspirators, who were totally routed with great slaughter, and that +their chief, Hurtel of the Red-Hand, had barely escaped with his life." + +"A battle with conspirators, and defeat of Hurtel of the Red-Hand. By +Heaven! woman, my father once fought and conquered this same chief! +Ha--your looks! what--speak--was it--was she--no--go on, it cannot be!" + +The sorceress smiled mysteriously and continued, + +"'I had hardly received this joyful news,' she said, 'when three +horsemen, riding at full speed, came spurring behind us. They were +passing us, when one of them, whom I recognised as Hurtel of the +Red-Hand, turned in his saddle as he dashed by, and, looking at me +earnestly, exclaimed, + +"'The countess, by all that's fortunate! This will help redeem the day's +reverses, and give me a chance for my head!" + +"'As he spoke he threw himself, with his company, sword in hand, upon my +servants, and, after a brief struggle, in which he lost one of his +party, either slew or dispersed them; and then, ere I had time to +collect my thoughts, he seized the rein of my palfrey and conveyed me +hither. His object must be either ransom, or, more probably, the hope of +being able, with me in his power, to make his own terms with the +victorious party, of which my noble lord is captain. You, who have so +recently become a mother, will sympathize with me at this crisis.' + +"I will briefly pass over the events that followed," continued Elpsy. +"Before dawn the Lady Lester was prematurely delivered of a male child; +a fine, black-eyed boy, healthy and robust; but, through weakness and +mental anxiety, she soon after became insensible, and neither caressed +nor opened her eyes to look upon it. At sunrise the insurgent chief +entered the chamber, and demanded which was the fisher's brat. There was +an expression upon his face and a dark look in his eye that boded ill. +With a convulsive shudder the mother shrunk from his gaze and flew to +the bed, on the foot of which slept the two infants. She was just about +to clasp her own to her heart, with the resolution to defend it with her +life, when suddenly she checked the maternal impulse, and, turning to +him, said, as if her conduct would depend upon his reply, + +"'What would you do with it?' + +"'Give it me!' he demanded, more fiercely, 'or I will slay both thee and +thy young one.' + +"And he approached her menacingly as he spoke. + +"She once more bent over the babes! She dared not disobey: yet a +mother's love called loudly at her heart. Her babe's life was all in all +to her. It must be saved! She thought only of saving it! + +"'I wait!' he said, sternly. + +"Instinctively she caught up the babe of the noble lady and placed it in +his arms. + +"''Tis here! But spare, oh, spare it!' she cried, as he strode from the +chamber with it in his rude grasp. + +"Her heart smote her for what she had done. Leaving behind her her own +babe, which she had saved by this maternal deception, she followed, +clinging to him, and entreating him to spare the innocent. He heeded her +not, but advanced rapidly to a balcony that overhung the water thirty +feet above it, and, heedless of her cries, cast it over. She sprang +forward, and saw that the swaddling robe in which it was wrapped had +caught the point of a sharp rock, and that it hung suspended by it +within a foot of the water. With a cry of joy she had nearly sprung off +to save the babe, when, seeing that, by a bold leap from the balustrade, +she could reach a projecting rock, from which she could clamber down to +the water, she prepared to take it. But her exclamation caused him to +turn back; and seeing the fall of the child had been so singularly +arrested, and that she was about to attempt its rescue, he grew black +with rage, and with a violent blow, as she was in the act of springing +to the rock, struck her from the balcony into the sea. As she fell she +caught by the edges of the cliff, and, in some degree, broke her fall, +but, nevertheless, descended heavily into the water. It was not deep, +and she recovered her feet, caught the babe in her arms, and, staggering +to a sandy part of the shore, sunk down insensible. When she recovered +her senses the sun was high in the heavens. She attempted to rise, but +found she was deeply bruised, and that her spine was much injured by +striking against the rock in her descent. She looked up to the balcony. +It was closed, and all was silent. It was evident that the murderer, +supposing the fall fatal, had not the courage to watch her descent, and +had retired. + +"She immediately resolved not to enter the castle again. With her soul +turned to bitterness, burning with vengeance against the author of her +wrongs, and suffering with pain, she prepared to seek, with the infant +she held in her arms, her father's cot. For her own babe she had no +fears. She knew that it would ever be regarded as that to which the lady +had given birth. It was fifteen miles to her native hut; yet weary, +suffering, ill, she dragged herself thither by the evening of the second +day. Her father, who had long mourned her dead, met her with open arms. +He pitied and nursed her for many long months till she recovered her +health; but her beauty of form was gone for ever. Her soul grew dark +with her woes; vengeance took the place of love in her heart towards him +who had so basely wronged her; and bitterness against all her species +rankled in her breast, and hourly grew deeper and deeper. Her senses at +length became unsteady. She grew restless and moody, and, after two +years abode with her father, she wandered forth, leaving with him the +boy, and never more returned to her natal roof. She sought a wild home +in the vicinity of her own son, where she could daily see him, watch +with pride his growth, and even speak with him unknown and unsuspected. +But when, as he increased in years and stature, he began to look like +his father, she began to hate him too, though, alas! it cost her many a +pang to do so. + +"She now learned, that on the evening of the day on which she had been +hurled from the balcony, the husband of the lady, followed by fifty +armed men, surrounded the tower and demanded her surrender of her +captor. He replied that he would give her up on two conditions: first, +that his lands should not be confiscated: secondly, that he should be +permitted to ride forth, wherever he would, unmolested; which terms the +noble lord promised should be complied with if his lady should say she +had received no insult at his hands; and if, further, he would bind +himself to quit the realm within nine days thereafter. To this he +assented. The gates were shortly after thrown open, and, mounted on the +blood-bay charger which he always rode, he paced forth from his +stronghold, passed slowly and sternly through the lines of besiegers, +and, after trotting deliberately till he had got a great ways beyond +them, put spurs to his horse and rode off, no man knew whither: though +there is _one_ knows," she added, mysteriously, as if alluding to +herself, "that within nine days he was on the sea, bound to the New +World. + +"The noble lord took possession of the tower, and joyfully embraced his +lady, and thanked her, saying, that 'notwithstanding she had been a +prisoner, she had not forgotten to make him a father;' and he took up +and kissed the babe as if it had been his own flesh and blood, instead +of sharing the mingled current that flowed in the veins of Hurtel of the +Red-Hand and the fisher's daughter; and from thenceforward he took him +home and made him the heir of his house. A little after that this brave +lord fell in the wars, nor ever knew he the truth to his last dying +breath. Thus ends my story, _Lord Robert of Lester_! Who, think you, was +this noble lord and lady?" + +The young man had listened to the latter part of her narration with +thrilling attention. As she was drawing to the conclusion, he sprang +from his feet, and laid a hand on either shoulder of the narrator, and +looked steadily into her eyes, as if he would read there the dreadful +secret he anticipated, yet dared not meet. He listened to each word that +fell from her lips with the most absorbing and painful interest--his +lips parted--his eyes starting from their sockets--his face convulsed, +and brought close to hers--his fingers almost buried in the flesh of her +shoulders! When, at the conclusion, she put the sarcastic question to +him, which he trembled lest he could too well answer, his hands stole +from her shoulders and suddenly fastened upon her throat. + +"Woman! sorceress! die!" he hoarsely whispered, through his clinched +teeth, with terrible energy. + +She freed herself from his grasp with an extraordinary effort, and flung +him from her, laughing loudly and wildly! + +"Ha, ha, ha! _Robert of Lester!_ Does my story please thee, my _lord_! +_my_ retainers! my _domains_!" + +He looked at her for a moment with appalling calmness, and then, +approaching her, said, in an even tone, but in a hollow voice that was +horrible to hear, + +"Woman or demon, tell me truly, who was this noble lady who gave birth +to a son?" + +"Elizabeth of Lester, the 'Dark Lady of the Rock,'" was the firm reply. + +"Was this change of infants surely made?" he asked, in the same tone. + +"I have said it." + +"And what became of her child?" + +"'Twas left with the fisherman." + +"Does he now live?" he asked, with sudden interest. + +"He does!" + +"As a fisher's lad?" + +"He follows the craft of him who reared him." + +"On the beach beneath Castle Cor?" + +"You have said." + +A strange expression, too complicated to analyze, passed across his +features. But he continued with the same awful calmness: + +"The woman--the daughter--what became of her?" + +"Thou wilt know hereafter." + +"And her own boy--ha! _was_ it a _boy_?" he asked, suddenly. + +"It was." + +"He was taken home by my--by--Lord Lester?" + +"Yes." + +"Have they had no children since, woman?" + +"None, ever, save him who was born beneath the roof of 'Hurtel of the +Red-Hand.'" + +"And this infant--this bastard child--this lowborn boy, grew up within +the halls of Castle More as its liege lord?" + +"He did!" + +"And that boy stands before you?" + +"He does!" + +His calmness was appalling to witness. She shrunk from looking him in +the face, and cowered before the light of his eyes. + +"Mysterious woman! how thou camest by the knowledge of these things I +know not. I believe thou hast spoken truth; thy tale hangs too well +together for malice to invent." + +He struggled with strong emotion. His brow darkened, his face worked +convulsively. At last he seemed to have resolved on a settled purpose. + +"Who knows this hellish secret besides thyself?" he asked, his +penetrating glance resting on her face. + +"None but thee," she said, meeting his eye with a wary look, as if +anticipating danger from the tone of his voice. + +"To every human eye, then, but _thine_, I am Lord of Lester?" + +"Who of mortal mould should suspect thee to be other than he, when she +who bore thee not believes thee to be the fruit of her womb." + +"Thou wilt swear this?" + +"I say it." + +"'Tis enough. Does this fisher's boy know the secret of his birth?" + +"No!" + +"Does the old man?" + +"No!" + +"Thou wilt swear it?" + +"I say it." + +"'Tis well, woman! Thou shalt die!" + +As he spoke he drew from his breast his hunting knife and sprang upon +her. She detected the momentary lighting up of his eye ere he made the +spring, and alertly avoided the blow by leaping through the door: he +fell forward, and the blade shivered against the stone sides of the +tower. + +With a laugh of derision she fled along the passage pursued by him. Her +voice and also her footsteps ceased as he reached the steps leading +upward from the tomb, and, without any sound to guide him, he groped his +way along the gallery. At length he approached the light; but, although +he could see through the door out into the forest, she was nowhere +visible! After vainly searching every part of the ruin, he abandoned the +attempt, remounted his horse, and spurred towards Castle More. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "Oh God! how changed my nature with all this! + I, that had been all love and tenderness-- + The truest and most gentle heart till now + That ever beat--grew suddenly a devil!" + + _Lord Ivan and his Daughter._ + + +What pen can portray, what language describe the feelings of the haughty +Lester, as he rode at furious speed towards Castle More? He could +neither think nor reflect! His thoughts were confused and tempestuous. +He could not realize that he had actually listened to the accursed tale +with his own ears. He felt rather as if he had passed through some +dreadful dream, and the idea flashed on his mind that she had thrown a +dark spell upon his senses, and that the whole was an illusion, and +altogether the result of her art. + +By degrees his thoughts became more settled and run in a direct channel. +He checked his headlong speed and began to reflect: to recall, word by +word, the narrative of Elpsy; weigh each sentence; match fact with fact; +each circumstance with its fellow; and trace the unbroken thread to the +last damning proof. The result was irresistible. A thousand +circumstances to corroborate the tale of infamy rose like phantoms to +his shrinking memory. + +He remembered how, in childhood, a neighbouring baron, who had been out +against the insurgents, playfully laid his hand upon his head, and told +him he looked so much like Hurtel of the Red-Hand that he must take good +care, when he became a man, he did not lose his head for the likeness: +he remembered, too, how his childish spirit took fire at the similitude, +and that he resented the insult with a blow! He further called to mind +how, later in life, the more aged country people, in passing him, would +shake their heads significantly; and often the whispered words, "Hurtel +of the Red-Hand," would reach his ears. He recollected, also, how Lady +Lester (alas! no longer, if this tale were proved true, to be regarded +as his mother, yet whom he had loved hitherto with the intensest filial +affection) had reproved him in his angry moods, and forbade him to frown +so like Hurtel of the Red-Hand. He called to mind, too, how that, in +childhood (unthought of again till too faithful memory brought it back), +it had more than once reached his ears through the menials, that Lady +Lester, in her youthful days, had been made a prisoner in some old +castle by a rebel chief; and he could remember he had listened with +childish interest to its recital as to a tale of enchanted castles and +cruel giants. _Now_ he could invest it with a too vivid reality! He had +heard, also, he knew not how, and what, at the time, left no distinct +impression on his mind, a scandal which said that Lady Lester did +penance for unfaithfulness in her early marriage days: this cottage +gossip he could now easily trace to her imprisonment by--could he speak +it?--_his father!_ He, too, had been twice called by spirited peasants, +who, on certain occasions, had resented his arbitrary will--a _bastard_! + +All these things rushed to his mind. There was something in it beyond +mere idle gossip--something independent of mere accident! The tale he +had listened to was to him a key to the whole. The inference was +overpowering! It was as plain to his mind as the noonday sun, that the +story he had heard from the lips of Elpsy was founded in truth. + +"'Tis true! 'tis _true_! 'tis TRUE!" he groaned, covering his face with +his hands. + +Oh, was not this an appalling and harrowing reflection for a proud +spirit like his? Was it not a bitter, bitter cup that was presented to +his lips? Alas, how cruelly barbed and how skilfully directed--how +fatally sent, was the shaft of inexorable fate! It pierced the spot +where alone it could penetrate; where its wound would be deepest, and +the smart the keenest. Struck down from its high seat to the very ground +was that pride of birth which constituted the basis of his character; +and withered, dead, bruised in the dust lay the haughtiness of spirit, +which, springing from that soil, had flourished like the green bay-tree. + +"Not only lowborn--I could bear that, I could bear that! but, oh God! a +_bastard_! Mercy! mercy! mercy!" + +He hid his face as he gave utterance to these words, and sobbed audibly. +He gave way for a few moments to the full tide of his strong and +afflicting grief in the most agonizing manner! His soul was rent! his +heart was broken! and, altogether, he presented a picture of moral +desolation and mental wretchedness that was appalling to contemplate. +What thoughts must then have passed through his mind and wrung his proud +soul! The reflection that he must abandon all his plans and hopes as +Lord of Lester; take leave of the luxuries to which he had been +accustomed; descend from the rank of a noble to that of a peasant; be +called "fellow" by the lowest hind; bear the scorn of the highborn and +the jeers of the low; and, most of all, that he must for ever abandon, +without hope, the love of Kate Bellamont, filled him with wo such as the +heart of man hath seldom known. + +"And need I forfeit all these?" he exclaimed, suddenly checking the +current of his grief, his features lighting up at the same time with +guilty exultation, and assuming an expression of deep determination; +"need I make this sacrifice? May I not still be Lord of Lester?" he +cried, rising in his stirrups and almost shouting with the force of his +thoughts. "Ay, and _will I_! Ay, and _will I_! 'Tis but to silence, +either with gold or true steel, this beldame, who is the sole depositary +of the secret of my birth!" + +For a moment after giving utterance to this guilty idea he rode silently +along; his honourable nature and his inflexible pride both having +instantly risen at the criminal suggestion, and revolted at a deception +so vast. But there were two strong motives which threatened to weigh +down these better promptings, though honour pointed to the course he +should alone pursue. He could not bear--his proud spirit could never +brook, that the despised fisher's lad--the humble, low-nurtured +peasant--for such he was, notwithstanding his noble birth, should stand +in his place, and _he_ himself--oh, it was madness to think of it--sink +into the fisher's boy! + +"No! perish honour--perish truth--perish all that is noble or virtuous +in my nature first!" he cried, with the reckless decision of one who has +resolved to sustain wrong at the expense of right. + +There was a second motive, the love of Kate Bellamont! Should he resign +her for ever? Could he endure the scornful disdain with which he +believed she would regard him? Above all, could he bear to have the +handsome fisher's lad, whom he already looked upon, in some sort, in the +light of a rival, sue successfully as Lord of Lester for her hand? Could +he endure all this and be human? Could he resign all to become what he +dared not contemplate, and live? + +"No!" he cried, vehemently, "away with all justice and truth! let my +heart be wrapped in a mesh of falsehoods first! But need there be +falsehood? Silence, _silence_ will effect it. Is there injustice when +the victim is ignorant of his rights?" he asked, mentally, as if he were +arguing with his own soul. "Yes, most foul! and silence will be a living +tongue to torture me--a never-ending falsehood to degrade--and will cast +over the soul a night that can never know a dawn! Shall I incur this +load of guilt? Will what I gain by the purchase repay me for the +sacrifice of truth and honesty? Shall I not even be happier, ay, and +more noble, as the poor fisher's lad, having done justice, than as Lord +of Lester and Castle More, convicted at my soul's tribunal of guilt, and +knowing who and what I am?" + +Such was the train of reasoning that insensibly passed through his mind, +and to which he gave utterance at this extraordinary crisis of his fate, +and which promised to overthrow his former criminal resolutions. + +"But should I do as my better nature prompts," he continued, after +galloping forward a few moments, reining up and pursuing his former +train of reasoning, "I need not be compelled to take the place of this +Lester in his fishing hut, nor need I to remain within the atmosphere of +Castle More, to meet the scorn of the noble, the insults of the lowborn. +The world is all before me; I have a ready spirit, and a hand to sustain +it, and can carve my own way through it; and with honour, too! Ay, I may +yet win a name with the noblest born!" + +Suddenly in the midst of this expression of his laudable and honourable +purpose he stopped; a gleam of terrible fire shot from his eyes, while +his face glowed with crimson shame. + +"Ha, ha, ha! _honour!_ Ha, ha, ha! a _name_! I had forgot," he repeated, +with an accent bitter, sarcastic, and scornful beyond expression, yet +with a wretched look of hopeless despair and misery; "what has a bastard +to do with _honour_? What is it to him? I had forgotten I was more than +lowborn! I'faith, 'twas well thought of! So all my lofty feelings go for +nothing." His manner now changed, and his voice rang with passion. "What +have _I_ to do with lofty aspirations, with honour, or a name among men? +Am I not branded with infamy? infamous by birth; attainted by my +father's--yes, for I will acknowledge him--_my father's_ blood! base +through my mother's! What have I to do with honour? 'Tis not for me. I +know it not. Henceforward I will forget its sound and meaning. What have +I to do with honour? Ha, ha, ha! A name? Yes, I will win a _name_; I +will show myself the true son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand. He shall not be +ashamed of his blood. No, no! I will win a name that, be he on earth or +in hell, shall make him smile and own me as bone of his bone and flesh +of his flesh." + +The scornful energy, fierceness of spirit, and stern determination with +which this guilty resolution was spoken, showed that at a single blow +was crushed all pride of character; that the highborn loftiness of +spirit in which he had been educated had fallen, and that honour was +forever shipwrecked. He felt himself, in anticipation, already an +outcast from the world; a shunned and despised alien; an object of the +scorn and pity of mankind. And such he was. He felt it to his heart's +core. Eventually, perhaps, he might have forgiven the lowness of his +birth, and risen superior to this contingency; but he could not forget +its illegitimacy. What had a bastard to do among men! What had he to do +with the love of highborn maidens? What was to him the luxuries, the +pleasures, the social joys of life? Nothing. The honours of earth were +not for him; "a bastard shall not enter even into the kingdom of +heaven." Who, then, shall condemn the resolution of a proud youth like +Lester, without due cultivation of the moral sense; unrestrained by +religious principle, and thinking, feeling only as a man? Who shall +judge and not pity? Who shall censure and not sympathize with him in his +terrible human trial, and regard with charity even the darkest +aberrations from morality and virtue to which it might lead him; +remembering that he had the moral heroism and godlike virtue to resolve +to become his own executioner; the voluntary herald of the sentence that +should cut him off from rank, title, wealth, yea, love, and brand him as +an exile from his species? + +Notwithstanding the array of proofs to substantiate the narrative of +Elpsy; notwithstanding the irresistible connexion existing in his own +mind in support of its truth, yet there lingered in his heart a faint +hope that it might not be as he believed. It became so dreadful when +calmly contemplated, that he began to conceive that it was impossible +for it to be true. There was but one way of confirming it, viz., to +confront Lady Lester, and learn from her lips the truth of what Elpsy +had related in reference to herself. If it should prove correct, then he +resolved finally to decide on the method he should pursue. Gathering up +the reins and pressing his armed heels into his horse's flanks as he +came to this determination, he said, as he dashed forward to Cattle +More, the towers of which were now full in sight, + +"From her lips--Lady Lester's (if I may not call her mother), will I +have corroboration of this foul witch's words. Fly, my good horse; we +will soon learn whether thou and I are to part! But, if it must be so, +no other shall back thee after me, my faithful animal; my own hand shall +slay thee first!" + +The fleet hunter brought him in a few moments to the gate that led into +the courtyard surrounding Castle More. At the sound of his approach it +flew wide open, and, as he passed through, the porter removed his cap +and bent low with servile respect. + +"Ay," he muttered, "'tis so _now_! but he will be the first to scoff +with a high head, and turn the key upon my back, when it shall be noised +abroad that Robert of Lester is the brat of a peasant--the left-handed +offspring of Hurtel of the Red-Hand!" + +He threw himself from his horse, and cast his bridle to his groom, +giving him orders to hold him in readiness for him to remount at any +moment, and entered beneath the lofty arch of the castle, over which +were elaborately sculptured in stone the ancient arms of Lester. He +rapidly mounted the spacious stairs to a large and lofty hall, hung with +armour, and adorned with figures of mailed warriors, ancestors of that +warlike house. From childhood he had looked upon these with awe and +pride. Now he curled his lip with haughty despair, and strode past them +with a bitter smile. At its farther extremity he tapped lightly at a +door, partly concealed by tapestry of velvet fringed with gold, and +adorned with needlework representing figures and scenes of a scriptural +character. He was commanded to enter. With a beating heart, and choking +with the anticipated confirmation of what left scarce room for a doubt, +and which he had already begun to contemplate as if there were _no_ +question of its truth, he obeyed. + +The room into which he was admitted occupied a small octagonal wing of +the building, and from its single Gothic window commanded a prospect of +the mere below, the distant forest, and a blue, wavy line of hills +skirting the northern horizon. It appeared to be used partly as a +boudoir and library, partly as a chapel: a small altar; a marble font +containing water; a crucifix at one end, with two lighted wax tapers +burning before it, appertaining to it in its more sacred character. It +was hung with brown silk tapestry, on which was worked, in yellow silk, +the history of the martyrdoms of the apostles. Immediately about the +altar the hangings were of black velvet, giving that part of the room a +religious and gloomy character. A rich, but soft, light poured in +through the stained glass of the window, and shed a pleasing glow over +all. + +Near the window, working with her needle flowers of gold on an +altar-piece of snow white satin, sat the mistress of Castle More--"the +Dark Lady of the Rock!" She was of a tall and stately figure, with an +innate air of high birth and breeding: her features were strikingly +noble, and still bore traces of eminent beauty. Her eyes were black and +piercing; and her brows very dark and thick, yet not masculine, but +giving rather softness and intellect to the expression of the eyes. Her +hair was jet black, and confined beneath a close nun's cap, and her +complexion was deep brown, which, with the general dark tinge of her +face and features, had got for her from the peasants the appellation by +which among them she was more commonly designated. The lustre of her +fine eyes had given place to a melancholy hue; and the smile, which in +youth had fascinated the gallant Lord of Lester, was sad and pensive. +Calmness, gentle resignation, and devotion were now the characteristics +of her countenance. She was evidently one who regarded this world as the +path to that of a happier, and looked to that happier for the enjoyment +which, without her deceased lord, she could not find in this. Twelve +years had passed since the news was brought her that he had fallen +before the walls of Saragossa, breathing her name in his last sigh. From +that hour she seldom had been seen to smile; but, shunning all +intercourse with those around her, she communed only with her priest and +her God. + +"I thought I knew the footfall of your horse, Robert, but did not expect +you so soon," she said, in a quiet, subdued tone; "there is a quarter of +an hour yet to sunset, and you seldom return from Castle Cor till it is +very late. And Kate's birthday, too! How is this?" + +She knotted her thread as she spoke, and looked up, showing a +countenance chastened by widowed sorrow, and wearing, as she gazed upon +him, a kindly look, rather than a smile, of welcome. The troubled +expression of his features; his flushed brow; his excited manner, and +nervous tread as he crossed the floor to the window, struck her with +surprise and alarm. + +"What has happened, Robert? your feelings are wounded, I fear. Come and +tell me what that saucy maiden, Kate Bellamont, has been saying to give +you such uneasiness." + +This was spoken with maternal affection, and an approach to playfulness +of manner. + +The young man stood by the window and gazed down into the placid mere, +fixing his eyes vacantly on a fleet of stately swans that sailed on its +glassy breast, and remained silent. He knew not how to commence the +subject--he knew not what to say! + +"Robert, my son," she said, affectionately attempting to take his hand, +"something has gone wrong with you to-day; make a confidant of your +mother!" + +"Would to God thou _wert my mother_!" he cried, almost suffocating. + +"Thy mother, Robert! what do these words mean?" + +"That my future happiness and misery depend on your lips," he replied, +turning towards her and grasping her hands with strong emotion. + +"Explain!" she said, alarmed and deeply moved by the distress and +earnestness of his manner. + +"Did you ever--(sustain me, Heaven, at this moment," he gasped) "ever, +face to face, meet Hurtel of the Red-Hand?" + +"Robert, what motive, so terrible in its effect on your mind, can have +led you to ask this?" + +"Answer me, my mother--speak, Lady Lester!" + +"Yes!" and she shuddered, as if some painful incident of the past seemed +to press upon her memory. + +"Where? Speak, and tell me truly, if you love me!" he eloquently +entreated. + +"Heaven and the blessed saints preserve you, my son! 'Tis a sad story! +Why would you seek to know this now? Be calm; you are ill--very ill!" + +"No, I am not. Answer me--_where_?" + +"He took me prisoner, and bore me on horse-back--" + +"Whither?" he cried, impatiently interrupting her. + +"To his tower." + +"And, ere thy husband rescued thee, I was born there?" + +"Yes. But how heard you this? I knew not that it was known to you, +though I had no motive, surely, in keeping the knowledge of it from +you," she said, with surprise. "Is it this, then, that has so strangely +excited you, my son?" + +"Who attended on thee at that crisis?" + +"Robert--boy!" + +"Answer me, Lady Lester, I conjure thee! in the presence of this holy +symbol of our religion!" he added, with stern solemnity, taking a small +diamond crucifix from her worktable and holding it up before her. + +"A pale young woman: I fear me, a leman of that evil man." + +"Was she a mother?" + +"Who has taught thee to put such questions as these, young man?" she +said, with something of severity in her voice. + +"Answer me, Lady Lester, I pray thee!" + +"She had an infant of three days' old." + +"Was it with her in thy room ere thou becamest a mother?" + +"It was." + +"Did you see it?" + +"No; she kept it swathed up, as if from shame." + +"Who first gave your infant to your arms?" + +"No one. I had fainted, and, when I came to my senses, I found my babe +lying on the bed beside me; and," added the lady, with a mother's light +rekindling in her eyes, "with all a young mother's first love, I clasped +it to my bosom." + +"And this woman and her child?" + +"I never saw them more. That day my noble lord rescued me; and after he +had seen and kissed the babe, I remember he pleasantly said to those +around, 'In losing one I have gained two.' My poor, departed Lester! +Heaven be merciful to his soul!" + +"And I am that babe?" + +"Thou art, my son!" she said, affectionately. + +"I am not!" he cried, fiercely. + +"Not my son?" + +"_Not thy son!_" + +"What mean you, insolent boy?" + +"In one word, I will tell thee. The guilty paramour of that woman having +resolved to put out of the world the living witness of the wrong he had +done her, threatened also her life when she refused to surrender it. +Prompted by the instinct of maternal love to save it, she laid it, while +thou wert in a state of insensibility, by thy side, and gave thine to +him, palming it off as her own, which, by this stratagem, was saved--and +still lives. _I am_ HE!" + +"Robert of Lester!" cried the lady, rising up and fixing her piercing +eyes, bright with unwonted fire, upon his face, "mock me not; spare thy +mother's heart!" + +"Before God I speak truly. I am _not_ thy son." + +"Holy Virgin! Mercy, Heaven! mercy!" shrieked the lady, and fell nearly +lifeless into his arms. + +For a few seconds there was a deep silence, like that of death, +throughout that little chamber. He had not anticipated this! Absorbed in +the contemplation of his own misery, he had not thought of the blow he +should inflict, by the disclosure of the dreadful secret, upon the mind +of Lady Lester. It suddenly occurred to him that there was yet a balm in +the existence of her true son which might heal the wound he had made. +Filial affection caused him immediately to address, and, by touching +this chord, endeavour to restore her once more to life and hope. + +"Lady!" he said, in a hoarse tone, that--so deep were the feelings that +governed it--startled even himself. + +"Ha! Robert! my son!" she cried, standing up and looking wildly in his +face; "what is this I have heard? Is it a dream--some terrific dream?" + +"Thou hast not dreamed, lady," he said, sadly. + +"No, I have not," she cried, with energy, and with the sudden return of +all her faculties; "no, I have heard thy lips deny me. Thou hast said I +am not thy mother--that thou art not my own child!" + +"Do you remember the tale I have told you, lady?" he asked, calmly. + +"Remember? each word is seared into my heart!" + +"And do you believe me to be your son?" + +"Believe? believe! I know not what to believe. What should I believe! I +believe thou art my own boy--mine, mine, _mine_!" + +As she spoke she threw her arms with frantic wildness about his neck, +and hugged him convulsively to her bosom. + +"Lady, 'tis vain to shut your eyes to the truth. I am not your son--but +your son lives!" + +"He does, he does live, and I clasp him to my heart," she cried, +energetically, folding him closer to her bosom. + +"Nay--" + +"Nay--_nay_, but I _will_ hold thee! they shall not tear thee from me! +No, no! they must take my heart too, for its strings are bound all about +thee, and thou art tied too long and too strong to it by the thousand +chords of a mother's love to be parted from it now. Ha, ha! They shall +not part us! Shall they, boy?" + +He looked up into her face and saw that her mind wandered; that reason +was falling from its throne! + +"Mother!" he said, in tones of gentle persuasion: "mother!" and he +affectionately kissed her cheeks; "mother!" he repeated a third time, in +the most touching tones of filial love--"I am, I will be, your own dear +son!" + +The softer feelings of her soul came back; all the mother rushed from +the heart to the eyes; and dissolved, melted by his appeal, she burst +into tears, and wept freely and long upon his shoulder. + +At length she became composed; when, embracing his opportunity, though +he had been severely tempted in the interval to let it rest for ever, he +spoke again with cautious delicacy upon the fatal subject. She listened +in silence. She heard him with calmness as he went on and explained to +her the successive steps by which the exchange was effected, and +unfolded to her, link by link, the connected chain of the witch's +narrative. He convinced her--not of its probability, but of its +possibility. Collecting all her strength of mind, she tried to +contemplate the subject with composure. She succeeded: weighed it well, +in all its parts and bearings; nicely balanced each particle, and sifted +each doubtful circumstance. Suddenly she turned to him, and said +eagerly, and with an eye kindling with hope, + +"It may not be so, Robert! She may, in the agitation of the moment, when +both were swathed, have caught up her own child!" + +"At such a moment, above all, would a mother know her own!" he said, +firmly, but looking as if he would, if he dared, still cherish a hope. + +"Yes, yes; and she must, too, have seen it afterward," she said, in a +tone of deep despondency. "But who told thee this fatal tale?" she +asked, quickly. + +"Elpsy, the sorceress!" + +"Ha!" exclaimed the lady, turning pale. "I fear, then, it is too true! +This fearful woman has knowledge of hidden and wondrous things through +her unholy art. Oh, God! that she had used it to a better end! But, +then, there may have been a mistake! Malice--her hatred of her species +may have caused her to give the facts this frightful turn! Dreadful +being! thus to loose, even by raising a doubt of thy birthright, my last +hold on earthly happiness, and wreck all my hopes in thee. Her face ever +has haunted me as if for evil! It seems to me as if I had seen it in the +dreams of my childhood. I know not how it is, but I never looked upon +her without presentiments of evil and vague sensations of suffering, as +if her very presence was associated with scenes of terror. Now are they +all, indeed, realized! But I will not give thee up, Robert, my son--my +own son!" she cried, frantically! "I will cling to the hope that the +fatal exchange was not made!" + +He suffered her to embrace him again and again, and then, after a few +moments' silence, and speaking in an indifferent tone, he said, + +"Lady Lester! Was thy noble husband of fair complexion?" + +"No, dark as the Spaniard's, yet it was exceedingly rich to the eye with +its bright blood!" she said, with conjugal pride. + +"Were his eyes blue?" + +"Black as night, large and staglike, yet soft as a fawn's in the +gentleness of their expression--but terrible as the eagle's when +roused." + +"Were his locks golden?" + +"The plumage of the raven not more black and glossy!" + +"Was he tall of stature and strongly-framed?" + +"Scarce even as tall as thyself now; his frame was light and elegant, +but manly: to sum him up in all," she said, carried away by the prideful +recollections awakened by these allusions to him, "he was a statesman; a +patron of letters and the arts; a gallant knight, a brave soldier, and +an accomplished scholar: he was called the handsomest man of his time: +above all, he was a Christian!" + +"_Am I like him?_" asked Lester, startling her with the depth of his +voice, and at once showing her the drift of his seemingly aimless +questions. "Is my stature slight? are these locks raven? are these eyes +black? is the hue of the Spaniard on my cheek?" + +The lady shrunk from his words, covered her face with her hands, and +despairingly shook her head. + +"Say," he added, with increasing energy, "is there the faintest +lineament in my face--a scarce perceptible cast of the eye--a bend of +the brow--a movement of the lip--a motion of arm or finger--aught in my +carriage, walk, or voice, that reminds thee of thy noble husband?" + +"No, no, no! Stop, stop, you will kill me!" + +"One word more! Answer me truly, Lady Lester, as you stand before +Heaven, have I not the same fair skin--the same light flowing hair--the +same blue eyes--the stature, the very voice--ay, the very selfsame frown +of Hurtel of the Red-Hand?" + +"Ha! now I see it! Oh, Jesu Maria! Thou art his very image! Mercy, +mercy, mercy!" and, with a shriek wrung from a breaking heart, she fell, +as if dead, upon the floor. + +For a few moments he stood gazing upon her with the cool, decisive smile +of a man for whom fate has done her worst, and who defies and laughs to +scorn her farther triumphs over his soul. His fixed countenance was more +fearful than phrensied agitation or tremendous wrath. It was the dark, +still cloud that rests upon the crater ere the volcano bursts into +flame. Gradually, as he gazed on that beloved countenance, pale and +deathly in its aspect, he sunk on his knees beside her, took her +insensible hands within his own, and kissed her unconscious brow, while +fast and thick dropped the heavy tears upon her face. + +"Mother, for mother thou art, indeed!" said he, feelingly, "I would not +have struck this blow to thy heart; but I could not stand before thee a +deceiver, an impostor! I could not encounter the affectionate glance of +thy pure eyes, meet thy gaze of maternal love, and know they were not +mine. Yet thou art my mother! all the mother I have ever known. Have I +not drawn life from that breast? Has not my infant head been pillowed +from the first on that maternal bosom? Didst thou not hear me when my +infant lips first lisped thy maternal name? Hast thou ever known other +son than me--I other parent? Thou _art_ my mother! I _am_ thy son, +though the blood of strangers, whom I have never known, flows in my +plebeian veins! Mother, we must part! The house of Lester may not have a +baseborn lord! Would to God I could have turned aside this stroke from +thee! But it is past! Henceforward thou art nothing to me--I nothing to +thee. Farewell, farewell, my own, my beloved mother!" + +He bent over her, and affectionately and passionately embraced her, +pressing his lips to hers, and bathing her face with his hot tears. She +seemed to be awakened to sudden consciousness by the act; and throwing +her arms about him, she faintly articulated, "My son! my son!" and +relapsed into insensibility. He clasped her unconscious form in one more +long embrace, kissed her for the last time, and gently disengaged +himself from her arms. + +His movements became now direct and decided. He approached the +escritoir, and hastily wrote on a leaf of her missal, + + "Lady Lester--nay, _mother_--_dearest_ MOTHER! I have just + taken my last leave of you. I go forth into the world and + commit my fortune to its currents. + Baseborn--guilty-born--attainted by my father's crimes, I am + unworthy your love or a place in your thoughts. Henceforward + let me be nothing to thee! Forget that I have ever existed. + Though I depart, yet is Lester not without an heir! you not + without a son! _Thy_ child thou wilt find with the fisherman + Meredith, at Castle Cor. He is the perfect semblance of thy + husband, Robert, Lord of Lester, as you have described him to + me; and, when your eyes behold him, your heart will at once + claim him. He is proud and high-spirited, and worthy of the + name he is destined to bear. Seek him out; and may he fill the + place in your heart from which I am for ever excluded. + Farewell, my mother, for other mother than thee have I never + known--will never know! + + "ROBERT, + + "_Son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand_." + +He placed the paper open before the crucifix, where she was wont to +pray, and was himself unconsciously in the act of kneeling to seek a +blessing from Heaven, when he hastily recovered his erect attitude, +saying, with a thrilling laugh of reckless hopelessness, + +"Never more do I bend the knee to Heaven! What have I to do with +prayer?" + +He approached the door, and then turned back to gaze an instant with a +melancholy look on the prostrate form of Lady Lester: + +"Nay, I must not leave thee so!" he said: returning, he tenderly raised +her up, and used means to restore her. + +After a few moments she revived and gazed wildly around her. + +"Robert, is it you? are you beside me? Oh, my son, I have had _such_ a +tale of horror revealed to me as I slept." + +She pressed her fingers upon her eyelids as if to recall what appeared +to her a dark dream. As she did so he stole from her towards the +door--lingered--turned back--severed a bright lock from his temples, +pressed it to his lips, and placed it within her hand; he then hastily +kissed her pale forehead, saying, half aloud, + +"_Here I bury all human feelings!_" + +The next moment he precipitately fled from the room. + +Roused by the sound of the closing door, she shrieked his name, and, +hastening through the dark hall, called in tones of distressing anguish, + +"Robert, my son! my boy! my dear boy! leave not your mother desolate!" + +He stopped his ears to the sounds, quickened his steps, and threw +himself into his saddle. + +"'Tis full late, my lord, to ride forth alone," said the groom, as he +held the stirrup. + +"Lord me not, Tyrell. If thou hast chanced to be born in wedlock, thou +hast better blood in thy veins than I!" + +"How mean you, my lord?" said the astonished menial. + +"Didst ever hold stirrup for a fisher's son?" + +"No, my lord!" + +"Thou liest. For thou hast but now done so. Your lord has found out that +he is but a fisher-woman's brat; and a fisher's brat is about to find +out that he is a lord." + +"You speak in riddles, my lord." + +"Set thy wits, and those of yonder gaping fellows, to work to unriddle +them," was the reply of the degraded youth as he buried his spurs deep +in his horse's flanks. "Give the compliments of the son of Hurtel of the +Red-Hand to your new lord, knaves, and say he has taken the liberty to +borrow his hunter for a time!" he cried, turning round in the saddle as +he rode off. + +The next moment he dashed across the drawbridge and disappeared in the +twilight gloom of the forest, leaving the wonder-stricken retainers to +pick the kernel from the difficult nut he had left them to crack; and, +by putting their sage heads together, with the aid of some expressions +dropped by the frantic Lady Lester, they were not long in arriving at a +shrewd guess at the truth. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "Guiltless am I, but bear the penalty!" + + * * * * * + + "Wild was the place, but wilder his despair: + Low shaggy rocks that o'er deep caverns scowl + Echo his groans: the tigress in her lair + Starts at the sound, and answers with a growl." + + _Zóphiël._ + + "Hurl'd + From the topmost height of his ambition, + It became his ambition to mate him + With the lowest." + + +The night was fast approaching as the desolate outcast entered the +forest. He hailed the gathering darkness with joy, for it was in unison +with the gloom of his soul. The howl of the wildest storm would have +been music to his ears! He could have mocked with shouts of gladness the +rattling thunder, and played with the shafts of the glittering +lightning. + +He rode deep into the wood--whither he cared not so that he left behind +him all that he had lost. For half an hour he thought of nothing but +urging his horse forward at the top of his speed. He banished thought, +reflection, sensation. He dared not think. He found relief only in +animal action and rapid motion, and rode furiously onward without +knowing or regarding the course taken by his horse, who instinctively +followed the dark windings of the forest paths. + +At length the moon rose and shone down upon him through the tree tops. +Its light seemed to restore him to himself. He checked his rapid course, +and gazed at her pale orb; as he looked, reflection returned, and he +began to realise his situation, and to taste the full bitterness of the +cup of which he had drunken. The past, the present, the future, flashed +with all their naked colours upon his mind. The picture his imagination +painted with the hues they lent was too appalling to contemplate; and, +as if the fabled influence of the planet, the soft light of which had +restored him to reflection, had acted upon his fevered brain, he was +suddenly converted into a maniac. He rose upright in his stirrups, and +shouted, shrieked, till the forests rang again. He shook his clinched +fists at the placid moon, that seemed smilingly to mock his woes. He +spurred on his horse till the animal groaned with pain, and plunged +madly forward with his phrensied rider! He would then rein him up, and, +gnashing his teeth, lift his hands above his head, and curse God and +man. Then he would again shout with phrensy, and gore his steed till he +became furious and snorted with rage, and ride once more forward with +the speed of the wind. + +These passions were too violent to last. His wild excitement gradually +subsided; his horse was suffered to move at his own pace; and, with his +arms folded moodily, and his chin drooping on his breast, he gave +himself up to the stern and gloomy thoughts of his situation, and, for a +time, buried in the depths of his own meditations, seemed to be wholly +unconscious of external objects. He rode on in this way for more than an +hour, when he was aroused by the sudden stopping of his horse. He looked +up and saw before him a dilapidated gate, which barred his farther +progress. Beyond, visible by the full flood of moonlight, was a lonely +square tower, flanked by a single wing, topped with a battlement. He +listened, and thought he heard the dashing of waves upon the beach. The +whole scene was new to him! Where could his faithful steed have borne +him? From the moment he had left Castle More behind all had seemed like +a blank to him. How far, and whither, could he have ridden? He looked up +at the moon. It had not risen when he left Castle More, yet it now rode +high in the heavens! By her position it was near midnight. + +Indifferent where he wandered, he leaped the sunken gate, and rode up to +the tower. It was not in ruins, yet wore an aspect of desolation and +neglect. Its loneliness harmonized with his own situation, and was +grateful to him. He rode round the angle of a buttress, when the sea +suddenly opened before him, and he saw that the tower stood on a rock +thirty or forty feet above it, and that where it overhung the water +projected a small balcony. A sudden thought flashed upon his mind as he +discovered this. + +"It must be!" he exclaimed, with animation; "'tis the tower of Hurtel of +the Red-Hand! This moat, yonder ruined drawbridge, its situation, and, +above all, that balcony, one and all, identify it with Elpsy's +description. By the bones of my red-handed sire! thou knewest what thou +wert about to bring me hither, sagacious animal!" he added, +sarcastically, patting the noble horse on the neck; "'tis fitting I +should take possession of my father's towers with the inheritance of his +name. Ha, ha! I am not quite a vagabond!" and he laughed scornfully. + +He started with surprise, for the laugh seemed to be echoed from the +tower. + +"'Twas a human voice, or else a spirit mocking! If demons do rejoice +over the miseries of mankind, they may well hold a jubilee in honour of +mine. Laugh on, imps! I am a fit subject for your merriment!" and he +laughed with nervous derision. + +Again he started, for he was answered by a laugh so wild that it chilled +his blood. The sound seemed to proceed from an upper room in the wing of +the building. + +"Fiend or flesh, it shall rue this merriment!" he cried, leaping to the +ground and hastening to the door of the tower. + +It was ajar; he dashed it open with his heel, and found himself in a +long, low hall, at the extremity of which was the window that opened on +the balcony, through which he caught a glimpse of the glimmering sea. By +the light it afforded he crossed the hall, and, standing on the balcony, +glanced an instant over the vast moonlit expanse of water, and then, +with a strange interest, the whole of Elpsy's story rushing vividly to +his mind, he shudderingly cast his eyes down the rock which stood in +deep shadow. Even by the indistinct light he could discern the sharp +projection on which the garments of the infant had caught in its +descent, and not four feet distant from him, on a level with the window, +was the rock on which the fisher's daughter--_his mother_--was in the +act of springing, when hurled into the sea by--_his father_. On that +very balcony had he stood to do the deed! Strange, wonderful, +overpowering were his sensations. He held his breath with the intensity +of his thoughts. + +"Here," said he, mentally, placing his hand on the balustrade, "has lain +my unknown mother's hand; it warmed this senseless iron, which can give +me back no warmth in return. Here pressed the foot of my father! Here +they parted! How! ah, _how_? Where are they now? Where is he? does he +live? Where is she? A fearful thought forces itself upon me that I dare +not dwell upon! This strange tale of the sorceress; her wonderful and +minute knowledge, that could be only known to the actor; her emotion at +different portions of the story; a hundred things, light as air, that +have insinuated themselves into my mind, have made me think she might +be--fiends! it will out!--my mother! But, then, she told me that she was +dead. Well, be it so, yet I can fall no lower! Were my mother living, +could her lot be better than this fearful weird woman's? Ha, ha, ha! I +have no pride now!" he added, with a hollow laugh of mingled despair and +phrensy. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" he heard repeated, in tones so unearthly that his heart +ceased to beat, and a thrill like ice shot through his veins. + +The next moment he was at the top of a flight of steps leading from one +side of the hall to an upper room, from which the voice seemed to +proceed. A stream of moonlight, falling through a window, showed him a +door on the landing-place, which he threw open. He found himself in a +small room, lighted by a lattice of crimson-stained glass looking south +towards the sea: into it the moon, in its western circle, had just began +to shine, its red-died beams tinting the twilight of the chamber with +the hue of blood. Seated high in the recess of the window, he discovered +the dark figure of a female; her knees drawn up to her chin, and her +hands clasped together around them. As he opened the door she leaped +down like a cat and sprang towards him. The sanguinary light of the room +had affected his imagination, not untinged with the superstitious fears +of his time; but this sudden apparition, though he had prepared himself +to see something either human or supernatural, caused him to start back +with an exclamation of surprise. + +"Come in, Robert of Lester! I welcome you to the room which first +welcomed you to the light," said she, in a voice which he at once +recognised as that of the sorceress. + +The singular information her words conveyed suspended for the moment all +other emotions in his mind save curiosity at finding himself so +unexpectedly in the chamber where he was born. He gazed about him for a +few moments under the influence of the strange thoughts and emotions the +circumstance called up, and then turning towards her, said, + +"Why art thou here, wicked woman? Didst thou anticipate my presence, and +art thou come to mock the misery thou hast wrought?" + +"I fled lest thou shouldst do a deed of blood thy hand might rue. I fled +not for myself, but for thee." + +"You need not fear me now. There exists no longer any motive for +secrecy," he said, gloomily. + +"How mean you?" she eagerly asked. + +"Ere to-morrow's sun, 'twill be in every boor's mouth, from Castle Cor +to Kinsale, that I am no longer Lord of Lester!" + +"Speak--explain!" she said, hoarsely, grasping his arm with both hands, +and breathing quick and hard. + +"I have told the Lady Lester that he whom she thought her son was not +her son," he firmly replied. + +"Ha! _thou_--thou hast told thy shame? Speak, Robert More--have you +breathed to mortal ear what I have told thee of thy birth?" she +demanded, with fearful energy of speech and manner. + +"I have. 'Tis known to every servitor from hall to stable!" + +"Didst give thy name?" + +"Robert, son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand." + +"And this did thine own lips, of thine own free will?" + +"Never man spoke freer!" + +"Then hell be thy portion! Accursed be ye, Robert Hurtel! Had I thought +thou wouldst have become the trumpeter of thy shame--had I believed thou +wouldst have breathed to mortal ear thine infamy, I would have seared my +tongue with hot iron ere I would have told thee the secret of thy birth. +The infernal demon has prompted thee to do this! Didst thou not seek to +slay me, that thou shouldst be the sole keeper of the foul secret?" + +"I did, at the moment, but thought better of it!" + +"Base! lowborn! miserable that thou art! Why was not my tongue withered +ere I told thee this?" + +"Would to God it had been, woman. What was thy motive in ever letting it +go from thy own breast?" + +"Love of mischief--hatred of mankind; and to lower thy pride, knowing +from what dunghill thou wert sprung. But I did not think thou wouldst +use my secret thus; and wreck the gifts that--that thy mother's +stratagem had purchased, and after secured to thee by years of absence, +privation, and misery." + +"How?" + +"Did she not, for thy sake, keep the secret of thy birth--coming not +even near thee--when, on the ninth day, Hurtel of the Red-Hand being +gone over the sea, she might safely have claimed thee of Lady Lester, +and given her back her own!" she said, vehemently. + +"Rather for her own sake--from maternal pride at having her son sit +among nobles," was the stern reply. "And if these were her motives, as I +doubt not they were, at what price did she purchase this honour for her +child? The price of the deepest guilt, by keeping the true heir from his +birthright. I did not view it in this light before. By the cross! I am a +well-born! a guilty mother, too! 'Tis well you told me she was no more; +I should care little to meet her in my present mood." + +As he spoke, the woman sunk her head upon her bosom, and deep groans +escaped her, whether of defeated hopes, of sorrow, of shame, or of +remorse, he knew not. Suddenly he laid his hand upon her arm, and looked +impressively in her face, and said, + +"Woman! who is my mother?" + +"Thou wilt never know!" + +"Art _thou_?" + +"Ha, ha, ha! _I?_ Do I look like the gentle maiden that won the love of +Hurtel of the Red-Hand? Are these matted locks tresses of gold? Is this +complexion like the blended ivory and rose? Is my voice soft and full of +love? Are my eyes like the gazelle's, and gentle as the dove's in their +expression? Is this hideous form such as would lure youth to embrace it? +Wilt thou acknowledge thyself the son of 'the witch'--'the +sorceress'--'the beldame Elpsy' (such were thy gentle terms)--the +beleagued with demons--the familiar of the evil one--the--" + +"No, no! Avaunt!" he shouted, with a furious gesture; "thank God! I am +not sunk so low as that!" + +"Ha, ha! Thy pride is fallen far indeed when it can enter thy thoughts, +and even go from thy lips, that Elpsy of the Tower gave thee birth. Oh, +ho! I am well avenged in this for thy mad folly in throwing away thy +earldom. Oh, how I do hate thee for that act! for it thou shalt never +know peace in body or soul!" + +"I defy thee, woman, and all thy arts!" + +"Yet the tales of my deeds have made thy human soul to shrink! Beware +how thou speakest lightly of what thou knowest naught, and which is hid +from mortal ken!" she added, with mysterious and solemn earnestness. +"Whither turn thy footsteps now, Lord of Lester?" she asked, with +chilling irony. "Doubtless thou hast come to take possession of thy fair +lands here. They are not so broad, indeed, as the domains of Castle +More, and thy castle needs some furnishing and repair. Doubtless thou +wouldst like to fit it up ere thou bringest home to be its mistress the +fair Kate of Bellamont!" + +"Breathe that name again, woman, and I will take thy life!" + +"Thou art now thy very father's image!" she said, with derision. "Even +in this moonlight I can see that devilish shape of the eyes that his +were wont to assume when he meditated murder! Ho! I dare to say thou +wilt be like him in more than the glance of the eye. Dost mean to follow +in his footsteps, and head a band of lawless insurgents; or wilt thou, +as 'tis said his brother did--" + +"His brother?" + +"Thou didst not know before thou hadst once an uncle? So: thou shalt no +longer be kept in ignorance. He was a bold, bad man, and therein true to +his race; was called Black Hurtel, and roved the Danish seas a daring +bucanier. 'Twas said he could float his ship in the blood of the men he +had slain! He was killed on the French coast in a fierce fight; but his +vessel was captured, and his dead body, with his living crew (for the +captors would not leave one alive to blacken the face of the earth), +were sunk in the deep sea. Perhaps, like him, thou wilt take to the +wave, and carve thy fortune in blood! Blood is sweet, and there is music +to the ear in its gurgle where it is shed with a free hand! Look you," +she said, pointing through the window; "the sea is spread wide before +you, and seems to invite thee with its glancing waves. It knows not of +thy disgrace, nor has it voices to whisper thy infamy; while every bird, +tree, and stone will nod and gossip to one another as thou passest by-- + +"'There goes he who _was_ the Lord of Lester!'" + +"Woman, you madden me!" + +"Perhaps," she continued, in the same cutting tone, while he paced the +little chamber with a phrensied step, "thou wilt rather come and share +my tower i'the ruin, if the new Lord of Lester will give thee leave; +doubtless he will honour thee by asking thee to hold his stirrup on +occasion. But, if thou wilt rather habit in this tower, I will be thy +seneschal. I love its old gray walls! many is the moonlight night I've +sat in the window and looked on the sea, as it danced, and glimmered, +and seemed to beck and nod, and laugh when I laughed. Ha, ha! I have had +brave times here, gossipping with the sea!" + +As she said this she looked from the window, and suddenly her eye seemed +to be arrested by some unexpected sight. She gazed for a moment eagerly, +and then said, in the enthusiastic tone and manner of a sibyl, skilfully +assumed with the tact of one accustomed to turn to her own purpose every +passing circumstance, + +"Look thou, Robert Hurtel! I have had pity on thy state, and have, by +the art thou hast dared to scorn, brought from many a far league away, +to thy tower's foot, a ship to waft thee and thy fortunes! See how +proudly it stands in towards the land, looking like a great white +spirit, with the moon glancing on its canvass wings. Oh, 'tis a brave +bark!" + +The young man (her words taunting, malicious, and hateful as they were, +not having been without some effect in influencing him in determining on +his future course) sprang alertly to the window and gazed with interest +on the approaching vessel. It was about a third of a mile from the land, +standing directly towards the tower before a light breeze. It was +apparently about seventy tons burden, short and heavily built, rising +very high out of the water, with a very lofty stern. It had three masts, +each consisting of one entire stick, tapering to a slender point, and +terminated by a little triangular flag. On each mast was hoisted a huge, +square lugger's sail, which, with a short jib, stretched from the head +of the foremast to a stunted bowsprit, and a sort of tri-sail or spanker +aft worked without a boom, was all the canvass she carried or that +belonged to her peculiar class of craft. + +He watched it with eager attention as it came bounding landward, +flinging the glittering spray from its round bows, its wet sides shining +in the moonlight as if sheathed with plates of silver. A chaos of hopes, +wishes, and conflicting resolutions agitated his mind as it approached; +after a short struggle, he resolved to throw himself on board if her +master would receive him, and depart with her wherever the winds should +waft her. Having come to this determination, he watched her motions with +additional interest; and when, after coming in so close to the shore +that he could discern that her decks were crowded with men, she wore +round and stood northward, his heart sank within him; and, dashing his +hand through the crimson glass, he was about to hail, when Elpsy checked +him: + +"Hold! see you not they are only coming up to wind to lie to! Look! they +are already swinging round their clumsy sails." + +The vessel came up slowly and heavily to the wind, and, by means of her +mainsail, lay as still as if at anchor. In a few moments afterward, as +they eagerly watched, they saw a boat let down, and several men descend +over the side into it. He uttered a joyful exclamation when he saw this +movement; and, without reflecting upon the character of the vessel, or +the object it could have in view in landing on so retired a coast at +such a time, he only thought of it as a means of bearing him from the +hateful shore, and perhaps opening for him some path to action and +mental excitement. + +"See that flash of light on her deck! There is another gleam!" exclaimed +Elpsy. + +"'Tis the glancing of the moonbeams on steel!" he replied, in a +gratified tone. + +"There is a sound a man should know!" she said again. + +"'Tis the ringing of arms!" he replied, in the same animated manner. + +"What think you they are, young man?" asked she, with a peculiar smile, +laying her hand impressively on his arm. + +"I know not, nor care, so I may cast my fortune with them!" + +"Thou art, of a truth, thy father's son!" + +"And, by the cross, he shall not be ashamed to own me!" he replied, in a +desperate and determined tone. + +"I will tell thee what they are--for I have passed my life by the +seaside, and know the nature, and have learned to know the occupation +and nation of each ship by its fashion, as I would tell a tradesman's by +his garb." + +"What, then, is the nation of this barque?" + +"He is a Dane." + +"Its nature?" + +"To sail in shallow waters, and run before the wind." + +"Its business on the sea?" + +"To rob, pillage, and slay!" + +"Ha, a bucanier?" + +"A Dane." + +"'Tis but another name for pirate in these waters. By the cross! when I +saw the glitter of steel in the hands of its crew, I half guessed it." + +"Wilt thou now link thy fate with theirs?" + +"Am I not fit to be their comrade? Are they outcasts; what am I? Are +they branded with shame; who am I? Has society cast them from its bosom; +was I not born in bastardy? Am I not fallen lower than the lowest he +among them who hath been born in wedlock? Why should I hesitate to mate +with my fellows? What has the honourable world to invite me to? What if +I could bury in oblivion from the reach of my own thoughts the black +stain upon my birth and hitherto noble name, and, under a new one, with +a strong heart and virtuous resolves, throw myself into the arena of +honourable contest, and should succeed in winning a name that men would +do homage to--should I not wear it, feeling that a sword was suspended +by a hair above my head?" + +"How mean you?" she asked, struck with the impassioned and despairing +tones of his voice. + +"I mean that, if, after carrying the secret like a living serpent coiled +in my heart for years, I should, without suspicion, chance to win a fair +name, the time at length would come when some one, with a too faithful +memory, would recognise the bastard Hurtel--the quondam Lester--in the +successful adventurer; and then--No, no!" he said, bitterly, "no, no! It +may not be! The presence of this ship points me to the course I should +pursue. I obey the fate that has directed it hither!" + +"Wilt thou become a pirate?" she said, with a natural and feeling +manner, as if prompted by some suddenly-awakened interest in him. +"Yesterday Lord of Lester--to-day a pirate!" + +"Yes." + +"Curse the tongue that told thee of thy birth! But," she continued, +muttering with her usual quick tones and nervousness of manner, "it was +so pleasant to tell him, for his father's sake, he looked so like him! +And then it was a pleasure to humble his pride, which he made even me +the victim of: and so, as my master would have it, I could not, for the +life o' me, longer help telling him the love-story I had kept so many +years in my heart for him. Ho! ho! ha! ha! and a pleasant tale it was, +too!" she added in that phrensied strain which seemed to be most natural +to her. + +While she was speaking the boat, which appeared to be full of men, put +off from the vessel, and they could distinctly hear the command to "let +fall," followed by the splash of the falling sweeps. + +"Give way!" in a stern, deep tone, came directly afterward distinctly to +their ears; and, shooting out from the vessel's side, the boat moved in +towards the cliff. + +As it neared the shore, one of the men stood up in the stern, and was +heard to command them to cease pulling; and, for a few seconds +afterward, he seemed to be reconnoitring the beach. Apparently satisfied +with his scrutiny, he ordered them to give way again, steered directly +to the foot of the tower, and skilfully run the boat alongside of the +rock almost beneath the window. + +"Now lay off an oar's length from the shore, and wait for me," said the +one who had steered the boat, and who appeared to be the leader. "Be on +the alert against surprise, though there's little fear of any one being +within a league of the old tower. Carl, you and Evan take the coil of +rigging and come with me." + +As he spoke he leaped on the projection of the rock; then measuring the +cliff with his eye, he placed his cutlass between his teeth and began to +ascend. By the aid of numerous fissures and bold spurs jutting out from +the sides he reached the top, closely followed by his men. Here he +paused a moment, resting on his cutlass, and looked about him. He stood +directly beneath the window from which Elpsy and the young man were +looking, and was plainly visible to them. He was a short, stout-built +man, with a ruddy complexion, browned by the winds and suns of every +clime. His hair was gray, and hung in straight locks about his ears; +and, judging by the deeply-indented lines of his weather-worn visage, +his age was about fifty; yet his compactly-built figure, his light +motions, and athletic appearance, gave indications of many years less. +His countenance, turned upward to their full gaze in his survey of the +tower, wore an expression of careless jovialty, united with desperate +hardihood. The most striking characteristic of his face was a thick red +mustache covering his upper lip. He had on his head an immense fur cap, +and wore a short, full frock of a dark shade, secured at the waist by a +broad belt, stuck with large, heavy pistols of the kind known, at the +period, as the hand-harquebuss. He wore, also, voluminous breeches of +buff leather, buckled at the knee, red cloth gaiters, and high-quartered +shoes with pointed toes, and garnished with sparkling buckles of immense +size. By his side hung the empty sheath of the sabre on which he leaned. +His men, save the fur cap, for which they substituted red woollen ones +of a conical form, and the frock, instead of which they wore long +jackets, were--breeches, buckler, shoes, and gaiters--his counterpart in +apparel. + +"'Tis the very spot I once knew it! The unchanged sea--the rock--this +gray tower! It seems as if but a day, and not eighteen years, had passed +since I banqueted here with Hurtel of the Red-Hand," he said to himself, +gazing round with revived recollections at each object. "Well, strange +things have happened since! He is dead, or an exile with a price on his +head; all our brave band scattered; and I, only, am left to stand once +more on this familiar spot. The old rookery looks desolate enough, and +seems to sympathize with its master's fortunes! Open your lantern, Carl, +and let us enter! This moon will scarce afford light where I wish to +penetrate! Heaven grant no evil spirit haunts here to keep guard over +the treasure I have come to carry off! But, if it still remains, I will +e'en cross blades with the devil for it, and win it, will he, nil he." + +He passed as he spoke round the tower, and the next moment the listeners +heard the heavy footsteps of the three men echoing through the hall. The +young man was about to spring from the room to meet them, when Elpsy +held him back. + +"Would you run upon death! They would sheathe their cutlasses in your +body ere you could open your lips. Hold, and hush! There is time enough. +We will see what their purpose is. I have half a guess, from his words, +at their business here." + +"What!" + +"Hurtel of the Red-Hand, the story goes, had secreted in some part of +the tower large sums of silver and gold, with which to aid the +conspiracy he headed. He had neither time nor means to take it away with +him, and doubtless it still remains here, and this bucanier is +acquainted with the secret." + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, with surprise, "who told thee this?" + +"Rumour, said I not!" she replied, after a moment's hesitation. + +"And how should these know where to look for what has been concealed for +years?" + +"Hark!" she cried, as a heavy noise reached them from a distant part of +the building, "they have opened the trap of the tower, and will descend +into the vaults. He is one that knows well the place." + +"Doubtless, from his language, some one of my hospitable parent's +fellow-chiefs, who used to revel here in the days you tell of. I will +see what they do, and take opportunity of forming good fellowship with +my father's friend. Nay--but let me go, woman!" + +He broke from her as she attempted to detain him, and, cautiously +opening the door, descended with a cautious and rapid step into the +hall. At its opposite extremity he saw, by the glimmer of a lamp held by +one of them, the two men standing over an opening in the floor, and +their leader just in the act of letting himself down into the +subterranean chamber beneath. + +"Hold the ladder steady, Evan!" he said. "Thrust your lantern down at +arm's length, Carl, so that I can see where to place my foot. Ha! there, +I find bottom," he added, his voice sounding hollow from the depth; +"'tis dark and damp as a Calcutta blackhole! Faith, it's more like a +tomb than an honest underground apartment. I hope I shall not see +Hurtel's ghost guarding his box. Tumble down here, boys, and be ready to +hand above decks as soon as I find out where it's stowed away!" + +The others, leaving their cutlasses behind, followed him into the vault. +Their heads had no sooner disappeared than the young man crossed the +hall with a free step to the trapdoor, and looked fearlessly after them. +He had from the first, when the vessel came in sight, deliberately +resolved to attach himself to the party; and now the frank, blunt manner +of the old sea-rover struck his fancy, and confirmed him in his +resolution. But he was at a loss how to make his intentions known--how +first to address men ready to shed blood on the instant without +question, and among whom, at such a time, the very discovery of his +presence might be fatal ere he could make known to the chief his +intentions. While watching them as they groped about through the vast +vault, an idea, characteristic of his now reckless disposition, +suggested by the ghostly apprehensions of the leader, entered his mind. +He paused for an instant, and then, favoured by the darkness, dropped +noiselessly into the chamber. With a step that gave back no sound, he +approached them as they moved in an opposite direction from him, +throwing the light all forward, and waited the opportunity he had chosen +for discovering himself. + +"'Tis twelve paces to the south, eight paces to the east, and six paces +to the west again--which will bring me to the wall, and on the very +stone Red Hurtel and I placed over the gold," said the captain; "here +are twelve paces, well told!" he added, placing his foot immediately +afterward emphatically on the stone floor. + +These words at once gave the youth a key to the course he should adopt. +His quick eye, as the leader turned to pace east, comprehended the +remaining angle at a glance, and, gliding away by the wall, he moved +cautiously and noiselessly along till he felt his foot press upon a +loose slab. He knew he must be on or near the spot; and drawing himself +to his full height, and unconsciously assuming a stern and resolute +look, called up by the novelty and danger of his situation, he waited +the angular advance of the captain, who, with his men, was too intent on +accurately marking his steps to look up even for a moment. + +"Now west!" said the leader; and, turning as he spoke, he had counted on +to four, _five_, and was about to take the last step to the wall, when, +pronounced in a deep tone, that rung hollow through the vault, he heard +the word, + +"Forbear!" + +He lifted his eyes and fell back upon his men as the lantern shone full +upon the object, exclaiming, + +"The ghost of Hurtel, by all that's good! Evan, come back here, you +villain! Carl, give me that lantern, coward!" he shouted to his men, who +turned and fled with affright. + +He caught the light from the hand of the terrified Dane, and turned upon +this apparition, which, notwithstanding his coolness, had not a little +disconcerted him. He held the lamp, though standing off at a chosen +distance, to the face of the supposed ghost, and said, with an odd +mixture of natural boldness and superstitious fear, + +"'Fore Heaven, comrade, you have grown full young in the other world! +But there is no mistaking the cut of your eye. Faith, but you can smile, +I see," he added, more freely. "There's no more mistaking your smile +than your black, ugly frown! So, suppose we shake hands, and, after we +get the chest aboard--for they say you don't want this sort of ballast +in the seas down below--why, we'll empty a can together, and spin a yarn +about old times before the cock crows!" + +As the intrepid old sea-rover spoke, he extended his rough hand to grasp +that of the other. The young man hesitated to take it, for he was scarce +sure of his reception when it should be discovered that he was flesh and +blood. + +"Never mind if your fingers be a little cold or so, 'tis the nature o' +ghosts. I can give you a grasp that'll put warmth into 'em, and last you +till you get back where you hail from. Come, old friend, give us your +digits, just to say you ain't offended at the liberty I am about to take +with your chest o' sparklers; and afterward I will just thank you to +step one side a bit!" + +The young man smiled at the intrepidity of the seaman, and took the +proffered hand. + +"Warm! by the bones of St. Nick! The old fellow below has been keeping +you over a hot fire, messmate. Well, you must confess, you lived a +wonderfully wicked life; and so, as the priests say, the devil will fry +it out of you. Sorry for you, on my word! Will lay by fifty of these +guilders in prayers for your soul! So take heart. Now just step aside +off that slab, which you stick to as if 'twas a tombstone, and we'll +bear a hand and bouse this old box out in the snapping of a bolt-rope." + +"I am no spirit, but a habitant of this world, like thyself!" he said, +with firmness, and a straight-forward frankness that he wisely +calculated would have its effect; "I am a young adventurer, without name +or family, weal or wealth. I would take service with thee, and follow +thy fortunes on the sea!" + +The bucanier listened with surprise; and as he became convinced, from +his words and manner, that he was no shade from the land of spirits, +which shadowy beings he seemed to fear no more than mortal substance, +his countenance instantly changed, and he surveyed him with a puzzled +look of surprise and doubt. + +"So! this alters the case! Who art thou, then? what art thou doing +here--and on this particular stone? 'Tis mysterious, i'faith! Guarding +this treasure, which no man save Hurtel and I saw laid here; so like +him, and not be he! Yet thou canst not be Red Hurtel in the flesh, for +his hair would be as gray as mine by this time. Thou sayest thou art not +his spirit. Who, and what, then, in the name of St. Barnabas, may you +be?" + +"His son." + +"Ha! ho! There it is, as plain as my hand!" he said, slapping the flat +of his cutlass into his left palm. "Priest never had aught to do with +thy begetting or thy christening, I'll be sworn! I now remember he had a +leman-lady in the tower when I knew him. A proper youth," he added, +looking at him with interest, "and as like your father as one +marlin-spike is like another! So you inherit the old tower, I dare say, +and follow in his steps. St. Claus and the apostles! I would not be +surprised if you laid claim to the gold here!" + +"I care neither for tower nor gold, good captain. To follow your +fortunes I alone ask." + +"Do you know what fortunes I follow?" inquired the other, significantly. + +"I care not, so there is work for the free hand and ready spirit." + +"A chip of the old block! There's my hand to it. You shall have your +will, my brave one! Your father and I were comrades in that cursed +affair that made the country too hot to hold us. I have been a rover +since, and, trusting to my gray head, have ventured back to carry off +what gold I heard he had not time to remove. Thou shalt go with me for +thy father's sake, boy." + +He grasped the old man's offered hand, and, for the moment, felt that he +was less alone in the world. What a change had one brief day made in the +feelings and destinies of this haughty young man! + +"Bear a hand, you pale runaways!" cried the captain to the men, who, +seeing that their spirit had proved of flesh and blood, returned, +scowling darkly on the cause of their discomfiture. "Take hold of the +edge of that stone, and lift it from its bed. Place your hands on the +right spot, and it will come up like a cork." + +The men made several ineffectual efforts to lift it, though even +assisted in their last attempt by their captain. + +"How is this?" he said; "it should move with a finger's touch. Ha, I +have it! I had forgot. You might heave till you were gray, boys, and it +wouldn't stir a hair. Look at some of my magic." + +He stooped as he spoke, and pressing the stone horizontally towards the +wall, it moved from its bed, and slid away slowly, as if on wheels, +beneath it exposing a cavity two feet square and about three feet deep, +containing an oaken box, bound with strong bands of rusted steel. + +"Here it lies, like a biscuit in a bucket! Let us see if the gold has +got rusty." + +He searched a few moments, and at length bore hard upon a corner of the +box, but without producing any effect. + +"The spring is as tight as if Old Nick had his foot on it. Let us try +what this good steel, that has served me so often at a push, will do +now." + +He pressed the point of his cutlass with steady force against one +corner, when suddenly the lid flew up, and a glittering pile of silver +and gold, and a remarkably shaped dagger, a foot in length, wider at the +point than the handle, and exceedingly rich with precious stones, met +their eyes. + +There was a general exclamation of surprise at this display of treasure. +The young man took up the weapon and examined it with curiosity. + +"That belonged to Hurtel of the Red-Hand, and he prized it, too!" said +the old pirate. "It shall be thine, young man! Holding it with that +grasp as you do, and your kindling eye, I would swear my old comrade +stood before me. If nature put the father's looks on all children as she +has on thee, it would be a blind father that wouldn't know his own +child. But it's only bas--hoit! I mean to say that children honestly +come by seldom show the breed they hail from as some other sort o' craft +do--I'faith, I haven't bettered it much! But, no harm meant, my brave +fellow! Keep that yataghan for your father's sake. He knew its use, and, +if you are long under me--" + +"_Under_ you?" repeated the youth, his natural spirit breaking out. + +"Ha! I like that! Better men than I will soon be under you, I see--'tis +in you born and bred! So! let us heave out this precious metal. Six +thousand told pounds, if my memory serves me. Heave heartily, boys. +There she moves! Now she rises on her toes! Steady strain. Hearty, +hearty. There you are!" + +"Hafey golt 'tish dat dere, Evan," said one, straightening his bent +loins. + +"Ap carnach! ant yer may will say tat, poy!" responded Evan, breathing +himself and passing the back of his hand across his brow, from which +started big drops of perspiration. + +They now laid hold of it and dragged it beneath the trapdoor: with the +united efforts of the men, the captain, and even Lester--or Hurtel, as +for the present he should be called--they got it to the floor above, +reascended, and closed the scuttle. + +"You will want fresh hands, captain," said the youthful novitiate, at +once readily entering into the spirit of his new vocation, and thirsting +for excitement as a foil to reflection; "shall I call two of your men +from the boat?" + +"Ay, ay! do so!" said the captain; adding, as he darted away, "True as +steel, by St. Claus! I would rather lose the gold than lose him. He is +worth his weight of it!" + +While he was speaking his protegé reached the balcony, and, bending +over, ordered, in an authoritative tone, two of the men to ascend to +relieve their mates. There was a general exclamation of surprise from +the party below at the sound of the strange voice. + +"Treason!" + +"We are betrayed!" + +"To the rescue of our captain!" were the various exclamations, in as +many different languages, followed by glancing of steel and clicking of +pistols, several of which were levelled at the window. + +"Ho, fellows! will you not obey?" said he, sternly; "up, up-with you! By +the cross! if I were your captain, knaves, I would teach you to linger +after an order was given." + +"Who in the devil have we there?" said one, in a gruff voice. "Shall I +pink him, mates?" + +"Who talks of pinking? What, ho, ye villains!" shouted the captain, who +now appeared at the window. "This youth is my lieutenant, and see that +you obey him, or I will make a pair of earrings of a brace of you for +the main-yard-arms." + +"That's another thing," said several voices. "Orders is orders, if they +come from the devil, so as he is got the commission in his pocket!" + +"Two of the strongest of you lubberly oxen, clamber up here. Spring! be +nimble! nimble! Back the boat directly under, and keep her steady." + +A moment afterward two of the men reached the top of the rock and sprung +into the balcony. It took but a short time to get the chest upon the +balustrade, lash it with the rope they had brought, rig a fall with a +brace of oars, and swing it off. + +"Stand ready below there!" cried the captain. + +"All ready." + +"Handle it as if it was a baby. Gently, gently, or you will knock the +boat's bottom out! Swing it more aft! There, now, let her drop +amidships! Easy--not too fast! There she lies between the thwarts like a +pig in a pillory!" + +The box was safely lowered into the launch, and followed with alacrity +by the men: the captain and his new lieutenant were also preparing to go +down, when each, at the same instant, felt himself touched from behind, +and, turning round, Elpsy confronted them. + +"Who art thou, in the name of Beelzebub's mother?" demanded the captain, +staring with astonishment, not unmingled with superstitious dread, on +the deformed and hideous being who had so suddenly and mysteriously +appeared to him. + +"I would speak with thee, Edmund Turill!" + +"Then thou art Sathanas!" he cried, with astonishment; "how knowest thou +me?" + +"It matters not. I know thee," she replied, in a tone of mystery. "That +youth goes with thee?" she added, inquiringly. + +"He does!" + +"See, then, that he is well treated, and receives not ill at thy hands. +Remember, once thou hadst a son!" + +"Who art thou, i'the name of all the saints, woman?" + +"It matters not. When thou thinkest of thy poor boy's bones, gibbeted +for sharing thy guilt o'er the gate of Cork, the winds whistling through +them with a sad wail, look kindly on this youth, and take him to thy +heart, as if he were thine own flesh and blood!" + +"I will do it," he said, with emotion. + +"Swear it." + +"I swear it!" + +"'Tis well. One question I have to ask thee, and truly answer it." + +"Name it, woman!" + +"Where wanders Hurtel of the Red-Hand?" + +"'Tis said he died in the Indies!" + +"'Tis false!" she cried, with energy. "He can never die unaccursed by +her he has wronged. No, no! he will have one to watch his pillow in his +dying throes he would rather burn in hell, to which he is doomed, than +see. No, no! his time has not yet come! his master will not let him slip +out o' life so easily. Oh, it will be a glory to see him die; and mock +his groans; and laugh, laugh at his terrors! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, will it not +be a jubilee to see him struggle with the death!" + +"I'God's name, woman, tell me who thou art?" + +"Dost not behold what I am? Wouldst have fair winds, I will raise thee +foul: wouldst have a smooth sea, I will make it boil and hiss: wilt say +a prayer, I will turn it into a curse ere it can leave thy lips." + +"Avaunt, sorceress!" he cried, crossing himself with horror. + +"Ha, ha! so you can feel my power! Oh, well! it is a-pleasant to make +men's stout hearts quake. Dost know me?" she asked, impressively, +approaching her face close to his. + +"No!" he said, retreating and preparing to descend the rock. "Avoid +thee, Sathanas!" + +"Listen!" she said, approaching and laying her hand on his arm, and +whispering low in his ear. + +"_Thou!_" he exclaimed, instantly starting back, and surveying her with +mingled surprise, curiosity, and disgust. + +"Wouldst care to leave thy revels and their lord, and, stealing to her +lone room, offer thy drunken love to her now! Ha, ha, ha! Does she not +look a comely leman for thy licentious love?" she added, with malicious +irony. + +He gazed on her a few seconds by the light of the moon, and seemed too +much overpowered by surprise to speak. At length he said, in a tone of +horror, + +"Hideous as thou art, it must be as thou sayest, for only thus could I +be known to thee! But, holy St. Claus!" he added, in a tone, "this +lad--is he--" + +"No matter who he is! see thou harm him not!" + +"I will be a father to him, woman! 'Fore Heaven," he exclaimed afresh, +gazing upon her with mingled curiosity and pity, "was there ever such +a--" + +"Mind me not! spare your sympathy! Go!--Stay!" she cried, earnestly +recalling him; "if you ever meet _him_, breathe not into his ears what +and whom you have this night seen. I have made myself known to thee for +this youth's sake. Farewell, young man," she said, approaching Lester as +he stood on the rock, to which he had bounded from the balcony at the +beginning of their conference. She extended her hand as she spoke. He +took it, and grasped it warmly saying, in a soothing tone, + +"Good-by, Elpsy. I have no ill-will against thee in my heart. Thou hast +done but thy duty!" + +The sorceress seemed to be moved, turned away from him without speaking, +as if her feelings choked utterance, and stalked away through the hall, +and left the tower. + +"Come, my lad," said the captain, turning away and speaking with +feeling, after following with his eyes her retreating form till it +disappeared in the forest, "she is a poor, unhappy creature, and it'll +come hard, I'm thinking, on him that made her so. But this is no time +for sentiment. Let us aboard and make an offing ere the dawn; for, if we +are spied lying here, we shall have the king's bulldog down upon us from +windward I saw lying in Cor Bay, who will bark to some purpose if he +should catch us here on a lee shore." + +Thus speaking, the old seaman lightly descended the rock to the boat, +followed by his youthful lieutenant, and in a few minutes they reached +the vessel. + +The moment his foot touched the deck the captain gave orders to make +sail: the long, crooked tiller was put hard up to windward; the heavy +mainsail swung back to its place; the vessel's head turned slowly off, +and, feeling the wind on her quarter, she stood in landward for a few +seconds to gain headway, and then came gracefully round with her +starboard bow to the wind. With each broad sail drawn nearly fore and +aft, she lay as near it as her short blunt build would permit, and +stretched away from the shore on a long tack towards the south. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "If solitude succeed to grief, + Release from pain is light relief; + The vacant bosom's wilderness + Might thank the pang that made it less. + The heart once left thus desolate + Must fly at last for ease--to hate." + + _The Giaour._ + + +The narrative once more returns to Mark, who, it will be remembered, had +arrived, on his way to Castle More, at a ruin in the midst of the forest +he was traversing, when the approach of two horsemen caused him to +withdraw from the path. As he did so, they were encountered and stopped +by some one who unexpectedly met them as they were galloping past the +lonely pile. Curious to know who they were and what could be their +business at that late hour, he entered the deep shadow of the tower, and +approached so near them as to discover that the men wore the livery of +Lady Lester, and that the person with whom they were talking was none +other than the witch Elpsy, with whose person he had been familiar from +childhood. + +After Elpsy disappeared from the eyes of the old bucanier and his young +lieutenant at Hurtel's tower, she had continued to move rapidly through +the forest towards Castle Cor, without turning either to the right or +left. Sometimes she would skip forward with mad hilarity till exhausted; +at others, leap, and clap her hands, and shout, till the dales of the +old wood rung again with her shrieking laughter. From the unnatural +speed, and the wild, straight-forward direction in which she moved, her +sole object seemed to be to reach some point for which she aimed in the +least possible time. The scared owl hooted aloud at her approach, and +flew, with a heavy flap of his thick wings, deeper into the wood; the +hawk left his nest with a shrill cry; the deer fled from her path! On, +on she bounded and leaped mocking their notes of terror, like a demon +pursued. At times, when she crossed an open glade, where the moon poured +down her unobstructed radiance, she would suddenly stop and mutter, but +without appearing to notice the pale orb the sight of which, by +directing her thoughts into another, but not less turbulent channel, +seemed to have exercised a momentary influence on her. She had travelled +six miles in less than one hour's time, when she suddenly stopped in the +full light of the moon, looked up, and shook her open hands towards it +with a laugh of derision. + +"Oh, ho! you need not look and watch, and watch and look, and keep your +pale face and shining eyes always fixed on me! Dost think I would commit +murder? and the little twinkling stars peer down as if they could espy a +knife in my hand! Look, ye little glittering winklings," she cried, +spreading upward her open palms, "dost see a knife? Ha, ha, ha! ye are +out there. I am too much for ye. No, I know ye well, with your winking +and your blinking at each other, and how, in the darkest night, one of +you always keeps watch, to spy the murders done in the absence o' the +sun; and then you whisper it through heaven, and tell it to the earth, +and then we hang for it. Oh, ho! I have a charm will put you to sleep. +Ha! you laugh, and grin, and gibber, that I have lost in a half hour's +tale what I have won by years of silence. Well, well, there'll be a +time! there'll be a time!" + +Dropping her head, she appeared a moment as if in sullen thought, and +then muttered, in a tone and manner which, more than words, gave a key +to the wild phrensy that had hitherto possessed her, + +"If _he_ cannot be Lord of Lester, neither shall HE! He dies! The eye of +the moon pierces not this wood! He dies! 'Tis long yet to dawn," she +abruptly added, moving forward, and speaking with more coherency. "If I +can find him ere the myrmidons of Lady Lester can reach him, should she +send for him, Castle More will ne'er own other lord than he who, but for +my foul tongue--may it wither in my throat!--would now have been Lord of +Lester. He dies! dies! dies! dies!" and, hasting her footsteps, she +continued to repeat the word at every stride, accompanying it with a +threatening gesture of her arm. + +Her rapid speed soon brought her to the ruins of the abbey. Bounding +like an ape over the fallen blocks, she entered the door in the tower, +and with an unfaltering step traversed the gallery to her subterraneous +abode, which, after Lester's angry and fruitless pursuit of her, she had +left for Hurtel's tower, fearing that he might despatch a party from +Castle More in search of her, for the purpose, by her death, of +effectually silencing all question of his birth. + +Entering her subterranean abode, she produced a light without flint, or +steel, or fire, but by smartly drawing two marks, in opposition to the +sign of the cross, on the wall with a small stick, the end of which +immediately emitted a blue flame, and, after a fierce, hissing noise, +shot up into a bright blaze. This, to the peasantry who had witnessed +it, was one of the strongest evidences of her being in league with the +devil, who, it was asseverated, kindled her stick for her in the +unquenchable fire. + +She lighted a fragment of a rush candle by the flame, and, opening a +small box containing medicinal preparations, took therefrom a small vial +containing an amber-coloured liquid, and held it to the light. She +looked at it for a while with a look of vengeful satisfaction, and then +placed it in her bosom; afterward she took a rusty poniard from a +crevice in the wall, carefully felt its point, which was ground to a +keen edge, and, with a look of satisfaction, thrust it up into her +sleeve. Then extinguishing the light, she hastened past the tomb of +Black Morris, and with a quick, determined step, traversed the gallery +towards its outlet. + +As she approached it she heard the tramp of horses. With a quick, +apprehensive cry, as if she at once divined the cause, she flew through +the passage into the moonlight, and saw two horsemen approaching at a +round pace, and going in the direction of Castle Cor: as they came +nearer, she recognised them as the chief forester and the seneschal from +Castle More. She permitted them to gallop along the road till they were +within a few feet of her, when she suddenly stepped forth from the black +shadow of the tower, and, with one arm outstretched brandishing the +stiletto, confronted them. The riders, taken by surprise, pulled their +horses back to their haunches, and both instantly exclaimed, with +superstitious dread, + +"Elpsy!" + +These were the horsemen Mark turned from his path to avoid. + +"I am Elpsy," she repeated, in a lofty tone. "Whither ride ye, so fast +and free? + + "If ye do not tell me true, + Horses each shall cast a shoe, + And evil bide ye, ill betide, + As ye on your journey ride!" + +"There be strange doings at the castle, mother," said the seneschal, +pitching his voice to the true gossiping tone; "there's me young +loord--" + +"Fait! but it's jist this--" interrupted the other; "our young masther, +Lord Robert, is not masther's son at all at all, and masther's son--" + +"Murther! an' it's you dat have it wrong, Ennis, honey," cried the +other, interrupting him in his turn; "it's jist this, ould Mither +Eelpsy; Lord Robert is not my Lord Robert at all at all, and the raal +Lord Robert is--" + +"And is it not the very woords I was afther tilling the crathur?" +interrupted the forester. "I will give it to ye, Eelpsy, dare, in the +right way." + +"Hist with your tongues!" cried the impatient woman, having heard enough +to convince her that Robert had told the truth in saying that he openly +published his own shame. "Hold with your senseless words, fools! I can +tell ye more than both of ye together, and all Castle Cor, know." + +"We know dat, ould mither! Don't forget to crass yourself, Jarvey, +honey," added the speaker, aside, making the sign of the cross on his +breast. "It's the great dale ye know, and the likes o' ye, and it's not +we that is to gainsay it this night." + +"Whither ride ye?" she demanded, impatiently taking hold of the bridle +of one of the horses. + +"Och, an' isn't it to bring with all speed that young jintleman o' the +world, Mark Meredith, the ould fisherman's son, to be sure, to Castle +More," said the forester. + +"At whose bidding?" she demanded. + +"Our lady's, the jewil!" answered the seneschal. + +"Go back, and tell the Dark Lady of the Rock that thus says Elpsy, the +sorceress: 'He whom she seeks she will never find!'" + +"But it's the disthress she'll be in," said the seneschal. + +"And it's the deep grief o' the world that's upon her now," added the +other. + +"Och, but it will be bad news to be afther bringing back to her that +sint us," pursued Ennis, with a howl. + +"Widout iver having gone at all at all," said Jarvey, in a tone of +grief. + +"A cush-la-ma-chree, Jarvey, but it's find the lad we must!" cried +Ennis, with sudden resolution. + +"And it's the ould mither that's here, bliss her, 'll maybe till us +where he may be jist at this present," added Jarvey, insinuatingly. + +"Do you hesitate to obey me! Go back, even as you came. If _she_ ask you +where the lad is, tell her Elpsy has said, '_Lester has no lord_!'" + +"Och, hone! and will it be the world's thruth, Elpsy, hinney! It'll +break the spirit of her, in her lone bosom." + +"And what'll the castle do widout a lord! That I should live to see it!" +wailed the seneschal. + +"And must we go back to the Dark Lady wid dis heavy sorrow to the fore?" +asked the forester. + +"E'en must ye! So!" she cried, turning, with a sudden jerk of the rein, +the head of one of the horses towards the direction in which they had +come. "Ride, ride," she added, in a commanding but wild tone, "nor look +behind till ye are safe within the gates, lest ye care to see the evil +one astraddle of your crupper." + +"The houly crass protict us!" they both ejaculated, crossing themselves. + +"Good e'en to ye, mither. It's yourself is the crathur for knowing the +world's thruth," added Jarvey, as if by flattery he would disarm any +evil intention she might cherish in reference to himself. + +"And it's to her we're indibted for not riding tree leagues for nothing +at all at all, whin the lad's not to the fore! Faix, it's my thanks ye +have, ould Elpsy, for't, an' its yer due, were ye the ould divil +himself," returned Ennis, gathering up his rein. "Kape your head +straight between yer shoulder, Jarvey." + +"It's me, honey, will niver be afther looking behint," replied Jarvey, +setting his face towards Castle More. + +Thus taking leave of the wily woman, these two old simple-minded +retainers rode back again; their obtuse minds probably scarce +comprehending the nature of the loss Lady Lester had met with, the +exchanged fortunes of their late young master, nor the important object +of their mission. + +She looked after them as they galloped away till they were lost in the +gloom of the forest, when, clapping her hands, she broke into a peal of +frantic merriment, which was more like the shriek of a fiend than like +human laughter. + +"Ah, ha! have I not done it well! I met them here just in time. Satan +stands my friend yet! If he did make me lose the game, he has helped to +keep another from winning it. No, Lester shall never have a lord at the +expense of him who, but for my accursed tongue and his silly _honour_! +would still have been its master. Ho, ho! have I not done it! Now it +remains for me, ere he can learn the secret of his birth, to send him +where low and highborn are all on a level! This! and, if this fail, +_this_," she said, grasping first the vial and then the dagger, "shall +do my will! It's a wicked act--I know it!--'tis a deed of hell! I would +not harm the poor lad--no; for he is like an own child to me--but, then, +he is _not_ my child--and shall I see him in the seat from which _he_ +has been cast out? No, no, this steel shall drink--this poison shall dry +up, his noble blood first!" + +"Of whom do you speak in such fearful words, mother?" + +She started with mingled terror and astonishment, and beheld standing at +her side the unconscious object of her thoughts. Her surprise at his +sudden, and, as she at first believed, supernatural appearance, for the +moment deprived her of her speech; she dropped the hand that held the +vial, which was dashed in pieces against a stone, and gazed on him for +several seconds with a disturbed and remorseful countenance. + +"Did you hear all my words?" she at length had the resolution to ask, +advancing a step towards him, and speaking in a deep, husky tone. + +"No, mother. I have been in the shadow of yonder bastion, waiting the +departure of those horsemen." + +"Then you could not hear their speech?" she interrogated, with an +eagerness of voice and manner that he could not account for. + +"No," he answered, firmly. + +"You have not spoken with them?" + +"No." + +"They have not told you--that is, you are Mark Meredith, the grandson of +old Meredith, the fisherman? Speak, boy!" + +"Surely I am, Elpsy; do you not discern my face by this moon? I fear," +he said, in a kind tone, "you have not taken good care of yourself of +late, and are a little fevered. Go down to our hut, if you can walk so +far, and you will find a meal of fish there, of my own taking, which I +left my grandsire preparing for me. Bid him give you my portion. +Good-night, Elpsy, I have business at Castle More." + +As he spoke he stepped aside to pass her and pursue his way. His +hospitable and kind invitation had touched her. She was not so seared +that gentleness and words of kindness could not find a vibrating chord +within her bosom. Gradually, as he spoke she relaxed her hand from its +grasp on the poniard, which, on discovering him, she had instinctively +concealed in the folds of her scarlet cloak, and extended it towards him +in a grateful manner. But the expression of his intention to proceed to +the abode of Lady Lester caused her suddenly to draw it back, while in a +quick, harsh tone of voice, and with great vehemence of manner, in which +alarm and apprehension were visible, she cried, + +"Castle More! What hast thou to do at Castle More?" + +"I bear a message to Robert of Lester! Detain me not, Elpsy; I have +already lingered on the way." + +"Who sends thee?" + +"The young lady of Bellamont." + +"Thy message?" + +"I know not. 'Tis in this sealed pacquet." + +"Is this all for which thou art sent?" + +"It is." + +"No instructions--no commands?" + +"None, save to make no delay at Castle More, lest my young lord and I +should renew a quarrel we had this day." + +"Nothing else?" + +"Nothing. But why these rapid questions--this anxiety of manner? What +has come over thee, Elpsy?" he asked, with surprise. + +She had put this series of interrogations to him with an irresistible +energy and rapidity, that left him no alternative but direct and instant +replies. At first she gave him no answer; her face worked convulsively, +and she seemed to be contending with some strong feelings, that she in +vain strove to get the mastery over. At length she muttered within her +lips, + +"I had feared! But 'tis safe, safe. 'Tis a pity to slay the fair young +lad; but, if I do not, he will know that which he never must +know--become that he never shall become! He must not see Castle More. He +must die rather! Mark, come to me," she said, in a hollow and unearthly +tone; "I would whisper in your ear what I would not have the laughing +and grinning devils that flit about us in the air, hear! Come to me and +listen!" + +While she was speaking she nervously grasped the handle of her dagger, +and took a step towards him. Her manner hitherto had already aroused his +watchfulness, and the tone of her invitation by no means increased his +confidence. He did not, indeed, suspect any attempt upon his life by +her; but, being familiar with her restless and violent nature, he was +prepared to expect some annoying violence; and for this he was +cautiously on the watch. + +"Wilt not approach?" she said, in a coaxing tone. "'Tis a sweet and fair +tale I would tell thee! Ha, ha! as fair and sweet as I told the Lord +Robert yestere'en! Wilt not come?" she shouted, as she saw he continued +to step back as she advanced; "then will I come!" + +She, with these words, made a spring towards him, seized him suddenly by +the breast, and brandished her poniard in the air. He was not unprepared +for this, sudden as it was: he caught her upraised arm, and bent it +backward over her head till she shrieked with pain, and, with a cool and +determined exertion of his whole strength, cast her from him so +violently as to hurl her to the earth. She sprang to her feet like a +cat, and, with a yell of rage, again leaped upon him. He avoided her +attack by lightly springing to one side, when, missing her blow, she +fell forward and struck her head on the edge of a stone, and sunk to the +ground senseless and bleeding. + +He instantly flew to her relief, lifted her from the earth, and +attempted to assuage the flow of blood from a severe contusion that she +had received on the forehead. In a little time the loss of blood +restored her to consciousness; it also had the effect of subduing her +high fever of excitement, and making her comparatively calm. She +permitted him to bind a handkerchief, that he took from his own neck, +across her temples; but she neither spoke nor acknowledged his +attentions, but sat in sullen silence on the ground. + +"Elpsy," asked the youth, at length, "why do you seek my life?" + +"You can never know!" she replied, slowly shaking her head with morose +inflexibility. + +"Have I wronged you?" + +"Ask me not!" + +"Is it thirst for blood, evil woman, that drives thee to this crime?" + +"I would not slay thee, but thou and I, boy, can never live in the same +land!" she said, obstinately. + +"Thou mightst have spared this attempt, then, on my life, for soon the +deep sea will roll between me and my native isle." + +"How! Explain your words!" she asked, with awakened interest. + +"I am resolved, as nature has denied me nobility of birth, to give it at +least to those who come after me." + +"Speak on!" she cried, hanging on his words with intense expectation. + +"I am going from my father's roof into the world, to see if I cannot +make men forget from what I have sprung!" + +"Is this thy purpose, boy? Speak truly!" + +"It is, Elpsy. Seven hours ago I had nearly linked my fortunes with the +yacht that takes the earl to England on the morrow--but--" + +"But, what?" she eagerly demanded. + +"My father--I thought of him, and--" + +"Would not." + +"I cannot desert him to suffering and want." + +"And is this all?" she asked, her face lighting up with a newly awakened +thought. + +"The sole cause." + +She began eagerly to search her belt, and drew forth from it a heavy +purse. Shaking it with a gratified air, she then poured its glittering +contents on the ground beside her. + +"See that pile of gold! To-morrow go in this king's ship, and it shall +be yours--there are three hundred guilders told--'twill give the old man +food and raiment for a longer life than his will be, and afterward buy a +coffin for his bones. Wilt go?" + +"Mother," said he, his heart leaping with joy and hope, yet both +tempered with the doubt to which he gave utterance, "this wealth! is it +thine? How came you by it?" + +"It matters not." + +"I dare not touch it. I fear 'tis the price of sin--or, perhaps, of +blood." + +"Fool; 'tis wealth I've had in store these eighteen years, given to me +by times by one who, if there be justice in Heaven or hell, is now +accursed on earth. There is no more evil in it than in every piece of +gold that the earth contains--all gold is evil--it is all but the price +of honour, of honesty, or of human blood. Take it, and depart from this +land." + +He gazed on the glittering heap, and hope, by its aid, pictured bright +visions of the future, and the fruition of all his aspiring wishes. +Ambition once more awakened in his heart. Yet he hesitated. But, while +he did so, he thought of Kate Bellamont--of the proud Lester--of his +hopes of the future--of all that he had loved to contemplate; he even +gave a thought to Grace Fitzgerald: all that an aspiring mind like his, +at such a time, could be influenced by, had its effect upon him. She +narrowly watched his countenance, read rightly his thoughts, and, +feeling assured of his acceptance of it, mentally congratulated herself +that her object could be effected without the shedding of his blood. She +waited till she thought his mind was sufficiently ripe for her purpose, +then replaced the gold in the purse, and, balancing it in her hand, +said, "Before you take this purse, I name one condition of its +acceptance." + +He looked to her to mention it. + +"That you for ever drop your present name and assume another; that you +never breathe to mortal ear the place of your birth, nor give clew to +your country." + +"I gladly promise this--for already I had resolved on it, Elpsy. I have +_one_ great motive for doing so. But what can be yours?" + +"'Tis no matter. You promise this?" + +"Cheerfully." + +"Then take the gold for thy grandsire's support." + +"Thanks, thanks, kind Elpsy--yet--" + +"Not a word of objection. I have two favours to ask of thee." + +"Name them," said he, with an eagerness that evinced a desire to serve +her. + +"Promise that you will hold no speech with any one before thy +departure." + +"I do," he said, after an instant's hesitation. + +"Swear that thou wilt never set foot on this isle again." + +"Nay, I will not swear it," he said, with determination. + +"Wilt thou obey me? Swear it!" she cried, in a tone of fierce command. + +"Who art thou that I should yield thee obedience, woman? I yield +obedience to none save my Maker!" + +"Wilt thou swear?" she asked, with more composure. + +"Never." + +The resolute attitude he so unexpectedly assumed disconcerted her for an +instant. At length she said, + +"Wilt thou promise never to return here under thy own, that is--thy +present name?" + +"Yes, most freely. Now farewell, Elpsy; I must hasten to Castle More." + +"You go not to Castle More!" she exclaimed, with singular emphasis. + +"I am intrusted with a message, and must deliver it." + +"Give it to me, I will be its bearer." + +"Nay, I must myself place it in Lord Robert's hands, in person." + +"Give it me, boy! I will bear it safely to its destination." + +"No, Elpsy." + +"Go to Castle More, and you sail not on the morrow," she said, in a +determined tone, replacing the gold in her belt. + +He hesitated. After a brief struggle between his duty to Grace +Fitzgerald and her cousin, and his own wishes, he at length said, +falteringly, + +"May I trust you to deliver it, Elpsy?" + +"Yes." + +He turned the billet, with its lock of hair, over and over, gazed on it +long and fondly on every side, and, from his reluctance to resign the +precious treasure, there appeared to have arisen a new bar to Elpsy's +purpose. At length he made a compromise with his feelings by slipping +off the braid of hair, and hastily concealing it in his bosom, while he +gave her the unsecured packet. + +"Place it only in the hands of Robert of Lester, Elpsy." + +"None else shall see it." + +"Speedily, if you are not too ill." + +"It will take many a harder buffet than that thou gavest me to make me +ill. He shall have it ere thou art half a league on thy return." + +"Then, Elpsy, I go. Fare thee well, and may Heaven have you in better +keeping than your life now gives hope of. Will you call at times when I +am away to see my grandfather? He will be lonely." + +"Many will be the gossip we'll yet have together. Now go! Take my +blessing--'twill do thee no harm, if it can do no good! When does the +ship sail?" + +"The Earl of Bellamont will return from Kinsale in the morning, and 'tis +said that before noon she will be under weigh." + +"The sooner the better. Go at once on board, nor let the rising sun find +thee on the land. Farewell." + +"Farewell, Elpsy. Don't forget the poor old man!" + +"He shall never want while Elpsy lives. Now fare thee well, +and--_remember_!" she added, impressively. + +They now separated; the young man rapidly retracing his way to his hut, +with a buoyant tread and lightness of spirit, his imagination filled +with dazzling visions of the future; Elpsy bending her steps steadily in +the direction of Castle More, her soul exulting in the master-stroke of +policy she had effected. When he was no longer visible, she stopped, +and, opening the packet, by the light of the moon curiously examined the +locket and its device, the application of which, without understanding +its motto, she intuitively comprehended, and then read the contents of +the billet with a loud, scornful laugh. + +"And would she meet him _now_ with love? Ha, ha! The haughty maiden +would toss her head, did he bear this to her, she knowing his birth. +Oh!" she added, with a malignant chuckle, "that I had let him married +her ere this secret had let out--would it not have been a brave thing +then to have brought down the pride of these gentles! If I could have +kept the secret till their honeymoon was over! Fiends!" she exclaimed, +with maddened disappointment, "what precious revenge I have lost! Shall +I not have a taste of what is left me? Shall I not yet tell her _who_ +and _what_ he is? Oh, will it not be joy to my soul to witness her +ravings! I'll do't! I'll do't! There's something left yet to live for! +There's mischief yet to do in the earth. But I must first watch this +sprout of Lester--this fisher's boy! I shall not have to touch his life +if he'll get off before he learns his true rank; but I'll follow him +like his shadow, nor will I take eyes off him till the ship he sails in +goes out of my sight beyond the ocean's edge. Then will I to Castle Cor, +and see if Lady Kate will receive me, the bearer of this locket, 'with +love!' Haven't I a tale for her delicate ear! Oh, there is yet something +to live for! Elpsy'll not die while there's devil's work to do! So! +methinks I feel a little giddy for walking," she continued, tottering +against the trunk of a tree; "but I'll soon fall into my old gait. A +little bloodletting of a moonshiny night is ever good for the health." + +Thus muttering to herself, she turned back towards the ruin, and began +to walk in the direction taken by Mark, at first slowly; but, gradually +gathering strength with motion and excitement, she soon strode through +the long, dark glades of the forest at a rate that soon brought her in +sight of him. Keeping so far in the rear as not to be discovered by him +should he chance to turn his head, she followed him out of the wood, +then down to the seaside and along the beach, till she saw him, just as +the day broke, lift the latch of the door of his humble cot and +disappear within. She then sought a recess in the cliff in the rear of +the hut, where, secreting herself in a clump of low bushes that grew +about it, she remained concealed until some time after sunrise, when she +saw him reappear accompanied by the fisherman, and beheld both go +together to the beach, launch their little fisher's bark, hoist the +sail, and leave the shore. She eagerly watched them as they stood off +from the land, and with unspeakable triumph saw them run alongside of +the yacht. With emotions of malignant joy, she beheld Mark take leave of +his grandsire and get on board, and the solitary old man quit the vessel +alone and steer in shore towards his desolate hut. As his skiff grated +upon the beach, she met him. + +"So ho, father Meredith! thou hast been selling thy fish to a good +market. The English have the silver coin, which thou wilt scarce find at +the Cove ayond. What price gave these warsmen for thy herring the morn, +gossip?" she inquired, assisting him with her arm from the boat as she +spoke. + +"It was no sale o' the herring at all, woman Elpsy," said the old man, +shaking his head mournfully, and placing the stone kedge of his boat in +a crevice in the rocks so as to secure it against being borne off by the +ebbing tide; "it's no a sale o' the fish, woman dear, but o' my own +flesh and blood. Och hone! och hone! and it's the ould gray-headed +man'll never see his face more!" + +He turned towards the yacht as he spoke, and stretching forth his hands +towards it, wailed aloud: at length his lament ceased, or, rather, +changed to a flood of tender epithets, eloquent with the depth of Irish +sorrow, which he applied to the youth, while his dim eyes were vainly +strained towards the vessel, to distinguish once more his beloved form. + +"What means this sorrow, father Meredith? Who hast thou sold?" + +"The lad--my grandson! a-cush la-ma chree! I have sold him for gold. +There, woman, take thine again! I will none of it!" he cried, with +sudden vehemence, drawing the purse she had given Mark from his jacket, +and throwing it at her feet. "'Tis the price of blood, and I will not +have it, evil woman." + +"Hear me, father Meredith," she said, deliberately placing her hands +upon his shoulders, and looking him earnestly in the face. "I know the +purpose of thy visit to yonder king's ship. I know whom thou hast left +there. Thou hast done well and wisely in permitting him to depart. He +has left gold for thy wants, and has told thee how he came by it. Twas +my gift to him and thee." + +"'Tis the price o' his blood, woman!" he said, with a heavy moan of +mingled grief and indignation. + +"'Tis the price of his life, old man! Were he not now in yonder +brigantine, the sands ere this would have drunken his blood," she added, +with fierceness. "Hist! ask not what I mean. What I have said is true. I +have sent him away to save his life, and that there may be one less +murder on the earth. Go to thy hut and content thee with this gold. 'Tis +a friendly gift, old father. 'Twill save thee from labour so long as thy +life shall last. I will come and gossip with thee o' evenings, and, hey! +sirs," she cried, skipping on before him with fantastic gambols, as he +placed his slender oars on his shoulder, "won't we pass the time +merrily? I will make fairies dance before thy door o' moonshiny nights +for thy entertainment; call the mermaids up from the bottom o' the blue +sea to sing thee to sleep when thou art aweary; and tell thee tales o' +hob-goblins and spirits till the moon fades in the morning. Oh, we will +have times, father Meredith!" + +"But will he come back, Elpsy, woman?" + +"The devil forbid!" she responded, half aloud. "Ay, father; thou wilt +yet see him return a brave sailor, and with piles o' wealth. Faith, +sirs, I would not wonder if he should build thee a castle with his gold, +and make a lord o' thee. Ha, ha, ha, father Meredith! thou wouldst make +a proper lord!" + +"He, he, he! Elpsy, thou art pleasant. If the lad's gone, I'll make the +best o't till the saints give him back in good time. Come to my hut and +break thy fast, avourneen! He was ever o'er lofty, and had notions above +his class. He was unhappy, the creature, because he was not equal with +the young Lord o' Castle More. Be-dad! Elpsy, honey, one would ha' +thought he were of gentle blood!" + +She started, and closely scrutinized the old fisherman's face; but, +seeing nothing to confirm her now constantly active suspicions, she +said, + +"He was above his birth, as you say, gossip! The sea will be a school +for him, and teach him his place. He will make a better sailor than +lord. Ha, ha, ha! will he not, father Meredith?" and she laughed coldly +and sarcastically as she spoke. + +"He was always a good sailor, Elpsy, woman! Ne'er a ship came int' the +Cove he went not up to her main truck; nor a craft lay becalmed i' the +sight o' the bay he went not aboard and through every part o' her. He +knew every rope in a ship as well as an admiral, the crathur! Ah, woman, +he could do an officer's duty this day as well as the keptain o' the +yacht yonder. He seemed to take to a seaman's life nat'rally, and it was +ever discontented he was in the skiff. He loved to talk o' big ships, +and foreign lands, battles by sea, and storms, and shipwreck, and the +likes o' them things; and, with all his high notions, he ever loved a +sailor betther than a lord, and the sailors all liked him, the jewil!" + +"He is in his place, then, father Meredith," said Elpsy, chiming in with +the favourable train of the old fisherman's garrulous praises of the +youth. "Thou wouldst not call him ashore now an thou couldst." + +"Nay, I would not say that, Elpsy, woman. Yet I begin to think the lad +be best where he is. Yet it will be a dark day to my soul when the ship +sails a-sea with him--the light o' my eyes! the core o' my heart! Och, +hone! Sad will be the day to the soul o' me, Elpsy, woman! Come in, +crathur, honey, an' take a bite o' the breakfast. It's you it is that's +the comfort o' my lone bosom now, avourneen!" + +"No, no, I have much to do the mornin', old man!" she said, turning from +the door as the fisherman, after standing his oars up beside it, placed +his hand upon the latch. "Take the gold freely; it is thine!" she added, +casting it through the window upon the earthen floor of the cabin. "When +the ship sails I will eat." + +"Take a drap o' the dew, Elpsy, dear!" continued the old man, the grief, +which at his age is always superficial, having, like a child's, been +diverted for the time by the rattling gossip of the weird woman. + +"Elpsy will fast from all save water till the masts of yonder yacht are +shut from my sight by the meeting of sea and sky!" + +She waved her hand with a lofty gesture as she spoke, as if she sought +to impress the fisherman by her manner alone, and strode away from the +hut towards the path that led up to the castle. + +Grace Fitzgerald, after communicating the result of her interview with +Mark, had left Kate to her repose. But, with grief at her feud with +Lester, and her lively anticipations of beholding him at her feet, to be +raised from that humble posture to her forgiving embrace, her mind was +too active for rest, and sleep fled from her pillow, leaving it in the +sole possession of her ardent thoughts. With the first blush of day, her +face scarce less roseate than the morning sky with the consciousness of +her object, she rose and threw open her lattice, and turned her face, +with earnest expectation, towards the forest-path which led northward +towards Castle More. From time to time she would lean far out of the +window, and, with eager ear, listen as if to catch some distant sound. +At length, with a look and exclamation of disappointment, not undivested +of a slight shade of feminine pique, she closed the lattice and cast +herself upon her pillow again, saying, in a tone of wounded pride, + +"I care not! he is unworthy of a thought! I will forget him and try to +sleep!" + +She closed her eyelids, as if, at the same time, she expected her +fevered thoughts, like the flower which folds its leaves together when +the sun withdraws its light, would also shut themselves up and leave her +to repose. But she now thought more vividly and acutely than before. It +at length occurred to her that there might have been some delay on the +part of the messenger. Perhaps Lester had not yet got her pacquet, or +had just received it, and was now on his way to her! + +"I will wait a little longer!" she said, unclosing her eyes, and rising +and going to the lattice. + +A long time she remained here, with her eyes fixed on the forest path, +and her ears acutely set, to catch the most distant sound of horses' +feet. + +"He comes not yet!" she sighed, with deep disappointment. "Yet he may +soon be here! Hark! is not that his horse? No, 'tis a deer bounding +along to the spring!" + +At the moment a cool vein of wind from the sea chilled her, and, +glancing at her dress as she drew it together across her bosom, she +discovered, what she had hitherto been inattentive to, that she was in +her night-robes. + +"And I dare say I should have run to meet him as I am! What a foolish +child!" she said, blushing with confusion and innocent shame. "'Tis +fortunate he did not come before! I will dress, and by that time he may +be here!" + +Hope, hope, hope! Star of woman's love! In thy celestial journeyings, +thou dost never set on the limitless empire of her affections. Her wide +heart has no horizon beneath which thou canst go down and disappear. +Patient, long suffering, ever hoping to the last, she steers by thee her +bark of love through storm and danger, faithfully and fearlessly, never +losing sight of thee till, from her expectant eye, death steals the +power of reflecting longer thy radiance! + +When she had completed her toilet, and found that there were still no +indications of Lester's approach, she became impatient, and, throwing a +hood and veil over her head, she left her chamber and hastened below. +For what purpose she hardly knew--impulse alone prompted her footsteps. +She hastened through the hall, and descended into the castle yard, and +directed her course towards the forest. She had entered the verge of its +gloomy shades, which the morning sun had scarcely yet driven out, and +was penetrating its depths, when she suddenly stopped. + +"Where am I going? what am I doing?" she exclaimed, as if her feet had +been involuntarily obeying her thoughts hitherto, and she for the first +time had discerned that she was really doing what she supposed she was +only thinking of doing. Such absent reveries are peculiar to young +persons in love! + +"Am I really going to meet him? I did not know that I did love Lester +so. But he would scorn me to find me here--I will hasten back as I +came--though I scarce have any consciousness how that was! What a simple +creature I have made of myself. I am afraid of my own ridicule. Oh love, +love, you do play the mischief with maiden's hearts when once you get +into them!" she said, sportively, yet ending her words with a deep sigh. + +Turning back, she retraced her steps slowly towards the castle. As she +approached it, her eyes were attracted by the pavilions, which still +remained standing, and, bending her steps towards the lawn, she entered +that which had been the scene of the yesterday's festival. No signs of +the banquet remained--all, save the curtains of the tent, and one or two +rustic sofas within it, were removed. She seated herself on one of +these, and raising the north side of the tent-hangings by one of the +silken cords attached to them, was enabled, without being seen, to +command the avenue to the forest. With her person bent a little forward, +and holding her handkerchief in her hand, as if prepared to wave it at +an instant's notice, she sat watching in the direction in which she +expected Lester to appear. + +"I will meet him here," she said; "I would not have even cousin Grace, +good as she is, to witness our interview of reconciliation. Oh, why does +he linger so! Well, Robert, I have been taught a lesson in a knowledge +of my own heart by this; and, let us but meet in peace once more, I will +bear much ere I will make either you or myself so miserable again." + +She sighed deeply as she spoke, and a glittering tear, like a drop of +dew shaken from a spray, fell upon her hand. + +"Surely he cannot love me, to linger so!" she said, dropping her aching +eyes, which had long kept watch on the distant path. + +"Proud maiden, thou hast spoken truly! he loves thee not!" + +Kate turned in alarm as the stern, harsh voice that spoke these words +sounded close to her ear, and beheld the weird woman. + +"Elpsy!" she cried, rising and speaking between terror and surprise. + +"The _witch_ Elpsy, lady," added the sorceress, sarcastically. + +"What would you, woman?" + +"Thyself." + +"How mean you?" exclaimed the maiden, shrinking involuntarily back. + +"Fear me not, lady!" she said, slowly and with mysterious emphasis, as +she gazed on the face of the fair girl, her eyes gloating with a +diabolical light; "I would not harm thy body, while I hold the key to +thy soul." + +"Fearful woman, if woman, or even human, thou art, what terrible meaning +lies hidden beneath your words?" + +"Thou lovest Robert of Lester?" + +"Elpsy, I will not be questioned. Leave me," said Kate, her brow glowing +between maidenly shame and anger. + +But Elpsy, without heeding her command or seeming to observe her +emotion, said, with the sardonic quiet that malice can put on when it +would wound, + +"Thou didst despatch a messenger to Castle More the last night, lady?" + +"How knowest thou this?" she demanded, evasively, startled at her +knowledge of what she believed known only to the parties immediately +interested. + +"Is there aught, daughter of the house of Bellamont, that happens among +mortals," she said, in the elevated tone of mystery and supernatural +power she was wont to assume at such times, "that Elpsy the sorceress is +ignorant of?" + +"I know thou art a dread and fearful woman," said Kate, with a thrill of +aversion, "and have power to do evil, which, rather than good, I have +heard it is thy delight to do." + +"Ha, ha! thou hast well spoken," she responded, with a chuckling laugh, +that caused the maiden, with all her firmness, to shudder and start back +to the extremity of the pavilion. + +"You fear me. Well, it is what I would have. Ho! 'Tis pleasant to be +feared by the lovely and the pure--by the strong and the mighty; to be +sought out by the noble, and have the homage of the low! Oh, it's a +brave thing, this holding sway over the minds of mortals. Kings may +govern their bodies--_we_ hold the empire of their souls! Ha, ha! So you +fear me, trembler?" + +"An angel would tremble before thee, guilty one!" + +"Ha, ha! I know it. Thou hast spoken it. It is the reward held out to us +that we shall one day master the good spirits." + +"And how? Alone by the power of darkness and of sin! You conquer through +fear, not by strength. Therefore it is that good spirits dare not enter +the abodes of the prince of evil. Woman, thou art fearful; thy spells +sinful; thy soul lost for ever!" she cried, with virtuous horror united +to the natural enthusiasm of her character. + +"Soul!" repeated the sorceress, with a writhing lip of derision; +"_soul_!" + +"Hast thou no soul, woman, in the name of God!" exclaimed the maiden, +appalled by the emphasis she laid on the word as she repeated it a +second time. + +The sorceress gazed on her a moment fixedly ere she replied, and then +advancing a pace towards her, said hoarsely, + +"Yes!" + +"Woman," continued Kate, with solemn earnestness, turning pale at the +manner in which she pronounced this monosyllable, "I know thou art +wicked and full of evil; but thou canst not have bartered thy eternal +life? have made compact with Sathanas, at the hazard of thy salvation?" + +Elpsy was moved with surprise by the energy with which she was +addressed, and, banishing her derisive smile, answered in a more natural +tone, + +"By compact no, lady! none save but with my own nature; even as all who +are mortal do barter away their souls when they obey the devil within. I +have served him in the shape of evil passions till his I am, soul and +body!" + +"Say not so, Elpsy," said Kate, touched with pity by the sullen despair +and abandonment of her manner, although in it not a shade of remorse or +penitence was apparent even to her charitable gaze; "if you have sinned, +there is forgiveness to be had of Heaven! It is not too late to secure +your soul's future happiness. I know there is much that is kind and +humane in you when you are not gored by insults, or under the influence +of angry emotions. Abandon your course of life; seek forgiveness of Him +who died for the chiefest of sinners. I pity you, Elpsy." + +The sorceress hung her head upon her breast in silence: her bosom heaved +with inward struggles; her harsh features became convulsed, and the +maiden thought she saw a tear fall from her eyes to the ground. +Encouraged by these signs of good, she added, approaching her in a +kindly manner, + +"Cast off this assumed character, if, as I sincerely trust, it is not +irrevocably made thine own by thy soul's price. I will furnish for thee +a neat cottage not far from Cormac, the forester's, and thou shalt have +the comforts about thee thy old age craves. Do not despair of +forgiveness, Elpsy. God is merciful, and will meet thee in kindness more +than half the way if--" + +"Angel! fiend! mock me not!" shrieked the woman, suddenly lifting her +face furrowed with tears, gnashing her glittering teeth, her eyes +flashing, her clinched hands shaking with nervous excitement, and her +whole bearing that of a pythoness enraged and fear-stricken. "There is +no God--no heaven for me! Yes, I am bought, body and soul! Talk not to +me of your Christ! For a moment I was carried back to childhood as you +spoke," she continued, with a sudden change of manner; "for I have been +once innocent as thyself. But 'tis past!" she cried, fiercely. "Your +words can move me no more! They have pressed out the last drop of +moisture that remained in my heart! I am adamant now--hard--hard--hard +as iron! Ha, ha, ha! Elpsy a Christian! Accursed be the name!" + +Kate Bellamont, at this sudden and terrific outbreak from one whom she +believed had been softened by her words, retreated from the vehemence of +her language and the savage wildness of her manner, with the look and +attitude of one who suddenly beholds the lion which he has tamed start +suddenly from his playful embrace, and assume all at once the savage +ferocity of his nature. She was astonished beyond expression by this +unexpected ebullition of feeling, and her mind was appalled both by her +terrible language and the new ground she had assumed. + +"Elpsy, stand from the door and let me pass!" she said, with firmness, +yet trembling through every fibre of her body, as Elpsy, after speaking, +continued to gaze on her in gloomy silence, and with a lowering and +menacing aspect. + +"Nay," said the sorceress, placing herself full in the way, and speaking +with more mildness even than was usual to her, "I have news that +concerns thee." + +"Me?" + +"None else." + +"Of what?" + +"The young Lord of Lester." + +"What of him? Thy looks--thy language--that fearful smile!" + +"Dost love him?" + +"It matters not to thee. Speak what thou hast to say, and quickly," she +cried, with an indefinable foreboding of evil. + +"Thou dost, maiden. It is written in every lineament; speaks in every +action--yea, Robert of Lester is thy second self. Ha, ha, ha! Did I not +say I held the key to thy soul--ay, and I can unlock it, too!" + +Having, in the first heat of her vengeance at finding herself defeated +by the course taken by Lester, resolved to divulge to Kate Bellamont the +secret of his birth that she might triumph in her humility and +wretchedness, Elpsy's fertile mind soon taught her how best to effect +her malicious, and, save its wickedness, aimless purpose. She now, +therefore, in a tone of assumed carelessness, added, + +"But thou lovest him because he is noble like thyself! Were he lowly in +name and humble in birth, thou wouldst scorn him," she added, with the +manner of one who is trying the moral pulse of her victim: "this is ever +the way with the highborn." + +"Were he lower born than the hind who herds my father's kine, he would +still be Lester, and noble to me!" she said, with a spirit that became +her lofty beauty and devoted love. + +"This will never do," muttered Elpsy, thoughtfully, intent on her cruel +design, and forgetful of, and insensible to, the gratitude due to the +maiden for the kindly interest she had so recently expressed in her +welfare; in repayment of which, with all the maliciousness of a demon, +she was now taxing her ingenuity to dash from her lips the cup of +happiness which young love had offered to them. + +"Were he a cowherd, he would have a cowherd's common soul, maiden!" + +"Being common he then could not be Lester. But being Lester, though a +swineherd, that inherent nobleness, that is the birthright of his +nature, would shine out through his mean garb and calling, and make him +still, to my eyes, the Lester I love." + +"Were he a slave--a serf--ay, chained to a galley, wouldst thou love him +still?" + +"If misfortune, and not crime, brought him to this degradation--then +should I not love him less, but love him more!" + +"If 'twere crime?" + +"Couple it not with his name, woman," she said, with flashing eyes. "But +why this dark and subtle questioning? Speak, I command thee!" + +"Thou hast no power to command me--I no will to obey. I will probe her +yet deeper!" she muttered. "If, maiden, there were a stain upon his +birth--" + +"Well--" she quickly interrupted, with painful eagerness visible in +every lineament of her beautiful countenance: for her feelings were +highly wrought up, and, excited to expectation of something evil by the +manner of her interrogator, she was all nerves and on the rack of +torturing suspense. "Well--speak, prithee, woman! Why do you pause?" + +"If 'twere proven he were a--a--" + +"Say--" + +"A--nay, 'twill wound thy ears!" + +"Speak--I fear not--for I know thou canst lay no crime to his charge!" + +"A _bastard_!" she said, laying a deliberate stress upon each syllable. + +"Evil woman! away! Leave me!" + +"It may be proved that he is not only this, but--" + +"Away! Oh that I should listen to thy foul and slanderous speech." + +"_Lowborn!_" + +"In the name of Heaven, woman, cease! and give me way out, or I will +alarm the castle, and have thee punished for this insolence!" + +As the indignant girl spoke she prepared to pass her, when the woman +laid her hand firmly on her wrist and detained her, while she said, in a +serious and imperious manner, + +"Maiden, hear me! I am not mocking thee! What if I can prove him to thee +to be a lowborn bastard--the son of a peasant-girl, and palmed on Lady +Lester as her own?" + +"Thou canst do no such thing with all thy wicked arts to aid thee," +scornfully replied the maiden. + +"What if I could do it! Wouldst love him then?" + +"Yes." + +"The bastard?" + +"Yes, I tell thee." + +"The son of a lowborn peasant?" + +"He would still be Lester to me, so long as honour and truth were the +habitants of his bosom." + +"Wouldst thou love him then?" + +"Better and better for each misfortune he brought not on himself." + +"Or serf--or galley-slave--or peasant--or bastard, he would still be +Lester in the eyes of thy love?" + +"Yes! Stand aside, and let me pass forth." + +"One word more, fair virgin. I must try," continued she to herself, "my +last card now. Her love outwits my invention. 'Tis a shield that turns +aside all my shafts. I think I now know her weakness, and so will put it +to trial. Suppose," she asked, in an indifferent tone, "this Robert of +Lester should take offence at thee--" + +"Well--" she said, with interest. + +"And should ride from thee in anger--" + +"Proceed--prithee--" + +"And, being too proud to atone, lets his pride grow till it beget hatred +and scorn of thee--" + +"Well--" + +"And so, from wounded love and rage, he forswears his noble name, and +leagues himself with pirates; and, out of revenge to thee, goes forth to +slay, and deluge the earth with blood and rapine!" + +"Have you done?" she asked, in a tone of disdain for what she deemed the +idle words of the speaker. + +"I have," she answered, with a peculiar smile, that troubled and +perplexed her. "But I would ask thee--wouldst love him then?" + +"I will answer thee--if such things could be, which ne'er can be--No. In +this case, guilt would place for ever an impassable gulf between us. +But, as thou hast so much interest in him, let me pass that I may meet +him, for I hear his horse's feet in the forest," she said, with the +contempt of incredulity, yet trembling--so well the supposed case +advanced by Elpsy tallied with the circumstances under which Lester left +her--lest there might be some dreadful truth at the bottom. + +"His horse's feet thou wilt never hear more. Himself thou wilt never see +more, save to thy sorrow." + +"Explain, woman," she almost shrieked, grasping her by the shoulders, +and speaking with wild vehemence. + +"Robert of Lester has become even as I have spoken. Maddened by thy +coldness--his pride stung--his self-love wounded--his feelings +lacerated, he has fled his home, and leagued himself with bucaniers." + +"In the name of the blessed Heaven above, do you speak but a tithe of +the truth, woman?" she demanded, with fearful emotion. + +"He galloped to the seaside, and a Danish bucanier being by chance in +shore, he threw himself on board, and put to sea with her." + +"One word, only one word more! You saw this?" + +"I did, and came hither to tell thee." + +"Would to God I knew if thou didst tell the truth or no," she cried, +almost sinking upon the ground. + +"Behold this token which he gave me, bidding me return it to the giver, +who, he said--mark the words, maiden!--was henceforth only worthy the +scorn and contempt of the noble heart she had broken," spoke the false +witch, taking, as if struck by a sudden thought, the locket and message +from her bosom and placing it in her hands. + +"It is too true. Merciful Heaven, sustain me! Nay! Elpsy, touch me not. +I shall not fall. No, I _will_ not fall! If--if he can scorn +me--I--nay--do not support me--my pride will--will--oh--Lester, +Lester--you have killed me!" + +With a deep moan, as if her heart were bursting, she fell into the arms +of the sorceress, who, not wholly unmoved by the wretchedness she had +caused, placed her on one of the settees, and, with a look of triumph, +gazed on her pale cheek, and watched the irregular and long-drawn +heaving of her bosom. Her success had been complete, and she experienced +a joy kindred to that of a fiend's when he beholds the fall of a good +man. She had made the happy miserable, and was content! She had wounded +the pride of the noble, and was satisfied. She had been the bearer of +guilt to innocence, and her task was accomplished! + +After surveying for a few moments the lovely victim of her malice and of +her hatred of the highborn, which seemed to be placed deeper than any +other feeling in her bosom, she drew from her bosom a small vial, and, +removing the stopper, stooped over her and moistened her lips and +nostrils. The volatile essence of the evaporating fluid was instantly +inhaled, and produced a reviving effect. The colour returned to her +cheek, and, opening her eyes, she fixed on the sorceress a wild gaze. + +"It is not all a dream, then!" she cried, putting back her hair from her +forehead and staring at her; "she is there! Lester! is he--is he--oh--I +cannot speak what I would--I remember--ah! I remember all. _She_ told me +so! Woman!" she all at once shrieked, "is thy tale false or true? Say it +is not true," she added, rising and holding her by the cloak, "and I +will fall down and kiss thy feet." + +A triumphant light gleamed in the ruthless eyes of the sorceress. "Thou +art humbled by grief," she said, with torturing coolness. "It is a +pleasant thing to see the proud and high come down. Oh, if I had been +noble too, as well as fair, in my youth, I had been a bride instead +of--but I will not wound thine ears, maiden, with a word thou canst +never know the meaning of. It is only for the lowborn virgin to be +taught it by some highborn youth. What I have told thee is true. Robert +of Lester has leagued himself with pirates. One day I may tell thee more +of him." + +"Hist!" she whispered, hoarsely. "I will hear no more of him. He is +nothing now to Catharine of Bellamont. Hark, there is the sound of +horses' feet! _He comes!_ False one, he is here!" she cried, darting +forward to the door of the pavilion. + +Elpsy smiled grimly and followed her. + +The sound of horsemen approaching was now distinctly heard, but it was +the noise of many horses advancing at speed. In a few seconds they +beheld emerge from the forest, not the form of Lester, but that of the +Earl of Bellamont, attended by three or four mounted servants. + +"Has Elpsy spoken the truth, maiden?" asked the sorceress, her eyes +gleaming with the unpleasing smile habitual to her, when she observed +Kate to turn her face away in disappointment. + +"Torture me not, evil woman; thy words, whether false or true, have +almost broken my heart." + +At this instant the earl caught sight of his daughter, and, turning +aside from the avenue, galloped across the lawn towards the pavilion. He +was a gentleman of noble presence, with a dark, intelligent face, and +dignified features. The resemblance between himself and daughter was +instantly apparent. He rode with grace, and displayed admirable +horsemanship in the management of his fiery steed. + +"A kiss, my sweet child," he said, as he threw himself from his horse +beside her. "You are abroad early! What, in tears? I have not been +absent three days, and yet you welcome me, Kate, with as much emotion as +if I had but returned from India. Nay, then, weep on my breast, silly +one, if you will. What, Elpsy here too!" he exclaimed, now for the first +time seeing the witch standing within the door of the pavilion--"I see +it all. She has been alarming you with some evil foretellings! Woman, +have I not forbidden thee to harbour or appear on the domains of Castle +Cor? Moral blight and misfare follow thy footsteps as surely as does +pestilence the path of the baleful dogstar. Depart!" + +"I have done mine errand, proud earl, and therefore will go--but not at +thy bidding I depart," she added, gathering her scarlet cloak about her +hideous person. + +"I care not if it be at the devil's--as it is most like to be--so I see +thee no more! Cease, my dove, that moan. Her charms are sand--her words +false--her prophecies the wildest dreams! Heed them not, if, as I +suspect, she has filled thy tender ears with them." + +"Thou lovest thy daughter, earl?" she said, interrogatively, as she +prepared to depart. + +"Too well to see her made miserable, vile sorceress!" + +"See, then, thou do not make her so." + +"How mean you?" he demanded. + +"_Beware of a black plume!_" she added, mysteriously. + +"Explain your meaning, woman!" he said, struck by her manner and the +menacing tones in which she gave him this prophetic warning. + +The sorceress made no reply; but, turning her face towards the path that +led to the seashore, she rapidly traversed the lawn, and, waving her +hand warningly, disappeared down the path leading to the beach. + +The cause to which her father attributed her sudden and unwonted grief +greatly relieved Kate; and by allowing him, through her silence, to +retain the impression he had formed, she was saved the embarrassment of +making him a confidant of her wounded affections by unfolding to him the +true cause--a task, in her present state of mind, impossible for her to +perform, and one which, at any time, would have been a sad trial to her +maidenly sensitiveness. In a few moments she became more composed: the +tide of her affections, which had been forced back upon the +fountain-head, having found a channel in paternal love through which to +flow, if not in the same direction as before, yet nearly in as deep and +strong a current. + +She accompanied him to the castle, and for the remainder of the morning +was so occupied in forwarding the preparations for his departure and +that of her cousin, that she had little time to devote to her own +peculiar sorrows, leaving them for the lonely hours that would find her, +after they were gone, in the solitary chamber, mourning over her crushed +and blighted love. Yet a faint ray of the light of hope shone through +the darkness of her heart, and the faintly-cherished belief that the +tale of the sorceress might be false kept her from abandoning herself to +that hopelessness of grief, shame and utter wretchedness into which she +would have sunk had the truth been made manifest to her, divested of +every shadow of doubt. + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +NEW AND IMPORTANT WORKS LATELY PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS. + + +THE PRIVATE JOURNAL OF AARON BURR + +During his Residence of four Years in Europe; with Selections from his +Correspondence. + +Edited by MATTHEW L. DAVIS, Author of "Memoirs of Aaron Burr," &c. + + +LETTERS TO MOTHERS + +By Mrs. L. H. SIGOURNEY, Author of "Letters to Young Ladies." + + +DEMONSTRATION OF THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION + +By ALEXANDER KEITH, D.D., Author of "Evidence of Prophecy," &c. Fourteen +beautiful Engravings on Steel. + + +THE FAR WEST; Or, a Tour beyond the Mountains. + +Embracing Outlines of Western Life and Scenery; Sketches of the +Prairies, Rivers, Ancient Mounds, Early Settlements of the French, &c., +&c. + + +THE LIFE OF CHRIST, in the Words of the Evangelists. + +A complete Harmony of the Gospel History of our Saviour. For the use of +young Persons. Illustrated with Engravings after Chapman and others, by +Adams. + + +EVENINGS AT HOME; or, the Juvenile Budget Opened. By Dr. AIKIN and Mrs. +BARBAULD. + +From the fifteenth London edition; Illustrated with Engravings after +Harvey and Chapman, by Adams. + + +VELASCO; A Tragedy, in five acts. By EPES SARGENT, Esq. + + +THE WORKS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD + +Including his Letters to his Son, &c. To which is prefixed an original +Life of the Author. + + +THE HARMONY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH AND CHRISTIAN CHARACTER; AND THE CULTURE +AND DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. + +By JOHN ABERCROMBIE, M.D., F.R.S.E., Author of "Inquiries concerning the +Intellectual Powers and the Investigation of Truth," &c. + + +A MANUAL OF CONCHOLOGY + +According to the System laid down by Lamarck, with the late Improvements +by De Blainville. Exemplified and arranged for the Use of Students. By +THOMAS WYATT, M.A. Illustrated by thirty-six plates containing more than +two hundred types, drawn from the natural shell. + + +PELAYO: a Story of the Goth. + +By the Author of "Mellichampe," "The Yemassee," "Guy Rivers," &c. + + +HOW TO OBSERVE: MORALS AND MANNERS. + +By HARRIET MARTINEAU. + + +THE WORKS OF EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, ESQ. + +Containing Pelham; The Disowned; Devereux; Paul Clifford; Eugene Aram; +The Last Days of Pompeii; The Pilgrims of the Rhine; Falkland; Rienzi; +Ernest Maltravers, and Alice. + + +PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ECONOMY. + +Illustrated by Observations made in England in the year 1836. Part +second. By THEODORE SEDGWICK. + + +INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND POLAND. + +By the Author of "Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the +Holy Land." + +With a Map and Engravings. In two vols. + + +THE NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM, of Nantucket. + +Comprising the details of a Mutiny and atrocious Butchery on board the +American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the Month of +June, 1827. + + +RETROSPECT OF WESTERN TRAVEL. + +By HARRIET MARTINEAU, Author of "Society in America." 2 vols. + + +CALDERON, THE COURTIER. + +A Tale. + +By the Author of "Pelham," "Alice," "Leila," &c, &c. + + +THE AMERICAN SCHOOL LIBRARY. + +Published under the Direction of the American Society for the Diffusion +of Useful Knowledge. + + +BURTON; or, the Sieges. + +By J. H. INGRAHAM, Esq., Author of "Lafitte," &c. 2 vols. + + +SACRED HISTORY OF THE WORLD. + +By SHARON TURNER, LL.D. [Vol. III.--Family Library, No. 84.] + + +THE WORKS OF MRS. SHERWOOD. + +Vol. 15. Containing Part Four of Henry Milner, &c., &c. + + +THE ROBBER. + +By G. P. R. JAMES, Esq., Author of "Richelieu," &c. 2 vols. + + +GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND BELGIUM. + +A Short Tour in 1835. By HEMAN HUMPHREY, D.D. 2 vols. + + +THE LADY OF LYONS: + +A Play. By E. L. BULWER, Esq. + + +TRAVELS IN EUROPE: + +Viz., in Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the +Netherlands. By WILBUR FISK, D.D. + + +CROMWELL: a Romance. + +By H. W. HERBERT, Esq., Author of "The Brothers." 2 vols. + + +ANECDOTICAL OLIO: + +Being a Collection of Literary, Moral, Religious, and Miscellaneous +Anecdotes. + +By the Rev. Messrs. HOES and WAY. + + +CELESTIAL SCENERY; Or, the Wonders of the Planetary System displayed; +illustrating the Perfections of Deity and a Plurality of Worlds. + +By THOMAS DICK, LL.D. With Engravings. [Family Library, No. 83.] + + +INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRÆA, AND THE HOLY LAND. + +By an American. With a Map and Engravings. 2 vols. + + +THE MONK OF CIMIES, &c. + +By Mrs. SHERWOOD. With a Portrait. [Mrs. Sherwood's Works, vol. 14.] + + +THE HISTORY OF AMELIA. + +By HENRY FIELDING, Esq. With Illustrations by CRUIKSHANK. + + +LEILA; OR, THE SIEGE OF GRENADA. + +By E. L. BULWER, Esq. + + +CAPTAIN KYD; Or, the Wizard of the Sea. By the Author of "Burton," +"Lafitte," &c. 2 vols. + + +ANTHON'S SERIES OF CLASSICAL WORKS FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. + +The following works, already published, may be regarded as specimens of +the whole series, which will consist of about thirty volumes. + + FIRST LATIN LESSONS, containing the most important Parts of the + Grammar of the Latin Language, together with appropriate + Exercises in the translating and writing of Latin, for the Use + of Beginners. + + FIRST GREEK LESSONS, containing the most important Parts of the + Grammar of the Greek Language, together with appropriate + Exercises in the translating and writing of Greek, for the Use + of Beginners. + + A GRAMMAR OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE, for the Use of Schools and + Colleges. + + A SYSTEM OF GREEK PROSODY AND METRE, for the Use of Schools and + Colleges; together with the Choral Scanning of the Prometheus + Vinctus of Æschylus, and the Ajax and OEdipus Tyrannus of + Sophocles; to which are appended Remarks on the Indo-Germanic + Analogies. + + SALLUST'S JUGURTHINE WAR AND CONSPIRACY OF CATALINE, with an + English Commentary, and Geographical and Historical Indexes. + + CÆSAR'S COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WAR; with the first Book of + the Greek Paraphrase; with English Notes, critical and + explanatory, Plans of Battles, Seiges, &c., and Historical, + Geographical, and Archæological Indexes. With a Map, Portrait, + &c. + + SELECT ORATIONS OF CICERO, with an English Commentary, and + Historical, Geographical, and Legal Indexes. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2) + or, The Wizard of the Sea + +Author: Jonathon Holt Ingraham + +Release Date: May 4, 2011 [EBook #36030] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN KYD (VOL 1 OF 2) *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>CAPTAIN KYD;</h1> + +<h3>OR,</h3> + +<h2>THE WIZARD OF THE SEA.</h2> + +<h3>A ROMANCE.</h3> + +<h2>BY J. H. INGRAHAM</h2> + +<h3>THE AUTHOR OF "THE SOUTHWEST," "LAFITTE," "BURTON," &c.</h3> + +<h3>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h3> + +<h3>VOL. I.</h3> + +<h3>NEW-YORK:<br /> +HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET.<br /> +1839.</h3> + +<h3>Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838,<br /> +By <span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers</span>,<br /> +In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>TO<br /> +THE AUTHOR OF THE<br /> +"WINTER IN THE WEST,"<br /> +CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN, ESQ.,<br /> +THESE VOLUMES ARE,<br /> +WITH SENTIMENTS OF ESTEEM,<br /> +Respectfully Inscribed.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"There's many a one who oft has heard<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The name of Robert Kyd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who cannot tell, perhaps, a word<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of him, or what he did.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"So, though I never saw the man,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And lived not in his day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll tell you how his guilt began—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To what it led the way."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">H. F. Gould.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#NEW_AND_IMPORTANT_WORKS_LATELY_PUBLISHED_BY_HARPER_BROTHERS">PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The following dramatic romance consists of two acts, with an interval of +five years between them. The time and action of the first part, the +scene of which is placed in the south of Ireland, are comprised in +something less than three days; that of the second, the scenes of which +are laid in New-York Bay and on its adjacent shores, embraces a somewhat +longer space of time, the two comprising the most prominent crises of +the hero's life—one giving the colouring to the whole of his subsequent +career, which in the other is brought to its close.</p> + +<p>Natchez, Miss., Jan., 1839.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a>BOOK I.</h2> + +<h3>THE CAUSE.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"A lady should not scorn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One soul that loves her, howe'er lowly it be."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Barry Cornwall.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Twere idle to remember now,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Had I the heart, my thwarted schemes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I bear beneath this alter'd brow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The ashes of a thousand dreams—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some wrought of wild Ambition's fingers,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some colour'd of Love's pencil well—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ambition has but foil'd my grasp,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Love has perish'd in my clasp."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Melanie.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Oh, bold Robin Hood<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Was a forester good<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As ever drew bow in the merry green wood,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And what eye hath e'er seen<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Such a sweet maiden queen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As Marian the pride of the forester's green."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>On a rocky headland that stretches boldly out into the bosom of one of +the lakelike bays that indent the southern shore of Ireland, stands a +picturesque ruin, half hidden to the eye of the voyager amid a group of +old trees. With its solitary square tower, and warlike battlements +jagged and stern in their desolation, it still wears an air of imposing +grandeur, that conveys some idea of its ancient baronial state. It is +known by the name of "old Castle Cor;" and in its palmy days was the +summer abode of the last Earl of Bellamont.</p> + +<p>On a bright morning in the merry month of May, in the year sixteen +hundred and ninety-four, its now silent halls rung with the joyous +voices and noisy sports of a score of gallant youths and noble maidens, +gathered there, from many a lordly roof both far and near, to celebrate +a rural fête in honour of the sixteenth birthday of the only child of +this ancient house, the beautiful Kate Bellamont, better known +throughout the barony as "wild Kate of Castle Cor." In the pastimes of +the day, archery, then much practised by ladies of gentle blood, was to +hold a conspicuous place, and a silver arrow was to be awarded to the +victor by the hands of Lady Bellamont herself. As the hour of noon +approached, the earl's chief forester, Cormac Dermot, his gray locks +covered with a red cloth bonnet, in which was fastened an eagle's plume, +and his goodly person arrayed in a holyday suit of green and gold, made +his appearance on the lawn by the west side of the castle, and wound his +horn, loud and long, as the signal that the "gentle sporte of archerie" +was now about to begin.</p> + +<p>The place chosen for the trial of skill was an ample lawn of the softest +and greenest verdure, lying between the wall of the castle and the verge +of the cliff. A few ancient oaks grew here and there upon it; and +towards the south it was open to the land-locked bay and far-distant +sea, which, wide as the vision extended, seemed to belt the horizon like +a shining band of silver. At each extremity of the field, one hundred +yards apart, was pitched upon the sward a gorgeous pavilion, one of +blue, the other of orange-coloured silk: the hangings of the former were +fringed with silver; and from the festooned curtains of the latter +pended tassels of silk and gold. In these were laid tables spread with +cloths of crimson damask, and covered with every luxury that could tempt +the palate or gratify the eye. From the summit of one of the pavilions +fluttered a crimson banneret, displaying the arms of Bellamont, its +boar's-head crest pierced through with an arrow, emblematical of the +occasion; and from the top of the other waved a white banner, in the +centre of which, according to the rules of heraldry, a bow, quiver, +target and other signs of archery were tastefully emblazoned.</p> + +<p>Twenty-five yards in front of each pavilion, two targets were placed, +fifty yards apart, so that, after sending all their arrows at one, the +archers might walk up to it and gather them, and, taking their stand by +it, shoot back to the other; thus alternately reversing the direction of +their shots, and adding healthful exercise to their graceful pastime. +The targets were both very beautiful, and gay with colours; being round +wooden shields half an inch in thickness and three feet in diameter, +with four circles painted on the faces: the outer white, with a green +border; the next black; the next within it orange; and the inner circle +red, encompassing a gold centre. They were elevated, at a slight angle, +twenty inches from the ground, on a light frame resembling a painter's +easel.</p> + +<p>Midway between the targets, but safely placed several paces back from +the erratic path of the arrows, was erected beneath an ancient +linden-tree a sylvan throne, surmounted by a canopy of silk, elaborately +worked with the needle to represent Diana, with her nymphs and hounds, +pursuing a herd of deer with flights of arrows. This was the seat of the +umpire of the sports—Katrine, the lovely Countess of Bellamont. +Altogether, it was an imposing and gorgeous scene; and, with its stern +castle rising boldly from the verdant lawn topped with battlements and +towers; with its boundary on the north side, of green, dark old woods, +and the calm, deep bay beneath, with a yacht sleeping on its bosom; with +its extended prospect of the illimitable sea forever breathing with a +mysterious life, the field of archery at Castle Cor, for the natural +beauty of the spot and the taste displayed in its adornment, has +doubtless had no parallel in the annals of archery.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the echoes of old Cormac's horn died away in the forest, +startling many a stately stag to flight, when the castle poured forth +its gay throng of archers towards the lists. In their midst was the +Countess of Bellamont, escorted by a bodyguard of young archeresses. She +was then in the prime and beauty of ripe womanhood: at that delightful +age when the wife and mother, all the charms of mind and person fully +developed and refined by taste and elegant culture, fascinates by a +thousand nameless graces, and captivates and enslaves even the youthful +crowd that sigh at the feet of her lovely daughter of seventeen—the age +that leaves one in doubt whether beautiful women arrive at the zenith of +their beauty and power under five-and-thirty.</p> + +<p>This was the age of Katrine of Bellamont; and though at eighteen (when +she became a bride) the loveliest of all Irish maidens either of gentle +or lowly birth, yet now, as the Countess of Bellamont, far-famed for her +rare and stately beauty. She was arrayed in a simple white robe; and a +laced jacket of royal-purple velvet closely fitted her magnificent bust. +When she entered the field she was conducted by her juvenile escort to +the throne, on which she seated herself, and with a playfully assumed +queenly dignity that became her highborn air. A coronet of pearls graced +her brow; and her symmetrical hand, that rivalled pearls in its soft +transparency, gracefully held, like a sceptre, the miniature arrow which +was to be the prize for excelling in archery. Her deep blue eyes, as she +looked around, reflected, in a thousand smiling beams, the joy that +danced on each youthful face, and the sunny light of her own countenance +communicated sunshine of the heart wherever it fell.</p> + +<p>On each side of the throne stood a well-born youth habited as a page, +and behind her were stationed two beautiful young girls attired as +sylphides. On her right hand, a few feet in the rear, leaning on a yew +bow six feet in length, stood Cormac Dermot, his stag's horn, richly +inlaid and curiously carved with woodland devices, slung beneath his +left shoulder, with the mouthpiece brought round in front ready for use. +A little farther beyond, and nearer the castle-wall, was assembled a +group of lower degree, consisting of under-foresters, retainers of the +household, and neighbouring peasants; while on the opposite side of the +lawn might be seen, relieved against the sky, the forms of two or three +fishermen, whom curiosity had led to climb the dizzy precipice from the +beach—far along the white line of which were visible their scattered +huts, looking like black specks upon the sand.</p> + +<p>All was now animation with the preparations for the lists. From bundles +of bows thrown by Dermot on the ground before each pavilion, the youths +began busily to select weapons for the fair archers, who were themselves +earnestly engaged in choosing arrows from quivers that were hung on the +front of the tent; fastening braces of thick fawn's leather on their +left or bow arm just above the wrist to preserve it from injury by the +rebound of the bow-string; and drawing on the right hand, from parcels +handed them by pages, shooting-gloves, with three finger-stalls, fitted +with a strap and button to fasten at the wrist, to protect their fingers +in drawing the arrow. Besides these appendages of archery, each +archeress wore a belt buckled about the waist, to which pended a tassel +of the softest floss of Brussels, to wipe away the soil that adhered to +the arrows when drawn from the ground; and also an ivory box with a +metal lid, containing a perfumed paste for anointing the finger-stalls +of the shooting-gloves and the brace on the arm, that the bow-string +might the more easily quit the fingers and pass over the guarded wrist. +A small pouch, either of tortoise-shell or of silver, in shape and +dimensions like a sportsman's cup or a dicebox, was suspended on the +right side to receive two or three arrows; the more cumbersome quiver, +while in target-shooting, being left on the ground near at hand, filled +with shafts to replace those broken or lost.</p> + +<p>The party of archeresses consisted of seven fair girls, the eldest +scarce seventeen. They were fancifully attired, some in green, and +others in orange or blue hunting-jackets, after the tasteful fashion of +the period; a costume admirably calculated to display their sylphan +shapes. They all wore hats of the colour of their spencers, looped up in +front, and ornamented with waves of snowy plumes. Long white trains +descended from their waists to the ground, but, in shooting, were +gathered beneath the belt on the left side, and, thence falling down +again to the feet in numerous folds, added to the grace and +picturesqueness of their appearance. Each archeress was attended by a +favoured youth as an esquire, habited in a green or gray hunting-frock, +bordered with a wreath of embroidered oak-leaves, with an arrow worked +in silver thread on each lappel. They wore broad flapping hats, turned +boldly back from the forehead, and shaded in front with a drooping black +plume. Each carried a short hunting-spear, decked with ribands of the +colour of his mistress' jacket, gifts from her own hand and tied thereon +with her own fingers, in token that she acknowledged him as her "Esquire +of the Bow." The duty of these youthful cavaliers was to select a bow +suited to the strength of the archeress whose colours they wore; to fit +it with an arrow of a weight proportioned to its power, having a nock +exactly receiving the string; to assist, if the lady is unskilled, in +stringing the bow; to draw the arrows from the butt, or collect the +far-shot shafts and return them to the owner; and otherwise, as courtesy +and gallantry prompted, to do their duty as "esquires of archerie."</p> + +<p>Once more the sonorous horn of old Cormac was heard winding, now high, +now low, in a long, wild strain, and then ending in three sharp blasts, +like the stirring notes of a bugle sounding to the charge. Every +archeress now had her brace buckled on her arm, and her shooting-glove +buttoned about her wrist; every one had two good arrows in the pouch at +her belt, and a third on the string; and each fair girl, attended by her +esquire, hastened to the stand by the southernmost target at the sound +of the forester's horn—save, in each instance, Kate Bellamont! Her +brace would not buckle all she could do; her shooting-glove would not go +on, and three, that she had pulled off, were lying rent at her feet; and +not an arrow was to be seen in her tortoise-shell pouch, though half a +dozen fair ones lay about her on the ground! It was very plain that +something was going wrong with the maiden. Such a dilemma could not have +happened without a cause. The braces of the rest buckled with ease; +their shooting-gloves fitted beautifully; and there had been time enough +to fill twenty pouches. Why, then, was Kate Bellamont not ready? Her +brace, both strap and buckle, was perfect; and the wrist it was destined +to compass was not to be matched for its smallness of size! The gloves, +plainly were just what they should be! Her companions had been fitted, +and her hand was the smallest as well as the fairest of the party; +besides, there were a dozen pairs on the ground that evidently were made +for no other hand. The cause could not lie in the arrows, for they were, +to the eye, without fault, and of every variety of shape and fashion +known to archery; nor in her handsome esquire, who, save when requested +by some eager girl to assist her, had been diligently serving her with +arrow after arrow, until he had emptied two quivers, the contents of +which now lay strewn around. The cause is not to be found in either of +these. The truth is, Kate Bellamont was playing with her little foot +against the ground when she should have been trying on her glove. No +sooner was one pulled half way on than she suffered it to remain so, +drumming the while in a fit of absence on the sward, while her eyes +followed the motions of her handsome esquire. The next moment, +recovering herself, she would tear it off impatiently, and, with a +laugh, fling it to the ground. She would then take up another, and go +through the same process, or play with her brace instead of buckling it; +and when the young gentleman gave her an arrow, without scarcely +touching it to the bow-string she threw it down, saying it was too heavy +or too light, too long or too short, had too much feather or had not +feather enough; so that, when the rest of the party were ready, Kate +Bellamont was just where she was at the outset. The result of all this, +whether brought about designedly or not by a little female +manœuvring, being a question to be solved by such as are skilled in +the ways and means by which women work out their ends, was, that when +the last notes of Cormac's horn died away in the forest, Kate Bellamont +found herself and her esquire, the noble and youthful heir of the broad +lands of the earldom of Lester, left quite alone. The brace was on her +arm unbuckled, and she held a glove in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Lord Robert, do clasp this troublesome brace for me. Strange you could +not see what difficulty I have had to get ready! But I suppose you were +so engaged fitting an arrow to pretty Gracy Fitzgerald's bow, that you +had no eyes for any one else!"</p> + +<p>This was said half in pique, half laughingly; and holding, with a +pouting lip, her snowy arm towards her esquire as she spoke, he +gallantly received it, and with the merest effort in the world clasped +the rebellious brace. But he did not release her soft hand without +giving it a slight pressure, and looking into her face with an eloquent +gaze, which she consciously met with eyes half downcast, yet beaming +through their long dark lashes with a gentle fire that young love only +could have kindled.</p> + +<p>"Now, Sir Esquire, fasten this glove."</p> + +<p>The youth bent till the black plume of his bonnet rested on her arm, +and, with some difficulty apparently, for he was a very long time about +it, succeeded in buttoning the silken strap across the blue-veined +wrist; nor did he lift his head from the fair hand, which lay nestled +like a bird in his beneath the thick covert of his drooping feather, ere +he had touched it with his bold lip.</p> + +<p>"Ha, Sir Forester, is this a part of your service as squire of archery?" +she demanded, with the blood mounting to her cheek in maidenly surprise; +though the pouting smile on her mouth, which she vainly tried to turn +into a frown, and the dancing light in her telltale eyes, betokened +anything besides resentment at the bold deed; "I see I must resign you +to my sly little cousin Gracy, and take her well-behaved esquire; +doubtless you better understand her humour than you seem to do mine."</p> + +<p>By the time she had ended she had succeeded in calling up a small cloud +on her brow, which struggled very hard to cast a shadow over the sunny +light that played around her lovely mouth and was reflected back in a +thousand rays from the deep wells of her black, Castilian eyes.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, sweet Lady Kate," said the esquire, dropping on one +knee—disguising his attitude to the eyes of others by gathering +carelessly one or two arrows from the ground—to her eyes alone a +suppliant. The expression of his face amusingly wavered between playful +mockery and seriousness, as if greatly fearing, yet doubting much, that +his daring act had really given offence: a sort of neutral ground +between mirth and grief, with the advantage of enabling him to fall +readily into the one or the other, as he should find the needle of her +humour pointed.</p> + +<p>"See, then, you offend not again, sir," she said, laughing at the +troubled expression of his serio-comic countenance. "Haste! choose me an +arrow that tapers from the pile to the feather."</p> + +<p>"One that tapers each way from the middle will suit you better for +shooting in this light wind," said the young esquire, the puzzled play +of his handsome features changed to sunshine by her voice. As he spoke +he brought a quiver full of arrows and poured them out at her feet, and, +kneeling on the thick verdure, selected an arrow of the kind he had +named.</p> + +<p>"No, no," she said, putting it aside; "they always curve from the line +of sight; and, besides, fly unsteady."</p> + +<p>"Not in a wind, Kate. The fulness in the middle counteracts the weight +of the ends, and drives it more evenly."</p> + +<p>"Do as you are bidden, Sir Esquire," she said. "Don't think now you are +going to have your own way." A second arrow was placed in her hand by +the youth.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lord Robert, what <i>is</i> the matter with your wits! This is an arrow +of the same kind; and, besides, it is without a cock-feather. I shall +have to call yonder handsome fisher's lad, who is watching me so +admiringly, to my assistance."</p> + +<p>The esquire, without looking up, mechanically handed to her a third +arrow, with the head broken and the feathers ruffled. Without being able +to speak in her surprise, she looked quietly down and beheld the young +man so intently contemplating one of her exquisite little feet, that +twice she spoke to him ere he looked up to encounter her gaze of arch +astonishment. It was very plain what had become of her esquire's wits. +The youth blushed, and hastily rose to his feet; but the maiden could +not disguise a little female vanity, though she shook her finger at him, +and said mischievously,</p> + +<p>"Do you propose becoming a cordwainer, and making me a pair of slippers, +Lord Robert, that you are so busy taking the dimensions of my foot?"</p> + +<p>"I would willingly become apprentice to the meanest cobbler, to be +suffered to take the measure of that tiny foot, and fit it with a shoe," +said the youth, with gallantry.</p> + +<p>The maiden laughed, and, unwilling to betray the feeling his words had +created, said, "Do be quick, Lord Robert; my bow is not yet strung with +our foolish idling here, and I shall be too late for the lists."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she grasped her bow firmly in the middle, and extending her +hand, containing the string terminating with a loop, to the upper limb, +she pulled smartly upward, pressing the limb downward at the same time +with her left wrist, and skilfully and accurately carried the eye of the +bow-string into the nock. Her bow, like those of her companions, was +five feet in length, neatly made of dark wood highly polished, and +rounded on the inner side to increase its power in shooting.</p> + +<p>"Well and featly done! That's a tough yew, and a man's strength could +not have better done what your little fingers, with skill to guide them, +I have just seen do. You were an apt pupil, young mistress, and do +honour to old Dermot's lessons."</p> + +<p>Kate Bellamont turned and saw the old forester close at her side. "If I +have any skill, good Cormac," she said, "I do owe it all to your kind +teaching; and if I win the arrow this day, you shall have it as a +birthday gift from me, to wear in your bonnet instead of your pipe."</p> + +<p>The forester lifted his bonnet with a gratified air, mingled with +respect, at this expression of kindness from his lovely young mistress, +and said,</p> + +<p>"I know you would give Cormac, sweet lady, even the fair white plume +that graces your brow if you thought it would gratify the old man. God +bless you, noble child; may you live to see many such bright birthdays +as this!" The rough huntsman brushed a tear from his eyes as he spoke; +for the experience of years had told him that clouds would obscure the +bright sky of her young hopes, and that each returning birthday might be +but a sad waymark to denote the slow passage of a life of sorrow and +trial. "The countess has bid me come and see if you need my aid in +fitting your shafts, that you delay."</p> + +<p>"No, no, Cormac," said the maiden, blushing; but directly she cried, +"Yes, you can help me. I am undecided whether to shoot an arrow that +tapers from the head to the feathers, or from the feathers to the head, +or from the middle both ways."</p> + +<p>"What says Master Robert?" asked Dermot, smiling archly through one of +his little gray eyes, the other, from the long habit of shutting it in +shooting, having at last got to be so firmly closed up in a radiating +network of fine wrinkles as to have been for the last ten years of his +life invisible.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, Cormac!" she cried, stooping till her snowy plumes shaded her +burning cheek; "I did not ask Lord Robert, but you."</p> + +<p>"I have advised Lady Kate, forester, to shoot arrows that taper both to +feather and pile," said the youth, haughtily.</p> + +<p>"And she chooses—"</p> + +<p>"Those that taper from the pile to the feather," said the maiden, +quickly.</p> + +<p>"If the distance were seventy yards instead of fifty," said the +forester, measuring the ground with his eye, "it would be a good shaft +for a steady hand; but, if you will let me decide, I would recommend you +to take the taper from the feather, especially as the air is in motion."</p> + +<p>"Your skill is at fault for once, old man," said the young noble, with a +flushed brow; "the best bowmen in England—ay, Robin Hood himself, were +he here this day—would teach you your craft better."</p> + +<p>"You are in error, Master Robert," said the forester, with some warmth, +in defence of his profession; "and he who taught you that a double taper +is better in a wind than—"</p> + +<p>"Hist, old graybeard! you know nothing of woodscraft; yonder fisher's +lad will even tell you a shaft swelling in the middle will waver in its +passage through the wind like a weathercock."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Master Robert—"</p> + +<p>"Speak again, old man, and I strike you!" said the young noble, +imperiously, angry that his skill should be called in question; feeling +positive that he alone was right, or else too proud to acknowledge his +conviction.</p> + +<p>"For shame, Lester," cried Kate Bellamont, with an indignant look; "I +did not think you were of so overbearing and ungracious a temper! +Besides," she added, proudly, "I sought Cormac's opinion! Strike an old +man, and in a lady's presence! Out upon thy manhood, Robert. Ask +Cormac's forgiveness, or never speak to me more."</p> + +<p>"Pardon my hasty speech, Kate," he said, abashed by her look, and +reproached by the cutting irony of her words, approaching her as he +spoke with an air of deep mortification, "forgive—"</p> + +<p>"To Cormac, sir, not me."</p> + +<p>"For Cormac, in atonement, I will send from Castle More a fat buck, with +this very arrow sticking in its heart; but," he added, with haughty +fierceness, "I will ask no man's forgiveness. If I have offended, I am +ready to stand by my words."</p> + +<p>"Marry come up! we are like to have a letting of blood here," said the +maiden, between jest and seriousness. "Will you be docile, Robert?"</p> + +<p>"At your bidding, Kate, as a lamb."</p> + +<p>"<i>Very</i> like a lamb. Forget it, Dermot. You have made his pride a little +sore to tell him, before a lady, he knew not how to choose a shaft, and +so unfit to be an esquire of archery."</p> + +<p>"Young blood will up," said the forester. "I meant not to gainsay your +skill, Master Robert, for it's known to every bowman that no young hand +in the county can send a shaft farther or surer than young Lord Robert +of Castle More."</p> + +<p>"That will do, Cormac. Now, Robert, see that you henceforward take fire +less readily; and you, good Dermot, refrain from wounding the esteem of +these young lords. Verily, it behooves me to look to my own speech in +such fiery company. Nay, Robert," she added, laughing, "I have done. +Give me the shafts; and, as we are to have three shots apiece at the +target, I will shoot one of each kind, and be the prize his whose arrow +wins! Give me them, Robert!—nay, don't press my fingers so hard; I +don't want them in my hand, but in the pouch. Go, Cormac, I am ready. I +see my lady mother is shaking her silver arrow at me already for +loitering here when I should be at the post."</p> + +<p>The next moment she had joined the archers, and the trial of skill +forthwith commenced. The first arrow that was shot was from the bow of a +fair-haired girl, in a blue hat and a silken bodice of the same colour; +it flew wide of the mark, and quivered in the trunk of a tree sixty +yards off.</p> + +<p>"There was nerve in that, Lady Eustace," said old Cormac, who watched +each shot with professional interest; "but you grasped the handle of +your bow too tightly, and so made your aim unsteady. Hold your bow as +lightly as you would a hunting-whip. 'Tis not strength, but skill, that +sends the bolt into the eye of the butt."</p> + +<p>The young archeress laughed at her failure, and resigned her place to +another, who was distinguished by an orange-coloured spencer. This +second shot was more successful; for, swiftly cleaving the air, the +arrow stuck in the orange circle.</p> + +<p>"Bravo! orange to orange!" was the cry that on all sides hailed this +appropriate hit.</p> + +<p>The third shaft was still better directed; and, hitting the red or inner +circle, stuck there for a moment trembling like an aspen-leaf, and then +fell to the ground.</p> + +<p>"A brave bolt that! a brave bolt that," said the forester, "and drawn +well to the head. But you should have brought the nock of your arrow +down more towards your ear. The ear in shooting an arrow; the eye in +firing a pistol or harquebuss. That shaft was a taper from the feather, +Master Robert."</p> + +<p>"Hush, Cormac," cried Kate Bellamont, quickly; "would you get your gray +beard into a broil. Robert, bring me my quiver," she said, as she saw +the young man's eye light up; "one of my arrows, the very one you gave +me, has the cock-feather awry! Stay! you need not bring the quiver, but +select a shaft for me yourself. I will keep it as my forlorn hope, and +mark me if it do not carry off the prize." She sought his eyes and +looked so bewitchingly after a manner maidens have of their own, that +his brow coloured and his eyes beamed with a different emotion, while, +with a fluttering heart, he went to do her bidding.</p> + +<p>Oh, gentle and angelic woman! ever ready to calm the ruffled brow with +words of peace! to bring good out of evil! to step between fierce man +and his reinless passions! with an eye to sooth, a voice to disarm, a +smile to win! Blessings on thee, woman! whether in thy happy and +innocent girlhood, or fair and gentle maidenhood; whether maid or +matron, young or old, lovely or homely! Blessings on thee, sweet leaven +of humanity! yet partaking so much of the heavenly nature, that the sons +of the gods, we are told, were lured from their celestial thrones to +cast their crowns at thy feet!</p> + +<p>A fourth arrow hit the black circle; and the fifth, sent from the bow of +a tall, graceful girl, struck on the outer edge of the target and +splintered it, while the bow itself snapped in two in her hand.</p> + +<p>"What a mischievous shot, Fanny," cried Lady Bellamont, smiling; "if +by-and-by you launch Cupid's shafts at your lovers' hearts in that way, +you will make sad havoc."</p> + +<p>"It was all, your ladyship, of placing the short limb of the bow +uppermost. Hugh Conor must be getting old that he teacheth not his pupil +better to handle the bow," said old Cormac, shaking his snowy locks as +the next archeress, a sylph-like little being, about fifteen, with +dangerous hazel eyes; rich chestnut-coloured hair, that flowed in curls +all over her shoulders; a voice like some merry bird's, and a wild, +joyous spirit lighting up like a sunbeam her whole countenance, took her +place at the stand.</p> + +<p>"Now, cousin Gracy, do be steady!" cried Kate Bellamont; "take heed! you +will shoot my esquire through the heart if you handle your bow so +carelessly."</p> + +<p>"And then you would shoot me through the head in return, I dare say."</p> + +<p>The laughing girl bounded to the stand as she spoke, carelessly drew her +arrow to the head, and, ere she had well taken aim, away it flew, and +passed through the centre of the emblazoned target waving on the summit +of the pavilion, and continued its wild flight into the wood beyond.</p> + +<p>"Bravo, cousin Gracy! you have won the silver arrow," cried Kate +Bellamont. "Lord Robert, I wonder if that was the arrow you chose for +Lady Grace. A taper both ways, or I'll forfeit my jennet!"</p> + +<p>"Who makes the broil now, young mistress?" asked the old forester, with +a glance of humour.</p> + +<p>"You and I, worthy Cormac, are two very different people where a young +gentleman is concerned," said the maiden, laughing.</p> + +<p>The forester shook his head incredulously, and, turning to Grace +Fitzgerald, said, "Faith, but it was a brave shot that, my young lady! +You have done what old Dermot could not have done at a target, playing +in the wind like that. But, with the leave of my lady the queen, you +must have a second shot at the real target. Take this arrow, that tapers +from the feather to the pile; fit it to your bow-string exactly at the +spot where it is wound round with silk; and, if you will follow my +directions, I will teach you to strike the centre of the true butt, or +never draw arrow to head again." Leave being granted by acclamation, the +archeress merrily resumed her attitude and prepared to follow his +instructions.</p> + +<p>"Hold the bow easily in your hand. Throw your head back a little. That +will do. Now keep your bow-arm straightened, and bend the wrist of your +gloved hand inward. Now raise your bow, steadily drawing the arrow at +the same time—not towards your eye, but towards your ear. Be steady! +When it is three parts drawn, take your aim at the centre. Keep the head +of the arrow a little to the right of the mark. Be cool, and, if you are +sure of your aim, draw the arrow quickly and steadily to the head, and +gently part your fingers and let it go!"</p> + +<p>The shaft, loosened from the string, cut the air and buried itself in +the very centre of the golden eye of the target. A shout from every part +of the field acknowledged the success of the quick pupil, and bore +testimony to the skill of the experienced old archer.</p> + +<p>"It is Cormac's shot, not mine," said the archeress; "I am satisfied +with piercing the glittering centre of yonder escutcheon."</p> + +<p>"The queen shall decide," cried several of the party, turning towards +the throne where sat the lovely countess, amid her youthful attendants, +participating with girlish interest in the scene, and prepared to decide +all appeals to her royal umpirage.</p> + +<p>"Gracy is right. Cormac's skill directed the shaft. She has no honest +claim to the honour of the hit, save the credit of having stood quiet +longer than she was ever known to before! The banner with its perforated +target she is justly entitled to; and," added the countess, with a +smile, "I here award it to her."</p> + +<p>"And if I ever get a husband he shall carry it before him into battle," +said the merry sylph. "Now, divine Kate, see that you don't wound my +arrow. I would not have it injured for a silver one."</p> + +<p>"It tapers from the middle in each direction, I have no doubt," said +Kate, archly, glancing mischievously towards her esquire as she prepared +to take her place at the stand.</p> + +<p>"Your speech tapers in both directions, wild Kate," retorted the other, +blushing. "I wonder what you and Lord Robert could have been doing, that +you loitered so long about the pavilion! There, I declare, if you are +not holding your bow with the short limb uppermost!"</p> + +<p>Kate blushed in her turn, and reversed it.</p> + +<p>"Why, cousin Kate Bellamont, you are going to shoot with the feather +towards the target!" cried the tantalizing little maiden. "Really, I +<i>do</i> begin to wonder what you and Lester <i>could</i> have been about, that +the mention of it scatters your wits and makes you look so <i>very</i> +foolish!"</p> + +<p>Kate shook her head with a playful menace at her tormentor, placed her +arrow with the right end to the bow-string, and took her stand by the +target. The instant she fixed her eyes on it her self-possession +returned, and, elevating her bow, she threw herself with careless grace +into the attitude of an accomplished archeress.</p> + +<p>A more beautiful object than this young creature, standing in the +strikingly spirited attitude she had assumed, can hardly be imagined. +Though but sixteen, her form was divinely perfect. Every limb—foot, +hand, and arm—was a rare model for the sculptor's chisel. The +undulating outline of her shoulders was faultless; and her figure, +perhaps, was the more beautiful that her bust and waist, and the wavy +symmetry of her whole person, was just receiving that harmony of touch +and roundness of finish which marks the era when the wild romping girl +is merging into the blushing, conscious, loving, and loveable maiden of +seventeen. Descended from an ancient Milesian family, she betrayed her +origin in her complexion, which was a rich brunette, reflecting in warm, +sunny tints the mantling blood, which came and went at every emotion. +Her eyes were dark and sparkling as night with its stars, and as, with a +slightly bent brow, she fixed them on the target, they had a cool and +steady expression remarkable in one of her years and sex. She wore a +dark ruby velvet jacket, laced over a stomacher rich with brilliants, +and a velvet hat of the same dark ruby, surmounted by a plume of white +ostrich feathers, in that day a rare and costly ornament, which +gracefully drooped about her head in striking contrast with her raven +locks that floated around her superb neck in the wildest freedom. Her +lips, like most of the lips of Erin's fair maidens, were of a rich coral +red, and, just parted as she took sight, rendered visible a pearly line +of beautifully-arranged teeth. Her mouth, when closed, was finely +shaped, and sometimes wore an air of decision, that did not, however, in +any way diminish its witchery. The glow of health, and the pride of +birth and beauty, were upon her countenance, and every feminine grace +and charm seemed to play around her.</p> + +<p>As she stood with one foot a little advanced, her neck slightly curved +to bring her eyes down to a level with the mark, her left side, but no +part of the front of the body, accurately turned towards the target, the +eyes of old Cormac Dermot glistened with pride. Slowly she elevated the +bow, drawing the arrow simultaneously towards the ear with the first +three gloved fingers of her right hand, till she had drawn it out three +quarters of its length, when, pausing till she had filled her eye with +the golden eye of the target, she drew it smartly to its head and let it +loose from her fingers. For an instant she stood following its swift +flight: the pupils of her dark eyes dilated and eager; her lips closely +shut; her chest advanced; her right arm elevated and curved above her +shoulders, the wrist bent, and the fingers of the hand turned gently +downward; the left arm extended at full length, and grasping the relaxed +bow; her neck curved; her spirited head thrown back, and her whole +action animated and commanding; presenting altogether, perhaps, the most +graceful attitude the female form is susceptible of assuming.</p> + +<p>The arrow was sent with unerring aim, struck the golden eye within half +an inch of Grace Fitzgerald's, and buried itself to its feather. The +lawn rung with the plaudits of both archeresses and esquires; and even +the retainers and fishermen, who were humble but curious spectators of +the sports, gave vent to their admiration in shouts of clamorous +applause. Old Cormac swung his long yew bow above his head with delight, +and looked as if, in the pride of the moment, he would have hugged his +accomplished pupil to his heart.</p> + +<p>"Do not be so elated, good Dermot," she said, laughing; "it was the +arrow I chose—a taper from the pile."</p> + +<p>"The more skill in the hand that drove it so truly," said the forester.</p> + +<p>"I must do still better than this, else neither you nor Lord Robert, +who, methinks, looks somewhat blank to find I have not missed to gratify +him, will neither of you get the prize."</p> + +<p>"It was not a fair trial, Kate," said the esquire, gayly; "the wind has +lulled; and, as you drew your bow, there was not a breath of air."</p> + +<p>"If, nevertheless, that had been a taper from the feather," said the +forester, after surveying the target earnestly for a moment, as +obstinately bent on adhering to his original opinion as even the +spirited young noble himself, "it would have cleft the arrow of Lady +Gracy through its length to the pile."</p> + +<p>"We will see to that anon, worthy Cormac. I have two shots more. Here is +the arrow you chose for me, which I will fit to my bow-string, and do my +best to drive it through my cousin's."</p> + +<p>"I dare say you will if you can, and would like, also, to destroy +everything else Lord Robert gives me," said the roguish Grace, putting +up her lip and tossing her head, with its cloud of rich hair, in +admirably affected pique.</p> + +<p>The young esquire of Kate Bellamont looked embarrassed; Kate laughed and +drummed on the ground with her foot, while the whole party began +forthwith to prepare for the next round. The customary mode of +ascertaining the value of the hits in archery, by estimating it in +proportion to their distance from the centre, was departed from in the +present instance. By the method alluded to, a hit in the gold counts +nine; in the red, three; in the orange, two; in the black, one; and +their sum is the value of the hits: a process which makes three hits in +the red circle of the same value, or nearly so, of one in the gold. In +the present case, the shots were limited to three, and the prize awarded +to the greatest number of hits in the gold.</p> + +<p>In the second round, the first three arrows struck three different +circles; and one well-directed shaft, shot by the archeress who had +before broken her bow, hit the gold, though at its junction with the +red. Grace Fitzgerald bent her bow without aim, but the courteous arrow +went accurately to the mark, and struck within a finger's breadth of the +centre, much to the delight of Cormac, the forester, who took himself +all the credit of the fair shot. Kate, with the arrow given her by +Cormac fitted to her bow-string, took somewhat less careful aim than +with her first shot, and was about to loose the arrow, when a hawk, +bearing a live fish in his talons, soared above the cliff, and with +swift wing flew high across the lawn in the direction of the forest. +Quicker than thought, the point of the arrow was elevated from the +target into the air, drawn to its head with a stronger arm and more +resolute eye, and launched from the bow-string. With irresistible force +and unerring aim, it cleft the air and struck the proud bird of prey +beneath the wing. He uttered a wild cry, flew heavily a few feet +perpendicularly upward, and then, whirling round and round in concentric +circles, each gyration bringing him nearer the earth, fell, transfixed +with the arrow, among the fishermen: fluttering wildly on the ground in +agony, he succeeded, before they could secure him, in flapping himself +over the precipice. He was instantly followed by a daring young +fisherman, who had been endeavouring to capture him—the same youth +whose admiration of her had before attracted the notice of Kate +Bellamont.</p> + +<p>For a moment the generous heart of the fair archer shrunk from the wreck +she had made, and she turned away her head from the dying struggles of +the dark bandit of the air. But maidens of that period were too familiar +with the more revolting scenes of the chase to show emotion at +witnessing the death of a hawk; and, therefore, sympathy for the fate of +the victim of her skill gave place to the pride of the successful +archer.</p> + +<p>"There is a prize for you, Cormac, better than a golden arrow," she +said, with a flashing eye; "and, when next I go a hawking," she archly +added, "I will be sure to use arrows that taper from the feather."</p> + +<p>The third and final round now followed. Each archeress had shot her last +arrow save Kate Bellamont, yet but three arrows besides her own and the +equivocal shot of Grace Fitzgerald were in the centre, and these from as +many different bows. Grace had made a wilder shot even than her first; +for her arrow, jeopardizing the lives of the poor fishermen, flew far +over the cliff out of sight. Four of the companions of Kate had, equally +with herself, each an arrow in the gold; but as she had yet to shoot her +third arrow, she had yet a chance of making a second hit and winning the +prize. Glancing with proud consciousness of her own skill towards her +young esquire, she drew her remaining arrow through her fingers, +carefully examining each one of its three feathers, and fitted it +accurately to the bow-string; then elevating her bow, she steadily drew +the arrow. All was breathless expectation. The old archer looked on as +if he would not grieve if for once his pupil should miss; while her +young esquire watched her with the anxiety of one who felt that his +judgment and skill in the noble science of archery were at stake. As she +was ready to loose the arrow, the wind, which had hitherto gently fanned +her cheek, increased suddenly to a strong breeze, lifting the hair from +her brow and tossing her tresses in wild confusion about her neck. The +eyes of Cormac lighted up with triumph, while Lord Robert himself curled +his lip scornfully and smiled with confidence. The archeress, who had +dropped the point of the arrow with a misgiving, remembering what Cormac +had said of it as ill adapted to a wind, on catching the confident eye +of her esquire again raised the bow, and coolly and steadily drew the +shaft to its head. Every eye followed it in its swift course, and saw it +strike the arrow of Grace Fitzgerald on the end, shiver it to its pile, +and drive itself through the target to the feather. A general +exclamation of surprise and admiration bore testimony to the skill of +the victor; the dark eyes of the young esquire sparkled with triumph, +while the discomfited Dermot said, with a broad laugh of good-humour,</p> + +<p>"Well, Master Robert, it's your time to boast now. By the boar's head o' +Castle Cor! I shall never hear the end of your double taper. Faith, +masters, no hand but my young Lady Kate's could have sent a double taper +with such an aim and in this wind, which young Lord Robert there has got +old Elpsy to set a blowing to triumph over the old man's skill. Well +a-day! What the gray-headed forester said of it is true, nevertheless; +but when such a hand and eye as Lady Kate's sends the bolt to the butt, +there is no depending on old rules; especially," he added, laughing, +"with a witch's wind to carry the arrow to its centre."</p> + +<p>The young noble frowned darkly on the speaker, and joined not in the +laugh of his companions. Lady Bellamont now commanded Cormac to sound +his horn three times, and bid, in the name of the queen of archery, the +band of archeresses, with their esquires, who were hastening towards the +target to collect their arrows, to approach the throne, and witness the +award of the prize to the victor.</p> + +<p>Amid the congratulations and applauses of the whole field, for, +unenvious, each light-hearted girl seemed to share the triumph of the +accomplished archeress, the victoress advanced to the rustic footstool +of the throne, and gracefully knelt to receive, from the hand of the +beautiful queen of the sports, the glittering prize—a finely-wrought +arrow of silver, five inches in length, with a chased gold head, on +which was graven, in small Gothic characters, these words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Field of Archery, Castle Cor, May, MDCXCIV."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Victorious archeress," said the queen, rising, her face beaming with +maternal love and pride, and extending her arm containing the prize, +"receive this fair token of your matchless skill, so well displayed this +day. May you in every other female accomplishment, my sweet Kate, be as +successful as in archery."</p> + +<p>"She'll be a match for poor little Cupid, with his tiny bow and arrow, I +dare say," said Grace Fitzgerald, with a roguish eye. "Poor youth!" she +continued, glancing significantly towards the handsome Lord Robert, who +stood at the right hand of the victress, "I pity him if he's like to +have such a hole made in his heart as Kate has made in yonder target."</p> + +<p>This sally of the sprightly maiden was merrily received by all the +youthful circle save the conscious two who were its subjects. The lovely +countess now left the throne, embraced and kissed her noble Kate, whom +her companions, gathering around her, playfully forced into the vacant +seat. She was about to bound from it again, when she checked the +impulse, reseated herself, and bade her esquire advance and kneel before +her. The gallant youth obeyed; when, bending gracefully forward, she +fastened the silver arrow in the loop of his bonnet, and bade him wear +it on every return of that day in memory of the field of archery at +Castle Cor.</p> + +<p>The noble youth accepted the gift, won by the arrow he had chosen, with +the same playful, half-serious spirit in which it was bestowed, and then +kissed the fair hand that presented it with at least full as much +passion as gallantry. Amid the merry sallies, especially from Grace +Fitzgerald, this scene created, the whole party of archers bounded away +like a troop of wild deer towards the target, to ascertain more +accurately the nature, of the several hits, while the countess, at a +more dignified pace, attended by the forester, returned to the castle to +prepare for the further entertainments of the day. But the fleetest of +foot among the youthful bevy of fair girls had not measured half the +green space between the linden-tree and bristling target, when a +thrilling outcry of terror from a fisherman on the cliff, who wildly +waved his arms to some one below, and the next moment clasped his hands +together in despair, checked them in mid career; and, with hearts +palpitating with vague apprehensions of danger, they flew to the +precipice to ascertain the cause of this sudden alarm.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"From crag to crag descending—swiftly sped<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stern Conrad down, nor once he turned his head;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He bounds, he flies, until his footsteps reach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The verge where ends the cliff, begins the beach."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>The Corsair.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Dark was the flow of Oscar's hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Allan's locks were bright and fair."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Oscar of Alva.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But who is he, whose darken'd brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glooms in the midst of general mirth?"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Ibid.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>When the hawk, which had been so skilfully struck by the arrow of Kate +Bellamont, flapped himself, in his violent death-throes, over the edge +of the cliff, a gallant young fisher's lad, seeing him lodge in the +topmost branches of a blasted tree twenty feet below, fearlessly flung +himself off the precipice, and lighted, by the aid of a limb, on a +projecting rock within twelve feet of him. The cliff at this place was +one hundred and forty feet in height, and, except where its surface was +opened by narrow crevices, in which a few shrubs and dwarf cedars found +precarious roothold, or where a fragment, hurled from its seat by the +lightning, or fallen through age into the sea, left a narrow shelf, it +presented to the passing boatman on the bay below a naked and gigantic +wall, of nearly perpendicular ascent and inaccessible to human foot: +indeed, from a midway brow seventy feet from the base, it receded, +leaving a sheer descent of that space from the water, which lay black, +still, and of profound depth beneath. Near the top of the cliff grew a +scathed cedar, clinging with its hardy roots into a cleft in its face, +and leaning threateningly over the flood. Its top reached within twenty +feet of the summit of the precipice; but, inclining at an angle away +from it, stood full seven feet out from its side. It was the ragged arms +of this tree which caught the hawk in his descent, and where, with +fierce cries of rage and pain, he struggled to free himself from the +fatal shaft, but which he drove deeper and deeper into his side with +every beat of his strong wing.</p> + +<p>The young man paused after lighting upon the first landing-place, and +measured with a cool glance the dizzy descent; and then fixed his gaze +on the bird, whose blood-red eyes flashed forth vindictive fire as they +met his, with a resolute look that conveyed a determination to capture +him at whatever risk. The pliant limb of a tree growing on the summit, +by which he had let himself down to the place where he stood, had, on +being released, sprung back to its natural position far beyond his +reach: the surface of rock, eight feet in height above him, was as even +as a wall of masonry; and an upward glance satisfied him that, without +assistance from those above, to reascend again would be impossible. +Quietly smiling at the difficulty in which he had involved himself, the +fearless lad placed his eyes again on the hawk with the confident and +resolute, and almost stern, expression they had before borne, and began +to examine narrowly his position, and to look about for some safe way of +descending to a perilous spur, the breadth of a man's two hands, which, +on peering down, he discovered projecting from the side of the rock on a +level with the top of the tree. Whether governed solely by that pride of +spirit which is found in most youths of high-toned feelings, he +internally resolved to accomplish what he had thoughtlessly undertaken; +whether actuated by the spirit of adventure, or whether fascinated by +the beauty of Kate Bellamont, he wished to preserve the proud bird as a +trophy of her skill; whether one or all of these motives influenced the +daring fisher's lad, remains to be unfolded.</p> + +<p>The spot on which he stood was the projecting edge of the second stratum +of rock, twenty inches wide, running irregularly along the face of the +precipice, and appeared to have been formed by the falling away of large +chips or flakes from the upper and softer stratum. From this rim there +ran a zigzag crevice, an inch wide, obliquely downward along the rock to +the shelf below, on which grew a handful of long grass and two or three +slender shrubs. On a level with it was the top of the tree; underneath, +thirty feet below, were visible its gnarled roots clinging to a mere lip +of the rock, yet vigorously inserting themselves in the neighbouring +crevices; farther down, on the edge of the brow where the cliff began to +incline inward, was visible yet one more foothold, scarcely a palm in +breadth; below that, the shrinking eye measured a dizzy vacancy till it +fell upon the still, pool-like bay beneath.</p> + +<p>The youth surveyed these features of the dangerous precipice with a +steady eye; and having coolly calculated his chance of accomplishing +safely the descent of the twelve feet below him, sat down with his legs +hanging over, and deliberately drew off his stout fisher's boots and +hung them on a twig beside him. Then turning round, he carefully slid +off and suspended his body an instant by his right hand, till he had +firmly inserted the tip of one foot and the fingers of the other hand in +the zigzag crevice. Releasing his right hand from its grasp on the +shelf, he then carried it below the left, and having got a firm hold of +the edge of the fissure, let go with the left and passed it in its turn +under the right: he changed the position of his feet in the same manner +so long as he could obtain, which was not always the case, a +resting-place for his toes; and in this way, with cool self-possession +and undaunted nerve, which even the wild cries and beating wings of the +bird could not move, he succeeded in safely reaching the small +projecting leaf, and stood on a level with the top of the tree. The +falcon was now within seven feet of him horizontally; but he seemed as +far from the attainment of his object as before. It was impossible to +spring into the tree, even if its roots should not be torn from their +rocky bed by the force of the leap and his weight. But the young +fisherman possessed a temper that never yielded to obstacles, and seemed +to be governed by a spirit that scorned defeat. Stretching himself out +upon the shelf, which was just broad enough to contain his body lying +sideways to the face of the rock, he looked down, and saw within reach +of his arm a stout root, the strength of which he tested; and below +this, within reach of his feet if he should swing himself off, was a +sharp projection scarce the size of his foot; and a few inches below +that, a stout limb of the tree rested against the precipice. His eye +embraced at once these advantages, and he did not hesitate to avail +himself of them.</p> + +<p>Lightly, but yet with care, he committed his weight to the root, and, +hanging at the full length of his arm, reached, after three unsuccessful +trials, the spur below with the tip end of one of his toes. This, to one +like him, was a sufficient hold to authorize him to release his grasp +above. Lying, like a fly upon a wall, close against the side of the +rock, he now fearlessly yet cautiously let go his hold, and stood with +one foot on the projection, with no other support but his muscular +adhesion to the wide wall of the precipice. This was a situation +attended with the most imminent peril; and by the firmly-closed lips and +the almost stern expression of his eyes, it was clear that he was fully +conscious of his dangerous position. But there was no shrinking, no +pallor, no sign of fear! He was equal to the danger he had braved; and, +as this increased, the powers of his mind and body seemed to expand to +compass it.</p> + +<p>The branch of the tree was within a few inches of the point on which his +foot rested. Slowly and cautiously he dropped his unsupported leg, while +he pressed his cheek and shoulder close against the side of the cliff; +for he knew that the slightest deviation from the equilibrium would be +fatal. His foot at length touched the horizontal limb, which was the +thickness of a man's arm where it met the rock. He repeatedly pressed +upon it, each successive time harder and heavier, until he found that it +would bear his whole weight. Then directing his hand carefully downward +towards his feet, he placed it on the point of rock, removing his foot +at the same instant to make room for it, and stood upright and with +confidence on the limb.</p> + +<p>Satisfied that the branch, which, turned back by the cliff, had forced +the tree to lean over the water, would safely sustain him, he now +glanced down to the foot of the tree, and began to inspect the hold of +the trunk upon the shelf from which it grew. The examination afforded +him no very great assurance; nevertheless, he determined to test its +strength by advancing out on the limb, though aware that, if it should +yield to his weight, he would be hurled with it into the sea. Even this +reflection did not present any weighty objection to his making the +trial; for with a fearless recklessness, for which there is no +sufficient term in language, he half anticipated the possibility of such +a catastrophe, and caught himself calculating the chances in favour of +his taking in safety a flight into the deep pool beneath. Letting go his +grasp on the point of rock, he now settled himself astride the branch, +and made gradual approaches towards the trunk. It remained firm as the +rock in which it was imbedded, and scarcely gave signs of feeling his +weight till he touched the body, when the top slightly vibrated. He +paused; but, finding it still remain fast, rose to his feet and clasped +the scathed trunk, at first lightly, and then more firmly; and at last, +gaining confidence, he shook it till the hawk fluttered anew in its +perch. Assured of its security, his lips unclosed, and his eyes lost +their severity, and with a smile of success he cast them triumphantly +upward, where, but a few feet above him, entangled by the long shaft of +the arrow and his broken wing, he saw the falcon secured in the crotch +formed by a fork of three stumps of limbs (all that decay had left) that +terminated its summit.</p> + +<p>Without hesitation he began to climb the trunk, which, save the limb by +which he had reached it, and the branches crowning it, was bare from its +roots upward. This was the least difficult part of his hazardous +enterprise, and he soon got within reach of the bird, and stretched one +arm forth to seize him by the wing. But the fierce animal, who had for a +few moments ceased his struggles to watch, with a quick and guarded +glance, the movements of the young fisherman, no sooner saw this hostile +demonstration on the part of his human foe, than, with an intelligence +supernaturally called forth by existing suffering and anticipated +danger, he struck at him fiercely with his sharp, glittering talons; +while, stretching downward his head to the full extent of his neck, he +uttered long, wild cries of mingled fear and menace. Nothing daunted by +what, in itself, was sufficiently appalling, the young man coolly +watched his opportunity, and, at the expense of several severe wounds in +the wrist from his talons, caught the hawk by the throat. Clinging round +a limb with the disengaged arm, he raised himself higher in the tree, +and lifting his prize, which still struck at him with his armed feet, he +skilfully extricated the wing and arrow from the crotch: the next +instant, with the huge, fluttering bird in his hand, he had slidden down +the trunk, and was standing on the transverse limb with a flushed brow, +and a triumphant look illuminating his handsome and fearless +countenance.</p> + +<p>With one arm bent around the tree, and the other holding the hawk at +full length, he now began to cast his eyes upward. They travelled over +the bare surface, scarcely without lighting upon a resting-place for a +squirrel; and he began, for the first time, to question the possibility +of reascending; it having been comparatively easy for him to let his +body down by the crevice, as he had descended, while it would be +impracticable for him to lift its whole weight up again by the mere +effort of the fingers. A glance demonstrated this to him at once. But +time was not given him to reflect on a plan for surmounting a difficulty +which, in reality, was insurmountable, his faculties being at once +called into action to save himself from being thrown from this dizzy +perch by the struggles of the hawk. This ferocious creature had been +wounded by the arrow in the side just beneath the wing, which was broken +by the fall to the earth, and, thence passing upward, the barb had come +out through his back, without touching any vital part. His strength was, +therefore, through pain, rather augmented than diminished; and +notwithstanding the manual pressure upon his windpipe, he now began to +battle fiercely with his captor, fighting both with his claws and +remaining wing. Though holding him out at arm's length, the young man +was unable wholly to defend himself from the strong blows of the wing, +which was three feet in length, with which he violently assailed him +about the head, while with his talons he succeeded in striking his +person and inflicting a deep wound in his breast. He for a time coolly +bore the heavy sweeps of the wing, hoping he would soon tire; but he +forgot that his terrible antagonist was "the bird of tireless wing;" +and, at length, finding his own strength beginning to fail, though his +spirit was unsubdued, he loosened his hold from the trunk of the tree +which his arm had hitherto encircled, and, leaning his back against it, +watched his opportunity, and suddenly, with a firm grasp, seized the +wing as it was beating against his temples, and, by a sudden and skilful +turn of his wrist, dislocated it. This bold act nearly destroyed his +equilibrium; and, after its successful accomplishment, he just had time +to recover his hold on the tree to save himself from falling into the +dark wave below. For a moment afterward his heart throbbed tumultuously; +and reflecting on the imminent peril he had incurred by this necessary +exposure, he trembled with emotion and several times breathed heavily, +as if to relieve his breast of a weight of suffocating sensations—the +tribute which nature demanded of humanity.</p> + +<p>Goaded to increased rage by the additional pain, and maddened at his +vain efforts to lift his useless wing, the eyes of the hawk glittered in +his head like a snake's, and, opening his red jaws, he thrust forth his +long, narrow tongue, and hissed at his captor like an angry serpent. It +was a moment that called for all the moral energy and physical nerve man +is capable of exercising in the hour of danger. The extraordinary young +fisherman evinced the possession of these qualities in a degree adequate +to the crisis which called them into action. With his eyes fixed +unflinchingly on the burning eyeballs of the hawk, and calmly +indifferent the while to the terrible hisses which came hot from his +throat and fell warm upon his face, he continued to keep him at bay so +that his talons should not reach his person, and put forth all his +strength to strangle him. There was a moral grandeur in the spectacle +this young fisher's lad presented, fearlessly perched on his fearful +eminence, as regardless of the depth below as if standing in his own +cottage door, battling at such odds with the fiercest warrior of the +air!</p> + +<p>It was at this crisis that one of the fishermen, a very old man, whose +attention, with that of his companions, had been hitherto too much +occupied by the trial at archery to give a thought to the youth, after +having remained to see the prize awarded to the victress, turned to +leave the ground, when missing the young man, he recollected that he had +seen him follow the hawk to the verge of the cliff. Calling him by name +and not receiving any reply, he approached the precipice; but finding +that he was on the most perpendicular part of it, he cast only a hasty +glance down, and was about to turn away, supposing he had, unseen, +descended to the beach by the usual route a little farther to the north, +when a movement far below arrested his eyes. Looking steadily, he beheld +the youth with one arm clasped round the tree, and the other stretched +out, holding the bird by the neck, while all his moral and physical +energies were called into action to enable him to defend himself against +the talons of the savage creature.</p> + +<p>A glance conveyed to the fisherman the whole extent of the danger; and, +after looking down upon him for a moment in speechless horror, his limbs +trembled with fear, and, giving utterance to a wild cry, he would have +fallen from the precipice had he not caught by a tree that hung over its +verge. Kate Bellamont was the first to reach the cliff on hearing the +alarm given by the old man; and, glancing down, she intuitively +comprehended the peril in which the youth had placed himself. With +wonderful presence of mind, waving her hand back to those advancing, she +said with energy,</p> + +<p>"Hold! all of ye! Breathe not a word! He is in mortal danger! A shriek, +or a sign of fear among us may unnerve his bold spirit and be fatal to +him!"</p> + +<p>Several of the young archeresses stopped suddenly, and turned pale at +this intimation of danger; while one or two, with more sensibility of +nerves, unable to control their fears, turned and fled towards the +castle, as if in the retirement of their closets they would shut out all +sense of the threatened evil. Young Lord Robert was the first by Kate +Bellamont's side.</p> + +<p>"By Heaven! a bold peasant!" he said, his eyes sparkling with +admiration; "but—"</p> + +<p>"Lester, this is no time for words," spoke the maiden, quickly. +"Something must be done for him. How could he have got there in safety! +Poor, rash youth!"</p> + +<p>"Alas! my child, my lost, lost child!" cried the old fisherman, who was +seated on the ground shaking his head mournfully, turning his eyes away +from the trying scene. "God protect thee, lad, for no human aid will +avail thee!"</p> + +<p>"Do not despair, good Dennis, he may yet be saved," said Kate, +encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"Let go the bird!" shouted Lester.</p> + +<p>The fisher's lad, whose attention had been called to the top of the +cliff by the shout of the old man, and who had watched the movements of +those above, smiled proudly at this request, and firmly shook his head +in the negative.</p> + +<p>"He deserves to perish if he will peril his life for that bird," said +the young noble.</p> + +<p>"Hush, Lester, he must be aided. Mark, drop the bird, or he will throw +you off. How could you be so foolish as to adventure your life for that +fierce hawk!"</p> + +<p>"There is humble gallantry at the bottom of it, I dare swear," said +Lester, with a tone in which there was a slight shade of scorn.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there may be!" was the quiet reply of the maiden. "Mark, let +the bird go, I command you. If your life is sacrificed, I shall feel +that I am the cause of it."</p> + +<p>"By the bow of Dan Cupid! I would change places with the serf to have my +situation create such an interest in your breast, fair lady." This was +spoken, partly with sincere feeling, partly with derision, by the +haughty Lester.</p> + +<p>The full, dark gaze of Kate Bellamont encountered his; and with a manner +that eloquently conveyed the feeling of contempt that sprang up in her +heart, she said,</p> + +<p>"Robert Lester must have fallen low in his own self-esteem to be jealous +of a fisher's lad!"</p> + +<p>The young noble, with all his native haughtiness and pride of spirit, +possessed a generous nature, and was ever ready to atone for the wounds +which his wayward temper might have caused him unawares to inflict. +Especially was this the case where Kate Bellamont was the party +interested. With an instantaneous change peculiar to hasty spirits, he +sought pardon of the offended maiden with his eyes, and at once appeared +so different, that she saw that she could fully rely on him; plainly +reading in his face, with unerring feminine tact, that he nobly had +resolved to banish every feeling but the humane one the occasion +demanded.</p> + +<p>"Lester, he will not release the bird for which he has perilled so +much," she said, with frank confidence in her tones, "and we must devise +some means to save both him and his prize. Haste to the castle, and get +a rope to save your comrade!" she cried to the remaining fisherman.</p> + +<p>"I will save him with my life!" said the young noble. "How many bows +have we here?"</p> + +<p>"A dozen," said Kate, at once comprehending the object of his inquiry. +"But are they strong enough, Robert?"</p> + +<p>"To bear the weight of three men. Aid me, Kate, in making a chain of +them."</p> + +<p>In a few seconds they had prepared a rope or chain nearly threescore +feet in length, of bows strung together, each link being five feet long. +Firmly securing one end to the top of the precipice by carrying it over +an upright limb, they successfully tested the strength of the whole by +extending it along the lawn, half a dozen drawing on it at once without +breaking it.</p> + +<p>"This will do," he said with confidence, approaching the cliff to let it +down; but, to his surprise, he saw that the youth no longer retained the +bird, which, notwithstanding the command of the maiden, he had hitherto +seemed resolved, as Lester had hinted, to preserve, at the peril of his +life.</p> + +<p>While these preparations had been making on the cliff, the hawk, not +being any longer able to reach the young fisher's body with his talons, +began to strike and lacerate his wrists. Finding at length that his +strength was unequal to the effort of strangulation (his intention +having been, if he could have killed him, to have lashed him to his +back, and so ascended with him), and satisfied that, while holding him +in his hand alive, he could not reascend, he reluctantly had been +compelled by a severe wound in the hand to let him go. In his fall the +bird struck heavily against the root of the tree, and, bounding off, +descended twenty feet lower, when the point of the arrow, which passed +through him like a spit, caught in a cleft and firmly held him on the +little shelf before described, which projected from the brow that +beetled over the sea at the height of seventy feet from it. The youth +watched him a few moments steadily, and saw that he moved neither wing +nor talon. He was dead!</p> + +<p>When the intrepid lad saw him arrested in this manner, and that life was +now extinct, the cloud of regret that began to darken his face was all +at once chased away by a sunbeam of pleasure; for he discovered, as he +followed the bird's course with his eye, that the cleft in which he was +caught commenced at the very foot of the tree, and offered him the same +perilous facilities of descent that the zigzag one above had afforded. +When Lester looked over the cliff preparatory to letting down the chain +of bows, he beheld him, therefore, to his astonishment, in the act of +swinging himself from the horizontal limb, and the next moment clinging +about the trunk below it. Before either Kate or he could speak to warn +him, so sudden was their surprise, the daring youth had effected a +cautious and rapid descent of the tree, and was standing safely at its +roots: on casting their eyes farther below, they discerned, hanging over +the very verge of the brow, midway the precipice, the lifeless +ger-falcon, which instantly accounted to them for this new and +unexpected movement.</p> + +<p>"His blood be upon his own head!" cried the maiden, shrinking from the +sight. "Lester, look! Is he not attempting to reach the bird? Or perhaps +he finds that he cannot climb the precipice again, and is trying to +descend to the water!"</p> + +<p>"It is a long step of seventy feet from where that bird hangs to the +bottom," said the old fisherman, for an instant rousing himself. "He +will die, lady, and I shall have to convey his mangled corpse in my +skiff to my lonely hut, and dig for the poor boy a grave in the sand. I +loved him as if he had been my own flesh and blood!"</p> + +<p>Kate was about to ask him, with surprise, if he were not his own son, +when a cry of alarm caused her to turn round just in time to see Lord +Robert commit himself fearlessly to the chain of bows and swing himself +over the dizzy verge. As he descended from her sight, with a smile on +his lip and a devotion of the eyes as he met hers, that told her, +plainer than words could convey it, that he ventured his life for her +sake prompted by his sympathy with the interest she took in the daring +fisher's boy, he said resolutely,</p> + +<p>"I will save him in spite of himself, or share his fate!"</p> + +<p>She was about to speak, but her voice failed her; and covering her eyes +to hide him, as he hung suspended above the sea, from her swimming +sight, for a few seconds she appeared as if her presence of mind had +deserted her. This weakness, if an emotion so natural can be termed +such, was but momentary. Recovering herself by a strong mental effort, +she once more looked over the cliff, and calmly watched the descent of +the daring Lester, whom she knew to be a skilful cragsman, with a prayer +on her lip for his safety. The novel chain by which he descended reached +to within ten feet of the spot where the young fisherman stood, and the +intention of Lord Robert was to take the tree, and reach the roots of it +as the other had done before him. He had accomplished, however, but a +few feet of his passage down the rock, not without great peril, though +at each junction of the bows he found a resting-place for his feet and a +hold for his hands, when the young fisher's lad lowered himself from his +shelf, and, getting his fingers in the cleft, began to descend, +alternately supporting his weight by his arms, with a celerity and +apparent recklessness that, to the spectators above, was fearful to +witness: he, however, took a firm grasp of the rock each time, and with +a cool head and steady eye, gained the spur where the hawk was fixed. In +the mean while Lord Robert had reached the tree; and leaving the chain +swinging in the air, he clasped the trunk, and quickly descended it: but +the object for which he had so generously ventured his life was now +twenty feet below him. With all his nerve, the fearless young noble +shuddered when he looked down and beheld the means by which the fisher's +lad had made his last descent. Both had reached the points at which they +aimed at the same instant; and when Lord Robert bent over to look down, +holding firmly by the roots of the tree, the other was standing with +perfect self-possession on his dizzy foothold, holding the hawk in one +hand, and waving with the other to those above.</p> + +<p>"Do you value your life so lightly, peasant, without saying anything of +the painful sympathy your folly produces in those who are spectators of +your foolhardiness, that you peril it after this fashion?" said the +young noble, passionately, yet unable to refuse the admiration due to +his fearless character.</p> + +<p>"I am not your serf, Lord Robert of Castle More, that my life should be +of value in your eyes," said the youth, with a look and bearing as +haughty as the young noble's.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" exclaimed Lord Robert, with astonishment and anger; "these are +brave words to come from beneath a homespun jerkin. By the cross of St. +Peter! fisherman, thou dost presume too much upon that equality to which +mutual danger has for the moment brought us. I have periled my life to +assist thee—not by mine own will, by Heaven! for thou deservest to be +rewarded for thy temerity by a bath in the sea; but at the bidding of a +lady, who, perforce, thinks, if thou shouldst, by any lucky chance, +break thy neck for the hawk her arrow has sent over the cliff, thy blood +will be on her head. So I have explained to thee the height and depth of +my charity, lest thou shouldst swell still bigger to think that, peasant +as thou art, thou hast made a noble thy servant."</p> + +<p>"A very proper speech, I have no doubt, Lord Robert More," answered the +fisherman, with a quiet smile of superiority (as the noble construed +it). "I need none of your lordship's aid. Without it I came down, and +without it I can go up again."</p> + +<p>"The devil have thee, then, for thy obstinacy," cried Lester, his eyes +flashing with anger; "by the rood, if I had thee there, I would be of a +mind to help thee down rather than up."</p> + +<p>"The path by which I came is equally open to your lordship," was the +cool answer. "Robert More, thrice have I saved your life; and though you +have thanked me like a noble for the deed at the time, have after +cancelled it by treating me like a slave, because the accident of birth +has made you noble and me base. Leave me again. I will not owe my life +to your lordship!" This was said in a steady and determined, but very +quiet tone.</p> + +<p>"My good Meredith, I will forgive thy rudeness of speech, for thou hast +had offence," said the young man, struck with his proud and independent +character, so nearly akin to his own. "The haughtiness with which I have +treated thee is one of the consequences of this accident of birth. +Believe me, I have never forgotten what I owe to thy courage: once saved +from drowning by thee! once snatched from a peril almost equal to that +thou art now in! once preserved from death beneath the antlers of an +enraged stag! I have not forgotten these debts, thou seest. If I have +seemed to thee ungrateful, set it down, brave Mark, to pride of birth +rather than want of feeling. Shall I aid thee, lad, in gaining the top?"</p> + +<p>"Lord Robert, your words have atoned for the past," said the young +fisherman, not unmoved by this generous and manly defence of the proud +young noble; "nevertheless, I will not owe my life to you!"</p> + +<p>The noble fastened his penetrating gaze on the upturned face of the +young fisherman, and thought he discovered a meaning there that was a +key to his refusal.</p> + +<p>"Ha! I have it!" he said, internally, after a few moments' reflection. +"<i>He dares to place his thoughts on her!</i>"</p> + +<p>Instantly, with that lightning-like rapidity with which his impulsive +feelings changed, he shouted in a loud, haughty tone of voice,</p> + +<p>"Ho, Sir Peasant! prithee tell me what strange fondness for dead hawks +set thee to jeoparding thy life after this sort?"</p> + +<p>"Lester," cried Kate Bellamont from the summit of the cliff, hearing +their voices without understanding the words, "why this delay? Can there +be no means of reaching the noble youth?"</p> + +<p>"Noble youth!" repeated the young man, scornfully, to himself; "it will +be a <i>princely</i> next. By the cross! If he does not smile and wave his +daring hand to her! And she answers it back! Fellow!" he added, +fiercely, "I will come down and hurl thee into the sea!"</p> + +<p>"You are welcome, Lord Robert," replied the other, unmoved; "yet, as +there is barely room for me, it is certain that, if you do descend, +<i>one</i> of us only can remain upon it."</p> + +<p>The impetuous Lester was already preparing to descend by the crevice; +but the coolness of the other at once disarmed his anger.</p> + +<p>"Thou art a brave fellow, Mark, and I would not injure thee. But," he +added, sternly, "see that thou cross not my path!"</p> + +<p>"How mean you, Lord Robert?" he inquired, concealing his penetration of +the lover's motives under a look of simplicity that embarrassed the +haughty and sensitive noble.</p> + +<p>Before he could reply, the voice of the Countess of Bellamont, +encouraging them both, was heard from the summit. She only had this +instant arrived, drawn hither by the rumour of the danger of the +fisher's lad, accompanied by Dermot, and one or two men-servants, with +ropes and other means of assisting those below.</p> + +<p>Her first proceeding, on discovering the position of the parties, was to +attach the rope to the chain of bows, and have the end of it firmly tied +to the tree. She then bade the men to lower it steadily till it could be +reached by Lord Robert, and in a few seconds he held it in his grasp.</p> + +<p>"Now, Sir Peasant," said Lester, relaxing into his former haughty mood, +"here is the means of reascending the cliff."</p> + +<p>"You may profit by it, my lord, I will not," said the youth, firmly. "I +will receive no favour at your hands."</p> + +<p>"Then, by Heaven, thou shalt ascend, whether thou wilt or no," said the +noble, with energy. "I have pledged my word to save thee, and I will +redeem my pledge. Ho! there above! Drop a piece of cord a few yards in +length, so that it will fall at my feet."</p> + +<p>The coil was placed by Kate Bellamont on the rope, and the next moment, +sliding down like a ring along the chain of bows, it was caught in his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Let out twenty feet more of the rope," he again shouted, "and see that +it is well fast above."</p> + +<p>As it passed through his hands, he conducted it over the shelf on which +he stood till it touched the feet of the young fisherman. He had quietly +watched these preparations, and, as they were completed, he coolly +glanced into the depth beneath, and then upward to the young noble, with +an air so resolute that the other paused ere he descended by the chain, +on a link of which one foot already rested.</p> + +<p>"Surely thou wilt not be so mad!" exclaimed Lester, reading a fatal +determination in his lofty and intrepid look.</p> + +<p>"Robert More, I will owe you no favour. Rather than be beholden to you +for my life, I will fling it away, as freely as I have now hazarded it +to win a smile from the fair maiden of Castle Cor."</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Thou!</span> By Heaven, I thought it!" he shouted, with scorn and indignation. +"If I had thee on a piece of ground two feet square that would hold us +both, I would waive my birth, and do battle with thee on that score, +hind as thou art! and see if I could not beat out of thy bones this +leaven of insolence! I will now assuredly aid thy return to the summit, +that I may have the pleasure afterward of doing for thee this good +service."</p> + +<p>As Lester spoke, he committed himself with cool intrepidity to the +chain, holding in one hand the coil of line, by which it was evidently +his intention to lash the young fisherman to the rope, and began rapidly +to descend.</p> + +<p>"Robert More, I do not fear to meet you on any ground. If I did, I +should hardly take <i>this leap</i> to avoid the lesson you have in +contemplation for me! But I will owe you no favour, not even that of +life. Nor shall you lay a finger upon me to force me to do your pleasure +in this thing. Hold! place your foot on the nock of this second bow +above me, and I will take a free spring out into the air."</p> + +<p>This was said in a tone and manner—a steady uplighting of his clear +dark eyes, and a firm, muscular compression of the lip—that made the +other hesitate; but it was only for an instant: the next moment he let +the bow to which he held slip through his hands, and he descended with +velocity till his foot struck upon the last link, which was on a level +with the young fisherman's head. At the same moment the latter elevated +his arms high above his head, holding the hawk between his hands, and, +placing his feet close together, made a spring into the air!</p> + +<p>Lester, with a full knowledge of his cool and resolute character, had +not anticipated this result; and, in his surprise, had nearly let go his +hold. He at the same time uttered a cry of horror, which was answered +from the summit by a loud wail of anguish from many voices; for this act +had been witnessed by all, without the cause which influenced it being +apparent. Preserving the erect attitude with which he had left the rock, +the young fisherman descended like lightning, cut the still bosom of the +black wave beneath, and disappeared below the agitated surface; the +heavy, splashing sound of his fall striking on the ears of those on the +summit of the cliff like his death-knell. Wild and full of mortal +anguish was the shriek that echoed it!</p> + +<p>A flush of hope lighted up the countenance of Lester when he saw the +accuracy with which he had struck the surface, and thought upon the +manner of his descent. At the same time Kate Bellamont, who had been an +interested but puzzled spectator (for their voices, at the height she +stood, had not distinctly reached her) of the previous conduct of the +parties, and had beheld with horror the seemingly fatal act of the +adventurous youth, also marked the natatory art with which he had taken +the spring; and, scarcely hoping, watched, equally with Lester, the +circling waves, as they widened from the centre, with an intensity +amounting to agony.</p> + +<p>After an interval of full thirty seconds, which seemed an age to those +who watched, the water, which had once more become nearly smooth, was +seen to part many yards from the point of descent, and the head of the +daring youth appeared above the surface. A shout, loud and long, greeted +him from the cliff; and no voice was louder or more glad in the joyful +welcome than Lord Robert's. With the hawk elevated in one hand, and +buffeting the waves with the other, he swam bravely towards a belt of +sand a few yards farther northward; and in a few moments afterward he +safely landed, full in sight of those standing anxiously on the cliff. +Pointing to his prize, and waving his hand to Kate Bellamont with native +gallantry, he disappeared around an angle of the shore, to reascend, by +a beaten and easy path, to the summit of the promontory.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Lord Robert became an object of renewed interest to the +party. He was sixty feet from the top of the cliff, with no other means +of reaching it than the precarious chain of bows and a few additional +feet of rope: even the permanent safety of this was doubtful. It +depended solely for its strength on the goodness of the yews and the +entire soundness of the slender bow-strings; and one of these he +discovered, on running his eyes upward, was chafed by some sharp point +of the rock with which it had come in contact. There remained, however, +no alternative. It was plain that he must either trust himself to it, or +follow the example of the young fisherman, and take the leap into the +sea. For a moment he gazed down into the water, and seemed to measure +with deliberate purpose the empty void between; but, shaking his head +with doubt, he once more turned his attention to the equally dangerous, +but more probable, means of escape. The catgut which had stranded +belonged to the third bow above him. Drawing hard upon it with his whole +weight, he saw that it was slowly untwisting, and that it would be +madness to trust himself to it. His self-possession, however, did not +desert him.</p> + +<p>"Can you obtain no stout rope that will reach me here, 'wild Kate?'" he +said, in a careless tone; "I fear the ragged points of the rock will cut +your bow-strings, and spoil them for further shooting."</p> + +<p>"No, Lester, there is none!" answered the maiden, in a deep voice, that +betrayed the depth and intensity of her feelings at this crisis; "men +have been sent to the cove for ropes, but it is far, and it will be long +before they return, even if they succeed in getting them. God protect +you! Preserve your coolness, for my sake, Robert!" she added, with that +force and truth that spurned, at such a moment, all disguise.</p> + +<p>Her words seemed to have awakened anew the spirit within him. Placing +his hand on his heart, he carried it to his lips, and gallantly waved it +towards her. She answered it encouragingly in return; but instantly +turning away overcome by her feelings, cast herself on the bosom of her +mother, and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Necessarily ignorant of this touching testimony of her attachment to +him, which his imminent danger now forbade her to disguise longer under +a mask of badinage, Lester concentrated all his energies to the task +before him. He felt that before the lapse of one or two hours, which it +would require to get ropes from the cove which was more than a league +distant, the inconvenience of his position would have left him with +little strength to climb the cliff, even with the assistance that might +then be rendered. He was now in the full possession of his physical and +mental energies, and resolved, without longer delay, to avail himself of +them. Taking the cord, which he had demanded for a very different +intention, he fastened one end around his wrist; then leaning backward +from the rock, sustaining himself by the grasp of one hand on the chain, +he threw it upward with such accurate aim that it passed through the bow +next above the one with the stranded string, and fell down within his +reach. He then loosened it from his wrist, firmly secured the ends to +the lower bow on which he was sustained, and so made the cord supply the +place of the weak bow-string, and bear the whole strain. This done, he +prepared to ascend the smooth face of the rock twenty feet to the foot +of the tree. Grasping the cord with both hands, he braced himself in a +horizontal position, one of most imminent hazard which demanded all the +coolness, self-possession and physical strength he was possessed of, and +began literally to walk up the perpendicular side of the precipice. The +stranding of a string; a sudden strain upon the tensely bent bows; the +least deviation from the horizontal, would have been instantly fatal! +Coolly, slowly, steadily, lifting himself, step by step, hand after +hand, he at last got to a level with the tree, firmly grasped one of its +roots, and by its aid sprung lightly upon the shelf on which it grew.</p> + +<p>His preparations had been watched, and it was told Kate Bellamont that +he was preparing to ascend. But the maiden had yielded her full heart to +her woman's nature; and while he was making the perilous ascent, with +her head lifted from her mother's bosom, and with tearful eyes and +clasped hands, she was looking heavenward, breathing a silent prayer for +his safety. A shout of joy announced to her his success! Once more she +dropped her face and wept with joy. Lady Bellamont, who felt that all +had been done that circumstances admitted of, refrained from watching +his perilous feat; and, while she solaced her daughter, calmly directed +Cormac the forester to steady the rope, and keep it from rubbing against +the rocks.</p> + +<p>Quitting the chain, Lester now ascended the tree to the transverse +branch, which he had scarcely reached when a loud crack at the root +warned him that the scathed solitary of the cliff, unused to such +repeated trials, was giving way under his weight. Hardly had he time to +throw himself upon the chain, and hang by a bow-string with one hand, +when a series of loud reports rapidly followed each other as one after +another the roots snapped; the top of the tree waved wildly to and fro, +and then the huge trunk plunged, crashing and roaring, into the flood +beneath. For an instant afterward the appalled Lester continued to cling +to the fragile chain with nervous solicitude; but at length assured that +he was not to be carried along with it into the frightful gulf, he +prepared to continue, by the same process of horizontal walking he had +hitherto adopted, his upward progress to the next shelf, six feet above +him, and with which the top of the tree had been on a level.</p> + +<p>The effect of the fall of the tree on those so deeply interested above +can scarcely be imagined. Lady Bellamont answered the heavy crash by a +wild shriek, echoed by all around save Kate. With her the dreadful +suspense and anxiety were now lost in the certainty of his fate. She +calmly raised her head, approached the cliff with a firm step, and +looked steadily down, not with hope, but with a settled gaze of despair, +as if she would take a last look at his grave, and for ever impress upon +her heart's tablet his sea-covered tomb. It was at this moment of her +soul's anguish she confessed within her own heart that, notwithstanding +the lightness with which she might have attempted to disguise it, she +loved him with all the fervour and devotedness of a first passion. +Approaching the verge with such feelings, her surprise was only equalled +by her joy when she saw him in the act of climbing on the shelf above +described. A joyful cry escaped her; and the bold youth, looking up, +acknowledged her presence with a proud smile and wave of his hand. From +this moment Kate Bellamont was herself again. He was safe! The change +from grief to joy in her countenance was electrical! and she prepared to +watch and aid his ascent with all the coolness and energy she was +possessed of.</p> + +<p>He had accomplished thus far his arduous task in comparative safety; and +as he had now but twenty feet more to ascend, she looked with confidence +to its successful accomplishment. This space, however, save a shelf +within eight feet of the top on which the young fisherman had alighted, +and the zigzag crevice by which he had descended the remaining twelve +feet, was steep as a wall, and as difficult of ascent. The young man, +after having hitherto passed through such trying scenes, was not now to +be daunted by any obstacles, of whatever magnitude, that opposed his +farther progress. Nerving himself to the effort, he grasped the rope, +which here had taken the place of the chain of bows, and extended +himself, as before, into a horizontal position, meeting and returning +with a smile, as he did so, her look of solicitude. As he slowly and +laboriously ascended, she inspired the men to their task of keeping the +rope from the cliff, often assisting them with her own fingers, till at +length she was rewarded by seeing him safely reach the shelf, and stand +within eight feet of the summit. By her direction the men now bent the +projecting branch of the tree until it was within his reach; when, aided +by one hand placed on the rope, he lightly climbed the limb, and with a +spring stood in safety on the top of the cliff.</p> + +<p>Kate, who had scarcely breathed as she watched this final effort, guided +by the impulse of the moment, flung herself at once, grateful, happy, +weeping, into his arms!—so certain it is that true love will out, give +it occasion to speak for itself! And what fitter one than this? At such +a time, love is both deaf and blind. It sees, hears, knows no voice but +its own; is indifferent to the opinions of a world of witnesses, and, +setting aside all canons of propriety and discretion, abandons itself to +the impulses of its ardent nature. Such was the love of Kate Bellamont.</p> + +<p>But love, like all other emotions, is but short-lived in its excess. The +temporary excitement passes away; reflection follows; notions of +propriety return; and the conscious victim, blushing, mortified, angry +with shame, feels that there <i>is</i> a world of witnesses to whose canons +she is amenable, and shrinks at the judgment that will be passed on her +outrage of its received notions of maidenly propriety. Such, the next +moment after abandoning herself to the first wild gush of joy at his +escape, were the thoughts that rushed thick on the mind of the proud and +sensitive maiden. She sprang away from him; hid her face in her hands; +and, for the moment, scarcely knew whether her wounded feelings would +have vent in tears or laughter. True to her character as "Wild Kate of +Castle Cor," the latter prevailed; and, exposing her face, she broke +into a fit of merry laughter, which was caught up and continued, with +many a lively witticism, by those around, who, the moment before, were +sad and gloomy under the pressure of fatal forebodings: for so +wonderfully, yet wisely, is the human heart constituted, that smiles +never come so readily, and are never so bright, as when heralded by +tears.</p> + +<p>The gratified Lester was too happy to receive such an ingenuous, +impulsive token of her love, and of its deep, womanly sincerity, to feel +hurt at this change in her manner, which his good sense enabled him to +refer to its true cause. With deep and silent pleasure, he felt that +that moment had fully repaid him for all he had risked.</p> + +<p>Grace Fitzgerald, who had been by no means an indifferent spectator of +his hazardous adventure, now advanced, grasped his hand with great +warmth, and congratulated him on his safety.</p> + +<p>"You need not look so very fond, Sir Cragsman," she said, gayly; "I am +not about to follow the example cousin Kate has so generously set for +us. Oh no! What with your exploit and Kate's folly, you will be +completely spoiled for me! I dare say you would go down that horrid +place again for another such hug as my cousin Kate gave you. Really, I +am shocked!"</p> + +<p>"I will go down and take the leap off into the sea for a similar +reception from Grace Fitzgerald," said Lester, with an air of gallantry.</p> + +<p>"And do you think I would come near such a dripping monster as you would +make of yourself? No, no, I am no Nereid to fancy a man coming out of +the sea."</p> + +<p>"By which I infer, fair lady," he said, archly, "that, if I will go down +and come up dry, you will give me such a welcome as—"</p> + +<p>"Kate gave you? Really, you are quite spoiled. Kate, come and take care +of your beau cavalier, for he is no longer fit for any company but +yours. But here comes one I will welcome, dripping or dry!"</p> + +<p>She bounded forward as she spoke, and met, at the head of the path, the +gallant fisher's lad, who just then appeared, on his way up from the +water, bearing in his hand the ger-falcon which had been the cause of +putting in peril two human lives. He was accompanied by the old +fisherman, who, having remained on the summit of the cliff, paralyzed +and inert through alarm and anxiety until assured of his safety, had +gone down to the beach to meet him on his return. She approached the +young adventurer with one hand extended to welcome him, the forefinger +of the other at the same time lifted with censure.</p> + +<p>"I will shake hands with you, Mark; but you deserve, handsome as you +are, to have your ears boxed. See what a to-do you have been the cause +of; and all for that great black bird, which Kate, forsooth, must shoot +instead of sending her arrow at the target. Well, you are a noble and +gallant young man, and I like you. Do you hear that, Kate? I too have +made a declaration! Well, but I won't embrace you, I think, for you are +too wet."</p> + +<p>While the lively girl was speaking, the rest of the party, including +Lord Robert and Kate, approached and joined in welcoming him.</p> + +<p>"My brave Meredith," said Lester, frankly extending his hand, "you +deserve a better career than that before you. Henceforth let us be +friends."</p> + +<p>The hand of the young noble was received without embarrassment and with +a native dignity of manner by the humble youth, that, to all present, +atoned for his want of high birth; while he said, with a firm yet +respectful tone,</p> + +<p>"We may not be enemies, but we can never be friends, Lord Robert: +friendship between the high and low is but another name for dependance +to the latter."</p> + +<p>"I fear you speak too truly, Mark," said Kate, who had congratulated him +on his escape with an honest warmth and sincerity of manner that sent +the blood like lightning to his brows.</p> + +<p>"Not in my case, brave Mark," said the noble, earnestly; "I will become +your patron and—"</p> + +<p>"And is there patronage without dependance, my lord?" he asked, in a +quiet tone.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said Lester, colouring, "have it your own way. You have +pride enough for Lucifer!"</p> + +<p>"But not enough for a noble," said the other, with a very slight curl of +the lip.</p> + +<p>"Mark Meredith," said Kate, reprovingly, "you forget your station. A +proper degree of pride is the secret of independence. Perhaps you have +too much. Lord Robert is sincere, and means well by you."</p> + +<p>"Believe her, Mark," said Grace Fitzgerald, with playful raillery; +"nobody ought to know so well what Lord Robert means as my cousin Kate."</p> + +<p>"Stop your saucy tongue, Grace," said the maiden, placing a finger on +her bright lips. "What will you now do, Mark, with this bird, that has +cost us, through your thoughtlessness, so much anxiety and suffering?"</p> + +<p>"And betrayed a secret that was not quite a secret before," said the +mischievous Grace.</p> + +<p>"Grace, prithee hist!" cried Kate, with a spice of asperity.</p> + +<p>"Give me the bird, peasant!" said Lester, in a tone of authority. "I +will nail it on the door of the lodge at Castle More, in honour of the +fair archer who shot it."</p> + +<p>"Here is the gentle owner," replied the youth, turning towards Kate +Bellamont; and gracefully kneeling as he spoke, he gallantly laid the +bird at her feet, saying,</p> + +<p>"Gentle archeress, deign to accept—it is the only boon I crave for my +peril—this trophy of thy skill. I have obtained it for thee at the risk +of life and limb, valuing neither, so that I might do thee a service, +and save what I know thou wilt be proud to preserve in remembrance of +this day."</p> + +<p>"By the cross! a forward youth! an Alfred in disguise, I would swear!" +said Lester, haughtily, his quick spirit kindling at the scene. "He will +be offering next, fair Kate," he added, scornfully, "to share with thee +his palace of bark and poles, and his wide realm of sand and seashells. +S'death! a proper peasant!" The young noble's eyes sparkled, and he +paced the sward with angry impatience, as he concluded.</p> + +<p>Kate Bellamont was not indifferent to the tone, manner, and language +with which the hawk was presented by the humble youth. She was flattered +by his well-directed compliments, and pleased, without knowing why, with +the deep, silent admiration with which he regarded her. Was it the +language of love? His manner reminded her of Lester in his most +impassioned moments of devotion; but there was in the fine face of the +young fisherman a calmer, sweeter, more chastened expression; a +reverence without humility; devotion without awe. Was it love? She +trembled, as she thought so, and dared not a second time meet his +dark-beaming eyes. The peculiar character of the expression of his face +was read aright by none but herself and Lester: for only love and +jealousy can translate the language of love. The light blue eyes of the +young noble flashed fierce fire as he witnessed what he deemed palpable +proof of his suspicions. His glance turned rapidly from the face of one +to the face of the other. The expression of his maddened him; that of +hers troubled and puzzled him; and he turned away, grinding his teeth +with bitterness: for what is there on earth so bitter as jealousy?</p> + +<p>The contrast between the appearance of these two haughty young men was +as great as that existing between their ranks in life. The young noble +was in his eighteenth year, tall, and firmly made, with uncommon breadth +and expansion of chest, which gave a striking appearance of compactness +and muscular finish to his frame, that promised, in manhood, nobleness +of carriage as well as great personal strength. His complexion was fair +as the Saxon's; his features regular as the Greek's; but, unlike his, +stamped with that union of manly grace and strength, and bold, fiery +energy, supposed to be characteristic of the ancient Briton. Over his +clear, high forehead fell locks of light flaxen hair of rare beauty, and +shining tresses of the same pale, golden hue floated about his +shoulders. His eyes were his most remarkable feature. They were large +and blue, clear as light, and of a beautiful shape, glowing with +intellect and sparkling with animation, and, when undisturbed, beaming +with a soft and gentle expression betokening gayety of temper and +lightness of spirit; but, when roused by anger, they flashed fierce +fire, and seemed literally to blaze, so bright was the light they +emitted. They further possessed a striking peculiarity, which so marked +his angered glance that he who once encountered it never forgot it till +his dying day. This was a habit, or, rather, nature had given it to him, +when under the influence of angry passions, of lowering his brows down +over his eyes in such a way as to destroy their fine, oval form, and +give them a strange, triangular shape; and the pupil of his eyes +darkening at the same time till they grew black as night, communicated +to them a singularly wild and terrible expression.</p> + +<p>His lips were very beautiful both in form and colour; but the upper wore +a haughty curl that marred the beauty of a mouth which nature had +chiselled with the nicest hand. He carried himself at all times with a +gallant but proud air; and his demeanour was like that of the highborn +youths of his time, taught to regard all of low degree as created for +their use and pleasure. His faults were those of education rather than +of the heart; and, where these deeply-grafted prejudices were not +attacked, he was frank, noble, and generous, and not unworthy the love +of a noble maiden like Kate Bellamont. At the moment seized upon to +describe his appearance, he was standing within a few feet of the young +fisherman, his eyes sparkling with anger and assuming that remarkable +shape which has been described, with his head and one foot advanced, and +his whole attitude hostile and threatening.</p> + +<p>The fisher's lad, who continued kneeling for an instant at the feet of +the fair archeress awaiting her acceptance of the trophy he had +presented, met his dark look unmoved, and, as he thought, with a smile +of proud defiance. The appearance of this bold youth, whose bearing +caused the haughty Lester to question if nature had not a nobility of +her own creation, was, save in his proud carriage, strikingly opposite +to that of the young noble. He was about the same age, and nearly as +tall, but had not such fulness in the chest, and was wanting something +of his breadth of shoulders; but his figure, if lighter, was more +elegant, and united great muscular activity with native dignity and ease +of motion. He wore fishermen's loose trousers, with a coarse jacket of +brown stuff, and was both barefooted and bareheaded. His face was +exceedingly fine. It was oval in shape, with an olive complexion, still +more darkened by exposure to wind and sun: now, with the glow of +exercise and the magic presence of her before whom he bent, it had +become of the richest brown colour. His dark hair was glossy with +sea-water, and, parted naturally on his brow, fell in long raven waves +adown his well-shaped neck. His eyes were dark as hers on whom he gazed, +exceedingly large-orbed, and eloquent with thought and feeling.</p> + +<p>"What handsome eyes!" thought Grace Fitzgerald, as she gazed on them.</p> + +<p>"What dangerous eyes!" thought Kate.</p> + +<p>His eyebrows were as even and accurately arched as if pencilled; but +they were redeemed from anything like effeminacy, on account of the +delicacy of their outline, by the intellectual fulness of the brow. His +nose was straight, and of just proportions; his mouth beautiful as a +girl's, yet full of character, decision, and strength, and oftener it +was the seat of dejected thought than of smiles. Its expression was +generally quiet; yet the finely chiselled lips were full of spirit; and, +when silent, seemed most to speak, so eloquent were the thoughts that +coloured them with their ruby life. The merest movement of the upper +conveyed the intensest feelings with the vivid rapidity of the +lightning's flash, whether they were begotten of scorn or irony, love or +hatred. His bearing, as well as his appearance, was above his station; +and he manifested a haughty independence of spirit that scorned the +distinctions of rank, and a pride of character that, in one of his +humble grade, was not far from being closely allied to audacity. But +perhaps this only proceeded from a certain impatience at being +compelled, nevertheless, to admit in his own person a conventional +inferiority to those with whom he felt he was on that broad basis of +equality, the elements of which are equal physical and intellectual +qualifications.</p> + +<p>Though a poor fisher's lad, he possessed all the feelings and sensations +common to humanity, and experienced emotions both of pleasure and pain; +could feel disgusted at what was revolting, and be pleased at what was +agreeable. He shared, therefore, with all men, of whatever rank, from +the prince to himself—for there could scarcely be a lower scale—that +mysterious principle of the heart by which it attracts, and is attracted +to, woman—he beheld Kate Bellamont, and this moral loadstone, acting as +nature intended it should do, irresistibly drew him towards her. Without +reflection, without cherishing either a hope or a fear, but simply happy +in the contiguity, he gave himself up to the new and delightful +sensations produced by the flow of love's magnetic fluid through his +heart. In plain words, the poor fisher's lad fell deeply in love with +the highborn heiress of Castle Cor.</p> + +<p>No one of the wonderful phenomena of the human mind so fully +demonstrates that it is a mesh of anomalies, as the existence of the +fact that, when a man loves a woman, he has only to learn that another +regards her with the same flattering sentiments, to hate him most +cordially, seek him out, quarrel with him, and even take his life. It +would seem to be taken for granted that the knowledge of this fact would +have a directly contrary effect; for the presumption irresistibly +follows, that whoever feels an interest in the object to which we +ourselves are so closely bound by ties of love, must, without regarding +the delicacy of the compliment to our individual tastes, be +proportionably loved by us. But experience has too often demonstrated +this by no means to be the case; but, on the contrary, the knowledge of +the existence of a parallel attachment produces in the breast of the +legitimate admirer wrath, malice, and hatred, filling his soul towards +the subject of it with all manner of evil.</p> + +<p>True to this feeling of the human heart, the young noble and fisher's +lad forthwith felt rising in their breasts towards each other emotions +of a hostile character; for love is a famous leveller, and the prince +can deign even to hate his slave if love raises him to a rival. In one +of the youths it manifested itself in the cool expression of defiance: +in the other, by haughty scorn and indignant surprise.</p> + +<p>When the fisher's lad had finished his manly and gallant address, he +modestly continued to await, with his hand upon the bird, the +acknowledgments of the fair maiden. Gratified, yet embarrassed, Kate +remained silent, knowing not how to reply to the chivalrous lad, who, +under the magic tuition of love, had suddenly assumed a character that +alarmed her; who, all at once, had been converted, as if by a spell, +from the quiet, yet handsome fisher's boy, who was accustomed to attend +her in her excursions along the beach, into a bold and daring lover! She +could not be insensible to the compliment. She loved Lester with all her +heart; therefore she could not have requited the youth's boyish love, +had his blood been noble as her own. Yet there remained a place in her +heart for kindly gratitude, and with a smile that sent the quick colour +to the forehead of the boy, she said, in a voice that thrilled to his +soul,</p> + +<p>"I thank you, Mark, for the gift. I will keep it in remembrance of your +courage, as well as a trophy of my skill in archery; notwithstanding, I +fear good Cormac will lay claim to it, as it was hit with his own arrow. +It would make a brave ornament, with its wings spread at length above +the door of his cot," she added, turning to the old forester, who stood +respectfully on the outskirts of the party that was gathered about Mark +and his ger-falcon.</p> + +<p>As she spoke her thanks she extended to Mark her hand, which he took +with blushing embarrassment, and, after a moment's hesitation, +gracefully carried to his lips. The eyes of the young noble sparkled +with anger as he saw the offer of the hand, but they shot forth a +menacing glare as he witnessed the act on the part of the youth: turning +on his heel with an execration, he would have left the ground but for +the eye of Kate Bellamont, which he caught fixed upon him.</p> + +<p>"Come, Mark," said Grace, "you must join us all in the pavilion; for you +need refreshment after your fatigue. I wish, Robert, you would present +him with one of your green hunting-suits. I declare, I should like to +see if he would not outbrave you all. Do! good Lord Robert."</p> + +<p>"You are perfectly crazy, Grace," said Kate, aside.</p> + +<p>"Am I? was the quiet reply, accompanied by a quizzical look, which +conveyed far more than the words to Kate's comprehension, and made her, +in spite of her efforts to maintain indifference, look exceedingly +foolish.</p> + +<p>"You are all beside yourselves, I verily believe," said Lester, in a +tone that his accent alone made biting; "I have no doubt whatever that +it would oblige you excessively, Lady Grace, if I would exchange attire +with your fishy favourite."</p> + +<p>"Really, Lord Robert, I wish you would. I have a curiosity to know what +sort of a fisherman you would make. I dare say a very nice one, save a +spice or so of pride, that would hardly suit your station."</p> + +<p>"Pride in a peasant is impertinence. But 'tis an attribute most +congenial to the station, I discover," he added, with cool irony, "and +doth recommend its possessor, I see, most particularly to the favour of +noble ladies."</p> + +<p>"I advise you, then, Lester, when you chance to fall in their good +graces," said Kate, assuming the same tone, yet qualifying its +bitterness with good-humour, "that you renew your suit under a fisher's +garb; believe me, it will assuredly restore you to favour."</p> + +<p>"I have no hesitation in believing it," said Lester, in a grave tone, +and with a marked emphasis of manner that excited both maidens to +laughter; but he was far from participating in their merriment, and +turned from them with an angry brow.</p> + +<p>"I have delayed the banquet too long with this folly," said Kate; "hie +to the pavilion, fair archers and gallant esquires all," she added, +gayly, "and I will soon follow you. As for you, Mark, I will send to you +some of the choicest viands on the board, and cousin Grace shall be the +bearer of them. Cormac, take up the hawk."</p> + +<p>"This honour will please Lord Robert better," replied Grace, glancing at +him with an archly malicious look.</p> + +<p>"Lord Robert will have nothing to do with this piece of folly," cried +he, in a tone that made her start. "By the cross of Christ! peasant, if +you betake not yourself speedily to thy hovel, I will hurl thee with +mine own hand from the cliff upon its roof."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he advanced upon him. Mark looked apologetically at Kate, +and then sprang to his feet, and confronted him with that calm courage +which had hitherto characterized him. His coolness maddened the +impulsive Lester, and with a bound he leaped upon him, and caught him by +the throat; but, ere he could get his fingers firmly clinched upon his +windpipe, he reeled violently backward by the force of a blow upon his +chest, dealt with a skill and accuracy of aim that compensated for any +inequality of physical strength. With eyes darkening with rage, he +recovered himself, and seeing lying not far from him on the ground his +short hunting-spear, he snatched it up, and launched it at his breast +with a force and direction that would have transfixed him on the spot +but for his presence of mind; anticipating its flight, he quietly moved +from its path, when it passed within a few inches of his head with a +loud whirring noise, and, striking against a distant rock, shivered into +a thousand fragments.</p> + +<p>"Robert Lester," exclaimed Kate Bellamont, with a flashing eye and a +voice of indignant horror, "by that act you have forfeited all that +belongs to you as a noble gentleman, and also," she added, with deep +feeling and a proud spirit, "all that connects you with any person (I +speak for all) that is here present."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, lady," he said, throwing himself at her feet, and attempting +to take her hand.</p> + +<p>"Never, Robert Lester. Touch me not! Leave me—leave me! Leave us all! +The farther festivities of the day will be marred by your presence!"</p> + +<p>"Lady—"</p> + +<p>"Silence, assassin!" and the dark eyes of the roused heiress of +Bellamont flashed with such a light as might burn in an indignant +seraph's.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" he cried, starting to his feet, "this to me!"</p> + +<p>"This to you, Robert Lester, who now have made yourself lower than the +meanest peasant. I degrade you from your esquireship; and, faith! if the +more noble Mark Meredith shall not take your place. Mark, approach and +be my esquire of archery!"</p> + +<p>The youth proudly smiled, but hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I command you. As true as my father's blood runs in my veins, thou art +the more noble!"</p> + +<p>"God of Heaven! this is too much to bear calmly," cried Lester, his eyes +assuming that remarkable shape that characterized them when his anger +had grown to its height.</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" cried Grace Fitzgerald, with real alarm; "what a fearful look! +I wonder," she added, with a slight touch of her usual manner, "that I +ever could have had the courage to coquet with such a terrible +creature."</p> + +<p>The fierce noble made no reply, but, glancing from her to Kate, looked +pleadingly, as if about to speak; but she shook her head with a motion +scarcely perceptible, but in a firm manner, that left no hope to his +repentant spirit. Striking his forehead violently, with mingled shame +and rage he rushed from the spot towards the castle, and walked rapidly +until he disappeared behind an angle of one of the towers. Kate +Bellamont followed him with her eyes, her brow unbent, her proud manner +and high-toned look unchanged; but, when he could no longer be seen, +there was perceptible a struggle on her eloquent countenance to restrain +the emotion with which her heart was full. With an even voice and forced +gayety, she said,</p> + +<p>"We will now to the pavilion, maidens fair and cavaliers; and I trust +this rudeness of yonder haughty boy will not mar our festivities. Mark, +you will attend me. What! has he gone too? God grant two such fiery +youths meet not again this day."</p> + +<p>"Didst observe, my lady," said Cormac, who had been a silent spectator +of the exciting scene, "didst take note of that look out of the eyes of +Lord Robert? Well, if it did not remind me of Hurtel o' the Red Hand, as +if he had stood before me."</p> + +<p>And the old forester ominously shook his head, as if it contained +something very mysterious, yet untold, and followed the party to the +pavilion, whither they had already directed their steps, to partake, +with what spirits they might after the scenes that had transpired, of +the luxurious banquet therein spread for their entertainment.</p> + +<p>Here Kate Bellamont, who preserved a calm dignity the while, and, save +to the eye of Grace, whose generous spirit sympathized warmly and +sincerely in her feelings, betrayed no outward signs of emotion, with a +tranquilly-spoken excuse for her absence left them and fled to the +castle: she ran through its long hall like a hunted hart; flew up the +broad staircase to her boudoir, and entering it, closed the door. Then +uttering a gasping cry of suffering, she threw herself, with a wild +abandonment of passion, upon a seat; the fountains of her bursting +heart, so long choked up, were opened; and she gave way to an +irresistible flood of tears.</p> + +<p>It is ever thus with woman! Although, in the moment of just resentment, +pride and anger may for a while check the flow of affection, and harden +the wounded heart as if bound about with bands of steel, yet love will +return again, dissolve these bands, and convert resentment into +tenderness. It is its nature to obliterate all dark spots that wrong may +have cast upon the heart; to palliate offences, and to forgive even +where forgiveness is a weakness: it makes itself half sharer of the +fault; is ever ready to bear the whole weight of the blame, and with +open arms to receive back again, without either atonement or +acknowledgment, the guilty but still loved offender.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the current of her feelings had changed. She thought of +the thousand noble qualities of Lester's head and heart, shaded only by +the faults of pride of birth and a hasty temper.</p> + +<p>"For these," she asked of her heart, "shall I break his high spirit? For +these shall I inflict a pang on his noble nature? For these, which among +men are regarded praiseworthy attributes of highborn gentlemen—for +<i>these</i> shall I make him unhappy, and myself—for it will kill +me—miserable? Oh, Lester, dear Lester, I was too, too cruel! You had +cause for anger; but oh, that fatal spear! Would that it had been far +from your hasty arm!"</p> + +<p>At this moment she heard the sound of horses' feet moving rapidly across +the court towards the forest. With a foreboding of the cause she flew to +the lattice, and beheld Lester, mounted on his coal-black steed, +galloping at the top of the animal's speed away from the castle, each +moment burying his armed heels into his sides, and riding as if he would +outstrip the winds. For a moment she watched him with an earnest gaze, +then threw open the lattice, shouted his name, and waved her hand! But +his back was towards her, and he was too far off to hear even <i>her</i> +voice calling him to return; and in a few seconds afterward he entered +the wood. With tearful eyes she saw the last wave of his dark plume as +he disappeared in the winding of the road; and, leaning her hand upon +the window, she sobbed as if her young heart would break. Oh love, love, +what a mystery thou art!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Alas! the love of women! it is known<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To be a lovely and a fearful thing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all of theirs upon that die is thrown,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And if 'tis lost, life hath no more to bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To them but mockeries of the past alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And their revenge is as the tiger's spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deadly, and quick, and crushing; yet, as real<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fortune is theirs—what they inflict they feel."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Don Juan.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Kate Bellamont gazed after the departing Lester until his receding form +became indistinct, and his dancing plume mingled with the waving foliage +of the forest into which he rode; she then bent her ear and listened +till his horse's feet ceased longer to give back a sound, when, overcome +by the depth and strength of her feelings, she leaned her head upon the +lattice and wept like a very child; at length she recollected the duties +that devolved upon her as entertainer of the party of archers; and, +forcing a calmness that she did not feel, she descended to the lawn, and +once more mingled in the festivities of her birthday.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding all her self-possession, her eyes often filled with +tears when they should have lighted up with smiles; and even her smiles +were tinged with sadness! And how could it be otherwise, when her heart +and her thoughts were at no moment with the scenes before her? She +longed for the day to close—for the night to approach—that she might +fly to her solitary chamber, and there, hidden from every eye, indulge +her feelings. At length the long, long day came to an end, and with it +departed the youthful company on horse-back to their several homes. A +gay and gallant appearance the cavalcade presented as it rode away from +the castle—a youthful cavalier prancing by the bridle of each maiden, +and a band of armed retainers of the several families bringing up the +rear. Kate bade them adieu, and stood in the hall-door following them +with her eyes till the last horseman was lost in the windings of the +forest; she then flew to her chamber, and, turning the bolt of her door, +cast herself upon her bed and once more gave free vent to the gushing +tears which she could no longer restrain.</p> + +<p>Twilight was lost in night: the round moon rose apace, and, shining +through the Gothic lattice, fell in a myriad of diamond-shaped flakes on +the floor; yet had she not lifted her face from her pillow since first +she had buried it there, though the violence of her grief had long since +subsided; and so still was she that she seemed to sleep. But the soft +influence of this gentle blessing was a stranger to her aching eyelids. +Her soul was sad and dark! her sensitive spirit had been wounded! the +wing of her heart was broken. Her thoughts rushed wild and tumultuous +through her brain, and her young bosom, torn by strong emotions, heaved +like the billow when lashed by the storm. She mourned in the silence of +her heart's depths, without solace, and without hope; condemning her own +hasty act, and, like a very woman, excusing his conduct by every +invention that her true love could find in palliation.</p> + +<p>All at once she was disturbed by a light tap at her door. She started +suddenly, aroused from that world of troubled thought in which she had +so long been lost to the exclusion of everything external, and lifted +her face. Her surprise was great on seeing the moon looking in upon her, +and filling her little room with an atmosphere like floating dust of +silver. A glow of pleasure warmed her heart, and an exclamation of +delight unconsciously escaped from her lips—it was so calmly bright, so +richly beautiful! Like a blessing sent from heaven, the sweet moonlight +fell upon her soul, and all the softer and holier sympathies of her +nature were touched by its celestial beauty. She approached the lattice +and threw it open, forgetting the cause that had aroused her from her +mood of grief, in admiration of the loveliness to which she had +awakened.</p> + +<p>A second tap was heard at her door. She started with instant +consciousness; and throwing back from her face the cloud of raven +ringlets that had fallen about it, tried to assume a cheerful look, and +bade the applicant enter.</p> + +<p>"I can't, cousin Kate," said the sweet voice of Grace Fitzgerald, in a +low tone; "you have locked yourself in."</p> + +<p>Kate blushed, stammered something, she scarcely knew what, in excuse, +and turning the key, admitted her mischievous cousin.</p> + +<p>"In the dark, Kate!" exclaimed Grace, as she entered.</p> + +<p>"'T were sacrilege, cousin, to bring a lamp in presence of this lovely +moon! Come stand by the lattice with me," she said, throwing her arms +about her and drawing her towards her.</p> + +<p>The fair cousins leaned together from the window and looked out upon the +silvery scene. There was something in the quiet loveliness of the lawn +beneath, spangled with myriads of dewdrops like minute fragments of +diamonds; in the deep repose of the dark woods; in the majesty of the +ocean, which sent its heavy, sighing sound to their ears with every +passing breeze; in the glory of the glittering firmament, with the moon +like a bride walking in its midst, and in their own lonely situation, +which the silence of the castle and the lateness of the hour contributed +to increase, to make both silent and thoughtful.</p> + +<p>At length a deep sigh escaped the bosom of Kate, and Grace turned to +contemplate her unconscious face, as with thoughtful eyes, her head +resting in her hand, she gazed on vacancy, evidently thinking on +subjects wholly separated from the natural scenery before her.</p> + +<p>"Dear Kate," said Grace, after watching for some time in silence the +sad, pale brow of her cousin, and speaking in a tone of tender and +affectionate sympathy; "dear Kate, I pity you!" She gently threw her +arms about her neck as she spoke, and, drawing her towards her, kissed +her cheek.</p> + +<p>The touching sincerity of her manner, unusual to the merry maiden, came +directly home to her heart. She felt that she was understood; that her +sorrow was appreciated! She struggled with virgin coyness for a few +seconds, and then, yielding to her increasing emotions, threw herself +into her arms and wept there. How grateful to her full heart to find +another into which it could freely empty itself! How happy, very happy +was she, that that heart was, of all others, her beloved cousin's! How +unexpected her sympathy! How soothing, how welcome to her sad and +isolated bosom! At length she lifted her face, and, smiling through her +tears, said, after dwelling an instant on the lovely features of her +cousin,</p> + +<p>"You are a sweet, noble creature, Grace! You don't know how happy your +kind sympathy has made me! and all so unlooked for! Yet I know you will +think me very silly; and I fear your natural spirit will break out +again, and that you will, ere long, ridicule what you now regard with +such sweet charity!"</p> + +<p>"Believe me, Kate, I feel for you with all my heart. I could have cried +for you a dozen times to-day, when I saw how very unhappy you looked!" +she added, with tenderness beaming through her deep shaded eyes.</p> + +<p>"And yet, dear Grace, I think I never saw you so gay, nor those little +lips so rich with merry speeches," pursued Kate, playfully tapping her +rosy lips with her finger.</p> + +<p>"It was for your sake, dear cousin Kate. I saw that your feelings were +wrought up to just that point when you must either laugh or cry, and one +as easy for you to do as the other; so, trembling lest, in spite of +yourself, you should lean towards the tragic vein, I did my little best +to make you laugh."</p> + +<p>"You were a kind, generous creature, Grace," said the maiden, with a +glow of grateful energy in her manner. "I have not half known your +worth, though you have been full six months at Castle Cor."</p> + +<p>"And now, just as you are beginning to know what a nice, good cousin I +turn out to be, I am, hey for merry England again!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot part with you, Grace; my father must sail to-morrow without +you. You will stay with me, won't you?" she added, with sportive +earnestness.</p> + +<p>"I have twice delayed my departure, and poor father will need my nursing +in this recent return of his old complaint. I fear we may not meet again +for many years. I shall then," she said, with her usual thoughtlessness, +"perhaps, find you Lady Lester! Forgive me, cousin Kate," she instantly +added, as she saw the expression of her face change; "I am a careless +creature, to wound at one moment where I have healed at another. But," +she added, with playful assurance, "this may yet be even as I have said! +Nay, don't shake your head so determinedly! Lester is not so angry that +a word from you will not bring him to your feet."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Grace, do you know what and of whom you are speaking?" said +Kate, startled that her feelings should have been so well divined; +shrinking with maidenly shame that the strength of her love and the +weakness of her resolution should be discovered to her observing cousin, +and involuntarily resenting, with the impulse of a woman at such a time, +the imputation.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do, dear coz! so do no injustice to your own feelings by +denying them. You will forgive Lester if I will bring him to your feet?" +she inquired, archly.</p> + +<p>"Yes—no—that is—"</p> + +<p>"That <i>you will</i>. Very well. Before to-morrow's sun be an hour old, he +shall kneel there."</p> + +<p>"Not for the world, Grace!" she cried, trembling between fear and hope; +her love struggling with the respect due to her maidenly dignity, which +she could not but feel, still, that Lester had outraged.</p> + +<p>"I don't care for your words, Kate; I know they mean just the opposite +of what you say. Robert Lester shall kneel at your feet to-morrow +morning, and sue for pardon for his offence," she added, with gentle +stubbornness.</p> + +<p>"Without compromising my—" she half unconsciously began.</p> + +<p>"I shall not compromise you in the least. There shall be no syllable of +concession on your part mentioned; let me manage it my own way, and see +if you do not love each other the better for it yet?"</p> + +<p>"Coz!" she cried, placing her fore finger on her mouth reprovingly, yet +pleased and smiling with the first dawnings of bright returning hope.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to see you smile once more, and I am resolved you shall yet +be happy," added Grace, who had shown that, beneath the light current of +gayety that usually characterized her, there was a flow of deep and +generous feeling; and that, with all her thoughtless levity, she was +susceptible both of the sincerest attachment and of the warmest +friendship. Her words conveyed the germe of hope to the breast of her +cousin. Her confident manner inspired confidence; and the happy Kate, +giving herself up to the direction of the sanguine feelings her language +and presence had caused to spring up in her sinking heart, became all at +once a different being.</p> + +<p>"If I am happy in the way you mean, I shall owe it all to you," she +said, kissing her. "Now for your plan, my sweet diplomatist."</p> + +<p>"Now for my plan, then. That Lord Robert has gone home very angry +indeed, there can be no question. Now, when a lover is angry, justly, +with his mistress, he will be ever ready to meet her, not only half, but +the whole, of the way, to bring about a reconciliation. When he has no +right to be angry with her, and is so foolish as to be so, how much the +more readily then will he be brought to her feet! There is a spice of +argument for you. Now, as Lord Robert has no cause in the world to be +offended with you, it follows that he has every cause in the world to +induce him to acknowledge his offence, and ask pardon therefor on the +very first opportunity. Now all that he wants cheerfully to do this, it +appears to me, is the assurance that, after such a philippic as that +with which you were pleased to send him off, he will be received +graciously."</p> + +<p>"But how, if I should be inclined to be gracious, sage cousin of mine, +is Lester to know it?"</p> + +<p>"That will very easily be brought about, I think. Let me see!" and she +seemed to muse very profoundly for a few seconds. "Ha! I have it. I will +borrow that curious locket he gave you—"</p> + +<p>"Locket, Grace—Lord Robert gave me!" repeated Kate, colouring, and +looking out of the lattice as if some interesting object had at that +moment drawn her attention.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Grace, dryly, and with a look of the most provoking +positiveness.</p> + +<p>"It is no use, I see, to conceal anything from you, mischief! How <i>did</i> +you know he gave it to me?"</p> + +<p>"Young ladies are not wont to take from their bosoms a boughten trinket, +and slyly kiss it a hundred times a day, and—"</p> + +<p>"Grace, Grace!" cried Kate, attempting to stop her saucy speech.</p> + +<p>"And sleep with it under their pillow."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Grace!"</p> + +<p>"I have done," she said, quietly.</p> + +<p>"You well may be. Oh, if I do not wish you had a lover, that I could +repay you in kind!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I have!" was the imperturbable rejoinder of the maiden.</p> + +<p>"I dare say fifty whom you call so. Among the gay Oxford gallants, the +heiress of a coronet could not be without admirers; but oh, if I knew +only of one <i>lover</i> who could set that little heart of yours a +trembling!"</p> + +<p>"You forget your locket, cousin," said the other, gravely.</p> + +<p>"What shall be done with it, Grace?"</p> + +<p>"Send it to Lester, with this message: '<i>He who returns this gift of +love to her who sends it, shall with love be met</i>.' Now is not that very +pretty, and as it should be?"</p> + +<p>"What a wild creature! Would you have me send such a message to Lester, +child? He would think me jesting with him."</p> + +<p>"No, never. Is it not just what you want to say—what you feel—what you +wish, above all things, he should know you feel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, Grace," she replied, with the most ingenuous naïveté.</p> + +<p>"Then it shall go. Give me the token. Nay, part not with it so +reluctantly; 'twill soon be back, with a prize worth a thousand of it. +Give it me, coz. Nay, then, kiss it! and so will I."</p> + +<p>"No, you shall not!" cried Kate, with laughing earnestness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I <i>do</i> hope <i>I</i> never shall be in love!" said Grace, getting +possession of the locket. "Here is pencil and paper. Can you write by +this moonlight? Lovers, methinks, should write by no other light." She +spread the paper on the window as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Write! what do you mean, Grace?" exclaimed Kate, with surprise.</p> + +<p>"I mean for you to put down, in your nicest hand, my gem of a message to +Robert."</p> + +<p>"Never, Grace. What will he think of me?"</p> + +<p>"He will think you love him very much."</p> + +<p>"Just what I don't wish him to think," she said, with singular decision.</p> + +<p>"Was there ever!" cried Grace, holding up both hands. "Well, this love +is an odd thing! What instinctive coquetry! Like John Milton's Eve,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">'All conscious of your worth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You would be woo'd, and, not unsought, be won.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I don't understand this disguising love under a show of +coldness—seeming to hate where the heart pants and glows with devotion. +Oh, if this be love, I'll none of it. Here is the pencil, and there is a +fair sheet, and the moon is patiently holding her silver lamp for you; +will you write?"</p> + +<p>"I will, to gratify you, cousin Grace;" she said, taking the pencil and +placing her fingers lightly on the paper which lay in the window.</p> + +<p>"To please <i>me</i>! very well, be it so. Who could have believed, a quarter +of an hour ago, that I should have had to coax you to send a line to +Robert Lester! You may well hide your telltale face."</p> + +<p>Kate bent her head over the gilded sheet and began to write, or, at +least, to make characters with her pencil, when Grace, impatient at her +slow progress, looked over her shoulder and exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"Why, what are you writing? <i>Lester Robert, Robert Lester, Robert +Lester, Lester Rob—.</i>"</p> + +<p>Kate glanced at what she had written, hastily run her pencil through it, +and said, with a mortified laugh,</p> + +<p>"I had forgotten what to write."</p> + +<p>"And so put down what was deepest in your memory," said Grace, with a +vexatious air. "Now take this fair page, and write as I repeat:</p> + +<p>"'<i>He who shall bring again this gift of love to her who sends it, shall +with love be met.</i>'</p> + +<p>"Is it written?"</p> + +<p>"Letter for letter."</p> + +<p>"And you will find that each letter will act as a charm. Never so few +monosyllables as I have strung together here held so much magic."</p> + +<p>"Who will be its bearer?" Kate now inquired in a lively tone.</p> + +<p>"I will find a Mercury both sure and swift," she said, folding the +locket in the billet.</p> + +<p>This <i>gage d'amour</i> was oval in shape, of plain gold, with a chased rim, +a little raised, enclosing an azure field, on which, in exquisite +enamel, were inlaid the crests of Lester and Bellamont, joined together +by two clasped hands: beneath was the sanguine motto,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DURANTE VITÂ.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Now, coz, for one of your raven ringlets to bind around it!"</p> + +<p>"No, I will not, Grace!"</p> + +<p>"Then I will tie it with a lock of my own hair," she said, in a sportive +manner, running her fingers through her auburn tresses; and, selecting +one that was like a silken braid for its soft and shining texture, she +prepared to sever it from her temples.</p> + +<p>"You provoking child, you will have your own way," said Kate, shaking +forward the dark cloud of her abundant hair, and intwining her finger in +a jetty tress that rivalled the sable hue of the night swallow's dark +and glossy wing.</p> + +<p>"Half an hour since you verily would have parted with every lock to be +assured the sacrifice would bring him to you; and now, forsooth, +scarcely will you part with a strand to bind a note. There!" she added, +clipping a beautiful ringlet that Kate had selected from the rest; "now +all that is wanted is wax—no, not that! I will fasten it with a +true-lover's-knot, which will be far better; will it not, coz?"</p> + +<p>As she said this she looked up with a bright light dancing in her dark +hazel eyes; and, without waiting for a reply, in a few seconds tied, +with great gravity, the mysterious knot she had mentioned, and gave the +billet to her cousin for the superscription. "Write, 'These: to the +hands of Robert, Lord Lester, of Castle More, greeting,'" she said, with +gravity.</p> + +<p>"Nay, I will direct it simply 'Lester, Castle More,'" she said, +decidedly.</p> + +<p>"By which," said Grace, laughing, "you avoid the distant respect +conveyed in my own on the one hand, and the tenderness that is ready +to gush from your heart on the other. Love certainly does make his +votaries skilful tacticians! Truly, now, is not this a proper +love-billet—written in a lattice by the light of the moon, and tied +with a braid of the lady's hair in a true-love-knot? Well, when I am in +love I shall know how to manage rightly all these little affairs."</p> + +<p>"Who is to be our Mercury on this occasion?" inquired Kate, with a +little doubt in the tones of her voice. "I fear we shall have to trust +it to a moonbeam also."</p> + +<p>"Something more substantial, I assure you," said the good-humoured +maiden, in a very positive manner.</p> + +<p>"Not one of the menials, for the world!"</p> + +<p>"No, no!" she answered, with quickness; and then approaching her +cousin's ear, she pronounced, very mysteriously, the very homely +monosyllable,</p> + +<p>"Mark!"</p> + +<p>"That proud boy! <i>He</i> become the bearer of a message to Lester!" she +exclaimed, looking at her with surprise.</p> + +<p>"For <i>me</i> he will!" replied Grace, confidently.</p> + +<p>"Two such spirits to come in contact! No, no! Have you forgotten how +they parted to-day?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you propose so wild a scheme?"</p> + +<p>"Mark will do as I bid him," she said, with a naïve and pertinaciousness +that was wholly irresistible.</p> + +<p>Kate burst into such a merry, musical peal of laughter, that at first +the maiden looked very grave, but at length found it in vain to withhold +her sympathy, and laughed with her; while the rich blood mounted to her +cheeks, and invested her with surpassing beauty.</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" cried Kate, triumphantly, "so you are a <i>very</i> little in love! +I half guessed it! Doubtless there is blood enough in thy noble veins +for both of you."</p> + +<p>"Very well, cousin, you may think what you choose," she replied; adding, +in a tone and manner that left her cousin in doubt if she were not half +in earnest, "but if I were in love with him, is he not noble in person? +handsome, gallant, and brave? Why may he not be worthy a noble maiden's +love? I would not give him as he is, for Lester, with all his nobility, +coupled as it is with his terrible passions."</p> + +<p>"Out upon you, jade," said Kate, good-humouredly; "will you revile in +this vein my noble Lester—compare him to a fisher's lad? Where is your +pride of birth and rank, Grace Fitzgerald! Really, I should not wonder +if, with your levelling notions, you should some day throw yourself away +upon some one unworthy to wear so fair and rich a flower in his bosom."</p> + +<p>"I have both wealth and rank, and shall be my own mistress soon! that I +will give my hand where my heart goes, you may rest assured, cousin +Kate," said the maiden, with spirited, yet sportive decision.</p> + +<p>"Marry come up! I shall not wonder if I come to be cousin to a +cordwainer's 'prentice yet! I shall assuredly allow you to go to the +good old earl, your father, to-morrow, and shall not fail to bid him, in +a letter, to lock you up."</p> + +<p>"Love laughs at locksmiths, you have heard it said, cousin. But a truce +to this. I am not yet in love, so be not alarmed. I will sally forth and +find Mark, and at once despatch him with this message to Castle More."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she threw a cloak over her shoulders and prepared to +envelop her head and face in its hood. At this crisis Kate's troubled +countenance indicated a wavering purpose; and as Grace was fastening the +hood beneath her chin, she laid her hand on her arm:</p> + +<p>"No, Grace, you must not. Lester will scorn me; let him go for ever +first!" she added, in a sad, irresolute tone of voice.</p> + +<p>"No, no! In ten minutes afterward you would be playing Niobe. Have your +feelings towards Lester changed an iota?"</p> + +<p>"No; but—"</p> + +<p>"Yet you know not, if you delay, how his may change, nor what rash act +he may commit!"</p> + +<p>"I will send the token," she said, after a moment's struggle.</p> + +<p>"I will soon return with news of my success," she said, placing her hand +on the latch of the door.</p> + +<p>"Go, then, quickly! But you will not venture to the beach alone?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis light as noonday! A step across the lawn, and a short trip down +the path, and old Meredith's hut is within a stone's throw. I will not +be three minutes gone."</p> + +<p>"I must certainly go with you, Grace."</p> + +<p>"Not for the world!"</p> + +<p>"Lest I interrupt the tender moonlight interview you have in prospect +with the handsome fisherman, I dare say. Ah, you arch girl! I verily +believe you have an eye to your own interests, which accounts for your +devotion to me in this matter," said Kate, laughing, and shaking her +head at her.</p> + +<p>"A fisher's lad!" she repeated, in the slightly scornful tone her cousin +had hitherto used.</p> + +<p>"Nay, I was not in earnest, Grace," said Kate, apologetically, kissing +her as she was leaving the chamber.</p> + +<p>"Nor was I," replied the lively maiden. "Watch me from the opposite +window as I cross the lawn. Courage, dear cousin! You will soon have +Lester at your feet, and be folded in his—"</p> + +<p>"Go!" cried the blushing Kate, closing the door upon her ere she could +finish her sentence.</p> + +<p>She listened to her light footstep echoing through the hall till it was +lost on the lawn; then turning to her window, she shortly afterward +discovered her gliding across the archery-field towards the cliff, and, +with a wave of her hand towards the lattice, rapidly descend the path +that led to the beach. With her heart fluttering with mingled hopes, +fears, and desires, she sat watching in the window for her return. Her +thoughts the while were busy. She followed, in imagination, the message +to Castle More; pictured Lester's reception of the token; fancied his +surprise, his rapture, perhaps his scornful indifference! No! she would +not believe he could feel <i>this</i>, for she judged his truth by her own! +Then, in her imagination, she heard his loud and hasty demand for his +horse! she could see him on his swift course towards Castle Cor. He +approaches! she can almost hear his horse's hoofs in the court! the next +moment he is kneeling at her feet for forgiveness! Wonderful power of +the imagination! How delightful to yield the soul to its influences when +the images it paints on the mind are all pleasing; all as vivid as the +reality of which they are only the shadows! While the meditative maiden +is leaning from her lonely lattice, indulging her happy visions, the +mind naturally turns to the adventurous Grace and the young fisher's +lad, who was to become the bearer of the message which should be the +magical instrument of converting all these delightful dreams into +reality.</p> + +<p>After the attack upon his life by the impetuous noble, taking advantage +of the exciting scene that followed between him and Kate Bellamont, Mark +quietly withdrew from the party, gained, unobserved, the path, and was +out of sight, far down the cliff, before his absence was discovered. He +had remained long enough, however, to witness the disgrace of Lester, +and to hear the indignant and bitter words of the offended maiden. With +a fleet foot he reached the beach, hastened along the shore to his cot, +and, crossing its lonely threshold, cast himself upon a block by the +hearth, and buried his face between his hands. His heart heaved +strongly, and he seemed to labour under deep and great emotion. It was +clearly apparent that he was undergoing a severe mental struggle, and +that the tide of his life would turn on the issue. At length he lifted +his fine face and looked around upon the interior of his humble home; +poverty and its signs met his eye wherever it fell! His glance then +rested on his own coarse habiliments, and he started to his feet, and +with a lofty expression of resolution and an air of stern decision, +said, half aloud,</p> + +<p>"This day shall end my servitude to poverty. Because the accident of +<i>birth</i> has cast my lot within these wretched walls, and made me +fellow-prisoner with penury, therefore shall I not throw off my chains +when I will? Have I not a soul—a mind? Do I not think, feel, act, +speak, like those whom men call noble? May I not, in spite of nature, +yet become the builder of my own name—the carver of my own fortunes? By +the light of the bright sun, I will no longer be the slave of others! +the 'lowborn serf'—the 'humble fisher's lad'—the peasant, hind, and +what not, that means baseness of birth and degradation of soul! No; +henceforth I will take my place among the highest of them all, or leave +my bones to bleach on the sand!"</p> + +<p>He paced the bare ground-floor of the wretched shed for a few moments +with an energy of tread and a determined air that well harmonized with +his words. At length he stopped short in his excited walk; his face +assumed a gentler aspect; and in a voice low and melancholy, he +continued,</p> + +<p>"And this beauteous being, whose bright form fills my dreams like a +celestial visitant; who is in all my thoughts; whom to gaze upon at an +<i>humble</i> distance is bliss; whose voice strangely thrills my soul: her, +for whom I would lay down my life! whom to make happy I would forego all +earthly, ay, future hopes of happiness, I am forbidden to love! I cannot +gaze on her without reproof! I am denied the bliss of speaking to her +and listening to the music of her voice in reply; of attending her in +her walks; of sharing in her pursuits and pleasures, because I am +<i>lowborn</i>. Yes, I am 'the poor fisher's lad!' and scarce deemed worthy +to be her footman. My approach into her presence is rudeness! my adoring +gaze vulgar impertinence! <i>I am the fisher's lad!</i> 'Tis not for such to +love such a glorious creature! Though his heart may be of the noblest +mould; his taste refined; his spirit proud; his nature lofty and +aspiring, yet he may not love where love points him. 'Tis not for him to +place his affections on the gentle and lovely: on those worthy of his +heart's deep devotion, and to whom he can distribute the rich treasure +of his love. He must degrade his pure and sacred passion by linking his +fate with one of his own class, who may never appreciate him; or let his +wealth of love exhaust itself on his own life, and consume it with its +fire! Nevertheless," he added, with a sparkling eye, "the fisher's boy +dares to love, and love <i>high</i>! Love knows no rank. I have placed my +affections on a noble object, my gaze on a lofty eyry—and never will I +clip the wing that once has taken so high and bold a flight. I love her! +highborn as she is, I have dared to send my thoughts up to her! Yet, +alas!" he continued, moodily folding his arms on his breast, and +speaking slowly and bitterly, "alas! what shall this avail? Will she +requite the daring love of a peasant? Will she not scorn—will she not +laugh at me? Will she listen to the deep outpourings of my passion? No, +no, no! She must mate with <i>her</i> mates, and she would bid me mate with +<i>mine</i>! Yet, may I not rise above my condition," he exclaimed, with a +glowing brow and flashing eye; "may I not win rank and name that shall +make me worthy of her? Shall I stand here idle, and see this haughty +Lester bear away a prize of which he is no more worthy than I? No, I +will perish first. From this day I am a man! Henceforth I belong to no +degree, no rank. I am to choose what I will be. This hour I burst the +degrading fetters that chain me to the class in which birth has cast me. +From this moment I am the architect of my own fortune, and I will erect +a temple that men shall admire, or bury myself beneath its ruins! The +sea, on which I have been cradled, is open before me like a mother's +bosom, welcoming me to its embrace; and on it, with the aid of God and +my own spirit, I will win a name that shall hide the humble one I wear, +and under it yet lay at the feet of her, who would scorn me under my +present one, laurels that shall have made me worthy of her love!"</p> + +<p>As he concluded his cheek was flushed; his eye sparkling; his step rapid +and firm; his countenance elevated and glowing; and he strode the little +cabin as if he was for the moment all that he had resolved to be. He was +so lost in his feelings, so wrapped in the noble vision of the future +his ambitious and ardent mind had pictured, that the old fisherman, who +had slowly followed him from the cliff, entered without attracting his +notice. The aged man gazed on the animated and excited youth with +astonishment, and for a few moments was silent from surprise. At length +he called him by name. He started, and was for the first time sensible +that he was not alone:</p> + +<p>"Well!" was the short, stern response.</p> + +<p>"Do you know who speaks to you, my boy?" asked the old man, with mild +reproof.</p> + +<p>"Yes I do, my good father," he said, instantly resuming his wonted +kindness of manner, and taking his hand; "forgive me; I had forgotten +myself!"</p> + +<p>"Do not be angry, child, at this freak of my young lord," said the old +fisherman, in a tone habitual to his class in speaking of those above +them; "it was but a little outbreak of spirit; and you know it is not +for the like of us to be angry at the nobility for such things. They are +our lords, and we must do as they will."</p> + +<p>"And let them take my life—ay, if they will, make me their slave, which +is far worse! Never! 'Tis the language of a bondman you utter, and +unworthy the lips of manhood!"</p> + +<p>"You talk as if you was one of the quality, boy! You will find it +different when you get to be as old as I am. I have put up with many +wrongs in my day from gentle blood."</p> + +<p>"And have not resented it?" demanded the youth, with spirit.</p> + +<p>"What could a poor fisherman do? Is it not their right to act what they +will to? We poor fishermen have only to pray to God to give them gentle +wills towards us!"</p> + +<p>"And is this the creed you would teach me? Debasing, grovelling, mean +obedience to the tyranny of an order! Before I do it, may my hand wither +at the shoulder, my tongue palsy in my mouth! I should indeed deserve to +be a slave! You would forbid me to resent this wrong from this hotheaded +young noble?"</p> + +<p>"It will do thee no good; if thou shouldst take his life, thou wouldst +hang for't."</p> + +<p>"And, if he should take mine?"</p> + +<p>"There would be none to avenge thee, boy. The judges, who are always on +the side of the great, would say thy life was forfeited because thou +hadst lifted thy hand against one of the privileged."</p> + +<p>"God! I cannot believe that all men do spring from Adam and Eve," +exclaimed the youth, impetuously. "Father," he said, after a moment's +silence, speaking in a tone of mingled shame and sorrow, "thou hast, +fortunately, a spirit fitted to thy station—I pity thee! For myself, I +will be no man's serf, no lord's menial! If accident has made me almost +on a level with the brute, nature has endowed me with the feelings of a +man. Father, I leave you with to-morrow's sun."</p> + +<p>"My child! my child! what evil hath taken possession of thee?" cried the +old man, holding him by both hands.</p> + +<p>"No evil, but good! To-morrow I go from you!" he replied, resolutely.</p> + +<p>"And leave me destitute in my old age, my boy?"</p> + +<p>The youth was touched more by the accent in which this was said than by +the words. He buried his face in his hands and groaned aloud; then, with +a sudden burst of filial affection, he cried, throwing himself upon his +aged breast,</p> + +<p>"No, no! I will bend my neck to every insult, rather than thou, my more +than father, shouldst be left helpless."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt not go away?" reiterated the old man, pleadingly, as if +doubting the sincerity of his words.</p> + +<p>"Not while thou art spared to me, beloved grandsire. Thou hast protected +my infancy and youth! been to me both father and mother. If I be not a +faithful son to thee, and protect not thy old age, may I fail to attain +the rank and honour among men to which I aspire, and which, if purchased +at the expense of filial gratitude, I should be unworthy to wear!"</p> + +<p>"Bless thee, bless thee, Mark!" said he, fondly embracing him. +"Providence has made our lot a humble one; let us submit to it with +obedience. Come, my boy, think no more of it, but launch the skiff, and +bring home our evening meal from the vast storehouse that has ever fed +us, and which never holds its life even from the undeserving. Go, my +son: on the rocking wave, and in the silence of the lone deep, your +heart will become calm, and peace will return to your soul. At such +times it is that the good and devout Christian is the most happy! I +sometimes think the holy apostles did owe much of the holy piety which +they possessed to their lowly occupation of fishers."</p> + +<p>"<i>They were Christians.</i> You are a Christian, father! I am not one save +in name. Would to God I were! perhaps I then might bear my humble lot +more calmly. Now farewell a while; I will be in again ere the moon +rises."</p> + +<p>He rushed from the cabin with his heart almost bursting in his breast, +launched his little bark, hoisted the frail latteen sail, and committed +himself to the deep.</p> + +<p>Seated in the narrow stern of his fragile skiff, the thwarts and bottom +of which were covered with fishing-lines, a dip-net, and other signs of +his lowly pursuit, holding the rude tiller in one hand and the sheet of +his narrow white sail in the other, he shot swiftly out from the shore, +wafted by a light and fitful wind. From habit he steered his course, and +shifted the sail from side to side to woo the baffling airs, without +giving his thoughts to his occupation. His lips were compressed with +thought, his brow was set, and every feature of his silent face was +eloquent with the feelings that occupied his bosom. His mind was +struggling between filial affection and ambition—between love for the +highborn maiden and duty to his grandsire. The sufferings of the latter, +who looked to his labours for his daily bread, were, if he should desert +him, present and positive. The hopes connected with the former were +altogether future and uncertain. Should he inflict a present evil for a +future good? Would his filial attachment compare with his love? Which +should he sacrifice? He felt that he could not make his grandsire the +victim, either of his love or of his ambition, without the forfeiture of +that filial virtue, wanting which he would be unworthy the prize he +should incur this penalty to obtain. His thoughts became insupportable; +and, for a time, he was nearly wrought up to phrensy by the intensity of +the mental conflict. At this crisis, while his eyes were fixed vacantly +on the crisp waves as they went singing and rippling past him, his bosom +far more disturbed than they, he was startled by a loud, quick hail.</p> + +<p>"Boat ahoy! Helm-a-starboard, or you will be into us!"</p> + +<p>He mechanically obeyed; and, as he looked up, saw the dark hull of the +yacht, that had lain all day at anchor in the bay, within reach of his +hand, while his boat was gliding safely along its side, directly against +which he had been unconsciously steering.</p> + +<p>"You must keep a look-out, lad, how you run aboard a king's yacht, or +you will stand a chance of getting a shot in your locker!" said a gruff, +yet good-humoured voice. "But you have a quick ear and ready hand to +clear our counter as you did. What say you to serving his majesty, my +lad? It's better than catching herring; and, then, many's the younker of +your inches that's come in over the cat-head, and afterward walked the +quarter-deck with a brace of gold bobs on his shoulders."</p> + +<p>The young fisherman's ears greedily received every word; they struck a +chord within his bosom that strongly vibrated again. Involuntarily he +put his helm down, and brought his boat up into the wind. He looked +longingly upon the vessel's deck; measured the beautiful and light +proportions of her hull, and surveyed with delight the graceful spars, +following them with his eye to their tapering tops, from which gay flags +streamed in the breeze: he admired, apparently with all a seaman's +gratification, the tracery and interlacing of the neatly-set rigging, +and the snowy sails, some of which were hanging in festoons from the +yards, while one or two lazily spread their broad white fields from yard +to yard: he observed the neat appearance of the men; their happy faces; +their frank, good-humoured manners: he thought over the blunt but kindly +offer he had received, and his hopes whispered,</p> + +<p>"Fortune has opened this way for me! my destiny must be linked with this +vessel!"</p> + +<p>He then thought of his father, and his head dropped despondingly on his +bosom; he thought of Kate Bellamont, and his eyes sparkled, and he felt +like bursting all filial ties and leaping at once on board.</p> + +<p>"What say you, my lad, will you ship?" said the man, observing his +hesitation; "I'll give you ten rix-dollars as bounty."</p> + +<p>"Now?" he eagerly asked, starting up in his boat, and extending his +hands with intense earnestness.</p> + +<p>"The instant you enter your name on the yacht's books."</p> + +<p>"I will go with you."</p> + +<p>"Done! come alongside."</p> + +<p>Mark hesitated ere he obeyed. Ten rix-dollars had, at first, seemed to +him an inexhaustible sum: a moment's reflection convinced him that it +would not support his grandfather six months without labour, for which +he was nearly unfitted on account of his age. If, he thought, at the end +of six months, therefore, he should not be able to return to him, or if +his own life should be lost in the interim, would not the misery and +want such an event would entail upon him fall heavy to his charge?</p> + +<p>All this passed through his mind as he drew aft the tack and pressed the +tiller up to windward to run under the vessel's bows. Instantly he +shifted his helm, let the sheet fly free to the wind, and shot suddenly +away in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>"He's off with a flowing sheet!" said one of the seamen, laughing.</p> + +<p>"He's gone to bid the old man good-by," cried another; "he'll be +alongside before morning, kit and kid."</p> + +<p>"He's gone to take leave of his lass," added a third. "A wise lad to +anchor his last night ashore."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't lose him for six months' pay," said the captain of the +forecastle, who had first hailed him; "but I am afraid we shall see no +more of him than what he now shows us," he added, shaking his head, and +turning to pace the deck.</p> + +<p>Scarce hearing, and heedless of these characteristic remarks, the young +fisherman kept on his course seaward till he had got a league from the +land, when he hove to and lowered his sail; then baiting and casting his +lines, he plied his humble task, his eyes the while often fixed on the +distant towers of Castle Cor, and his thoughts now with its fair inmate, +now brooding over his own lowly destiny. When at length the sun dipped +the edge of his burnished shield into the sea, he for the last time drew +in his lines, each heavy with a fish, hoisted his sail, flung it broad +to the evening wind that blew gently landward, and, taking the helm, +steered towards home. But the wind grew lighter, and soon came only at +intervals in "cat's-paws;" his progress was therefore slow, and he was +yet a mile from the land when it left his sail altogether. Night came +on, and the moon rose above the battlements of the castle, and flung its +scarf of silver far out upon the scarcely dimpled bay. From time to time +he held his open palm to windward, in vain trying to catch a passing +current. He threw back the dark curls that clustered about his forehead, +and laid it bare to receive the faintest breath that might promise the +return of the wind. But the air was motionless! His boat rose and fell +on the glassy undulations, but moved not towards the shore, save by the +slow landward heave of the sea. Springing upon the thwarts, he brailed +up his sail and bound it to the mast, and then, bending to the slender +oars, sent his light skiff over the water with a speed that mocked the +idle winds. He soon got within the dark shadow flung by the cliff along +the water far beyond the land, and run his boat on the beach beside his +cot. The old fisherman welcomed him with a kindness that not only +touched his heart, but rewarded him for the sacrifice he had made on his +account. He also assisted him in conveying the fish into the hut, and +set about himself to prepare their rude repast. Mark placed his oars in +the beckets over the door, and walked out to indulge his thoughts; to +brood over his deferred, if not blasted hopes; and to struggle again and +again against the unfilial temptations that assailed him. He insensibly +wandered along the beach, that sparkled in the moonlight like snow +beneath his feet, until he came to the narrow strip of sand that +stretched beneath the over-hanging cliff from which he had leaped, and +connected his hut with the path up the rocks. He looked up to its dark +and terrific roof, and then down into the black pool at his feet, and a +half-formed wish that he had never risen again from its silent depths, +escaped him.</p> + +<p>"That I had perished, ere life had been preserved to be dragged out in +this miserable servitude," he said aloud. "What is life to me? Its +refined joys; its courtly pleasures; its fair forms; its wealth; its +honours! This is <i>my</i> world—these slimy rocks—this lonely bay; yonder +hut my palace, and to fish for daily sustenance my pastime. This is <i>my</i> +life—this my universe! What have I to do with aught beyond it? The +world was made for others, not for me—not for the peasant boy! No, no! +Madness! Must I endure this?" he cried, with fierce impatience. "Filial +love, filial gratitude, how bitter, bitter are ye!"</p> + +<p>He struck his forehead violently, and turned on the belt of sand with a +fevered step. Suddenly he felt a touch on his shoulder, as light as if a +fairy's foot had lit upon it. He started, and, turning quickly round, +beheld a female, enveloped in a hood and cloak, standing immediately +behind him. The grace of her attitude, and the easy decision of her +whole manner, assured him that she was not lowborn. His heart would have +whispered the name that was enshrined in it, but the figure was not tall +enough for <i>hers</i>. With an instinctive consciousness that he was in the +presence of rank and beauty, to which, in this union, his independent +spirit never refused to do homage, he doffed his cap, and addressed her +with that native grace and dignity which characterized him:</p> + +<p>"Lady, seek you aught in which I can aid you, that you have come to the +seaside at this lonely hour?"</p> + +<p>The moon shone full on his youthful features, which were shaded with +locks of dark-flowing hair, parted across his high, pale forehead, and +descending to his shoulder. She gazed for an instant, ere she replied, +on his youthful face, on each lineament of which his bold character was +written, while his ardent spirit spoke eloquently in every look. As he +bent forward to catch her answer, with his bonnet in his hand, the cloud +had vanished from his brow before the supposed presence of youth and +beauty, and his deferential manner, so opposite to his former bearing, +seemed to inspire her with confidence.</p> + +<p>"My business is with you alone, Mark!" spoke, from beneath the shaded +hood, the sweet, hesitating voice of Grace Fitzgerald, intuitively +shrinking within the shadow of the cliff as she addressed him, just out +of which, in the full light of the moon, the young fisherman himself +stood.</p> + +<p>"Lady Grace!" he exclaimed, with surprise, as her voice fell on his ear.</p> + +<p>"Grace Fitzgerald, in body and spirit," said she, with her usual gayety.</p> + +<p>"Can the highborn heiress of Earl Fitzgerald be served by one so +humble?" he asked, in a tone slightly tinged with his former gloomy +humour.</p> + +<p>She seemed to be at a loss, for a moment, how to reply, scarcely knowing +in what way to interpret his words. At length she said, advancing +frankly towards him,</p> + +<p>"I have not come to command your services, Mark, but to beg of you a +favour; to ask you to execute a mission of delicacy, that can be +intrusted to no one so well as yourself."</p> + +<p>The frank and kind manner in which she spoke, the graceful propriety +with which she overstepped the barrier of <i>caste</i> that separated them, +sensibly affected him. It was the first time he had been so addressed by +those above him in birth and station; the first time his services had +not been demanded as a right by those who needed them.</p> + +<p>Her suavity and condescension of manner were perhaps prompted by the +remembrance of the outrage he had received at Lester's hands, and by a +knowledge of his intrepidity, and of his pride of spirit, which she knew +to be chafed and goaded by the insults inseparable from his station. She +therefore generously wished to sooth and bind up his injured feelings. +She had, too, her own notions of what constitutes true nobility; and it +is plain, from her conversation with Kate, that she was less governed by +the social canons which regulate such things, and was infinitely more of +a democrat than her haughty and beautiful cousin. That her heart had +anything to do in the matter, though Mark was so handsome, so gentle, +and so brave withal, cannot be supposed; inasmuch as the little god +seldom ensconces himself behind a peajacket to take aim at a heart +mailed beneath a silken spencer. But, then, Cupid is very blind, and, +besides, is so given to odd whims, that but little calculation can be +made as to the direction from which his shafts will fly.</p> + +<p>"Command me, lady," he replied, with grateful emotion, as she concluded.</p> + +<p>"Are you angry with Lord Robert?" she asked, falteringly.</p> + +<p>"Can I forgive him?"</p> + +<p>"But you will forgive him—for—for—the sake of—my cousin Kate!"</p> + +<p>"If <i>she</i> were to bid me kiss his hand, I would not refuse her," he +exclaimed, with a sudden glow of animation.</p> + +<p>Grace sighed, and was for a moment silent; for she plainly saw that her +influence had but little weight in this quarter in comparison with her +cousin's. She then took the locket from the folds of her cloak, and +said, in a very slightly mortified tone,</p> + +<p>"It is <i>her</i> wish that you bear this token of her forgiveness to Lord +Robert. You will see that it is tied with a braid of <i>her own hair</i>!"</p> + +<p>(Was there not a spice of feminine pique in this last clause, lady?)</p> + +<p>"Bear this from <i>her</i> to <i>him</i>?" he inquired, in a voice trembling with +emotion.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Never!" replied he, with vehemence.</p> + +<p>"Mark!" she said, in a tone of gentle reproof, placing her hand lightly +upon his arm.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said, hastily, "but—but—" His voice choked for +utterance. "Oh God! Lady Grace," he suddenly cried, with an outbreak of +terrible and ungovernable emotion, "you know not what it is to be—to +be—" Here his feelings were too strong to be controlled, and, turning +his face from her, he gave way to a paroxysm of the wildest grief.</p> + +<p>She stood by in silence! She appreciated fully his feelings, for she had +overheard the soliloquy he gave utterance to before he had become aware +of her presence. She knew what he was and what he aspired to be, and how +deeply his degradation preyed upon him. She sympathized with him with +her whole heart; and with her sympathy there entered into her breast +another emotion, which in woman's heart is so nearly allied to love, +namely, gentle pity! When she saw that the first strong tide of his +feelings had in some degree subsided, in a voice so full of what she +felt that it touched all the finer sensibilities of his nature, and +seemed to breathe peace throughout his soul, stilling every billow of +passion, she said to him,</p> + +<p>"Mark, I do pity you from my heart! I know you are not fitted by nature +for the state to which you were born. But to the bold spirit and +determined will there is a wide road open to distinction; and in it men, +humble as yourself, have won honourable renown, in the splendour of +which the mere accident of their birth has been lost. The same road to +honour lies open before you!"</p> + +<p>The vivid eloquence, the animation of voice, the spirited manner, and +the lofty energy of look with which this was spoken, united with the +depth and sincerity of her interest in him, which she disdained to +disguise, language can inadequately express. Its effect on him was +electrical. He sprang forward, knelt at her feet, seized her hand, and, +in the fulness of his heart, pressed it gratefully to his lips. She +withdrew it in confusion, and he instantly buried his face in his hands, +overcome with the painful feeling of having offended. She was the first +to speak.</p> + +<p>"Mark, bear this packet to Lord Robert; deliver it into his own hand, +and immediately leave him, so that you give him no opportunity of +renewing his feud. In the morning, on the earl's return from Kinsale, +come to the castle, and I will represent your case to him."</p> + +<p>"Dear lady, I will leave this message for you at Castle More; but pardon +me if I decline your offer to serve me!"</p> + +<p>"Then cousin Kate shall make it," she said, good-humouredly.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, but it will be still more firmly declined."</p> + +<p>Grace was puzzled; and half sportively, half sincerely, it entered her +thoughts that she had played her hand well if already, as his words +seemed to imply, she had found more favour in the young fisherman's eyes +than her cousin. But, all at once, the thought flashed upon her mind +that it was alone the pride of love that led him to refuse any favour at +her cousin's hands.</p> + +<p>"You mean," she said in revenge, smiling as she spoke, "that you dislike +my cousin Kate so much that you will not receive any kindness at her +hands."</p> + +<p>"If such could be inferred from my words, I recall every letter of +them," he said, with an earnestness that amused her.</p> + +<p>"I will then speak for you to my uncle."</p> + +<p>"Lady, you will think me very ungrateful," he replied, "but—"</p> + +<p>"But you will take no favour from the father of Kate Bellamont. Really, +my cousin is complimented."</p> + +<p>He was embarrassed by the light in which she seemed to take his words, +and, in attempting to explain, involved himself still deeper.</p> + +<p>"Do not be distressed; I perfectly understand you, Mark," she said, with +a laugh that relieved him. "Will you be obliged to <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me if I say no!" he answered, gratefully but firmly. "No, lady," +he added, in a grateful tone of voice, yet sadly, "I must work out +brighter fortunes for myself by my own energies."</p> + +<p>"I admire your independence. But, if you should need my—I would say, +the assistance of any one—will you remember Grace Fitzgerald?"</p> + +<p>He did not reply; his heart was swelling, but he laid his hand upon his +bosom with an eloquent gesture that conveyed more than words.</p> + +<p>"Enough!" she said, touched with his impressive manner. "I shall ever be +ready to do for you all that can advance you to name and rank; and for +your own sake, for the sake of—" here she paused with embarrassment, +and then added, "those who take an interest in you, it becomes you to +rise from this humble station, and win for yourself a name and station +among men. Do not forget that the proudest names in England sprang from +the lowest rank. My own maternal ancestor was a favourite groom of +William the Conqueror, who, for his prowess in a certain battle, +knighted and parcelled out to him an equal division of land with his own +knightly companions in arms. Shall I not yet hear of <i>you</i> with pride?" +she added, extending her hand to him with characteristic frankness.</p> + +<p>"Lady," he said, with animation, "if ever a lowborn youth, who would +rise above his adverse fortunes, had cause to go forward, have I. The +memory of your words will shine like a star of hope to guide me through +the future. God help me! Lady Grace, you shall never blush with shame +for him in whose fate you this night have shown an interest," he +continued, with emotion. "For your sake I will achieve whatever man can +accomplish."</p> + +<p>"And will you do nothing for my poor cousin's sake?" she asked, +significantly, and in a tone of raillery, not able, even at such a time, +to subdue altogether her natural temperament.</p> + +<p>"There is little hope that one so humble is ever in her thoughts," he +replied, doubting, yet half believing.</p> + +<p>"Little hope, I fear, while Lester lives," she said, smiling. "But think +not of her—think not of love now," continued she, with animation; "let +honour be your idol, and woo fame alone as your bride. There are +some—there is <i>one</i>, Mark, who would rather see you honoured and +ennobled by your own hand than—than—but no matter, I have already said +too much. Kate will have good reason to suspect I had cause to come +alone," she said, mentally, "if I linger here longer;" she then added +aloud,</p> + +<p>"Fly, Mark, with this message. If you would serve me, bear it safely; if +you would do my cousin Kate a favour, bear it quickly; and, lastly, for +your own sake, get into no quarrel."</p> + +<p>They had insensibly walked along while speaking, and were now at the +foot of the path by which she had descended to the beach.</p> + +<p>Mark took the packet from her hand, and, as he did so, pressed it with +an air of native gallantry blended with gratitude, greatly to her not +unpleasurable surprise and confusion, and then hastened at a rapid pace +along the beach in the direction of Castle More. She followed him for a +few moments with her eyes, and then, sighing unconsciously (for it is in +vain longer to disguise the interest she felt in the interesting +fisher's lad), ascended the steep path and safely gained the castle, +where, still at her lattice waiting her return, she found her cousin, to +whom forthwith she communicated her success.</p> + +<p>With a swift tread Mark traversed the curving shore till he had left a +full league between him and the spot where he had separated from Grace +Fitzgerald. Then striking into a path that led inland, he followed it +with undiminished speed, and with a light and confident step, that +showed his familiarity with every intricate winding of his moonlit way.</p> + +<p>How often he pressed to his adoring lips the locket of hair that secured +the billet; how often he paused to read over and over again, by the +light of the moon, the delicate characters traced by the pencil her +fingers had guided, let each one that has loved enumerate for himself. +As he went along, he could not help revolving in his mind the manner of +Grace Fitzgerald, and asking himself a hundred times if she could mean +anything; and when it could not be concealed from his penetrating mind +that she did mean something, or affected to do so—the wish rose to his +lips that Kate Bellamont had been in her place. Yet the very next +moment, so contradictory is love, he congratulated himself that she was +not, feeling that he should never have had the courage to meet her face +to face alone, as he had met her cousin. Love surely endows his votaries +with a singular union of boldness and timidity! Your lover is either an +arrant coward or a lion, and sometimes he is both in one, as he happens +to be in or out of his mistress's presence.</p> + +<p>At length he came in sight of an ancient and extensive ruin in the midst +of the forest, and was picking his way among the fallen fragments, along +which his road wound, when he was startled by the sound of horses' feet +coming from the direction of Castle More; the moment afterward, he saw, +by the light of the moon, two horsemen emerge from the wood, and rapidly +approach the ruin. He instinctively drew to one side of the path to +escape observation, when he heard one of them utter an exclamation of +surprise; both then suddenly reined up, and, from the sound of a third +voice, they appeared to be holding conversation with some one they had +unexpectedly encountered.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Away, away my steed and I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the pinions of the wind!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Mazeppa.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"Thou false fiend, thou liest!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I do defy—deny—spurn back and scorn ye!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"That thus a son should stand and hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tale of his disgrace."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The indignant Lester, to whom the story now reverts, had no sooner left +the presence of Kate Bellamont and the field of archery, than he +hastened to the stables, saddled his horse with his own hand, and threw +himself across his back. Then, turning his head northward towards Castle +More, he gave him the rein, and, without forming any definite aim or +object, but goaded onward simply by the fiery impetus of his feelings, +with a feverish desire to leave far behind the scene of his disgrace, +rode away at full speed.</p> + +<p>His thoughts were dark and confused; his heart full; his spirit sore! He +looked neither to the right nor left, and gave backward glance to turret +nor lattice—for he was all unskilled in that book of riddles, woman's +heart! and what hope then had he, that he should turn his head for beck +or signal of return? If he had been a little more experienced, or +somewhat better read in this book of mysteries, where every line of the +text is contradicted by a page of annotations, he might have known that +a signal would have been flying for him—at the very last moment! But, +alas for poor Kate Bellamont! alas for both! her voice, and the wave of +her snowy arm were alike in vain! He rode onward, seeing, feeling, being +conscious of nothing save his own deep disgrace and misery; and at each +fierce pang that reflection inflicted, he buried his spurs deep, and +dashed forward as if he would fly from his thoughts, or find relief from +them in swift motion.</p> + +<p>The forest into which he rode, and in the depths of which he disappeared +from the earnest gaze of Kate Bellamont, was very ancient and of great +extent, and intersected by many roads winding in all directions through +its dark bosom: it was inhabited chiefly by woodsmen and foresters, but +contained, besides, two solitary hunting-lodges, a league asunder, +appertaining to the contiguous estates of Bellamont and Castle More. At +the northern termination of this wood, two leagues distant from Castle +Cor, on the crest of a rock that overhung a small woodland lake or mere, +was situated Castle More; a single square tower, with a low turret +rising at each angle, and defended on the inland side by a high wall +with bastions and a deep moat. It was, at the date of this narrative, +the abode of Lady Lester, the widow of General Lord Lester, who had +fallen a few years before while gallantly fighting in Spain. Since his +death she had withdrawn herself from the sphere of the court, and +excluded herself almost altogether from society; devoting her time to +the performance of the severe religious duties usually imposed by the +Catholic church only on religieuses, and to the observance of rigorous +and frequent fasts; and it was rumoured that she even inflicted upon +herself painful penance with rods, and slept through Lent in a crown of +thorns. In these austerities her friends, and, also, sensible and +discreet people, saw only the diseased melancholy of a widowed wife who +had been fondly devoted to her departed lord, finding relief, as woman's +sorrow often will, in a life of religious seclusion. But the suspicious +and evil disposed, the humble labourer and marvel-loving hind, saw in +her stern religious life only painful penance for crimes committed in +early life, and were wont to shake their heads and lower their voices +whenever the "Dark Lady of the Rock" was named.</p> + +<p>But, notwithstanding her austere life, Lady Lester was not indifferent +to the claims of young Lord Robert. Her heart had been wrapped up in the +high-spirited boy from his childhood; and as he grew in stature and +grace, next to her graven images, she worshipped him. Unrestrained by +paternal fear, and indulged by Lady Lester in every idle wish, he grew +up to the age of seventeen with a spirit that never had been curbed; +with a temper that never had known a check. Though by nature of a +generous and noble disposition, as the unavoidable result of such a +course, he was the slave of passion and the victim of self-impulse; with +the will to act justly, but without the power to guide that will: like a +noble bark that has lost its rudder and is driven furiously along by its +out-spread sails, which, managed by skill and discipline, might yet +become the instruments of its safety, to irremediable shipwreck and +ruin. If educated at all, he was taught to regard all the retainers of +his vast estates as vassals; beings of meaner mould; a race of mortals +who had somehow smuggled themselves into existence long after Adam +founded his ancient family—poachers on the world's manor—now doomed, +for their punishment, to crawl as slaves on the earth they had dared to +come upon unbidden. He was taught to regard all unnoble as ignoble; and +to consider them as an inferior and secondary race, and only created to +be subservient to the will of those of his caste and rank. With such +notions he became haughty and arrogant, and cherished a spirit of pride +of birth, combined with a jealousy of his privileges, that at all times +was sufficiently prompt to show itself.</p> + +<p>With two such opposite characters; a generous and just one—the gift of +nature; an imperious and haughty one—the result of education, he was as +uncertain as the wind, variable as the evening cloud. There was but one +mind that could control his; one spirit to whose power his own would +bend; but one voice that could act upon his passions with a gentle +influence, and, with a word, chase the darkest cloud from his brow, even +as the harp of the youthful minstrel banished the gloomy spirit of evil +from the soul of Saul! This potent person was Kate Bellamont: the wand +she used, Cupid's magical bow. By its aid she brought his haughty will +in subjection to her own mild sway, and converted the lion into the +lamb. She had been his playfellow from childhood; they had strolled, +fished, hunted, boated together. Others might be in company, but somehow +Kate and Robert seemed to be attracted to each other by a mysterious +affinity: if they fished, he baited her hook and took off the fish when +she caught them; if there was a ramble, they were certain to stray off +together and lose themselves in the forest, and always were the last +back to the castle; if there was a party to sail on the mere, Robert and +Kate were sure to be seated near each other!</p> + +<p>By-and-by they began to advance into their teens: when Kate got to be +fifteen, she began to grow very shy of her playfellow; would not let him +kiss her as he was wont; nor ramble with her his arm encircling her +little round waist. She ceased running races with him, and began to call +him "Lord Robert;" and would blush if he happened to turn and catch her +eye fixed musingly upon his face. Robert himself also began to show +signs of change. He grew diffident and silent in her company; looked at +her for a long time together without saying a word; then would turn away +and sigh, and look again, and sigh again. He became less violent, less +frequently angry; his voice became gentle and subdued: and he began to +show signs of fear in her presence, and trembled if she laid her hand on +his arm, which, of late, she was very careful not to do. Indeed, there +is no describing half the signs by which their progress from the +playmate state of chrysalis to the lovemate state of ripe youth was +marked. Robert Lester very soon found that he was very unhappy away from +Kate, and very happy in her presence. The maiden, on her part, was not +long in discovering that the days were very long when Robert did not +visit Castle Cor, and that she thought of him, somehow, a great deal +more than she used to do. It evidently was very clear that she loved to +look from the battlement of the tower at the four distant turrets on the +top of Castle More, when he was away, much oftener than she had done the +year before. Things went on in this manner, though from worse to worse, +till about a week before Kate's sixteenth birthday, when it chanced that +she and her quondam playfellow were riding slowly homeward, after an +unsuccessful pursuit of a stag, which, after having led them within a +mile of Castle More, doubled and turned upon its track towards the +south, and plunged into a morass not far from Castle Cor; so, as night +was approaching, they had given up the pursuit, and turned their horses +heads towards the castle.</p> + +<p>They had been slowly riding side by side for some time, breathing their +horses, neither speaking a word, but occasionally exchanging timid +side-glances in the way young people sometimes do without lifting their +eyelids. If by chance their eyes met, both instantly averted their +heads, switched their horses, or plucked a leaf; but, in a few seconds, +their heads would gradually come round, the pupil of the eyes steal into +the corners and again meet, causing a second time very great +embarrassment, and very guilty colouring of cheek and brow, as if each +had been detected by the other in some crime. So they rode together in +this pleasant manner for full half a mile; and one would believe, from +their silence and the wide space they guardedly preserved between each +other, that they had quarrelled. But their countenances, though grave, +looked too happy and sentimental for that; besides, a slight smile, or, +rather, just the soft reflection of one, played about their mouths. This +for several weeks past had been precisely their bearing towards one +another whenever they happened to be alone together; but, when in the +presence of others, they both gave way to the highest tone of gayety and +spirits. It was all very strange, very!</p> + +<p>The lover at length looked ahead, and saw, through an opening in the +forest, the towers of Castle Cor not a quarter of a mile distant. He +involuntarily reined in his horse, and looked full in Kate's face; his +lips parted; he essayed to speak, but his voice adhered to his jaws. So +he gasped, sighed, and laid his hand eloquently on his heart. Kate also +saw the towers, and reined up at the same moment he did; looked demurely +on the ground, and then, as if she had nothing better to do, let fall +her riding whip, notwithstanding she had to untie it from her wrist to +do so. Instantly Lord Robert threw himself from his saddle, giving the +bridle a slight shake as his foot left the stirrup, a hint which the +sagacious animal obeyed by bounding off towards the stables, and took it +from the ground; then blushingly, and with a conscious look, as if +contemplating a daring deed, he presented it to her. As, with averted +eyes, she extended her hand for it, he placed in it tremblingly, instead +of the whip, his own hand. She neither started nor turned her head, but +her young bosom rose and fell quick, and he thought the hand fluttered +with a new pulsation as it lay in his. She did not withdraw it. He grew +confident, and slightly, very slightly, pressed a finger. Thereupon the +little hand only throbbed the quicker. He pressed two, then three +fingers, and then, with a boldness that grew with the occasion, he +folded the soft, gloved hand all in his own. The next moment he coloured +with conscious guilt, and looked up into her face as if about to throw +himself upon her mercy. But she was so intently watching the rich dies +of a sunset cloud that she evidently did not know what he was about; so, +instead of asking pardon and looking very sad, he put on a very happy +countenance, and, ever and anon casting his glance upward to her face, +began, little by little, to draw off her glove. But, as she made no +demonstrations of being aware of what he was doing, he pulled the glove +quite off. For an instant he held it suspended, while he stole a very +doubtful glance into her half-averted face; the next moment the warm, +snowy hand was pressed between his own, and then, growing bolder apace, +he began to cover it with kisses. Hereupon the maiden slowly turned her +head and looked down at the bold youth with a look that she doubtless +meant to be a reproving one; he cast his eyes to the ground, still +holding the quiet hand nestled between both his own, and said, in a soft +whisper,</p> + +<p>"Kate!"</p> + +<p>"Robert!" was the equally gentle suspiration in reply.</p> + +<p>"Are you angry?"</p> + +<p>"I ought to be."</p> + +<p>"Then you are not?" was the half-joyful, half-doubting interrogation.</p> + +<p>"No," was breathed in accents so very gentle that it was conveyed to him +by the movements of the lips alone.</p> + +<p>"Shall we walk to the castle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>And the young lady, studiously avoiding his eyes, was gently and +passively assisted to the ground; as she touched it, his arm glided +about her taper waist, and somehow their lips met, and again met, and +met again, and met so often, that the horse was far out of sight before +the fact forced itself on the mind of the maiden.</p> + +<p>"Robert, desist! There! my horse has galloped off!"</p> + +<p>"Shall I bring him to you?" asked the delighted youth, in a tone that +showed he did not very much apprehend she would despatch him on such a +mission.</p> + +<p>"No, we can walk. But it is so foolish!"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing."</p> + +<p>And they walked on together for a few moments in silence.</p> + +<p>"Kate!"</p> + +<p>"Robert."</p> + +<p>"Do you love me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"May I seal the confession?"</p> + +<p>"A fine time to ask leave now!" she said, laughing.</p> + +<p>Another kiss, and then another, and then a great many others, firmly +sealed this little love affair, and placed them on a perfect +understanding with each other. They were from this moment lovers! They +quarrelled only twenty times in the subsequent interval of a week that +preceded her birthday; than which no greater proof need be advanced to +show the new relation in which they stood to each other. But, then, they +always made up again; the youth, whose hasty spirit caused him five +times out of seven to be the offender, being ever ready to atone by +every loverlike device.</p> + +<p>But such a sad breach as had been made between them this day was without +a parallel. To his own mind it seemed too wide to be repaired; too gross +to be atoned for by words. He, on his part, felt that the lofty +character and proud spirit of Kate, though love plead never so loudly, +would not brook the insult her feelings had received by the wild +outbreak of his passions in her presence. He felt that he had forfeited +all title to a place in her affections; and that her indignation was +justly roused by the outrageous deed he had madly attempted: with +bitterness of heart he acknowledged that he deserved to be banished for +ever from her presence, and to be remembered by her only with contempt. +But he knew not of what enduring material a maiden's heart is composed; +he knew not that, when love takes possession of it, like a magnet thrown +among some delicate machinery of steel communicating to every part a +portion of its own mysterious nature, it penetrates and pervades every +attribute, converts every passion to its own hue, and renders each +feeling subservient to itself. To its arbitrament all things are +referred. Reason, judgment, prudence, and even piety become secondary to +the will of this autocrat of the heart; and a deaf ear is turned even to +the counsels of the wise and good when they do not conform to its +dictates. Such is the power of love—wondrous, vast, incomprehensible! A +religion without a god or a future; unbounded in its power; universal in +its extent; all-pervading in its influences!</p> + +<p>He galloped along through the winding avenues of the silent forest, +scarce roused from his sad meditations by the startled deer that fled at +his approach, yet stooping mechanically as some old oak flung its +gigantic arm low across the path. Unconsciously he urged on his noble +horse to its utmost speed; his bonnet pressed down over his gloomy brow; +his eyes dark and settled in their expression; and his hand nervously +grasping the rein. At one moment he would drop his head upon his breast, +and be overcome by the bitterness of grief. At the next he would throw +back his head, and with eyes flashing fire, gnash his glittering teeth, +shake his clinched hands above his head, and curse in the face of +Heaven; while the horse, catching his fierce spirit, would erect his +bristling mane, and bound madly forward like the wind. These terrible +paroxysms of mingled grief and rage would pass away, and then he would +ride slowly, with his arms folded, and with an expression of settled +despondency. Three several times did he check his horse, and, +half-turning him round towards Castle Cor, pause, and seem to deliberate +between the suggestions of mingled hope and doubt. But, after a few +seconds' thought, he would shake his head despairingly and again spur +forward.</p> + +<p>In one of his moods of sullen gloom, with his arms folded across his +breast, his head drooped, the reins lying loosely upon the horse's neck, +he came upon an old ruin half a league from Castle More, and within the +boundaries of its wide domain. Here and there, amid a confusion of +moss-grown fragments that everywhere strewed the ground, rose to his eye +a mouldering buttress; the half of a Gothic window; a ruined tower, +lifting itself in melancholy loneliness, in the last stages of decay; +or, a doorway choked to its lintel with rubbish. Over all crept the ivy, +that lovely emblem of charity, binding up, with its slender fingers, the +wounded towers; covering with its thick robe of leaves the nakedness +that time had exposed; and, where it could neither heal nor strengthen, +wreathing about the dilapidated walls garlands of enduring verdure.</p> + +<p>It was the ruins of a chapel, where, centuries before, the barons of +Castle More had worshipped. Now all was desolation. Its bell was hushed; +its choir for ever silent. The priests—the worshippers, where were +they? sleeping beneath the ruins of the crumbling chancel; their high or +holy names, which no man remembers, carved deep in the superincumbent +marble. Apparently coeval with the fallen temple, near its eastern end +grew an aged tree, spreading over half the ruin its huge broad arms as +if it would fain protect, in its desolation, the relics of that +structure whose days of honour it had witnessed. A soft evening +sunlight, struggling through the tops of the surrounding forest, shed a +crimson glow over the whole scene, and imparted a quiet and sacred +character to the spot that took from it its aspect of desolation. It +stood there lonely and majestic in its ruin, forcibly suggesting to the +mind the idea (for there does exist a mysterious sympathy of association +between man and inanimate objects) of calm, Christian old age, ripe in +years and holiness, gathering about itself, with dignity and grace, its +mantle of decay.</p> + +<p>Wrapped in his gloomy thoughts, the horseman was absently following the +path that wound among the ruins, when, as he turned a sudden angle of +the pile, his horse started and nearly threw him from his saddle. Roused +to a sense of his situation, he recovered his seat, seized the bridle, +and looked up. Directly in his path stood a woman, in a short scarlet +cloak, then, as now, the favourite colour of the Irish peasantry, +leaning on a long white staff, curiously carved with mysterious figures. +She was beneath the middle height, and hideously hunch-backed. Her hair +was bright red, of extraordinary length, and hung down in masses nearly +to the ground. Around her forehead was bound a cincture of beads, woven +into singular devices, which confined a sort of turban of green silk. +Her complexion was bronzed by exposure, but evidently once had been +fair. Her features were stern and almost masculine, yet bearing traces +of feminine beauty: the straight forehead, contracted by a rigid frown; +the aquiline nose; the arched brow, and thin, well-shaped lips, with a +roundly turned chin, were all, evidently, wrecks of what had once been +beautiful. Her eye was large, full, and clear, and would still have been +handsome but for a lurking devil in it. But the unsightly deformity of +her person, if natural, must always have served to render nugatory any +charm of countenance; and, whatever might have been her attractions in +youth, her present appearance was calculated to excite only feelings of +mingled fear and disgust. The young man gazed at her a moment as she +stood in his path, and then, in a tone that was in unison with his +present humour, said fiercely,</p> + +<p>"Curses light on thee, hag! Stand from my path, or I will ride over +thee, and trample thy hideous carcass with my horse's hoofs."</p> + +<p>"Robert Lester, as men call thee," she said, without changing her +position, in a cold, hard voice, and with a malicious laugh, "thou hast +been crossed in thy will, and art out of temper. Dost wish revenge?"</p> + +<p>"Woman, avaunt! I want none of thy counsel. From my path, or I will ride +thee down!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the impatient horseman struck his spurs deep into his +horse's flanks, and urged the animal forward; the beast reared and +plunged fearfully to either side, but refused to advance.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, Robert More! If men will obey thee thy brute will not. He has +the eye to see dangers that are hidden from mortal vision."</p> + +<p>"Witch—fiend!" cried the young man, fiercely, "I will dismount and hurl +thee from the path if thou bar my way farther. Stand aside and let me +pass!"</p> + +<p>And a second time the infuriated rider urged the terrified beast +forward, but was nearly unhorsed by his efforts to turn from the road. +In an instant he leaped to the ground and advanced upon her. She smiled +scornfully as he approached, caught the arm he extended to seize her, +and held him in her grasp with the force of a vice.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, Robert More! thou art defeated."</p> + +<p>Quick as lightning, with his other hand he drew from his breast a +hunting-knife, and, elevating it above her head, said, in a cool, +decided tone,</p> + +<p>"Elpsy, release me, or I sheath this blade in thy heart!"</p> + +<p>She fixed her dark wild eyes upon his face an instant, and reading +aright its resolute expression, let go her grasp.</p> + +<p>"'Tis well for thee, Elpsy," he said, returning the blade to his bosom; +"thou hast saved thy wretched life, and thy blood is not on my soul. Now +leave the path!" he added, sternly. "By the cross! ere I will be bearded +thus on my own lands, I will command my retainers to hurl thee into the +sea."</p> + +<p>"<i>Thy</i> lands! <i>thy</i> retainers! Ha, ha, ha, Robert <i>More</i>! I have in +store a punishment for thee and for thy pride, that will repay me for +all thy arrogance! Oh, how thy haughty soul will writhe! how thy proud +spirit will groan! <i>Have I not a cup for thee to drink?</i>—Oh, have I! +Ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p>The foreboding words and wild laugh of the hag sunk deep into the soul +of the young man. He was impressed by her manner as much as by her +language, and, with a changing cheek, said quickly,</p> + +<p>"What mean these dark words, Elpsy?"</p> + +<p>"Dark! yes, they are dark to thee now, but I can make them clear as the +sun at noon; ay, proud Robert of Lester! they shall scorch thee! wither +thy soul! cause thy heart to shrink! thy neck to bow! thy head to lie in +the very dust! Oh, will not the lowest slave among the vassals that wait +thy word pity thee, when thine ears receive what I would reveal!"</p> + +<p>The wild prophetic air, the energy and taunting scorn with which she +spoke, alarmed while it enraged him.</p> + +<p>"Madness! Woman—fiend! monster of deformity! speak, I command thee."</p> + +<p>"<i>Thou</i> command <i>me</i>, Robert Lester! Well, there will be a time! Wouldst +thou know what I have to reveal?" she asked, fixing on him her scorching +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Beware if thou art mocking my fears! I will pluck thy tongue from thy +throat, and fling it to my hounds if thou hast trifled with me!"</p> + +<p>"What I will tell thee will be so true, thou wilt indeed wish the tongue +that spoke it had been plucked from its roots ere it had given it +utterance. Nevertheless, the time has come for thee to hear; and I may +no longer delay the recital of what, for thy sake," she added, with a +softer manner, "I would bear close locked in my breast to the grave. +But," she concluded, in a lofty tone, "what is to be revealed must be +made known, though the heavens were to fall and the earth to quake. Who +shall stay the hand of fate when once it is lifted to destroy?"</p> + +<p>"Elpsy," said Lester, in a deep and earnest voice, unable to throw off +the presentiment of coming evil her words had awakened, "I would believe +thou hadst something to make known to me either of good or evil, though +of the latter alone I know thou art the minister. Yet, if thou hast +aught to say, I am ready to listen, good mother!" he added, in a mild +and persuasive tone.</p> + +<p>"Robert More," she said, in a voice of super-human softness, while the +frigid and austere character of her face passed away, and her features +assumed a more womanly and gentler expression; "those last few words +were kindly spoken, and became thee: they have touched my heart—for +even Elpsy has a heart," she said, with sarcastic bitterness; "for those +kind expressions I would withhold from thee the knowledge of the doom +that awaits thee. But it is not for me," she added, in an enthusiastic +voice, and with returning wildness of the eye; "it is not for one like +me to refuse to obey the decree that has gone forth against thee. As a +mortal, I pity thee! as a woman, I could weep for thee! and as—No," she +interrupted herself, and muttered, "no, he shall not know all now; he +shall not learn all till my soul is on the wing; then, <i>then</i> will it be +time enough!" She then added aloud, "as the minister of the invisible +world, I must do as I am commanded. Robert More, if you can bear to hear +what I am doomed to tell, follow me!"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Elpsy, speak to me here."</p> + +<p>"Obey me!" she commanded, in an authoritative voice, that had a singular +power over his will, and which he had not the ability to resist.</p> + +<p>Without waiting for a reply, or looking round to see if she were +followed, she turned from the bridle-path, and, bounding with great +activity and with a sort of mad exhilaration of spirits over the +fragments of stone that lay in her way, directed her course towards a +low door at the foot of the crumbling tower. He hesitated a moment, and +then, leaving his horse cropping the long rich grass that grew among the +ruins, followed her. She entered the ruin, and, guided by a dim twilight +that penetrated through the top of the ruinous arch, led the way along a +covered passage which ran in the direction of the chancel. Its extremity +was wrapped in total darkness.</p> + +<p>"Elpsy, I will follow thee no farther," he called, after advancing till +he could no longer take a step safely in the impenetrable gloom that +surrounded him, while she walked before him with a free, rapid, and +confident pace.</p> + +<p>"Take the end of my staff," she said, returning a few steps and placing +it within his reach.</p> + +<p>"Thy cabalistic wand, woman!" he repeated, in a tone of horror, +recoiling from her several paces and crossing himself. "Avoid thee!"</p> + +<p>Like many among the highborn and educated of that day, Lester was not +above the superstitious notions of the times, and assented to, perhaps +without firmly believing, the existence and power of sorceresses. Among +the great number of these singular beings that about this time rose up +and filled the minds of all men, both in Great Britain and the +New-England colonies, with pious alarm and godly horror, was Elpsy More, +or "Elpsy of the Tower," for by both of these names she was known, who +had the reputation, above all others who practised the black art, of +being on the most intimate footing with his Satanic highness. Dark and +wild were the tales that had gone forth, and were repeated in hall and +cot, of the supernatural deeds of this communer with the world of +spirits. By the imaginations of the credulous and timid she was invested +with powers that could belong only to the Creator of the universe; and +it was believed by all good Catholics, that every Whitsuntide the devil +came to dine with her in the chancel of the old church, making a table +of the marble tomb of Black Morris O'More; who, as the tradition went, +sold his soul for the love of a beautiful lady, who turned out to be a +fiend, and on the bridal night flew away with him into the regions of +wo.</p> + +<p>When Lester crossed the threshold of the gloomy gallery, these tales of +diablerie had come crowding thick upon his memory, painted in their most +vivid hues by his imagination; and with all his daring his blood ran +cold in his veins: nevertheless, he had continued to grope on until he +could go no farther, when he called to her. As the staff she offered +came in contact with his hand, he had shuddered and shrunk back, +remembering how that it was said her crutch was given her by her master, +who had charmed it by hardening it in the fires of the ever-burning +lake; and that whomsoever she touched with it, or even pointed it to, +that wore neither cross, bead, nor blessed relic about his neck, his +soul would surely be lost. Lester trembled as these legends passed +through his mind, crossed himself, and with great devotion muttered a +<i>paternoster</i>.</p> + +<p>"Here, then, is my hand!" she said, seeing his hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Fearful being, I will not go with thee."</p> + +<p>"Robert More, obey me! There is my hand. It shall not harm thee," she +added, in that peculiar tone which held such a singular power over his +volition.</p> + +<p>Without replying, he took the extended hand and followed her through the +dark passage a few yards farther, when she stopped and said,</p> + +<p>"Heed thy footsteps! Here are steps—thou must go down with me."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she began to descend a flight of stone stairs into a vault +beneath. He would have held back, but she gently and irresistibly led +him down, when they stood upright in a damp chamber, in which a faint +light struggled through an opening in the floor of the chapel above. The +dank, noisome atmosphere of the place, and its subterraneous position +beneath the chancel, filled him with awe and fear.</p> + +<p>"Woman, whither have you led me?" he asked, in a voice deep with the +mingled emotions of suspicion, alarm, and resentment.</p> + +<p>"Into the tomb where rest the bones of Black Morris O'More," she +answered, in a voice that sounded hollow and sepulchral.</p> + +<p>"Mother of Heaven!" he gasped, "then is my soul lost!"</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt little heed thy soul, proud youth, when thou hast heard my +tale."</p> + +<p>"Be speedy with thy story, then; for, good or ill befall, I will not +long remain here."</p> + +<p>"Fear not; thou art in no danger! Step cautiously, and I will guide thee +across this chamber to my own house. This is only the anteroom to it. +Ha, ha!" she laughed frightfully. "See! I have grim Morris O'More to +stand guard over my door."</p> + +<p>As she said this she struck something, which, in the darkness, rattled +like bones suspended from the ceiling of the vault.</p> + +<p>"Sorceress!" cried he, shuddering at the sound, "I will go no farther."</p> + +<p>"Come with me, Robert More!" she said, firmly; "and see thou fall not +over the tomb of Black Morris in the way."</p> + +<p>She drew him by the arm as she spoke with a strength far beyond his own. +He felt for his hunting-knife, determined to free himself by striking +her with it.</p> + +<p>"Hold!" she cried, divining his intentions; "I will not harm thee. Here +is my abode!"</p> + +<p>While speaking, she struck against the opposite wall with her staff, and +a door flew open, exposing the interior of a small circular chamber +receiving a dim light from the sky, which was seen calm and blue through +the roofless tower above.</p> + +<p>"Welcome to the abode of Elpsy of the Tower!" she said, with irony. +"'Tis not the princely one thou art accustomed to, but it will serve thy +present purpose. Didst know that on thy domains thou hadst such a brave +woodland palace? Look about thee!"</p> + +<p>The young man entered the room with a feeling of relief that he no +longer was in the very sepulchre, though still within reach, of the tomb +of Black Morris the accursed. The apartment in which he now found +himself originally had been constructed by the priests for the +preservation of the sacred vessels of the church in times of hostile +invasion of their domains. It was a subterranean room, situated beneath +a circular tower or turret that rose at the southeast angle of the +chapel. The tower once had contained three floors, one above the other; +the mortises for the sleepers being yet visible, ranged regularly and at +equal distances around the inner side. The top or roof of the tower, +with its battlement and Gothic ornaments, had long since fallen in; and +the floors, down even to the ground that formed the floor of the witch's +apartment and the very foundation of the tower, had successively decayed +and disappeared. The only entrance to this tunnel-like turret was the +door from the sepulchre by which he had been admitted. From this vault +to the chambers formerly above, access had been obtained by a circular +stairway within the tower and conducting from floor to floor, the beds +of the beams and fixtures which supported them still remaining in the +masonry. The object of these once-existing upper chambers of the round +tower is involved in mystery, though tradition hath given to the "three +tower-chambers" each their own wild tale of dark superstition and +priestly crime.</p> + +<p>As he stood in the vault in the bottom of the tower, and looked far out +at the sky, it was like gazing upward from the bottom of a well. The +light came in strongly at the top, but grew fainter and fainter as it +penetrated deeper, till only a dim twilight reached the chamber below. +He recognised the tower as the loftiest of the ruin which often he had +made a landmark when hunting, and ascertained thereby his position: this +discovery rendering him more at his ease, he turned to survey the +subterranean abode which Elpsy had chosen.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the floor was a heap of cinders, on which stood a small +iron kettle, apparently the only utensil she used for preparing her +food. A stone escutcheon, broken from one of the tombs, served her for a +seat, and a pile of fern and leaves for a bed. These constituted all the +necessaries that her singular and solitary way of life called for. But +there were other objects that attracted his attention, and thrilled his +blood as he gazed on them. Beside the door, its bones tied together with +strips of deer's hide, hung a skeleton of great size, its ghastly jaws +carefully bound up and grinning horribly, and its hollow, bony sockets +filled with stag's eyes wildly staring at him. Sculls, cross-bones, and +other hideous mementoes of the charnel-house were arranged along the +sides of the walls; while charms, amulets, and all the numerous +instruments of sorcery lay about. Through the open door he beheld the +stone effigy of Black Morris, which had slided from its recumbent +posture above his tomb by the sinking of the earth, standing nearly +upright, staring with his stony gaze into the round chamber, before +which swung the skeleton of which his tomb had been despoiled. The tomb +itself was open, and its black sepulchral mouth yawned as if it would +gladly receive a new occupant.</p> + +<p>Terrible to Lester's nerves was the trial produced by this scene. Bold +and fearless as he was by nature, he could not suppress emotions of fear +(the cowardice of superstition) at the situation and circumstances in +which he had suffered himself to be drawn by the taunting language of a +wild weird woman, who not only was the professed enemy of all mankind, +but had manifested hostile feelings towards himself. He nevertheless +resolved that, having adventured, he would go through with it, trusting, +with religious faith, that all good saints would help him against +spiritual foes; while for protection against mortal ones, ay, even Elpsy +herself, he trusted to his own coolness, and, if it should come to that, +the broad sharp blade of his hunting-knife. Having fortified his mind +with this resolve, he felt more confidence; and being now in some degree +familiarized with his situation and the ghastly objects around him, he +turned to address the sorceress, who, on entering, had seated herself on +a scull, and, with her chin buried between her hands, continued to fix +her dark eyes upon his face with a mingled expression of pity and +malignant triumph. Before he could speak she rose, and, laying her hand +on his arm, said, in a tone between sadness and derision,</p> + +<p>"How like you my abode, my lord?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis a gloomy place."</p> + +<p>"Ay, and many a gloomy day have I spent in it. Sit ye down on that +stone, <i>Lord Lester</i>!" she added, laying a peculiar emphasis upon the +last two words; "'tis a knight's shield, and should be a fit seat for +<i>thee</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Is it thus, Elpsy, you use the sculptured armour and the sepultured +bones of my ancestors?" he said, in an indignant tone.</p> + +<p>"<i>Thy</i> ancestors?" she repeated, scornfully. "Sit thou there, <i>Lord +Lester</i>. Dost hear, Lord Lester? Open thine ears, and drink in the title +and style well—for 'twill be the last time they will fall upon them."</p> + +<p>"Cease your mockery, woman! Say what thou hast to say, and quickly."</p> + +<p>"Listen!" she said, seating herself on a scull opposite to him, while a +struggle between sympathy and malicious exultation was visible on her +features. "Young, and fair, and brave to look upon withal!" she said, +muttering to herself, and gazing on him steadfastly and thoughtfully; "a +coronet would grace that brow even as if 'twere born to it. Robert +Lester, or Robert More, for men call thee both," she said aloud, bending +her face towards him, and speaking in an impressive manner, "now listen +to the tale I have in store for thee. Fix thine eye upon me that I may +see it blench as I go on. Oh! it's a tale for a Christmas eve, I trow!"</p> + +<p>She was silent a few seconds, as if sending her thoughts back through +the past; then, in a low voice, which rose or fell, was wild or sad, +slow or rapid, as her subject moved her, she began:</p> + +<p>"Eighteen long years ago there dwelt by the seaside a poor fisherman, +honest, hard labouring in his vocation, but contented with his lot, +never having known better. He was a widower, but had an only daughter, +his sole companion, and the only link that bound him to his kind. This +child grew up to be a tall and comely maiden. Her eyes were of the rich +brown hue of the ripe chestnut. Her hair, soft as the floss of Florence, +was a fair brown; but when the winds that came off the sea would toss it +in the sunlight, there played over it a blaze of gold. It never had +known confinement, but floated like a sunset cloud about her head."</p> + +<p>"What has this to do with thy tale?" demanded Lester, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" she said, calmly but firmly; her features, as her thoughts +seemed to dwell pleasurably on the beauty of the maiden, becoming more +humanized, while her voice modulated and harmonized with the words she +uttered. "This fair maid grew up, unknowing and unknown; budding and +blooming like a lone flower by the seaside. Her laugh was merry as the +carol of the glad lark as it soars and sings; her spirits were light as +the sparkling foam of the summer's sea; her heart as pure as the +moonbeam that slept on the wave. Her happiness was in her father's smile +and in his paternal love; and, besides her little cot, and the wide sea +which she loved, and the tall cliff that towered above her home, she +knew not, until she had entered her eighteenth year, that there was any +other world. Alas, for that maiden, that she had not remained in +ignorance! Alas, for her, that her heart was not as cold as the moonbeam +it resembled in its purity! One black and stormy night, a voice, +shouting for aid, reached the ears of the old fisherman and his child, +heard above the howlings of wind and roaring of the angry deep.</p> + +<p>"'Rise, my child!' he cried, 'there is life in peril.'</p> + +<p>"In a few moments they were by the seaside, and by flashes of lightning +beheld a small bark driving towards the shore before the tempest. On its +prow stood a group of men, who waved their arms wildly as the lightning +showed to them the forms of the old man and his daughter standing on the +beach, and shouted for help. Swift and irresistible, like an affrighted +courser, the fatal vessel drove onward, now lifted high on a surge, now +plunging into a yawning chasm, till at length, borne to a great height +on a wave, she trembled an instant on its top, and then, descending like +an arrow, struck against the bottom and was dashed to pieces. Wild, +fearful, unearthly was the shriek that pierced the ears of the fisherman +and his child! They looked where, a moment before, it went careering +over the foaming billows, and the lightning gleamed only upon fragments +of the wreck, human heads, and wildly waving arms. One solitary cry rent +the air after she struck, and then naught but the shriek of the winds, +like a human wail, and the tumult of the sea as it lashed the shore in +its fury, was to be heard."</p> + +<p>"What has this to do with the tale I came hither to learn?" asked the +youth, impatiently; nevertheless, had he listened to her with interest, +deeply impressed by the energy of her voice and manner, as she warmed in +her narrative.</p> + +<p>"Much," she said, quietly. "Listen! The fisherman, with his hair +streaming in the wind, and his garments wet with the spray, long +traversed the beach to see if human life had been cast on shore. He was +accompanied by his daughter, who, with her golden locks glancing in the +lightning, her lofty forehead calm and firm with womanly energy, and her +fair young face lighted up with the noble spirit that inspired her to +the task, looked like some bright spirit of peace that had come to stay +the tempest. They watched by that lonely shore till the dawn broke, +when, by its first faint glimmer, the maiden discovered an object like a +human form lying on the edge of the sea beside a rock, whither it had +been tossed by the stormy waves. With a cry between hope and mistrust +she sprang fearlessly towards the object—for, in the stern duties of +humanity to its suffering kind, fear nor false delicacy have no place, +and, if they had, that maiden was too good, too ignorant of life to know +either. As she came close to it, she saw that it was the body of a man. +She placed her hand upon his temples. They were warm. He was alive! +Alas, far better would it have been for her had he been cold as the +stone beside which he lay! His pulse was very faint; she could just feel +it throb like a fine chord vibrating against her finger. He was lying +upon his side naturally, like one in sleep. It was not yet light enough +to see whether he was young or old, but she knew, from the soft smooth +skin of his brow, that many winters of manhood had not passed over his +head. With her aid her father bore him to their hut, and, after bathing +his forehead and hands in spirits, and applying for his restoration the +few but effective means known to those whose lives are passed on the +sea, he opened his eyes, and, after a little while, was able to sit up. +After having waited a few moments to recall his faculties, he seemed to +have become conscious of his situation, and the fatal cause which led to +it: with a smile of gratitude he looked up, and, glancing first at the +father and then at the daughter, acknowledged, in a voice and with a +look that thrilled to the heart of the poor maiden, how much he owed +them for their exertions in saving his life."</p> + +<p>"This is a long story, Elpsy, and, methinks, little to the purpose!" +interrupted Lester.</p> + +<p>"Listen! His language was courteous, and his speech addressed alone to +her; his manner was also gentle, and such as would please a maiden. He +got up and walked to the window to look out upon the beach, which was +strewn with fragments of the wreck; and, as he did so, she was struck +with his noble figure, and proud, soldierly air; and the soft sadness +that came over his face, as he surveyed the melancholy relics of his +gallant vessel, touched her heart. He was not above thirty years of age, +with a high, fair brow, and a cheek, though sunburnt, bright as a +child's. His hair was of a silvery hue, that harmonized with his +complexion, and flowed long and in shining waves about his shoulders. +His eyes were as blue as if they had been mirrors to reflect the +summer's sky, and, as she met them, were tender, yet ardent, in their +expression. His smile was fascinating, and his rich voice was full of +melody and most manly in its tones. Poor fisher's daughter! She gazed on +him bewildered with love, and lost her heart ere she scarce knew she +possessed one! He turned away from the window, and his eyes met the +fervent gaze of the maiden. She blushed; her eyelids fell; her young +bosom heaved tumultuously, and the worldly-wise stranger read her heart +at a glance.</p> + +<p>"The evening of that day (for hour after hour did he linger beneath the +fisherman's lowly roof) they sat together in the door of her cot. He +took her hand, and told her, in a low, gentle voice, how he had sailed +homeward from Spain, where he had been fighting as a soldier; and how, +with his companions, he had been, the last night, driven by the tempest +on that inhospitable shore when within five leagues of his destination; +and how that he had lost much treasure by the shipwreck, but that her +presence had made him forget all he had lost; that her smile repaid him +for all that he had suffered. Poor maiden! The hours wore away, yet they +seemed minutes to her; the stars came out, and the tardy moon rose! He +discoursed to her of love, and she listened! Her ears drank in his +words! Her heart was no longer her own. He told her that he loved her, +and received her ingenuous confession in return. He then told her of a +brave tower, that stood amid broad lands five leagues northward, which +owned him as master, and this, he said, he would make her the mistress +of if she would become his bride. She believed and promised. He then +said he must leave her, but would return in a few days in a fair ship, +and claim its fulfilment. The next morning he took his departure. She +wept sorely in his arms when he left her. But, ere her father, who had +been pursuing his daily toil on the deep, returned, she had dried up her +tears and clothed her face with smiles to meet him, lest her sorrow +should make him sad. She did not tell him of her love or the promise of +the stranger: it was the first time she had harboured a secret in her +guileless heart. She was silent from maidenly modesty; for, with the +love that had got into her heart, had entered many new feelings hitherto +unknown to her.</p> + +<p>"Sad and heavy passed the days, when one evening, as she stood upon the +beach looking, now southward for the light skiff of her father, and, +much oftener, northward for the expected bark of her lover, she saw the +evening sun glancing on a white sail that appeared coming round a +promontory a league distant to the north. It bent its course towards the +beach. Her heart fluttered. She knew not what to do for joy; and, in her +impatience, could have flown along the white sand to meet it! Steadily +it bore down towards her. She now forgot to look for the little skiff of +her father; her eyes were fixed alone on the coming bark! It approached +nearer and nearer. She could see forms on the deck. As it came closer, +high on the poop, standing alone like its master spirit, she discovered +her lover. He waved his hand to her, and, as she answered it, the vessel +came to; a boat was launched, and he sprang into it. A few strokes of +the oar sent it to the land, and, leaping out, the handsome stranger +clasped the lovely maiden in his arms.</p> + +<p>"'Come, gentle maid,' he said, in accents of love; 'come and be the +bride of my home and heart.'</p> + +<p>"'Not without my father!' she said, looking anxiously to see if she +could descry his boat.</p> + +<p>"'Think not of him now,' said he; 'he shall soon come, and cheer with +his presence your new home.'</p> + +<p>"'He will grieve when he finds I have left him,' she said, with filial +tenderness. 'I cannot go.'</p> + +<p>"'He shall, ere long, see you again,' he said, gently leading her along; +'come, dearest, fly with me to the abode I have prepared for you. This +shall be our bridal night!'</p> + +<p>"The maiden suffered herself to be borne to the waiting bark; its sails +were trimmed to the breeze, and swiftly it cut its way through the +crested billows towards the direction from which it came."</p> + +<p>"Hast done?" asked the impatient Lester.</p> + +<p>"Hear me!" said Elpsy, in a stern tone. "The morning's sun shone upon a +dark square tower, with a single wing that looked upon the sea, and his +beams penetrated a stained lattice, and fell in brilliant and varied +dies on the floor of a chamber within it. In that chamber sat the +fisher's daughter; and the fair-locked stranger was bending over her as +she sat by the window, dallying with her golden tresses. The night upon +the sea had been her bridal night! But, alas! unblessed by priest, +unmarked by altar, or prayer, or vow! She was neither bride nor maid."</p> + +<p>Here the witch's voice trembled with emotion, while her eyes grew rigid, +and her brow became gloomy and fearful to look upon.</p> + +<p>"Who did this maiden this foul wrong?" asked the youth, with a flashing +eye.</p> + +<p>"Hurtel of the Red-Hand!"</p> + +<p>"Ha! that rebel Irish chief, who, to save his head, fled to the +Colonies, and who, for his bloodthirsty spirit, got the title of 'The +Red-Hand?'" demanded Lester, with interest.</p> + +<p>"The same."</p> + +<p>"I would have sworn it! Go on."</p> + +<p>She smiled grimly, and then continued:</p> + +<p>"For many days he was devoted to his victim; but amused her, when she +besought him to heal her wounded honour by the words of the holy mass of +marriage, with idle excuses; and so she was put off from day to day, +till she found there was life within her bosom, and that she was about +to become a wedless mother.</p> + +<p>"Gradually he got to neglect her, and daily grew more and more estranged +from her; and at length, heading a secret conspiracy, his tower became +the rendezvous of insurgent leaders, and day and night rung with +bacchanalian revels. Lonely she sat, evening after evening, in her +solitary chamber, with her face resting on her hand, and her eyes +looking south over the sea; her thoughts winging their way to her lowly +cot and its humble occupant, who, perhaps, mourned his daughter as +having perished in the deep.</p> + +<p>"At length she became a mother. <i>He</i> was away at the time, at the head +of a party of conspirators bound on an expedition of treason and +bloodshed. On the third day afterward he returned. She heard the tramp +of horses, and with hurried joy opening the lattice—for, +notwithstanding his neglect, she loved him still—saw him riding rapidly +towards the tower, followed only by a single rider, and leading by the +rein a palfrey, on which was mounted a beautiful lady; she saw that her +head drooped, that she appeared sick and faint, and that he supported +her by passing one arm about her waist. A pang of jealousy, the first +she had ever known, shot through her bosom. They reined up beneath the +window: she saw him take her in his arms from the saddle, and bear her +within the tower. Then, with surprise, she heard him, in a loud tone, +give commands for all the defences of the castle to be put up, as if he +expected to encounter a siege. She returned again to her couch faint and +sick at heart, and waited his appearance. An hour elapsed ere he came, +and painful were the thoughts that agitated her bosom. When at length +she heard his footsteps, she rose to meet him with a smile of love, with +her infant extended in her arms. His dress was disordered and bloody, as +if he was just from conflict; and she at once saw, for affection is +quick and suspicious ever, that his brow was dark and angry.</p> + +<p>"'Ha!' he cried, scornfully, 'what have we here?'</p> + +<p>"'The pledge of your former love,' she said, with gentle reproof, +offering it to his arms.</p> + +<p>"'By the head of St. Peter!' he exclaimed, pushing her rudely away, and +fixing upon her a terrible look (which but one other living can give," +said Elpsy, with peculiar emphasis, fixing her gaze upon Lester), "'I +brought thee not hither to breed brats! Fling it from the window!'</p> + +<p>"And, without deigning to cast a glance upon it, he strode across the +chamber, while, with a cry of pain and mortal anguish, she sunk down +upon the floor. He turned and looked back at her for a few seconds, and +then said fiercely,</p> + +<p>"'Rise, woman! I have brought a lady hither who will need thy services +ere the dawn. Up, I say. Thou shalt be her servant if I bid thee. Such a +station will best suit thy birth. Up, or I will tear thy brat from thee +and cast it from the balcony.'</p> + +<p>"She clung convulsively to her babe and rose from the ground. But was +she not changed in that little while, Robert More? Was not her deep love +turned into deep hate? Ay! as if by the wave of a wand her soul was +changed, and she became a different being. 'Tis but a step from the +deepest love to the deepest hate in woman's heart, when she feels that +she is deliberately injured. Then lightning is not quicker than the +change—hell not deeper than her hate! She rose from the floor another +creature. He saw the alteration in her countenance, and, for a moment, +his guilty spirit cowered. But Satan helped him to banish all feeling +from his breast, and he waved her sternly away.</p> + +<p>"'Whither?' she asked, meeting his fierce gaze with a cool glance of +contempt.</p> + +<p>"'To the chamber opening from the hall,' he said, in a tone of less +authority, dropping his eyes before her steady look.</p> + +<p>"As he went out he muttered to himself, but the mother's open ears +caught the meaning of the words,</p> + +<p>"'That child shall die!'</p> + +<p>"She shuddered, but spoke not: clasping her child to her bosom after he +had left her, she tottered from the room and descended to the hall. +Entering the apartment designated, she there beheld the lady whom she +had seen ride up to the tower. She was reclining on a couch, and +appeared to be overpowered by fatigue and grief. She was very lovely, +with fine dark eyes that were filled with tears, and raven hair that was +spread dishevelled over her pillow. She turned her face as the door +opened, and her countenance brightened with hope as she saw the approach +of one of her own sex. The young mother advanced to the couch and +offered her consolation. The lady glanced at the swaddled infant, and +asked if she were the wife of 'Hurtel of the Red-Hand.'</p> + +<p>"'No,' was the sad, yet stern, reply.</p> + +<p>"The lady ceased to inquire further, and, being in her turn asked how +she came there, said that she was a noble lady and a wife."</p> + +<p>"A noble lady!" repeated Lester, with interest.</p> + +<p>"Now that there is high blood spoken of, you can feel an interest in my +story," she said, sarcastically. "Listen! She told how her lord had gone +that morning at the head of a party of gentlemen to attack a strong +position of the insurgents, when, anxious and impatient for +intelligence, she rode out, accompanied by several servants, nearly a +league from her castle, in hopes of meeting him or a messenger. She got +no tidings of him, and was on her return, when one overtook her with a +message from her lord, saying that he had gained a signal victory over +the conspirators, who were totally routed with great slaughter, and that +their chief, Hurtel of the Red-Hand, had barely escaped with his life."</p> + +<p>"A battle with conspirators, and defeat of Hurtel of the Red-Hand. By +Heaven! woman, my father once fought and conquered this same chief! +Ha—your looks! what—speak—was it—was she—no—go on, it cannot be!"</p> + +<p>The sorceress smiled mysteriously and continued,</p> + +<p>"'I had hardly received this joyful news,' she said, 'when three +horsemen, riding at full speed, came spurring behind us. They were +passing us, when one of them, whom I recognised as Hurtel of the +Red-Hand, turned in his saddle as he dashed by, and, looking at me +earnestly, exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"'The countess, by all that's fortunate! This will help redeem the day's +reverses, and give me a chance for my head!"</p> + +<p>"'As he spoke he threw himself, with his company, sword in hand, upon my +servants, and, after a brief struggle, in which he lost one of his +party, either slew or dispersed them; and then, ere I had time to +collect my thoughts, he seized the rein of my palfrey and conveyed me +hither. His object must be either ransom, or, more probably, the hope of +being able, with me in his power, to make his own terms with the +victorious party, of which my noble lord is captain. You, who have so +recently become a mother, will sympathize with me at this crisis.'</p> + +<p>"I will briefly pass over the events that followed," continued Elpsy. +"Before dawn the Lady Lester was prematurely delivered of a male child; +a fine, black-eyed boy, healthy and robust; but, through weakness and +mental anxiety, she soon after became insensible, and neither caressed +nor opened her eyes to look upon it. At sunrise the insurgent chief +entered the chamber, and demanded which was the fisher's brat. There was +an expression upon his face and a dark look in his eye that boded ill. +With a convulsive shudder the mother shrunk from his gaze and flew to +the bed, on the foot of which slept the two infants. She was just about +to clasp her own to her heart, with the resolution to defend it with her +life, when suddenly she checked the maternal impulse, and, turning to +him, said, as if her conduct would depend upon his reply,</p> + +<p>"'What would you do with it?'</p> + +<p>"'Give it me!' he demanded, more fiercely, 'or I will slay both thee and +thy young one.'</p> + +<p>"And he approached her menacingly as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"She once more bent over the babes! She dared not disobey: yet a +mother's love called loudly at her heart. Her babe's life was all in all +to her. It must be saved! She thought only of saving it!</p> + +<p>"'I wait!' he said, sternly.</p> + +<p>"Instinctively she caught up the babe of the noble lady and placed it in +his arms.</p> + +<p>"''Tis here! But spare, oh, spare it!' she cried, as he strode from the +chamber with it in his rude grasp.</p> + +<p>"Her heart smote her for what she had done. Leaving behind her her own +babe, which she had saved by this maternal deception, she followed, +clinging to him, and entreating him to spare the innocent. He heeded her +not, but advanced rapidly to a balcony that overhung the water thirty +feet above it, and, heedless of her cries, cast it over. She sprang +forward, and saw that the swaddling robe in which it was wrapped had +caught the point of a sharp rock, and that it hung suspended by it +within a foot of the water. With a cry of joy she had nearly sprung off +to save the babe, when, seeing that, by a bold leap from the balustrade, +she could reach a projecting rock, from which she could clamber down to +the water, she prepared to take it. But her exclamation caused him to +turn back; and seeing the fall of the child had been so singularly +arrested, and that she was about to attempt its rescue, he grew black +with rage, and with a violent blow, as she was in the act of springing +to the rock, struck her from the balcony into the sea. As she fell she +caught by the edges of the cliff, and, in some degree, broke her fall, +but, nevertheless, descended heavily into the water. It was not deep, +and she recovered her feet, caught the babe in her arms, and, staggering +to a sandy part of the shore, sunk down insensible. When she recovered +her senses the sun was high in the heavens. She attempted to rise, but +found she was deeply bruised, and that her spine was much injured by +striking against the rock in her descent. She looked up to the balcony. +It was closed, and all was silent. It was evident that the murderer, +supposing the fall fatal, had not the courage to watch her descent, and +had retired.</p> + +<p>"She immediately resolved not to enter the castle again. With her soul +turned to bitterness, burning with vengeance against the author of her +wrongs, and suffering with pain, she prepared to seek, with the infant +she held in her arms, her father's cot. For her own babe she had no +fears. She knew that it would ever be regarded as that to which the lady +had given birth. It was fifteen miles to her native hut; yet weary, +suffering, ill, she dragged herself thither by the evening of the second +day. Her father, who had long mourned her dead, met her with open arms. +He pitied and nursed her for many long months till she recovered her +health; but her beauty of form was gone for ever. Her soul grew dark +with her woes; vengeance took the place of love in her heart towards him +who had so basely wronged her; and bitterness against all her species +rankled in her breast, and hourly grew deeper and deeper. Her senses at +length became unsteady. She grew restless and moody, and, after two +years abode with her father, she wandered forth, leaving with him the +boy, and never more returned to her natal roof. She sought a wild home +in the vicinity of her own son, where she could daily see him, watch +with pride his growth, and even speak with him unknown and unsuspected. +But when, as he increased in years and stature, he began to look like +his father, she began to hate him too, though, alas! it cost her many a +pang to do so.</p> + +<p>"She now learned, that on the evening of the day on which she had been +hurled from the balcony, the husband of the lady, followed by fifty +armed men, surrounded the tower and demanded her surrender of her +captor. He replied that he would give her up on two conditions: first, +that his lands should not be confiscated: secondly, that he should be +permitted to ride forth, wherever he would, unmolested; which terms the +noble lord promised should be complied with if his lady should say she +had received no insult at his hands; and if, further, he would bind +himself to quit the realm within nine days thereafter. To this he +assented. The gates were shortly after thrown open, and, mounted on the +blood-bay charger which he always rode, he paced forth from his +stronghold, passed slowly and sternly through the lines of besiegers, +and, after trotting deliberately till he had got a great ways beyond +them, put spurs to his horse and rode off, no man knew whither: though +there is <i>one</i> knows," she added, mysteriously, as if alluding to +herself, "that within nine days he was on the sea, bound to the New +World.</p> + +<p>"The noble lord took possession of the tower, and joyfully embraced his +lady, and thanked her, saying, that 'notwithstanding she had been a +prisoner, she had not forgotten to make him a father;' and he took up +and kissed the babe as if it had been his own flesh and blood, instead +of sharing the mingled current that flowed in the veins of Hurtel of the +Red-Hand and the fisher's daughter; and from thenceforward he took him +home and made him the heir of his house. A little after that this brave +lord fell in the wars, nor ever knew he the truth to his last dying +breath. Thus ends my story, <i>Lord Robert of Lester</i>! Who, think you, was +this noble lord and lady?"</p> + +<p>The young man had listened to the latter part of her narration with +thrilling attention. As she was drawing to the conclusion, he sprang +from his feet, and laid a hand on either shoulder of the narrator, and +looked steadily into her eyes, as if he would read there the dreadful +secret he anticipated, yet dared not meet. He listened to each word that +fell from her lips with the most absorbing and painful interest—his +lips parted—his eyes starting from their sockets—his face convulsed, +and brought close to hers—his fingers almost buried in the flesh of her +shoulders! When, at the conclusion, she put the sarcastic question to +him, which he trembled lest he could too well answer, his hands stole +from her shoulders and suddenly fastened upon her throat.</p> + +<p>"Woman! sorceress! die!" he hoarsely whispered, through his clinched +teeth, with terrible energy.</p> + +<p>She freed herself from his grasp with an extraordinary effort, and flung +him from her, laughing loudly and wildly!</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha! <i>Robert of Lester!</i> Does my story please thee, my <i>lord</i>! +<i>my</i> retainers! my <i>domains</i>!"</p> + +<p>He looked at her for a moment with appalling calmness, and then, +approaching her, said, in an even tone, but in a hollow voice that was +horrible to hear,</p> + +<p>"Woman or demon, tell me truly, who was this noble lady who gave birth +to a son?"</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth of Lester, the 'Dark Lady of the Rock,'" was the firm reply.</p> + +<p>"Was this change of infants surely made?" he asked, in the same tone.</p> + +<p>"I have said it."</p> + +<p>"And what became of her child?"</p> + +<p>"'Twas left with the fisherman."</p> + +<p>"Does he now live?" he asked, with sudden interest.</p> + +<p>"He does!"</p> + +<p>"As a fisher's lad?"</p> + +<p>"He follows the craft of him who reared him."</p> + +<p>"On the beach beneath Castle Cor?"</p> + +<p>"You have said."</p> + +<p>A strange expression, too complicated to analyze, passed across his +features. But he continued with the same awful calmness:</p> + +<p>"The woman—the daughter—what became of her?"</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt know hereafter."</p> + +<p>"And her own boy—ha! <i>was</i> it a <i>boy</i>?" he asked, suddenly.</p> + +<p>"It was."</p> + +<p>"He was taken home by my—by—Lord Lester?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Have they had no children since, woman?"</p> + +<p>"None, ever, save him who was born beneath the roof of 'Hurtel of the +Red-Hand.'"</p> + +<p>"And this infant—this bastard child—this lowborn boy, grew up within +the halls of Castle More as its liege lord?"</p> + +<p>"He did!"</p> + +<p>"And that boy stands before you?"</p> + +<p>"He does!"</p> + +<p>His calmness was appalling to witness. She shrunk from looking him in +the face, and cowered before the light of his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Mysterious woman! how thou camest by the knowledge of these things I +know not. I believe thou hast spoken truth; thy tale hangs too well +together for malice to invent."</p> + +<p>He struggled with strong emotion. His brow darkened, his face worked +convulsively. At last he seemed to have resolved on a settled purpose.</p> + +<p>"Who knows this hellish secret besides thyself?" he asked, his +penetrating glance resting on her face.</p> + +<p>"None but thee," she said, meeting his eye with a wary look, as if +anticipating danger from the tone of his voice.</p> + +<p>"To every human eye, then, but <i>thine</i>, I am Lord of Lester?"</p> + +<p>"Who of mortal mould should suspect thee to be other than he, when she +who bore thee not believes thee to be the fruit of her womb."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt swear this?"</p> + +<p>"I say it."</p> + +<p>"'Tis enough. Does this fisher's boy know the secret of his birth?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Does the old man?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt swear it?"</p> + +<p>"I say it."</p> + +<p>"'Tis well, woman! Thou shalt die!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke he drew from his breast his hunting knife and sprang upon +her. She detected the momentary lighting up of his eye ere he made the +spring, and alertly avoided the blow by leaping through the door: he +fell forward, and the blade shivered against the stone sides of the +tower.</p> + +<p>With a laugh of derision she fled along the passage pursued by him. Her +voice and also her footsteps ceased as he reached the steps leading +upward from the tomb, and, without any sound to guide him, he groped his +way along the gallery. At length he approached the light; but, although +he could see through the door out into the forest, she was nowhere +visible! After vainly searching every part of the ruin, he abandoned the +attempt, remounted his horse, and spurred towards Castle More.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh God! how changed my nature with all this!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I, that had been all love and tenderness—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The truest and most gentle heart till now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ever beat—grew suddenly a devil!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Lord Ivan and his Daughter.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>What pen can portray, what language describe the feelings of the haughty +Lester, as he rode at furious speed towards Castle More? He could +neither think nor reflect! His thoughts were confused and tempestuous. +He could not realize that he had actually listened to the accursed tale +with his own ears. He felt rather as if he had passed through some +dreadful dream, and the idea flashed on his mind that she had thrown a +dark spell upon his senses, and that the whole was an illusion, and +altogether the result of her art.</p> + +<p>By degrees his thoughts became more settled and run in a direct channel. +He checked his headlong speed and began to reflect: to recall, word by +word, the narrative of Elpsy; weigh each sentence; match fact with fact; +each circumstance with its fellow; and trace the unbroken thread to the +last damning proof. The result was irresistible. A thousand +circumstances to corroborate the tale of infamy rose like phantoms to +his shrinking memory.</p> + +<p>He remembered how, in childhood, a neighbouring baron, who had been out +against the insurgents, playfully laid his hand upon his head, and told +him he looked so much like Hurtel of the Red-Hand that he must take good +care, when he became a man, he did not lose his head for the likeness: +he remembered, too, how his childish spirit took fire at the similitude, +and that he resented the insult with a blow! He further called to mind +how, later in life, the more aged country people, in passing him, would +shake their heads significantly; and often the whispered words, "Hurtel +of the Red-Hand," would reach his ears. He recollected, also, how Lady +Lester (alas! no longer, if this tale were proved true, to be regarded +as his mother, yet whom he had loved hitherto with the intensest filial +affection) had reproved him in his angry moods, and forbade him to frown +so like Hurtel of the Red-Hand. He called to mind, too, how that, in +childhood (unthought of again till too faithful memory brought it back), +it had more than once reached his ears through the menials, that Lady +Lester, in her youthful days, had been made a prisoner in some old +castle by a rebel chief; and he could remember he had listened with +childish interest to its recital as to a tale of enchanted castles and +cruel giants. <i>Now</i> he could invest it with a too vivid reality! He had +heard, also, he knew not how, and what, at the time, left no distinct +impression on his mind, a scandal which said that Lady Lester did +penance for unfaithfulness in her early marriage days: this cottage +gossip he could now easily trace to her imprisonment by—could he speak +it?—<i>his father!</i> He, too, had been twice called by spirited peasants, +who, on certain occasions, had resented his arbitrary will—a <i>bastard</i>!</p> + +<p>All these things rushed to his mind. There was something in it beyond +mere idle gossip—something independent of mere accident! The tale he +had listened to was to him a key to the whole. The inference was +overpowering! It was as plain to his mind as the noonday sun, that the +story he had heard from the lips of Elpsy was founded in truth.</p> + +<p>"'Tis true! 'tis <i>true</i>! 'tis TRUE!" he groaned, covering his face with +his hands.</p> + +<p>Oh, was not this an appalling and harrowing reflection for a proud +spirit like his? Was it not a bitter, bitter cup that was presented to +his lips? Alas, how cruelly barbed and how skilfully directed—how +fatally sent, was the shaft of inexorable fate! It pierced the spot +where alone it could penetrate; where its wound would be deepest, and +the smart the keenest. Struck down from its high seat to the very ground +was that pride of birth which constituted the basis of his character; +and withered, dead, bruised in the dust lay the haughtiness of spirit, +which, springing from that soil, had flourished like the green bay-tree.</p> + +<p>"Not only lowborn—I could bear that, I could bear that! but, oh God! a +<i>bastard</i>! Mercy! mercy! mercy!"</p> + +<p>He hid his face as he gave utterance to these words, and sobbed audibly. +He gave way for a few moments to the full tide of his strong and +afflicting grief in the most agonizing manner! His soul was rent! his +heart was broken! and, altogether, he presented a picture of moral +desolation and mental wretchedness that was appalling to contemplate. +What thoughts must then have passed through his mind and wrung his proud +soul! The reflection that he must abandon all his plans and hopes as +Lord of Lester; take leave of the luxuries to which he had been +accustomed; descend from the rank of a noble to that of a peasant; be +called "fellow" by the lowest hind; bear the scorn of the highborn and +the jeers of the low; and, most of all, that he must for ever abandon, +without hope, the love of Kate Bellamont, filled him with wo such as the +heart of man hath seldom known.</p> + +<p>"And need I forfeit all these?" he exclaimed, suddenly checking the +current of his grief, his features lighting up at the same time with +guilty exultation, and assuming an expression of deep determination; +"need I make this sacrifice? May I not still be Lord of Lester?" he +cried, rising in his stirrups and almost shouting with the force of his +thoughts. "Ay, and <i>will I</i>! Ay, and <i>will I</i>! 'Tis but to silence, +either with gold or true steel, this beldame, who is the sole depositary +of the secret of my birth!"</p> + +<p>For a moment after giving utterance to this guilty idea he rode silently +along; his honourable nature and his inflexible pride both having +instantly risen at the criminal suggestion, and revolted at a deception +so vast. But there were two strong motives which threatened to weigh +down these better promptings, though honour pointed to the course he +should alone pursue. He could not bear—his proud spirit could never +brook, that the despised fisher's lad—the humble, low-nurtured +peasant—for such he was, notwithstanding his noble birth, should stand +in his place, and <i>he</i> himself—oh, it was madness to think of it—sink +into the fisher's boy!</p> + +<p>"No! perish honour—perish truth—perish all that is noble or virtuous +in my nature first!" he cried, with the reckless decision of one who has +resolved to sustain wrong at the expense of right.</p> + +<p>There was a second motive, the love of Kate Bellamont! Should he resign +her for ever? Could he endure the scornful disdain with which he +believed she would regard him? Above all, could he bear to have the +handsome fisher's lad, whom he already looked upon, in some sort, in the +light of a rival, sue successfully as Lord of Lester for her hand? Could +he endure all this and be human? Could he resign all to become what he +dared not contemplate, and live?</p> + +<p>"No!" he cried, vehemently, "away with all justice and truth! let my +heart be wrapped in a mesh of falsehoods first! But need there be +falsehood? Silence, <i>silence</i> will effect it. Is there injustice when +the victim is ignorant of his rights?" he asked, mentally, as if he were +arguing with his own soul. "Yes, most foul! and silence will be a living +tongue to torture me—a never-ending falsehood to degrade—and will cast +over the soul a night that can never know a dawn! Shall I incur this +load of guilt? Will what I gain by the purchase repay me for the +sacrifice of truth and honesty? Shall I not even be happier, ay, and +more noble, as the poor fisher's lad, having done justice, than as Lord +of Lester and Castle More, convicted at my soul's tribunal of guilt, and +knowing who and what I am?"</p> + +<p>Such was the train of reasoning that insensibly passed through his mind, +and to which he gave utterance at this extraordinary crisis of his fate, +and which promised to overthrow his former criminal resolutions.</p> + +<p>"But should I do as my better nature prompts," he continued, after +galloping forward a few moments, reining up and pursuing his former +train of reasoning, "I need not be compelled to take the place of this +Lester in his fishing hut, nor need I to remain within the atmosphere of +Castle More, to meet the scorn of the noble, the insults of the lowborn. +The world is all before me; I have a ready spirit, and a hand to sustain +it, and can carve my own way through it; and with honour, too! Ay, I may +yet win a name with the noblest born!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly in the midst of this expression of his laudable and honourable +purpose he stopped; a gleam of terrible fire shot from his eyes, while +his face glowed with crimson shame.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha! <i>honour!</i> Ha, ha, ha! a <i>name</i>! I had forgot," he repeated, +with an accent bitter, sarcastic, and scornful beyond expression, yet +with a wretched look of hopeless despair and misery; "what has a bastard +to do with <i>honour</i>? What is it to him? I had forgotten I was more than +lowborn! I'faith, 'twas well thought of! So all my lofty feelings go for +nothing." His manner now changed, and his voice rang with passion. "What +have <i>I</i> to do with lofty aspirations, with honour, or a name among men? +Am I not branded with infamy? infamous by birth; attainted by my +father's—yes, for I will acknowledge him—<i>my father's</i> blood! base +through my mother's! What have I to do with honour? 'Tis not for me. I +know it not. Henceforward I will forget its sound and meaning. What have +I to do with honour? Ha, ha, ha! A name? Yes, I will win a <i>name</i>; I +will show myself the true son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand. He shall not be +ashamed of his blood. No, no! I will win a name that, be he on earth or +in hell, shall make him smile and own me as bone of his bone and flesh +of his flesh."</p> + +<p>The scornful energy, fierceness of spirit, and stern determination with +which this guilty resolution was spoken, showed that at a single blow +was crushed all pride of character; that the highborn loftiness of +spirit in which he had been educated had fallen, and that honour was +forever shipwrecked. He felt himself, in anticipation, already an +outcast from the world; a shunned and despised alien; an object of the +scorn and pity of mankind. And such he was. He felt it to his heart's +core. Eventually, perhaps, he might have forgiven the lowness of his +birth, and risen superior to this contingency; but he could not forget +its illegitimacy. What had a bastard to do among men! What had he to do +with the love of highborn maidens? What was to him the luxuries, the +pleasures, the social joys of life? Nothing. The honours of earth were +not for him; "a bastard shall not enter even into the kingdom of +heaven." Who, then, shall condemn the resolution of a proud youth like +Lester, without due cultivation of the moral sense; unrestrained by +religious principle, and thinking, feeling only as a man? Who shall +judge and not pity? Who shall censure and not sympathize with him in his +terrible human trial, and regard with charity even the darkest +aberrations from morality and virtue to which it might lead him; +remembering that he had the moral heroism and godlike virtue to resolve +to become his own executioner; the voluntary herald of the sentence that +should cut him off from rank, title, wealth, yea, love, and brand him as +an exile from his species?</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the array of proofs to substantiate the narrative of +Elpsy; notwithstanding the irresistible connexion existing in his own +mind in support of its truth, yet there lingered in his heart a faint +hope that it might not be as he believed. It became so dreadful when +calmly contemplated, that he began to conceive that it was impossible +for it to be true. There was but one way of confirming it, viz., to +confront Lady Lester, and learn from her lips the truth of what Elpsy +had related in reference to herself. If it should prove correct, then he +resolved finally to decide on the method he should pursue. Gathering up +the reins and pressing his armed heels into his horse's flanks as he +came to this determination, he said, as he dashed forward to Cattle +More, the towers of which were now full in sight,</p> + +<p>"From her lips—Lady Lester's (if I may not call her mother), will I +have corroboration of this foul witch's words. Fly, my good horse; we +will soon learn whether thou and I are to part! But, if it must be so, +no other shall back thee after me, my faithful animal; my own hand shall +slay thee first!"</p> + +<p>The fleet hunter brought him in a few moments to the gate that led into +the courtyard surrounding Castle More. At the sound of his approach it +flew wide open, and, as he passed through, the porter removed his cap +and bent low with servile respect.</p> + +<p>"Ay," he muttered, "'tis so <i>now</i>! but he will be the first to scoff +with a high head, and turn the key upon my back, when it shall be noised +abroad that Robert of Lester is the brat of a peasant—the left-handed +offspring of Hurtel of the Red-Hand!"</p> + +<p>He threw himself from his horse, and cast his bridle to his groom, +giving him orders to hold him in readiness for him to remount at any +moment, and entered beneath the lofty arch of the castle, over which +were elaborately sculptured in stone the ancient arms of Lester. He +rapidly mounted the spacious stairs to a large and lofty hall, hung with +armour, and adorned with figures of mailed warriors, ancestors of that +warlike house. From childhood he had looked upon these with awe and +pride. Now he curled his lip with haughty despair, and strode past them +with a bitter smile. At its farther extremity he tapped lightly at a +door, partly concealed by tapestry of velvet fringed with gold, and +adorned with needlework representing figures and scenes of a scriptural +character. He was commanded to enter. With a beating heart, and choking +with the anticipated confirmation of what left scarce room for a doubt, +and which he had already begun to contemplate as if there were <i>no</i> +question of its truth, he obeyed.</p> + +<p>The room into which he was admitted occupied a small octagonal wing of +the building, and from its single Gothic window commanded a prospect of +the mere below, the distant forest, and a blue, wavy line of hills +skirting the northern horizon. It appeared to be used partly as a +boudoir and library, partly as a chapel: a small altar; a marble font +containing water; a crucifix at one end, with two lighted wax tapers +burning before it, appertaining to it in its more sacred character. It +was hung with brown silk tapestry, on which was worked, in yellow silk, +the history of the martyrdoms of the apostles. Immediately about the +altar the hangings were of black velvet, giving that part of the room a +religious and gloomy character. A rich, but soft, light poured in +through the stained glass of the window, and shed a pleasing glow over +all.</p> + +<p>Near the window, working with her needle flowers of gold on an +altar-piece of snow white satin, sat the mistress of Castle More—"the +Dark Lady of the Rock!" She was of a tall and stately figure, with an +innate air of high birth and breeding: her features were strikingly +noble, and still bore traces of eminent beauty. Her eyes were black and +piercing; and her brows very dark and thick, yet not masculine, but +giving rather softness and intellect to the expression of the eyes. Her +hair was jet black, and confined beneath a close nun's cap, and her +complexion was deep brown, which, with the general dark tinge of her +face and features, had got for her from the peasants the appellation by +which among them she was more commonly designated. The lustre of her +fine eyes had given place to a melancholy hue; and the smile, which in +youth had fascinated the gallant Lord of Lester, was sad and pensive. +Calmness, gentle resignation, and devotion were now the characteristics +of her countenance. She was evidently one who regarded this world as the +path to that of a happier, and looked to that happier for the enjoyment +which, without her deceased lord, she could not find in this. Twelve +years had passed since the news was brought her that he had fallen +before the walls of Saragossa, breathing her name in his last sigh. From +that hour she seldom had been seen to smile; but, shunning all +intercourse with those around her, she communed only with her priest and +her God.</p> + +<p>"I thought I knew the footfall of your horse, Robert, but did not expect +you so soon," she said, in a quiet, subdued tone; "there is a quarter of +an hour yet to sunset, and you seldom return from Castle Cor till it is +very late. And Kate's birthday, too! How is this?"</p> + +<p>She knotted her thread as she spoke, and looked up, showing a +countenance chastened by widowed sorrow, and wearing, as she gazed upon +him, a kindly look, rather than a smile, of welcome. The troubled +expression of his features; his flushed brow; his excited manner, and +nervous tread as he crossed the floor to the window, struck her with +surprise and alarm.</p> + +<p>"What has happened, Robert? your feelings are wounded, I fear. Come and +tell me what that saucy maiden, Kate Bellamont, has been saying to give +you such uneasiness."</p> + +<p>This was spoken with maternal affection, and an approach to playfulness +of manner.</p> + +<p>The young man stood by the window and gazed down into the placid mere, +fixing his eyes vacantly on a fleet of stately swans that sailed on its +glassy breast, and remained silent. He knew not how to commence the +subject—he knew not what to say!</p> + +<p>"Robert, my son," she said, affectionately attempting to take his hand, +"something has gone wrong with you to-day; make a confidant of your +mother!"</p> + +<p>"Would to God thou <i>wert my mother</i>!" he cried, almost suffocating.</p> + +<p>"Thy mother, Robert! what do these words mean?"</p> + +<p>"That my future happiness and misery depend on your lips," he replied, +turning towards her and grasping her hands with strong emotion.</p> + +<p>"Explain!" she said, alarmed and deeply moved by the distress and +earnestness of his manner.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever—(sustain me, Heaven, at this moment," he gasped) "ever, +face to face, meet Hurtel of the Red-Hand?"</p> + +<p>"Robert, what motive, so terrible in its effect on your mind, can have +led you to ask this?"</p> + +<p>"Answer me, my mother—speak, Lady Lester!"</p> + +<p>"Yes!" and she shuddered, as if some painful incident of the past seemed +to press upon her memory.</p> + +<p>"Where? Speak, and tell me truly, if you love me!" he eloquently +entreated.</p> + +<p>"Heaven and the blessed saints preserve you, my son! 'Tis a sad story! +Why would you seek to know this now? Be calm; you are ill—very ill!"</p> + +<p>"No, I am not. Answer me—<i>where</i>?"</p> + +<p>"He took me prisoner, and bore me on horse-back—"</p> + +<p>"Whither?" he cried, impatiently interrupting her.</p> + +<p>"To his tower."</p> + +<p>"And, ere thy husband rescued thee, I was born there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But how heard you this? I knew not that it was known to you, +though I had no motive, surely, in keeping the knowledge of it from +you," she said, with surprise. "Is it this, then, that has so strangely +excited you, my son?"</p> + +<p>"Who attended on thee at that crisis?"</p> + +<p>"Robert—boy!"</p> + +<p>"Answer me, Lady Lester, I conjure thee! in the presence of this holy +symbol of our religion!" he added, with stern solemnity, taking a small +diamond crucifix from her worktable and holding it up before her.</p> + +<p>"A pale young woman: I fear me, a leman of that evil man."</p> + +<p>"Was she a mother?"</p> + +<p>"Who has taught thee to put such questions as these, young man?" she +said, with something of severity in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Answer me, Lady Lester, I pray thee!"</p> + +<p>"She had an infant of three days' old."</p> + +<p>"Was it with her in thy room ere thou becamest a mother?"</p> + +<p>"It was."</p> + +<p>"Did you see it?"</p> + +<p>"No; she kept it swathed up, as if from shame."</p> + +<p>"Who first gave your infant to your arms?"</p> + +<p>"No one. I had fainted, and, when I came to my senses, I found my babe +lying on the bed beside me; and," added the lady, with a mother's light +rekindling in her eyes, "with all a young mother's first love, I clasped +it to my bosom."</p> + +<p>"And this woman and her child?"</p> + +<p>"I never saw them more. That day my noble lord rescued me; and after he +had seen and kissed the babe, I remember he pleasantly said to those +around, 'In losing one I have gained two.' My poor, departed Lester! +Heaven be merciful to his soul!"</p> + +<p>"And I am that babe?"</p> + +<p>"Thou art, my son!" she said, affectionately.</p> + +<p>"I am not!" he cried, fiercely.</p> + +<p>"Not my son?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Not thy son!</i>"</p> + +<p>"What mean you, insolent boy?"</p> + +<p>"In one word, I will tell thee. The guilty paramour of that woman having +resolved to put out of the world the living witness of the wrong he had +done her, threatened also her life when she refused to surrender it. +Prompted by the instinct of maternal love to save it, she laid it, while +thou wert in a state of insensibility, by thy side, and gave thine to +him, palming it off as her own, which, by this stratagem, was saved—and +still lives. <i>I am</i> HE!"</p> + +<p>"Robert of Lester!" cried the lady, rising up and fixing her piercing +eyes, bright with unwonted fire, upon his face, "mock me not; spare thy +mother's heart!"</p> + +<p>"Before God I speak truly. I am <i>not</i> thy son."</p> + +<p>"Holy Virgin! Mercy, Heaven! mercy!" shrieked the lady, and fell nearly +lifeless into his arms.</p> + +<p>For a few seconds there was a deep silence, like that of death, +throughout that little chamber. He had not anticipated this! Absorbed in +the contemplation of his own misery, he had not thought of the blow he +should inflict, by the disclosure of the dreadful secret, upon the mind +of Lady Lester. It suddenly occurred to him that there was yet a balm in +the existence of her true son which might heal the wound he had made. +Filial affection caused him immediately to address, and, by touching +this chord, endeavour to restore her once more to life and hope.</p> + +<p>"Lady!" he said, in a hoarse tone, that—so deep were the feelings that +governed it—startled even himself.</p> + +<p>"Ha! Robert! my son!" she cried, standing up and looking wildly in his +face; "what is this I have heard? Is it a dream—some terrific dream?"</p> + +<p>"Thou hast not dreamed, lady," he said, sadly.</p> + +<p>"No, I have not," she cried, with energy, and with the sudden return of +all her faculties; "no, I have heard thy lips deny me. Thou hast said I +am not thy mother—that thou art not my own child!"</p> + +<p>"Do you remember the tale I have told you, lady?" he asked, calmly.</p> + +<p>"Remember? each word is seared into my heart!"</p> + +<p>"And do you believe me to be your son?"</p> + +<p>"Believe? believe! I know not what to believe. What should I believe! I +believe thou art my own boy—mine, mine, <i>mine</i>!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke she threw her arms with frantic wildness about his neck, +and hugged him convulsively to her bosom.</p> + +<p>"Lady, 'tis vain to shut your eyes to the truth. I am not your son—but +your son lives!"</p> + +<p>"He does, he does live, and I clasp him to my heart," she cried, +energetically, folding him closer to her bosom.</p> + +<p>"Nay—"</p> + +<p>"Nay—<i>nay</i>, but I <i>will</i> hold thee! they shall not tear thee from me! +No, no! they must take my heart too, for its strings are bound all about +thee, and thou art tied too long and too strong to it by the thousand +chords of a mother's love to be parted from it now. Ha, ha! They shall +not part us! Shall they, boy?"</p> + +<p>He looked up into her face and saw that her mind wandered; that reason +was falling from its throne!</p> + +<p>"Mother!" he said, in tones of gentle persuasion: "mother!" and he +affectionately kissed her cheeks; "mother!" he repeated a third time, in +the most touching tones of filial love—"I am, I will be, your own dear +son!"</p> + +<p>The softer feelings of her soul came back; all the mother rushed from +the heart to the eyes; and dissolved, melted by his appeal, she burst +into tears, and wept freely and long upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>At length she became composed; when, embracing his opportunity, though +he had been severely tempted in the interval to let it rest for ever, he +spoke again with cautious delicacy upon the fatal subject. She listened +in silence. She heard him with calmness as he went on and explained to +her the successive steps by which the exchange was effected, and +unfolded to her, link by link, the connected chain of the witch's +narrative. He convinced her—not of its probability, but of its +possibility. Collecting all her strength of mind, she tried to +contemplate the subject with composure. She succeeded: weighed it well, +in all its parts and bearings; nicely balanced each particle, and sifted +each doubtful circumstance. Suddenly she turned to him, and said +eagerly, and with an eye kindling with hope,</p> + +<p>"It may not be so, Robert! She may, in the agitation of the moment, when +both were swathed, have caught up her own child!"</p> + +<p>"At such a moment, above all, would a mother know her own!" he said, +firmly, but looking as if he would, if he dared, still cherish a hope.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; and she must, too, have seen it afterward," she said, in a +tone of deep despondency. "But who told thee this fatal tale?" she +asked, quickly.</p> + +<p>"Elpsy, the sorceress!"</p> + +<p>"Ha!" exclaimed the lady, turning pale. "I fear, then, it is too true! +This fearful woman has knowledge of hidden and wondrous things through +her unholy art. Oh, God! that she had used it to a better end! But, +then, there may have been a mistake! Malice—her hatred of her species +may have caused her to give the facts this frightful turn! Dreadful +being! thus to loose, even by raising a doubt of thy birthright, my last +hold on earthly happiness, and wreck all my hopes in thee. Her face ever +has haunted me as if for evil! It seems to me as if I had seen it in the +dreams of my childhood. I know not how it is, but I never looked upon +her without presentiments of evil and vague sensations of suffering, as +if her very presence was associated with scenes of terror. Now are they +all, indeed, realized! But I will not give thee up, Robert, my son—my +own son!" she cried, frantically! "I will cling to the hope that the +fatal exchange was not made!"</p> + +<p>He suffered her to embrace him again and again, and then, after a few +moments' silence, and speaking in an indifferent tone, he said,</p> + +<p>"Lady Lester! Was thy noble husband of fair complexion?"</p> + +<p>"No, dark as the Spaniard's, yet it was exceedingly rich to the eye with +its bright blood!" she said, with conjugal pride.</p> + +<p>"Were his eyes blue?"</p> + +<p>"Black as night, large and staglike, yet soft as a fawn's in the +gentleness of their expression—but terrible as the eagle's when +roused."</p> + +<p>"Were his locks golden?"</p> + +<p>"The plumage of the raven not more black and glossy!"</p> + +<p>"Was he tall of stature and strongly-framed?"</p> + +<p>"Scarce even as tall as thyself now; his frame was light and elegant, +but manly: to sum him up in all," she said, carried away by the prideful +recollections awakened by these allusions to him, "he was a statesman; a +patron of letters and the arts; a gallant knight, a brave soldier, and +an accomplished scholar: he was called the handsomest man of his time: +above all, he was a Christian!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Am I like him?</i>" asked Lester, startling her with the depth of his +voice, and at once showing her the drift of his seemingly aimless +questions. "Is my stature slight? are these locks raven? are these eyes +black? is the hue of the Spaniard on my cheek?"</p> + +<p>The lady shrunk from his words, covered her face with her hands, and +despairingly shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Say," he added, with increasing energy, "is there the faintest +lineament in my face—a scarce perceptible cast of the eye—a bend of +the brow—a movement of the lip—a motion of arm or finger—aught in my +carriage, walk, or voice, that reminds thee of thy noble husband?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, no! Stop, stop, you will kill me!"</p> + +<p>"One word more! Answer me truly, Lady Lester, as you stand before +Heaven, have I not the same fair skin—the same light flowing hair—the +same blue eyes—the stature, the very voice—ay, the very selfsame frown +of Hurtel of the Red-Hand?"</p> + +<p>"Ha! now I see it! Oh, Jesu Maria! Thou art his very image! Mercy, +mercy, mercy!" and, with a shriek wrung from a breaking heart, she fell, +as if dead, upon the floor.</p> + +<p>For a few moments he stood gazing upon her with the cool, decisive smile +of a man for whom fate has done her worst, and who defies and laughs to +scorn her farther triumphs over his soul. His fixed countenance was more +fearful than phrensied agitation or tremendous wrath. It was the dark, +still cloud that rests upon the crater ere the volcano bursts into +flame. Gradually, as he gazed on that beloved countenance, pale and +deathly in its aspect, he sunk on his knees beside her, took her +insensible hands within his own, and kissed her unconscious brow, while +fast and thick dropped the heavy tears upon her face.</p> + +<p>"Mother, for mother thou art, indeed!" said he, feelingly, "I would not +have struck this blow to thy heart; but I could not stand before thee a +deceiver, an impostor! I could not encounter the affectionate glance of +thy pure eyes, meet thy gaze of maternal love, and know they were not +mine. Yet thou art my mother! all the mother I have ever known. Have I +not drawn life from that breast? Has not my infant head been pillowed +from the first on that maternal bosom? Didst thou not hear me when my +infant lips first lisped thy maternal name? Hast thou ever known other +son than me—I other parent? Thou <i>art</i> my mother! I <i>am</i> thy son, +though the blood of strangers, whom I have never known, flows in my +plebeian veins! Mother, we must part! The house of Lester may not have a +baseborn lord! Would to God I could have turned aside this stroke from +thee! But it is past! Henceforward thou art nothing to me—I nothing to +thee. Farewell, farewell, my own, my beloved mother!"</p> + +<p>He bent over her, and affectionately and passionately embraced her, +pressing his lips to hers, and bathing her face with his hot tears. She +seemed to be awakened to sudden consciousness by the act; and throwing +her arms about him, she faintly articulated, "My son! my son!" and +relapsed into insensibility. He clasped her unconscious form in one more +long embrace, kissed her for the last time, and gently disengaged +himself from her arms.</p> + +<p>His movements became now direct and decided. He approached the +escritoir, and hastily wrote on a leaf of her missal,</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Lady Lester—nay, <i>mother</i>—<i>dearest</i> MOTHER! I have just +taken my last leave of you. I go forth into the world and +commit my fortune to its currents. +Baseborn—guilty-born—attainted by my father's crimes, I am +unworthy your love or a place in your thoughts. Henceforward +let me be nothing to thee! Forget that I have ever existed. +Though I depart, yet is Lester not without an heir! you not +without a son! <i>Thy</i> child thou wilt find with the fisherman +Meredith, at Castle Cor. He is the perfect semblance of thy +husband, Robert, Lord of Lester, as you have described him to +me; and, when your eyes behold him, your heart will at once +claim him. He is proud and high-spirited, and worthy of the +name he is destined to bear. Seek him out; and may he fill the +place in your heart from which I am for ever excluded. +Farewell, my mother, for other mother than thee have I never +known—will never know!</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Robert</span>,</p> + +<p>"<i>Son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand</i>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He placed the paper open before the crucifix, where she was wont to +pray, and was himself unconsciously in the act of kneeling to seek a +blessing from Heaven, when he hastily recovered his erect attitude, +saying, with a thrilling laugh of reckless hopelessness,</p> + +<p>"Never more do I bend the knee to Heaven! What have I to do with +prayer?"</p> + +<p>He approached the door, and then turned back to gaze an instant with a +melancholy look on the prostrate form of Lady Lester:</p> + +<p>"Nay, I must not leave thee so!" he said: returning, he tenderly raised +her up, and used means to restore her.</p> + +<p>After a few moments she revived and gazed wildly around her.</p> + +<p>"Robert, is it you? are you beside me? Oh, my son, I have had <i>such</i> a +tale of horror revealed to me as I slept."</p> + +<p>She pressed her fingers upon her eyelids as if to recall what appeared +to her a dark dream. As she did so he stole from her towards the +door—lingered—turned back—severed a bright lock from his temples, +pressed it to his lips, and placed it within her hand; he then hastily +kissed her pale forehead, saying, half aloud,</p> + +<p>"<i>Here I bury all human feelings!</i>"</p> + +<p>The next moment he precipitately fled from the room.</p> + +<p>Roused by the sound of the closing door, she shrieked his name, and, +hastening through the dark hall, called in tones of distressing anguish,</p> + +<p>"Robert, my son! my boy! my dear boy! leave not your mother desolate!"</p> + +<p>He stopped his ears to the sounds, quickened his steps, and threw +himself into his saddle.</p> + +<p>"'Tis full late, my lord, to ride forth alone," said the groom, as he +held the stirrup.</p> + +<p>"Lord me not, Tyrell. If thou hast chanced to be born in wedlock, thou +hast better blood in thy veins than I!"</p> + +<p>"How mean you, my lord?" said the astonished menial.</p> + +<p>"Didst ever hold stirrup for a fisher's son?"</p> + +<p>"No, my lord!"</p> + +<p>"Thou liest. For thou hast but now done so. Your lord has found out that +he is but a fisher-woman's brat; and a fisher's brat is about to find +out that he is a lord."</p> + +<p>"You speak in riddles, my lord."</p> + +<p>"Set thy wits, and those of yonder gaping fellows, to work to unriddle +them," was the reply of the degraded youth as he buried his spurs deep +in his horse's flanks. "Give the compliments of the son of Hurtel of the +Red-Hand to your new lord, knaves, and say he has taken the liberty to +borrow his hunter for a time!" he cried, turning round in the saddle as +he rode off.</p> + +<p>The next moment he dashed across the drawbridge and disappeared in the +twilight gloom of the forest, leaving the wonder-stricken retainers to +pick the kernel from the difficult nut he had left them to crack; and, +by putting their sage heads together, with the aid of some expressions +dropped by the frantic Lady Lester, they were not long in arriving at a +shrewd guess at the truth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Guiltless am I, but bear the penalty!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Wild was the place, but wilder his despair:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Low shaggy rocks that o'er deep caverns scowl<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echo his groans: the tigress in her lair<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Starts at the sound, and answers with a growl."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>Zóphiël.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">"Hurl'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the topmost height of his ambition,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It became his ambition to mate him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the lowest."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The night was fast approaching as the desolate outcast entered the +forest. He hailed the gathering darkness with joy, for it was in unison +with the gloom of his soul. The howl of the wildest storm would have +been music to his ears! He could have mocked with shouts of gladness the +rattling thunder, and played with the shafts of the glittering +lightning.</p> + +<p>He rode deep into the wood—whither he cared not so that he left behind +him all that he had lost. For half an hour he thought of nothing but +urging his horse forward at the top of his speed. He banished thought, +reflection, sensation. He dared not think. He found relief only in +animal action and rapid motion, and rode furiously onward without +knowing or regarding the course taken by his horse, who instinctively +followed the dark windings of the forest paths.</p> + +<p>At length the moon rose and shone down upon him through the tree tops. +Its light seemed to restore him to himself. He checked his rapid course, +and gazed at her pale orb; as he looked, reflection returned, and he +began to realise his situation, and to taste the full bitterness of the +cup of which he had drunken. The past, the present, the future, flashed +with all their naked colours upon his mind. The picture his imagination +painted with the hues they lent was too appalling to contemplate; and, +as if the fabled influence of the planet, the soft light of which had +restored him to reflection, had acted upon his fevered brain, he was +suddenly converted into a maniac. He rose upright in his stirrups, and +shouted, shrieked, till the forests rang again. He shook his clinched +fists at the placid moon, that seemed smilingly to mock his woes. He +spurred on his horse till the animal groaned with pain, and plunged +madly forward with his phrensied rider! He would then rein him up, and, +gnashing his teeth, lift his hands above his head, and curse God and +man. Then he would again shout with phrensy, and gore his steed till he +became furious and snorted with rage, and ride once more forward with +the speed of the wind.</p> + +<p>These passions were too violent to last. His wild excitement gradually +subsided; his horse was suffered to move at his own pace; and, with his +arms folded moodily, and his chin drooping on his breast, he gave +himself up to the stern and gloomy thoughts of his situation, and, for a +time, buried in the depths of his own meditations, seemed to be wholly +unconscious of external objects. He rode on in this way for more than an +hour, when he was aroused by the sudden stopping of his horse. He looked +up and saw before him a dilapidated gate, which barred his farther +progress. Beyond, visible by the full flood of moonlight, was a lonely +square tower, flanked by a single wing, topped with a battlement. He +listened, and thought he heard the dashing of waves upon the beach. The +whole scene was new to him! Where could his faithful steed have borne +him? From the moment he had left Castle More behind all had seemed like +a blank to him. How far, and whither, could he have ridden? He looked up +at the moon. It had not risen when he left Castle More, yet it now rode +high in the heavens! By her position it was near midnight.</p> + +<p>Indifferent where he wandered, he leaped the sunken gate, and rode up to +the tower. It was not in ruins, yet wore an aspect of desolation and +neglect. Its loneliness harmonized with his own situation, and was +grateful to him. He rode round the angle of a buttress, when the sea +suddenly opened before him, and he saw that the tower stood on a rock +thirty or forty feet above it, and that where it overhung the water +projected a small balcony. A sudden thought flashed upon his mind as he +discovered this.</p> + +<p>"It must be!" he exclaimed, with animation; "'tis the tower of Hurtel of +the Red-Hand! This moat, yonder ruined drawbridge, its situation, and, +above all, that balcony, one and all, identify it with Elpsy's +description. By the bones of my red-handed sire! thou knewest what thou +wert about to bring me hither, sagacious animal!" he added, +sarcastically, patting the noble horse on the neck; "'tis fitting I +should take possession of my father's towers with the inheritance of his +name. Ha, ha! I am not quite a vagabond!" and he laughed scornfully.</p> + +<p>He started with surprise, for the laugh seemed to be echoed from the +tower.</p> + +<p>"'Twas a human voice, or else a spirit mocking! If demons do rejoice +over the miseries of mankind, they may well hold a jubilee in honour of +mine. Laugh on, imps! I am a fit subject for your merriment!" and he +laughed with nervous derision.</p> + +<p>Again he started, for he was answered by a laugh so wild that it chilled +his blood. The sound seemed to proceed from an upper room in the wing of +the building.</p> + +<p>"Fiend or flesh, it shall rue this merriment!" he cried, leaping to the +ground and hastening to the door of the tower.</p> + +<p>It was ajar; he dashed it open with his heel, and found himself in a +long, low hall, at the extremity of which was the window that opened on +the balcony, through which he caught a glimpse of the glimmering sea. By +the light it afforded he crossed the hall, and, standing on the balcony, +glanced an instant over the vast moonlit expanse of water, and then, +with a strange interest, the whole of Elpsy's story rushing vividly to +his mind, he shudderingly cast his eyes down the rock which stood in +deep shadow. Even by the indistinct light he could discern the sharp +projection on which the garments of the infant had caught in its +descent, and not four feet distant from him, on a level with the window, +was the rock on which the fisher's daughter—<i>his mother</i>—was in the +act of springing, when hurled into the sea by—<i>his father</i>. On that +very balcony had he stood to do the deed! Strange, wonderful, +overpowering were his sensations. He held his breath with the intensity +of his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Here," said he, mentally, placing his hand on the balustrade, "has lain +my unknown mother's hand; it warmed this senseless iron, which can give +me back no warmth in return. Here pressed the foot of my father! Here +they parted! How! ah, <i>how</i>? Where are they now? Where is he? does he +live? Where is she? A fearful thought forces itself upon me that I dare +not dwell upon! This strange tale of the sorceress; her wonderful and +minute knowledge, that could be only known to the actor; her emotion at +different portions of the story; a hundred things, light as air, that +have insinuated themselves into my mind, have made me think she might +be—fiends! it will out!—my mother! But, then, she told me that she was +dead. Well, be it so, yet I can fall no lower! Were my mother living, +could her lot be better than this fearful weird woman's? Ha, ha, ha! I +have no pride now!" he added, with a hollow laugh of mingled despair and +phrensy.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha!" he heard repeated, in tones so unearthly that his heart +ceased to beat, and a thrill like ice shot through his veins.</p> + +<p>The next moment he was at the top of a flight of steps leading from one +side of the hall to an upper room, from which the voice seemed to +proceed. A stream of moonlight, falling through a window, showed him a +door on the landing-place, which he threw open. He found himself in a +small room, lighted by a lattice of crimson-stained glass looking south +towards the sea: into it the moon, in its western circle, had just began +to shine, its red-died beams tinting the twilight of the chamber with +the hue of blood. Seated high in the recess of the window, he discovered +the dark figure of a female; her knees drawn up to her chin, and her +hands clasped together around them. As he opened the door she leaped +down like a cat and sprang towards him. The sanguinary light of the room +had affected his imagination, not untinged with the superstitious fears +of his time; but this sudden apparition, though he had prepared himself +to see something either human or supernatural, caused him to start back +with an exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Robert of Lester! I welcome you to the room which first +welcomed you to the light," said she, in a voice which he at once +recognised as that of the sorceress.</p> + +<p>The singular information her words conveyed suspended for the moment all +other emotions in his mind save curiosity at finding himself so +unexpectedly in the chamber where he was born. He gazed about him for a +few moments under the influence of the strange thoughts and emotions the +circumstance called up, and then turning towards her, said,</p> + +<p>"Why art thou here, wicked woman? Didst thou anticipate my presence, and +art thou come to mock the misery thou hast wrought?"</p> + +<p>"I fled lest thou shouldst do a deed of blood thy hand might rue. I fled +not for myself, but for thee."</p> + +<p>"You need not fear me now. There exists no longer any motive for +secrecy," he said, gloomily.</p> + +<p>"How mean you?" she eagerly asked.</p> + +<p>"Ere to-morrow's sun, 'twill be in every boor's mouth, from Castle Cor +to Kinsale, that I am no longer Lord of Lester!"</p> + +<p>"Speak—explain!" she said, hoarsely, grasping his arm with both hands, +and breathing quick and hard.</p> + +<p>"I have told the Lady Lester that he whom she thought her son was not +her son," he firmly replied.</p> + +<p>"Ha! <i>thou</i>—thou hast told thy shame? Speak, Robert More—have you +breathed to mortal ear what I have told thee of thy birth?" she +demanded, with fearful energy of speech and manner.</p> + +<p>"I have. 'Tis known to every servitor from hall to stable!"</p> + +<p>"Didst give thy name?"</p> + +<p>"Robert, son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand."</p> + +<p>"And this did thine own lips, of thine own free will?"</p> + +<p>"Never man spoke freer!"</p> + +<p>"Then hell be thy portion! Accursed be ye, Robert Hurtel! Had I thought +thou wouldst have become the trumpeter of thy shame—had I believed thou +wouldst have breathed to mortal ear thine infamy, I would have seared my +tongue with hot iron ere I would have told thee the secret of thy birth. +The infernal demon has prompted thee to do this! Didst thou not seek to +slay me, that thou shouldst be the sole keeper of the foul secret?"</p> + +<p>"I did, at the moment, but thought better of it!"</p> + +<p>"Base! lowborn! miserable that thou art! Why was not my tongue withered +ere I told thee this?"</p> + +<p>"Would to God it had been, woman. What was thy motive in ever letting it +go from thy own breast?"</p> + +<p>"Love of mischief—hatred of mankind; and to lower thy pride, knowing +from what dunghill thou wert sprung. But I did not think thou wouldst +use my secret thus; and wreck the gifts that—that thy mother's +stratagem had purchased, and after secured to thee by years of absence, +privation, and misery."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"Did she not, for thy sake, keep the secret of thy birth—coming not +even near thee—when, on the ninth day, Hurtel of the Red-Hand being +gone over the sea, she might safely have claimed thee of Lady Lester, +and given her back her own!" she said, vehemently.</p> + +<p>"Rather for her own sake—from maternal pride at having her son sit +among nobles," was the stern reply. "And if these were her motives, as I +doubt not they were, at what price did she purchase this honour for her +child? The price of the deepest guilt, by keeping the true heir from his +birthright. I did not view it in this light before. By the cross! I am a +well-born! a guilty mother, too! 'Tis well you told me she was no more; +I should care little to meet her in my present mood."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the woman sunk her head upon her bosom, and deep groans +escaped her, whether of defeated hopes, of sorrow, of shame, or of +remorse, he knew not. Suddenly he laid his hand upon her arm, and looked +impressively in her face, and said,</p> + +<p>"Woman! who is my mother?"</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt never know!"</p> + +<p>"Art <i>thou</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha! <i>I?</i> Do I look like the gentle maiden that won the love of +Hurtel of the Red-Hand? Are these matted locks tresses of gold? Is this +complexion like the blended ivory and rose? Is my voice soft and full of +love? Are my eyes like the gazelle's, and gentle as the dove's in their +expression? Is this hideous form such as would lure youth to embrace it? +Wilt thou acknowledge thyself the son of 'the witch'—'the +sorceress'—'the beldame Elpsy' (such were thy gentle terms)—the +beleagued with demons—the familiar of the evil one—the—"</p> + +<p>"No, no! Avaunt!" he shouted, with a furious gesture; "thank God! I am +not sunk so low as that!"</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! Thy pride is fallen far indeed when it can enter thy thoughts, +and even go from thy lips, that Elpsy of the Tower gave thee birth. Oh, +ho! I am well avenged in this for thy mad folly in throwing away thy +earldom. Oh, how I do hate thee for that act! for it thou shalt never +know peace in body or soul!"</p> + +<p>"I defy thee, woman, and all thy arts!"</p> + +<p>"Yet the tales of my deeds have made thy human soul to shrink! Beware +how thou speakest lightly of what thou knowest naught, and which is hid +from mortal ken!" she added, with mysterious and solemn earnestness. +"Whither turn thy footsteps now, Lord of Lester?" she asked, with +chilling irony. "Doubtless thou hast come to take possession of thy fair +lands here. They are not so broad, indeed, as the domains of Castle +More, and thy castle needs some furnishing and repair. Doubtless thou +wouldst like to fit it up ere thou bringest home to be its mistress the +fair Kate of Bellamont!"</p> + +<p>"Breathe that name again, woman, and I will take thy life!"</p> + +<p>"Thou art now thy very father's image!" she said, with derision. "Even +in this moonlight I can see that devilish shape of the eyes that his +were wont to assume when he meditated murder! Ho! I dare to say thou +wilt be like him in more than the glance of the eye. Dost mean to follow +in his footsteps, and head a band of lawless insurgents; or wilt thou, +as 'tis said his brother did—"</p> + +<p>"His brother?"</p> + +<p>"Thou didst not know before thou hadst once an uncle? So: thou shalt no +longer be kept in ignorance. He was a bold, bad man, and therein true to +his race; was called Black Hurtel, and roved the Danish seas a daring +bucanier. 'Twas said he could float his ship in the blood of the men he +had slain! He was killed on the French coast in a fierce fight; but his +vessel was captured, and his dead body, with his living crew (for the +captors would not leave one alive to blacken the face of the earth), +were sunk in the deep sea. Perhaps, like him, thou wilt take to the +wave, and carve thy fortune in blood! Blood is sweet, and there is music +to the ear in its gurgle where it is shed with a free hand! Look you," +she said, pointing through the window; "the sea is spread wide before +you, and seems to invite thee with its glancing waves. It knows not of +thy disgrace, nor has it voices to whisper thy infamy; while every bird, +tree, and stone will nod and gossip to one another as thou passest by—</p> + +<p>"'There goes he who <i>was</i> the Lord of Lester!'"</p> + +<p>"Woman, you madden me!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," she continued, in the same cutting tone, while he paced the +little chamber with a phrensied step, "thou wilt rather come and share +my tower i'the ruin, if the new Lord of Lester will give thee leave; +doubtless he will honour thee by asking thee to hold his stirrup on +occasion. But, if thou wilt rather habit in this tower, I will be thy +seneschal. I love its old gray walls! many is the moonlight night I've +sat in the window and looked on the sea, as it danced, and glimmered, +and seemed to beck and nod, and laugh when I laughed. Ha, ha! I have had +brave times here, gossipping with the sea!"</p> + +<p>As she said this she looked from the window, and suddenly her eye seemed +to be arrested by some unexpected sight. She gazed for a moment eagerly, +and then said, in the enthusiastic tone and manner of a sibyl, skilfully +assumed with the tact of one accustomed to turn to her own purpose every +passing circumstance,</p> + +<p>"Look thou, Robert Hurtel! I have had pity on thy state, and have, by +the art thou hast dared to scorn, brought from many a far league away, +to thy tower's foot, a ship to waft thee and thy fortunes! See how +proudly it stands in towards the land, looking like a great white +spirit, with the moon glancing on its canvass wings. Oh, 'tis a brave +bark!"</p> + +<p>The young man (her words taunting, malicious, and hateful as they were, +not having been without some effect in influencing him in determining on +his future course) sprang alertly to the window and gazed with interest +on the approaching vessel. It was about a third of a mile from the land, +standing directly towards the tower before a light breeze. It was +apparently about seventy tons burden, short and heavily built, rising +very high out of the water, with a very lofty stern. It had three masts, +each consisting of one entire stick, tapering to a slender point, and +terminated by a little triangular flag. On each mast was hoisted a huge, +square lugger's sail, which, with a short jib, stretched from the head +of the foremast to a stunted bowsprit, and a sort of tri-sail or spanker +aft worked without a boom, was all the canvass she carried or that +belonged to her peculiar class of craft.</p> + +<p>He watched it with eager attention as it came bounding landward, +flinging the glittering spray from its round bows, its wet sides shining +in the moonlight as if sheathed with plates of silver. A chaos of hopes, +wishes, and conflicting resolutions agitated his mind as it approached; +after a short struggle, he resolved to throw himself on board if her +master would receive him, and depart with her wherever the winds should +waft her. Having come to this determination, he watched her motions with +additional interest; and when, after coming in so close to the shore +that he could discern that her decks were crowded with men, she wore +round and stood northward, his heart sank within him; and, dashing his +hand through the crimson glass, he was about to hail, when Elpsy checked +him:</p> + +<p>"Hold! see you not they are only coming up to wind to lie to! Look! they +are already swinging round their clumsy sails."</p> + +<p>The vessel came up slowly and heavily to the wind, and, by means of her +mainsail, lay as still as if at anchor. In a few moments afterward, as +they eagerly watched, they saw a boat let down, and several men descend +over the side into it. He uttered a joyful exclamation when he saw this +movement; and, without reflecting upon the character of the vessel, or +the object it could have in view in landing on so retired a coast at +such a time, he only thought of it as a means of bearing him from the +hateful shore, and perhaps opening for him some path to action and +mental excitement.</p> + +<p>"See that flash of light on her deck! There is another gleam!" exclaimed +Elpsy.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the glancing of the moonbeams on steel!" he replied, in a +gratified tone.</p> + +<p>"There is a sound a man should know!" she said again.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the ringing of arms!" he replied, in the same animated manner.</p> + +<p>"What think you they are, young man?" asked she, with a peculiar smile, +laying her hand impressively on his arm.</p> + +<p>"I know not, nor care, so I may cast my fortune with them!"</p> + +<p>"Thou art, of a truth, thy father's son!"</p> + +<p>"And, by the cross, he shall not be ashamed to own me!" he replied, in a +desperate and determined tone.</p> + +<p>"I will tell thee what they are—for I have passed my life by the +seaside, and know the nature, and have learned to know the occupation +and nation of each ship by its fashion, as I would tell a tradesman's by +his garb."</p> + +<p>"What, then, is the nation of this barque?"</p> + +<p>"He is a Dane."</p> + +<p>"Its nature?"</p> + +<p>"To sail in shallow waters, and run before the wind."</p> + +<p>"Its business on the sea?"</p> + +<p>"To rob, pillage, and slay!"</p> + +<p>"Ha, a bucanier?"</p> + +<p>"A Dane."</p> + +<p>"'Tis but another name for pirate in these waters. By the cross! when I +saw the glitter of steel in the hands of its crew, I half guessed it."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou now link thy fate with theirs?"</p> + +<p>"Am I not fit to be their comrade? Are they outcasts; what am I? Are +they branded with shame; who am I? Has society cast them from its bosom; +was I not born in bastardy? Am I not fallen lower than the lowest he +among them who hath been born in wedlock? Why should I hesitate to mate +with my fellows? What has the honourable world to invite me to? What if +I could bury in oblivion from the reach of my own thoughts the black +stain upon my birth and hitherto noble name, and, under a new one, with +a strong heart and virtuous resolves, throw myself into the arena of +honourable contest, and should succeed in winning a name that men would +do homage to—should I not wear it, feeling that a sword was suspended +by a hair above my head?"</p> + +<p>"How mean you?" she asked, struck with the impassioned and despairing +tones of his voice.</p> + +<p>"I mean that, if, after carrying the secret like a living serpent coiled +in my heart for years, I should, without suspicion, chance to win a fair +name, the time at length would come when some one, with a too faithful +memory, would recognise the bastard Hurtel—the quondam Lester—in the +successful adventurer; and then—No, no!" he said, bitterly, "no, no! It +may not be! The presence of this ship points me to the course I should +pursue. I obey the fate that has directed it hither!"</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou become a pirate?" she said, with a natural and feeling +manner, as if prompted by some suddenly-awakened interest in him. +"Yesterday Lord of Lester—to-day a pirate!"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Curse the tongue that told thee of thy birth! But," she continued, +muttering with her usual quick tones and nervousness of manner, "it was +so pleasant to tell him, for his father's sake, he looked so like him! +And then it was a pleasure to humble his pride, which he made even me +the victim of: and so, as my master would have it, I could not, for the +life o' me, longer help telling him the love-story I had kept so many +years in my heart for him. Ho! ho! ha! ha! and a pleasant tale it was, +too!" she added in that phrensied strain which seemed to be most natural +to her.</p> + +<p>While she was speaking the boat, which appeared to be full of men, put +off from the vessel, and they could distinctly hear the command to "let +fall," followed by the splash of the falling sweeps.</p> + +<p>"Give way!" in a stern, deep tone, came directly afterward distinctly to +their ears; and, shooting out from the vessel's side, the boat moved in +towards the cliff.</p> + +<p>As it neared the shore, one of the men stood up in the stern, and was +heard to command them to cease pulling; and, for a few seconds +afterward, he seemed to be reconnoitring the beach. Apparently satisfied +with his scrutiny, he ordered them to give way again, steered directly +to the foot of the tower, and skilfully run the boat alongside of the +rock almost beneath the window.</p> + +<p>"Now lay off an oar's length from the shore, and wait for me," said the +one who had steered the boat, and who appeared to be the leader. "Be on +the alert against surprise, though there's little fear of any one being +within a league of the old tower. Carl, you and Evan take the coil of +rigging and come with me."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he leaped on the projection of the rock; then measuring the +cliff with his eye, he placed his cutlass between his teeth and began to +ascend. By the aid of numerous fissures and bold spurs jutting out from +the sides he reached the top, closely followed by his men. Here he +paused a moment, resting on his cutlass, and looked about him. He stood +directly beneath the window from which Elpsy and the young man were +looking, and was plainly visible to them. He was a short, stout-built +man, with a ruddy complexion, browned by the winds and suns of every +clime. His hair was gray, and hung in straight locks about his ears; +and, judging by the deeply-indented lines of his weather-worn visage, +his age was about fifty; yet his compactly-built figure, his light +motions, and athletic appearance, gave indications of many years less. +His countenance, turned upward to their full gaze in his survey of the +tower, wore an expression of careless jovialty, united with desperate +hardihood. The most striking characteristic of his face was a thick red +mustache covering his upper lip. He had on his head an immense fur cap, +and wore a short, full frock of a dark shade, secured at the waist by a +broad belt, stuck with large, heavy pistols of the kind known, at the +period, as the hand-harquebuss. He wore, also, voluminous breeches of +buff leather, buckled at the knee, red cloth gaiters, and high-quartered +shoes with pointed toes, and garnished with sparkling buckles of immense +size. By his side hung the empty sheath of the sabre on which he leaned. +His men, save the fur cap, for which they substituted red woollen ones +of a conical form, and the frock, instead of which they wore long +jackets, were—breeches, buckler, shoes, and gaiters—his counterpart in +apparel.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the very spot I once knew it! The unchanged sea—the rock—this +gray tower! It seems as if but a day, and not eighteen years, had passed +since I banqueted here with Hurtel of the Red-Hand," he said to himself, +gazing round with revived recollections at each object. "Well, strange +things have happened since! He is dead, or an exile with a price on his +head; all our brave band scattered; and I, only, am left to stand once +more on this familiar spot. The old rookery looks desolate enough, and +seems to sympathize with its master's fortunes! Open your lantern, Carl, +and let us enter! This moon will scarce afford light where I wish to +penetrate! Heaven grant no evil spirit haunts here to keep guard over +the treasure I have come to carry off! But, if it still remains, I will +e'en cross blades with the devil for it, and win it, will he, nil he."</p> + +<p>He passed as he spoke round the tower, and the next moment the listeners +heard the heavy footsteps of the three men echoing through the hall. The +young man was about to spring from the room to meet them, when Elpsy +held him back.</p> + +<p>"Would you run upon death! They would sheathe their cutlasses in your +body ere you could open your lips. Hold, and hush! There is time enough. +We will see what their purpose is. I have half a guess, from his words, +at their business here."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Hurtel of the Red-Hand, the story goes, had secreted in some part of +the tower large sums of silver and gold, with which to aid the +conspiracy he headed. He had neither time nor means to take it away with +him, and doubtless it still remains here, and this bucanier is +acquainted with the secret."</p> + +<p>"Ha!" he exclaimed, with surprise, "who told thee this?"</p> + +<p>"Rumour, said I not!" she replied, after a moment's hesitation.</p> + +<p>"And how should these know where to look for what has been concealed for +years?"</p> + +<p>"Hark!" she cried, as a heavy noise reached them from a distant part of +the building, "they have opened the trap of the tower, and will descend +into the vaults. He is one that knows well the place."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless, from his language, some one of my hospitable parent's +fellow-chiefs, who used to revel here in the days you tell of. I will +see what they do, and take opportunity of forming good fellowship with +my father's friend. Nay—but let me go, woman!"</p> + +<p>He broke from her as she attempted to detain him, and, cautiously +opening the door, descended with a cautious and rapid step into the +hall. At its opposite extremity he saw, by the glimmer of a lamp held by +one of them, the two men standing over an opening in the floor, and +their leader just in the act of letting himself down into the +subterranean chamber beneath.</p> + +<p>"Hold the ladder steady, Evan!" he said. "Thrust your lantern down at +arm's length, Carl, so that I can see where to place my foot. Ha! there, +I find bottom," he added, his voice sounding hollow from the depth; +"'tis dark and damp as a Calcutta blackhole! Faith, it's more like a +tomb than an honest underground apartment. I hope I shall not see +Hurtel's ghost guarding his box. Tumble down here, boys, and be ready to +hand above decks as soon as I find out where it's stowed away!"</p> + +<p>The others, leaving their cutlasses behind, followed him into the vault. +Their heads had no sooner disappeared than the young man crossed the +hall with a free step to the trapdoor, and looked fearlessly after them. +He had from the first, when the vessel came in sight, deliberately +resolved to attach himself to the party; and now the frank, blunt manner +of the old sea-rover struck his fancy, and confirmed him in his +resolution. But he was at a loss how to make his intentions known—how +first to address men ready to shed blood on the instant without +question, and among whom, at such a time, the very discovery of his +presence might be fatal ere he could make known to the chief his +intentions. While watching them as they groped about through the vast +vault, an idea, characteristic of his now reckless disposition, +suggested by the ghostly apprehensions of the leader, entered his mind. +He paused for an instant, and then, favoured by the darkness, dropped +noiselessly into the chamber. With a step that gave back no sound, he +approached them as they moved in an opposite direction from him, +throwing the light all forward, and waited the opportunity he had chosen +for discovering himself.</p> + +<p>"'Tis twelve paces to the south, eight paces to the east, and six paces +to the west again—which will bring me to the wall, and on the very +stone Red Hurtel and I placed over the gold," said the captain; "here +are twelve paces, well told!" he added, placing his foot immediately +afterward emphatically on the stone floor.</p> + +<p>These words at once gave the youth a key to the course he should adopt. +His quick eye, as the leader turned to pace east, comprehended the +remaining angle at a glance, and, gliding away by the wall, he moved +cautiously and noiselessly along till he felt his foot press upon a +loose slab. He knew he must be on or near the spot; and drawing himself +to his full height, and unconsciously assuming a stern and resolute +look, called up by the novelty and danger of his situation, he waited +the angular advance of the captain, who, with his men, was too intent on +accurately marking his steps to look up even for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Now west!" said the leader; and, turning as he spoke, he had counted on +to four, <i>five</i>, and was about to take the last step to the wall, when, +pronounced in a deep tone, that rung hollow through the vault, he heard +the word,</p> + +<p>"Forbear!"</p> + +<p>He lifted his eyes and fell back upon his men as the lantern shone full +upon the object, exclaiming,</p> + +<p>"The ghost of Hurtel, by all that's good! Evan, come back here, you +villain! Carl, give me that lantern, coward!" he shouted to his men, who +turned and fled with affright.</p> + +<p>He caught the light from the hand of the terrified Dane, and turned upon +this apparition, which, notwithstanding his coolness, had not a little +disconcerted him. He held the lamp, though standing off at a chosen +distance, to the face of the supposed ghost, and said, with an odd +mixture of natural boldness and superstitious fear,</p> + +<p>"'Fore Heaven, comrade, you have grown full young in the other world! +But there is no mistaking the cut of your eye. Faith, but you can smile, +I see," he added, more freely. "There's no more mistaking your smile +than your black, ugly frown! So, suppose we shake hands, and, after we +get the chest aboard—for they say you don't want this sort of ballast +in the seas down below—why, we'll empty a can together, and spin a yarn +about old times before the cock crows!"</p> + +<p>As the intrepid old sea-rover spoke, he extended his rough hand to grasp +that of the other. The young man hesitated to take it, for he was scarce +sure of his reception when it should be discovered that he was flesh and +blood.</p> + +<p>"Never mind if your fingers be a little cold or so, 'tis the nature o' +ghosts. I can give you a grasp that'll put warmth into 'em, and last you +till you get back where you hail from. Come, old friend, give us your +digits, just to say you ain't offended at the liberty I am about to take +with your chest o' sparklers; and afterward I will just thank you to +step one side a bit!"</p> + +<p>The young man smiled at the intrepidity of the seaman, and took the +proffered hand.</p> + +<p>"Warm! by the bones of St. Nick! The old fellow below has been keeping +you over a hot fire, messmate. Well, you must confess, you lived a +wonderfully wicked life; and so, as the priests say, the devil will fry +it out of you. Sorry for you, on my word! Will lay by fifty of these +guilders in prayers for your soul! So take heart. Now just step aside +off that slab, which you stick to as if 'twas a tombstone, and we'll +bear a hand and bouse this old box out in the snapping of a bolt-rope."</p> + +<p>"I am no spirit, but a habitant of this world, like thyself!" he said, +with firmness, and a straight-forward frankness that he wisely +calculated would have its effect; "I am a young adventurer, without name +or family, weal or wealth. I would take service with thee, and follow +thy fortunes on the sea!"</p> + +<p>The bucanier listened with surprise; and as he became convinced, from +his words and manner, that he was no shade from the land of spirits, +which shadowy beings he seemed to fear no more than mortal substance, +his countenance instantly changed, and he surveyed him with a puzzled +look of surprise and doubt.</p> + +<p>"So! this alters the case! Who art thou, then? what art thou doing +here—and on this particular stone? 'Tis mysterious, i'faith! Guarding +this treasure, which no man save Hurtel and I saw laid here; so like +him, and not be he! Yet thou canst not be Red Hurtel in the flesh, for +his hair would be as gray as mine by this time. Thou sayest thou art not +his spirit. Who, and what, then, in the name of St. Barnabas, may you +be?"</p> + +<p>"His son."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ho! There it is, as plain as my hand!" he said, slapping the flat +of his cutlass into his left palm. "Priest never had aught to do with +thy begetting or thy christening, I'll be sworn! I now remember he had a +leman-lady in the tower when I knew him. A proper youth," he added, +looking at him with interest, "and as like your father as one +marlin-spike is like another! So you inherit the old tower, I dare say, +and follow in his steps. St. Claus and the apostles! I would not be +surprised if you laid claim to the gold here!"</p> + +<p>"I care neither for tower nor gold, good captain. To follow your +fortunes I alone ask."</p> + +<p>"Do you know what fortunes I follow?" inquired the other, significantly.</p> + +<p>"I care not, so there is work for the free hand and ready spirit."</p> + +<p>"A chip of the old block! There's my hand to it. You shall have your +will, my brave one! Your father and I were comrades in that cursed +affair that made the country too hot to hold us. I have been a rover +since, and, trusting to my gray head, have ventured back to carry off +what gold I heard he had not time to remove. Thou shalt go with me for +thy father's sake, boy."</p> + +<p>He grasped the old man's offered hand, and, for the moment, felt that he +was less alone in the world. What a change had one brief day made in the +feelings and destinies of this haughty young man!</p> + +<p>"Bear a hand, you pale runaways!" cried the captain to the men, who, +seeing that their spirit had proved of flesh and blood, returned, +scowling darkly on the cause of their discomfiture. "Take hold of the +edge of that stone, and lift it from its bed. Place your hands on the +right spot, and it will come up like a cork."</p> + +<p>The men made several ineffectual efforts to lift it, though even +assisted in their last attempt by their captain.</p> + +<p>"How is this?" he said; "it should move with a finger's touch. Ha, I +have it! I had forgot. You might heave till you were gray, boys, and it +wouldn't stir a hair. Look at some of my magic."</p> + +<p>He stooped as he spoke, and pressing the stone horizontally towards the +wall, it moved from its bed, and slid away slowly, as if on wheels, +beneath it exposing a cavity two feet square and about three feet deep, +containing an oaken box, bound with strong bands of rusted steel.</p> + +<p>"Here it lies, like a biscuit in a bucket! Let us see if the gold has +got rusty."</p> + +<p>He searched a few moments, and at length bore hard upon a corner of the +box, but without producing any effect.</p> + +<p>"The spring is as tight as if Old Nick had his foot on it. Let us try +what this good steel, that has served me so often at a push, will do +now."</p> + +<p>He pressed the point of his cutlass with steady force against one +corner, when suddenly the lid flew up, and a glittering pile of silver +and gold, and a remarkably shaped dagger, a foot in length, wider at the +point than the handle, and exceedingly rich with precious stones, met +their eyes.</p> + +<p>There was a general exclamation of surprise at this display of treasure. +The young man took up the weapon and examined it with curiosity.</p> + +<p>"That belonged to Hurtel of the Red-Hand, and he prized it, too!" said +the old pirate. "It shall be thine, young man! Holding it with that +grasp as you do, and your kindling eye, I would swear my old comrade +stood before me. If nature put the father's looks on all children as she +has on thee, it would be a blind father that wouldn't know his own +child. But it's only bas—hoit! I mean to say that children honestly +come by seldom show the breed they hail from as some other sort o' craft +do—I'faith, I haven't bettered it much! But, no harm meant, my brave +fellow! Keep that yataghan for your father's sake. He knew its use, and, +if you are long under me—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Under</i> you?" repeated the youth, his natural spirit breaking out.</p> + +<p>"Ha! I like that! Better men than I will soon be under you, I see—'tis +in you born and bred! So! let us heave out this precious metal. Six +thousand told pounds, if my memory serves me. Heave heartily, boys. +There she moves! Now she rises on her toes! Steady strain. Hearty, +hearty. There you are!"</p> + +<p>"Hafey golt 'tish dat dere, Evan," said one, straightening his bent +loins.</p> + +<p>"Ap carnach! ant yer may will say tat, poy!" responded Evan, breathing +himself and passing the back of his hand across his brow, from which +started big drops of perspiration.</p> + +<p>They now laid hold of it and dragged it beneath the trapdoor: with the +united efforts of the men, the captain, and even Lester—or Hurtel, as +for the present he should be called—they got it to the floor above, +reascended, and closed the scuttle.</p> + +<p>"You will want fresh hands, captain," said the youthful novitiate, at +once readily entering into the spirit of his new vocation, and thirsting +for excitement as a foil to reflection; "shall I call two of your men +from the boat?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay! do so!" said the captain; adding, as he darted away, "True as +steel, by St. Claus! I would rather lose the gold than lose him. He is +worth his weight of it!"</p> + +<p>While he was speaking his protegé reached the balcony, and, bending +over, ordered, in an authoritative tone, two of the men to ascend to +relieve their mates. There was a general exclamation of surprise from +the party below at the sound of the strange voice.</p> + +<p>"Treason!"</p> + +<p>"We are betrayed!"</p> + +<p>"To the rescue of our captain!" were the various exclamations, in as +many different languages, followed by glancing of steel and clicking of +pistols, several of which were levelled at the window.</p> + +<p>"Ho, fellows! will you not obey?" said he, sternly; "up, up-with you! By +the cross! if I were your captain, knaves, I would teach you to linger +after an order was given."</p> + +<p>"Who in the devil have we there?" said one, in a gruff voice. "Shall I +pink him, mates?"</p> + +<p>"Who talks of pinking? What, ho, ye villains!" shouted the captain, who +now appeared at the window. "This youth is my lieutenant, and see that +you obey him, or I will make a pair of earrings of a brace of you for +the main-yard-arms."</p> + +<p>"That's another thing," said several voices. "Orders is orders, if they +come from the devil, so as he is got the commission in his pocket!"</p> + +<p>"Two of the strongest of you lubberly oxen, clamber up here. Spring! be +nimble! nimble! Back the boat directly under, and keep her steady."</p> + +<p>A moment afterward two of the men reached the top of the rock and sprung +into the balcony. It took but a short time to get the chest upon the +balustrade, lash it with the rope they had brought, rig a fall with a +brace of oars, and swing it off.</p> + +<p>"Stand ready below there!" cried the captain.</p> + +<p>"All ready."</p> + +<p>"Handle it as if it was a baby. Gently, gently, or you will knock the +boat's bottom out! Swing it more aft! There, now, let her drop +amidships! Easy—not too fast! There she lies between the thwarts like a +pig in a pillory!"</p> + +<p>The box was safely lowered into the launch, and followed with alacrity +by the men: the captain and his new lieutenant were also preparing to go +down, when each, at the same instant, felt himself touched from behind, +and, turning round, Elpsy confronted them.</p> + +<p>"Who art thou, in the name of Beelzebub's mother?" demanded the captain, +staring with astonishment, not unmingled with superstitious dread, on +the deformed and hideous being who had so suddenly and mysteriously +appeared to him.</p> + +<p>"I would speak with thee, Edmund Turill!"</p> + +<p>"Then thou art Sathanas!" he cried, with astonishment; "how knowest thou +me?"</p> + +<p>"It matters not. I know thee," she replied, in a tone of mystery. "That +youth goes with thee?" she added, inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"He does!"</p> + +<p>"See, then, that he is well treated, and receives not ill at thy hands. +Remember, once thou hadst a son!"</p> + +<p>"Who art thou, i'the name of all the saints, woman?"</p> + +<p>"It matters not. When thou thinkest of thy poor boy's bones, gibbeted +for sharing thy guilt o'er the gate of Cork, the winds whistling through +them with a sad wail, look kindly on this youth, and take him to thy +heart, as if he were thine own flesh and blood!"</p> + +<p>"I will do it," he said, with emotion.</p> + +<p>"Swear it."</p> + +<p>"I swear it!"</p> + +<p>"'Tis well. One question I have to ask thee, and truly answer it."</p> + +<p>"Name it, woman!"</p> + +<p>"Where wanders Hurtel of the Red-Hand?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis said he died in the Indies!"</p> + +<p>"'Tis false!" she cried, with energy. "He can never die unaccursed by +her he has wronged. No, no! he will have one to watch his pillow in his +dying throes he would rather burn in hell, to which he is doomed, than +see. No, no! his time has not yet come! his master will not let him slip +out o' life so easily. Oh, it will be a glory to see him die; and mock +his groans; and laugh, laugh at his terrors! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, will it not +be a jubilee to see him struggle with the death!"</p> + +<p>"I'God's name, woman, tell me who thou art?"</p> + +<p>"Dost not behold what I am? Wouldst have fair winds, I will raise thee +foul: wouldst have a smooth sea, I will make it boil and hiss: wilt say +a prayer, I will turn it into a curse ere it can leave thy lips."</p> + +<p>"Avaunt, sorceress!" he cried, crossing himself with horror.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! so you can feel my power! Oh, well! it is a-pleasant to make +men's stout hearts quake. Dost know me?" she asked, impressively, +approaching her face close to his.</p> + +<p>"No!" he said, retreating and preparing to descend the rock. "Avoid +thee, Sathanas!"</p> + +<p>"Listen!" she said, approaching and laying her hand on his arm, and +whispering low in his ear.</p> + +<p>"<i>Thou!</i>" he exclaimed, instantly starting back, and surveying her with +mingled surprise, curiosity, and disgust.</p> + +<p>"Wouldst care to leave thy revels and their lord, and, stealing to her +lone room, offer thy drunken love to her now! Ha, ha, ha! Does she not +look a comely leman for thy licentious love?" she added, with malicious +irony.</p> + +<p>He gazed on her a few seconds by the light of the moon, and seemed too +much overpowered by surprise to speak. At length he said, in a tone of +horror,</p> + +<p>"Hideous as thou art, it must be as thou sayest, for only thus could I +be known to thee! But, holy St. Claus!" he added, in a tone, "this +lad—is he—"</p> + +<p>"No matter who he is! see thou harm him not!"</p> + +<p>"I will be a father to him, woman! 'Fore Heaven," he exclaimed afresh, +gazing upon her with mingled curiosity and pity, "was there ever such +a—"</p> + +<p>"Mind me not! spare your sympathy! Go!—Stay!" she cried, earnestly +recalling him; "if you ever meet <i>him</i>, breathe not into his ears what +and whom you have this night seen. I have made myself known to thee for +this youth's sake. Farewell, young man," she said, approaching Lester as +he stood on the rock, to which he had bounded from the balcony at the +beginning of their conference. She extended her hand as she spoke. He +took it, and grasped it warmly saying, in a soothing tone,</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Elpsy. I have no ill-will against thee in my heart. Thou hast +done but thy duty!"</p> + +<p>The sorceress seemed to be moved, turned away from him without speaking, +as if her feelings choked utterance, and stalked away through the hall, +and left the tower.</p> + +<p>"Come, my lad," said the captain, turning away and speaking with +feeling, after following with his eyes her retreating form till it +disappeared in the forest, "she is a poor, unhappy creature, and it'll +come hard, I'm thinking, on him that made her so. But this is no time +for sentiment. Let us aboard and make an offing ere the dawn; for, if we +are spied lying here, we shall have the king's bulldog down upon us from +windward I saw lying in Cor Bay, who will bark to some purpose if he +should catch us here on a lee shore."</p> + +<p>Thus speaking, the old seaman lightly descended the rock to the boat, +followed by his youthful lieutenant, and in a few minutes they reached +the vessel.</p> + +<p>The moment his foot touched the deck the captain gave orders to make +sail: the long, crooked tiller was put hard up to windward; the heavy +mainsail swung back to its place; the vessel's head turned slowly off, +and, feeling the wind on her quarter, she stood in landward for a few +seconds to gain headway, and then came gracefully round with her +starboard bow to the wind. With each broad sail drawn nearly fore and +aft, she lay as near it as her short blunt build would permit, and +stretched away from the shore on a long tack towards the south.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If solitude succeed to grief,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Release from pain is light relief;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The vacant bosom's wilderness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Might thank the pang that made it less.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heart once left thus desolate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must fly at last for ease—to hate."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>The Giaour.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The narrative once more returns to Mark, who, it will be remembered, had +arrived, on his way to Castle More, at a ruin in the midst of the forest +he was traversing, when the approach of two horsemen caused him to +withdraw from the path. As he did so, they were encountered and stopped +by some one who unexpectedly met them as they were galloping past the +lonely pile. Curious to know who they were and what could be their +business at that late hour, he entered the deep shadow of the tower, and +approached so near them as to discover that the men wore the livery of +Lady Lester, and that the person with whom they were talking was none +other than the witch Elpsy, with whose person he had been familiar from +childhood.</p> + +<p>After Elpsy disappeared from the eyes of the old bucanier and his young +lieutenant at Hurtel's tower, she had continued to move rapidly through +the forest towards Castle Cor, without turning either to the right or +left. Sometimes she would skip forward with mad hilarity till exhausted; +at others, leap, and clap her hands, and shout, till the dales of the +old wood rung again with her shrieking laughter. From the unnatural +speed, and the wild, straight-forward direction in which she moved, her +sole object seemed to be to reach some point for which she aimed in the +least possible time. The scared owl hooted aloud at her approach, and +flew, with a heavy flap of his thick wings, deeper into the wood; the +hawk left his nest with a shrill cry; the deer fled from her path! On, +on she bounded and leaped mocking their notes of terror, like a demon +pursued. At times, when she crossed an open glade, where the moon poured +down her unobstructed radiance, she would suddenly stop and mutter, but +without appearing to notice the pale orb the sight of which, by +directing her thoughts into another, but not less turbulent channel, +seemed to have exercised a momentary influence on her. She had travelled +six miles in less than one hour's time, when she suddenly stopped in the +full light of the moon, looked up, and shook her open hands towards it +with a laugh of derision.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho! you need not look and watch, and watch and look, and keep your +pale face and shining eyes always fixed on me! Dost think I would commit +murder? and the little twinkling stars peer down as if they could espy a +knife in my hand! Look, ye little glittering winklings," she cried, +spreading upward her open palms, "dost see a knife? Ha, ha, ha! ye are +out there. I am too much for ye. No, I know ye well, with your winking +and your blinking at each other, and how, in the darkest night, one of +you always keeps watch, to spy the murders done in the absence o' the +sun; and then you whisper it through heaven, and tell it to the earth, +and then we hang for it. Oh, ho! I have a charm will put you to sleep. +Ha! you laugh, and grin, and gibber, that I have lost in a half hour's +tale what I have won by years of silence. Well, well, there'll be a +time! there'll be a time!"</p> + +<p>Dropping her head, she appeared a moment as if in sullen thought, and +then muttered, in a tone and manner which, more than words, gave a key +to the wild phrensy that had hitherto possessed her,</p> + +<p>"If <i>he</i> cannot be Lord of Lester, neither shall HE! He dies! The eye of +the moon pierces not this wood! He dies! 'Tis long yet to dawn," she +abruptly added, moving forward, and speaking with more coherency. "If I +can find him ere the myrmidons of Lady Lester can reach him, should she +send for him, Castle More will ne'er own other lord than he who, but for +my foul tongue—may it wither in my throat!—would now have been Lord of +Lester. He dies! dies! dies! dies!" and, hasting her footsteps, she +continued to repeat the word at every stride, accompanying it with a +threatening gesture of her arm.</p> + +<p>Her rapid speed soon brought her to the ruins of the abbey. Bounding +like an ape over the fallen blocks, she entered the door in the tower, +and with an unfaltering step traversed the gallery to her subterraneous +abode, which, after Lester's angry and fruitless pursuit of her, she had +left for Hurtel's tower, fearing that he might despatch a party from +Castle More in search of her, for the purpose, by her death, of +effectually silencing all question of his birth.</p> + +<p>Entering her subterranean abode, she produced a light without flint, or +steel, or fire, but by smartly drawing two marks, in opposition to the +sign of the cross, on the wall with a small stick, the end of which +immediately emitted a blue flame, and, after a fierce, hissing noise, +shot up into a bright blaze. This, to the peasantry who had witnessed +it, was one of the strongest evidences of her being in league with the +devil, who, it was asseverated, kindled her stick for her in the +unquenchable fire.</p> + +<p>She lighted a fragment of a rush candle by the flame, and, opening a +small box containing medicinal preparations, took therefrom a small vial +containing an amber-coloured liquid, and held it to the light. She +looked at it for a while with a look of vengeful satisfaction, and then +placed it in her bosom; afterward she took a rusty poniard from a +crevice in the wall, carefully felt its point, which was ground to a +keen edge, and, with a look of satisfaction, thrust it up into her +sleeve. Then extinguishing the light, she hastened past the tomb of +Black Morris, and with a quick, determined step, traversed the gallery +towards its outlet.</p> + +<p>As she approached it she heard the tramp of horses. With a quick, +apprehensive cry, as if she at once divined the cause, she flew through +the passage into the moonlight, and saw two horsemen approaching at a +round pace, and going in the direction of Castle Cor: as they came +nearer, she recognised them as the chief forester and the seneschal from +Castle More. She permitted them to gallop along the road till they were +within a few feet of her, when she suddenly stepped forth from the black +shadow of the tower, and, with one arm outstretched brandishing the +stiletto, confronted them. The riders, taken by surprise, pulled their +horses back to their haunches, and both instantly exclaimed, with +superstitious dread,</p> + +<p>"Elpsy!"</p> + +<p>These were the horsemen Mark turned from his path to avoid.</p> + +<p>"I am Elpsy," she repeated, in a lofty tone. "Whither ride ye, so fast +and free?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If ye do not tell me true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Horses each shall cast a shoe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And evil bide ye, ill betide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As ye on your journey ride!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"There be strange doings at the castle, mother," said the seneschal, +pitching his voice to the true gossiping tone; "there's me young +loord—"</p> + +<p>"Fait! but it's jist this—" interrupted the other; "our young masther, +Lord Robert, is not masther's son at all at all, and masther's son—"</p> + +<p>"Murther! an' it's you dat have it wrong, Ennis, honey," cried the +other, interrupting him in his turn; "it's jist this, ould Mither +Eelpsy; Lord Robert is not my Lord Robert at all at all, and the raal +Lord Robert is—"</p> + +<p>"And is it not the very woords I was afther tilling the crathur?" +interrupted the forester. "I will give it to ye, Eelpsy, dare, in the +right way."</p> + +<p>"Hist with your tongues!" cried the impatient woman, having heard enough +to convince her that Robert had told the truth in saying that he openly +published his own shame. "Hold with your senseless words, fools! I can +tell ye more than both of ye together, and all Castle Cor, know."</p> + +<p>"We know dat, ould mither! Don't forget to crass yourself, Jarvey, +honey," added the speaker, aside, making the sign of the cross on his +breast. "It's the great dale ye know, and the likes o' ye, and it's not +we that is to gainsay it this night."</p> + +<p>"Whither ride ye?" she demanded, impatiently taking hold of the bridle +of one of the horses.</p> + +<p>"Och, an' isn't it to bring with all speed that young jintleman o' the +world, Mark Meredith, the ould fisherman's son, to be sure, to Castle +More," said the forester.</p> + +<p>"At whose bidding?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"Our lady's, the jewil!" answered the seneschal.</p> + +<p>"Go back, and tell the Dark Lady of the Rock that thus says Elpsy, the +sorceress: 'He whom she seeks she will never find!'"</p> + +<p>"But it's the disthress she'll be in," said the seneschal.</p> + +<p>"And it's the deep grief o' the world that's upon her now," added the +other.</p> + +<p>"Och, but it will be bad news to be afther bringing back to her that +sint us," pursued Ennis, with a howl.</p> + +<p>"Widout iver having gone at all at all," said Jarvey, in a tone of +grief.</p> + +<p>"A cush-la-ma-chree, Jarvey, but it's find the lad we must!" cried +Ennis, with sudden resolution.</p> + +<p>"And it's the ould mither that's here, bliss her, 'll maybe till us +where he may be jist at this present," added Jarvey, insinuatingly.</p> + +<p>"Do you hesitate to obey me! Go back, even as you came. If <i>she</i> ask you +where the lad is, tell her Elpsy has said, '<i>Lester has no lord</i>!'"</p> + +<p>"Och, hone! and will it be the world's thruth, Elpsy, hinney! It'll +break the spirit of her, in her lone bosom."</p> + +<p>"And what'll the castle do widout a lord! That I should live to see it!" +wailed the seneschal.</p> + +<p>"And must we go back to the Dark Lady wid dis heavy sorrow to the fore?" +asked the forester.</p> + +<p>"E'en must ye! So!" she cried, turning, with a sudden jerk of the rein, +the head of one of the horses towards the direction in which they had +come. "Ride, ride," she added, in a commanding but wild tone, "nor look +behind till ye are safe within the gates, lest ye care to see the evil +one astraddle of your crupper."</p> + +<p>"The houly crass protict us!" they both ejaculated, crossing themselves.</p> + +<p>"Good e'en to ye, mither. It's yourself is the crathur for knowing the +world's thruth," added Jarvey, as if by flattery he would disarm any +evil intention she might cherish in reference to himself.</p> + +<p>"And it's to her we're indibted for not riding tree leagues for nothing +at all at all, whin the lad's not to the fore! Faix, it's my thanks ye +have, ould Elpsy, for't, an' its yer due, were ye the ould divil +himself," returned Ennis, gathering up his rein. "Kape your head +straight between yer shoulder, Jarvey."</p> + +<p>"It's me, honey, will niver be afther looking behint," replied Jarvey, +setting his face towards Castle More.</p> + +<p>Thus taking leave of the wily woman, these two old simple-minded +retainers rode back again; their obtuse minds probably scarce +comprehending the nature of the loss Lady Lester had met with, the +exchanged fortunes of their late young master, nor the important object +of their mission.</p> + +<p>She looked after them as they galloped away till they were lost in the +gloom of the forest, when, clapping her hands, she broke into a peal of +frantic merriment, which was more like the shriek of a fiend than like +human laughter.</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha! have I not done it well! I met them here just in time. Satan +stands my friend yet! If he did make me lose the game, he has helped to +keep another from winning it. No, Lester shall never have a lord at the +expense of him who, but for my accursed tongue and his silly <i>honour</i>! +would still have been its master. Ho, ho! have I not done it! Now it +remains for me, ere he can learn the secret of his birth, to send him +where low and highborn are all on a level! This! and, if this fail, +<i>this</i>," she said, grasping first the vial and then the dagger, "shall +do my will! It's a wicked act—I know it!—'tis a deed of hell! I would +not harm the poor lad—no; for he is like an own child to me—but, then, +he is <i>not</i> my child—and shall I see him in the seat from which <i>he</i> +has been cast out? No, no, this steel shall drink—this poison shall dry +up, his noble blood first!"</p> + +<p>"Of whom do you speak in such fearful words, mother?"</p> + +<p>She started with mingled terror and astonishment, and beheld standing at +her side the unconscious object of her thoughts. Her surprise at his +sudden, and, as she at first believed, supernatural appearance, for the +moment deprived her of her speech; she dropped the hand that held the +vial, which was dashed in pieces against a stone, and gazed on him for +several seconds with a disturbed and remorseful countenance.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear all my words?" she at length had the resolution to ask, +advancing a step towards him, and speaking in a deep, husky tone.</p> + +<p>"No, mother. I have been in the shadow of yonder bastion, waiting the +departure of those horsemen."</p> + +<p>"Then you could not hear their speech?" she interrogated, with an +eagerness of voice and manner that he could not account for.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered, firmly.</p> + +<p>"You have not spoken with them?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"They have not told you—that is, you are Mark Meredith, the grandson of +old Meredith, the fisherman? Speak, boy!"</p> + +<p>"Surely I am, Elpsy; do you not discern my face by this moon? I fear," +he said, in a kind tone, "you have not taken good care of yourself of +late, and are a little fevered. Go down to our hut, if you can walk so +far, and you will find a meal of fish there, of my own taking, which I +left my grandsire preparing for me. Bid him give you my portion. +Good-night, Elpsy, I have business at Castle More."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he stepped aside to pass her and pursue his way. His +hospitable and kind invitation had touched her. She was not so seared +that gentleness and words of kindness could not find a vibrating chord +within her bosom. Gradually, as he spoke she relaxed her hand from its +grasp on the poniard, which, on discovering him, she had instinctively +concealed in the folds of her scarlet cloak, and extended it towards him +in a grateful manner. But the expression of his intention to proceed to +the abode of Lady Lester caused her suddenly to draw it back, while in a +quick, harsh tone of voice, and with great vehemence of manner, in which +alarm and apprehension were visible, she cried,</p> + +<p>"Castle More! What hast thou to do at Castle More?"</p> + +<p>"I bear a message to Robert of Lester! Detain me not, Elpsy; I have +already lingered on the way."</p> + +<p>"Who sends thee?"</p> + +<p>"The young lady of Bellamont."</p> + +<p>"Thy message?"</p> + +<p>"I know not. 'Tis in this sealed pacquet."</p> + +<p>"Is this all for which thou art sent?"</p> + +<p>"It is."</p> + +<p>"No instructions—no commands?"</p> + +<p>"None, save to make no delay at Castle More, lest my young lord and I +should renew a quarrel we had this day."</p> + +<p>"Nothing else?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. But why these rapid questions—this anxiety of manner? What +has come over thee, Elpsy?" he asked, with surprise.</p> + +<p>She had put this series of interrogations to him with an irresistible +energy and rapidity, that left him no alternative but direct and instant +replies. At first she gave him no answer; her face worked convulsively, +and she seemed to be contending with some strong feelings, that she in +vain strove to get the mastery over. At length she muttered within her +lips,</p> + +<p>"I had feared! But 'tis safe, safe. 'Tis a pity to slay the fair young +lad; but, if I do not, he will know that which he never must +know—become that he never shall become! He must not see Castle More. He +must die rather! Mark, come to me," she said, in a hollow and unearthly +tone; "I would whisper in your ear what I would not have the laughing +and grinning devils that flit about us in the air, hear! Come to me and +listen!"</p> + +<p>While she was speaking she nervously grasped the handle of her dagger, +and took a step towards him. Her manner hitherto had already aroused his +watchfulness, and the tone of her invitation by no means increased his +confidence. He did not, indeed, suspect any attempt upon his life by +her; but, being familiar with her restless and violent nature, he was +prepared to expect some annoying violence; and for this he was +cautiously on the watch.</p> + +<p>"Wilt not approach?" she said, in a coaxing tone. "'Tis a sweet and fair +tale I would tell thee! Ha, ha! as fair and sweet as I told the Lord +Robert yestere'en! Wilt not come?" she shouted, as she saw he continued +to step back as she advanced; "then will I come!"</p> + +<p>She, with these words, made a spring towards him, seized him suddenly by +the breast, and brandished her poniard in the air. He was not unprepared +for this, sudden as it was: he caught her upraised arm, and bent it +backward over her head till she shrieked with pain, and, with a cool and +determined exertion of his whole strength, cast her from him so +violently as to hurl her to the earth. She sprang to her feet like a +cat, and, with a yell of rage, again leaped upon him. He avoided her +attack by lightly springing to one side, when, missing her blow, she +fell forward and struck her head on the edge of a stone, and sunk to the +ground senseless and bleeding.</p> + +<p>He instantly flew to her relief, lifted her from the earth, and +attempted to assuage the flow of blood from a severe contusion that she +had received on the forehead. In a little time the loss of blood +restored her to consciousness; it also had the effect of subduing her +high fever of excitement, and making her comparatively calm. She +permitted him to bind a handkerchief, that he took from his own neck, +across her temples; but she neither spoke nor acknowledged his +attentions, but sat in sullen silence on the ground.</p> + +<p>"Elpsy," asked the youth, at length, "why do you seek my life?"</p> + +<p>"You can never know!" she replied, slowly shaking her head with morose +inflexibility.</p> + +<p>"Have I wronged you?"</p> + +<p>"Ask me not!"</p> + +<p>"Is it thirst for blood, evil woman, that drives thee to this crime?"</p> + +<p>"I would not slay thee, but thou and I, boy, can never live in the same +land!" she said, obstinately.</p> + +<p>"Thou mightst have spared this attempt, then, on my life, for soon the +deep sea will roll between me and my native isle."</p> + +<p>"How! Explain your words!" she asked, with awakened interest.</p> + +<p>"I am resolved, as nature has denied me nobility of birth, to give it at +least to those who come after me."</p> + +<p>"Speak on!" she cried, hanging on his words with intense expectation.</p> + +<p>"I am going from my father's roof into the world, to see if I cannot +make men forget from what I have sprung!"</p> + +<p>"Is this thy purpose, boy? Speak truly!"</p> + +<p>"It is, Elpsy. Seven hours ago I had nearly linked my fortunes with the +yacht that takes the earl to England on the morrow—but—"</p> + +<p>"But, what?" she eagerly demanded.</p> + +<p>"My father—I thought of him, and—"</p> + +<p>"Would not."</p> + +<p>"I cannot desert him to suffering and want."</p> + +<p>"And is this all?" she asked, her face lighting up with a newly awakened +thought.</p> + +<p>"The sole cause."</p> + +<p>She began eagerly to search her belt, and drew forth from it a heavy +purse. Shaking it with a gratified air, she then poured its glittering +contents on the ground beside her.</p> + +<p>"See that pile of gold! To-morrow go in this king's ship, and it shall +be yours—there are three hundred guilders told—'twill give the old man +food and raiment for a longer life than his will be, and afterward buy a +coffin for his bones. Wilt go?"</p> + +<p>"Mother," said he, his heart leaping with joy and hope, yet both +tempered with the doubt to which he gave utterance, "this wealth! is it +thine? How came you by it?"</p> + +<p>"It matters not."</p> + +<p>"I dare not touch it. I fear 'tis the price of sin—or, perhaps, of +blood."</p> + +<p>"Fool; 'tis wealth I've had in store these eighteen years, given to me +by times by one who, if there be justice in Heaven or hell, is now +accursed on earth. There is no more evil in it than in every piece of +gold that the earth contains—all gold is evil—it is all but the price +of honour, of honesty, or of human blood. Take it, and depart from this +land."</p> + +<p>He gazed on the glittering heap, and hope, by its aid, pictured bright +visions of the future, and the fruition of all his aspiring wishes. +Ambition once more awakened in his heart. Yet he hesitated. But, while +he did so, he thought of Kate Bellamont—of the proud Lester—of his +hopes of the future—of all that he had loved to contemplate; he even +gave a thought to Grace Fitzgerald: all that an aspiring mind like his, +at such a time, could be influenced by, had its effect upon him. She +narrowly watched his countenance, read rightly his thoughts, and, +feeling assured of his acceptance of it, mentally congratulated herself +that her object could be effected without the shedding of his blood. She +waited till she thought his mind was sufficiently ripe for her purpose, +then replaced the gold in the purse, and, balancing it in her hand, +said, "Before you take this purse, I name one condition of its +acceptance."</p> + +<p>He looked to her to mention it.</p> + +<p>"That you for ever drop your present name and assume another; that you +never breathe to mortal ear the place of your birth, nor give clew to +your country."</p> + +<p>"I gladly promise this—for already I had resolved on it, Elpsy. I have +<i>one</i> great motive for doing so. But what can be yours?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis no matter. You promise this?"</p> + +<p>"Cheerfully."</p> + +<p>"Then take the gold for thy grandsire's support."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, thanks, kind Elpsy—yet—"</p> + +<p>"Not a word of objection. I have two favours to ask of thee."</p> + +<p>"Name them," said he, with an eagerness that evinced a desire to serve +her.</p> + +<p>"Promise that you will hold no speech with any one before thy +departure."</p> + +<p>"I do," he said, after an instant's hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Swear that thou wilt never set foot on this isle again."</p> + +<p>"Nay, I will not swear it," he said, with determination.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou obey me? Swear it!" she cried, in a tone of fierce command.</p> + +<p>"Who art thou that I should yield thee obedience, woman? I yield +obedience to none save my Maker!"</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou swear?" she asked, with more composure.</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>The resolute attitude he so unexpectedly assumed disconcerted her for an +instant. At length she said,</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou promise never to return here under thy own, that is—thy +present name?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, most freely. Now farewell, Elpsy; I must hasten to Castle More."</p> + +<p>"You go not to Castle More!" she exclaimed, with singular emphasis.</p> + +<p>"I am intrusted with a message, and must deliver it."</p> + +<p>"Give it to me, I will be its bearer."</p> + +<p>"Nay, I must myself place it in Lord Robert's hands, in person."</p> + +<p>"Give it me, boy! I will bear it safely to its destination."</p> + +<p>"No, Elpsy."</p> + +<p>"Go to Castle More, and you sail not on the morrow," she said, in a +determined tone, replacing the gold in her belt.</p> + +<p>He hesitated. After a brief struggle between his duty to Grace +Fitzgerald and her cousin, and his own wishes, he at length said, +falteringly,</p> + +<p>"May I trust you to deliver it, Elpsy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>He turned the billet, with its lock of hair, over and over, gazed on it +long and fondly on every side, and, from his reluctance to resign the +precious treasure, there appeared to have arisen a new bar to Elpsy's +purpose. At length he made a compromise with his feelings by slipping +off the braid of hair, and hastily concealing it in his bosom, while he +gave her the unsecured packet.</p> + +<p>"Place it only in the hands of Robert of Lester, Elpsy."</p> + +<p>"None else shall see it."</p> + +<p>"Speedily, if you are not too ill."</p> + +<p>"It will take many a harder buffet than that thou gavest me to make me +ill. He shall have it ere thou art half a league on thy return."</p> + +<p>"Then, Elpsy, I go. Fare thee well, and may Heaven have you in better +keeping than your life now gives hope of. Will you call at times when I +am away to see my grandfather? He will be lonely."</p> + +<p>"Many will be the gossip we'll yet have together. Now go! Take my +blessing—'twill do thee no harm, if it can do no good! When does the +ship sail?"</p> + +<p>"The Earl of Bellamont will return from Kinsale in the morning, and 'tis +said that before noon she will be under weigh."</p> + +<p>"The sooner the better. Go at once on board, nor let the rising sun find +thee on the land. Farewell."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, Elpsy. Don't forget the poor old man!"</p> + +<p>"He shall never want while Elpsy lives. Now fare thee well, +and—<i>remember</i>!" she added, impressively.</p> + +<p>They now separated; the young man rapidly retracing his way to his hut, +with a buoyant tread and lightness of spirit, his imagination filled +with dazzling visions of the future; Elpsy bending her steps steadily in +the direction of Castle More, her soul exulting in the master-stroke of +policy she had effected. When he was no longer visible, she stopped, +and, opening the packet, by the light of the moon curiously examined the +locket and its device, the application of which, without understanding +its motto, she intuitively comprehended, and then read the contents of +the billet with a loud, scornful laugh.</p> + +<p>"And would she meet him <i>now</i> with love? Ha, ha! The haughty maiden +would toss her head, did he bear this to her, she knowing his birth. +Oh!" she added, with a malignant chuckle, "that I had let him married +her ere this secret had let out—would it not have been a brave thing +then to have brought down the pride of these gentles! If I could have +kept the secret till their honeymoon was over! Fiends!" she exclaimed, +with maddened disappointment, "what precious revenge I have lost! Shall +I not have a taste of what is left me? Shall I not yet tell her <i>who</i> +and <i>what</i> he is? Oh, will it not be joy to my soul to witness her +ravings! I'll do't! I'll do't! There's something left yet to live for! +There's mischief yet to do in the earth. But I must first watch this +sprout of Lester—this fisher's boy! I shall not have to touch his life +if he'll get off before he learns his true rank; but I'll follow him +like his shadow, nor will I take eyes off him till the ship he sails in +goes out of my sight beyond the ocean's edge. Then will I to Castle Cor, +and see if Lady Kate will receive me, the bearer of this locket, 'with +love!' Haven't I a tale for her delicate ear! Oh, there is yet something +to live for! Elpsy'll not die while there's devil's work to do! So! +methinks I feel a little giddy for walking," she continued, tottering +against the trunk of a tree; "but I'll soon fall into my old gait. A +little bloodletting of a moonshiny night is ever good for the health."</p> + +<p>Thus muttering to herself, she turned back towards the ruin, and began +to walk in the direction taken by Mark, at first slowly; but, gradually +gathering strength with motion and excitement, she soon strode through +the long, dark glades of the forest at a rate that soon brought her in +sight of him. Keeping so far in the rear as not to be discovered by him +should he chance to turn his head, she followed him out of the wood, +then down to the seaside and along the beach, till she saw him, just as +the day broke, lift the latch of the door of his humble cot and +disappear within. She then sought a recess in the cliff in the rear of +the hut, where, secreting herself in a clump of low bushes that grew +about it, she remained concealed until some time after sunrise, when she +saw him reappear accompanied by the fisherman, and beheld both go +together to the beach, launch their little fisher's bark, hoist the +sail, and leave the shore. She eagerly watched them as they stood off +from the land, and with unspeakable triumph saw them run alongside of +the yacht. With emotions of malignant joy, she beheld Mark take leave of +his grandsire and get on board, and the solitary old man quit the vessel +alone and steer in shore towards his desolate hut. As his skiff grated +upon the beach, she met him.</p> + +<p>"So ho, father Meredith! thou hast been selling thy fish to a good +market. The English have the silver coin, which thou wilt scarce find at +the Cove ayond. What price gave these warsmen for thy herring the morn, +gossip?" she inquired, assisting him with her arm from the boat as she +spoke.</p> + +<p>"It was no sale o' the herring at all, woman Elpsy," said the old man, +shaking his head mournfully, and placing the stone kedge of his boat in +a crevice in the rocks so as to secure it against being borne off by the +ebbing tide; "it's no a sale o' the fish, woman dear, but o' my own +flesh and blood. Och hone! och hone! and it's the ould gray-headed +man'll never see his face more!"</p> + +<p>He turned towards the yacht as he spoke, and stretching forth his hands +towards it, wailed aloud: at length his lament ceased, or, rather, +changed to a flood of tender epithets, eloquent with the depth of Irish +sorrow, which he applied to the youth, while his dim eyes were vainly +strained towards the vessel, to distinguish once more his beloved form.</p> + +<p>"What means this sorrow, father Meredith? Who hast thou sold?"</p> + +<p>"The lad—my grandson! a-cush la-ma chree! I have sold him for gold. +There, woman, take thine again! I will none of it!" he cried, with +sudden vehemence, drawing the purse she had given Mark from his jacket, +and throwing it at her feet. "'Tis the price of blood, and I will not +have it, evil woman."</p> + +<p>"Hear me, father Meredith," she said, deliberately placing her hands +upon his shoulders, and looking him earnestly in the face. "I know the +purpose of thy visit to yonder king's ship. I know whom thou hast left +there. Thou hast done well and wisely in permitting him to depart. He +has left gold for thy wants, and has told thee how he came by it. Twas +my gift to him and thee."</p> + +<p>"'Tis the price o' his blood, woman!" he said, with a heavy moan of +mingled grief and indignation.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the price of his life, old man! Were he not now in yonder +brigantine, the sands ere this would have drunken his blood," she added, +with fierceness. "Hist! ask not what I mean. What I have said is true. I +have sent him away to save his life, and that there may be one less +murder on the earth. Go to thy hut and content thee with this gold. 'Tis +a friendly gift, old father. 'Twill save thee from labour so long as thy +life shall last. I will come and gossip with thee o' evenings, and, hey! +sirs," she cried, skipping on before him with fantastic gambols, as he +placed his slender oars on his shoulder, "won't we pass the time +merrily? I will make fairies dance before thy door o' moonshiny nights +for thy entertainment; call the mermaids up from the bottom o' the blue +sea to sing thee to sleep when thou art aweary; and tell thee tales o' +hob-goblins and spirits till the moon fades in the morning. Oh, we will +have times, father Meredith!"</p> + +<p>"But will he come back, Elpsy, woman?"</p> + +<p>"The devil forbid!" she responded, half aloud. "Ay, father; thou wilt +yet see him return a brave sailor, and with piles o' wealth. Faith, +sirs, I would not wonder if he should build thee a castle with his gold, +and make a lord o' thee. Ha, ha, ha, father Meredith! thou wouldst make +a proper lord!"</p> + +<p>"He, he, he! Elpsy, thou art pleasant. If the lad's gone, I'll make the +best o't till the saints give him back in good time. Come to my hut and +break thy fast, avourneen! He was ever o'er lofty, and had notions above +his class. He was unhappy, the creature, because he was not equal with +the young Lord o' Castle More. Be-dad! Elpsy, honey, one would ha' +thought he were of gentle blood!"</p> + +<p>She started, and closely scrutinized the old fisherman's face; but, +seeing nothing to confirm her now constantly active suspicions, she +said,</p> + +<p>"He was above his birth, as you say, gossip! The sea will be a school +for him, and teach him his place. He will make a better sailor than +lord. Ha, ha, ha! will he not, father Meredith?" and she laughed coldly +and sarcastically as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"He was always a good sailor, Elpsy, woman! Ne'er a ship came int' the +Cove he went not up to her main truck; nor a craft lay becalmed i' the +sight o' the bay he went not aboard and through every part o' her. He +knew every rope in a ship as well as an admiral, the crathur! Ah, woman, +he could do an officer's duty this day as well as the keptain o' the +yacht yonder. He seemed to take to a seaman's life nat'rally, and it was +ever discontented he was in the skiff. He loved to talk o' big ships, +and foreign lands, battles by sea, and storms, and shipwreck, and the +likes o' them things; and, with all his high notions, he ever loved a +sailor betther than a lord, and the sailors all liked him, the jewil!"</p> + +<p>"He is in his place, then, father Meredith," said Elpsy, chiming in with +the favourable train of the old fisherman's garrulous praises of the +youth. "Thou wouldst not call him ashore now an thou couldst."</p> + +<p>"Nay, I would not say that, Elpsy, woman. Yet I begin to think the lad +be best where he is. Yet it will be a dark day to my soul when the ship +sails a-sea with him—the light o' my eyes! the core o' my heart! Och, +hone! Sad will be the day to the soul o' me, Elpsy, woman! Come in, +crathur, honey, an' take a bite o' the breakfast. It's you it is that's +the comfort o' my lone bosom now, avourneen!"</p> + +<p>"No, no, I have much to do the mornin', old man!" she said, turning from +the door as the fisherman, after standing his oars up beside it, placed +his hand upon the latch. "Take the gold freely; it is thine!" she added, +casting it through the window upon the earthen floor of the cabin. "When +the ship sails I will eat."</p> + +<p>"Take a drap o' the dew, Elpsy, dear!" continued the old man, the grief, +which at his age is always superficial, having, like a child's, been +diverted for the time by the rattling gossip of the weird woman.</p> + +<p>"Elpsy will fast from all save water till the masts of yonder yacht are +shut from my sight by the meeting of sea and sky!"</p> + +<p>She waved her hand with a lofty gesture as she spoke, as if she sought +to impress the fisherman by her manner alone, and strode away from the +hut towards the path that led up to the castle.</p> + +<p>Grace Fitzgerald, after communicating the result of her interview with +Mark, had left Kate to her repose. But, with grief at her feud with +Lester, and her lively anticipations of beholding him at her feet, to be +raised from that humble posture to her forgiving embrace, her mind was +too active for rest, and sleep fled from her pillow, leaving it in the +sole possession of her ardent thoughts. With the first blush of day, her +face scarce less roseate than the morning sky with the consciousness of +her object, she rose and threw open her lattice, and turned her face, +with earnest expectation, towards the forest-path which led northward +towards Castle More. From time to time she would lean far out of the +window, and, with eager ear, listen as if to catch some distant sound. +At length, with a look and exclamation of disappointment, not undivested +of a slight shade of feminine pique, she closed the lattice and cast +herself upon her pillow again, saying, in a tone of wounded pride,</p> + +<p>"I care not! he is unworthy of a thought! I will forget him and try to +sleep!"</p> + +<p>She closed her eyelids, as if, at the same time, she expected her +fevered thoughts, like the flower which folds its leaves together when +the sun withdraws its light, would also shut themselves up and leave her +to repose. But she now thought more vividly and acutely than before. It +at length occurred to her that there might have been some delay on the +part of the messenger. Perhaps Lester had not yet got her pacquet, or +had just received it, and was now on his way to her!</p> + +<p>"I will wait a little longer!" she said, unclosing her eyes, and rising +and going to the lattice.</p> + +<p>A long time she remained here, with her eyes fixed on the forest path, +and her ears acutely set, to catch the most distant sound of horses' +feet.</p> + +<p>"He comes not yet!" she sighed, with deep disappointment. "Yet he may +soon be here! Hark! is not that his horse? No, 'tis a deer bounding +along to the spring!"</p> + +<p>At the moment a cool vein of wind from the sea chilled her, and, +glancing at her dress as she drew it together across her bosom, she +discovered, what she had hitherto been inattentive to, that she was in +her night-robes.</p> + +<p>"And I dare say I should have run to meet him as I am! What a foolish +child!" she said, blushing with confusion and innocent shame. "'Tis +fortunate he did not come before! I will dress, and by that time he may +be here!"</p> + +<p>Hope, hope, hope! Star of woman's love! In thy celestial journeyings, +thou dost never set on the limitless empire of her affections. Her wide +heart has no horizon beneath which thou canst go down and disappear. +Patient, long suffering, ever hoping to the last, she steers by thee her +bark of love through storm and danger, faithfully and fearlessly, never +losing sight of thee till, from her expectant eye, death steals the +power of reflecting longer thy radiance!</p> + +<p>When she had completed her toilet, and found that there were still no +indications of Lester's approach, she became impatient, and, throwing a +hood and veil over her head, she left her chamber and hastened below. +For what purpose she hardly knew—impulse alone prompted her footsteps. +She hastened through the hall, and descended into the castle yard, and +directed her course towards the forest. She had entered the verge of its +gloomy shades, which the morning sun had scarcely yet driven out, and +was penetrating its depths, when she suddenly stopped.</p> + +<p>"Where am I going? what am I doing?" she exclaimed, as if her feet had +been involuntarily obeying her thoughts hitherto, and she for the first +time had discerned that she was really doing what she supposed she was +only thinking of doing. Such absent reveries are peculiar to young +persons in love!</p> + +<p>"Am I really going to meet him? I did not know that I did love Lester +so. But he would scorn me to find me here—I will hasten back as I +came—though I scarce have any consciousness how that was! What a simple +creature I have made of myself. I am afraid of my own ridicule. Oh love, +love, you do play the mischief with maiden's hearts when once you get +into them!" she said, sportively, yet ending her words with a deep sigh.</p> + +<p>Turning back, she retraced her steps slowly towards the castle. As she +approached it, her eyes were attracted by the pavilions, which still +remained standing, and, bending her steps towards the lawn, she entered +that which had been the scene of the yesterday's festival. No signs of +the banquet remained—all, save the curtains of the tent, and one or two +rustic sofas within it, were removed. She seated herself on one of +these, and raising the north side of the tent-hangings by one of the +silken cords attached to them, was enabled, without being seen, to +command the avenue to the forest. With her person bent a little forward, +and holding her handkerchief in her hand, as if prepared to wave it at +an instant's notice, she sat watching in the direction in which she +expected Lester to appear.</p> + +<p>"I will meet him here," she said; "I would not have even cousin Grace, +good as she is, to witness our interview of reconciliation. Oh, why does +he linger so! Well, Robert, I have been taught a lesson in a knowledge +of my own heart by this; and, let us but meet in peace once more, I will +bear much ere I will make either you or myself so miserable again."</p> + +<p>She sighed deeply as she spoke, and a glittering tear, like a drop of +dew shaken from a spray, fell upon her hand.</p> + +<p>"Surely he cannot love me, to linger so!" she said, dropping her aching +eyes, which had long kept watch on the distant path.</p> + +<p>"Proud maiden, thou hast spoken truly! he loves thee not!"</p> + +<p>Kate turned in alarm as the stern, harsh voice that spoke these words +sounded close to her ear, and beheld the weird woman.</p> + +<p>"Elpsy!" she cried, rising and speaking between terror and surprise.</p> + +<p>"The <i>witch</i> Elpsy, lady," added the sorceress, sarcastically.</p> + +<p>"What would you, woman?"</p> + +<p>"Thyself."</p> + +<p>"How mean you?" exclaimed the maiden, shrinking involuntarily back.</p> + +<p>"Fear me not, lady!" she said, slowly and with mysterious emphasis, as +she gazed on the face of the fair girl, her eyes gloating with a +diabolical light; "I would not harm thy body, while I hold the key to +thy soul."</p> + +<p>"Fearful woman, if woman, or even human, thou art, what terrible meaning +lies hidden beneath your words?"</p> + +<p>"Thou lovest Robert of Lester?"</p> + +<p>"Elpsy, I will not be questioned. Leave me," said Kate, her brow glowing +between maidenly shame and anger.</p> + +<p>But Elpsy, without heeding her command or seeming to observe her +emotion, said, with the sardonic quiet that malice can put on when it +would wound,</p> + +<p>"Thou didst despatch a messenger to Castle More the last night, lady?"</p> + +<p>"How knowest thou this?" she demanded, evasively, startled at her +knowledge of what she believed known only to the parties immediately +interested.</p> + +<p>"Is there aught, daughter of the house of Bellamont, that happens among +mortals," she said, in the elevated tone of mystery and supernatural +power she was wont to assume at such times, "that Elpsy the sorceress is +ignorant of?"</p> + +<p>"I know thou art a dread and fearful woman," said Kate, with a thrill of +aversion, "and have power to do evil, which, rather than good, I have +heard it is thy delight to do."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! thou hast well spoken," she responded, with a chuckling laugh, +that caused the maiden, with all her firmness, to shudder and start back +to the extremity of the pavilion.</p> + +<p>"You fear me. Well, it is what I would have. Ho! 'Tis pleasant to be +feared by the lovely and the pure—by the strong and the mighty; to be +sought out by the noble, and have the homage of the low! Oh, it's a +brave thing, this holding sway over the minds of mortals. Kings may +govern their bodies—<i>we</i> hold the empire of their souls! Ha, ha! So you +fear me, trembler?"</p> + +<p>"An angel would tremble before thee, guilty one!"</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! I know it. Thou hast spoken it. It is the reward held out to us +that we shall one day master the good spirits."</p> + +<p>"And how? Alone by the power of darkness and of sin! You conquer through +fear, not by strength. Therefore it is that good spirits dare not enter +the abodes of the prince of evil. Woman, thou art fearful; thy spells +sinful; thy soul lost for ever!" she cried, with virtuous horror united +to the natural enthusiasm of her character.</p> + +<p>"Soul!" repeated the sorceress, with a writhing lip of derision; +"<i>soul</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Hast thou no soul, woman, in the name of God!" exclaimed the maiden, +appalled by the emphasis she laid on the word as she repeated it a +second time.</p> + +<p>The sorceress gazed on her a moment fixedly ere she replied, and then +advancing a pace towards her, said hoarsely,</p> + +<p>"Yes!"</p> + +<p>"Woman," continued Kate, with solemn earnestness, turning pale at the +manner in which she pronounced this monosyllable, "I know thou art +wicked and full of evil; but thou canst not have bartered thy eternal +life? have made compact with Sathanas, at the hazard of thy salvation?"</p> + +<p>Elpsy was moved with surprise by the energy with which she was +addressed, and, banishing her derisive smile, answered in a more natural +tone,</p> + +<p>"By compact no, lady! none save but with my own nature; even as all who +are mortal do barter away their souls when they obey the devil within. I +have served him in the shape of evil passions till his I am, soul and +body!"</p> + +<p>"Say not so, Elpsy," said Kate, touched with pity by the sullen despair +and abandonment of her manner, although in it not a shade of remorse or +penitence was apparent even to her charitable gaze; "if you have sinned, +there is forgiveness to be had of Heaven! It is not too late to secure +your soul's future happiness. I know there is much that is kind and +humane in you when you are not gored by insults, or under the influence +of angry emotions. Abandon your course of life; seek forgiveness of Him +who died for the chiefest of sinners. I pity you, Elpsy."</p> + +<p>The sorceress hung her head upon her breast in silence: her bosom heaved +with inward struggles; her harsh features became convulsed, and the +maiden thought she saw a tear fall from her eyes to the ground. +Encouraged by these signs of good, she added, approaching her in a +kindly manner,</p> + +<p>"Cast off this assumed character, if, as I sincerely trust, it is not +irrevocably made thine own by thy soul's price. I will furnish for thee +a neat cottage not far from Cormac, the forester's, and thou shalt have +the comforts about thee thy old age craves. Do not despair of +forgiveness, Elpsy. God is merciful, and will meet thee in kindness more +than half the way if—"</p> + +<p>"Angel! fiend! mock me not!" shrieked the woman, suddenly lifting her +face furrowed with tears, gnashing her glittering teeth, her eyes +flashing, her clinched hands shaking with nervous excitement, and her +whole bearing that of a pythoness enraged and fear-stricken. "There is +no God—no heaven for me! Yes, I am bought, body and soul! Talk not to +me of your Christ! For a moment I was carried back to childhood as you +spoke," she continued, with a sudden change of manner; "for I have been +once innocent as thyself. But 'tis past!" she cried, fiercely. "Your +words can move me no more! They have pressed out the last drop of +moisture that remained in my heart! I am adamant now—hard—hard—hard +as iron! Ha, ha, ha! Elpsy a Christian! Accursed be the name!"</p> + +<p>Kate Bellamont, at this sudden and terrific outbreak from one whom she +believed had been softened by her words, retreated from the vehemence of +her language and the savage wildness of her manner, with the look and +attitude of one who suddenly beholds the lion which he has tamed start +suddenly from his playful embrace, and assume all at once the savage +ferocity of his nature. She was astonished beyond expression by this +unexpected ebullition of feeling, and her mind was appalled both by her +terrible language and the new ground she had assumed.</p> + +<p>"Elpsy, stand from the door and let me pass!" she said, with firmness, +yet trembling through every fibre of her body, as Elpsy, after speaking, +continued to gaze on her in gloomy silence, and with a lowering and +menacing aspect.</p> + +<p>"Nay," said the sorceress, placing herself full in the way, and speaking +with more mildness even than was usual to her, "I have news that +concerns thee."</p> + +<p>"Me?"</p> + +<p>"None else."</p> + +<p>"Of what?"</p> + +<p>"The young Lord of Lester."</p> + +<p>"What of him? Thy looks—thy language—that fearful smile!"</p> + +<p>"Dost love him?"</p> + +<p>"It matters not to thee. Speak what thou hast to say, and quickly," she +cried, with an indefinable foreboding of evil.</p> + +<p>"Thou dost, maiden. It is written in every lineament; speaks in every +action—yea, Robert of Lester is thy second self. Ha, ha, ha! Did I not +say I held the key to thy soul—ay, and I can unlock it, too!"</p> + +<p>Having, in the first heat of her vengeance at finding herself defeated +by the course taken by Lester, resolved to divulge to Kate Bellamont the +secret of his birth that she might triumph in her humility and +wretchedness, Elpsy's fertile mind soon taught her how best to effect +her malicious, and, save its wickedness, aimless purpose. She now, +therefore, in a tone of assumed carelessness, added,</p> + +<p>"But thou lovest him because he is noble like thyself! Were he lowly in +name and humble in birth, thou wouldst scorn him," she added, with the +manner of one who is trying the moral pulse of her victim: "this is ever +the way with the highborn."</p> + +<p>"Were he lower born than the hind who herds my father's kine, he would +still be Lester, and noble to me!" she said, with a spirit that became +her lofty beauty and devoted love.</p> + +<p>"This will never do," muttered Elpsy, thoughtfully, intent on her cruel +design, and forgetful of, and insensible to, the gratitude due to the +maiden for the kindly interest she had so recently expressed in her +welfare; in repayment of which, with all the maliciousness of a demon, +she was now taxing her ingenuity to dash from her lips the cup of +happiness which young love had offered to them.</p> + +<p>"Were he a cowherd, he would have a cowherd's common soul, maiden!"</p> + +<p>"Being common he then could not be Lester. But being Lester, though a +swineherd, that inherent nobleness, that is the birthright of his +nature, would shine out through his mean garb and calling, and make him +still, to my eyes, the Lester I love."</p> + +<p>"Were he a slave—a serf—ay, chained to a galley, wouldst thou love him +still?"</p> + +<p>"If misfortune, and not crime, brought him to this degradation—then +should I not love him less, but love him more!"</p> + +<p>"If 'twere crime?"</p> + +<p>"Couple it not with his name, woman," she said, with flashing eyes. "But +why this dark and subtle questioning? Speak, I command thee!"</p> + +<p>"Thou hast no power to command me—I no will to obey. I will probe her +yet deeper!" she muttered. "If, maiden, there were a stain upon his +birth—"</p> + +<p>"Well—" she quickly interrupted, with painful eagerness visible in +every lineament of her beautiful countenance: for her feelings were +highly wrought up, and, excited to expectation of something evil by the +manner of her interrogator, she was all nerves and on the rack of +torturing suspense. "Well—speak, prithee, woman! Why do you pause?"</p> + +<p>"If 'twere proven he were a—a—"</p> + +<p>"Say—"</p> + +<p>"A—nay, 'twill wound thy ears!"</p> + +<p>"Speak—I fear not—for I know thou canst lay no crime to his charge!"</p> + +<p>"A <i>bastard</i>!" she said, laying a deliberate stress upon each syllable.</p> + +<p>"Evil woman! away! Leave me!"</p> + +<p>"It may be proved that he is not only this, but—"</p> + +<p>"Away! Oh that I should listen to thy foul and slanderous speech."</p> + +<p>"<i>Lowborn!</i>"</p> + +<p>"In the name of Heaven, woman, cease! and give me way out, or I will +alarm the castle, and have thee punished for this insolence!"</p> + +<p>As the indignant girl spoke she prepared to pass her, when the woman +laid her hand firmly on her wrist and detained her, while she said, in a +serious and imperious manner,</p> + +<p>"Maiden, hear me! I am not mocking thee! What if I can prove him to thee +to be a lowborn bastard—the son of a peasant-girl, and palmed on Lady +Lester as her own?"</p> + +<p>"Thou canst do no such thing with all thy wicked arts to aid thee," +scornfully replied the maiden.</p> + +<p>"What if I could do it! Wouldst love him then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"The bastard?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I tell thee."</p> + +<p>"The son of a lowborn peasant?"</p> + +<p>"He would still be Lester to me, so long as honour and truth were the +habitants of his bosom."</p> + +<p>"Wouldst thou love him then?"</p> + +<p>"Better and better for each misfortune he brought not on himself."</p> + +<p>"Or serf—or galley-slave—or peasant—or bastard, he would still be +Lester in the eyes of thy love?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! Stand aside, and let me pass forth."</p> + +<p>"One word more, fair virgin. I must try," continued she to herself, "my +last card now. Her love outwits my invention. 'Tis a shield that turns +aside all my shafts. I think I now know her weakness, and so will put it +to trial. Suppose," she asked, in an indifferent tone, "this Robert of +Lester should take offence at thee—"</p> + +<p>"Well—" she said, with interest.</p> + +<p>"And should ride from thee in anger—"</p> + +<p>"Proceed—prithee—"</p> + +<p>"And, being too proud to atone, lets his pride grow till it beget hatred +and scorn of thee—"</p> + +<p>"Well—"</p> + +<p>"And so, from wounded love and rage, he forswears his noble name, and +leagues himself with pirates; and, out of revenge to thee, goes forth to +slay, and deluge the earth with blood and rapine!"</p> + +<p>"Have you done?" she asked, in a tone of disdain for what she deemed the +idle words of the speaker.</p> + +<p>"I have," she answered, with a peculiar smile, that troubled and +perplexed her. "But I would ask thee—wouldst love him then?"</p> + +<p>"I will answer thee—if such things could be, which ne'er can be—No. In +this case, guilt would place for ever an impassable gulf between us. +But, as thou hast so much interest in him, let me pass that I may meet +him, for I hear his horse's feet in the forest," she said, with the +contempt of incredulity, yet trembling—so well the supposed case +advanced by Elpsy tallied with the circumstances under which Lester left +her—lest there might be some dreadful truth at the bottom.</p> + +<p>"His horse's feet thou wilt never hear more. Himself thou wilt never see +more, save to thy sorrow."</p> + +<p>"Explain, woman," she almost shrieked, grasping her by the shoulders, +and speaking with wild vehemence.</p> + +<p>"Robert of Lester has become even as I have spoken. Maddened by thy +coldness—his pride stung—his self-love wounded—his feelings +lacerated, he has fled his home, and leagued himself with bucaniers."</p> + +<p>"In the name of the blessed Heaven above, do you speak but a tithe of +the truth, woman?" she demanded, with fearful emotion.</p> + +<p>"He galloped to the seaside, and a Danish bucanier being by chance in +shore, he threw himself on board, and put to sea with her."</p> + +<p>"One word, only one word more! You saw this?"</p> + +<p>"I did, and came hither to tell thee."</p> + +<p>"Would to God I knew if thou didst tell the truth or no," she cried, +almost sinking upon the ground.</p> + +<p>"Behold this token which he gave me, bidding me return it to the giver, +who, he said—mark the words, maiden!—was henceforth only worthy the +scorn and contempt of the noble heart she had broken," spoke the false +witch, taking, as if struck by a sudden thought, the locket and message +from her bosom and placing it in her hands.</p> + +<p>"It is too true. Merciful Heaven, sustain me! Nay! Elpsy, touch me not. +I shall not fall. No, I <i>will</i> not fall! If—if he can scorn +me—I—nay—do not support me—my pride will—will—oh—Lester, +Lester—you have killed me!"</p> + +<p>With a deep moan, as if her heart were bursting, she fell into the arms +of the sorceress, who, not wholly unmoved by the wretchedness she had +caused, placed her on one of the settees, and, with a look of triumph, +gazed on her pale cheek, and watched the irregular and long-drawn +heaving of her bosom. Her success had been complete, and she experienced +a joy kindred to that of a fiend's when he beholds the fall of a good +man. She had made the happy miserable, and was content! She had wounded +the pride of the noble, and was satisfied. She had been the bearer of +guilt to innocence, and her task was accomplished!</p> + +<p>After surveying for a few moments the lovely victim of her malice and of +her hatred of the highborn, which seemed to be placed deeper than any +other feeling in her bosom, she drew from her bosom a small vial, and, +removing the stopper, stooped over her and moistened her lips and +nostrils. The volatile essence of the evaporating fluid was instantly +inhaled, and produced a reviving effect. The colour returned to her +cheek, and, opening her eyes, she fixed on the sorceress a wild gaze.</p> + +<p>"It is not all a dream, then!" she cried, putting back her hair from her +forehead and staring at her; "she is there! Lester! is he—is he—oh—I +cannot speak what I would—I remember—ah! I remember all. <i>She</i> told me +so! Woman!" she all at once shrieked, "is thy tale false or true? Say it +is not true," she added, rising and holding her by the cloak, "and I +will fall down and kiss thy feet."</p> + +<p>A triumphant light gleamed in the ruthless eyes of the sorceress. "Thou +art humbled by grief," she said, with torturing coolness. "It is a +pleasant thing to see the proud and high come down. Oh, if I had been +noble too, as well as fair, in my youth, I had been a bride instead +of—but I will not wound thine ears, maiden, with a word thou canst +never know the meaning of. It is only for the lowborn virgin to be +taught it by some highborn youth. What I have told thee is true. Robert +of Lester has leagued himself with pirates. One day I may tell thee more +of him."</p> + +<p>"Hist!" she whispered, hoarsely. "I will hear no more of him. He is +nothing now to Catharine of Bellamont. Hark, there is the sound of +horses' feet! <i>He comes!</i> False one, he is here!" she cried, darting +forward to the door of the pavilion.</p> + +<p>Elpsy smiled grimly and followed her.</p> + +<p>The sound of horsemen approaching was now distinctly heard, but it was +the noise of many horses advancing at speed. In a few seconds they +beheld emerge from the forest, not the form of Lester, but that of the +Earl of Bellamont, attended by three or four mounted servants.</p> + +<p>"Has Elpsy spoken the truth, maiden?" asked the sorceress, her eyes +gleaming with the unpleasing smile habitual to her, when she observed +Kate to turn her face away in disappointment.</p> + +<p>"Torture me not, evil woman; thy words, whether false or true, have +almost broken my heart."</p> + +<p>At this instant the earl caught sight of his daughter, and, turning +aside from the avenue, galloped across the lawn towards the pavilion. He +was a gentleman of noble presence, with a dark, intelligent face, and +dignified features. The resemblance between himself and daughter was +instantly apparent. He rode with grace, and displayed admirable +horsemanship in the management of his fiery steed.</p> + +<p>"A kiss, my sweet child," he said, as he threw himself from his horse +beside her. "You are abroad early! What, in tears? I have not been +absent three days, and yet you welcome me, Kate, with as much emotion as +if I had but returned from India. Nay, then, weep on my breast, silly +one, if you will. What, Elpsy here too!" he exclaimed, now for the first +time seeing the witch standing within the door of the pavilion—"I see +it all. She has been alarming you with some evil foretellings! Woman, +have I not forbidden thee to harbour or appear on the domains of Castle +Cor? Moral blight and misfare follow thy footsteps as surely as does +pestilence the path of the baleful dogstar. Depart!"</p> + +<p>"I have done mine errand, proud earl, and therefore will go—but not at +thy bidding I depart," she added, gathering her scarlet cloak about her +hideous person.</p> + +<p>"I care not if it be at the devil's—as it is most like to be—so I see +thee no more! Cease, my dove, that moan. Her charms are sand—her words +false—her prophecies the wildest dreams! Heed them not, if, as I +suspect, she has filled thy tender ears with them."</p> + +<p>"Thou lovest thy daughter, earl?" she said, interrogatively, as she +prepared to depart.</p> + +<p>"Too well to see her made miserable, vile sorceress!"</p> + +<p>"See, then, thou do not make her so."</p> + +<p>"How mean you?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"<i>Beware of a black plume!</i>" she added, mysteriously.</p> + +<p>"Explain your meaning, woman!" he said, struck by her manner and the +menacing tones in which she gave him this prophetic warning.</p> + +<p>The sorceress made no reply; but, turning her face towards the path that +led to the seashore, she rapidly traversed the lawn, and, waving her +hand warningly, disappeared down the path leading to the beach.</p> + +<p>The cause to which her father attributed her sudden and unwonted grief +greatly relieved Kate; and by allowing him, through her silence, to +retain the impression he had formed, she was saved the embarrassment of +making him a confidant of her wounded affections by unfolding to him the +true cause—a task, in her present state of mind, impossible for her to +perform, and one which, at any time, would have been a sad trial to her +maidenly sensitiveness. In a few moments she became more composed: the +tide of her affections, which had been forced back upon the +fountain-head, having found a channel in paternal love through which to +flow, if not in the same direction as before, yet nearly in as deep and +strong a current.</p> + +<p>She accompanied him to the castle, and for the remainder of the morning +was so occupied in forwarding the preparations for his departure and +that of her cousin, that she had little time to devote to her own +peculiar sorrows, leaving them for the lonely hours that would find her, +after they were gone, in the solitary chamber, mourning over her crushed +and blighted love. Yet a faint ray of the light of hope shone through +the darkness of her heart, and the faintly-cherished belief that the +tale of the sorceress might be false kept her from abandoning herself to +that hopelessness of grief, shame and utter wretchedness into which she +would have sunk had the truth been made manifest to her, divested of +every shadow of doubt.</p> + + +<h3>END OF VOL. I.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="NEW_AND_IMPORTANT_WORKS_LATELY_PUBLISHED_BY_HARPER_BROTHERS" id="NEW_AND_IMPORTANT_WORKS_LATELY_PUBLISHED_BY_HARPER_BROTHERS"></a>NEW AND IMPORTANT WORKS LATELY PUBLISHED<br /> BY HARPER & BROTHERS.</h2> + + +<h3>THE PRIVATE JOURNAL OF AARON BURR</h3> + +<p>During his Residence of four Years in Europe; with Selections from his +Correspondence.</p> + +<p>Edited by <span class="smcap">Matthew L. Davis</span>, Author of "Memoirs of Aaron Burr," &c.</p> + + +<h3>LETTERS TO MOTHERS</h3> + +<p>By Mrs. <span class="smcap">L. H. Sigourney</span>, Author of "Letters to Young Ladies."</p> + + +<h3>DEMONSTRATION OF THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Alexander Keith</span>, D.D., Author of "Evidence of Prophecy," &c. Fourteen +beautiful Engravings on Steel.</p> + + +<h3>THE FAR WEST; Or, a Tour beyond the Mountains.</h3> + +<p>Embracing Outlines of Western Life and Scenery; Sketches of the +Prairies, Rivers, Ancient Mounds, Early Settlements of the French, &c., +&c.</p> + + +<h3>THE LIFE OF CHRIST, in the Words of the Evangelists.</h3> + +<p>A complete Harmony of the Gospel History of our Saviour. For the use of +young Persons. Illustrated with Engravings after Chapman and others, by +Adams.</p> + + +<h3>EVENINGS AT HOME; or, the Juvenile Budget Opened. By Dr. <span class="smcap">Aikin</span> and Mrs. +<span class="smcap">Barbauld</span>.</h3> + +<p>From the fifteenth London edition; Illustrated with Engravings after +Harvey and Chapman, by Adams.</p> + + +<h3>VELASCO; A Tragedy, in five acts. By <span class="smcap">Epes Sargent</span>, Esq.</h3> + + +<h3>THE WORKS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD</h3> + +<p>Including his Letters to his Son, &c. To which is prefixed an original +Life of the Author.</p> + + +<h3>THE HARMONY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH AND CHRISTIAN CHARACTER; AND THE CULTURE +AND DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">John Abercrombie</span>, M.D., F.R.S.E., Author of "Inquiries concerning the +Intellectual Powers and the Investigation of Truth," &c.</p> + + +<h3>A MANUAL OF CONCHOLOGY</h3> + +<p>According to the System laid down by Lamarck, with the late Improvements +by De Blainville. Exemplified and arranged for the Use of Students. By +<span class="smcap">Thomas Wyatt</span>, M.A. Illustrated by thirty-six plates containing more than +two hundred types, drawn from the natural shell.</p> + + +<h3>PELAYO: a Story of the Goth.</h3> + +<p>By the Author of "Mellichampe," "The Yemassee," "Guy Rivers," &c.</p> + + +<h3>HOW TO OBSERVE: MORALS AND MANNERS.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Harriet Martineau</span>.</p> + + +<h3>THE WORKS OF EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, ESQ.</h3> + +<p>Containing Pelham; The Disowned; Devereux; Paul Clifford; Eugene Aram; +The Last Days of Pompeii; The Pilgrims of the Rhine; Falkland; Rienzi; +Ernest Maltravers, and Alice.</p> + + +<h3>PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ECONOMY.</h3> + +<p>Illustrated by Observations made in England in the year 1836. Part +second. By <span class="smcap">Theodore Sedgwick</span>.</p> + + +<h3>INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND POLAND.</h3> + +<p>By the Author of "Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the +Holy Land."</p> + +<p>With a Map and Engravings. In two vols.</p> + + +<h3>THE NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM, of Nantucket.</h3> + +<p>Comprising the details of a Mutiny and atrocious Butchery on board the +American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the Month of +June, 1827.</p> + + +<h3>RETROSPECT OF WESTERN TRAVEL.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Harriet Martineau</span>, Author of "Society in America." 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>CALDERON, THE COURTIER.</h3> + +<p>A Tale.</p> + +<p>By the Author of "Pelham," "Alice," "Leila," &c., &c.</p> + + +<h3>THE AMERICAN SCHOOL LIBRARY.</h3> + +<p>Published under the Direction of the American Society for the Diffusion +of Useful Knowledge.</p> + + +<h3>BURTON; or, the Sieges.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">J. H. Ingraham</span>, Esq., Author of "Lafitte," &c. 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>SACRED HISTORY OF THE WORLD.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Sharon Turner</span>, LL.D. [Vol. III.—Family Library, No. 84.]</p> + + +<h3>THE WORKS OF MRS. SHERWOOD.</h3> + +<p>Vol. 15. Containing Part Four of Henry Milner, &c., &c.</p> + + +<h3>THE ROBBER.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">G. P. R. James</span>, Esq., Author of "Richelieu," &c. 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND BELGIUM.</h3> + +<p>A Short Tour in 1835. By <span class="smcap">Heman Humphrey</span>, D.D. 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>THE LADY OF LYONS:</h3> + +<p>A Play. By <span class="smcap">E. L. Bulwer</span>, Esq.</p> + + +<h3>TRAVELS IN EUROPE:</h3> + +<p>Viz., in Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the +Netherlands. By <span class="smcap">Wilbur Fisk</span>, D.D.</p> + + +<h3>CROMWELL: a Romance.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">H. W. Herbert</span>, Esq., Author of "The Brothers." 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>ANECDOTICAL OLIO:</h3> + +<p>Being a Collection of Literary, Moral, Religious, and Miscellaneous +Anecdotes.</p> + +<p>By the Rev. Messrs. <span class="smcap">Hoes</span> and <span class="smcap">Way</span>.</p> + + +<h3>CELESTIAL SCENERY; Or, the Wonders of the Planetary System displayed; +illustrating the Perfections of Deity and a Plurality of Worlds.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Thomas Dick</span>, LL.D. With Engravings. [Family Library, No. 83.]</p> + + +<h3>INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRÆA, AND THE HOLY LAND.</h3> + +<p>By an American. With a Map and Engravings. 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>THE MONK OF CIMIES, &c.</h3> + +<p>By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Sherwood</span>. With a Portrait. [Mrs. Sherwood's Works, vol. 14.]</p> + + +<h3>THE HISTORY OF AMELIA.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Henry Fielding</span>, Esq. With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Cruikshank</span>.</p> + + +<h3>LEILA; OR, THE SIEGE OF GRENADA.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">E. L. Bulwer</span>, Esq.</p> + + +<h3>CAPTAIN KYD; Or, the Wizard of the Sea.</h3> + +<p>By the Author of "Burton," "Lafitte," &c. 2 vols.</p> + + +<h3>ANTHON'S SERIES OF CLASSICAL WORKS FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.</h3> + +<p>The following works, already published, may be regarded as specimens of +the whole series, which will consist of about thirty volumes.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">First Latin Lessons</span>, containing the most important Parts of the +Grammar of the Latin Language, together with appropriate +Exercises in the translating and writing of Latin, for the Use +of Beginners.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Greek Lessons</span>, containing the most important Parts of the +Grammar of the Greek Language, together with appropriate +Exercises in the translating and writing of Greek, for the Use +of Beginners.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Grammar of the Greek Language</span>, for the Use of Schools and +Colleges.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A System of Greek Prosody and Metre</span>, for the Use of Schools and +Colleges; together with the Choral Scanning of the Prometheus +Vinctus of Æschylus, and the Ajax and Œdipus Tyrannus of +Sophocles; to which are appended Remarks on the Indo-Germanic +Analogies.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sallust's Jugurthine War and Conspiracy of Cataline</span>, with an +English Commentary, and Geographical and Historical Indexes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cæsar's Commentaries on the Gallic War</span>; with the first Book of +the Greek Paraphrase; with English Notes, critical and +explanatory, Plans of Battles, Seiges, &c., and Historical, +Geographical, and Archæological Indexes. With a Map, Portrait, +&c.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Select Orations of Cicero</span>, with an English Commentary, and +Historical, Geographical, and Legal Indexes. With a Portrait.</p></blockquote> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2), by Jonathon Holt Ingraham + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN KYD (VOL 1 OF 2) *** + +***** This file should be named 36030-h.htm or 36030-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/0/3/36030/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2) + or, The Wizard of the Sea + +Author: Jonathon Holt Ingraham + +Release Date: May 4, 2011 [EBook #36030] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN KYD (VOL 1 OF 2) *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + CAPTAIN KYD; + + OR, + + THE WIZARD OF THE SEA. + + A ROMANCE. + + BY J. H. INGRAHAM + + AUTHOR OF "THE SOUTHWEST," "LAFITTE," "BURTON," &c. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + NEW-YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET. + 1839. + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, + By HARPER & BROTHERS, + In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. + + TO + THE AUTHOR OF THE + "WINTER IN THE WEST," + CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN, ESQ., + THESE VOLUMES ARE, + WITH SENTIMENTS OF ESTEEM, + Respectfully Inscribed. + + + "There's many a one who oft has heard + The name of Robert Kyd, + Who cannot tell, perhaps, a word + Of him, or what he did. + + "So, though I never saw the man, + And lived not in his day, + I'll tell you how his guilt began-- + To what it led the way." + + H. F. GOULD. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The following dramatic romance consists of two acts, with an interval of +five years between them. The time and action of the first part, the +scene of which is placed in the south of Ireland, are comprised in +something less than three days; that of the second, the scenes of which +are laid in New-York Bay and on its adjacent shores, embraces a somewhat +longer space of time, the two comprising the most prominent crises of +the hero's life--one giving the colouring to the whole of his subsequent +career, which in the other is brought to its close. + +Natchez, Miss., Jan., 1839. + + + + +BOOK I. + +THE CAUSE. + + + "A lady should not scorn + One soul that loves her, howe'er lowly it be." + + BARRY CORNWALL. + + "'Twere idle to remember now, + Had I the heart, my thwarted schemes. + I bear beneath this alter'd brow + The ashes of a thousand dreams-- + Some wrought of wild Ambition's fingers, + Some colour'd of Love's pencil well-- + + * * * * * + + Ambition has but foil'd my grasp, + And Love has perish'd in my clasp." + + _Melanie._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Oh, bold Robin Hood + Was a forester good + As ever drew bow in the merry green wood, + And what eye hath e'er seen + Such a sweet maiden queen + As Marian the pride of the forester's green." + + +On a rocky headland that stretches boldly out into the bosom of one of +the lakelike bays that indent the southern shore of Ireland, stands a +picturesque ruin, half hidden to the eye of the voyager amid a group of +old trees. With its solitary square tower, and warlike battlements +jagged and stern in their desolation, it still wears an air of imposing +grandeur, that conveys some idea of its ancient baronial state. It is +known by the name of "old Castle Cor;" and in its palmy days was the +summer abode of the last Earl of Bellamont. + +On a bright morning in the merry month of May, in the year sixteen +hundred and ninety-four, its now silent halls rung with the joyous +voices and noisy sports of a score of gallant youths and noble maidens, +gathered there, from many a lordly roof both far and near, to celebrate +a rural fete in honour of the sixteenth birthday of the only child of +this ancient house, the beautiful Kate Bellamont, better known +throughout the barony as "wild Kate of Castle Cor." In the pastimes of +the day, archery, then much practised by ladies of gentle blood, was to +hold a conspicuous place, and a silver arrow was to be awarded to the +victor by the hands of Lady Bellamont herself. As the hour of noon +approached, the earl's chief forester, Cormac Dermot, his gray locks +covered with a red cloth bonnet, in which was fastened an eagle's plume, +and his goodly person arrayed in a holyday suit of green and gold, made +his appearance on the lawn by the west side of the castle, and wound his +horn, loud and long, as the signal that the "gentle sporte of archerie" +was now about to begin. + +The place chosen for the trial of skill was an ample lawn of the softest +and greenest verdure, lying between the wall of the castle and the verge +of the cliff. A few ancient oaks grew here and there upon it; and +towards the south it was open to the land-locked bay and far-distant +sea, which, wide as the vision extended, seemed to belt the horizon like +a shining band of silver. At each extremity of the field, one hundred +yards apart, was pitched upon the sward a gorgeous pavilion, one of +blue, the other of orange-coloured silk: the hangings of the former were +fringed with silver; and from the festooned curtains of the latter +pended tassels of silk and gold. In these were laid tables spread with +cloths of crimson damask, and covered with every luxury that could tempt +the palate or gratify the eye. From the summit of one of the pavilions +fluttered a crimson banneret, displaying the arms of Bellamont, its +boar's-head crest pierced through with an arrow, emblematical of the +occasion; and from the top of the other waved a white banner, in the +centre of which, according to the rules of heraldry, a bow, quiver, +target and other signs of archery were tastefully emblazoned. + +Twenty-five yards in front of each pavilion, two targets were placed, +fifty yards apart, so that, after sending all their arrows at one, the +archers might walk up to it and gather them, and, taking their stand by +it, shoot back to the other; thus alternately reversing the direction of +their shots, and adding healthful exercise to their graceful pastime. +The targets were both very beautiful, and gay with colours; being round +wooden shields half an inch in thickness and three feet in diameter, +with four circles painted on the faces: the outer white, with a green +border; the next black; the next within it orange; and the inner circle +red, encompassing a gold centre. They were elevated, at a slight angle, +twenty inches from the ground, on a light frame resembling a painter's +easel. + +Midway between the targets, but safely placed several paces back from +the erratic path of the arrows, was erected beneath an ancient +linden-tree a sylvan throne, surmounted by a canopy of silk, elaborately +worked with the needle to represent Diana, with her nymphs and hounds, +pursuing a herd of deer with flights of arrows. This was the seat of the +umpire of the sports--Katrine, the lovely Countess of Bellamont. +Altogether, it was an imposing and gorgeous scene; and, with its stern +castle rising boldly from the verdant lawn topped with battlements and +towers; with its boundary on the north side, of green, dark old woods, +and the calm, deep bay beneath, with a yacht sleeping on its bosom; with +its extended prospect of the illimitable sea forever breathing with a +mysterious life, the field of archery at Castle Cor, for the natural +beauty of the spot and the taste displayed in its adornment, has +doubtless had no parallel in the annals of archery. + +Scarcely had the echoes of old Cormac's horn died away in the forest, +startling many a stately stag to flight, when the castle poured forth +its gay throng of archers towards the lists. In their midst was the +Countess of Bellamont, escorted by a bodyguard of young archeresses. She +was then in the prime and beauty of ripe womanhood: at that delightful +age when the wife and mother, all the charms of mind and person fully +developed and refined by taste and elegant culture, fascinates by a +thousand nameless graces, and captivates and enslaves even the youthful +crowd that sigh at the feet of her lovely daughter of seventeen--the age +that leaves one in doubt whether beautiful women arrive at the zenith of +their beauty and power under five-and-thirty. + +This was the age of Katrine of Bellamont; and though at eighteen (when +she became a bride) the loveliest of all Irish maidens either of gentle +or lowly birth, yet now, as the Countess of Bellamont, far-famed for her +rare and stately beauty. She was arrayed in a simple white robe; and a +laced jacket of royal-purple velvet closely fitted her magnificent bust. +When she entered the field she was conducted by her juvenile escort to +the throne, on which she seated herself, and with a playfully assumed +queenly dignity that became her highborn air. A coronet of pearls graced +her brow; and her symmetrical hand, that rivalled pearls in its soft +transparency, gracefully held, like a sceptre, the miniature arrow which +was to be the prize for excelling in archery. Her deep blue eyes, as she +looked around, reflected, in a thousand smiling beams, the joy that +danced on each youthful face, and the sunny light of her own countenance +communicated sunshine of the heart wherever it fell. + +On each side of the throne stood a well-born youth habited as a page, +and behind her were stationed two beautiful young girls attired as +sylphides. On her right hand, a few feet in the rear, leaning on a yew +bow six feet in length, stood Cormac Dermot, his stag's horn, richly +inlaid and curiously carved with woodland devices, slung beneath his +left shoulder, with the mouthpiece brought round in front ready for use. +A little farther beyond, and nearer the castle-wall, was assembled a +group of lower degree, consisting of under-foresters, retainers of the +household, and neighbouring peasants; while on the opposite side of the +lawn might be seen, relieved against the sky, the forms of two or three +fishermen, whom curiosity had led to climb the dizzy precipice from the +beach--far along the white line of which were visible their scattered +huts, looking like black specks upon the sand. + +All was now animation with the preparations for the lists. From bundles +of bows thrown by Dermot on the ground before each pavilion, the youths +began busily to select weapons for the fair archers, who were themselves +earnestly engaged in choosing arrows from quivers that were hung on the +front of the tent; fastening braces of thick fawn's leather on their +left or bow arm just above the wrist to preserve it from injury by the +rebound of the bow-string; and drawing on the right hand, from parcels +handed them by pages, shooting-gloves, with three finger-stalls, fitted +with a strap and button to fasten at the wrist, to protect their fingers +in drawing the arrow. Besides these appendages of archery, each +archeress wore a belt buckled about the waist, to which pended a tassel +of the softest floss of Brussels, to wipe away the soil that adhered to +the arrows when drawn from the ground; and also an ivory box with a +metal lid, containing a perfumed paste for anointing the finger-stalls +of the shooting-gloves and the brace on the arm, that the bow-string +might the more easily quit the fingers and pass over the guarded wrist. +A small pouch, either of tortoise-shell or of silver, in shape and +dimensions like a sportsman's cup or a dicebox, was suspended on the +right side to receive two or three arrows; the more cumbersome quiver, +while in target-shooting, being left on the ground near at hand, filled +with shafts to replace those broken or lost. + +The party of archeresses consisted of seven fair girls, the eldest +scarce seventeen. They were fancifully attired, some in green, and +others in orange or blue hunting-jackets, after the tasteful fashion of +the period; a costume admirably calculated to display their sylphan +shapes. They all wore hats of the colour of their spencers, looped up in +front, and ornamented with waves of snowy plumes. Long white trains +descended from their waists to the ground, but, in shooting, were +gathered beneath the belt on the left side, and, thence falling down +again to the feet in numerous folds, added to the grace and +picturesqueness of their appearance. Each archeress was attended by a +favoured youth as an esquire, habited in a green or gray hunting-frock, +bordered with a wreath of embroidered oak-leaves, with an arrow worked +in silver thread on each lappel. They wore broad flapping hats, turned +boldly back from the forehead, and shaded in front with a drooping black +plume. Each carried a short hunting-spear, decked with ribands of the +colour of his mistress' jacket, gifts from her own hand and tied thereon +with her own fingers, in token that she acknowledged him as her "Esquire +of the Bow." The duty of these youthful cavaliers was to select a bow +suited to the strength of the archeress whose colours they wore; to fit +it with an arrow of a weight proportioned to its power, having a nock +exactly receiving the string; to assist, if the lady is unskilled, in +stringing the bow; to draw the arrows from the butt, or collect the +far-shot shafts and return them to the owner; and otherwise, as courtesy +and gallantry prompted, to do their duty as "esquires of archerie." + +Once more the sonorous horn of old Cormac was heard winding, now high, +now low, in a long, wild strain, and then ending in three sharp blasts, +like the stirring notes of a bugle sounding to the charge. Every +archeress now had her brace buckled on her arm, and her shooting-glove +buttoned about her wrist; every one had two good arrows in the pouch at +her belt, and a third on the string; and each fair girl, attended by her +esquire, hastened to the stand by the southernmost target at the sound +of the forester's horn--save, in each instance, Kate Bellamont! Her +brace would not buckle all she could do; her shooting-glove would not go +on, and three, that she had pulled off, were lying rent at her feet; and +not an arrow was to be seen in her tortoise-shell pouch, though half a +dozen fair ones lay about her on the ground! It was very plain that +something was going wrong with the maiden. Such a dilemma could not have +happened without a cause. The braces of the rest buckled with ease; +their shooting-gloves fitted beautifully; and there had been time enough +to fill twenty pouches. Why, then, was Kate Bellamont not ready? Her +brace, both strap and buckle, was perfect; and the wrist it was destined +to compass was not to be matched for its smallness of size! The gloves, +plainly were just what they should be! Her companions had been fitted, +and her hand was the smallest as well as the fairest of the party; +besides, there were a dozen pairs on the ground that evidently were made +for no other hand. The cause could not lie in the arrows, for they were, +to the eye, without fault, and of every variety of shape and fashion +known to archery; nor in her handsome esquire, who, save when requested +by some eager girl to assist her, had been diligently serving her with +arrow after arrow, until he had emptied two quivers, the contents of +which now lay strewn around. The cause is not to be found in either of +these. The truth is, Kate Bellamont was playing with her little foot +against the ground when she should have been trying on her glove. No +sooner was one pulled half way on than she suffered it to remain so, +drumming the while in a fit of absence on the sward, while her eyes +followed the motions of her handsome esquire. The next moment, +recovering herself, she would tear it off impatiently, and, with a +laugh, fling it to the ground. She would then take up another, and go +through the same process, or play with her brace instead of buckling it; +and when the young gentleman gave her an arrow, without scarcely +touching it to the bow-string she threw it down, saying it was too heavy +or too light, too long or too short, had too much feather or had not +feather enough; so that, when the rest of the party were ready, Kate +Bellamont was just where she was at the outset. The result of all this, +whether brought about designedly or not by a little female +manoeuvring, being a question to be solved by such as are skilled in +the ways and means by which women work out their ends, was, that when +the last notes of Cormac's horn died away in the forest, Kate Bellamont +found herself and her esquire, the noble and youthful heir of the broad +lands of the earldom of Lester, left quite alone. The brace was on her +arm unbuckled, and she held a glove in her hand. + +"Lord Robert, do clasp this troublesome brace for me. Strange you could +not see what difficulty I have had to get ready! But I suppose you were +so engaged fitting an arrow to pretty Gracy Fitzgerald's bow, that you +had no eyes for any one else!" + +This was said half in pique, half laughingly; and holding, with a +pouting lip, her snowy arm towards her esquire as she spoke, he +gallantly received it, and with the merest effort in the world clasped +the rebellious brace. But he did not release her soft hand without +giving it a slight pressure, and looking into her face with an eloquent +gaze, which she consciously met with eyes half downcast, yet beaming +through their long dark lashes with a gentle fire that young love only +could have kindled. + +"Now, Sir Esquire, fasten this glove." + +The youth bent till the black plume of his bonnet rested on her arm, +and, with some difficulty apparently, for he was a very long time about +it, succeeded in buttoning the silken strap across the blue-veined +wrist; nor did he lift his head from the fair hand, which lay nestled +like a bird in his beneath the thick covert of his drooping feather, ere +he had touched it with his bold lip. + +"Ha, Sir Forester, is this a part of your service as squire of archery?" +she demanded, with the blood mounting to her cheek in maidenly surprise; +though the pouting smile on her mouth, which she vainly tried to turn +into a frown, and the dancing light in her telltale eyes, betokened +anything besides resentment at the bold deed; "I see I must resign you +to my sly little cousin Gracy, and take her well-behaved esquire; +doubtless you better understand her humour than you seem to do mine." + +By the time she had ended she had succeeded in calling up a small cloud +on her brow, which struggled very hard to cast a shadow over the sunny +light that played around her lovely mouth and was reflected back in a +thousand rays from the deep wells of her black, Castilian eyes. + +"Forgive me, sweet Lady Kate," said the esquire, dropping on one +knee--disguising his attitude to the eyes of others by gathering +carelessly one or two arrows from the ground--to her eyes alone a +suppliant. The expression of his face amusingly wavered between playful +mockery and seriousness, as if greatly fearing, yet doubting much, that +his daring act had really given offence: a sort of neutral ground +between mirth and grief, with the advantage of enabling him to fall +readily into the one or the other, as he should find the needle of her +humour pointed. + +"See, then, you offend not again, sir," she said, laughing at the +troubled expression of his serio-comic countenance. "Haste! choose me an +arrow that tapers from the pile to the feather." + +"One that tapers each way from the middle will suit you better for +shooting in this light wind," said the young esquire, the puzzled play +of his handsome features changed to sunshine by her voice. As he spoke +he brought a quiver full of arrows and poured them out at her feet, and, +kneeling on the thick verdure, selected an arrow of the kind he had +named. + +"No, no," she said, putting it aside; "they always curve from the line +of sight; and, besides, fly unsteady." + +"Not in a wind, Kate. The fulness in the middle counteracts the weight +of the ends, and drives it more evenly." + +"Do as you are bidden, Sir Esquire," she said. "Don't think now you are +going to have your own way." A second arrow was placed in her hand by +the youth. + +"Why, Lord Robert, what _is_ the matter with your wits! This is an arrow +of the same kind; and, besides, it is without a cock-feather. I shall +have to call yonder handsome fisher's lad, who is watching me so +admiringly, to my assistance." + +The esquire, without looking up, mechanically handed to her a third +arrow, with the head broken and the feathers ruffled. Without being able +to speak in her surprise, she looked quietly down and beheld the young +man so intently contemplating one of her exquisite little feet, that +twice she spoke to him ere he looked up to encounter her gaze of arch +astonishment. It was very plain what had become of her esquire's wits. +The youth blushed, and hastily rose to his feet; but the maiden could +not disguise a little female vanity, though she shook her finger at him, +and said mischievously, + +"Do you propose becoming a cordwainer, and making me a pair of slippers, +Lord Robert, that you are so busy taking the dimensions of my foot?" + +"I would willingly become apprentice to the meanest cobbler, to be +suffered to take the measure of that tiny foot, and fit it with a shoe," +said the youth, with gallantry. + +The maiden laughed, and, unwilling to betray the feeling his words had +created, said, "Do be quick, Lord Robert; my bow is not yet strung with +our foolish idling here, and I shall be too late for the lists." + +As she spoke she grasped her bow firmly in the middle, and extending her +hand, containing the string terminating with a loop, to the upper limb, +she pulled smartly upward, pressing the limb downward at the same time +with her left wrist, and skilfully and accurately carried the eye of the +bow-string into the nock. Her bow, like those of her companions, was +five feet in length, neatly made of dark wood highly polished, and +rounded on the inner side to increase its power in shooting. + +"Well and featly done! That's a tough yew, and a man's strength could +not have better done what your little fingers, with skill to guide them, +I have just seen do. You were an apt pupil, young mistress, and do +honour to old Dermot's lessons." + +Kate Bellamont turned and saw the old forester close at her side. "If I +have any skill, good Cormac," she said, "I do owe it all to your kind +teaching; and if I win the arrow this day, you shall have it as a +birthday gift from me, to wear in your bonnet instead of your pipe." + +The forester lifted his bonnet with a gratified air, mingled with +respect, at this expression of kindness from his lovely young mistress, +and said, + +"I know you would give Cormac, sweet lady, even the fair white plume +that graces your brow if you thought it would gratify the old man. God +bless you, noble child; may you live to see many such bright birthdays +as this!" The rough huntsman brushed a tear from his eyes as he spoke; +for the experience of years had told him that clouds would obscure the +bright sky of her young hopes, and that each returning birthday might be +but a sad waymark to denote the slow passage of a life of sorrow and +trial. "The countess has bid me come and see if you need my aid in +fitting your shafts, that you delay." + +"No, no, Cormac," said the maiden, blushing; but directly she cried, +"Yes, you can help me. I am undecided whether to shoot an arrow that +tapers from the head to the feathers, or from the feathers to the head, +or from the middle both ways." + +"What says Master Robert?" asked Dermot, smiling archly through one of +his little gray eyes, the other, from the long habit of shutting it in +shooting, having at last got to be so firmly closed up in a radiating +network of fine wrinkles as to have been for the last ten years of his +life invisible. + +"Pshaw, Cormac!" she cried, stooping till her snowy plumes shaded her +burning cheek; "I did not ask Lord Robert, but you." + +"I have advised Lady Kate, forester, to shoot arrows that taper both to +feather and pile," said the youth, haughtily. + +"And she chooses--" + +"Those that taper from the pile to the feather," said the maiden, +quickly. + +"If the distance were seventy yards instead of fifty," said the +forester, measuring the ground with his eye, "it would be a good shaft +for a steady hand; but, if you will let me decide, I would recommend you +to take the taper from the feather, especially as the air is in motion." + +"Your skill is at fault for once, old man," said the young noble, with a +flushed brow; "the best bowmen in England--ay, Robin Hood himself, were +he here this day--would teach you your craft better." + +"You are in error, Master Robert," said the forester, with some warmth, +in defence of his profession; "and he who taught you that a double taper +is better in a wind than--" + +"Hist, old graybeard! you know nothing of woodscraft; yonder fisher's +lad will even tell you a shaft swelling in the middle will waver in its +passage through the wind like a weathercock." + +"Nay, Master Robert--" + +"Speak again, old man, and I strike you!" said the young noble, +imperiously, angry that his skill should be called in question; feeling +positive that he alone was right, or else too proud to acknowledge his +conviction. + +"For shame, Lester," cried Kate Bellamont, with an indignant look; "I +did not think you were of so overbearing and ungracious a temper! +Besides," she added, proudly, "I sought Cormac's opinion! Strike an old +man, and in a lady's presence! Out upon thy manhood, Robert. Ask +Cormac's forgiveness, or never speak to me more." + +"Pardon my hasty speech, Kate," he said, abashed by her look, and +reproached by the cutting irony of her words, approaching her as he +spoke with an air of deep mortification, "forgive--" + +"To Cormac, sir, not me." + +"For Cormac, in atonement, I will send from Castle More a fat buck, with +this very arrow sticking in its heart; but," he added, with haughty +fierceness, "I will ask no man's forgiveness. If I have offended, I am +ready to stand by my words." + +"Marry come up! we are like to have a letting of blood here," said the +maiden, between jest and seriousness. "Will you be docile, Robert?" + +"At your bidding, Kate, as a lamb." + +"_Very_ like a lamb. Forget it, Dermot. You have made his pride a little +sore to tell him, before a lady, he knew not how to choose a shaft, and +so unfit to be an esquire of archery." + +"Young blood will up," said the forester. "I meant not to gainsay your +skill, Master Robert, for it's known to every bowman that no young hand +in the county can send a shaft farther or surer than young Lord Robert +of Castle More." + +"That will do, Cormac. Now, Robert, see that you henceforward take fire +less readily; and you, good Dermot, refrain from wounding the esteem of +these young lords. Verily, it behooves me to look to my own speech in +such fiery company. Nay, Robert," she added, laughing, "I have done. +Give me the shafts; and, as we are to have three shots apiece at the +target, I will shoot one of each kind, and be the prize his whose arrow +wins! Give me them, Robert!--nay, don't press my fingers so hard; I +don't want them in my hand, but in the pouch. Go, Cormac, I am ready. I +see my lady mother is shaking her silver arrow at me already for +loitering here when I should be at the post." + +The next moment she had joined the archers, and the trial of skill +forthwith commenced. The first arrow that was shot was from the bow of a +fair-haired girl, in a blue hat and a silken bodice of the same colour; +it flew wide of the mark, and quivered in the trunk of a tree sixty +yards off. + +"There was nerve in that, Lady Eustace," said old Cormac, who watched +each shot with professional interest; "but you grasped the handle of +your bow too tightly, and so made your aim unsteady. Hold your bow as +lightly as you would a hunting-whip. 'Tis not strength, but skill, that +sends the bolt into the eye of the butt." + +The young archeress laughed at her failure, and resigned her place to +another, who was distinguished by an orange-coloured spencer. This +second shot was more successful; for, swiftly cleaving the air, the +arrow stuck in the orange circle. + +"Bravo! orange to orange!" was the cry that on all sides hailed this +appropriate hit. + +The third shaft was still better directed; and, hitting the red or inner +circle, stuck there for a moment trembling like an aspen-leaf, and then +fell to the ground. + +"A brave bolt that! a brave bolt that," said the forester, "and drawn +well to the head. But you should have brought the nock of your arrow +down more towards your ear. The ear in shooting an arrow; the eye in +firing a pistol or harquebuss. That shaft was a taper from the feather, +Master Robert." + +"Hush, Cormac," cried Kate Bellamont, quickly; "would you get your gray +beard into a broil. Robert, bring me my quiver," she said, as she saw +the young man's eye light up; "one of my arrows, the very one you gave +me, has the cock-feather awry! Stay! you need not bring the quiver, but +select a shaft for me yourself. I will keep it as my forlorn hope, and +mark me if it do not carry off the prize." She sought his eyes and +looked so bewitchingly after a manner maidens have of their own, that +his brow coloured and his eyes beamed with a different emotion, while, +with a fluttering heart, he went to do her bidding. + +Oh, gentle and angelic woman! ever ready to calm the ruffled brow with +words of peace! to bring good out of evil! to step between fierce man +and his reinless passions! with an eye to sooth, a voice to disarm, a +smile to win! Blessings on thee, woman! whether in thy happy and +innocent girlhood, or fair and gentle maidenhood; whether maid or +matron, young or old, lovely or homely! Blessings on thee, sweet leaven +of humanity! yet partaking so much of the heavenly nature, that the sons +of the gods, we are told, were lured from their celestial thrones to +cast their crowns at thy feet! + +A fourth arrow hit the black circle; and the fifth, sent from the bow of +a tall, graceful girl, struck on the outer edge of the target and +splintered it, while the bow itself snapped in two in her hand. + +"What a mischievous shot, Fanny," cried Lady Bellamont, smiling; "if +by-and-by you launch Cupid's shafts at your lovers' hearts in that way, +you will make sad havoc." + +"It was all, your ladyship, of placing the short limb of the bow +uppermost. Hugh Conor must be getting old that he teacheth not his pupil +better to handle the bow," said old Cormac, shaking his snowy locks as +the next archeress, a sylph-like little being, about fifteen, with +dangerous hazel eyes; rich chestnut-coloured hair, that flowed in curls +all over her shoulders; a voice like some merry bird's, and a wild, +joyous spirit lighting up like a sunbeam her whole countenance, took her +place at the stand. + +"Now, cousin Gracy, do be steady!" cried Kate Bellamont; "take heed! you +will shoot my esquire through the heart if you handle your bow so +carelessly." + +"And then you would shoot me through the head in return, I dare say." + +The laughing girl bounded to the stand as she spoke, carelessly drew her +arrow to the head, and, ere she had well taken aim, away it flew, and +passed through the centre of the emblazoned target waving on the summit +of the pavilion, and continued its wild flight into the wood beyond. + +"Bravo, cousin Gracy! you have won the silver arrow," cried Kate +Bellamont. "Lord Robert, I wonder if that was the arrow you chose for +Lady Grace. A taper both ways, or I'll forfeit my jennet!" + +"Who makes the broil now, young mistress?" asked the old forester, with +a glance of humour. + +"You and I, worthy Cormac, are two very different people where a young +gentleman is concerned," said the maiden, laughing. + +The forester shook his head incredulously, and, turning to Grace +Fitzgerald, said, "Faith, but it was a brave shot that, my young lady! +You have done what old Dermot could not have done at a target, playing +in the wind like that. But, with the leave of my lady the queen, you +must have a second shot at the real target. Take this arrow, that tapers +from the feather to the pile; fit it to your bow-string exactly at the +spot where it is wound round with silk; and, if you will follow my +directions, I will teach you to strike the centre of the true butt, or +never draw arrow to head again." Leave being granted by acclamation, the +archeress merrily resumed her attitude and prepared to follow his +instructions. + +"Hold the bow easily in your hand. Throw your head back a little. That +will do. Now keep your bow-arm straightened, and bend the wrist of your +gloved hand inward. Now raise your bow, steadily drawing the arrow at +the same time--not towards your eye, but towards your ear. Be steady! +When it is three parts drawn, take your aim at the centre. Keep the head +of the arrow a little to the right of the mark. Be cool, and, if you are +sure of your aim, draw the arrow quickly and steadily to the head, and +gently part your fingers and let it go!" + +The shaft, loosened from the string, cut the air and buried itself in +the very centre of the golden eye of the target. A shout from every part +of the field acknowledged the success of the quick pupil, and bore +testimony to the skill of the experienced old archer. + +"It is Cormac's shot, not mine," said the archeress; "I am satisfied +with piercing the glittering centre of yonder escutcheon." + +"The queen shall decide," cried several of the party, turning towards +the throne where sat the lovely countess, amid her youthful attendants, +participating with girlish interest in the scene, and prepared to decide +all appeals to her royal umpirage. + +"Gracy is right. Cormac's skill directed the shaft. She has no honest +claim to the honour of the hit, save the credit of having stood quiet +longer than she was ever known to before! The banner with its perforated +target she is justly entitled to; and," added the countess, with a +smile, "I here award it to her." + +"And if I ever get a husband he shall carry it before him into battle," +said the merry sylph. "Now, divine Kate, see that you don't wound my +arrow. I would not have it injured for a silver one." + +"It tapers from the middle in each direction, I have no doubt," said +Kate, archly, glancing mischievously towards her esquire as she prepared +to take her place at the stand. + +"Your speech tapers in both directions, wild Kate," retorted the other, +blushing. "I wonder what you and Lord Robert could have been doing, that +you loitered so long about the pavilion! There, I declare, if you are +not holding your bow with the short limb uppermost!" + +Kate blushed in her turn, and reversed it. + +"Why, cousin Kate Bellamont, you are going to shoot with the feather +towards the target!" cried the tantalizing little maiden. "Really, I +_do_ begin to wonder what you and Lester _could_ have been about, that +the mention of it scatters your wits and makes you look so _very_ +foolish!" + +Kate shook her head with a playful menace at her tormentor, placed her +arrow with the right end to the bow-string, and took her stand by the +target. The instant she fixed her eyes on it her self-possession +returned, and, elevating her bow, she threw herself with careless grace +into the attitude of an accomplished archeress. + +A more beautiful object than this young creature, standing in the +strikingly spirited attitude she had assumed, can hardly be imagined. +Though but sixteen, her form was divinely perfect. Every limb--foot, +hand, and arm--was a rare model for the sculptor's chisel. The +undulating outline of her shoulders was faultless; and her figure, +perhaps, was the more beautiful that her bust and waist, and the wavy +symmetry of her whole person, was just receiving that harmony of touch +and roundness of finish which marks the era when the wild romping girl +is merging into the blushing, conscious, loving, and loveable maiden of +seventeen. Descended from an ancient Milesian family, she betrayed her +origin in her complexion, which was a rich brunette, reflecting in warm, +sunny tints the mantling blood, which came and went at every emotion. +Her eyes were dark and sparkling as night with its stars, and as, with a +slightly bent brow, she fixed them on the target, they had a cool and +steady expression remarkable in one of her years and sex. She wore a +dark ruby velvet jacket, laced over a stomacher rich with brilliants, +and a velvet hat of the same dark ruby, surmounted by a plume of white +ostrich feathers, in that day a rare and costly ornament, which +gracefully drooped about her head in striking contrast with her raven +locks that floated around her superb neck in the wildest freedom. Her +lips, like most of the lips of Erin's fair maidens, were of a rich coral +red, and, just parted as she took sight, rendered visible a pearly line +of beautifully-arranged teeth. Her mouth, when closed, was finely +shaped, and sometimes wore an air of decision, that did not, however, in +any way diminish its witchery. The glow of health, and the pride of +birth and beauty, were upon her countenance, and every feminine grace +and charm seemed to play around her. + +As she stood with one foot a little advanced, her neck slightly curved +to bring her eyes down to a level with the mark, her left side, but no +part of the front of the body, accurately turned towards the target, the +eyes of old Cormac Dermot glistened with pride. Slowly she elevated the +bow, drawing the arrow simultaneously towards the ear with the first +three gloved fingers of her right hand, till she had drawn it out three +quarters of its length, when, pausing till she had filled her eye with +the golden eye of the target, she drew it smartly to its head and let it +loose from her fingers. For an instant she stood following its swift +flight: the pupils of her dark eyes dilated and eager; her lips closely +shut; her chest advanced; her right arm elevated and curved above her +shoulders, the wrist bent, and the fingers of the hand turned gently +downward; the left arm extended at full length, and grasping the relaxed +bow; her neck curved; her spirited head thrown back, and her whole +action animated and commanding; presenting altogether, perhaps, the most +graceful attitude the female form is susceptible of assuming. + +The arrow was sent with unerring aim, struck the golden eye within half +an inch of Grace Fitzgerald's, and buried itself to its feather. The +lawn rung with the plaudits of both archeresses and esquires; and even +the retainers and fishermen, who were humble but curious spectators of +the sports, gave vent to their admiration in shouts of clamorous +applause. Old Cormac swung his long yew bow above his head with delight, +and looked as if, in the pride of the moment, he would have hugged his +accomplished pupil to his heart. + +"Do not be so elated, good Dermot," she said, laughing; "it was the +arrow I chose--a taper from the pile." + +"The more skill in the hand that drove it so truly," said the forester. + +"I must do still better than this, else neither you nor Lord Robert, +who, methinks, looks somewhat blank to find I have not missed to gratify +him, will neither of you get the prize." + +"It was not a fair trial, Kate," said the esquire, gayly; "the wind has +lulled; and, as you drew your bow, there was not a breath of air." + +"If, nevertheless, that had been a taper from the feather," said the +forester, after surveying the target earnestly for a moment, as +obstinately bent on adhering to his original opinion as even the +spirited young noble himself, "it would have cleft the arrow of Lady +Gracy through its length to the pile." + +"We will see to that anon, worthy Cormac. I have two shots more. Here is +the arrow you chose for me, which I will fit to my bow-string, and do my +best to drive it through my cousin's." + +"I dare say you will if you can, and would like, also, to destroy +everything else Lord Robert gives me," said the roguish Grace, putting +up her lip and tossing her head, with its cloud of rich hair, in +admirably affected pique. + +The young esquire of Kate Bellamont looked embarrassed; Kate laughed and +drummed on the ground with her foot, while the whole party began +forthwith to prepare for the next round. The customary mode of +ascertaining the value of the hits in archery, by estimating it in +proportion to their distance from the centre, was departed from in the +present instance. By the method alluded to, a hit in the gold counts +nine; in the red, three; in the orange, two; in the black, one; and +their sum is the value of the hits: a process which makes three hits in +the red circle of the same value, or nearly so, of one in the gold. In +the present case, the shots were limited to three, and the prize awarded +to the greatest number of hits in the gold. + +In the second round, the first three arrows struck three different +circles; and one well-directed shaft, shot by the archeress who had +before broken her bow, hit the gold, though at its junction with the +red. Grace Fitzgerald bent her bow without aim, but the courteous arrow +went accurately to the mark, and struck within a finger's breadth of the +centre, much to the delight of Cormac, the forester, who took himself +all the credit of the fair shot. Kate, with the arrow given her by +Cormac fitted to her bow-string, took somewhat less careful aim than +with her first shot, and was about to loose the arrow, when a hawk, +bearing a live fish in his talons, soared above the cliff, and with +swift wing flew high across the lawn in the direction of the forest. +Quicker than thought, the point of the arrow was elevated from the +target into the air, drawn to its head with a stronger arm and more +resolute eye, and launched from the bow-string. With irresistible force +and unerring aim, it cleft the air and struck the proud bird of prey +beneath the wing. He uttered a wild cry, flew heavily a few feet +perpendicularly upward, and then, whirling round and round in concentric +circles, each gyration bringing him nearer the earth, fell, transfixed +with the arrow, among the fishermen: fluttering wildly on the ground in +agony, he succeeded, before they could secure him, in flapping himself +over the precipice. He was instantly followed by a daring young +fisherman, who had been endeavouring to capture him--the same youth +whose admiration of her had before attracted the notice of Kate +Bellamont. + +For a moment the generous heart of the fair archer shrunk from the wreck +she had made, and she turned away her head from the dying struggles of +the dark bandit of the air. But maidens of that period were too familiar +with the more revolting scenes of the chase to show emotion at +witnessing the death of a hawk; and, therefore, sympathy for the fate of +the victim of her skill gave place to the pride of the successful +archer. + +"There is a prize for you, Cormac, better than a golden arrow," she +said, with a flashing eye; "and, when next I go a hawking," she archly +added, "I will be sure to use arrows that taper from the feather." + +The third and final round now followed. Each archeress had shot her last +arrow save Kate Bellamont, yet but three arrows besides her own and the +equivocal shot of Grace Fitzgerald were in the centre, and these from as +many different bows. Grace had made a wilder shot even than her first; +for her arrow, jeopardizing the lives of the poor fishermen, flew far +over the cliff out of sight. Four of the companions of Kate had, equally +with herself, each an arrow in the gold; but as she had yet to shoot her +third arrow, she had yet a chance of making a second hit and winning the +prize. Glancing with proud consciousness of her own skill towards her +young esquire, she drew her remaining arrow through her fingers, +carefully examining each one of its three feathers, and fitted it +accurately to the bow-string; then elevating her bow, she steadily drew +the arrow. All was breathless expectation. The old archer looked on as +if he would not grieve if for once his pupil should miss; while her +young esquire watched her with the anxiety of one who felt that his +judgment and skill in the noble science of archery were at stake. As she +was ready to loose the arrow, the wind, which had hitherto gently fanned +her cheek, increased suddenly to a strong breeze, lifting the hair from +her brow and tossing her tresses in wild confusion about her neck. The +eyes of Cormac lighted up with triumph, while Lord Robert himself curled +his lip scornfully and smiled with confidence. The archeress, who had +dropped the point of the arrow with a misgiving, remembering what Cormac +had said of it as ill adapted to a wind, on catching the confident eye +of her esquire again raised the bow, and coolly and steadily drew the +shaft to its head. Every eye followed it in its swift course, and saw it +strike the arrow of Grace Fitzgerald on the end, shiver it to its pile, +and drive itself through the target to the feather. A general +exclamation of surprise and admiration bore testimony to the skill of +the victor; the dark eyes of the young esquire sparkled with triumph, +while the discomfited Dermot said, with a broad laugh of good-humour, + +"Well, Master Robert, it's your time to boast now. By the boar's head o' +Castle Cor! I shall never hear the end of your double taper. Faith, +masters, no hand but my young Lady Kate's could have sent a double taper +with such an aim and in this wind, which young Lord Robert there has got +old Elpsy to set a blowing to triumph over the old man's skill. Well +a-day! What the gray-headed forester said of it is true, nevertheless; +but when such a hand and eye as Lady Kate's sends the bolt to the butt, +there is no depending on old rules; especially," he added, laughing, +"with a witch's wind to carry the arrow to its centre." + +The young noble frowned darkly on the speaker, and joined not in the +laugh of his companions. Lady Bellamont now commanded Cormac to sound +his horn three times, and bid, in the name of the queen of archery, the +band of archeresses, with their esquires, who were hastening towards the +target to collect their arrows, to approach the throne, and witness the +award of the prize to the victor. + +Amid the congratulations and applauses of the whole field, for, +unenvious, each light-hearted girl seemed to share the triumph of the +accomplished archeress, the victoress advanced to the rustic footstool +of the throne, and gracefully knelt to receive, from the hand of the +beautiful queen of the sports, the glittering prize--a finely-wrought +arrow of silver, five inches in length, with a chased gold head, on +which was graven, in small Gothic characters, these words: + + "Field of Archery, Castle Cor, May, MDCXCIV." + +"Victorious archeress," said the queen, rising, her face beaming with +maternal love and pride, and extending her arm containing the prize, +"receive this fair token of your matchless skill, so well displayed this +day. May you in every other female accomplishment, my sweet Kate, be as +successful as in archery." + +"She'll be a match for poor little Cupid, with his tiny bow and arrow, I +dare say," said Grace Fitzgerald, with a roguish eye. "Poor youth!" she +continued, glancing significantly towards the handsome Lord Robert, who +stood at the right hand of the victress, "I pity him if he's like to +have such a hole made in his heart as Kate has made in yonder target." + +This sally of the sprightly maiden was merrily received by all the +youthful circle save the conscious two who were its subjects. The lovely +countess now left the throne, embraced and kissed her noble Kate, whom +her companions, gathering around her, playfully forced into the vacant +seat. She was about to bound from it again, when she checked the +impulse, reseated herself, and bade her esquire advance and kneel before +her. The gallant youth obeyed; when, bending gracefully forward, she +fastened the silver arrow in the loop of his bonnet, and bade him wear +it on every return of that day in memory of the field of archery at +Castle Cor. + +The noble youth accepted the gift, won by the arrow he had chosen, with +the same playful, half-serious spirit in which it was bestowed, and then +kissed the fair hand that presented it with at least full as much +passion as gallantry. Amid the merry sallies, especially from Grace +Fitzgerald, this scene created, the whole party of archers bounded away +like a troop of wild deer towards the target, to ascertain more +accurately the nature, of the several hits, while the countess, at a +more dignified pace, attended by the forester, returned to the castle to +prepare for the further entertainments of the day. But the fleetest of +foot among the youthful bevy of fair girls had not measured half the +green space between the linden-tree and bristling target, when a +thrilling outcry of terror from a fisherman on the cliff, who wildly +waved his arms to some one below, and the next moment clasped his hands +together in despair, checked them in mid career; and, with hearts +palpitating with vague apprehensions of danger, they flew to the +precipice to ascertain the cause of this sudden alarm. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "From crag to crag descending--swiftly sped + Stern Conrad down, nor once he turned his head; + He bounds, he flies, until his footsteps reach + The verge where ends the cliff, begins the beach." + + _The Corsair._ + + "Dark was the flow of Oscar's hair, + But Allan's locks were bright and fair." + + _Oscar of Alva._ + + "But who is he, whose darken'd brow + Glooms in the midst of general mirth?" + + _Ibid._ + + +When the hawk, which had been so skilfully struck by the arrow of Kate +Bellamont, flapped himself, in his violent death-throes, over the edge +of the cliff, a gallant young fisher's lad, seeing him lodge in the +topmost branches of a blasted tree twenty feet below, fearlessly flung +himself off the precipice, and lighted, by the aid of a limb, on a +projecting rock within twelve feet of him. The cliff at this place was +one hundred and forty feet in height, and, except where its surface was +opened by narrow crevices, in which a few shrubs and dwarf cedars found +precarious roothold, or where a fragment, hurled from its seat by the +lightning, or fallen through age into the sea, left a narrow shelf, it +presented to the passing boatman on the bay below a naked and gigantic +wall, of nearly perpendicular ascent and inaccessible to human foot: +indeed, from a midway brow seventy feet from the base, it receded, +leaving a sheer descent of that space from the water, which lay black, +still, and of profound depth beneath. Near the top of the cliff grew a +scathed cedar, clinging with its hardy roots into a cleft in its face, +and leaning threateningly over the flood. Its top reached within twenty +feet of the summit of the precipice; but, inclining at an angle away +from it, stood full seven feet out from its side. It was the ragged arms +of this tree which caught the hawk in his descent, and where, with +fierce cries of rage and pain, he struggled to free himself from the +fatal shaft, but which he drove deeper and deeper into his side with +every beat of his strong wing. + +The young man paused after lighting upon the first landing-place, and +measured with a cool glance the dizzy descent; and then fixed his gaze +on the bird, whose blood-red eyes flashed forth vindictive fire as they +met his, with a resolute look that conveyed a determination to capture +him at whatever risk. The pliant limb of a tree growing on the summit, +by which he had let himself down to the place where he stood, had, on +being released, sprung back to its natural position far beyond his +reach: the surface of rock, eight feet in height above him, was as even +as a wall of masonry; and an upward glance satisfied him that, without +assistance from those above, to reascend again would be impossible. +Quietly smiling at the difficulty in which he had involved himself, the +fearless lad placed his eyes again on the hawk with the confident and +resolute, and almost stern, expression they had before borne, and began +to examine narrowly his position, and to look about for some safe way of +descending to a perilous spur, the breadth of a man's two hands, which, +on peering down, he discovered projecting from the side of the rock on a +level with the top of the tree. Whether governed solely by that pride of +spirit which is found in most youths of high-toned feelings, he +internally resolved to accomplish what he had thoughtlessly undertaken; +whether actuated by the spirit of adventure, or whether fascinated by +the beauty of Kate Bellamont, he wished to preserve the proud bird as a +trophy of her skill; whether one or all of these motives influenced the +daring fisher's lad, remains to be unfolded. + +The spot on which he stood was the projecting edge of the second stratum +of rock, twenty inches wide, running irregularly along the face of the +precipice, and appeared to have been formed by the falling away of large +chips or flakes from the upper and softer stratum. From this rim there +ran a zigzag crevice, an inch wide, obliquely downward along the rock to +the shelf below, on which grew a handful of long grass and two or three +slender shrubs. On a level with it was the top of the tree; underneath, +thirty feet below, were visible its gnarled roots clinging to a mere lip +of the rock, yet vigorously inserting themselves in the neighbouring +crevices; farther down, on the edge of the brow where the cliff began to +incline inward, was visible yet one more foothold, scarcely a palm in +breadth; below that, the shrinking eye measured a dizzy vacancy till it +fell upon the still, pool-like bay beneath. + +The youth surveyed these features of the dangerous precipice with a +steady eye; and having coolly calculated his chance of accomplishing +safely the descent of the twelve feet below him, sat down with his legs +hanging over, and deliberately drew off his stout fisher's boots and +hung them on a twig beside him. Then turning round, he carefully slid +off and suspended his body an instant by his right hand, till he had +firmly inserted the tip of one foot and the fingers of the other hand in +the zigzag crevice. Releasing his right hand from its grasp on the +shelf, he then carried it below the left, and having got a firm hold of +the edge of the fissure, let go with the left and passed it in its turn +under the right: he changed the position of his feet in the same manner +so long as he could obtain, which was not always the case, a +resting-place for his toes; and in this way, with cool self-possession +and undaunted nerve, which even the wild cries and beating wings of the +bird could not move, he succeeded in safely reaching the small +projecting leaf, and stood on a level with the top of the tree. The +falcon was now within seven feet of him horizontally; but he seemed as +far from the attainment of his object as before. It was impossible to +spring into the tree, even if its roots should not be torn from their +rocky bed by the force of the leap and his weight. But the young +fisherman possessed a temper that never yielded to obstacles, and seemed +to be governed by a spirit that scorned defeat. Stretching himself out +upon the shelf, which was just broad enough to contain his body lying +sideways to the face of the rock, he looked down, and saw within reach +of his arm a stout root, the strength of which he tested; and below +this, within reach of his feet if he should swing himself off, was a +sharp projection scarce the size of his foot; and a few inches below +that, a stout limb of the tree rested against the precipice. His eye +embraced at once these advantages, and he did not hesitate to avail +himself of them. + +Lightly, but yet with care, he committed his weight to the root, and, +hanging at the full length of his arm, reached, after three unsuccessful +trials, the spur below with the tip end of one of his toes. This, to one +like him, was a sufficient hold to authorize him to release his grasp +above. Lying, like a fly upon a wall, close against the side of the +rock, he now fearlessly yet cautiously let go his hold, and stood with +one foot on the projection, with no other support but his muscular +adhesion to the wide wall of the precipice. This was a situation +attended with the most imminent peril; and by the firmly-closed lips and +the almost stern expression of his eyes, it was clear that he was fully +conscious of his dangerous position. But there was no shrinking, no +pallor, no sign of fear! He was equal to the danger he had braved; and, +as this increased, the powers of his mind and body seemed to expand to +compass it. + +The branch of the tree was within a few inches of the point on which his +foot rested. Slowly and cautiously he dropped his unsupported leg, while +he pressed his cheek and shoulder close against the side of the cliff; +for he knew that the slightest deviation from the equilibrium would be +fatal. His foot at length touched the horizontal limb, which was the +thickness of a man's arm where it met the rock. He repeatedly pressed +upon it, each successive time harder and heavier, until he found that it +would bear his whole weight. Then directing his hand carefully downward +towards his feet, he placed it on the point of rock, removing his foot +at the same instant to make room for it, and stood upright and with +confidence on the limb. + +Satisfied that the branch, which, turned back by the cliff, had forced +the tree to lean over the water, would safely sustain him, he now +glanced down to the foot of the tree, and began to inspect the hold of +the trunk upon the shelf from which it grew. The examination afforded +him no very great assurance; nevertheless, he determined to test its +strength by advancing out on the limb, though aware that, if it should +yield to his weight, he would be hurled with it into the sea. Even this +reflection did not present any weighty objection to his making the +trial; for with a fearless recklessness, for which there is no +sufficient term in language, he half anticipated the possibility of such +a catastrophe, and caught himself calculating the chances in favour of +his taking in safety a flight into the deep pool beneath. Letting go his +grasp on the point of rock, he now settled himself astride the branch, +and made gradual approaches towards the trunk. It remained firm as the +rock in which it was imbedded, and scarcely gave signs of feeling his +weight till he touched the body, when the top slightly vibrated. He +paused; but, finding it still remain fast, rose to his feet and clasped +the scathed trunk, at first lightly, and then more firmly; and at last, +gaining confidence, he shook it till the hawk fluttered anew in its +perch. Assured of its security, his lips unclosed, and his eyes lost +their severity, and with a smile of success he cast them triumphantly +upward, where, but a few feet above him, entangled by the long shaft of +the arrow and his broken wing, he saw the falcon secured in the crotch +formed by a fork of three stumps of limbs (all that decay had left) that +terminated its summit. + +Without hesitation he began to climb the trunk, which, save the limb by +which he had reached it, and the branches crowning it, was bare from its +roots upward. This was the least difficult part of his hazardous +enterprise, and he soon got within reach of the bird, and stretched one +arm forth to seize him by the wing. But the fierce animal, who had for a +few moments ceased his struggles to watch, with a quick and guarded +glance, the movements of the young fisherman, no sooner saw this hostile +demonstration on the part of his human foe, than, with an intelligence +supernaturally called forth by existing suffering and anticipated +danger, he struck at him fiercely with his sharp, glittering talons; +while, stretching downward his head to the full extent of his neck, he +uttered long, wild cries of mingled fear and menace. Nothing daunted by +what, in itself, was sufficiently appalling, the young man coolly +watched his opportunity, and, at the expense of several severe wounds in +the wrist from his talons, caught the hawk by the throat. Clinging round +a limb with the disengaged arm, he raised himself higher in the tree, +and lifting his prize, which still struck at him with his armed feet, he +skilfully extricated the wing and arrow from the crotch: the next +instant, with the huge, fluttering bird in his hand, he had slidden down +the trunk, and was standing on the transverse limb with a flushed brow, +and a triumphant look illuminating his handsome and fearless +countenance. + +With one arm bent around the tree, and the other holding the hawk at +full length, he now began to cast his eyes upward. They travelled over +the bare surface, scarcely without lighting upon a resting-place for a +squirrel; and he began, for the first time, to question the possibility +of reascending; it having been comparatively easy for him to let his +body down by the crevice, as he had descended, while it would be +impracticable for him to lift its whole weight up again by the mere +effort of the fingers. A glance demonstrated this to him at once. But +time was not given him to reflect on a plan for surmounting a difficulty +which, in reality, was insurmountable, his faculties being at once +called into action to save himself from being thrown from this dizzy +perch by the struggles of the hawk. This ferocious creature had been +wounded by the arrow in the side just beneath the wing, which was broken +by the fall to the earth, and, thence passing upward, the barb had come +out through his back, without touching any vital part. His strength was, +therefore, through pain, rather augmented than diminished; and +notwithstanding the manual pressure upon his windpipe, he now began to +battle fiercely with his captor, fighting both with his claws and +remaining wing. Though holding him out at arm's length, the young man +was unable wholly to defend himself from the strong blows of the wing, +which was three feet in length, with which he violently assailed him +about the head, while with his talons he succeeded in striking his +person and inflicting a deep wound in his breast. He for a time coolly +bore the heavy sweeps of the wing, hoping he would soon tire; but he +forgot that his terrible antagonist was "the bird of tireless wing;" +and, at length, finding his own strength beginning to fail, though his +spirit was unsubdued, he loosened his hold from the trunk of the tree +which his arm had hitherto encircled, and, leaning his back against it, +watched his opportunity, and suddenly, with a firm grasp, seized the +wing as it was beating against his temples, and, by a sudden and skilful +turn of his wrist, dislocated it. This bold act nearly destroyed his +equilibrium; and, after its successful accomplishment, he just had time +to recover his hold on the tree to save himself from falling into the +dark wave below. For a moment afterward his heart throbbed tumultuously; +and reflecting on the imminent peril he had incurred by this necessary +exposure, he trembled with emotion and several times breathed heavily, +as if to relieve his breast of a weight of suffocating sensations--the +tribute which nature demanded of humanity. + +Goaded to increased rage by the additional pain, and maddened at his +vain efforts to lift his useless wing, the eyes of the hawk glittered in +his head like a snake's, and, opening his red jaws, he thrust forth his +long, narrow tongue, and hissed at his captor like an angry serpent. It +was a moment that called for all the moral energy and physical nerve man +is capable of exercising in the hour of danger. The extraordinary young +fisherman evinced the possession of these qualities in a degree adequate +to the crisis which called them into action. With his eyes fixed +unflinchingly on the burning eyeballs of the hawk, and calmly +indifferent the while to the terrible hisses which came hot from his +throat and fell warm upon his face, he continued to keep him at bay so +that his talons should not reach his person, and put forth all his +strength to strangle him. There was a moral grandeur in the spectacle +this young fisher's lad presented, fearlessly perched on his fearful +eminence, as regardless of the depth below as if standing in his own +cottage door, battling at such odds with the fiercest warrior of the +air! + +It was at this crisis that one of the fishermen, a very old man, whose +attention, with that of his companions, had been hitherto too much +occupied by the trial at archery to give a thought to the youth, after +having remained to see the prize awarded to the victress, turned to +leave the ground, when missing the young man, he recollected that he had +seen him follow the hawk to the verge of the cliff. Calling him by name +and not receiving any reply, he approached the precipice; but finding +that he was on the most perpendicular part of it, he cast only a hasty +glance down, and was about to turn away, supposing he had, unseen, +descended to the beach by the usual route a little farther to the north, +when a movement far below arrested his eyes. Looking steadily, he beheld +the youth with one arm clasped round the tree, and the other stretched +out, holding the bird by the neck, while all his moral and physical +energies were called into action to enable him to defend himself against +the talons of the savage creature. + +A glance conveyed to the fisherman the whole extent of the danger; and, +after looking down upon him for a moment in speechless horror, his limbs +trembled with fear, and, giving utterance to a wild cry, he would have +fallen from the precipice had he not caught by a tree that hung over its +verge. Kate Bellamont was the first to reach the cliff on hearing the +alarm given by the old man; and, glancing down, she intuitively +comprehended the peril in which the youth had placed himself. With +wonderful presence of mind, waving her hand back to those advancing, she +said with energy, + +"Hold! all of ye! Breathe not a word! He is in mortal danger! A shriek, +or a sign of fear among us may unnerve his bold spirit and be fatal to +him!" + +Several of the young archeresses stopped suddenly, and turned pale at +this intimation of danger; while one or two, with more sensibility of +nerves, unable to control their fears, turned and fled towards the +castle, as if in the retirement of their closets they would shut out all +sense of the threatened evil. Young Lord Robert was the first by Kate +Bellamont's side. + +"By Heaven! a bold peasant!" he said, his eyes sparkling with +admiration; "but--" + +"Lester, this is no time for words," spoke the maiden, quickly. +"Something must be done for him. How could he have got there in safety! +Poor, rash youth!" + +"Alas! my child, my lost, lost child!" cried the old fisherman, who was +seated on the ground shaking his head mournfully, turning his eyes away +from the trying scene. "God protect thee, lad, for no human aid will +avail thee!" + +"Do not despair, good Dennis, he may yet be saved," said Kate, +encouragingly. + +"Let go the bird!" shouted Lester. + +The fisher's lad, whose attention had been called to the top of the +cliff by the shout of the old man, and who had watched the movements of +those above, smiled proudly at this request, and firmly shook his head +in the negative. + +"He deserves to perish if he will peril his life for that bird," said +the young noble. + +"Hush, Lester, he must be aided. Mark, drop the bird, or he will throw +you off. How could you be so foolish as to adventure your life for that +fierce hawk!" + +"There is humble gallantry at the bottom of it, I dare swear," said +Lester, with a tone in which there was a slight shade of scorn. + +"Perhaps there may be!" was the quiet reply of the maiden. "Mark, let +the bird go, I command you. If your life is sacrificed, I shall feel +that I am the cause of it." + +"By the bow of Dan Cupid! I would change places with the serf to have my +situation create such an interest in your breast, fair lady." This was +spoken, partly with sincere feeling, partly with derision, by the +haughty Lester. + +The full, dark gaze of Kate Bellamont encountered his; and with a manner +that eloquently conveyed the feeling of contempt that sprang up in her +heart, she said, + +"Robert Lester must have fallen low in his own self-esteem to be jealous +of a fisher's lad!" + +The young noble, with all his native haughtiness and pride of spirit, +possessed a generous nature, and was ever ready to atone for the wounds +which his wayward temper might have caused him unawares to inflict. +Especially was this the case where Kate Bellamont was the party +interested. With an instantaneous change peculiar to hasty spirits, he +sought pardon of the offended maiden with his eyes, and at once appeared +so different, that she saw that she could fully rely on him; plainly +reading in his face, with unerring feminine tact, that he nobly had +resolved to banish every feeling but the humane one the occasion +demanded. + +"Lester, he will not release the bird for which he has perilled so +much," she said, with frank confidence in her tones, "and we must devise +some means to save both him and his prize. Haste to the castle, and get +a rope to save your comrade!" she cried to the remaining fisherman. + +"I will save him with my life!" said the young noble. "How many bows +have we here?" + +"A dozen," said Kate, at once comprehending the object of his inquiry. +"But are they strong enough, Robert?" + +"To bear the weight of three men. Aid me, Kate, in making a chain of +them." + +In a few seconds they had prepared a rope or chain nearly threescore +feet in length, of bows strung together, each link being five feet long. +Firmly securing one end to the top of the precipice by carrying it over +an upright limb, they successfully tested the strength of the whole by +extending it along the lawn, half a dozen drawing on it at once without +breaking it. + +"This will do," he said with confidence, approaching the cliff to let it +down; but, to his surprise, he saw that the youth no longer retained the +bird, which, notwithstanding the command of the maiden, he had hitherto +seemed resolved, as Lester had hinted, to preserve, at the peril of his +life. + +While these preparations had been making on the cliff, the hawk, not +being any longer able to reach the young fisher's body with his talons, +began to strike and lacerate his wrists. Finding at length that his +strength was unequal to the effort of strangulation (his intention +having been, if he could have killed him, to have lashed him to his +back, and so ascended with him), and satisfied that, while holding him +in his hand alive, he could not reascend, he reluctantly had been +compelled by a severe wound in the hand to let him go. In his fall the +bird struck heavily against the root of the tree, and, bounding off, +descended twenty feet lower, when the point of the arrow, which passed +through him like a spit, caught in a cleft and firmly held him on the +little shelf before described, which projected from the brow that +beetled over the sea at the height of seventy feet from it. The youth +watched him a few moments steadily, and saw that he moved neither wing +nor talon. He was dead! + +When the intrepid lad saw him arrested in this manner, and that life was +now extinct, the cloud of regret that began to darken his face was all +at once chased away by a sunbeam of pleasure; for he discovered, as he +followed the bird's course with his eye, that the cleft in which he was +caught commenced at the very foot of the tree, and offered him the same +perilous facilities of descent that the zigzag one above had afforded. +When Lester looked over the cliff preparatory to letting down the chain +of bows, he beheld him, therefore, to his astonishment, in the act of +swinging himself from the horizontal limb, and the next moment clinging +about the trunk below it. Before either Kate or he could speak to warn +him, so sudden was their surprise, the daring youth had effected a +cautious and rapid descent of the tree, and was standing safely at its +roots: on casting their eyes farther below, they discerned, hanging over +the very verge of the brow, midway the precipice, the lifeless +ger-falcon, which instantly accounted to them for this new and +unexpected movement. + +"His blood be upon his own head!" cried the maiden, shrinking from the +sight. "Lester, look! Is he not attempting to reach the bird? Or perhaps +he finds that he cannot climb the precipice again, and is trying to +descend to the water!" + +"It is a long step of seventy feet from where that bird hangs to the +bottom," said the old fisherman, for an instant rousing himself. "He +will die, lady, and I shall have to convey his mangled corpse in my +skiff to my lonely hut, and dig for the poor boy a grave in the sand. I +loved him as if he had been my own flesh and blood!" + +Kate was about to ask him, with surprise, if he were not his own son, +when a cry of alarm caused her to turn round just in time to see Lord +Robert commit himself fearlessly to the chain of bows and swing himself +over the dizzy verge. As he descended from her sight, with a smile on +his lip and a devotion of the eyes as he met hers, that told her, +plainer than words could convey it, that he ventured his life for her +sake prompted by his sympathy with the interest she took in the daring +fisher's boy, he said resolutely, + +"I will save him in spite of himself, or share his fate!" + +She was about to speak, but her voice failed her; and covering her eyes +to hide him, as he hung suspended above the sea, from her swimming +sight, for a few seconds she appeared as if her presence of mind had +deserted her. This weakness, if an emotion so natural can be termed +such, was but momentary. Recovering herself by a strong mental effort, +she once more looked over the cliff, and calmly watched the descent of +the daring Lester, whom she knew to be a skilful cragsman, with a prayer +on her lip for his safety. The novel chain by which he descended reached +to within ten feet of the spot where the young fisherman stood, and the +intention of Lord Robert was to take the tree, and reach the roots of it +as the other had done before him. He had accomplished, however, but a +few feet of his passage down the rock, not without great peril, though +at each junction of the bows he found a resting-place for his feet and a +hold for his hands, when the young fisher's lad lowered himself from his +shelf, and, getting his fingers in the cleft, began to descend, +alternately supporting his weight by his arms, with a celerity and +apparent recklessness that, to the spectators above, was fearful to +witness: he, however, took a firm grasp of the rock each time, and with +a cool head and steady eye, gained the spur where the hawk was fixed. In +the mean while Lord Robert had reached the tree; and leaving the chain +swinging in the air, he clasped the trunk, and quickly descended it: but +the object for which he had so generously ventured his life was now +twenty feet below him. With all his nerve, the fearless young noble +shuddered when he looked down and beheld the means by which the fisher's +lad had made his last descent. Both had reached the points at which they +aimed at the same instant; and when Lord Robert bent over to look down, +holding firmly by the roots of the tree, the other was standing with +perfect self-possession on his dizzy foothold, holding the hawk in one +hand, and waving with the other to those above. + +"Do you value your life so lightly, peasant, without saying anything of +the painful sympathy your folly produces in those who are spectators of +your foolhardiness, that you peril it after this fashion?" said the +young noble, passionately, yet unable to refuse the admiration due to +his fearless character. + +"I am not your serf, Lord Robert of Castle More, that my life should be +of value in your eyes," said the youth, with a look and bearing as +haughty as the young noble's. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Lord Robert, with astonishment and anger; "these are +brave words to come from beneath a homespun jerkin. By the cross of St. +Peter! fisherman, thou dost presume too much upon that equality to which +mutual danger has for the moment brought us. I have periled my life to +assist thee--not by mine own will, by Heaven! for thou deservest to be +rewarded for thy temerity by a bath in the sea; but at the bidding of a +lady, who, perforce, thinks, if thou shouldst, by any lucky chance, +break thy neck for the hawk her arrow has sent over the cliff, thy blood +will be on her head. So I have explained to thee the height and depth of +my charity, lest thou shouldst swell still bigger to think that, peasant +as thou art, thou hast made a noble thy servant." + +"A very proper speech, I have no doubt, Lord Robert More," answered the +fisherman, with a quiet smile of superiority (as the noble construed +it). "I need none of your lordship's aid. Without it I came down, and +without it I can go up again." + +"The devil have thee, then, for thy obstinacy," cried Lester, his eyes +flashing with anger; "by the rood, if I had thee there, I would be of a +mind to help thee down rather than up." + +"The path by which I came is equally open to your lordship," was the +cool answer. "Robert More, thrice have I saved your life; and though you +have thanked me like a noble for the deed at the time, have after +cancelled it by treating me like a slave, because the accident of birth +has made you noble and me base. Leave me again. I will not owe my life +to your lordship!" This was said in a steady and determined, but very +quiet tone. + +"My good Meredith, I will forgive thy rudeness of speech, for thou hast +had offence," said the young man, struck with his proud and independent +character, so nearly akin to his own. "The haughtiness with which I have +treated thee is one of the consequences of this accident of birth. +Believe me, I have never forgotten what I owe to thy courage: once saved +from drowning by thee! once snatched from a peril almost equal to that +thou art now in! once preserved from death beneath the antlers of an +enraged stag! I have not forgotten these debts, thou seest. If I have +seemed to thee ungrateful, set it down, brave Mark, to pride of birth +rather than want of feeling. Shall I aid thee, lad, in gaining the top?" + +"Lord Robert, your words have atoned for the past," said the young +fisherman, not unmoved by this generous and manly defence of the proud +young noble; "nevertheless, I will not owe my life to you!" + +The noble fastened his penetrating gaze on the upturned face of the +young fisherman, and thought he discovered a meaning there that was a +key to his refusal. + +"Ha! I have it!" he said, internally, after a few moments' reflection. +"_He dares to place his thoughts on her!_" + +Instantly, with that lightning-like rapidity with which his impulsive +feelings changed, he shouted in a loud, haughty tone of voice, + +"Ho, Sir Peasant! prithee tell me what strange fondness for dead hawks +set thee to jeoparding thy life after this sort?" + +"Lester," cried Kate Bellamont from the summit of the cliff, hearing +their voices without understanding the words, "why this delay? Can there +be no means of reaching the noble youth?" + +"Noble youth!" repeated the young man, scornfully, to himself; "it will +be a _princely_ next. By the cross! If he does not smile and wave his +daring hand to her! And she answers it back! Fellow!" he added, +fiercely, "I will come down and hurl thee into the sea!" + +"You are welcome, Lord Robert," replied the other, unmoved; "yet, as +there is barely room for me, it is certain that, if you do descend, +_one_ of us only can remain upon it." + +The impetuous Lester was already preparing to descend by the crevice; +but the coolness of the other at once disarmed his anger. + +"Thou art a brave fellow, Mark, and I would not injure thee. But," he +added, sternly, "see that thou cross not my path!" + +"How mean you, Lord Robert?" he inquired, concealing his penetration of +the lover's motives under a look of simplicity that embarrassed the +haughty and sensitive noble. + +Before he could reply, the voice of the Countess of Bellamont, +encouraging them both, was heard from the summit. She only had this +instant arrived, drawn hither by the rumour of the danger of the +fisher's lad, accompanied by Dermot, and one or two men-servants, with +ropes and other means of assisting those below. + +Her first proceeding, on discovering the position of the parties, was to +attach the rope to the chain of bows, and have the end of it firmly tied +to the tree. She then bade the men to lower it steadily till it could be +reached by Lord Robert, and in a few seconds he held it in his grasp. + +"Now, Sir Peasant," said Lester, relaxing into his former haughty mood, +"here is the means of reascending the cliff." + +"You may profit by it, my lord, I will not," said the youth, firmly. "I +will receive no favour at your hands." + +"Then, by Heaven, thou shalt ascend, whether thou wilt or no," said the +noble, with energy. "I have pledged my word to save thee, and I will +redeem my pledge. Ho! there above! Drop a piece of cord a few yards in +length, so that it will fall at my feet." + +The coil was placed by Kate Bellamont on the rope, and the next moment, +sliding down like a ring along the chain of bows, it was caught in his +hand. + +"Let out twenty feet more of the rope," he again shouted, "and see that +it is well fast above." + +As it passed through his hands, he conducted it over the shelf on which +he stood till it touched the feet of the young fisherman. He had quietly +watched these preparations, and, as they were completed, he coolly +glanced into the depth beneath, and then upward to the young noble, with +an air so resolute that the other paused ere he descended by the chain, +on a link of which one foot already rested. + +"Surely thou wilt not be so mad!" exclaimed Lester, reading a fatal +determination in his lofty and intrepid look. + +"Robert More, I will owe you no favour. Rather than be beholden to you +for my life, I will fling it away, as freely as I have now hazarded it +to win a smile from the fair maiden of Castle Cor." + +"THOU! By Heaven, I thought it!" he shouted, with scorn and indignation. +"If I had thee on a piece of ground two feet square that would hold us +both, I would waive my birth, and do battle with thee on that score, +hind as thou art! and see if I could not beat out of thy bones this +leaven of insolence! I will now assuredly aid thy return to the summit, +that I may have the pleasure afterward of doing for thee this good +service." + +As Lester spoke, he committed himself with cool intrepidity to the +chain, holding in one hand the coil of line, by which it was evidently +his intention to lash the young fisherman to the rope, and began rapidly +to descend. + +"Robert More, I do not fear to meet you on any ground. If I did, I +should hardly take _this leap_ to avoid the lesson you have in +contemplation for me! But I will owe you no favour, not even that of +life. Nor shall you lay a finger upon me to force me to do your pleasure +in this thing. Hold! place your foot on the nock of this second bow +above me, and I will take a free spring out into the air." + +This was said in a tone and manner--a steady uplighting of his clear +dark eyes, and a firm, muscular compression of the lip--that made the +other hesitate; but it was only for an instant: the next moment he let +the bow to which he held slip through his hands, and he descended with +velocity till his foot struck upon the last link, which was on a level +with the young fisherman's head. At the same moment the latter elevated +his arms high above his head, holding the hawk between his hands, and, +placing his feet close together, made a spring into the air! + +Lester, with a full knowledge of his cool and resolute character, had +not anticipated this result; and, in his surprise, had nearly let go his +hold. He at the same time uttered a cry of horror, which was answered +from the summit by a loud wail of anguish from many voices; for this act +had been witnessed by all, without the cause which influenced it being +apparent. Preserving the erect attitude with which he had left the rock, +the young fisherman descended like lightning, cut the still bosom of the +black wave beneath, and disappeared below the agitated surface; the +heavy, splashing sound of his fall striking on the ears of those on the +summit of the cliff like his death-knell. Wild and full of mortal +anguish was the shriek that echoed it! + +A flush of hope lighted up the countenance of Lester when he saw the +accuracy with which he had struck the surface, and thought upon the +manner of his descent. At the same time Kate Bellamont, who had been an +interested but puzzled spectator (for their voices, at the height she +stood, had not distinctly reached her) of the previous conduct of the +parties, and had beheld with horror the seemingly fatal act of the +adventurous youth, also marked the natatory art with which he had taken +the spring; and, scarcely hoping, watched, equally with Lester, the +circling waves, as they widened from the centre, with an intensity +amounting to agony. + +After an interval of full thirty seconds, which seemed an age to those +who watched, the water, which had once more become nearly smooth, was +seen to part many yards from the point of descent, and the head of the +daring youth appeared above the surface. A shout, loud and long, greeted +him from the cliff; and no voice was louder or more glad in the joyful +welcome than Lord Robert's. With the hawk elevated in one hand, and +buffeting the waves with the other, he swam bravely towards a belt of +sand a few yards farther northward; and in a few moments afterward he +safely landed, full in sight of those standing anxiously on the cliff. +Pointing to his prize, and waving his hand to Kate Bellamont with native +gallantry, he disappeared around an angle of the shore, to reascend, by +a beaten and easy path, to the summit of the promontory. + +In the mean time Lord Robert became an object of renewed interest to the +party. He was sixty feet from the top of the cliff, with no other means +of reaching it than the precarious chain of bows and a few additional +feet of rope: even the permanent safety of this was doubtful. It +depended solely for its strength on the goodness of the yews and the +entire soundness of the slender bow-strings; and one of these he +discovered, on running his eyes upward, was chafed by some sharp point +of the rock with which it had come in contact. There remained, however, +no alternative. It was plain that he must either trust himself to it, or +follow the example of the young fisherman, and take the leap into the +sea. For a moment he gazed down into the water, and seemed to measure +with deliberate purpose the empty void between; but, shaking his head +with doubt, he once more turned his attention to the equally dangerous, +but more probable, means of escape. The catgut which had stranded +belonged to the third bow above him. Drawing hard upon it with his whole +weight, he saw that it was slowly untwisting, and that it would be +madness to trust himself to it. His self-possession, however, did not +desert him. + +"Can you obtain no stout rope that will reach me here, 'wild Kate?'" he +said, in a careless tone; "I fear the ragged points of the rock will cut +your bow-strings, and spoil them for further shooting." + +"No, Lester, there is none!" answered the maiden, in a deep voice, that +betrayed the depth and intensity of her feelings at this crisis; "men +have been sent to the cove for ropes, but it is far, and it will be long +before they return, even if they succeed in getting them. God protect +you! Preserve your coolness, for my sake, Robert!" she added, with that +force and truth that spurned, at such a moment, all disguise. + +Her words seemed to have awakened anew the spirit within him. Placing +his hand on his heart, he carried it to his lips, and gallantly waved it +towards her. She answered it encouragingly in return; but instantly +turning away overcome by her feelings, cast herself on the bosom of her +mother, and burst into tears. + +Necessarily ignorant of this touching testimony of her attachment to +him, which his imminent danger now forbade her to disguise longer under +a mask of badinage, Lester concentrated all his energies to the task +before him. He felt that before the lapse of one or two hours, which it +would require to get ropes from the cove which was more than a league +distant, the inconvenience of his position would have left him with +little strength to climb the cliff, even with the assistance that might +then be rendered. He was now in the full possession of his physical and +mental energies, and resolved, without longer delay, to avail himself of +them. Taking the cord, which he had demanded for a very different +intention, he fastened one end around his wrist; then leaning backward +from the rock, sustaining himself by the grasp of one hand on the chain, +he threw it upward with such accurate aim that it passed through the bow +next above the one with the stranded string, and fell down within his +reach. He then loosened it from his wrist, firmly secured the ends to +the lower bow on which he was sustained, and so made the cord supply the +place of the weak bow-string, and bear the whole strain. This done, he +prepared to ascend the smooth face of the rock twenty feet to the foot +of the tree. Grasping the cord with both hands, he braced himself in a +horizontal position, one of most imminent hazard which demanded all the +coolness, self-possession and physical strength he was possessed of, and +began literally to walk up the perpendicular side of the precipice. The +stranding of a string; a sudden strain upon the tensely bent bows; the +least deviation from the horizontal, would have been instantly fatal! +Coolly, slowly, steadily, lifting himself, step by step, hand after +hand, he at last got to a level with the tree, firmly grasped one of its +roots, and by its aid sprung lightly upon the shelf on which it grew. + +His preparations had been watched, and it was told Kate Bellamont that +he was preparing to ascend. But the maiden had yielded her full heart to +her woman's nature; and while he was making the perilous ascent, with +her head lifted from her mother's bosom, and with tearful eyes and +clasped hands, she was looking heavenward, breathing a silent prayer for +his safety. A shout of joy announced to her his success! Once more she +dropped her face and wept with joy. Lady Bellamont, who felt that all +had been done that circumstances admitted of, refrained from watching +his perilous feat; and, while she solaced her daughter, calmly directed +Cormac the forester to steady the rope, and keep it from rubbing against +the rocks. + +Quitting the chain, Lester now ascended the tree to the transverse +branch, which he had scarcely reached when a loud crack at the root +warned him that the scathed solitary of the cliff, unused to such +repeated trials, was giving way under his weight. Hardly had he time to +throw himself upon the chain, and hang by a bow-string with one hand, +when a series of loud reports rapidly followed each other as one after +another the roots snapped; the top of the tree waved wildly to and fro, +and then the huge trunk plunged, crashing and roaring, into the flood +beneath. For an instant afterward the appalled Lester continued to cling +to the fragile chain with nervous solicitude; but at length assured that +he was not to be carried along with it into the frightful gulf, he +prepared to continue, by the same process of horizontal walking he had +hitherto adopted, his upward progress to the next shelf, six feet above +him, and with which the top of the tree had been on a level. + +The effect of the fall of the tree on those so deeply interested above +can scarcely be imagined. Lady Bellamont answered the heavy crash by a +wild shriek, echoed by all around save Kate. With her the dreadful +suspense and anxiety were now lost in the certainty of his fate. She +calmly raised her head, approached the cliff with a firm step, and +looked steadily down, not with hope, but with a settled gaze of despair, +as if she would take a last look at his grave, and for ever impress upon +her heart's tablet his sea-covered tomb. It was at this moment of her +soul's anguish she confessed within her own heart that, notwithstanding +the lightness with which she might have attempted to disguise it, she +loved him with all the fervour and devotedness of a first passion. +Approaching the verge with such feelings, her surprise was only equalled +by her joy when she saw him in the act of climbing on the shelf above +described. A joyful cry escaped her; and the bold youth, looking up, +acknowledged her presence with a proud smile and wave of his hand. From +this moment Kate Bellamont was herself again. He was safe! The change +from grief to joy in her countenance was electrical! and she prepared to +watch and aid his ascent with all the coolness and energy she was +possessed of. + +He had accomplished thus far his arduous task in comparative safety; and +as he had now but twenty feet more to ascend, she looked with confidence +to its successful accomplishment. This space, however, save a shelf +within eight feet of the top on which the young fisherman had alighted, +and the zigzag crevice by which he had descended the remaining twelve +feet, was steep as a wall, and as difficult of ascent. The young man, +after having hitherto passed through such trying scenes, was not now to +be daunted by any obstacles, of whatever magnitude, that opposed his +farther progress. Nerving himself to the effort, he grasped the rope, +which here had taken the place of the chain of bows, and extended +himself, as before, into a horizontal position, meeting and returning +with a smile, as he did so, her look of solicitude. As he slowly and +laboriously ascended, she inspired the men to their task of keeping the +rope from the cliff, often assisting them with her own fingers, till at +length she was rewarded by seeing him safely reach the shelf, and stand +within eight feet of the summit. By her direction the men now bent the +projecting branch of the tree until it was within his reach; when, aided +by one hand placed on the rope, he lightly climbed the limb, and with a +spring stood in safety on the top of the cliff. + +Kate, who had scarcely breathed as she watched this final effort, guided +by the impulse of the moment, flung herself at once, grateful, happy, +weeping, into his arms!--so certain it is that true love will out, give +it occasion to speak for itself! And what fitter one than this? At such +a time, love is both deaf and blind. It sees, hears, knows no voice but +its own; is indifferent to the opinions of a world of witnesses, and, +setting aside all canons of propriety and discretion, abandons itself to +the impulses of its ardent nature. Such was the love of Kate Bellamont. + +But love, like all other emotions, is but short-lived in its excess. The +temporary excitement passes away; reflection follows; notions of +propriety return; and the conscious victim, blushing, mortified, angry +with shame, feels that there _is_ a world of witnesses to whose canons +she is amenable, and shrinks at the judgment that will be passed on her +outrage of its received notions of maidenly propriety. Such, the next +moment after abandoning herself to the first wild gush of joy at his +escape, were the thoughts that rushed thick on the mind of the proud and +sensitive maiden. She sprang away from him; hid her face in her hands; +and, for the moment, scarcely knew whether her wounded feelings would +have vent in tears or laughter. True to her character as "Wild Kate of +Castle Cor," the latter prevailed; and, exposing her face, she broke +into a fit of merry laughter, which was caught up and continued, with +many a lively witticism, by those around, who, the moment before, were +sad and gloomy under the pressure of fatal forebodings: for so +wonderfully, yet wisely, is the human heart constituted, that smiles +never come so readily, and are never so bright, as when heralded by +tears. + +The gratified Lester was too happy to receive such an ingenuous, +impulsive token of her love, and of its deep, womanly sincerity, to feel +hurt at this change in her manner, which his good sense enabled him to +refer to its true cause. With deep and silent pleasure, he felt that +that moment had fully repaid him for all he had risked. + +Grace Fitzgerald, who had been by no means an indifferent spectator of +his hazardous adventure, now advanced, grasped his hand with great +warmth, and congratulated him on his safety. + +"You need not look so very fond, Sir Cragsman," she said, gayly; "I am +not about to follow the example cousin Kate has so generously set for +us. Oh no! What with your exploit and Kate's folly, you will be +completely spoiled for me! I dare say you would go down that horrid +place again for another such hug as my cousin Kate gave you. Really, I +am shocked!" + +"I will go down and take the leap off into the sea for a similar +reception from Grace Fitzgerald," said Lester, with an air of gallantry. + +"And do you think I would come near such a dripping monster as you would +make of yourself? No, no, I am no Nereid to fancy a man coming out of +the sea." + +"By which I infer, fair lady," he said, archly, "that, if I will go down +and come up dry, you will give me such a welcome as--" + +"Kate gave you? Really, you are quite spoiled. Kate, come and take care +of your beau cavalier, for he is no longer fit for any company but +yours. But here comes one I will welcome, dripping or dry!" + +She bounded forward as she spoke, and met, at the head of the path, the +gallant fisher's lad, who just then appeared, on his way up from the +water, bearing in his hand the ger-falcon which had been the cause of +putting in peril two human lives. He was accompanied by the old +fisherman, who, having remained on the summit of the cliff, paralyzed +and inert through alarm and anxiety until assured of his safety, had +gone down to the beach to meet him on his return. She approached the +young adventurer with one hand extended to welcome him, the forefinger +of the other at the same time lifted with censure. + +"I will shake hands with you, Mark; but you deserve, handsome as you +are, to have your ears boxed. See what a to-do you have been the cause +of; and all for that great black bird, which Kate, forsooth, must shoot +instead of sending her arrow at the target. Well, you are a noble and +gallant young man, and I like you. Do you hear that, Kate? I too have +made a declaration! Well, but I won't embrace you, I think, for you are +too wet." + +While the lively girl was speaking, the rest of the party, including +Lord Robert and Kate, approached and joined in welcoming him. + +"My brave Meredith," said Lester, frankly extending his hand, "you +deserve a better career than that before you. Henceforth let us be +friends." + +The hand of the young noble was received without embarrassment and with +a native dignity of manner by the humble youth, that, to all present, +atoned for his want of high birth; while he said, with a firm yet +respectful tone, + +"We may not be enemies, but we can never be friends, Lord Robert: +friendship between the high and low is but another name for dependance +to the latter." + +"I fear you speak too truly, Mark," said Kate, who had congratulated him +on his escape with an honest warmth and sincerity of manner that sent +the blood like lightning to his brows. + +"Not in my case, brave Mark," said the noble, earnestly; "I will become +your patron and--" + +"And is there patronage without dependance, my lord?" he asked, in a +quiet tone. + +"Well, well," said Lester, colouring, "have it your own way. You have +pride enough for Lucifer!" + +"But not enough for a noble," said the other, with a very slight curl of +the lip. + +"Mark Meredith," said Kate, reprovingly, "you forget your station. A +proper degree of pride is the secret of independence. Perhaps you have +too much. Lord Robert is sincere, and means well by you." + +"Believe her, Mark," said Grace Fitzgerald, with playful raillery; +"nobody ought to know so well what Lord Robert means as my cousin Kate." + +"Stop your saucy tongue, Grace," said the maiden, placing a finger on +her bright lips. "What will you now do, Mark, with this bird, that has +cost us, through your thoughtlessness, so much anxiety and suffering?" + +"And betrayed a secret that was not quite a secret before," said the +mischievous Grace. + +"Grace, prithee hist!" cried Kate, with a spice of asperity. + +"Give me the bird, peasant!" said Lester, in a tone of authority. "I +will nail it on the door of the lodge at Castle More, in honour of the +fair archer who shot it." + +"Here is the gentle owner," replied the youth, turning towards Kate +Bellamont; and gracefully kneeling as he spoke, he gallantly laid the +bird at her feet, saying, + +"Gentle archeress, deign to accept--it is the only boon I crave for my +peril--this trophy of thy skill. I have obtained it for thee at the risk +of life and limb, valuing neither, so that I might do thee a service, +and save what I know thou wilt be proud to preserve in remembrance of +this day." + +"By the cross! a forward youth! an Alfred in disguise, I would swear!" +said Lester, haughtily, his quick spirit kindling at the scene. "He will +be offering next, fair Kate," he added, scornfully, "to share with thee +his palace of bark and poles, and his wide realm of sand and seashells. +S'death! a proper peasant!" The young noble's eyes sparkled, and he +paced the sward with angry impatience, as he concluded. + +Kate Bellamont was not indifferent to the tone, manner, and language +with which the hawk was presented by the humble youth. She was flattered +by his well-directed compliments, and pleased, without knowing why, with +the deep, silent admiration with which he regarded her. Was it the +language of love? His manner reminded her of Lester in his most +impassioned moments of devotion; but there was in the fine face of the +young fisherman a calmer, sweeter, more chastened expression; a +reverence without humility; devotion without awe. Was it love? She +trembled, as she thought so, and dared not a second time meet his +dark-beaming eyes. The peculiar character of the expression of his face +was read aright by none but herself and Lester: for only love and +jealousy can translate the language of love. The light blue eyes of the +young noble flashed fierce fire as he witnessed what he deemed palpable +proof of his suspicions. His glance turned rapidly from the face of one +to the face of the other. The expression of his maddened him; that of +hers troubled and puzzled him; and he turned away, grinding his teeth +with bitterness: for what is there on earth so bitter as jealousy? + +The contrast between the appearance of these two haughty young men was +as great as that existing between their ranks in life. The young noble +was in his eighteenth year, tall, and firmly made, with uncommon breadth +and expansion of chest, which gave a striking appearance of compactness +and muscular finish to his frame, that promised, in manhood, nobleness +of carriage as well as great personal strength. His complexion was fair +as the Saxon's; his features regular as the Greek's; but, unlike his, +stamped with that union of manly grace and strength, and bold, fiery +energy, supposed to be characteristic of the ancient Briton. Over his +clear, high forehead fell locks of light flaxen hair of rare beauty, and +shining tresses of the same pale, golden hue floated about his +shoulders. His eyes were his most remarkable feature. They were large +and blue, clear as light, and of a beautiful shape, glowing with +intellect and sparkling with animation, and, when undisturbed, beaming +with a soft and gentle expression betokening gayety of temper and +lightness of spirit; but, when roused by anger, they flashed fierce +fire, and seemed literally to blaze, so bright was the light they +emitted. They further possessed a striking peculiarity, which so marked +his angered glance that he who once encountered it never forgot it till +his dying day. This was a habit, or, rather, nature had given it to him, +when under the influence of angry passions, of lowering his brows down +over his eyes in such a way as to destroy their fine, oval form, and +give them a strange, triangular shape; and the pupil of his eyes +darkening at the same time till they grew black as night, communicated +to them a singularly wild and terrible expression. + +His lips were very beautiful both in form and colour; but the upper wore +a haughty curl that marred the beauty of a mouth which nature had +chiselled with the nicest hand. He carried himself at all times with a +gallant but proud air; and his demeanour was like that of the highborn +youths of his time, taught to regard all of low degree as created for +their use and pleasure. His faults were those of education rather than +of the heart; and, where these deeply-grafted prejudices were not +attacked, he was frank, noble, and generous, and not unworthy the love +of a noble maiden like Kate Bellamont. At the moment seized upon to +describe his appearance, he was standing within a few feet of the young +fisherman, his eyes sparkling with anger and assuming that remarkable +shape which has been described, with his head and one foot advanced, and +his whole attitude hostile and threatening. + +The fisher's lad, who continued kneeling for an instant at the feet of +the fair archeress awaiting her acceptance of the trophy he had +presented, met his dark look unmoved, and, as he thought, with a smile +of proud defiance. The appearance of this bold youth, whose bearing +caused the haughty Lester to question if nature had not a nobility of +her own creation, was, save in his proud carriage, strikingly opposite +to that of the young noble. He was about the same age, and nearly as +tall, but had not such fulness in the chest, and was wanting something +of his breadth of shoulders; but his figure, if lighter, was more +elegant, and united great muscular activity with native dignity and ease +of motion. He wore fishermen's loose trousers, with a coarse jacket of +brown stuff, and was both barefooted and bareheaded. His face was +exceedingly fine. It was oval in shape, with an olive complexion, still +more darkened by exposure to wind and sun: now, with the glow of +exercise and the magic presence of her before whom he bent, it had +become of the richest brown colour. His dark hair was glossy with +sea-water, and, parted naturally on his brow, fell in long raven waves +adown his well-shaped neck. His eyes were dark as hers on whom he gazed, +exceedingly large-orbed, and eloquent with thought and feeling. + +"What handsome eyes!" thought Grace Fitzgerald, as she gazed on them. + +"What dangerous eyes!" thought Kate. + +His eyebrows were as even and accurately arched as if pencilled; but +they were redeemed from anything like effeminacy, on account of the +delicacy of their outline, by the intellectual fulness of the brow. His +nose was straight, and of just proportions; his mouth beautiful as a +girl's, yet full of character, decision, and strength, and oftener it +was the seat of dejected thought than of smiles. Its expression was +generally quiet; yet the finely chiselled lips were full of spirit; and, +when silent, seemed most to speak, so eloquent were the thoughts that +coloured them with their ruby life. The merest movement of the upper +conveyed the intensest feelings with the vivid rapidity of the +lightning's flash, whether they were begotten of scorn or irony, love or +hatred. His bearing, as well as his appearance, was above his station; +and he manifested a haughty independence of spirit that scorned the +distinctions of rank, and a pride of character that, in one of his +humble grade, was not far from being closely allied to audacity. But +perhaps this only proceeded from a certain impatience at being +compelled, nevertheless, to admit in his own person a conventional +inferiority to those with whom he felt he was on that broad basis of +equality, the elements of which are equal physical and intellectual +qualifications. + +Though a poor fisher's lad, he possessed all the feelings and sensations +common to humanity, and experienced emotions both of pleasure and pain; +could feel disgusted at what was revolting, and be pleased at what was +agreeable. He shared, therefore, with all men, of whatever rank, from +the prince to himself--for there could scarcely be a lower scale--that +mysterious principle of the heart by which it attracts, and is attracted +to, woman--he beheld Kate Bellamont, and this moral loadstone, acting as +nature intended it should do, irresistibly drew him towards her. Without +reflection, without cherishing either a hope or a fear, but simply happy +in the contiguity, he gave himself up to the new and delightful +sensations produced by the flow of love's magnetic fluid through his +heart. In plain words, the poor fisher's lad fell deeply in love with +the highborn heiress of Castle Cor. + +No one of the wonderful phenomena of the human mind so fully +demonstrates that it is a mesh of anomalies, as the existence of the +fact that, when a man loves a woman, he has only to learn that another +regards her with the same flattering sentiments, to hate him most +cordially, seek him out, quarrel with him, and even take his life. It +would seem to be taken for granted that the knowledge of this fact would +have a directly contrary effect; for the presumption irresistibly +follows, that whoever feels an interest in the object to which we +ourselves are so closely bound by ties of love, must, without regarding +the delicacy of the compliment to our individual tastes, be +proportionably loved by us. But experience has too often demonstrated +this by no means to be the case; but, on the contrary, the knowledge of +the existence of a parallel attachment produces in the breast of the +legitimate admirer wrath, malice, and hatred, filling his soul towards +the subject of it with all manner of evil. + +True to this feeling of the human heart, the young noble and fisher's +lad forthwith felt rising in their breasts towards each other emotions +of a hostile character; for love is a famous leveller, and the prince +can deign even to hate his slave if love raises him to a rival. In one +of the youths it manifested itself in the cool expression of defiance: +in the other, by haughty scorn and indignant surprise. + +When the fisher's lad had finished his manly and gallant address, he +modestly continued to await, with his hand upon the bird, the +acknowledgments of the fair maiden. Gratified, yet embarrassed, Kate +remained silent, knowing not how to reply to the chivalrous lad, who, +under the magic tuition of love, had suddenly assumed a character that +alarmed her; who, all at once, had been converted, as if by a spell, +from the quiet, yet handsome fisher's boy, who was accustomed to attend +her in her excursions along the beach, into a bold and daring lover! She +could not be insensible to the compliment. She loved Lester with all her +heart; therefore she could not have requited the youth's boyish love, +had his blood been noble as her own. Yet there remained a place in her +heart for kindly gratitude, and with a smile that sent the quick colour +to the forehead of the boy, she said, in a voice that thrilled to his +soul, + +"I thank you, Mark, for the gift. I will keep it in remembrance of your +courage, as well as a trophy of my skill in archery; notwithstanding, I +fear good Cormac will lay claim to it, as it was hit with his own arrow. +It would make a brave ornament, with its wings spread at length above +the door of his cot," she added, turning to the old forester, who stood +respectfully on the outskirts of the party that was gathered about Mark +and his ger-falcon. + +As she spoke her thanks she extended to Mark her hand, which he took +with blushing embarrassment, and, after a moment's hesitation, +gracefully carried to his lips. The eyes of the young noble sparkled +with anger as he saw the offer of the hand, but they shot forth a +menacing glare as he witnessed the act on the part of the youth: turning +on his heel with an execration, he would have left the ground but for +the eye of Kate Bellamont, which he caught fixed upon him. + +"Come, Mark," said Grace, "you must join us all in the pavilion; for you +need refreshment after your fatigue. I wish, Robert, you would present +him with one of your green hunting-suits. I declare, I should like to +see if he would not outbrave you all. Do! good Lord Robert." + +"You are perfectly crazy, Grace," said Kate, aside. + +"Am I? was the quiet reply, accompanied by a quizzical look, which +conveyed far more than the words to Kate's comprehension, and made her, +in spite of her efforts to maintain indifference, look exceedingly +foolish. + +"You are all beside yourselves, I verily believe," said Lester, in a +tone that his accent alone made biting; "I have no doubt whatever that +it would oblige you excessively, Lady Grace, if I would exchange attire +with your fishy favourite." + +"Really, Lord Robert, I wish you would. I have a curiosity to know what +sort of a fisherman you would make. I dare say a very nice one, save a +spice or so of pride, that would hardly suit your station." + +"Pride in a peasant is impertinence. But 'tis an attribute most +congenial to the station, I discover," he added, with cool irony, "and +doth recommend its possessor, I see, most particularly to the favour of +noble ladies." + +"I advise you, then, Lester, when you chance to fall in their good +graces," said Kate, assuming the same tone, yet qualifying its +bitterness with good-humour, "that you renew your suit under a fisher's +garb; believe me, it will assuredly restore you to favour." + +"I have no hesitation in believing it," said Lester, in a grave tone, +and with a marked emphasis of manner that excited both maidens to +laughter; but he was far from participating in their merriment, and +turned from them with an angry brow. + +"I have delayed the banquet too long with this folly," said Kate; "hie +to the pavilion, fair archers and gallant esquires all," she added, +gayly, "and I will soon follow you. As for you, Mark, I will send to you +some of the choicest viands on the board, and cousin Grace shall be the +bearer of them. Cormac, take up the hawk." + +"This honour will please Lord Robert better," replied Grace, glancing at +him with an archly malicious look. + +"Lord Robert will have nothing to do with this piece of folly," cried +he, in a tone that made her start. "By the cross of Christ! peasant, if +you betake not yourself speedily to thy hovel, I will hurl thee with +mine own hand from the cliff upon its roof." + +As he spoke he advanced upon him. Mark looked apologetically at Kate, +and then sprang to his feet, and confronted him with that calm courage +which had hitherto characterized him. His coolness maddened the +impulsive Lester, and with a bound he leaped upon him, and caught him by +the throat; but, ere he could get his fingers firmly clinched upon his +windpipe, he reeled violently backward by the force of a blow upon his +chest, dealt with a skill and accuracy of aim that compensated for any +inequality of physical strength. With eyes darkening with rage, he +recovered himself, and seeing lying not far from him on the ground his +short hunting-spear, he snatched it up, and launched it at his breast +with a force and direction that would have transfixed him on the spot +but for his presence of mind; anticipating its flight, he quietly moved +from its path, when it passed within a few inches of his head with a +loud whirring noise, and, striking against a distant rock, shivered into +a thousand fragments. + +"Robert Lester," exclaimed Kate Bellamont, with a flashing eye and a +voice of indignant horror, "by that act you have forfeited all that +belongs to you as a noble gentleman, and also," she added, with deep +feeling and a proud spirit, "all that connects you with any person (I +speak for all) that is here present." + +"Pardon me, lady," he said, throwing himself at her feet, and attempting +to take her hand. + +"Never, Robert Lester. Touch me not! Leave me--leave me! Leave us all! +The farther festivities of the day will be marred by your presence!" + +"Lady--" + +"Silence, assassin!" and the dark eyes of the roused heiress of +Bellamont flashed with such a light as might burn in an indignant +seraph's. + +"Ha!" he cried, starting to his feet, "this to me!" + +"This to you, Robert Lester, who now have made yourself lower than the +meanest peasant. I degrade you from your esquireship; and, faith! if the +more noble Mark Meredith shall not take your place. Mark, approach and +be my esquire of archery!" + +The youth proudly smiled, but hesitated. + +"I command you. As true as my father's blood runs in my veins, thou art +the more noble!" + +"God of Heaven! this is too much to bear calmly," cried Lester, his eyes +assuming that remarkable shape that characterized them when his anger +had grown to its height. + +"Mercy!" cried Grace Fitzgerald, with real alarm; "what a fearful look! +I wonder," she added, with a slight touch of her usual manner, "that I +ever could have had the courage to coquet with such a terrible +creature." + +The fierce noble made no reply, but, glancing from her to Kate, looked +pleadingly, as if about to speak; but she shook her head with a motion +scarcely perceptible, but in a firm manner, that left no hope to his +repentant spirit. Striking his forehead violently, with mingled shame +and rage he rushed from the spot towards the castle, and walked rapidly +until he disappeared behind an angle of one of the towers. Kate +Bellamont followed him with her eyes, her brow unbent, her proud manner +and high-toned look unchanged; but, when he could no longer be seen, +there was perceptible a struggle on her eloquent countenance to restrain +the emotion with which her heart was full. With an even voice and forced +gayety, she said, + +"We will now to the pavilion, maidens fair and cavaliers; and I trust +this rudeness of yonder haughty boy will not mar our festivities. Mark, +you will attend me. What! has he gone too? God grant two such fiery +youths meet not again this day." + +"Didst observe, my lady," said Cormac, who had been a silent spectator +of the exciting scene, "didst take note of that look out of the eyes of +Lord Robert? Well, if it did not remind me of Hurtel o' the Red Hand, as +if he had stood before me." + +And the old forester ominously shook his head, as if it contained +something very mysterious, yet untold, and followed the party to the +pavilion, whither they had already directed their steps, to partake, +with what spirits they might after the scenes that had transpired, of +the luxurious banquet therein spread for their entertainment. + +Here Kate Bellamont, who preserved a calm dignity the while, and, save +to the eye of Grace, whose generous spirit sympathized warmly and +sincerely in her feelings, betrayed no outward signs of emotion, with a +tranquilly-spoken excuse for her absence left them and fled to the +castle: she ran through its long hall like a hunted hart; flew up the +broad staircase to her boudoir, and entering it, closed the door. Then +uttering a gasping cry of suffering, she threw herself, with a wild +abandonment of passion, upon a seat; the fountains of her bursting +heart, so long choked up, were opened; and she gave way to an +irresistible flood of tears. + +It is ever thus with woman! Although, in the moment of just resentment, +pride and anger may for a while check the flow of affection, and harden +the wounded heart as if bound about with bands of steel, yet love will +return again, dissolve these bands, and convert resentment into +tenderness. It is its nature to obliterate all dark spots that wrong may +have cast upon the heart; to palliate offences, and to forgive even +where forgiveness is a weakness: it makes itself half sharer of the +fault; is ever ready to bear the whole weight of the blame, and with +open arms to receive back again, without either atonement or +acknowledgment, the guilty but still loved offender. + +In a few moments the current of her feelings had changed. She thought of +the thousand noble qualities of Lester's head and heart, shaded only by +the faults of pride of birth and a hasty temper. + +"For these," she asked of her heart, "shall I break his high spirit? For +these shall I inflict a pang on his noble nature? For these, which among +men are regarded praiseworthy attributes of highborn gentlemen--for +_these_ shall I make him unhappy, and myself--for it will kill +me--miserable? Oh, Lester, dear Lester, I was too, too cruel! You had +cause for anger; but oh, that fatal spear! Would that it had been far +from your hasty arm!" + +At this moment she heard the sound of horses' feet moving rapidly across +the court towards the forest. With a foreboding of the cause she flew to +the lattice, and beheld Lester, mounted on his coal-black steed, +galloping at the top of the animal's speed away from the castle, each +moment burying his armed heels into his sides, and riding as if he would +outstrip the winds. For a moment she watched him with an earnest gaze, +then threw open the lattice, shouted his name, and waved her hand! But +his back was towards her, and he was too far off to hear even _her_ +voice calling him to return; and in a few seconds afterward he entered +the wood. With tearful eyes she saw the last wave of his dark plume as +he disappeared in the winding of the road; and, leaning her hand upon +the window, she sobbed as if her young heart would break. Oh love, love, +what a mystery thou art! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Alas! the love of women! it is known + To be a lovely and a fearful thing; + For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, + And if 'tis lost, life hath no more to bring + To them but mockeries of the past alone, + And their revenge is as the tiger's spring, + Deadly, and quick, and crushing; yet, as real + Fortune is theirs--what they inflict they feel." + + _Don Juan._ + + +Kate Bellamont gazed after the departing Lester until his receding form +became indistinct, and his dancing plume mingled with the waving foliage +of the forest into which he rode; she then bent her ear and listened +till his horse's feet ceased longer to give back a sound, when, overcome +by the depth and strength of her feelings, she leaned her head upon the +lattice and wept like a very child; at length she recollected the duties +that devolved upon her as entertainer of the party of archers; and, +forcing a calmness that she did not feel, she descended to the lawn, and +once more mingled in the festivities of her birthday. + +Notwithstanding all her self-possession, her eyes often filled with +tears when they should have lighted up with smiles; and even her smiles +were tinged with sadness! And how could it be otherwise, when her heart +and her thoughts were at no moment with the scenes before her? She +longed for the day to close--for the night to approach--that she might +fly to her solitary chamber, and there, hidden from every eye, indulge +her feelings. At length the long, long day came to an end, and with it +departed the youthful company on horse-back to their several homes. A +gay and gallant appearance the cavalcade presented as it rode away from +the castle--a youthful cavalier prancing by the bridle of each maiden, +and a band of armed retainers of the several families bringing up the +rear. Kate bade them adieu, and stood in the hall-door following them +with her eyes till the last horseman was lost in the windings of the +forest; she then flew to her chamber, and, turning the bolt of her door, +cast herself upon her bed and once more gave free vent to the gushing +tears which she could no longer restrain. + +Twilight was lost in night: the round moon rose apace, and, shining +through the Gothic lattice, fell in a myriad of diamond-shaped flakes on +the floor; yet had she not lifted her face from her pillow since first +she had buried it there, though the violence of her grief had long since +subsided; and so still was she that she seemed to sleep. But the soft +influence of this gentle blessing was a stranger to her aching eyelids. +Her soul was sad and dark! her sensitive spirit had been wounded! the +wing of her heart was broken. Her thoughts rushed wild and tumultuous +through her brain, and her young bosom, torn by strong emotions, heaved +like the billow when lashed by the storm. She mourned in the silence of +her heart's depths, without solace, and without hope; condemning her own +hasty act, and, like a very woman, excusing his conduct by every +invention that her true love could find in palliation. + +All at once she was disturbed by a light tap at her door. She started +suddenly, aroused from that world of troubled thought in which she had +so long been lost to the exclusion of everything external, and lifted +her face. Her surprise was great on seeing the moon looking in upon her, +and filling her little room with an atmosphere like floating dust of +silver. A glow of pleasure warmed her heart, and an exclamation of +delight unconsciously escaped from her lips--it was so calmly bright, so +richly beautiful! Like a blessing sent from heaven, the sweet moonlight +fell upon her soul, and all the softer and holier sympathies of her +nature were touched by its celestial beauty. She approached the lattice +and threw it open, forgetting the cause that had aroused her from her +mood of grief, in admiration of the loveliness to which she had +awakened. + +A second tap was heard at her door. She started with instant +consciousness; and throwing back from her face the cloud of raven +ringlets that had fallen about it, tried to assume a cheerful look, and +bade the applicant enter. + +"I can't, cousin Kate," said the sweet voice of Grace Fitzgerald, in a +low tone; "you have locked yourself in." + +Kate blushed, stammered something, she scarcely knew what, in excuse, +and turning the key, admitted her mischievous cousin. + +"In the dark, Kate!" exclaimed Grace, as she entered. + +"'T were sacrilege, cousin, to bring a lamp in presence of this lovely +moon! Come stand by the lattice with me," she said, throwing her arms +about her and drawing her towards her. + +The fair cousins leaned together from the window and looked out upon the +silvery scene. There was something in the quiet loveliness of the lawn +beneath, spangled with myriads of dewdrops like minute fragments of +diamonds; in the deep repose of the dark woods; in the majesty of the +ocean, which sent its heavy, sighing sound to their ears with every +passing breeze; in the glory of the glittering firmament, with the moon +like a bride walking in its midst, and in their own lonely situation, +which the silence of the castle and the lateness of the hour contributed +to increase, to make both silent and thoughtful. + +At length a deep sigh escaped the bosom of Kate, and Grace turned to +contemplate her unconscious face, as with thoughtful eyes, her head +resting in her hand, she gazed on vacancy, evidently thinking on +subjects wholly separated from the natural scenery before her. + +"Dear Kate," said Grace, after watching for some time in silence the +sad, pale brow of her cousin, and speaking in a tone of tender and +affectionate sympathy; "dear Kate, I pity you!" She gently threw her +arms about her neck as she spoke, and, drawing her towards her, kissed +her cheek. + +The touching sincerity of her manner, unusual to the merry maiden, came +directly home to her heart. She felt that she was understood; that her +sorrow was appreciated! She struggled with virgin coyness for a few +seconds, and then, yielding to her increasing emotions, threw herself +into her arms and wept there. How grateful to her full heart to find +another into which it could freely empty itself! How happy, very happy +was she, that that heart was, of all others, her beloved cousin's! How +unexpected her sympathy! How soothing, how welcome to her sad and +isolated bosom! At length she lifted her face, and, smiling through her +tears, said, after dwelling an instant on the lovely features of her +cousin, + +"You are a sweet, noble creature, Grace! You don't know how happy your +kind sympathy has made me! and all so unlooked for! Yet I know you will +think me very silly; and I fear your natural spirit will break out +again, and that you will, ere long, ridicule what you now regard with +such sweet charity!" + +"Believe me, Kate, I feel for you with all my heart. I could have cried +for you a dozen times to-day, when I saw how very unhappy you looked!" +she added, with tenderness beaming through her deep shaded eyes. + +"And yet, dear Grace, I think I never saw you so gay, nor those little +lips so rich with merry speeches," pursued Kate, playfully tapping her +rosy lips with her finger. + +"It was for your sake, dear cousin Kate. I saw that your feelings were +wrought up to just that point when you must either laugh or cry, and one +as easy for you to do as the other; so, trembling lest, in spite of +yourself, you should lean towards the tragic vein, I did my little best +to make you laugh." + +"You were a kind, generous creature, Grace," said the maiden, with a +glow of grateful energy in her manner. "I have not half known your +worth, though you have been full six months at Castle Cor." + +"And now, just as you are beginning to know what a nice, good cousin I +turn out to be, I am, hey for merry England again!" + +"I cannot part with you, Grace; my father must sail to-morrow without +you. You will stay with me, won't you?" she added, with sportive +earnestness. + +"I have twice delayed my departure, and poor father will need my nursing +in this recent return of his old complaint. I fear we may not meet again +for many years. I shall then," she said, with her usual thoughtlessness, +"perhaps, find you Lady Lester! Forgive me, cousin Kate," she instantly +added, as she saw the expression of her face change; "I am a careless +creature, to wound at one moment where I have healed at another. But," +she added, with playful assurance, "this may yet be even as I have said! +Nay, don't shake your head so determinedly! Lester is not so angry that +a word from you will not bring him to your feet." + +"Cousin Grace, do you know what and of whom you are speaking?" said +Kate, startled that her feelings should have been so well divined; +shrinking with maidenly shame that the strength of her love and the +weakness of her resolution should be discovered to her observing cousin, +and involuntarily resenting, with the impulse of a woman at such a time, +the imputation. + +"Indeed I do, dear coz! so do no injustice to your own feelings by +denying them. You will forgive Lester if I will bring him to your feet?" +she inquired, archly. + +"Yes--no--that is--" + +"That _you will_. Very well. Before to-morrow's sun be an hour old, he +shall kneel there." + +"Not for the world, Grace!" she cried, trembling between fear and hope; +her love struggling with the respect due to her maidenly dignity, which +she could not but feel, still, that Lester had outraged. + +"I don't care for your words, Kate; I know they mean just the opposite +of what you say. Robert Lester shall kneel at your feet to-morrow +morning, and sue for pardon for his offence," she added, with gentle +stubbornness. + +"Without compromising my--" she half unconsciously began. + +"I shall not compromise you in the least. There shall be no syllable of +concession on your part mentioned; let me manage it my own way, and see +if you do not love each other the better for it yet?" + +"Coz!" she cried, placing her fore finger on her mouth reprovingly, yet +pleased and smiling with the first dawnings of bright returning hope. + +"I am glad to see you smile once more, and I am resolved you shall yet +be happy," added Grace, who had shown that, beneath the light current of +gayety that usually characterized her, there was a flow of deep and +generous feeling; and that, with all her thoughtless levity, she was +susceptible both of the sincerest attachment and of the warmest +friendship. Her words conveyed the germe of hope to the breast of her +cousin. Her confident manner inspired confidence; and the happy Kate, +giving herself up to the direction of the sanguine feelings her language +and presence had caused to spring up in her sinking heart, became all at +once a different being. + +"If I am happy in the way you mean, I shall owe it all to you," she +said, kissing her. "Now for your plan, my sweet diplomatist." + +"Now for my plan, then. That Lord Robert has gone home very angry +indeed, there can be no question. Now, when a lover is angry, justly, +with his mistress, he will be ever ready to meet her, not only half, but +the whole, of the way, to bring about a reconciliation. When he has no +right to be angry with her, and is so foolish as to be so, how much the +more readily then will he be brought to her feet! There is a spice of +argument for you. Now, as Lord Robert has no cause in the world to be +offended with you, it follows that he has every cause in the world to +induce him to acknowledge his offence, and ask pardon therefor on the +very first opportunity. Now all that he wants cheerfully to do this, it +appears to me, is the assurance that, after such a philippic as that +with which you were pleased to send him off, he will be received +graciously." + +"But how, if I should be inclined to be gracious, sage cousin of mine, +is Lester to know it?" + +"That will very easily be brought about, I think. Let me see!" and she +seemed to muse very profoundly for a few seconds. "Ha! I have it. I will +borrow that curious locket he gave you--" + +"Locket, Grace--Lord Robert gave me!" repeated Kate, colouring, and +looking out of the lattice as if some interesting object had at that +moment drawn her attention. + +"Yes," replied Grace, dryly, and with a look of the most provoking +positiveness. + +"It is no use, I see, to conceal anything from you, mischief! How _did_ +you know he gave it to me?" + +"Young ladies are not wont to take from their bosoms a boughten trinket, +and slyly kiss it a hundred times a day, and--" + +"Grace, Grace!" cried Kate, attempting to stop her saucy speech. + +"And sleep with it under their pillow." + +"Cousin Grace!" + +"I have done," she said, quietly. + +"You well may be. Oh, if I do not wish you had a lover, that I could +repay you in kind!" + +"Perhaps I have!" was the imperturbable rejoinder of the maiden. + +"I dare say fifty whom you call so. Among the gay Oxford gallants, the +heiress of a coronet could not be without admirers; but oh, if I knew +only of one _lover_ who could set that little heart of yours a +trembling!" + +"You forget your locket, cousin," said the other, gravely. + +"What shall be done with it, Grace?" + +"Send it to Lester, with this message: '_He who returns this gift of +love to her who sends it, shall with love be met_.' Now is not that very +pretty, and as it should be?" + +"What a wild creature! Would you have me send such a message to Lester, +child? He would think me jesting with him." + +"No, never. Is it not just what you want to say--what you feel--what you +wish, above all things, he should know you feel?" + +"Yes, indeed, Grace," she replied, with the most ingenuous naivete. + +"Then it shall go. Give me the token. Nay, part not with it so +reluctantly; 'twill soon be back, with a prize worth a thousand of it. +Give it me, coz. Nay, then, kiss it! and so will I." + +"No, you shall not!" cried Kate, with laughing earnestness. + +"Oh, I _do_ hope _I_ never shall be in love!" said Grace, getting +possession of the locket. "Here is pencil and paper. Can you write by +this moonlight? Lovers, methinks, should write by no other light." She +spread the paper on the window as she spoke. + +"Write! what do you mean, Grace?" exclaimed Kate, with surprise. + +"I mean for you to put down, in your nicest hand, my gem of a message to +Robert." + +"Never, Grace. What will he think of me?" + +"He will think you love him very much." + +"Just what I don't wish him to think," she said, with singular decision. + +"Was there ever!" cried Grace, holding up both hands. "Well, this love +is an odd thing! What instinctive coquetry! Like John Milton's Eve, + + 'All conscious of your worth, + You would be woo'd, and, not unsought, be won.' + +I don't understand this disguising love under a show of +coldness--seeming to hate where the heart pants and glows with devotion. +Oh, if this be love, I'll none of it. Here is the pencil, and there is a +fair sheet, and the moon is patiently holding her silver lamp for you; +will you write?" + +"I will, to gratify you, cousin Grace;" she said, taking the pencil and +placing her fingers lightly on the paper which lay in the window. + +"To please _me_! very well, be it so. Who could have believed, a quarter +of an hour ago, that I should have had to coax you to send a line to +Robert Lester! You may well hide your telltale face." + +Kate bent her head over the gilded sheet and began to write, or, at +least, to make characters with her pencil, when Grace, impatient at her +slow progress, looked over her shoulder and exclaimed, + +"Why, what are you writing? _Lester Robert, Robert Lester, Robert +Lester, Lester Rob--._" + +Kate glanced at what she had written, hastily run her pencil through it, +and said, with a mortified laugh, + +"I had forgotten what to write." + +"And so put down what was deepest in your memory," said Grace, with a +vexatious air. "Now take this fair page, and write as I repeat: + +"'_He who shall bring again this gift of love to her who sends it, shall +with love be met._' + +"Is it written?" + +"Letter for letter." + +"And you will find that each letter will act as a charm. Never so few +monosyllables as I have strung together here held so much magic." + +"Who will be its bearer?" Kate now inquired in a lively tone. + +"I will find a Mercury both sure and swift," she said, folding the +locket in the billet. + +This _gage d'amour_ was oval in shape, of plain gold, with a chased rim, +a little raised, enclosing an azure field, on which, in exquisite +enamel, were inlaid the crests of Lester and Bellamont, joined together +by two clasped hands: beneath was the sanguine motto, + + DURANTE VITA. + +"Now, coz, for one of your raven ringlets to bind around it!" + +"No, I will not, Grace!" + +"Then I will tie it with a lock of my own hair," she said, in a sportive +manner, running her fingers through her auburn tresses; and, selecting +one that was like a silken braid for its soft and shining texture, she +prepared to sever it from her temples. + +"You provoking child, you will have your own way," said Kate, shaking +forward the dark cloud of her abundant hair, and intwining her finger in +a jetty tress that rivalled the sable hue of the night swallow's dark +and glossy wing. + +"Half an hour since you verily would have parted with every lock to be +assured the sacrifice would bring him to you; and now, forsooth, +scarcely will you part with a strand to bind a note. There!" she added, +clipping a beautiful ringlet that Kate had selected from the rest; "now +all that is wanted is wax--no, not that! I will fasten it with a +true-lover's-knot, which will be far better; will it not, coz?" + +As she said this she looked up with a bright light dancing in her dark +hazel eyes; and, without waiting for a reply, in a few seconds tied, +with great gravity, the mysterious knot she had mentioned, and gave the +billet to her cousin for the superscription. "Write, 'These: to the +hands of Robert, Lord Lester, of Castle More, greeting,'" she said, with +gravity. + +"Nay, I will direct it simply 'Lester, Castle More,'" she said, +decidedly. + +"By which," said Grace, laughing, "you avoid the distant respect +conveyed in my own on the one hand, and the tenderness that is ready +to gush from your heart on the other. Love certainly does make his +votaries skilful tacticians! Truly, now, is not this a proper +love-billet--written in a lattice by the light of the moon, and tied +with a braid of the lady's hair in a true-love-knot? Well, when I am in +love I shall know how to manage rightly all these little affairs." + +"Who is to be our Mercury on this occasion?" inquired Kate, with a +little doubt in the tones of her voice. "I fear we shall have to trust +it to a moonbeam also." + +"Something more substantial, I assure you," said the good-humoured +maiden, in a very positive manner. + +"Not one of the menials, for the world!" + +"No, no!" she answered, with quickness; and then approaching her +cousin's ear, she pronounced, very mysteriously, the very homely +monosyllable, + +"Mark!" + +"That proud boy! _He_ become the bearer of a message to Lester!" she +exclaimed, looking at her with surprise. + +"For _me_ he will!" replied Grace, confidently. + +"Two such spirits to come in contact! No, no! Have you forgotten how +they parted to-day?" + +"No." + +"Then why do you propose so wild a scheme?" + +"Mark will do as I bid him," she said, with a naive and pertinaciousness +that was wholly irresistible. + +Kate burst into such a merry, musical peal of laughter, that at first +the maiden looked very grave, but at length found it in vain to withhold +her sympathy, and laughed with her; while the rich blood mounted to her +cheeks, and invested her with surpassing beauty. + +"Oh, oh!" cried Kate, triumphantly, "so you are a _very_ little in love! +I half guessed it! Doubtless there is blood enough in thy noble veins +for both of you." + +"Very well, cousin, you may think what you choose," she replied; adding, +in a tone and manner that left her cousin in doubt if she were not half +in earnest, "but if I were in love with him, is he not noble in person? +handsome, gallant, and brave? Why may he not be worthy a noble maiden's +love? I would not give him as he is, for Lester, with all his nobility, +coupled as it is with his terrible passions." + +"Out upon you, jade," said Kate, good-humouredly; "will you revile in +this vein my noble Lester--compare him to a fisher's lad? Where is your +pride of birth and rank, Grace Fitzgerald! Really, I should not wonder +if, with your levelling notions, you should some day throw yourself away +upon some one unworthy to wear so fair and rich a flower in his bosom." + +"I have both wealth and rank, and shall be my own mistress soon! that I +will give my hand where my heart goes, you may rest assured, cousin +Kate," said the maiden, with spirited, yet sportive decision. + +"Marry come up! I shall not wonder if I come to be cousin to a +cordwainer's 'prentice yet! I shall assuredly allow you to go to the +good old earl, your father, to-morrow, and shall not fail to bid him, in +a letter, to lock you up." + +"Love laughs at locksmiths, you have heard it said, cousin. But a truce +to this. I am not yet in love, so be not alarmed. I will sally forth and +find Mark, and at once despatch him with this message to Castle More." + +As she spoke she threw a cloak over her shoulders and prepared to +envelop her head and face in its hood. At this crisis Kate's troubled +countenance indicated a wavering purpose; and as Grace was fastening the +hood beneath her chin, she laid her hand on her arm: + +"No, Grace, you must not. Lester will scorn me; let him go for ever +first!" she added, in a sad, irresolute tone of voice. + +"No, no! In ten minutes afterward you would be playing Niobe. Have your +feelings towards Lester changed an iota?" + +"No; but--" + +"Yet you know not, if you delay, how his may change, nor what rash act +he may commit!" + +"I will send the token," she said, after a moment's struggle. + +"I will soon return with news of my success," she said, placing her hand +on the latch of the door. + +"Go, then, quickly! But you will not venture to the beach alone?" + +"'Tis light as noonday! A step across the lawn, and a short trip down +the path, and old Meredith's hut is within a stone's throw. I will not +be three minutes gone." + +"I must certainly go with you, Grace." + +"Not for the world!" + +"Lest I interrupt the tender moonlight interview you have in prospect +with the handsome fisherman, I dare say. Ah, you arch girl! I verily +believe you have an eye to your own interests, which accounts for your +devotion to me in this matter," said Kate, laughing, and shaking her +head at her. + +"A fisher's lad!" she repeated, in the slightly scornful tone her cousin +had hitherto used. + +"Nay, I was not in earnest, Grace," said Kate, apologetically, kissing +her as she was leaving the chamber. + +"Nor was I," replied the lively maiden. "Watch me from the opposite +window as I cross the lawn. Courage, dear cousin! You will soon have +Lester at your feet, and be folded in his--" + +"Go!" cried the blushing Kate, closing the door upon her ere she could +finish her sentence. + +She listened to her light footstep echoing through the hall till it was +lost on the lawn; then turning to her window, she shortly afterward +discovered her gliding across the archery-field towards the cliff, and, +with a wave of her hand towards the lattice, rapidly descend the path +that led to the beach. With her heart fluttering with mingled hopes, +fears, and desires, she sat watching in the window for her return. Her +thoughts the while were busy. She followed, in imagination, the message +to Castle More; pictured Lester's reception of the token; fancied his +surprise, his rapture, perhaps his scornful indifference! No! she would +not believe he could feel _this_, for she judged his truth by her own! +Then, in her imagination, she heard his loud and hasty demand for his +horse! she could see him on his swift course towards Castle Cor. He +approaches! she can almost hear his horse's hoofs in the court! the next +moment he is kneeling at her feet for forgiveness! Wonderful power of +the imagination! How delightful to yield the soul to its influences when +the images it paints on the mind are all pleasing; all as vivid as the +reality of which they are only the shadows! While the meditative maiden +is leaning from her lonely lattice, indulging her happy visions, the +mind naturally turns to the adventurous Grace and the young fisher's +lad, who was to become the bearer of the message which should be the +magical instrument of converting all these delightful dreams into +reality. + +After the attack upon his life by the impetuous noble, taking advantage +of the exciting scene that followed between him and Kate Bellamont, Mark +quietly withdrew from the party, gained, unobserved, the path, and was +out of sight, far down the cliff, before his absence was discovered. He +had remained long enough, however, to witness the disgrace of Lester, +and to hear the indignant and bitter words of the offended maiden. With +a fleet foot he reached the beach, hastened along the shore to his cot, +and, crossing its lonely threshold, cast himself upon a block by the +hearth, and buried his face between his hands. His heart heaved +strongly, and he seemed to labour under deep and great emotion. It was +clearly apparent that he was undergoing a severe mental struggle, and +that the tide of his life would turn on the issue. At length he lifted +his fine face and looked around upon the interior of his humble home; +poverty and its signs met his eye wherever it fell! His glance then +rested on his own coarse habiliments, and he started to his feet, and +with a lofty expression of resolution and an air of stern decision, +said, half aloud, + +"This day shall end my servitude to poverty. Because the accident of +_birth_ has cast my lot within these wretched walls, and made me +fellow-prisoner with penury, therefore shall I not throw off my chains +when I will? Have I not a soul--a mind? Do I not think, feel, act, +speak, like those whom men call noble? May I not, in spite of nature, +yet become the builder of my own name--the carver of my own fortunes? By +the light of the bright sun, I will no longer be the slave of others! +the 'lowborn serf'--the 'humble fisher's lad'--the peasant, hind, and +what not, that means baseness of birth and degradation of soul! No; +henceforth I will take my place among the highest of them all, or leave +my bones to bleach on the sand!" + +He paced the bare ground-floor of the wretched shed for a few moments +with an energy of tread and a determined air that well harmonized with +his words. At length he stopped short in his excited walk; his face +assumed a gentler aspect; and in a voice low and melancholy, he +continued, + +"And this beauteous being, whose bright form fills my dreams like a +celestial visitant; who is in all my thoughts; whom to gaze upon at an +_humble_ distance is bliss; whose voice strangely thrills my soul: her, +for whom I would lay down my life! whom to make happy I would forego all +earthly, ay, future hopes of happiness, I am forbidden to love! I cannot +gaze on her without reproof! I am denied the bliss of speaking to her +and listening to the music of her voice in reply; of attending her in +her walks; of sharing in her pursuits and pleasures, because I am +_lowborn_. Yes, I am 'the poor fisher's lad!' and scarce deemed worthy +to be her footman. My approach into her presence is rudeness! my adoring +gaze vulgar impertinence! _I am the fisher's lad!_ 'Tis not for such to +love such a glorious creature! Though his heart may be of the noblest +mould; his taste refined; his spirit proud; his nature lofty and +aspiring, yet he may not love where love points him. 'Tis not for him to +place his affections on the gentle and lovely: on those worthy of his +heart's deep devotion, and to whom he can distribute the rich treasure +of his love. He must degrade his pure and sacred passion by linking his +fate with one of his own class, who may never appreciate him; or let his +wealth of love exhaust itself on his own life, and consume it with its +fire! Nevertheless," he added, with a sparkling eye, "the fisher's boy +dares to love, and love _high_! Love knows no rank. I have placed my +affections on a noble object, my gaze on a lofty eyry--and never will I +clip the wing that once has taken so high and bold a flight. I love her! +highborn as she is, I have dared to send my thoughts up to her! Yet, +alas!" he continued, moodily folding his arms on his breast, and +speaking slowly and bitterly, "alas! what shall this avail? Will she +requite the daring love of a peasant? Will she not scorn--will she not +laugh at me? Will she listen to the deep outpourings of my passion? No, +no, no! She must mate with _her_ mates, and she would bid me mate with +_mine_! Yet, may I not rise above my condition," he exclaimed, with a +glowing brow and flashing eye; "may I not win rank and name that shall +make me worthy of her? Shall I stand here idle, and see this haughty +Lester bear away a prize of which he is no more worthy than I? No, I +will perish first. From this day I am a man! Henceforth I belong to no +degree, no rank. I am to choose what I will be. This hour I burst the +degrading fetters that chain me to the class in which birth has cast me. +From this moment I am the architect of my own fortune, and I will erect +a temple that men shall admire, or bury myself beneath its ruins! The +sea, on which I have been cradled, is open before me like a mother's +bosom, welcoming me to its embrace; and on it, with the aid of God and +my own spirit, I will win a name that shall hide the humble one I wear, +and under it yet lay at the feet of her, who would scorn me under my +present one, laurels that shall have made me worthy of her love!" + +As he concluded his cheek was flushed; his eye sparkling; his step rapid +and firm; his countenance elevated and glowing; and he strode the little +cabin as if he was for the moment all that he had resolved to be. He was +so lost in his feelings, so wrapped in the noble vision of the future +his ambitious and ardent mind had pictured, that the old fisherman, who +had slowly followed him from the cliff, entered without attracting his +notice. The aged man gazed on the animated and excited youth with +astonishment, and for a few moments was silent from surprise. At length +he called him by name. He started, and was for the first time sensible +that he was not alone: + +"Well!" was the short, stern response. + +"Do you know who speaks to you, my boy?" asked the old man, with mild +reproof. + +"Yes I do, my good father," he said, instantly resuming his wonted +kindness of manner, and taking his hand; "forgive me; I had forgotten +myself!" + +"Do not be angry, child, at this freak of my young lord," said the old +fisherman, in a tone habitual to his class in speaking of those above +them; "it was but a little outbreak of spirit; and you know it is not +for the like of us to be angry at the nobility for such things. They are +our lords, and we must do as they will." + +"And let them take my life--ay, if they will, make me their slave, which +is far worse! Never! 'Tis the language of a bondman you utter, and +unworthy the lips of manhood!" + +"You talk as if you was one of the quality, boy! You will find it +different when you get to be as old as I am. I have put up with many +wrongs in my day from gentle blood." + +"And have not resented it?" demanded the youth, with spirit. + +"What could a poor fisherman do? Is it not their right to act what they +will to? We poor fishermen have only to pray to God to give them gentle +wills towards us!" + +"And is this the creed you would teach me? Debasing, grovelling, mean +obedience to the tyranny of an order! Before I do it, may my hand wither +at the shoulder, my tongue palsy in my mouth! I should indeed deserve to +be a slave! You would forbid me to resent this wrong from this hotheaded +young noble?" + +"It will do thee no good; if thou shouldst take his life, thou wouldst +hang for't." + +"And, if he should take mine?" + +"There would be none to avenge thee, boy. The judges, who are always on +the side of the great, would say thy life was forfeited because thou +hadst lifted thy hand against one of the privileged." + +"God! I cannot believe that all men do spring from Adam and Eve," +exclaimed the youth, impetuously. "Father," he said, after a moment's +silence, speaking in a tone of mingled shame and sorrow, "thou hast, +fortunately, a spirit fitted to thy station--I pity thee! For myself, I +will be no man's serf, no lord's menial! If accident has made me almost +on a level with the brute, nature has endowed me with the feelings of a +man. Father, I leave you with to-morrow's sun." + +"My child! my child! what evil hath taken possession of thee?" cried the +old man, holding him by both hands. + +"No evil, but good! To-morrow I go from you!" he replied, resolutely. + +"And leave me destitute in my old age, my boy?" + +The youth was touched more by the accent in which this was said than by +the words. He buried his face in his hands and groaned aloud; then, with +a sudden burst of filial affection, he cried, throwing himself upon his +aged breast, + +"No, no! I will bend my neck to every insult, rather than thou, my more +than father, shouldst be left helpless." + +"Thou wilt not go away?" reiterated the old man, pleadingly, as if +doubting the sincerity of his words. + +"Not while thou art spared to me, beloved grandsire. Thou hast protected +my infancy and youth! been to me both father and mother. If I be not a +faithful son to thee, and protect not thy old age, may I fail to attain +the rank and honour among men to which I aspire, and which, if purchased +at the expense of filial gratitude, I should be unworthy to wear!" + +"Bless thee, bless thee, Mark!" said he, fondly embracing him. +"Providence has made our lot a humble one; let us submit to it with +obedience. Come, my boy, think no more of it, but launch the skiff, and +bring home our evening meal from the vast storehouse that has ever fed +us, and which never holds its life even from the undeserving. Go, my +son: on the rocking wave, and in the silence of the lone deep, your +heart will become calm, and peace will return to your soul. At such +times it is that the good and devout Christian is the most happy! I +sometimes think the holy apostles did owe much of the holy piety which +they possessed to their lowly occupation of fishers." + +"_They were Christians._ You are a Christian, father! I am not one save +in name. Would to God I were! perhaps I then might bear my humble lot +more calmly. Now farewell a while; I will be in again ere the moon +rises." + +He rushed from the cabin with his heart almost bursting in his breast, +launched his little bark, hoisted the frail latteen sail, and committed +himself to the deep. + +Seated in the narrow stern of his fragile skiff, the thwarts and bottom +of which were covered with fishing-lines, a dip-net, and other signs of +his lowly pursuit, holding the rude tiller in one hand and the sheet of +his narrow white sail in the other, he shot swiftly out from the shore, +wafted by a light and fitful wind. From habit he steered his course, and +shifted the sail from side to side to woo the baffling airs, without +giving his thoughts to his occupation. His lips were compressed with +thought, his brow was set, and every feature of his silent face was +eloquent with the feelings that occupied his bosom. His mind was +struggling between filial affection and ambition--between love for the +highborn maiden and duty to his grandsire. The sufferings of the latter, +who looked to his labours for his daily bread, were, if he should desert +him, present and positive. The hopes connected with the former were +altogether future and uncertain. Should he inflict a present evil for a +future good? Would his filial attachment compare with his love? Which +should he sacrifice? He felt that he could not make his grandsire the +victim, either of his love or of his ambition, without the forfeiture of +that filial virtue, wanting which he would be unworthy the prize he +should incur this penalty to obtain. His thoughts became insupportable; +and, for a time, he was nearly wrought up to phrensy by the intensity of +the mental conflict. At this crisis, while his eyes were fixed vacantly +on the crisp waves as they went singing and rippling past him, his bosom +far more disturbed than they, he was startled by a loud, quick hail. + +"Boat ahoy! Helm-a-starboard, or you will be into us!" + +He mechanically obeyed; and, as he looked up, saw the dark hull of the +yacht, that had lain all day at anchor in the bay, within reach of his +hand, while his boat was gliding safely along its side, directly against +which he had been unconsciously steering. + +"You must keep a look-out, lad, how you run aboard a king's yacht, or +you will stand a chance of getting a shot in your locker!" said a gruff, +yet good-humoured voice. "But you have a quick ear and ready hand to +clear our counter as you did. What say you to serving his majesty, my +lad? It's better than catching herring; and, then, many's the younker of +your inches that's come in over the cat-head, and afterward walked the +quarter-deck with a brace of gold bobs on his shoulders." + +The young fisherman's ears greedily received every word; they struck a +chord within his bosom that strongly vibrated again. Involuntarily he +put his helm down, and brought his boat up into the wind. He looked +longingly upon the vessel's deck; measured the beautiful and light +proportions of her hull, and surveyed with delight the graceful spars, +following them with his eye to their tapering tops, from which gay flags +streamed in the breeze: he admired, apparently with all a seaman's +gratification, the tracery and interlacing of the neatly-set rigging, +and the snowy sails, some of which were hanging in festoons from the +yards, while one or two lazily spread their broad white fields from yard +to yard: he observed the neat appearance of the men; their happy faces; +their frank, good-humoured manners: he thought over the blunt but kindly +offer he had received, and his hopes whispered, + +"Fortune has opened this way for me! my destiny must be linked with this +vessel!" + +He then thought of his father, and his head dropped despondingly on his +bosom; he thought of Kate Bellamont, and his eyes sparkled, and he felt +like bursting all filial ties and leaping at once on board. + +"What say you, my lad, will you ship?" said the man, observing his +hesitation; "I'll give you ten rix-dollars as bounty." + +"Now?" he eagerly asked, starting up in his boat, and extending his +hands with intense earnestness. + +"The instant you enter your name on the yacht's books." + +"I will go with you." + +"Done! come alongside." + +Mark hesitated ere he obeyed. Ten rix-dollars had, at first, seemed to +him an inexhaustible sum: a moment's reflection convinced him that it +would not support his grandfather six months without labour, for which +he was nearly unfitted on account of his age. If, he thought, at the end +of six months, therefore, he should not be able to return to him, or if +his own life should be lost in the interim, would not the misery and +want such an event would entail upon him fall heavy to his charge? + +All this passed through his mind as he drew aft the tack and pressed the +tiller up to windward to run under the vessel's bows. Instantly he +shifted his helm, let the sheet fly free to the wind, and shot suddenly +away in the opposite direction. + +"He's off with a flowing sheet!" said one of the seamen, laughing. + +"He's gone to bid the old man good-by," cried another; "he'll be +alongside before morning, kit and kid." + +"He's gone to take leave of his lass," added a third. "A wise lad to +anchor his last night ashore." + +"I wouldn't lose him for six months' pay," said the captain of the +forecastle, who had first hailed him; "but I am afraid we shall see no +more of him than what he now shows us," he added, shaking his head, and +turning to pace the deck. + +Scarce hearing, and heedless of these characteristic remarks, the young +fisherman kept on his course seaward till he had got a league from the +land, when he hove to and lowered his sail; then baiting and casting his +lines, he plied his humble task, his eyes the while often fixed on the +distant towers of Castle Cor, and his thoughts now with its fair inmate, +now brooding over his own lowly destiny. When at length the sun dipped +the edge of his burnished shield into the sea, he for the last time drew +in his lines, each heavy with a fish, hoisted his sail, flung it broad +to the evening wind that blew gently landward, and, taking the helm, +steered towards home. But the wind grew lighter, and soon came only at +intervals in "cat's-paws;" his progress was therefore slow, and he was +yet a mile from the land when it left his sail altogether. Night came +on, and the moon rose above the battlements of the castle, and flung its +scarf of silver far out upon the scarcely dimpled bay. From time to time +he held his open palm to windward, in vain trying to catch a passing +current. He threw back the dark curls that clustered about his forehead, +and laid it bare to receive the faintest breath that might promise the +return of the wind. But the air was motionless! His boat rose and fell +on the glassy undulations, but moved not towards the shore, save by the +slow landward heave of the sea. Springing upon the thwarts, he brailed +up his sail and bound it to the mast, and then, bending to the slender +oars, sent his light skiff over the water with a speed that mocked the +idle winds. He soon got within the dark shadow flung by the cliff along +the water far beyond the land, and run his boat on the beach beside his +cot. The old fisherman welcomed him with a kindness that not only +touched his heart, but rewarded him for the sacrifice he had made on his +account. He also assisted him in conveying the fish into the hut, and +set about himself to prepare their rude repast. Mark placed his oars in +the beckets over the door, and walked out to indulge his thoughts; to +brood over his deferred, if not blasted hopes; and to struggle again and +again against the unfilial temptations that assailed him. He insensibly +wandered along the beach, that sparkled in the moonlight like snow +beneath his feet, until he came to the narrow strip of sand that +stretched beneath the over-hanging cliff from which he had leaped, and +connected his hut with the path up the rocks. He looked up to its dark +and terrific roof, and then down into the black pool at his feet, and a +half-formed wish that he had never risen again from its silent depths, +escaped him. + +"That I had perished, ere life had been preserved to be dragged out in +this miserable servitude," he said aloud. "What is life to me? Its +refined joys; its courtly pleasures; its fair forms; its wealth; its +honours! This is _my_ world--these slimy rocks--this lonely bay; yonder +hut my palace, and to fish for daily sustenance my pastime. This is _my_ +life--this my universe! What have I to do with aught beyond it? The +world was made for others, not for me--not for the peasant boy! No, no! +Madness! Must I endure this?" he cried, with fierce impatience. "Filial +love, filial gratitude, how bitter, bitter are ye!" + +He struck his forehead violently, and turned on the belt of sand with a +fevered step. Suddenly he felt a touch on his shoulder, as light as if a +fairy's foot had lit upon it. He started, and, turning quickly round, +beheld a female, enveloped in a hood and cloak, standing immediately +behind him. The grace of her attitude, and the easy decision of her +whole manner, assured him that she was not lowborn. His heart would have +whispered the name that was enshrined in it, but the figure was not tall +enough for _hers_. With an instinctive consciousness that he was in the +presence of rank and beauty, to which, in this union, his independent +spirit never refused to do homage, he doffed his cap, and addressed her +with that native grace and dignity which characterized him: + +"Lady, seek you aught in which I can aid you, that you have come to the +seaside at this lonely hour?" + +The moon shone full on his youthful features, which were shaded with +locks of dark-flowing hair, parted across his high, pale forehead, and +descending to his shoulder. She gazed for an instant, ere she replied, +on his youthful face, on each lineament of which his bold character was +written, while his ardent spirit spoke eloquently in every look. As he +bent forward to catch her answer, with his bonnet in his hand, the cloud +had vanished from his brow before the supposed presence of youth and +beauty, and his deferential manner, so opposite to his former bearing, +seemed to inspire her with confidence. + +"My business is with you alone, Mark!" spoke, from beneath the shaded +hood, the sweet, hesitating voice of Grace Fitzgerald, intuitively +shrinking within the shadow of the cliff as she addressed him, just out +of which, in the full light of the moon, the young fisherman himself +stood. + +"Lady Grace!" he exclaimed, with surprise, as her voice fell on his ear. + +"Grace Fitzgerald, in body and spirit," said she, with her usual gayety. + +"Can the highborn heiress of Earl Fitzgerald be served by one so +humble?" he asked, in a tone slightly tinged with his former gloomy +humour. + +She seemed to be at a loss, for a moment, how to reply, scarcely knowing +in what way to interpret his words. At length she said, advancing +frankly towards him, + +"I have not come to command your services, Mark, but to beg of you a +favour; to ask you to execute a mission of delicacy, that can be +intrusted to no one so well as yourself." + +The frank and kind manner in which she spoke, the graceful propriety +with which she overstepped the barrier of _caste_ that separated them, +sensibly affected him. It was the first time he had been so addressed by +those above him in birth and station; the first time his services had +not been demanded as a right by those who needed them. + +Her suavity and condescension of manner were perhaps prompted by the +remembrance of the outrage he had received at Lester's hands, and by a +knowledge of his intrepidity, and of his pride of spirit, which she knew +to be chafed and goaded by the insults inseparable from his station. She +therefore generously wished to sooth and bind up his injured feelings. +She had, too, her own notions of what constitutes true nobility; and it +is plain, from her conversation with Kate, that she was less governed by +the social canons which regulate such things, and was infinitely more of +a democrat than her haughty and beautiful cousin. That her heart had +anything to do in the matter, though Mark was so handsome, so gentle, +and so brave withal, cannot be supposed; inasmuch as the little god +seldom ensconces himself behind a peajacket to take aim at a heart +mailed beneath a silken spencer. But, then, Cupid is very blind, and, +besides, is so given to odd whims, that but little calculation can be +made as to the direction from which his shafts will fly. + +"Command me, lady," he replied, with grateful emotion, as she concluded. + +"Are you angry with Lord Robert?" she asked, falteringly. + +"Can I forgive him?" + +"But you will forgive him--for--for--the sake of--my cousin Kate!" + +"If _she_ were to bid me kiss his hand, I would not refuse her," he +exclaimed, with a sudden glow of animation. + +Grace sighed, and was for a moment silent; for she plainly saw that her +influence had but little weight in this quarter in comparison with her +cousin's. She then took the locket from the folds of her cloak, and +said, in a very slightly mortified tone, + +"It is _her_ wish that you bear this token of her forgiveness to Lord +Robert. You will see that it is tied with a braid of _her own hair_!" + +(Was there not a spice of feminine pique in this last clause, lady?) + +"Bear this from _her_ to _him_?" he inquired, in a voice trembling with +emotion. + +"Yes." + +"Never!" replied he, with vehemence. + +"Mark!" she said, in a tone of gentle reproof, placing her hand lightly +upon his arm. + +"Pardon me," he said, hastily, "but--but--" His voice choked for +utterance. "Oh God! Lady Grace," he suddenly cried, with an outbreak of +terrible and ungovernable emotion, "you know not what it is to be--to +be--" Here his feelings were too strong to be controlled, and, turning +his face from her, he gave way to a paroxysm of the wildest grief. + +She stood by in silence! She appreciated fully his feelings, for she had +overheard the soliloquy he gave utterance to before he had become aware +of her presence. She knew what he was and what he aspired to be, and how +deeply his degradation preyed upon him. She sympathized with him with +her whole heart; and with her sympathy there entered into her breast +another emotion, which in woman's heart is so nearly allied to love, +namely, gentle pity! When she saw that the first strong tide of his +feelings had in some degree subsided, in a voice so full of what she +felt that it touched all the finer sensibilities of his nature, and +seemed to breathe peace throughout his soul, stilling every billow of +passion, she said to him, + +"Mark, I do pity you from my heart! I know you are not fitted by nature +for the state to which you were born. But to the bold spirit and +determined will there is a wide road open to distinction; and in it men, +humble as yourself, have won honourable renown, in the splendour of +which the mere accident of their birth has been lost. The same road to +honour lies open before you!" + +The vivid eloquence, the animation of voice, the spirited manner, and +the lofty energy of look with which this was spoken, united with the +depth and sincerity of her interest in him, which she disdained to +disguise, language can inadequately express. Its effect on him was +electrical. He sprang forward, knelt at her feet, seized her hand, and, +in the fulness of his heart, pressed it gratefully to his lips. She +withdrew it in confusion, and he instantly buried his face in his hands, +overcome with the painful feeling of having offended. She was the first +to speak. + +"Mark, bear this packet to Lord Robert; deliver it into his own hand, +and immediately leave him, so that you give him no opportunity of +renewing his feud. In the morning, on the earl's return from Kinsale, +come to the castle, and I will represent your case to him." + +"Dear lady, I will leave this message for you at Castle More; but pardon +me if I decline your offer to serve me!" + +"Then cousin Kate shall make it," she said, good-humouredly. + +"Forgive me, but it will be still more firmly declined." + +Grace was puzzled; and half sportively, half sincerely, it entered her +thoughts that she had played her hand well if already, as his words +seemed to imply, she had found more favour in the young fisherman's eyes +than her cousin. But, all at once, the thought flashed upon her mind +that it was alone the pride of love that led him to refuse any favour at +her cousin's hands. + +"You mean," she said in revenge, smiling as she spoke, "that you dislike +my cousin Kate so much that you will not receive any kindness at her +hands." + +"If such could be inferred from my words, I recall every letter of +them," he said, with an earnestness that amused her. + +"I will then speak for you to my uncle." + +"Lady, you will think me very ungrateful," he replied, "but--" + +"But you will take no favour from the father of Kate Bellamont. Really, +my cousin is complimented." + +He was embarrassed by the light in which she seemed to take his words, +and, in attempting to explain, involved himself still deeper. + +"Do not be distressed; I perfectly understand you, Mark," she said, with +a laugh that relieved him. "Will you be obliged to _me_?" + +"Pardon me if I say no!" he answered, gratefully but firmly. "No, lady," +he added, in a grateful tone of voice, yet sadly, "I must work out +brighter fortunes for myself by my own energies." + +"I admire your independence. But, if you should need my--I would say, +the assistance of any one--will you remember Grace Fitzgerald?" + +He did not reply; his heart was swelling, but he laid his hand upon his +bosom with an eloquent gesture that conveyed more than words. + +"Enough!" she said, touched with his impressive manner. "I shall ever be +ready to do for you all that can advance you to name and rank; and for +your own sake, for the sake of--" here she paused with embarrassment, +and then added, "those who take an interest in you, it becomes you to +rise from this humble station, and win for yourself a name and station +among men. Do not forget that the proudest names in England sprang from +the lowest rank. My own maternal ancestor was a favourite groom of +William the Conqueror, who, for his prowess in a certain battle, +knighted and parcelled out to him an equal division of land with his own +knightly companions in arms. Shall I not yet hear of _you_ with pride?" +she added, extending her hand to him with characteristic frankness. + +"Lady," he said, with animation, "if ever a lowborn youth, who would +rise above his adverse fortunes, had cause to go forward, have I. The +memory of your words will shine like a star of hope to guide me through +the future. God help me! Lady Grace, you shall never blush with shame +for him in whose fate you this night have shown an interest," he +continued, with emotion. "For your sake I will achieve whatever man can +accomplish." + +"And will you do nothing for my poor cousin's sake?" she asked, +significantly, and in a tone of raillery, not able, even at such a time, +to subdue altogether her natural temperament. + +"There is little hope that one so humble is ever in her thoughts," he +replied, doubting, yet half believing. + +"Little hope, I fear, while Lester lives," she said, smiling. "But think +not of her--think not of love now," continued she, with animation; "let +honour be your idol, and woo fame alone as your bride. There are +some--there is _one_, Mark, who would rather see you honoured and +ennobled by your own hand than--than--but no matter, I have already said +too much. Kate will have good reason to suspect I had cause to come +alone," she said, mentally, "if I linger here longer;" she then added +aloud, + +"Fly, Mark, with this message. If you would serve me, bear it safely; if +you would do my cousin Kate a favour, bear it quickly; and, lastly, for +your own sake, get into no quarrel." + +They had insensibly walked along while speaking, and were now at the +foot of the path by which she had descended to the beach. + +Mark took the packet from her hand, and, as he did so, pressed it with +an air of native gallantry blended with gratitude, greatly to her not +unpleasurable surprise and confusion, and then hastened at a rapid pace +along the beach in the direction of Castle More. She followed him for a +few moments with her eyes, and then, sighing unconsciously (for it is in +vain longer to disguise the interest she felt in the interesting +fisher's lad), ascended the steep path and safely gained the castle, +where, still at her lattice waiting her return, she found her cousin, to +whom forthwith she communicated her success. + +With a swift tread Mark traversed the curving shore till he had left a +full league between him and the spot where he had separated from Grace +Fitzgerald. Then striking into a path that led inland, he followed it +with undiminished speed, and with a light and confident step, that +showed his familiarity with every intricate winding of his moonlit way. + +How often he pressed to his adoring lips the locket of hair that secured +the billet; how often he paused to read over and over again, by the +light of the moon, the delicate characters traced by the pencil her +fingers had guided, let each one that has loved enumerate for himself. +As he went along, he could not help revolving in his mind the manner of +Grace Fitzgerald, and asking himself a hundred times if she could mean +anything; and when it could not be concealed from his penetrating mind +that she did mean something, or affected to do so--the wish rose to his +lips that Kate Bellamont had been in her place. Yet the very next +moment, so contradictory is love, he congratulated himself that she was +not, feeling that he should never have had the courage to meet her face +to face alone, as he had met her cousin. Love surely endows his votaries +with a singular union of boldness and timidity! Your lover is either an +arrant coward or a lion, and sometimes he is both in one, as he happens +to be in or out of his mistress's presence. + +At length he came in sight of an ancient and extensive ruin in the midst +of the forest, and was picking his way among the fallen fragments, along +which his road wound, when he was startled by the sound of horses' feet +coming from the direction of Castle More; the moment afterward, he saw, +by the light of the moon, two horsemen emerge from the wood, and rapidly +approach the ruin. He instinctively drew to one side of the path to +escape observation, when he heard one of them utter an exclamation of +surprise; both then suddenly reined up, and, from the sound of a third +voice, they appeared to be holding conversation with some one they had +unexpectedly encountered. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Away, away my steed and I + Upon the pinions of the wind!" + + _Mazeppa._ + + "Thou false fiend, thou liest! + I do defy--deny--spurn back and scorn ye!" + + "That thus a son should stand and hear + The tale of his disgrace." + + BYRON. + + +The indignant Lester, to whom the story now reverts, had no sooner left +the presence of Kate Bellamont and the field of archery, than he +hastened to the stables, saddled his horse with his own hand, and threw +himself across his back. Then, turning his head northward towards Castle +More, he gave him the rein, and, without forming any definite aim or +object, but goaded onward simply by the fiery impetus of his feelings, +with a feverish desire to leave far behind the scene of his disgrace, +rode away at full speed. + +His thoughts were dark and confused; his heart full; his spirit sore! He +looked neither to the right nor left, and gave backward glance to turret +nor lattice--for he was all unskilled in that book of riddles, woman's +heart! and what hope then had he, that he should turn his head for beck +or signal of return? If he had been a little more experienced, or +somewhat better read in this book of mysteries, where every line of the +text is contradicted by a page of annotations, he might have known that +a signal would have been flying for him--at the very last moment! But, +alas for poor Kate Bellamont! alas for both! her voice, and the wave of +her snowy arm were alike in vain! He rode onward, seeing, feeling, being +conscious of nothing save his own deep disgrace and misery; and at each +fierce pang that reflection inflicted, he buried his spurs deep, and +dashed forward as if he would fly from his thoughts, or find relief from +them in swift motion. + +The forest into which he rode, and in the depths of which he disappeared +from the earnest gaze of Kate Bellamont, was very ancient and of great +extent, and intersected by many roads winding in all directions through +its dark bosom: it was inhabited chiefly by woodsmen and foresters, but +contained, besides, two solitary hunting-lodges, a league asunder, +appertaining to the contiguous estates of Bellamont and Castle More. At +the northern termination of this wood, two leagues distant from Castle +Cor, on the crest of a rock that overhung a small woodland lake or mere, +was situated Castle More; a single square tower, with a low turret +rising at each angle, and defended on the inland side by a high wall +with bastions and a deep moat. It was, at the date of this narrative, +the abode of Lady Lester, the widow of General Lord Lester, who had +fallen a few years before while gallantly fighting in Spain. Since his +death she had withdrawn herself from the sphere of the court, and +excluded herself almost altogether from society; devoting her time to +the performance of the severe religious duties usually imposed by the +Catholic church only on religieuses, and to the observance of rigorous +and frequent fasts; and it was rumoured that she even inflicted upon +herself painful penance with rods, and slept through Lent in a crown of +thorns. In these austerities her friends, and, also, sensible and +discreet people, saw only the diseased melancholy of a widowed wife who +had been fondly devoted to her departed lord, finding relief, as woman's +sorrow often will, in a life of religious seclusion. But the suspicious +and evil disposed, the humble labourer and marvel-loving hind, saw in +her stern religious life only painful penance for crimes committed in +early life, and were wont to shake their heads and lower their voices +whenever the "Dark Lady of the Rock" was named. + +But, notwithstanding her austere life, Lady Lester was not indifferent +to the claims of young Lord Robert. Her heart had been wrapped up in the +high-spirited boy from his childhood; and as he grew in stature and +grace, next to her graven images, she worshipped him. Unrestrained by +paternal fear, and indulged by Lady Lester in every idle wish, he grew +up to the age of seventeen with a spirit that never had been curbed; +with a temper that never had known a check. Though by nature of a +generous and noble disposition, as the unavoidable result of such a +course, he was the slave of passion and the victim of self-impulse; with +the will to act justly, but without the power to guide that will: like a +noble bark that has lost its rudder and is driven furiously along by its +out-spread sails, which, managed by skill and discipline, might yet +become the instruments of its safety, to irremediable shipwreck and +ruin. If educated at all, he was taught to regard all the retainers of +his vast estates as vassals; beings of meaner mould; a race of mortals +who had somehow smuggled themselves into existence long after Adam +founded his ancient family--poachers on the world's manor--now doomed, +for their punishment, to crawl as slaves on the earth they had dared to +come upon unbidden. He was taught to regard all unnoble as ignoble; and +to consider them as an inferior and secondary race, and only created to +be subservient to the will of those of his caste and rank. With such +notions he became haughty and arrogant, and cherished a spirit of pride +of birth, combined with a jealousy of his privileges, that at all times +was sufficiently prompt to show itself. + +With two such opposite characters; a generous and just one--the gift of +nature; an imperious and haughty one--the result of education, he was as +uncertain as the wind, variable as the evening cloud. There was but one +mind that could control his; one spirit to whose power his own would +bend; but one voice that could act upon his passions with a gentle +influence, and, with a word, chase the darkest cloud from his brow, even +as the harp of the youthful minstrel banished the gloomy spirit of evil +from the soul of Saul! This potent person was Kate Bellamont: the wand +she used, Cupid's magical bow. By its aid she brought his haughty will +in subjection to her own mild sway, and converted the lion into the +lamb. She had been his playfellow from childhood; they had strolled, +fished, hunted, boated together. Others might be in company, but somehow +Kate and Robert seemed to be attracted to each other by a mysterious +affinity: if they fished, he baited her hook and took off the fish when +she caught them; if there was a ramble, they were certain to stray off +together and lose themselves in the forest, and always were the last +back to the castle; if there was a party to sail on the mere, Robert and +Kate were sure to be seated near each other! + +By-and-by they began to advance into their teens: when Kate got to be +fifteen, she began to grow very shy of her playfellow; would not let him +kiss her as he was wont; nor ramble with her his arm encircling her +little round waist. She ceased running races with him, and began to call +him "Lord Robert;" and would blush if he happened to turn and catch her +eye fixed musingly upon his face. Robert himself also began to show +signs of change. He grew diffident and silent in her company; looked at +her for a long time together without saying a word; then would turn away +and sigh, and look again, and sigh again. He became less violent, less +frequently angry; his voice became gentle and subdued: and he began to +show signs of fear in her presence, and trembled if she laid her hand on +his arm, which, of late, she was very careful not to do. Indeed, there +is no describing half the signs by which their progress from the +playmate state of chrysalis to the lovemate state of ripe youth was +marked. Robert Lester very soon found that he was very unhappy away from +Kate, and very happy in her presence. The maiden, on her part, was not +long in discovering that the days were very long when Robert did not +visit Castle Cor, and that she thought of him, somehow, a great deal +more than she used to do. It evidently was very clear that she loved to +look from the battlement of the tower at the four distant turrets on the +top of Castle More, when he was away, much oftener than she had done the +year before. Things went on in this manner, though from worse to worse, +till about a week before Kate's sixteenth birthday, when it chanced that +she and her quondam playfellow were riding slowly homeward, after an +unsuccessful pursuit of a stag, which, after having led them within a +mile of Castle More, doubled and turned upon its track towards the +south, and plunged into a morass not far from Castle Cor; so, as night +was approaching, they had given up the pursuit, and turned their horses +heads towards the castle. + +They had been slowly riding side by side for some time, breathing their +horses, neither speaking a word, but occasionally exchanging timid +side-glances in the way young people sometimes do without lifting their +eyelids. If by chance their eyes met, both instantly averted their +heads, switched their horses, or plucked a leaf; but, in a few seconds, +their heads would gradually come round, the pupil of the eyes steal into +the corners and again meet, causing a second time very great +embarrassment, and very guilty colouring of cheek and brow, as if each +had been detected by the other in some crime. So they rode together in +this pleasant manner for full half a mile; and one would believe, from +their silence and the wide space they guardedly preserved between each +other, that they had quarrelled. But their countenances, though grave, +looked too happy and sentimental for that; besides, a slight smile, or, +rather, just the soft reflection of one, played about their mouths. This +for several weeks past had been precisely their bearing towards one +another whenever they happened to be alone together; but, when in the +presence of others, they both gave way to the highest tone of gayety and +spirits. It was all very strange, very! + +The lover at length looked ahead, and saw, through an opening in the +forest, the towers of Castle Cor not a quarter of a mile distant. He +involuntarily reined in his horse, and looked full in Kate's face; his +lips parted; he essayed to speak, but his voice adhered to his jaws. So +he gasped, sighed, and laid his hand eloquently on his heart. Kate also +saw the towers, and reined up at the same moment he did; looked demurely +on the ground, and then, as if she had nothing better to do, let fall +her riding whip, notwithstanding she had to untie it from her wrist to +do so. Instantly Lord Robert threw himself from his saddle, giving the +bridle a slight shake as his foot left the stirrup, a hint which the +sagacious animal obeyed by bounding off towards the stables, and took it +from the ground; then blushingly, and with a conscious look, as if +contemplating a daring deed, he presented it to her. As, with averted +eyes, she extended her hand for it, he placed in it tremblingly, instead +of the whip, his own hand. She neither started nor turned her head, but +her young bosom rose and fell quick, and he thought the hand fluttered +with a new pulsation as it lay in his. She did not withdraw it. He grew +confident, and slightly, very slightly, pressed a finger. Thereupon the +little hand only throbbed the quicker. He pressed two, then three +fingers, and then, with a boldness that grew with the occasion, he +folded the soft, gloved hand all in his own. The next moment he coloured +with conscious guilt, and looked up into her face as if about to throw +himself upon her mercy. But she was so intently watching the rich dies +of a sunset cloud that she evidently did not know what he was about; so, +instead of asking pardon and looking very sad, he put on a very happy +countenance, and, ever and anon casting his glance upward to her face, +began, little by little, to draw off her glove. But, as she made no +demonstrations of being aware of what he was doing, he pulled the glove +quite off. For an instant he held it suspended, while he stole a very +doubtful glance into her half-averted face; the next moment the warm, +snowy hand was pressed between his own, and then, growing bolder apace, +he began to cover it with kisses. Hereupon the maiden slowly turned her +head and looked down at the bold youth with a look that she doubtless +meant to be a reproving one; he cast his eyes to the ground, still +holding the quiet hand nestled between both his own, and said, in a soft +whisper, + +"Kate!" + +"Robert!" was the equally gentle suspiration in reply. + +"Are you angry?" + +"I ought to be." + +"Then you are not?" was the half-joyful, half-doubting interrogation. + +"No," was breathed in accents so very gentle that it was conveyed to him +by the movements of the lips alone. + +"Shall we walk to the castle?" + +"Yes." + +And the young lady, studiously avoiding his eyes, was gently and +passively assisted to the ground; as she touched it, his arm glided +about her taper waist, and somehow their lips met, and again met, and +met again, and met so often, that the horse was far out of sight before +the fact forced itself on the mind of the maiden. + +"Robert, desist! There! my horse has galloped off!" + +"Shall I bring him to you?" asked the delighted youth, in a tone that +showed he did not very much apprehend she would despatch him on such a +mission. + +"No, we can walk. But it is so foolish!" + +"What?" + +"Nothing." + +And they walked on together for a few moments in silence. + +"Kate!" + +"Robert." + +"Do you love me?" + +"Yes." + +"May I seal the confession?" + +"A fine time to ask leave now!" she said, laughing. + +Another kiss, and then another, and then a great many others, firmly +sealed this little love affair, and placed them on a perfect +understanding with each other. They were from this moment lovers! They +quarrelled only twenty times in the subsequent interval of a week that +preceded her birthday; than which no greater proof need be advanced to +show the new relation in which they stood to each other. But, then, they +always made up again; the youth, whose hasty spirit caused him five +times out of seven to be the offender, being ever ready to atone by +every loverlike device. + +But such a sad breach as had been made between them this day was without +a parallel. To his own mind it seemed too wide to be repaired; too gross +to be atoned for by words. He, on his part, felt that the lofty +character and proud spirit of Kate, though love plead never so loudly, +would not brook the insult her feelings had received by the wild +outbreak of his passions in her presence. He felt that he had forfeited +all title to a place in her affections; and that her indignation was +justly roused by the outrageous deed he had madly attempted: with +bitterness of heart he acknowledged that he deserved to be banished for +ever from her presence, and to be remembered by her only with contempt. +But he knew not of what enduring material a maiden's heart is composed; +he knew not that, when love takes possession of it, like a magnet thrown +among some delicate machinery of steel communicating to every part a +portion of its own mysterious nature, it penetrates and pervades every +attribute, converts every passion to its own hue, and renders each +feeling subservient to itself. To its arbitrament all things are +referred. Reason, judgment, prudence, and even piety become secondary to +the will of this autocrat of the heart; and a deaf ear is turned even to +the counsels of the wise and good when they do not conform to its +dictates. Such is the power of love--wondrous, vast, incomprehensible! A +religion without a god or a future; unbounded in its power; universal in +its extent; all-pervading in its influences! + +He galloped along through the winding avenues of the silent forest, +scarce roused from his sad meditations by the startled deer that fled at +his approach, yet stooping mechanically as some old oak flung its +gigantic arm low across the path. Unconsciously he urged on his noble +horse to its utmost speed; his bonnet pressed down over his gloomy brow; +his eyes dark and settled in their expression; and his hand nervously +grasping the rein. At one moment he would drop his head upon his breast, +and be overcome by the bitterness of grief. At the next he would throw +back his head, and with eyes flashing fire, gnash his glittering teeth, +shake his clinched hands above his head, and curse in the face of +Heaven; while the horse, catching his fierce spirit, would erect his +bristling mane, and bound madly forward like the wind. These terrible +paroxysms of mingled grief and rage would pass away, and then he would +ride slowly, with his arms folded, and with an expression of settled +despondency. Three several times did he check his horse, and, +half-turning him round towards Castle Cor, pause, and seem to deliberate +between the suggestions of mingled hope and doubt. But, after a few +seconds' thought, he would shake his head despairingly and again spur +forward. + +In one of his moods of sullen gloom, with his arms folded across his +breast, his head drooped, the reins lying loosely upon the horse's neck, +he came upon an old ruin half a league from Castle More, and within the +boundaries of its wide domain. Here and there, amid a confusion of +moss-grown fragments that everywhere strewed the ground, rose to his eye +a mouldering buttress; the half of a Gothic window; a ruined tower, +lifting itself in melancholy loneliness, in the last stages of decay; +or, a doorway choked to its lintel with rubbish. Over all crept the ivy, +that lovely emblem of charity, binding up, with its slender fingers, the +wounded towers; covering with its thick robe of leaves the nakedness +that time had exposed; and, where it could neither heal nor strengthen, +wreathing about the dilapidated walls garlands of enduring verdure. + +It was the ruins of a chapel, where, centuries before, the barons of +Castle More had worshipped. Now all was desolation. Its bell was hushed; +its choir for ever silent. The priests--the worshippers, where were +they? sleeping beneath the ruins of the crumbling chancel; their high or +holy names, which no man remembers, carved deep in the superincumbent +marble. Apparently coeval with the fallen temple, near its eastern end +grew an aged tree, spreading over half the ruin its huge broad arms as +if it would fain protect, in its desolation, the relics of that +structure whose days of honour it had witnessed. A soft evening +sunlight, struggling through the tops of the surrounding forest, shed a +crimson glow over the whole scene, and imparted a quiet and sacred +character to the spot that took from it its aspect of desolation. It +stood there lonely and majestic in its ruin, forcibly suggesting to the +mind the idea (for there does exist a mysterious sympathy of association +between man and inanimate objects) of calm, Christian old age, ripe in +years and holiness, gathering about itself, with dignity and grace, its +mantle of decay. + +Wrapped in his gloomy thoughts, the horseman was absently following the +path that wound among the ruins, when, as he turned a sudden angle of +the pile, his horse started and nearly threw him from his saddle. Roused +to a sense of his situation, he recovered his seat, seized the bridle, +and looked up. Directly in his path stood a woman, in a short scarlet +cloak, then, as now, the favourite colour of the Irish peasantry, +leaning on a long white staff, curiously carved with mysterious figures. +She was beneath the middle height, and hideously hunch-backed. Her hair +was bright red, of extraordinary length, and hung down in masses nearly +to the ground. Around her forehead was bound a cincture of beads, woven +into singular devices, which confined a sort of turban of green silk. +Her complexion was bronzed by exposure, but evidently once had been +fair. Her features were stern and almost masculine, yet bearing traces +of feminine beauty: the straight forehead, contracted by a rigid frown; +the aquiline nose; the arched brow, and thin, well-shaped lips, with a +roundly turned chin, were all, evidently, wrecks of what had once been +beautiful. Her eye was large, full, and clear, and would still have been +handsome but for a lurking devil in it. But the unsightly deformity of +her person, if natural, must always have served to render nugatory any +charm of countenance; and, whatever might have been her attractions in +youth, her present appearance was calculated to excite only feelings of +mingled fear and disgust. The young man gazed at her a moment as she +stood in his path, and then, in a tone that was in unison with his +present humour, said fiercely, + +"Curses light on thee, hag! Stand from my path, or I will ride over +thee, and trample thy hideous carcass with my horse's hoofs." + +"Robert Lester, as men call thee," she said, without changing her +position, in a cold, hard voice, and with a malicious laugh, "thou hast +been crossed in thy will, and art out of temper. Dost wish revenge?" + +"Woman, avaunt! I want none of thy counsel. From my path, or I will ride +thee down!" + +As he spoke, the impatient horseman struck his spurs deep into his +horse's flanks, and urged the animal forward; the beast reared and +plunged fearfully to either side, but refused to advance. + +"Ha, ha, Robert More! If men will obey thee thy brute will not. He has +the eye to see dangers that are hidden from mortal vision." + +"Witch--fiend!" cried the young man, fiercely, "I will dismount and hurl +thee from the path if thou bar my way farther. Stand aside and let me +pass!" + +And a second time the infuriated rider urged the terrified beast +forward, but was nearly unhorsed by his efforts to turn from the road. +In an instant he leaped to the ground and advanced upon her. She smiled +scornfully as he approached, caught the arm he extended to seize her, +and held him in her grasp with the force of a vice. + +"Ha, ha, Robert More! thou art defeated." + +Quick as lightning, with his other hand he drew from his breast a +hunting-knife, and, elevating it above her head, said, in a cool, +decided tone, + +"Elpsy, release me, or I sheath this blade in thy heart!" + +She fixed her dark wild eyes upon his face an instant, and reading +aright its resolute expression, let go her grasp. + +"'Tis well for thee, Elpsy," he said, returning the blade to his bosom; +"thou hast saved thy wretched life, and thy blood is not on my soul. Now +leave the path!" he added, sternly. "By the cross! ere I will be bearded +thus on my own lands, I will command my retainers to hurl thee into the +sea." + +"_Thy_ lands! _thy_ retainers! Ha, ha, ha, Robert _More_! I have in +store a punishment for thee and for thy pride, that will repay me for +all thy arrogance! Oh, how thy haughty soul will writhe! how thy proud +spirit will groan! _Have I not a cup for thee to drink?_--Oh, have I! +Ha, ha, ha!" + +The foreboding words and wild laugh of the hag sunk deep into the soul +of the young man. He was impressed by her manner as much as by her +language, and, with a changing cheek, said quickly, + +"What mean these dark words, Elpsy?" + +"Dark! yes, they are dark to thee now, but I can make them clear as the +sun at noon; ay, proud Robert of Lester! they shall scorch thee! wither +thy soul! cause thy heart to shrink! thy neck to bow! thy head to lie in +the very dust! Oh, will not the lowest slave among the vassals that wait +thy word pity thee, when thine ears receive what I would reveal!" + +The wild prophetic air, the energy and taunting scorn with which she +spoke, alarmed while it enraged him. + +"Madness! Woman--fiend! monster of deformity! speak, I command thee." + +"_Thou_ command _me_, Robert Lester! Well, there will be a time! Wouldst +thou know what I have to reveal?" she asked, fixing on him her scorching +eyes. + +"Beware if thou art mocking my fears! I will pluck thy tongue from thy +throat, and fling it to my hounds if thou hast trifled with me!" + +"What I will tell thee will be so true, thou wilt indeed wish the tongue +that spoke it had been plucked from its roots ere it had given it +utterance. Nevertheless, the time has come for thee to hear; and I may +no longer delay the recital of what, for thy sake," she added, with a +softer manner, "I would bear close locked in my breast to the grave. +But," she concluded, in a lofty tone, "what is to be revealed must be +made known, though the heavens were to fall and the earth to quake. Who +shall stay the hand of fate when once it is lifted to destroy?" + +"Elpsy," said Lester, in a deep and earnest voice, unable to throw off +the presentiment of coming evil her words had awakened, "I would believe +thou hadst something to make known to me either of good or evil, though +of the latter alone I know thou art the minister. Yet, if thou hast +aught to say, I am ready to listen, good mother!" he added, in a mild +and persuasive tone. + +"Robert More," she said, in a voice of super-human softness, while the +frigid and austere character of her face passed away, and her features +assumed a more womanly and gentler expression; "those last few words +were kindly spoken, and became thee: they have touched my heart--for +even Elpsy has a heart," she said, with sarcastic bitterness; "for those +kind expressions I would withhold from thee the knowledge of the doom +that awaits thee. But it is not for me," she added, in an enthusiastic +voice, and with returning wildness of the eye; "it is not for one like +me to refuse to obey the decree that has gone forth against thee. As a +mortal, I pity thee! as a woman, I could weep for thee! and as--No," she +interrupted herself, and muttered, "no, he shall not know all now; he +shall not learn all till my soul is on the wing; then, _then_ will it be +time enough!" She then added aloud, "as the minister of the invisible +world, I must do as I am commanded. Robert More, if you can bear to hear +what I am doomed to tell, follow me!" + +"Nay, Elpsy, speak to me here." + +"Obey me!" she commanded, in an authoritative voice, that had a singular +power over his will, and which he had not the ability to resist. + +Without waiting for a reply, or looking round to see if she were +followed, she turned from the bridle-path, and, bounding with great +activity and with a sort of mad exhilaration of spirits over the +fragments of stone that lay in her way, directed her course towards a +low door at the foot of the crumbling tower. He hesitated a moment, and +then, leaving his horse cropping the long rich grass that grew among the +ruins, followed her. She entered the ruin, and, guided by a dim twilight +that penetrated through the top of the ruinous arch, led the way along a +covered passage which ran in the direction of the chancel. Its extremity +was wrapped in total darkness. + +"Elpsy, I will follow thee no farther," he called, after advancing till +he could no longer take a step safely in the impenetrable gloom that +surrounded him, while she walked before him with a free, rapid, and +confident pace. + +"Take the end of my staff," she said, returning a few steps and placing +it within his reach. + +"Thy cabalistic wand, woman!" he repeated, in a tone of horror, +recoiling from her several paces and crossing himself. "Avoid thee!" + +Like many among the highborn and educated of that day, Lester was not +above the superstitious notions of the times, and assented to, perhaps +without firmly believing, the existence and power of sorceresses. Among +the great number of these singular beings that about this time rose up +and filled the minds of all men, both in Great Britain and the +New-England colonies, with pious alarm and godly horror, was Elpsy More, +or "Elpsy of the Tower," for by both of these names she was known, who +had the reputation, above all others who practised the black art, of +being on the most intimate footing with his Satanic highness. Dark and +wild were the tales that had gone forth, and were repeated in hall and +cot, of the supernatural deeds of this communer with the world of +spirits. By the imaginations of the credulous and timid she was invested +with powers that could belong only to the Creator of the universe; and +it was believed by all good Catholics, that every Whitsuntide the devil +came to dine with her in the chancel of the old church, making a table +of the marble tomb of Black Morris O'More; who, as the tradition went, +sold his soul for the love of a beautiful lady, who turned out to be a +fiend, and on the bridal night flew away with him into the regions of +wo. + +When Lester crossed the threshold of the gloomy gallery, these tales of +diablerie had come crowding thick upon his memory, painted in their most +vivid hues by his imagination; and with all his daring his blood ran +cold in his veins: nevertheless, he had continued to grope on until he +could go no farther, when he called to her. As the staff she offered +came in contact with his hand, he had shuddered and shrunk back, +remembering how that it was said her crutch was given her by her master, +who had charmed it by hardening it in the fires of the ever-burning +lake; and that whomsoever she touched with it, or even pointed it to, +that wore neither cross, bead, nor blessed relic about his neck, his +soul would surely be lost. Lester trembled as these legends passed +through his mind, crossed himself, and with great devotion muttered a +_paternoster_. + +"Here, then, is my hand!" she said, seeing his hesitation. + +"Fearful being, I will not go with thee." + +"Robert More, obey me! There is my hand. It shall not harm thee," she +added, in that peculiar tone which held such a singular power over his +volition. + +Without replying, he took the extended hand and followed her through the +dark passage a few yards farther, when she stopped and said, + +"Heed thy footsteps! Here are steps--thou must go down with me." + +As she spoke she began to descend a flight of stone stairs into a vault +beneath. He would have held back, but she gently and irresistibly led +him down, when they stood upright in a damp chamber, in which a faint +light struggled through an opening in the floor of the chapel above. The +dank, noisome atmosphere of the place, and its subterraneous position +beneath the chancel, filled him with awe and fear. + +"Woman, whither have you led me?" he asked, in a voice deep with the +mingled emotions of suspicion, alarm, and resentment. + +"Into the tomb where rest the bones of Black Morris O'More," she +answered, in a voice that sounded hollow and sepulchral. + +"Mother of Heaven!" he gasped, "then is my soul lost!" + +"Thou wilt little heed thy soul, proud youth, when thou hast heard my +tale." + +"Be speedy with thy story, then; for, good or ill befall, I will not +long remain here." + +"Fear not; thou art in no danger! Step cautiously, and I will guide thee +across this chamber to my own house. This is only the anteroom to it. +Ha, ha!" she laughed frightfully. "See! I have grim Morris O'More to +stand guard over my door." + +As she said this she struck something, which, in the darkness, rattled +like bones suspended from the ceiling of the vault. + +"Sorceress!" cried he, shuddering at the sound, "I will go no farther." + +"Come with me, Robert More!" she said, firmly; "and see thou fall not +over the tomb of Black Morris in the way." + +She drew him by the arm as she spoke with a strength far beyond his own. +He felt for his hunting-knife, determined to free himself by striking +her with it. + +"Hold!" she cried, divining his intentions; "I will not harm thee. Here +is my abode!" + +While speaking, she struck against the opposite wall with her staff, and +a door flew open, exposing the interior of a small circular chamber +receiving a dim light from the sky, which was seen calm and blue through +the roofless tower above. + +"Welcome to the abode of Elpsy of the Tower!" she said, with irony. +"'Tis not the princely one thou art accustomed to, but it will serve thy +present purpose. Didst know that on thy domains thou hadst such a brave +woodland palace? Look about thee!" + +The young man entered the room with a feeling of relief that he no +longer was in the very sepulchre, though still within reach, of the tomb +of Black Morris the accursed. The apartment in which he now found +himself originally had been constructed by the priests for the +preservation of the sacred vessels of the church in times of hostile +invasion of their domains. It was a subterranean room, situated beneath +a circular tower or turret that rose at the southeast angle of the +chapel. The tower once had contained three floors, one above the other; +the mortises for the sleepers being yet visible, ranged regularly and at +equal distances around the inner side. The top or roof of the tower, +with its battlement and Gothic ornaments, had long since fallen in; and +the floors, down even to the ground that formed the floor of the witch's +apartment and the very foundation of the tower, had successively decayed +and disappeared. The only entrance to this tunnel-like turret was the +door from the sepulchre by which he had been admitted. From this vault +to the chambers formerly above, access had been obtained by a circular +stairway within the tower and conducting from floor to floor, the beds +of the beams and fixtures which supported them still remaining in the +masonry. The object of these once-existing upper chambers of the round +tower is involved in mystery, though tradition hath given to the "three +tower-chambers" each their own wild tale of dark superstition and +priestly crime. + +As he stood in the vault in the bottom of the tower, and looked far out +at the sky, it was like gazing upward from the bottom of a well. The +light came in strongly at the top, but grew fainter and fainter as it +penetrated deeper, till only a dim twilight reached the chamber below. +He recognised the tower as the loftiest of the ruin which often he had +made a landmark when hunting, and ascertained thereby his position: this +discovery rendering him more at his ease, he turned to survey the +subterranean abode which Elpsy had chosen. + +In the midst of the floor was a heap of cinders, on which stood a small +iron kettle, apparently the only utensil she used for preparing her +food. A stone escutcheon, broken from one of the tombs, served her for a +seat, and a pile of fern and leaves for a bed. These constituted all the +necessaries that her singular and solitary way of life called for. But +there were other objects that attracted his attention, and thrilled his +blood as he gazed on them. Beside the door, its bones tied together with +strips of deer's hide, hung a skeleton of great size, its ghastly jaws +carefully bound up and grinning horribly, and its hollow, bony sockets +filled with stag's eyes wildly staring at him. Sculls, cross-bones, and +other hideous mementoes of the charnel-house were arranged along the +sides of the walls; while charms, amulets, and all the numerous +instruments of sorcery lay about. Through the open door he beheld the +stone effigy of Black Morris, which had slided from its recumbent +posture above his tomb by the sinking of the earth, standing nearly +upright, staring with his stony gaze into the round chamber, before +which swung the skeleton of which his tomb had been despoiled. The tomb +itself was open, and its black sepulchral mouth yawned as if it would +gladly receive a new occupant. + +Terrible to Lester's nerves was the trial produced by this scene. Bold +and fearless as he was by nature, he could not suppress emotions of fear +(the cowardice of superstition) at the situation and circumstances in +which he had suffered himself to be drawn by the taunting language of a +wild weird woman, who not only was the professed enemy of all mankind, +but had manifested hostile feelings towards himself. He nevertheless +resolved that, having adventured, he would go through with it, trusting, +with religious faith, that all good saints would help him against +spiritual foes; while for protection against mortal ones, ay, even Elpsy +herself, he trusted to his own coolness, and, if it should come to that, +the broad sharp blade of his hunting-knife. Having fortified his mind +with this resolve, he felt more confidence; and being now in some degree +familiarized with his situation and the ghastly objects around him, he +turned to address the sorceress, who, on entering, had seated herself on +a scull, and, with her chin buried between her hands, continued to fix +her dark eyes upon his face with a mingled expression of pity and +malignant triumph. Before he could speak she rose, and, laying her hand +on his arm, said, in a tone between sadness and derision, + +"How like you my abode, my lord?" + +"'Tis a gloomy place." + +"Ay, and many a gloomy day have I spent in it. Sit ye down on that +stone, _Lord Lester_!" she added, laying a peculiar emphasis upon the +last two words; "'tis a knight's shield, and should be a fit seat for +_thee_!" + +"Is it thus, Elpsy, you use the sculptured armour and the sepultured +bones of my ancestors?" he said, in an indignant tone. + +"_Thy_ ancestors?" she repeated, scornfully. "Sit thou there, _Lord +Lester_. Dost hear, Lord Lester? Open thine ears, and drink in the title +and style well--for 'twill be the last time they will fall upon them." + +"Cease your mockery, woman! Say what thou hast to say, and quickly." + +"Listen!" she said, seating herself on a scull opposite to him, while a +struggle between sympathy and malicious exultation was visible on her +features. "Young, and fair, and brave to look upon withal!" she said, +muttering to herself, and gazing on him steadfastly and thoughtfully; "a +coronet would grace that brow even as if 'twere born to it. Robert +Lester, or Robert More, for men call thee both," she said aloud, bending +her face towards him, and speaking in an impressive manner, "now listen +to the tale I have in store for thee. Fix thine eye upon me that I may +see it blench as I go on. Oh! it's a tale for a Christmas eve, I trow!" + +She was silent a few seconds, as if sending her thoughts back through +the past; then, in a low voice, which rose or fell, was wild or sad, +slow or rapid, as her subject moved her, she began: + +"Eighteen long years ago there dwelt by the seaside a poor fisherman, +honest, hard labouring in his vocation, but contented with his lot, +never having known better. He was a widower, but had an only daughter, +his sole companion, and the only link that bound him to his kind. This +child grew up to be a tall and comely maiden. Her eyes were of the rich +brown hue of the ripe chestnut. Her hair, soft as the floss of Florence, +was a fair brown; but when the winds that came off the sea would toss it +in the sunlight, there played over it a blaze of gold. It never had +known confinement, but floated like a sunset cloud about her head." + +"What has this to do with thy tale?" demanded Lester, impatiently. + +"Listen!" she said, calmly but firmly; her features, as her thoughts +seemed to dwell pleasurably on the beauty of the maiden, becoming more +humanized, while her voice modulated and harmonized with the words she +uttered. "This fair maid grew up, unknowing and unknown; budding and +blooming like a lone flower by the seaside. Her laugh was merry as the +carol of the glad lark as it soars and sings; her spirits were light as +the sparkling foam of the summer's sea; her heart as pure as the +moonbeam that slept on the wave. Her happiness was in her father's smile +and in his paternal love; and, besides her little cot, and the wide sea +which she loved, and the tall cliff that towered above her home, she +knew not, until she had entered her eighteenth year, that there was any +other world. Alas, for that maiden, that she had not remained in +ignorance! Alas, for her, that her heart was not as cold as the moonbeam +it resembled in its purity! One black and stormy night, a voice, +shouting for aid, reached the ears of the old fisherman and his child, +heard above the howlings of wind and roaring of the angry deep. + +"'Rise, my child!' he cried, 'there is life in peril.' + +"In a few moments they were by the seaside, and by flashes of lightning +beheld a small bark driving towards the shore before the tempest. On its +prow stood a group of men, who waved their arms wildly as the lightning +showed to them the forms of the old man and his daughter standing on the +beach, and shouted for help. Swift and irresistible, like an affrighted +courser, the fatal vessel drove onward, now lifted high on a surge, now +plunging into a yawning chasm, till at length, borne to a great height +on a wave, she trembled an instant on its top, and then, descending like +an arrow, struck against the bottom and was dashed to pieces. Wild, +fearful, unearthly was the shriek that pierced the ears of the fisherman +and his child! They looked where, a moment before, it went careering +over the foaming billows, and the lightning gleamed only upon fragments +of the wreck, human heads, and wildly waving arms. One solitary cry rent +the air after she struck, and then naught but the shriek of the winds, +like a human wail, and the tumult of the sea as it lashed the shore in +its fury, was to be heard." + +"What has this to do with the tale I came hither to learn?" asked the +youth, impatiently; nevertheless, had he listened to her with interest, +deeply impressed by the energy of her voice and manner, as she warmed in +her narrative. + +"Much," she said, quietly. "Listen! The fisherman, with his hair +streaming in the wind, and his garments wet with the spray, long +traversed the beach to see if human life had been cast on shore. He was +accompanied by his daughter, who, with her golden locks glancing in the +lightning, her lofty forehead calm and firm with womanly energy, and her +fair young face lighted up with the noble spirit that inspired her to +the task, looked like some bright spirit of peace that had come to stay +the tempest. They watched by that lonely shore till the dawn broke, +when, by its first faint glimmer, the maiden discovered an object like a +human form lying on the edge of the sea beside a rock, whither it had +been tossed by the stormy waves. With a cry between hope and mistrust +she sprang fearlessly towards the object--for, in the stern duties of +humanity to its suffering kind, fear nor false delicacy have no place, +and, if they had, that maiden was too good, too ignorant of life to know +either. As she came close to it, she saw that it was the body of a man. +She placed her hand upon his temples. They were warm. He was alive! +Alas, far better would it have been for her had he been cold as the +stone beside which he lay! His pulse was very faint; she could just feel +it throb like a fine chord vibrating against her finger. He was lying +upon his side naturally, like one in sleep. It was not yet light enough +to see whether he was young or old, but she knew, from the soft smooth +skin of his brow, that many winters of manhood had not passed over his +head. With her aid her father bore him to their hut, and, after bathing +his forehead and hands in spirits, and applying for his restoration the +few but effective means known to those whose lives are passed on the +sea, he opened his eyes, and, after a little while, was able to sit up. +After having waited a few moments to recall his faculties, he seemed to +have become conscious of his situation, and the fatal cause which led to +it: with a smile of gratitude he looked up, and, glancing first at the +father and then at the daughter, acknowledged, in a voice and with a +look that thrilled to the heart of the poor maiden, how much he owed +them for their exertions in saving his life." + +"This is a long story, Elpsy, and, methinks, little to the purpose!" +interrupted Lester. + +"Listen! His language was courteous, and his speech addressed alone to +her; his manner was also gentle, and such as would please a maiden. He +got up and walked to the window to look out upon the beach, which was +strewn with fragments of the wreck; and, as he did so, she was struck +with his noble figure, and proud, soldierly air; and the soft sadness +that came over his face, as he surveyed the melancholy relics of his +gallant vessel, touched her heart. He was not above thirty years of age, +with a high, fair brow, and a cheek, though sunburnt, bright as a +child's. His hair was of a silvery hue, that harmonized with his +complexion, and flowed long and in shining waves about his shoulders. +His eyes were as blue as if they had been mirrors to reflect the +summer's sky, and, as she met them, were tender, yet ardent, in their +expression. His smile was fascinating, and his rich voice was full of +melody and most manly in its tones. Poor fisher's daughter! She gazed on +him bewildered with love, and lost her heart ere she scarce knew she +possessed one! He turned away from the window, and his eyes met the +fervent gaze of the maiden. She blushed; her eyelids fell; her young +bosom heaved tumultuously, and the worldly-wise stranger read her heart +at a glance. + +"The evening of that day (for hour after hour did he linger beneath the +fisherman's lowly roof) they sat together in the door of her cot. He +took her hand, and told her, in a low, gentle voice, how he had sailed +homeward from Spain, where he had been fighting as a soldier; and how, +with his companions, he had been, the last night, driven by the tempest +on that inhospitable shore when within five leagues of his destination; +and how that he had lost much treasure by the shipwreck, but that her +presence had made him forget all he had lost; that her smile repaid him +for all that he had suffered. Poor maiden! The hours wore away, yet they +seemed minutes to her; the stars came out, and the tardy moon rose! He +discoursed to her of love, and she listened! Her ears drank in his +words! Her heart was no longer her own. He told her that he loved her, +and received her ingenuous confession in return. He then told her of a +brave tower, that stood amid broad lands five leagues northward, which +owned him as master, and this, he said, he would make her the mistress +of if she would become his bride. She believed and promised. He then +said he must leave her, but would return in a few days in a fair ship, +and claim its fulfilment. The next morning he took his departure. She +wept sorely in his arms when he left her. But, ere her father, who had +been pursuing his daily toil on the deep, returned, she had dried up her +tears and clothed her face with smiles to meet him, lest her sorrow +should make him sad. She did not tell him of her love or the promise of +the stranger: it was the first time she had harboured a secret in her +guileless heart. She was silent from maidenly modesty; for, with the +love that had got into her heart, had entered many new feelings hitherto +unknown to her. + +"Sad and heavy passed the days, when one evening, as she stood upon the +beach looking, now southward for the light skiff of her father, and, +much oftener, northward for the expected bark of her lover, she saw the +evening sun glancing on a white sail that appeared coming round a +promontory a league distant to the north. It bent its course towards the +beach. Her heart fluttered. She knew not what to do for joy; and, in her +impatience, could have flown along the white sand to meet it! Steadily +it bore down towards her. She now forgot to look for the little skiff of +her father; her eyes were fixed alone on the coming bark! It approached +nearer and nearer. She could see forms on the deck. As it came closer, +high on the poop, standing alone like its master spirit, she discovered +her lover. He waved his hand to her, and, as she answered it, the vessel +came to; a boat was launched, and he sprang into it. A few strokes of +the oar sent it to the land, and, leaping out, the handsome stranger +clasped the lovely maiden in his arms. + +"'Come, gentle maid,' he said, in accents of love; 'come and be the +bride of my home and heart.' + +"'Not without my father!' she said, looking anxiously to see if she +could descry his boat. + +"'Think not of him now,' said he; 'he shall soon come, and cheer with +his presence your new home.' + +"'He will grieve when he finds I have left him,' she said, with filial +tenderness. 'I cannot go.' + +"'He shall, ere long, see you again,' he said, gently leading her along; +'come, dearest, fly with me to the abode I have prepared for you. This +shall be our bridal night!' + +"The maiden suffered herself to be borne to the waiting bark; its sails +were trimmed to the breeze, and swiftly it cut its way through the +crested billows towards the direction from which it came." + +"Hast done?" asked the impatient Lester. + +"Hear me!" said Elpsy, in a stern tone. "The morning's sun shone upon a +dark square tower, with a single wing that looked upon the sea, and his +beams penetrated a stained lattice, and fell in brilliant and varied +dies on the floor of a chamber within it. In that chamber sat the +fisher's daughter; and the fair-locked stranger was bending over her as +she sat by the window, dallying with her golden tresses. The night upon +the sea had been her bridal night! But, alas! unblessed by priest, +unmarked by altar, or prayer, or vow! She was neither bride nor maid." + +Here the witch's voice trembled with emotion, while her eyes grew rigid, +and her brow became gloomy and fearful to look upon. + +"Who did this maiden this foul wrong?" asked the youth, with a flashing +eye. + +"Hurtel of the Red-Hand!" + +"Ha! that rebel Irish chief, who, to save his head, fled to the +Colonies, and who, for his bloodthirsty spirit, got the title of 'The +Red-Hand?'" demanded Lester, with interest. + +"The same." + +"I would have sworn it! Go on." + +She smiled grimly, and then continued: + +"For many days he was devoted to his victim; but amused her, when she +besought him to heal her wounded honour by the words of the holy mass of +marriage, with idle excuses; and so she was put off from day to day, +till she found there was life within her bosom, and that she was about +to become a wedless mother. + +"Gradually he got to neglect her, and daily grew more and more estranged +from her; and at length, heading a secret conspiracy, his tower became +the rendezvous of insurgent leaders, and day and night rung with +bacchanalian revels. Lonely she sat, evening after evening, in her +solitary chamber, with her face resting on her hand, and her eyes +looking south over the sea; her thoughts winging their way to her lowly +cot and its humble occupant, who, perhaps, mourned his daughter as +having perished in the deep. + +"At length she became a mother. _He_ was away at the time, at the head +of a party of conspirators bound on an expedition of treason and +bloodshed. On the third day afterward he returned. She heard the tramp +of horses, and with hurried joy opening the lattice--for, +notwithstanding his neglect, she loved him still--saw him riding rapidly +towards the tower, followed only by a single rider, and leading by the +rein a palfrey, on which was mounted a beautiful lady; she saw that her +head drooped, that she appeared sick and faint, and that he supported +her by passing one arm about her waist. A pang of jealousy, the first +she had ever known, shot through her bosom. They reined up beneath the +window: she saw him take her in his arms from the saddle, and bear her +within the tower. Then, with surprise, she heard him, in a loud tone, +give commands for all the defences of the castle to be put up, as if he +expected to encounter a siege. She returned again to her couch faint and +sick at heart, and waited his appearance. An hour elapsed ere he came, +and painful were the thoughts that agitated her bosom. When at length +she heard his footsteps, she rose to meet him with a smile of love, with +her infant extended in her arms. His dress was disordered and bloody, as +if he was just from conflict; and she at once saw, for affection is +quick and suspicious ever, that his brow was dark and angry. + +"'Ha!' he cried, scornfully, 'what have we here?' + +"'The pledge of your former love,' she said, with gentle reproof, +offering it to his arms. + +"'By the head of St. Peter!' he exclaimed, pushing her rudely away, and +fixing upon her a terrible look (which but one other living can give," +said Elpsy, with peculiar emphasis, fixing her gaze upon Lester), "'I +brought thee not hither to breed brats! Fling it from the window!' + +"And, without deigning to cast a glance upon it, he strode across the +chamber, while, with a cry of pain and mortal anguish, she sunk down +upon the floor. He turned and looked back at her for a few seconds, and +then said fiercely, + +"'Rise, woman! I have brought a lady hither who will need thy services +ere the dawn. Up, I say. Thou shalt be her servant if I bid thee. Such a +station will best suit thy birth. Up, or I will tear thy brat from thee +and cast it from the balcony.' + +"She clung convulsively to her babe and rose from the ground. But was +she not changed in that little while, Robert More? Was not her deep love +turned into deep hate? Ay! as if by the wave of a wand her soul was +changed, and she became a different being. 'Tis but a step from the +deepest love to the deepest hate in woman's heart, when she feels that +she is deliberately injured. Then lightning is not quicker than the +change--hell not deeper than her hate! She rose from the floor another +creature. He saw the alteration in her countenance, and, for a moment, +his guilty spirit cowered. But Satan helped him to banish all feeling +from his breast, and he waved her sternly away. + +"'Whither?' she asked, meeting his fierce gaze with a cool glance of +contempt. + +"'To the chamber opening from the hall,' he said, in a tone of less +authority, dropping his eyes before her steady look. + +"As he went out he muttered to himself, but the mother's open ears +caught the meaning of the words, + +"'That child shall die!' + +"She shuddered, but spoke not: clasping her child to her bosom after he +had left her, she tottered from the room and descended to the hall. +Entering the apartment designated, she there beheld the lady whom she +had seen ride up to the tower. She was reclining on a couch, and +appeared to be overpowered by fatigue and grief. She was very lovely, +with fine dark eyes that were filled with tears, and raven hair that was +spread dishevelled over her pillow. She turned her face as the door +opened, and her countenance brightened with hope as she saw the approach +of one of her own sex. The young mother advanced to the couch and +offered her consolation. The lady glanced at the swaddled infant, and +asked if she were the wife of 'Hurtel of the Red-Hand.' + +"'No,' was the sad, yet stern, reply. + +"The lady ceased to inquire further, and, being in her turn asked how +she came there, said that she was a noble lady and a wife." + +"A noble lady!" repeated Lester, with interest. + +"Now that there is high blood spoken of, you can feel an interest in my +story," she said, sarcastically. "Listen! She told how her lord had gone +that morning at the head of a party of gentlemen to attack a strong +position of the insurgents, when, anxious and impatient for +intelligence, she rode out, accompanied by several servants, nearly a +league from her castle, in hopes of meeting him or a messenger. She got +no tidings of him, and was on her return, when one overtook her with a +message from her lord, saying that he had gained a signal victory over +the conspirators, who were totally routed with great slaughter, and that +their chief, Hurtel of the Red-Hand, had barely escaped with his life." + +"A battle with conspirators, and defeat of Hurtel of the Red-Hand. By +Heaven! woman, my father once fought and conquered this same chief! +Ha--your looks! what--speak--was it--was she--no--go on, it cannot be!" + +The sorceress smiled mysteriously and continued, + +"'I had hardly received this joyful news,' she said, 'when three +horsemen, riding at full speed, came spurring behind us. They were +passing us, when one of them, whom I recognised as Hurtel of the +Red-Hand, turned in his saddle as he dashed by, and, looking at me +earnestly, exclaimed, + +"'The countess, by all that's fortunate! This will help redeem the day's +reverses, and give me a chance for my head!" + +"'As he spoke he threw himself, with his company, sword in hand, upon my +servants, and, after a brief struggle, in which he lost one of his +party, either slew or dispersed them; and then, ere I had time to +collect my thoughts, he seized the rein of my palfrey and conveyed me +hither. His object must be either ransom, or, more probably, the hope of +being able, with me in his power, to make his own terms with the +victorious party, of which my noble lord is captain. You, who have so +recently become a mother, will sympathize with me at this crisis.' + +"I will briefly pass over the events that followed," continued Elpsy. +"Before dawn the Lady Lester was prematurely delivered of a male child; +a fine, black-eyed boy, healthy and robust; but, through weakness and +mental anxiety, she soon after became insensible, and neither caressed +nor opened her eyes to look upon it. At sunrise the insurgent chief +entered the chamber, and demanded which was the fisher's brat. There was +an expression upon his face and a dark look in his eye that boded ill. +With a convulsive shudder the mother shrunk from his gaze and flew to +the bed, on the foot of which slept the two infants. She was just about +to clasp her own to her heart, with the resolution to defend it with her +life, when suddenly she checked the maternal impulse, and, turning to +him, said, as if her conduct would depend upon his reply, + +"'What would you do with it?' + +"'Give it me!' he demanded, more fiercely, 'or I will slay both thee and +thy young one.' + +"And he approached her menacingly as he spoke. + +"She once more bent over the babes! She dared not disobey: yet a +mother's love called loudly at her heart. Her babe's life was all in all +to her. It must be saved! She thought only of saving it! + +"'I wait!' he said, sternly. + +"Instinctively she caught up the babe of the noble lady and placed it in +his arms. + +"''Tis here! But spare, oh, spare it!' she cried, as he strode from the +chamber with it in his rude grasp. + +"Her heart smote her for what she had done. Leaving behind her her own +babe, which she had saved by this maternal deception, she followed, +clinging to him, and entreating him to spare the innocent. He heeded her +not, but advanced rapidly to a balcony that overhung the water thirty +feet above it, and, heedless of her cries, cast it over. She sprang +forward, and saw that the swaddling robe in which it was wrapped had +caught the point of a sharp rock, and that it hung suspended by it +within a foot of the water. With a cry of joy she had nearly sprung off +to save the babe, when, seeing that, by a bold leap from the balustrade, +she could reach a projecting rock, from which she could clamber down to +the water, she prepared to take it. But her exclamation caused him to +turn back; and seeing the fall of the child had been so singularly +arrested, and that she was about to attempt its rescue, he grew black +with rage, and with a violent blow, as she was in the act of springing +to the rock, struck her from the balcony into the sea. As she fell she +caught by the edges of the cliff, and, in some degree, broke her fall, +but, nevertheless, descended heavily into the water. It was not deep, +and she recovered her feet, caught the babe in her arms, and, staggering +to a sandy part of the shore, sunk down insensible. When she recovered +her senses the sun was high in the heavens. She attempted to rise, but +found she was deeply bruised, and that her spine was much injured by +striking against the rock in her descent. She looked up to the balcony. +It was closed, and all was silent. It was evident that the murderer, +supposing the fall fatal, had not the courage to watch her descent, and +had retired. + +"She immediately resolved not to enter the castle again. With her soul +turned to bitterness, burning with vengeance against the author of her +wrongs, and suffering with pain, she prepared to seek, with the infant +she held in her arms, her father's cot. For her own babe she had no +fears. She knew that it would ever be regarded as that to which the lady +had given birth. It was fifteen miles to her native hut; yet weary, +suffering, ill, she dragged herself thither by the evening of the second +day. Her father, who had long mourned her dead, met her with open arms. +He pitied and nursed her for many long months till she recovered her +health; but her beauty of form was gone for ever. Her soul grew dark +with her woes; vengeance took the place of love in her heart towards him +who had so basely wronged her; and bitterness against all her species +rankled in her breast, and hourly grew deeper and deeper. Her senses at +length became unsteady. She grew restless and moody, and, after two +years abode with her father, she wandered forth, leaving with him the +boy, and never more returned to her natal roof. She sought a wild home +in the vicinity of her own son, where she could daily see him, watch +with pride his growth, and even speak with him unknown and unsuspected. +But when, as he increased in years and stature, he began to look like +his father, she began to hate him too, though, alas! it cost her many a +pang to do so. + +"She now learned, that on the evening of the day on which she had been +hurled from the balcony, the husband of the lady, followed by fifty +armed men, surrounded the tower and demanded her surrender of her +captor. He replied that he would give her up on two conditions: first, +that his lands should not be confiscated: secondly, that he should be +permitted to ride forth, wherever he would, unmolested; which terms the +noble lord promised should be complied with if his lady should say she +had received no insult at his hands; and if, further, he would bind +himself to quit the realm within nine days thereafter. To this he +assented. The gates were shortly after thrown open, and, mounted on the +blood-bay charger which he always rode, he paced forth from his +stronghold, passed slowly and sternly through the lines of besiegers, +and, after trotting deliberately till he had got a great ways beyond +them, put spurs to his horse and rode off, no man knew whither: though +there is _one_ knows," she added, mysteriously, as if alluding to +herself, "that within nine days he was on the sea, bound to the New +World. + +"The noble lord took possession of the tower, and joyfully embraced his +lady, and thanked her, saying, that 'notwithstanding she had been a +prisoner, she had not forgotten to make him a father;' and he took up +and kissed the babe as if it had been his own flesh and blood, instead +of sharing the mingled current that flowed in the veins of Hurtel of the +Red-Hand and the fisher's daughter; and from thenceforward he took him +home and made him the heir of his house. A little after that this brave +lord fell in the wars, nor ever knew he the truth to his last dying +breath. Thus ends my story, _Lord Robert of Lester_! Who, think you, was +this noble lord and lady?" + +The young man had listened to the latter part of her narration with +thrilling attention. As she was drawing to the conclusion, he sprang +from his feet, and laid a hand on either shoulder of the narrator, and +looked steadily into her eyes, as if he would read there the dreadful +secret he anticipated, yet dared not meet. He listened to each word that +fell from her lips with the most absorbing and painful interest--his +lips parted--his eyes starting from their sockets--his face convulsed, +and brought close to hers--his fingers almost buried in the flesh of her +shoulders! When, at the conclusion, she put the sarcastic question to +him, which he trembled lest he could too well answer, his hands stole +from her shoulders and suddenly fastened upon her throat. + +"Woman! sorceress! die!" he hoarsely whispered, through his clinched +teeth, with terrible energy. + +She freed herself from his grasp with an extraordinary effort, and flung +him from her, laughing loudly and wildly! + +"Ha, ha, ha! _Robert of Lester!_ Does my story please thee, my _lord_! +_my_ retainers! my _domains_!" + +He looked at her for a moment with appalling calmness, and then, +approaching her, said, in an even tone, but in a hollow voice that was +horrible to hear, + +"Woman or demon, tell me truly, who was this noble lady who gave birth +to a son?" + +"Elizabeth of Lester, the 'Dark Lady of the Rock,'" was the firm reply. + +"Was this change of infants surely made?" he asked, in the same tone. + +"I have said it." + +"And what became of her child?" + +"'Twas left with the fisherman." + +"Does he now live?" he asked, with sudden interest. + +"He does!" + +"As a fisher's lad?" + +"He follows the craft of him who reared him." + +"On the beach beneath Castle Cor?" + +"You have said." + +A strange expression, too complicated to analyze, passed across his +features. But he continued with the same awful calmness: + +"The woman--the daughter--what became of her?" + +"Thou wilt know hereafter." + +"And her own boy--ha! _was_ it a _boy_?" he asked, suddenly. + +"It was." + +"He was taken home by my--by--Lord Lester?" + +"Yes." + +"Have they had no children since, woman?" + +"None, ever, save him who was born beneath the roof of 'Hurtel of the +Red-Hand.'" + +"And this infant--this bastard child--this lowborn boy, grew up within +the halls of Castle More as its liege lord?" + +"He did!" + +"And that boy stands before you?" + +"He does!" + +His calmness was appalling to witness. She shrunk from looking him in +the face, and cowered before the light of his eyes. + +"Mysterious woman! how thou camest by the knowledge of these things I +know not. I believe thou hast spoken truth; thy tale hangs too well +together for malice to invent." + +He struggled with strong emotion. His brow darkened, his face worked +convulsively. At last he seemed to have resolved on a settled purpose. + +"Who knows this hellish secret besides thyself?" he asked, his +penetrating glance resting on her face. + +"None but thee," she said, meeting his eye with a wary look, as if +anticipating danger from the tone of his voice. + +"To every human eye, then, but _thine_, I am Lord of Lester?" + +"Who of mortal mould should suspect thee to be other than he, when she +who bore thee not believes thee to be the fruit of her womb." + +"Thou wilt swear this?" + +"I say it." + +"'Tis enough. Does this fisher's boy know the secret of his birth?" + +"No!" + +"Does the old man?" + +"No!" + +"Thou wilt swear it?" + +"I say it." + +"'Tis well, woman! Thou shalt die!" + +As he spoke he drew from his breast his hunting knife and sprang upon +her. She detected the momentary lighting up of his eye ere he made the +spring, and alertly avoided the blow by leaping through the door: he +fell forward, and the blade shivered against the stone sides of the +tower. + +With a laugh of derision she fled along the passage pursued by him. Her +voice and also her footsteps ceased as he reached the steps leading +upward from the tomb, and, without any sound to guide him, he groped his +way along the gallery. At length he approached the light; but, although +he could see through the door out into the forest, she was nowhere +visible! After vainly searching every part of the ruin, he abandoned the +attempt, remounted his horse, and spurred towards Castle More. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "Oh God! how changed my nature with all this! + I, that had been all love and tenderness-- + The truest and most gentle heart till now + That ever beat--grew suddenly a devil!" + + _Lord Ivan and his Daughter._ + + +What pen can portray, what language describe the feelings of the haughty +Lester, as he rode at furious speed towards Castle More? He could +neither think nor reflect! His thoughts were confused and tempestuous. +He could not realize that he had actually listened to the accursed tale +with his own ears. He felt rather as if he had passed through some +dreadful dream, and the idea flashed on his mind that she had thrown a +dark spell upon his senses, and that the whole was an illusion, and +altogether the result of her art. + +By degrees his thoughts became more settled and run in a direct channel. +He checked his headlong speed and began to reflect: to recall, word by +word, the narrative of Elpsy; weigh each sentence; match fact with fact; +each circumstance with its fellow; and trace the unbroken thread to the +last damning proof. The result was irresistible. A thousand +circumstances to corroborate the tale of infamy rose like phantoms to +his shrinking memory. + +He remembered how, in childhood, a neighbouring baron, who had been out +against the insurgents, playfully laid his hand upon his head, and told +him he looked so much like Hurtel of the Red-Hand that he must take good +care, when he became a man, he did not lose his head for the likeness: +he remembered, too, how his childish spirit took fire at the similitude, +and that he resented the insult with a blow! He further called to mind +how, later in life, the more aged country people, in passing him, would +shake their heads significantly; and often the whispered words, "Hurtel +of the Red-Hand," would reach his ears. He recollected, also, how Lady +Lester (alas! no longer, if this tale were proved true, to be regarded +as his mother, yet whom he had loved hitherto with the intensest filial +affection) had reproved him in his angry moods, and forbade him to frown +so like Hurtel of the Red-Hand. He called to mind, too, how that, in +childhood (unthought of again till too faithful memory brought it back), +it had more than once reached his ears through the menials, that Lady +Lester, in her youthful days, had been made a prisoner in some old +castle by a rebel chief; and he could remember he had listened with +childish interest to its recital as to a tale of enchanted castles and +cruel giants. _Now_ he could invest it with a too vivid reality! He had +heard, also, he knew not how, and what, at the time, left no distinct +impression on his mind, a scandal which said that Lady Lester did +penance for unfaithfulness in her early marriage days: this cottage +gossip he could now easily trace to her imprisonment by--could he speak +it?--_his father!_ He, too, had been twice called by spirited peasants, +who, on certain occasions, had resented his arbitrary will--a _bastard_! + +All these things rushed to his mind. There was something in it beyond +mere idle gossip--something independent of mere accident! The tale he +had listened to was to him a key to the whole. The inference was +overpowering! It was as plain to his mind as the noonday sun, that the +story he had heard from the lips of Elpsy was founded in truth. + +"'Tis true! 'tis _true_! 'tis TRUE!" he groaned, covering his face with +his hands. + +Oh, was not this an appalling and harrowing reflection for a proud +spirit like his? Was it not a bitter, bitter cup that was presented to +his lips? Alas, how cruelly barbed and how skilfully directed--how +fatally sent, was the shaft of inexorable fate! It pierced the spot +where alone it could penetrate; where its wound would be deepest, and +the smart the keenest. Struck down from its high seat to the very ground +was that pride of birth which constituted the basis of his character; +and withered, dead, bruised in the dust lay the haughtiness of spirit, +which, springing from that soil, had flourished like the green bay-tree. + +"Not only lowborn--I could bear that, I could bear that! but, oh God! a +_bastard_! Mercy! mercy! mercy!" + +He hid his face as he gave utterance to these words, and sobbed audibly. +He gave way for a few moments to the full tide of his strong and +afflicting grief in the most agonizing manner! His soul was rent! his +heart was broken! and, altogether, he presented a picture of moral +desolation and mental wretchedness that was appalling to contemplate. +What thoughts must then have passed through his mind and wrung his proud +soul! The reflection that he must abandon all his plans and hopes as +Lord of Lester; take leave of the luxuries to which he had been +accustomed; descend from the rank of a noble to that of a peasant; be +called "fellow" by the lowest hind; bear the scorn of the highborn and +the jeers of the low; and, most of all, that he must for ever abandon, +without hope, the love of Kate Bellamont, filled him with wo such as the +heart of man hath seldom known. + +"And need I forfeit all these?" he exclaimed, suddenly checking the +current of his grief, his features lighting up at the same time with +guilty exultation, and assuming an expression of deep determination; +"need I make this sacrifice? May I not still be Lord of Lester?" he +cried, rising in his stirrups and almost shouting with the force of his +thoughts. "Ay, and _will I_! Ay, and _will I_! 'Tis but to silence, +either with gold or true steel, this beldame, who is the sole depositary +of the secret of my birth!" + +For a moment after giving utterance to this guilty idea he rode silently +along; his honourable nature and his inflexible pride both having +instantly risen at the criminal suggestion, and revolted at a deception +so vast. But there were two strong motives which threatened to weigh +down these better promptings, though honour pointed to the course he +should alone pursue. He could not bear--his proud spirit could never +brook, that the despised fisher's lad--the humble, low-nurtured +peasant--for such he was, notwithstanding his noble birth, should stand +in his place, and _he_ himself--oh, it was madness to think of it--sink +into the fisher's boy! + +"No! perish honour--perish truth--perish all that is noble or virtuous +in my nature first!" he cried, with the reckless decision of one who has +resolved to sustain wrong at the expense of right. + +There was a second motive, the love of Kate Bellamont! Should he resign +her for ever? Could he endure the scornful disdain with which he +believed she would regard him? Above all, could he bear to have the +handsome fisher's lad, whom he already looked upon, in some sort, in the +light of a rival, sue successfully as Lord of Lester for her hand? Could +he endure all this and be human? Could he resign all to become what he +dared not contemplate, and live? + +"No!" he cried, vehemently, "away with all justice and truth! let my +heart be wrapped in a mesh of falsehoods first! But need there be +falsehood? Silence, _silence_ will effect it. Is there injustice when +the victim is ignorant of his rights?" he asked, mentally, as if he were +arguing with his own soul. "Yes, most foul! and silence will be a living +tongue to torture me--a never-ending falsehood to degrade--and will cast +over the soul a night that can never know a dawn! Shall I incur this +load of guilt? Will what I gain by the purchase repay me for the +sacrifice of truth and honesty? Shall I not even be happier, ay, and +more noble, as the poor fisher's lad, having done justice, than as Lord +of Lester and Castle More, convicted at my soul's tribunal of guilt, and +knowing who and what I am?" + +Such was the train of reasoning that insensibly passed through his mind, +and to which he gave utterance at this extraordinary crisis of his fate, +and which promised to overthrow his former criminal resolutions. + +"But should I do as my better nature prompts," he continued, after +galloping forward a few moments, reining up and pursuing his former +train of reasoning, "I need not be compelled to take the place of this +Lester in his fishing hut, nor need I to remain within the atmosphere of +Castle More, to meet the scorn of the noble, the insults of the lowborn. +The world is all before me; I have a ready spirit, and a hand to sustain +it, and can carve my own way through it; and with honour, too! Ay, I may +yet win a name with the noblest born!" + +Suddenly in the midst of this expression of his laudable and honourable +purpose he stopped; a gleam of terrible fire shot from his eyes, while +his face glowed with crimson shame. + +"Ha, ha, ha! _honour!_ Ha, ha, ha! a _name_! I had forgot," he repeated, +with an accent bitter, sarcastic, and scornful beyond expression, yet +with a wretched look of hopeless despair and misery; "what has a bastard +to do with _honour_? What is it to him? I had forgotten I was more than +lowborn! I'faith, 'twas well thought of! So all my lofty feelings go for +nothing." His manner now changed, and his voice rang with passion. "What +have _I_ to do with lofty aspirations, with honour, or a name among men? +Am I not branded with infamy? infamous by birth; attainted by my +father's--yes, for I will acknowledge him--_my father's_ blood! base +through my mother's! What have I to do with honour? 'Tis not for me. I +know it not. Henceforward I will forget its sound and meaning. What have +I to do with honour? Ha, ha, ha! A name? Yes, I will win a _name_; I +will show myself the true son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand. He shall not be +ashamed of his blood. No, no! I will win a name that, be he on earth or +in hell, shall make him smile and own me as bone of his bone and flesh +of his flesh." + +The scornful energy, fierceness of spirit, and stern determination with +which this guilty resolution was spoken, showed that at a single blow +was crushed all pride of character; that the highborn loftiness of +spirit in which he had been educated had fallen, and that honour was +forever shipwrecked. He felt himself, in anticipation, already an +outcast from the world; a shunned and despised alien; an object of the +scorn and pity of mankind. And such he was. He felt it to his heart's +core. Eventually, perhaps, he might have forgiven the lowness of his +birth, and risen superior to this contingency; but he could not forget +its illegitimacy. What had a bastard to do among men! What had he to do +with the love of highborn maidens? What was to him the luxuries, the +pleasures, the social joys of life? Nothing. The honours of earth were +not for him; "a bastard shall not enter even into the kingdom of +heaven." Who, then, shall condemn the resolution of a proud youth like +Lester, without due cultivation of the moral sense; unrestrained by +religious principle, and thinking, feeling only as a man? Who shall +judge and not pity? Who shall censure and not sympathize with him in his +terrible human trial, and regard with charity even the darkest +aberrations from morality and virtue to which it might lead him; +remembering that he had the moral heroism and godlike virtue to resolve +to become his own executioner; the voluntary herald of the sentence that +should cut him off from rank, title, wealth, yea, love, and brand him as +an exile from his species? + +Notwithstanding the array of proofs to substantiate the narrative of +Elpsy; notwithstanding the irresistible connexion existing in his own +mind in support of its truth, yet there lingered in his heart a faint +hope that it might not be as he believed. It became so dreadful when +calmly contemplated, that he began to conceive that it was impossible +for it to be true. There was but one way of confirming it, viz., to +confront Lady Lester, and learn from her lips the truth of what Elpsy +had related in reference to herself. If it should prove correct, then he +resolved finally to decide on the method he should pursue. Gathering up +the reins and pressing his armed heels into his horse's flanks as he +came to this determination, he said, as he dashed forward to Cattle +More, the towers of which were now full in sight, + +"From her lips--Lady Lester's (if I may not call her mother), will I +have corroboration of this foul witch's words. Fly, my good horse; we +will soon learn whether thou and I are to part! But, if it must be so, +no other shall back thee after me, my faithful animal; my own hand shall +slay thee first!" + +The fleet hunter brought him in a few moments to the gate that led into +the courtyard surrounding Castle More. At the sound of his approach it +flew wide open, and, as he passed through, the porter removed his cap +and bent low with servile respect. + +"Ay," he muttered, "'tis so _now_! but he will be the first to scoff +with a high head, and turn the key upon my back, when it shall be noised +abroad that Robert of Lester is the brat of a peasant--the left-handed +offspring of Hurtel of the Red-Hand!" + +He threw himself from his horse, and cast his bridle to his groom, +giving him orders to hold him in readiness for him to remount at any +moment, and entered beneath the lofty arch of the castle, over which +were elaborately sculptured in stone the ancient arms of Lester. He +rapidly mounted the spacious stairs to a large and lofty hall, hung with +armour, and adorned with figures of mailed warriors, ancestors of that +warlike house. From childhood he had looked upon these with awe and +pride. Now he curled his lip with haughty despair, and strode past them +with a bitter smile. At its farther extremity he tapped lightly at a +door, partly concealed by tapestry of velvet fringed with gold, and +adorned with needlework representing figures and scenes of a scriptural +character. He was commanded to enter. With a beating heart, and choking +with the anticipated confirmation of what left scarce room for a doubt, +and which he had already begun to contemplate as if there were _no_ +question of its truth, he obeyed. + +The room into which he was admitted occupied a small octagonal wing of +the building, and from its single Gothic window commanded a prospect of +the mere below, the distant forest, and a blue, wavy line of hills +skirting the northern horizon. It appeared to be used partly as a +boudoir and library, partly as a chapel: a small altar; a marble font +containing water; a crucifix at one end, with two lighted wax tapers +burning before it, appertaining to it in its more sacred character. It +was hung with brown silk tapestry, on which was worked, in yellow silk, +the history of the martyrdoms of the apostles. Immediately about the +altar the hangings were of black velvet, giving that part of the room a +religious and gloomy character. A rich, but soft, light poured in +through the stained glass of the window, and shed a pleasing glow over +all. + +Near the window, working with her needle flowers of gold on an +altar-piece of snow white satin, sat the mistress of Castle More--"the +Dark Lady of the Rock!" She was of a tall and stately figure, with an +innate air of high birth and breeding: her features were strikingly +noble, and still bore traces of eminent beauty. Her eyes were black and +piercing; and her brows very dark and thick, yet not masculine, but +giving rather softness and intellect to the expression of the eyes. Her +hair was jet black, and confined beneath a close nun's cap, and her +complexion was deep brown, which, with the general dark tinge of her +face and features, had got for her from the peasants the appellation by +which among them she was more commonly designated. The lustre of her +fine eyes had given place to a melancholy hue; and the smile, which in +youth had fascinated the gallant Lord of Lester, was sad and pensive. +Calmness, gentle resignation, and devotion were now the characteristics +of her countenance. She was evidently one who regarded this world as the +path to that of a happier, and looked to that happier for the enjoyment +which, without her deceased lord, she could not find in this. Twelve +years had passed since the news was brought her that he had fallen +before the walls of Saragossa, breathing her name in his last sigh. From +that hour she seldom had been seen to smile; but, shunning all +intercourse with those around her, she communed only with her priest and +her God. + +"I thought I knew the footfall of your horse, Robert, but did not expect +you so soon," she said, in a quiet, subdued tone; "there is a quarter of +an hour yet to sunset, and you seldom return from Castle Cor till it is +very late. And Kate's birthday, too! How is this?" + +She knotted her thread as she spoke, and looked up, showing a +countenance chastened by widowed sorrow, and wearing, as she gazed upon +him, a kindly look, rather than a smile, of welcome. The troubled +expression of his features; his flushed brow; his excited manner, and +nervous tread as he crossed the floor to the window, struck her with +surprise and alarm. + +"What has happened, Robert? your feelings are wounded, I fear. Come and +tell me what that saucy maiden, Kate Bellamont, has been saying to give +you such uneasiness." + +This was spoken with maternal affection, and an approach to playfulness +of manner. + +The young man stood by the window and gazed down into the placid mere, +fixing his eyes vacantly on a fleet of stately swans that sailed on its +glassy breast, and remained silent. He knew not how to commence the +subject--he knew not what to say! + +"Robert, my son," she said, affectionately attempting to take his hand, +"something has gone wrong with you to-day; make a confidant of your +mother!" + +"Would to God thou _wert my mother_!" he cried, almost suffocating. + +"Thy mother, Robert! what do these words mean?" + +"That my future happiness and misery depend on your lips," he replied, +turning towards her and grasping her hands with strong emotion. + +"Explain!" she said, alarmed and deeply moved by the distress and +earnestness of his manner. + +"Did you ever--(sustain me, Heaven, at this moment," he gasped) "ever, +face to face, meet Hurtel of the Red-Hand?" + +"Robert, what motive, so terrible in its effect on your mind, can have +led you to ask this?" + +"Answer me, my mother--speak, Lady Lester!" + +"Yes!" and she shuddered, as if some painful incident of the past seemed +to press upon her memory. + +"Where? Speak, and tell me truly, if you love me!" he eloquently +entreated. + +"Heaven and the blessed saints preserve you, my son! 'Tis a sad story! +Why would you seek to know this now? Be calm; you are ill--very ill!" + +"No, I am not. Answer me--_where_?" + +"He took me prisoner, and bore me on horse-back--" + +"Whither?" he cried, impatiently interrupting her. + +"To his tower." + +"And, ere thy husband rescued thee, I was born there?" + +"Yes. But how heard you this? I knew not that it was known to you, +though I had no motive, surely, in keeping the knowledge of it from +you," she said, with surprise. "Is it this, then, that has so strangely +excited you, my son?" + +"Who attended on thee at that crisis?" + +"Robert--boy!" + +"Answer me, Lady Lester, I conjure thee! in the presence of this holy +symbol of our religion!" he added, with stern solemnity, taking a small +diamond crucifix from her worktable and holding it up before her. + +"A pale young woman: I fear me, a leman of that evil man." + +"Was she a mother?" + +"Who has taught thee to put such questions as these, young man?" she +said, with something of severity in her voice. + +"Answer me, Lady Lester, I pray thee!" + +"She had an infant of three days' old." + +"Was it with her in thy room ere thou becamest a mother?" + +"It was." + +"Did you see it?" + +"No; she kept it swathed up, as if from shame." + +"Who first gave your infant to your arms?" + +"No one. I had fainted, and, when I came to my senses, I found my babe +lying on the bed beside me; and," added the lady, with a mother's light +rekindling in her eyes, "with all a young mother's first love, I clasped +it to my bosom." + +"And this woman and her child?" + +"I never saw them more. That day my noble lord rescued me; and after he +had seen and kissed the babe, I remember he pleasantly said to those +around, 'In losing one I have gained two.' My poor, departed Lester! +Heaven be merciful to his soul!" + +"And I am that babe?" + +"Thou art, my son!" she said, affectionately. + +"I am not!" he cried, fiercely. + +"Not my son?" + +"_Not thy son!_" + +"What mean you, insolent boy?" + +"In one word, I will tell thee. The guilty paramour of that woman having +resolved to put out of the world the living witness of the wrong he had +done her, threatened also her life when she refused to surrender it. +Prompted by the instinct of maternal love to save it, she laid it, while +thou wert in a state of insensibility, by thy side, and gave thine to +him, palming it off as her own, which, by this stratagem, was saved--and +still lives. _I am_ HE!" + +"Robert of Lester!" cried the lady, rising up and fixing her piercing +eyes, bright with unwonted fire, upon his face, "mock me not; spare thy +mother's heart!" + +"Before God I speak truly. I am _not_ thy son." + +"Holy Virgin! Mercy, Heaven! mercy!" shrieked the lady, and fell nearly +lifeless into his arms. + +For a few seconds there was a deep silence, like that of death, +throughout that little chamber. He had not anticipated this! Absorbed in +the contemplation of his own misery, he had not thought of the blow he +should inflict, by the disclosure of the dreadful secret, upon the mind +of Lady Lester. It suddenly occurred to him that there was yet a balm in +the existence of her true son which might heal the wound he had made. +Filial affection caused him immediately to address, and, by touching +this chord, endeavour to restore her once more to life and hope. + +"Lady!" he said, in a hoarse tone, that--so deep were the feelings that +governed it--startled even himself. + +"Ha! Robert! my son!" she cried, standing up and looking wildly in his +face; "what is this I have heard? Is it a dream--some terrific dream?" + +"Thou hast not dreamed, lady," he said, sadly. + +"No, I have not," she cried, with energy, and with the sudden return of +all her faculties; "no, I have heard thy lips deny me. Thou hast said I +am not thy mother--that thou art not my own child!" + +"Do you remember the tale I have told you, lady?" he asked, calmly. + +"Remember? each word is seared into my heart!" + +"And do you believe me to be your son?" + +"Believe? believe! I know not what to believe. What should I believe! I +believe thou art my own boy--mine, mine, _mine_!" + +As she spoke she threw her arms with frantic wildness about his neck, +and hugged him convulsively to her bosom. + +"Lady, 'tis vain to shut your eyes to the truth. I am not your son--but +your son lives!" + +"He does, he does live, and I clasp him to my heart," she cried, +energetically, folding him closer to her bosom. + +"Nay--" + +"Nay--_nay_, but I _will_ hold thee! they shall not tear thee from me! +No, no! they must take my heart too, for its strings are bound all about +thee, and thou art tied too long and too strong to it by the thousand +chords of a mother's love to be parted from it now. Ha, ha! They shall +not part us! Shall they, boy?" + +He looked up into her face and saw that her mind wandered; that reason +was falling from its throne! + +"Mother!" he said, in tones of gentle persuasion: "mother!" and he +affectionately kissed her cheeks; "mother!" he repeated a third time, in +the most touching tones of filial love--"I am, I will be, your own dear +son!" + +The softer feelings of her soul came back; all the mother rushed from +the heart to the eyes; and dissolved, melted by his appeal, she burst +into tears, and wept freely and long upon his shoulder. + +At length she became composed; when, embracing his opportunity, though +he had been severely tempted in the interval to let it rest for ever, he +spoke again with cautious delicacy upon the fatal subject. She listened +in silence. She heard him with calmness as he went on and explained to +her the successive steps by which the exchange was effected, and +unfolded to her, link by link, the connected chain of the witch's +narrative. He convinced her--not of its probability, but of its +possibility. Collecting all her strength of mind, she tried to +contemplate the subject with composure. She succeeded: weighed it well, +in all its parts and bearings; nicely balanced each particle, and sifted +each doubtful circumstance. Suddenly she turned to him, and said +eagerly, and with an eye kindling with hope, + +"It may not be so, Robert! She may, in the agitation of the moment, when +both were swathed, have caught up her own child!" + +"At such a moment, above all, would a mother know her own!" he said, +firmly, but looking as if he would, if he dared, still cherish a hope. + +"Yes, yes; and she must, too, have seen it afterward," she said, in a +tone of deep despondency. "But who told thee this fatal tale?" she +asked, quickly. + +"Elpsy, the sorceress!" + +"Ha!" exclaimed the lady, turning pale. "I fear, then, it is too true! +This fearful woman has knowledge of hidden and wondrous things through +her unholy art. Oh, God! that she had used it to a better end! But, +then, there may have been a mistake! Malice--her hatred of her species +may have caused her to give the facts this frightful turn! Dreadful +being! thus to loose, even by raising a doubt of thy birthright, my last +hold on earthly happiness, and wreck all my hopes in thee. Her face ever +has haunted me as if for evil! It seems to me as if I had seen it in the +dreams of my childhood. I know not how it is, but I never looked upon +her without presentiments of evil and vague sensations of suffering, as +if her very presence was associated with scenes of terror. Now are they +all, indeed, realized! But I will not give thee up, Robert, my son--my +own son!" she cried, frantically! "I will cling to the hope that the +fatal exchange was not made!" + +He suffered her to embrace him again and again, and then, after a few +moments' silence, and speaking in an indifferent tone, he said, + +"Lady Lester! Was thy noble husband of fair complexion?" + +"No, dark as the Spaniard's, yet it was exceedingly rich to the eye with +its bright blood!" she said, with conjugal pride. + +"Were his eyes blue?" + +"Black as night, large and staglike, yet soft as a fawn's in the +gentleness of their expression--but terrible as the eagle's when +roused." + +"Were his locks golden?" + +"The plumage of the raven not more black and glossy!" + +"Was he tall of stature and strongly-framed?" + +"Scarce even as tall as thyself now; his frame was light and elegant, +but manly: to sum him up in all," she said, carried away by the prideful +recollections awakened by these allusions to him, "he was a statesman; a +patron of letters and the arts; a gallant knight, a brave soldier, and +an accomplished scholar: he was called the handsomest man of his time: +above all, he was a Christian!" + +"_Am I like him?_" asked Lester, startling her with the depth of his +voice, and at once showing her the drift of his seemingly aimless +questions. "Is my stature slight? are these locks raven? are these eyes +black? is the hue of the Spaniard on my cheek?" + +The lady shrunk from his words, covered her face with her hands, and +despairingly shook her head. + +"Say," he added, with increasing energy, "is there the faintest +lineament in my face--a scarce perceptible cast of the eye--a bend of +the brow--a movement of the lip--a motion of arm or finger--aught in my +carriage, walk, or voice, that reminds thee of thy noble husband?" + +"No, no, no! Stop, stop, you will kill me!" + +"One word more! Answer me truly, Lady Lester, as you stand before +Heaven, have I not the same fair skin--the same light flowing hair--the +same blue eyes--the stature, the very voice--ay, the very selfsame frown +of Hurtel of the Red-Hand?" + +"Ha! now I see it! Oh, Jesu Maria! Thou art his very image! Mercy, +mercy, mercy!" and, with a shriek wrung from a breaking heart, she fell, +as if dead, upon the floor. + +For a few moments he stood gazing upon her with the cool, decisive smile +of a man for whom fate has done her worst, and who defies and laughs to +scorn her farther triumphs over his soul. His fixed countenance was more +fearful than phrensied agitation or tremendous wrath. It was the dark, +still cloud that rests upon the crater ere the volcano bursts into +flame. Gradually, as he gazed on that beloved countenance, pale and +deathly in its aspect, he sunk on his knees beside her, took her +insensible hands within his own, and kissed her unconscious brow, while +fast and thick dropped the heavy tears upon her face. + +"Mother, for mother thou art, indeed!" said he, feelingly, "I would not +have struck this blow to thy heart; but I could not stand before thee a +deceiver, an impostor! I could not encounter the affectionate glance of +thy pure eyes, meet thy gaze of maternal love, and know they were not +mine. Yet thou art my mother! all the mother I have ever known. Have I +not drawn life from that breast? Has not my infant head been pillowed +from the first on that maternal bosom? Didst thou not hear me when my +infant lips first lisped thy maternal name? Hast thou ever known other +son than me--I other parent? Thou _art_ my mother! I _am_ thy son, +though the blood of strangers, whom I have never known, flows in my +plebeian veins! Mother, we must part! The house of Lester may not have a +baseborn lord! Would to God I could have turned aside this stroke from +thee! But it is past! Henceforward thou art nothing to me--I nothing to +thee. Farewell, farewell, my own, my beloved mother!" + +He bent over her, and affectionately and passionately embraced her, +pressing his lips to hers, and bathing her face with his hot tears. She +seemed to be awakened to sudden consciousness by the act; and throwing +her arms about him, she faintly articulated, "My son! my son!" and +relapsed into insensibility. He clasped her unconscious form in one more +long embrace, kissed her for the last time, and gently disengaged +himself from her arms. + +His movements became now direct and decided. He approached the +escritoir, and hastily wrote on a leaf of her missal, + + "Lady Lester--nay, _mother_--_dearest_ MOTHER! I have just + taken my last leave of you. I go forth into the world and + commit my fortune to its currents. + Baseborn--guilty-born--attainted by my father's crimes, I am + unworthy your love or a place in your thoughts. Henceforward + let me be nothing to thee! Forget that I have ever existed. + Though I depart, yet is Lester not without an heir! you not + without a son! _Thy_ child thou wilt find with the fisherman + Meredith, at Castle Cor. He is the perfect semblance of thy + husband, Robert, Lord of Lester, as you have described him to + me; and, when your eyes behold him, your heart will at once + claim him. He is proud and high-spirited, and worthy of the + name he is destined to bear. Seek him out; and may he fill the + place in your heart from which I am for ever excluded. + Farewell, my mother, for other mother than thee have I never + known--will never know! + + "ROBERT, + + "_Son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand_." + +He placed the paper open before the crucifix, where she was wont to +pray, and was himself unconsciously in the act of kneeling to seek a +blessing from Heaven, when he hastily recovered his erect attitude, +saying, with a thrilling laugh of reckless hopelessness, + +"Never more do I bend the knee to Heaven! What have I to do with +prayer?" + +He approached the door, and then turned back to gaze an instant with a +melancholy look on the prostrate form of Lady Lester: + +"Nay, I must not leave thee so!" he said: returning, he tenderly raised +her up, and used means to restore her. + +After a few moments she revived and gazed wildly around her. + +"Robert, is it you? are you beside me? Oh, my son, I have had _such_ a +tale of horror revealed to me as I slept." + +She pressed her fingers upon her eyelids as if to recall what appeared +to her a dark dream. As she did so he stole from her towards the +door--lingered--turned back--severed a bright lock from his temples, +pressed it to his lips, and placed it within her hand; he then hastily +kissed her pale forehead, saying, half aloud, + +"_Here I bury all human feelings!_" + +The next moment he precipitately fled from the room. + +Roused by the sound of the closing door, she shrieked his name, and, +hastening through the dark hall, called in tones of distressing anguish, + +"Robert, my son! my boy! my dear boy! leave not your mother desolate!" + +He stopped his ears to the sounds, quickened his steps, and threw +himself into his saddle. + +"'Tis full late, my lord, to ride forth alone," said the groom, as he +held the stirrup. + +"Lord me not, Tyrell. If thou hast chanced to be born in wedlock, thou +hast better blood in thy veins than I!" + +"How mean you, my lord?" said the astonished menial. + +"Didst ever hold stirrup for a fisher's son?" + +"No, my lord!" + +"Thou liest. For thou hast but now done so. Your lord has found out that +he is but a fisher-woman's brat; and a fisher's brat is about to find +out that he is a lord." + +"You speak in riddles, my lord." + +"Set thy wits, and those of yonder gaping fellows, to work to unriddle +them," was the reply of the degraded youth as he buried his spurs deep +in his horse's flanks. "Give the compliments of the son of Hurtel of the +Red-Hand to your new lord, knaves, and say he has taken the liberty to +borrow his hunter for a time!" he cried, turning round in the saddle as +he rode off. + +The next moment he dashed across the drawbridge and disappeared in the +twilight gloom of the forest, leaving the wonder-stricken retainers to +pick the kernel from the difficult nut he had left them to crack; and, +by putting their sage heads together, with the aid of some expressions +dropped by the frantic Lady Lester, they were not long in arriving at a +shrewd guess at the truth. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "Guiltless am I, but bear the penalty!" + + * * * * * + + "Wild was the place, but wilder his despair: + Low shaggy rocks that o'er deep caverns scowl + Echo his groans: the tigress in her lair + Starts at the sound, and answers with a growl." + + _Zophiel._ + + "Hurl'd + From the topmost height of his ambition, + It became his ambition to mate him + With the lowest." + + +The night was fast approaching as the desolate outcast entered the +forest. He hailed the gathering darkness with joy, for it was in unison +with the gloom of his soul. The howl of the wildest storm would have +been music to his ears! He could have mocked with shouts of gladness the +rattling thunder, and played with the shafts of the glittering +lightning. + +He rode deep into the wood--whither he cared not so that he left behind +him all that he had lost. For half an hour he thought of nothing but +urging his horse forward at the top of his speed. He banished thought, +reflection, sensation. He dared not think. He found relief only in +animal action and rapid motion, and rode furiously onward without +knowing or regarding the course taken by his horse, who instinctively +followed the dark windings of the forest paths. + +At length the moon rose and shone down upon him through the tree tops. +Its light seemed to restore him to himself. He checked his rapid course, +and gazed at her pale orb; as he looked, reflection returned, and he +began to realise his situation, and to taste the full bitterness of the +cup of which he had drunken. The past, the present, the future, flashed +with all their naked colours upon his mind. The picture his imagination +painted with the hues they lent was too appalling to contemplate; and, +as if the fabled influence of the planet, the soft light of which had +restored him to reflection, had acted upon his fevered brain, he was +suddenly converted into a maniac. He rose upright in his stirrups, and +shouted, shrieked, till the forests rang again. He shook his clinched +fists at the placid moon, that seemed smilingly to mock his woes. He +spurred on his horse till the animal groaned with pain, and plunged +madly forward with his phrensied rider! He would then rein him up, and, +gnashing his teeth, lift his hands above his head, and curse God and +man. Then he would again shout with phrensy, and gore his steed till he +became furious and snorted with rage, and ride once more forward with +the speed of the wind. + +These passions were too violent to last. His wild excitement gradually +subsided; his horse was suffered to move at his own pace; and, with his +arms folded moodily, and his chin drooping on his breast, he gave +himself up to the stern and gloomy thoughts of his situation, and, for a +time, buried in the depths of his own meditations, seemed to be wholly +unconscious of external objects. He rode on in this way for more than an +hour, when he was aroused by the sudden stopping of his horse. He looked +up and saw before him a dilapidated gate, which barred his farther +progress. Beyond, visible by the full flood of moonlight, was a lonely +square tower, flanked by a single wing, topped with a battlement. He +listened, and thought he heard the dashing of waves upon the beach. The +whole scene was new to him! Where could his faithful steed have borne +him? From the moment he had left Castle More behind all had seemed like +a blank to him. How far, and whither, could he have ridden? He looked up +at the moon. It had not risen when he left Castle More, yet it now rode +high in the heavens! By her position it was near midnight. + +Indifferent where he wandered, he leaped the sunken gate, and rode up to +the tower. It was not in ruins, yet wore an aspect of desolation and +neglect. Its loneliness harmonized with his own situation, and was +grateful to him. He rode round the angle of a buttress, when the sea +suddenly opened before him, and he saw that the tower stood on a rock +thirty or forty feet above it, and that where it overhung the water +projected a small balcony. A sudden thought flashed upon his mind as he +discovered this. + +"It must be!" he exclaimed, with animation; "'tis the tower of Hurtel of +the Red-Hand! This moat, yonder ruined drawbridge, its situation, and, +above all, that balcony, one and all, identify it with Elpsy's +description. By the bones of my red-handed sire! thou knewest what thou +wert about to bring me hither, sagacious animal!" he added, +sarcastically, patting the noble horse on the neck; "'tis fitting I +should take possession of my father's towers with the inheritance of his +name. Ha, ha! I am not quite a vagabond!" and he laughed scornfully. + +He started with surprise, for the laugh seemed to be echoed from the +tower. + +"'Twas a human voice, or else a spirit mocking! If demons do rejoice +over the miseries of mankind, they may well hold a jubilee in honour of +mine. Laugh on, imps! I am a fit subject for your merriment!" and he +laughed with nervous derision. + +Again he started, for he was answered by a laugh so wild that it chilled +his blood. The sound seemed to proceed from an upper room in the wing of +the building. + +"Fiend or flesh, it shall rue this merriment!" he cried, leaping to the +ground and hastening to the door of the tower. + +It was ajar; he dashed it open with his heel, and found himself in a +long, low hall, at the extremity of which was the window that opened on +the balcony, through which he caught a glimpse of the glimmering sea. By +the light it afforded he crossed the hall, and, standing on the balcony, +glanced an instant over the vast moonlit expanse of water, and then, +with a strange interest, the whole of Elpsy's story rushing vividly to +his mind, he shudderingly cast his eyes down the rock which stood in +deep shadow. Even by the indistinct light he could discern the sharp +projection on which the garments of the infant had caught in its +descent, and not four feet distant from him, on a level with the window, +was the rock on which the fisher's daughter--_his mother_--was in the +act of springing, when hurled into the sea by--_his father_. On that +very balcony had he stood to do the deed! Strange, wonderful, +overpowering were his sensations. He held his breath with the intensity +of his thoughts. + +"Here," said he, mentally, placing his hand on the balustrade, "has lain +my unknown mother's hand; it warmed this senseless iron, which can give +me back no warmth in return. Here pressed the foot of my father! Here +they parted! How! ah, _how_? Where are they now? Where is he? does he +live? Where is she? A fearful thought forces itself upon me that I dare +not dwell upon! This strange tale of the sorceress; her wonderful and +minute knowledge, that could be only known to the actor; her emotion at +different portions of the story; a hundred things, light as air, that +have insinuated themselves into my mind, have made me think she might +be--fiends! it will out!--my mother! But, then, she told me that she was +dead. Well, be it so, yet I can fall no lower! Were my mother living, +could her lot be better than this fearful weird woman's? Ha, ha, ha! I +have no pride now!" he added, with a hollow laugh of mingled despair and +phrensy. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" he heard repeated, in tones so unearthly that his heart +ceased to beat, and a thrill like ice shot through his veins. + +The next moment he was at the top of a flight of steps leading from one +side of the hall to an upper room, from which the voice seemed to +proceed. A stream of moonlight, falling through a window, showed him a +door on the landing-place, which he threw open. He found himself in a +small room, lighted by a lattice of crimson-stained glass looking south +towards the sea: into it the moon, in its western circle, had just began +to shine, its red-died beams tinting the twilight of the chamber with +the hue of blood. Seated high in the recess of the window, he discovered +the dark figure of a female; her knees drawn up to her chin, and her +hands clasped together around them. As he opened the door she leaped +down like a cat and sprang towards him. The sanguinary light of the room +had affected his imagination, not untinged with the superstitious fears +of his time; but this sudden apparition, though he had prepared himself +to see something either human or supernatural, caused him to start back +with an exclamation of surprise. + +"Come in, Robert of Lester! I welcome you to the room which first +welcomed you to the light," said she, in a voice which he at once +recognised as that of the sorceress. + +The singular information her words conveyed suspended for the moment all +other emotions in his mind save curiosity at finding himself so +unexpectedly in the chamber where he was born. He gazed about him for a +few moments under the influence of the strange thoughts and emotions the +circumstance called up, and then turning towards her, said, + +"Why art thou here, wicked woman? Didst thou anticipate my presence, and +art thou come to mock the misery thou hast wrought?" + +"I fled lest thou shouldst do a deed of blood thy hand might rue. I fled +not for myself, but for thee." + +"You need not fear me now. There exists no longer any motive for +secrecy," he said, gloomily. + +"How mean you?" she eagerly asked. + +"Ere to-morrow's sun, 'twill be in every boor's mouth, from Castle Cor +to Kinsale, that I am no longer Lord of Lester!" + +"Speak--explain!" she said, hoarsely, grasping his arm with both hands, +and breathing quick and hard. + +"I have told the Lady Lester that he whom she thought her son was not +her son," he firmly replied. + +"Ha! _thou_--thou hast told thy shame? Speak, Robert More--have you +breathed to mortal ear what I have told thee of thy birth?" she +demanded, with fearful energy of speech and manner. + +"I have. 'Tis known to every servitor from hall to stable!" + +"Didst give thy name?" + +"Robert, son of Hurtel of the Red-Hand." + +"And this did thine own lips, of thine own free will?" + +"Never man spoke freer!" + +"Then hell be thy portion! Accursed be ye, Robert Hurtel! Had I thought +thou wouldst have become the trumpeter of thy shame--had I believed thou +wouldst have breathed to mortal ear thine infamy, I would have seared my +tongue with hot iron ere I would have told thee the secret of thy birth. +The infernal demon has prompted thee to do this! Didst thou not seek to +slay me, that thou shouldst be the sole keeper of the foul secret?" + +"I did, at the moment, but thought better of it!" + +"Base! lowborn! miserable that thou art! Why was not my tongue withered +ere I told thee this?" + +"Would to God it had been, woman. What was thy motive in ever letting it +go from thy own breast?" + +"Love of mischief--hatred of mankind; and to lower thy pride, knowing +from what dunghill thou wert sprung. But I did not think thou wouldst +use my secret thus; and wreck the gifts that--that thy mother's +stratagem had purchased, and after secured to thee by years of absence, +privation, and misery." + +"How?" + +"Did she not, for thy sake, keep the secret of thy birth--coming not +even near thee--when, on the ninth day, Hurtel of the Red-Hand being +gone over the sea, she might safely have claimed thee of Lady Lester, +and given her back her own!" she said, vehemently. + +"Rather for her own sake--from maternal pride at having her son sit +among nobles," was the stern reply. "And if these were her motives, as I +doubt not they were, at what price did she purchase this honour for her +child? The price of the deepest guilt, by keeping the true heir from his +birthright. I did not view it in this light before. By the cross! I am a +well-born! a guilty mother, too! 'Tis well you told me she was no more; +I should care little to meet her in my present mood." + +As he spoke, the woman sunk her head upon her bosom, and deep groans +escaped her, whether of defeated hopes, of sorrow, of shame, or of +remorse, he knew not. Suddenly he laid his hand upon her arm, and looked +impressively in her face, and said, + +"Woman! who is my mother?" + +"Thou wilt never know!" + +"Art _thou_?" + +"Ha, ha, ha! _I?_ Do I look like the gentle maiden that won the love of +Hurtel of the Red-Hand? Are these matted locks tresses of gold? Is this +complexion like the blended ivory and rose? Is my voice soft and full of +love? Are my eyes like the gazelle's, and gentle as the dove's in their +expression? Is this hideous form such as would lure youth to embrace it? +Wilt thou acknowledge thyself the son of 'the witch'--'the +sorceress'--'the beldame Elpsy' (such were thy gentle terms)--the +beleagued with demons--the familiar of the evil one--the--" + +"No, no! Avaunt!" he shouted, with a furious gesture; "thank God! I am +not sunk so low as that!" + +"Ha, ha! Thy pride is fallen far indeed when it can enter thy thoughts, +and even go from thy lips, that Elpsy of the Tower gave thee birth. Oh, +ho! I am well avenged in this for thy mad folly in throwing away thy +earldom. Oh, how I do hate thee for that act! for it thou shalt never +know peace in body or soul!" + +"I defy thee, woman, and all thy arts!" + +"Yet the tales of my deeds have made thy human soul to shrink! Beware +how thou speakest lightly of what thou knowest naught, and which is hid +from mortal ken!" she added, with mysterious and solemn earnestness. +"Whither turn thy footsteps now, Lord of Lester?" she asked, with +chilling irony. "Doubtless thou hast come to take possession of thy fair +lands here. They are not so broad, indeed, as the domains of Castle +More, and thy castle needs some furnishing and repair. Doubtless thou +wouldst like to fit it up ere thou bringest home to be its mistress the +fair Kate of Bellamont!" + +"Breathe that name again, woman, and I will take thy life!" + +"Thou art now thy very father's image!" she said, with derision. "Even +in this moonlight I can see that devilish shape of the eyes that his +were wont to assume when he meditated murder! Ho! I dare to say thou +wilt be like him in more than the glance of the eye. Dost mean to follow +in his footsteps, and head a band of lawless insurgents; or wilt thou, +as 'tis said his brother did--" + +"His brother?" + +"Thou didst not know before thou hadst once an uncle? So: thou shalt no +longer be kept in ignorance. He was a bold, bad man, and therein true to +his race; was called Black Hurtel, and roved the Danish seas a daring +bucanier. 'Twas said he could float his ship in the blood of the men he +had slain! He was killed on the French coast in a fierce fight; but his +vessel was captured, and his dead body, with his living crew (for the +captors would not leave one alive to blacken the face of the earth), +were sunk in the deep sea. Perhaps, like him, thou wilt take to the +wave, and carve thy fortune in blood! Blood is sweet, and there is music +to the ear in its gurgle where it is shed with a free hand! Look you," +she said, pointing through the window; "the sea is spread wide before +you, and seems to invite thee with its glancing waves. It knows not of +thy disgrace, nor has it voices to whisper thy infamy; while every bird, +tree, and stone will nod and gossip to one another as thou passest by-- + +"'There goes he who _was_ the Lord of Lester!'" + +"Woman, you madden me!" + +"Perhaps," she continued, in the same cutting tone, while he paced the +little chamber with a phrensied step, "thou wilt rather come and share +my tower i'the ruin, if the new Lord of Lester will give thee leave; +doubtless he will honour thee by asking thee to hold his stirrup on +occasion. But, if thou wilt rather habit in this tower, I will be thy +seneschal. I love its old gray walls! many is the moonlight night I've +sat in the window and looked on the sea, as it danced, and glimmered, +and seemed to beck and nod, and laugh when I laughed. Ha, ha! I have had +brave times here, gossipping with the sea!" + +As she said this she looked from the window, and suddenly her eye seemed +to be arrested by some unexpected sight. She gazed for a moment eagerly, +and then said, in the enthusiastic tone and manner of a sibyl, skilfully +assumed with the tact of one accustomed to turn to her own purpose every +passing circumstance, + +"Look thou, Robert Hurtel! I have had pity on thy state, and have, by +the art thou hast dared to scorn, brought from many a far league away, +to thy tower's foot, a ship to waft thee and thy fortunes! See how +proudly it stands in towards the land, looking like a great white +spirit, with the moon glancing on its canvass wings. Oh, 'tis a brave +bark!" + +The young man (her words taunting, malicious, and hateful as they were, +not having been without some effect in influencing him in determining on +his future course) sprang alertly to the window and gazed with interest +on the approaching vessel. It was about a third of a mile from the land, +standing directly towards the tower before a light breeze. It was +apparently about seventy tons burden, short and heavily built, rising +very high out of the water, with a very lofty stern. It had three masts, +each consisting of one entire stick, tapering to a slender point, and +terminated by a little triangular flag. On each mast was hoisted a huge, +square lugger's sail, which, with a short jib, stretched from the head +of the foremast to a stunted bowsprit, and a sort of tri-sail or spanker +aft worked without a boom, was all the canvass she carried or that +belonged to her peculiar class of craft. + +He watched it with eager attention as it came bounding landward, +flinging the glittering spray from its round bows, its wet sides shining +in the moonlight as if sheathed with plates of silver. A chaos of hopes, +wishes, and conflicting resolutions agitated his mind as it approached; +after a short struggle, he resolved to throw himself on board if her +master would receive him, and depart with her wherever the winds should +waft her. Having come to this determination, he watched her motions with +additional interest; and when, after coming in so close to the shore +that he could discern that her decks were crowded with men, she wore +round and stood northward, his heart sank within him; and, dashing his +hand through the crimson glass, he was about to hail, when Elpsy checked +him: + +"Hold! see you not they are only coming up to wind to lie to! Look! they +are already swinging round their clumsy sails." + +The vessel came up slowly and heavily to the wind, and, by means of her +mainsail, lay as still as if at anchor. In a few moments afterward, as +they eagerly watched, they saw a boat let down, and several men descend +over the side into it. He uttered a joyful exclamation when he saw this +movement; and, without reflecting upon the character of the vessel, or +the object it could have in view in landing on so retired a coast at +such a time, he only thought of it as a means of bearing him from the +hateful shore, and perhaps opening for him some path to action and +mental excitement. + +"See that flash of light on her deck! There is another gleam!" exclaimed +Elpsy. + +"'Tis the glancing of the moonbeams on steel!" he replied, in a +gratified tone. + +"There is a sound a man should know!" she said again. + +"'Tis the ringing of arms!" he replied, in the same animated manner. + +"What think you they are, young man?" asked she, with a peculiar smile, +laying her hand impressively on his arm. + +"I know not, nor care, so I may cast my fortune with them!" + +"Thou art, of a truth, thy father's son!" + +"And, by the cross, he shall not be ashamed to own me!" he replied, in a +desperate and determined tone. + +"I will tell thee what they are--for I have passed my life by the +seaside, and know the nature, and have learned to know the occupation +and nation of each ship by its fashion, as I would tell a tradesman's by +his garb." + +"What, then, is the nation of this barque?" + +"He is a Dane." + +"Its nature?" + +"To sail in shallow waters, and run before the wind." + +"Its business on the sea?" + +"To rob, pillage, and slay!" + +"Ha, a bucanier?" + +"A Dane." + +"'Tis but another name for pirate in these waters. By the cross! when I +saw the glitter of steel in the hands of its crew, I half guessed it." + +"Wilt thou now link thy fate with theirs?" + +"Am I not fit to be their comrade? Are they outcasts; what am I? Are +they branded with shame; who am I? Has society cast them from its bosom; +was I not born in bastardy? Am I not fallen lower than the lowest he +among them who hath been born in wedlock? Why should I hesitate to mate +with my fellows? What has the honourable world to invite me to? What if +I could bury in oblivion from the reach of my own thoughts the black +stain upon my birth and hitherto noble name, and, under a new one, with +a strong heart and virtuous resolves, throw myself into the arena of +honourable contest, and should succeed in winning a name that men would +do homage to--should I not wear it, feeling that a sword was suspended +by a hair above my head?" + +"How mean you?" she asked, struck with the impassioned and despairing +tones of his voice. + +"I mean that, if, after carrying the secret like a living serpent coiled +in my heart for years, I should, without suspicion, chance to win a fair +name, the time at length would come when some one, with a too faithful +memory, would recognise the bastard Hurtel--the quondam Lester--in the +successful adventurer; and then--No, no!" he said, bitterly, "no, no! It +may not be! The presence of this ship points me to the course I should +pursue. I obey the fate that has directed it hither!" + +"Wilt thou become a pirate?" she said, with a natural and feeling +manner, as if prompted by some suddenly-awakened interest in him. +"Yesterday Lord of Lester--to-day a pirate!" + +"Yes." + +"Curse the tongue that told thee of thy birth! But," she continued, +muttering with her usual quick tones and nervousness of manner, "it was +so pleasant to tell him, for his father's sake, he looked so like him! +And then it was a pleasure to humble his pride, which he made even me +the victim of: and so, as my master would have it, I could not, for the +life o' me, longer help telling him the love-story I had kept so many +years in my heart for him. Ho! ho! ha! ha! and a pleasant tale it was, +too!" she added in that phrensied strain which seemed to be most natural +to her. + +While she was speaking the boat, which appeared to be full of men, put +off from the vessel, and they could distinctly hear the command to "let +fall," followed by the splash of the falling sweeps. + +"Give way!" in a stern, deep tone, came directly afterward distinctly to +their ears; and, shooting out from the vessel's side, the boat moved in +towards the cliff. + +As it neared the shore, one of the men stood up in the stern, and was +heard to command them to cease pulling; and, for a few seconds +afterward, he seemed to be reconnoitring the beach. Apparently satisfied +with his scrutiny, he ordered them to give way again, steered directly +to the foot of the tower, and skilfully run the boat alongside of the +rock almost beneath the window. + +"Now lay off an oar's length from the shore, and wait for me," said the +one who had steered the boat, and who appeared to be the leader. "Be on +the alert against surprise, though there's little fear of any one being +within a league of the old tower. Carl, you and Evan take the coil of +rigging and come with me." + +As he spoke he leaped on the projection of the rock; then measuring the +cliff with his eye, he placed his cutlass between his teeth and began to +ascend. By the aid of numerous fissures and bold spurs jutting out from +the sides he reached the top, closely followed by his men. Here he +paused a moment, resting on his cutlass, and looked about him. He stood +directly beneath the window from which Elpsy and the young man were +looking, and was plainly visible to them. He was a short, stout-built +man, with a ruddy complexion, browned by the winds and suns of every +clime. His hair was gray, and hung in straight locks about his ears; +and, judging by the deeply-indented lines of his weather-worn visage, +his age was about fifty; yet his compactly-built figure, his light +motions, and athletic appearance, gave indications of many years less. +His countenance, turned upward to their full gaze in his survey of the +tower, wore an expression of careless jovialty, united with desperate +hardihood. The most striking characteristic of his face was a thick red +mustache covering his upper lip. He had on his head an immense fur cap, +and wore a short, full frock of a dark shade, secured at the waist by a +broad belt, stuck with large, heavy pistols of the kind known, at the +period, as the hand-harquebuss. He wore, also, voluminous breeches of +buff leather, buckled at the knee, red cloth gaiters, and high-quartered +shoes with pointed toes, and garnished with sparkling buckles of immense +size. By his side hung the empty sheath of the sabre on which he leaned. +His men, save the fur cap, for which they substituted red woollen ones +of a conical form, and the frock, instead of which they wore long +jackets, were--breeches, buckler, shoes, and gaiters--his counterpart in +apparel. + +"'Tis the very spot I once knew it! The unchanged sea--the rock--this +gray tower! It seems as if but a day, and not eighteen years, had passed +since I banqueted here with Hurtel of the Red-Hand," he said to himself, +gazing round with revived recollections at each object. "Well, strange +things have happened since! He is dead, or an exile with a price on his +head; all our brave band scattered; and I, only, am left to stand once +more on this familiar spot. The old rookery looks desolate enough, and +seems to sympathize with its master's fortunes! Open your lantern, Carl, +and let us enter! This moon will scarce afford light where I wish to +penetrate! Heaven grant no evil spirit haunts here to keep guard over +the treasure I have come to carry off! But, if it still remains, I will +e'en cross blades with the devil for it, and win it, will he, nil he." + +He passed as he spoke round the tower, and the next moment the listeners +heard the heavy footsteps of the three men echoing through the hall. The +young man was about to spring from the room to meet them, when Elpsy +held him back. + +"Would you run upon death! They would sheathe their cutlasses in your +body ere you could open your lips. Hold, and hush! There is time enough. +We will see what their purpose is. I have half a guess, from his words, +at their business here." + +"What!" + +"Hurtel of the Red-Hand, the story goes, had secreted in some part of +the tower large sums of silver and gold, with which to aid the +conspiracy he headed. He had neither time nor means to take it away with +him, and doubtless it still remains here, and this bucanier is +acquainted with the secret." + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, with surprise, "who told thee this?" + +"Rumour, said I not!" she replied, after a moment's hesitation. + +"And how should these know where to look for what has been concealed for +years?" + +"Hark!" she cried, as a heavy noise reached them from a distant part of +the building, "they have opened the trap of the tower, and will descend +into the vaults. He is one that knows well the place." + +"Doubtless, from his language, some one of my hospitable parent's +fellow-chiefs, who used to revel here in the days you tell of. I will +see what they do, and take opportunity of forming good fellowship with +my father's friend. Nay--but let me go, woman!" + +He broke from her as she attempted to detain him, and, cautiously +opening the door, descended with a cautious and rapid step into the +hall. At its opposite extremity he saw, by the glimmer of a lamp held by +one of them, the two men standing over an opening in the floor, and +their leader just in the act of letting himself down into the +subterranean chamber beneath. + +"Hold the ladder steady, Evan!" he said. "Thrust your lantern down at +arm's length, Carl, so that I can see where to place my foot. Ha! there, +I find bottom," he added, his voice sounding hollow from the depth; +"'tis dark and damp as a Calcutta blackhole! Faith, it's more like a +tomb than an honest underground apartment. I hope I shall not see +Hurtel's ghost guarding his box. Tumble down here, boys, and be ready to +hand above decks as soon as I find out where it's stowed away!" + +The others, leaving their cutlasses behind, followed him into the vault. +Their heads had no sooner disappeared than the young man crossed the +hall with a free step to the trapdoor, and looked fearlessly after them. +He had from the first, when the vessel came in sight, deliberately +resolved to attach himself to the party; and now the frank, blunt manner +of the old sea-rover struck his fancy, and confirmed him in his +resolution. But he was at a loss how to make his intentions known--how +first to address men ready to shed blood on the instant without +question, and among whom, at such a time, the very discovery of his +presence might be fatal ere he could make known to the chief his +intentions. While watching them as they groped about through the vast +vault, an idea, characteristic of his now reckless disposition, +suggested by the ghostly apprehensions of the leader, entered his mind. +He paused for an instant, and then, favoured by the darkness, dropped +noiselessly into the chamber. With a step that gave back no sound, he +approached them as they moved in an opposite direction from him, +throwing the light all forward, and waited the opportunity he had chosen +for discovering himself. + +"'Tis twelve paces to the south, eight paces to the east, and six paces +to the west again--which will bring me to the wall, and on the very +stone Red Hurtel and I placed over the gold," said the captain; "here +are twelve paces, well told!" he added, placing his foot immediately +afterward emphatically on the stone floor. + +These words at once gave the youth a key to the course he should adopt. +His quick eye, as the leader turned to pace east, comprehended the +remaining angle at a glance, and, gliding away by the wall, he moved +cautiously and noiselessly along till he felt his foot press upon a +loose slab. He knew he must be on or near the spot; and drawing himself +to his full height, and unconsciously assuming a stern and resolute +look, called up by the novelty and danger of his situation, he waited +the angular advance of the captain, who, with his men, was too intent on +accurately marking his steps to look up even for a moment. + +"Now west!" said the leader; and, turning as he spoke, he had counted on +to four, _five_, and was about to take the last step to the wall, when, +pronounced in a deep tone, that rung hollow through the vault, he heard +the word, + +"Forbear!" + +He lifted his eyes and fell back upon his men as the lantern shone full +upon the object, exclaiming, + +"The ghost of Hurtel, by all that's good! Evan, come back here, you +villain! Carl, give me that lantern, coward!" he shouted to his men, who +turned and fled with affright. + +He caught the light from the hand of the terrified Dane, and turned upon +this apparition, which, notwithstanding his coolness, had not a little +disconcerted him. He held the lamp, though standing off at a chosen +distance, to the face of the supposed ghost, and said, with an odd +mixture of natural boldness and superstitious fear, + +"'Fore Heaven, comrade, you have grown full young in the other world! +But there is no mistaking the cut of your eye. Faith, but you can smile, +I see," he added, more freely. "There's no more mistaking your smile +than your black, ugly frown! So, suppose we shake hands, and, after we +get the chest aboard--for they say you don't want this sort of ballast +in the seas down below--why, we'll empty a can together, and spin a yarn +about old times before the cock crows!" + +As the intrepid old sea-rover spoke, he extended his rough hand to grasp +that of the other. The young man hesitated to take it, for he was scarce +sure of his reception when it should be discovered that he was flesh and +blood. + +"Never mind if your fingers be a little cold or so, 'tis the nature o' +ghosts. I can give you a grasp that'll put warmth into 'em, and last you +till you get back where you hail from. Come, old friend, give us your +digits, just to say you ain't offended at the liberty I am about to take +with your chest o' sparklers; and afterward I will just thank you to +step one side a bit!" + +The young man smiled at the intrepidity of the seaman, and took the +proffered hand. + +"Warm! by the bones of St. Nick! The old fellow below has been keeping +you over a hot fire, messmate. Well, you must confess, you lived a +wonderfully wicked life; and so, as the priests say, the devil will fry +it out of you. Sorry for you, on my word! Will lay by fifty of these +guilders in prayers for your soul! So take heart. Now just step aside +off that slab, which you stick to as if 'twas a tombstone, and we'll +bear a hand and bouse this old box out in the snapping of a bolt-rope." + +"I am no spirit, but a habitant of this world, like thyself!" he said, +with firmness, and a straight-forward frankness that he wisely +calculated would have its effect; "I am a young adventurer, without name +or family, weal or wealth. I would take service with thee, and follow +thy fortunes on the sea!" + +The bucanier listened with surprise; and as he became convinced, from +his words and manner, that he was no shade from the land of spirits, +which shadowy beings he seemed to fear no more than mortal substance, +his countenance instantly changed, and he surveyed him with a puzzled +look of surprise and doubt. + +"So! this alters the case! Who art thou, then? what art thou doing +here--and on this particular stone? 'Tis mysterious, i'faith! Guarding +this treasure, which no man save Hurtel and I saw laid here; so like +him, and not be he! Yet thou canst not be Red Hurtel in the flesh, for +his hair would be as gray as mine by this time. Thou sayest thou art not +his spirit. Who, and what, then, in the name of St. Barnabas, may you +be?" + +"His son." + +"Ha! ho! There it is, as plain as my hand!" he said, slapping the flat +of his cutlass into his left palm. "Priest never had aught to do with +thy begetting or thy christening, I'll be sworn! I now remember he had a +leman-lady in the tower when I knew him. A proper youth," he added, +looking at him with interest, "and as like your father as one +marlin-spike is like another! So you inherit the old tower, I dare say, +and follow in his steps. St. Claus and the apostles! I would not be +surprised if you laid claim to the gold here!" + +"I care neither for tower nor gold, good captain. To follow your +fortunes I alone ask." + +"Do you know what fortunes I follow?" inquired the other, significantly. + +"I care not, so there is work for the free hand and ready spirit." + +"A chip of the old block! There's my hand to it. You shall have your +will, my brave one! Your father and I were comrades in that cursed +affair that made the country too hot to hold us. I have been a rover +since, and, trusting to my gray head, have ventured back to carry off +what gold I heard he had not time to remove. Thou shalt go with me for +thy father's sake, boy." + +He grasped the old man's offered hand, and, for the moment, felt that he +was less alone in the world. What a change had one brief day made in the +feelings and destinies of this haughty young man! + +"Bear a hand, you pale runaways!" cried the captain to the men, who, +seeing that their spirit had proved of flesh and blood, returned, +scowling darkly on the cause of their discomfiture. "Take hold of the +edge of that stone, and lift it from its bed. Place your hands on the +right spot, and it will come up like a cork." + +The men made several ineffectual efforts to lift it, though even +assisted in their last attempt by their captain. + +"How is this?" he said; "it should move with a finger's touch. Ha, I +have it! I had forgot. You might heave till you were gray, boys, and it +wouldn't stir a hair. Look at some of my magic." + +He stooped as he spoke, and pressing the stone horizontally towards the +wall, it moved from its bed, and slid away slowly, as if on wheels, +beneath it exposing a cavity two feet square and about three feet deep, +containing an oaken box, bound with strong bands of rusted steel. + +"Here it lies, like a biscuit in a bucket! Let us see if the gold has +got rusty." + +He searched a few moments, and at length bore hard upon a corner of the +box, but without producing any effect. + +"The spring is as tight as if Old Nick had his foot on it. Let us try +what this good steel, that has served me so often at a push, will do +now." + +He pressed the point of his cutlass with steady force against one +corner, when suddenly the lid flew up, and a glittering pile of silver +and gold, and a remarkably shaped dagger, a foot in length, wider at the +point than the handle, and exceedingly rich with precious stones, met +their eyes. + +There was a general exclamation of surprise at this display of treasure. +The young man took up the weapon and examined it with curiosity. + +"That belonged to Hurtel of the Red-Hand, and he prized it, too!" said +the old pirate. "It shall be thine, young man! Holding it with that +grasp as you do, and your kindling eye, I would swear my old comrade +stood before me. If nature put the father's looks on all children as she +has on thee, it would be a blind father that wouldn't know his own +child. But it's only bas--hoit! I mean to say that children honestly +come by seldom show the breed they hail from as some other sort o' craft +do--I'faith, I haven't bettered it much! But, no harm meant, my brave +fellow! Keep that yataghan for your father's sake. He knew its use, and, +if you are long under me--" + +"_Under_ you?" repeated the youth, his natural spirit breaking out. + +"Ha! I like that! Better men than I will soon be under you, I see--'tis +in you born and bred! So! let us heave out this precious metal. Six +thousand told pounds, if my memory serves me. Heave heartily, boys. +There she moves! Now she rises on her toes! Steady strain. Hearty, +hearty. There you are!" + +"Hafey golt 'tish dat dere, Evan," said one, straightening his bent +loins. + +"Ap carnach! ant yer may will say tat, poy!" responded Evan, breathing +himself and passing the back of his hand across his brow, from which +started big drops of perspiration. + +They now laid hold of it and dragged it beneath the trapdoor: with the +united efforts of the men, the captain, and even Lester--or Hurtel, as +for the present he should be called--they got it to the floor above, +reascended, and closed the scuttle. + +"You will want fresh hands, captain," said the youthful novitiate, at +once readily entering into the spirit of his new vocation, and thirsting +for excitement as a foil to reflection; "shall I call two of your men +from the boat?" + +"Ay, ay! do so!" said the captain; adding, as he darted away, "True as +steel, by St. Claus! I would rather lose the gold than lose him. He is +worth his weight of it!" + +While he was speaking his protege reached the balcony, and, bending +over, ordered, in an authoritative tone, two of the men to ascend to +relieve their mates. There was a general exclamation of surprise from +the party below at the sound of the strange voice. + +"Treason!" + +"We are betrayed!" + +"To the rescue of our captain!" were the various exclamations, in as +many different languages, followed by glancing of steel and clicking of +pistols, several of which were levelled at the window. + +"Ho, fellows! will you not obey?" said he, sternly; "up, up-with you! By +the cross! if I were your captain, knaves, I would teach you to linger +after an order was given." + +"Who in the devil have we there?" said one, in a gruff voice. "Shall I +pink him, mates?" + +"Who talks of pinking? What, ho, ye villains!" shouted the captain, who +now appeared at the window. "This youth is my lieutenant, and see that +you obey him, or I will make a pair of earrings of a brace of you for +the main-yard-arms." + +"That's another thing," said several voices. "Orders is orders, if they +come from the devil, so as he is got the commission in his pocket!" + +"Two of the strongest of you lubberly oxen, clamber up here. Spring! be +nimble! nimble! Back the boat directly under, and keep her steady." + +A moment afterward two of the men reached the top of the rock and sprung +into the balcony. It took but a short time to get the chest upon the +balustrade, lash it with the rope they had brought, rig a fall with a +brace of oars, and swing it off. + +"Stand ready below there!" cried the captain. + +"All ready." + +"Handle it as if it was a baby. Gently, gently, or you will knock the +boat's bottom out! Swing it more aft! There, now, let her drop +amidships! Easy--not too fast! There she lies between the thwarts like a +pig in a pillory!" + +The box was safely lowered into the launch, and followed with alacrity +by the men: the captain and his new lieutenant were also preparing to go +down, when each, at the same instant, felt himself touched from behind, +and, turning round, Elpsy confronted them. + +"Who art thou, in the name of Beelzebub's mother?" demanded the captain, +staring with astonishment, not unmingled with superstitious dread, on +the deformed and hideous being who had so suddenly and mysteriously +appeared to him. + +"I would speak with thee, Edmund Turill!" + +"Then thou art Sathanas!" he cried, with astonishment; "how knowest thou +me?" + +"It matters not. I know thee," she replied, in a tone of mystery. "That +youth goes with thee?" she added, inquiringly. + +"He does!" + +"See, then, that he is well treated, and receives not ill at thy hands. +Remember, once thou hadst a son!" + +"Who art thou, i'the name of all the saints, woman?" + +"It matters not. When thou thinkest of thy poor boy's bones, gibbeted +for sharing thy guilt o'er the gate of Cork, the winds whistling through +them with a sad wail, look kindly on this youth, and take him to thy +heart, as if he were thine own flesh and blood!" + +"I will do it," he said, with emotion. + +"Swear it." + +"I swear it!" + +"'Tis well. One question I have to ask thee, and truly answer it." + +"Name it, woman!" + +"Where wanders Hurtel of the Red-Hand?" + +"'Tis said he died in the Indies!" + +"'Tis false!" she cried, with energy. "He can never die unaccursed by +her he has wronged. No, no! he will have one to watch his pillow in his +dying throes he would rather burn in hell, to which he is doomed, than +see. No, no! his time has not yet come! his master will not let him slip +out o' life so easily. Oh, it will be a glory to see him die; and mock +his groans; and laugh, laugh at his terrors! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, will it not +be a jubilee to see him struggle with the death!" + +"I'God's name, woman, tell me who thou art?" + +"Dost not behold what I am? Wouldst have fair winds, I will raise thee +foul: wouldst have a smooth sea, I will make it boil and hiss: wilt say +a prayer, I will turn it into a curse ere it can leave thy lips." + +"Avaunt, sorceress!" he cried, crossing himself with horror. + +"Ha, ha! so you can feel my power! Oh, well! it is a-pleasant to make +men's stout hearts quake. Dost know me?" she asked, impressively, +approaching her face close to his. + +"No!" he said, retreating and preparing to descend the rock. "Avoid +thee, Sathanas!" + +"Listen!" she said, approaching and laying her hand on his arm, and +whispering low in his ear. + +"_Thou!_" he exclaimed, instantly starting back, and surveying her with +mingled surprise, curiosity, and disgust. + +"Wouldst care to leave thy revels and their lord, and, stealing to her +lone room, offer thy drunken love to her now! Ha, ha, ha! Does she not +look a comely leman for thy licentious love?" she added, with malicious +irony. + +He gazed on her a few seconds by the light of the moon, and seemed too +much overpowered by surprise to speak. At length he said, in a tone of +horror, + +"Hideous as thou art, it must be as thou sayest, for only thus could I +be known to thee! But, holy St. Claus!" he added, in a tone, "this +lad--is he--" + +"No matter who he is! see thou harm him not!" + +"I will be a father to him, woman! 'Fore Heaven," he exclaimed afresh, +gazing upon her with mingled curiosity and pity, "was there ever such +a--" + +"Mind me not! spare your sympathy! Go!--Stay!" she cried, earnestly +recalling him; "if you ever meet _him_, breathe not into his ears what +and whom you have this night seen. I have made myself known to thee for +this youth's sake. Farewell, young man," she said, approaching Lester as +he stood on the rock, to which he had bounded from the balcony at the +beginning of their conference. She extended her hand as she spoke. He +took it, and grasped it warmly saying, in a soothing tone, + +"Good-by, Elpsy. I have no ill-will against thee in my heart. Thou hast +done but thy duty!" + +The sorceress seemed to be moved, turned away from him without speaking, +as if her feelings choked utterance, and stalked away through the hall, +and left the tower. + +"Come, my lad," said the captain, turning away and speaking with +feeling, after following with his eyes her retreating form till it +disappeared in the forest, "she is a poor, unhappy creature, and it'll +come hard, I'm thinking, on him that made her so. But this is no time +for sentiment. Let us aboard and make an offing ere the dawn; for, if we +are spied lying here, we shall have the king's bulldog down upon us from +windward I saw lying in Cor Bay, who will bark to some purpose if he +should catch us here on a lee shore." + +Thus speaking, the old seaman lightly descended the rock to the boat, +followed by his youthful lieutenant, and in a few minutes they reached +the vessel. + +The moment his foot touched the deck the captain gave orders to make +sail: the long, crooked tiller was put hard up to windward; the heavy +mainsail swung back to its place; the vessel's head turned slowly off, +and, feeling the wind on her quarter, she stood in landward for a few +seconds to gain headway, and then came gracefully round with her +starboard bow to the wind. With each broad sail drawn nearly fore and +aft, she lay as near it as her short blunt build would permit, and +stretched away from the shore on a long tack towards the south. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "If solitude succeed to grief, + Release from pain is light relief; + The vacant bosom's wilderness + Might thank the pang that made it less. + The heart once left thus desolate + Must fly at last for ease--to hate." + + _The Giaour._ + + +The narrative once more returns to Mark, who, it will be remembered, had +arrived, on his way to Castle More, at a ruin in the midst of the forest +he was traversing, when the approach of two horsemen caused him to +withdraw from the path. As he did so, they were encountered and stopped +by some one who unexpectedly met them as they were galloping past the +lonely pile. Curious to know who they were and what could be their +business at that late hour, he entered the deep shadow of the tower, and +approached so near them as to discover that the men wore the livery of +Lady Lester, and that the person with whom they were talking was none +other than the witch Elpsy, with whose person he had been familiar from +childhood. + +After Elpsy disappeared from the eyes of the old bucanier and his young +lieutenant at Hurtel's tower, she had continued to move rapidly through +the forest towards Castle Cor, without turning either to the right or +left. Sometimes she would skip forward with mad hilarity till exhausted; +at others, leap, and clap her hands, and shout, till the dales of the +old wood rung again with her shrieking laughter. From the unnatural +speed, and the wild, straight-forward direction in which she moved, her +sole object seemed to be to reach some point for which she aimed in the +least possible time. The scared owl hooted aloud at her approach, and +flew, with a heavy flap of his thick wings, deeper into the wood; the +hawk left his nest with a shrill cry; the deer fled from her path! On, +on she bounded and leaped mocking their notes of terror, like a demon +pursued. At times, when she crossed an open glade, where the moon poured +down her unobstructed radiance, she would suddenly stop and mutter, but +without appearing to notice the pale orb the sight of which, by +directing her thoughts into another, but not less turbulent channel, +seemed to have exercised a momentary influence on her. She had travelled +six miles in less than one hour's time, when she suddenly stopped in the +full light of the moon, looked up, and shook her open hands towards it +with a laugh of derision. + +"Oh, ho! you need not look and watch, and watch and look, and keep your +pale face and shining eyes always fixed on me! Dost think I would commit +murder? and the little twinkling stars peer down as if they could espy a +knife in my hand! Look, ye little glittering winklings," she cried, +spreading upward her open palms, "dost see a knife? Ha, ha, ha! ye are +out there. I am too much for ye. No, I know ye well, with your winking +and your blinking at each other, and how, in the darkest night, one of +you always keeps watch, to spy the murders done in the absence o' the +sun; and then you whisper it through heaven, and tell it to the earth, +and then we hang for it. Oh, ho! I have a charm will put you to sleep. +Ha! you laugh, and grin, and gibber, that I have lost in a half hour's +tale what I have won by years of silence. Well, well, there'll be a +time! there'll be a time!" + +Dropping her head, she appeared a moment as if in sullen thought, and +then muttered, in a tone and manner which, more than words, gave a key +to the wild phrensy that had hitherto possessed her, + +"If _he_ cannot be Lord of Lester, neither shall HE! He dies! The eye of +the moon pierces not this wood! He dies! 'Tis long yet to dawn," she +abruptly added, moving forward, and speaking with more coherency. "If I +can find him ere the myrmidons of Lady Lester can reach him, should she +send for him, Castle More will ne'er own other lord than he who, but for +my foul tongue--may it wither in my throat!--would now have been Lord of +Lester. He dies! dies! dies! dies!" and, hasting her footsteps, she +continued to repeat the word at every stride, accompanying it with a +threatening gesture of her arm. + +Her rapid speed soon brought her to the ruins of the abbey. Bounding +like an ape over the fallen blocks, she entered the door in the tower, +and with an unfaltering step traversed the gallery to her subterraneous +abode, which, after Lester's angry and fruitless pursuit of her, she had +left for Hurtel's tower, fearing that he might despatch a party from +Castle More in search of her, for the purpose, by her death, of +effectually silencing all question of his birth. + +Entering her subterranean abode, she produced a light without flint, or +steel, or fire, but by smartly drawing two marks, in opposition to the +sign of the cross, on the wall with a small stick, the end of which +immediately emitted a blue flame, and, after a fierce, hissing noise, +shot up into a bright blaze. This, to the peasantry who had witnessed +it, was one of the strongest evidences of her being in league with the +devil, who, it was asseverated, kindled her stick for her in the +unquenchable fire. + +She lighted a fragment of a rush candle by the flame, and, opening a +small box containing medicinal preparations, took therefrom a small vial +containing an amber-coloured liquid, and held it to the light. She +looked at it for a while with a look of vengeful satisfaction, and then +placed it in her bosom; afterward she took a rusty poniard from a +crevice in the wall, carefully felt its point, which was ground to a +keen edge, and, with a look of satisfaction, thrust it up into her +sleeve. Then extinguishing the light, she hastened past the tomb of +Black Morris, and with a quick, determined step, traversed the gallery +towards its outlet. + +As she approached it she heard the tramp of horses. With a quick, +apprehensive cry, as if she at once divined the cause, she flew through +the passage into the moonlight, and saw two horsemen approaching at a +round pace, and going in the direction of Castle Cor: as they came +nearer, she recognised them as the chief forester and the seneschal from +Castle More. She permitted them to gallop along the road till they were +within a few feet of her, when she suddenly stepped forth from the black +shadow of the tower, and, with one arm outstretched brandishing the +stiletto, confronted them. The riders, taken by surprise, pulled their +horses back to their haunches, and both instantly exclaimed, with +superstitious dread, + +"Elpsy!" + +These were the horsemen Mark turned from his path to avoid. + +"I am Elpsy," she repeated, in a lofty tone. "Whither ride ye, so fast +and free? + + "If ye do not tell me true, + Horses each shall cast a shoe, + And evil bide ye, ill betide, + As ye on your journey ride!" + +"There be strange doings at the castle, mother," said the seneschal, +pitching his voice to the true gossiping tone; "there's me young +loord--" + +"Fait! but it's jist this--" interrupted the other; "our young masther, +Lord Robert, is not masther's son at all at all, and masther's son--" + +"Murther! an' it's you dat have it wrong, Ennis, honey," cried the +other, interrupting him in his turn; "it's jist this, ould Mither +Eelpsy; Lord Robert is not my Lord Robert at all at all, and the raal +Lord Robert is--" + +"And is it not the very woords I was afther tilling the crathur?" +interrupted the forester. "I will give it to ye, Eelpsy, dare, in the +right way." + +"Hist with your tongues!" cried the impatient woman, having heard enough +to convince her that Robert had told the truth in saying that he openly +published his own shame. "Hold with your senseless words, fools! I can +tell ye more than both of ye together, and all Castle Cor, know." + +"We know dat, ould mither! Don't forget to crass yourself, Jarvey, +honey," added the speaker, aside, making the sign of the cross on his +breast. "It's the great dale ye know, and the likes o' ye, and it's not +we that is to gainsay it this night." + +"Whither ride ye?" she demanded, impatiently taking hold of the bridle +of one of the horses. + +"Och, an' isn't it to bring with all speed that young jintleman o' the +world, Mark Meredith, the ould fisherman's son, to be sure, to Castle +More," said the forester. + +"At whose bidding?" she demanded. + +"Our lady's, the jewil!" answered the seneschal. + +"Go back, and tell the Dark Lady of the Rock that thus says Elpsy, the +sorceress: 'He whom she seeks she will never find!'" + +"But it's the disthress she'll be in," said the seneschal. + +"And it's the deep grief o' the world that's upon her now," added the +other. + +"Och, but it will be bad news to be afther bringing back to her that +sint us," pursued Ennis, with a howl. + +"Widout iver having gone at all at all," said Jarvey, in a tone of +grief. + +"A cush-la-ma-chree, Jarvey, but it's find the lad we must!" cried +Ennis, with sudden resolution. + +"And it's the ould mither that's here, bliss her, 'll maybe till us +where he may be jist at this present," added Jarvey, insinuatingly. + +"Do you hesitate to obey me! Go back, even as you came. If _she_ ask you +where the lad is, tell her Elpsy has said, '_Lester has no lord_!'" + +"Och, hone! and will it be the world's thruth, Elpsy, hinney! It'll +break the spirit of her, in her lone bosom." + +"And what'll the castle do widout a lord! That I should live to see it!" +wailed the seneschal. + +"And must we go back to the Dark Lady wid dis heavy sorrow to the fore?" +asked the forester. + +"E'en must ye! So!" she cried, turning, with a sudden jerk of the rein, +the head of one of the horses towards the direction in which they had +come. "Ride, ride," she added, in a commanding but wild tone, "nor look +behind till ye are safe within the gates, lest ye care to see the evil +one astraddle of your crupper." + +"The houly crass protict us!" they both ejaculated, crossing themselves. + +"Good e'en to ye, mither. It's yourself is the crathur for knowing the +world's thruth," added Jarvey, as if by flattery he would disarm any +evil intention she might cherish in reference to himself. + +"And it's to her we're indibted for not riding tree leagues for nothing +at all at all, whin the lad's not to the fore! Faix, it's my thanks ye +have, ould Elpsy, for't, an' its yer due, were ye the ould divil +himself," returned Ennis, gathering up his rein. "Kape your head +straight between yer shoulder, Jarvey." + +"It's me, honey, will niver be afther looking behint," replied Jarvey, +setting his face towards Castle More. + +Thus taking leave of the wily woman, these two old simple-minded +retainers rode back again; their obtuse minds probably scarce +comprehending the nature of the loss Lady Lester had met with, the +exchanged fortunes of their late young master, nor the important object +of their mission. + +She looked after them as they galloped away till they were lost in the +gloom of the forest, when, clapping her hands, she broke into a peal of +frantic merriment, which was more like the shriek of a fiend than like +human laughter. + +"Ah, ha! have I not done it well! I met them here just in time. Satan +stands my friend yet! If he did make me lose the game, he has helped to +keep another from winning it. No, Lester shall never have a lord at the +expense of him who, but for my accursed tongue and his silly _honour_! +would still have been its master. Ho, ho! have I not done it! Now it +remains for me, ere he can learn the secret of his birth, to send him +where low and highborn are all on a level! This! and, if this fail, +_this_," she said, grasping first the vial and then the dagger, "shall +do my will! It's a wicked act--I know it!--'tis a deed of hell! I would +not harm the poor lad--no; for he is like an own child to me--but, then, +he is _not_ my child--and shall I see him in the seat from which _he_ +has been cast out? No, no, this steel shall drink--this poison shall dry +up, his noble blood first!" + +"Of whom do you speak in such fearful words, mother?" + +She started with mingled terror and astonishment, and beheld standing at +her side the unconscious object of her thoughts. Her surprise at his +sudden, and, as she at first believed, supernatural appearance, for the +moment deprived her of her speech; she dropped the hand that held the +vial, which was dashed in pieces against a stone, and gazed on him for +several seconds with a disturbed and remorseful countenance. + +"Did you hear all my words?" she at length had the resolution to ask, +advancing a step towards him, and speaking in a deep, husky tone. + +"No, mother. I have been in the shadow of yonder bastion, waiting the +departure of those horsemen." + +"Then you could not hear their speech?" she interrogated, with an +eagerness of voice and manner that he could not account for. + +"No," he answered, firmly. + +"You have not spoken with them?" + +"No." + +"They have not told you--that is, you are Mark Meredith, the grandson of +old Meredith, the fisherman? Speak, boy!" + +"Surely I am, Elpsy; do you not discern my face by this moon? I fear," +he said, in a kind tone, "you have not taken good care of yourself of +late, and are a little fevered. Go down to our hut, if you can walk so +far, and you will find a meal of fish there, of my own taking, which I +left my grandsire preparing for me. Bid him give you my portion. +Good-night, Elpsy, I have business at Castle More." + +As he spoke he stepped aside to pass her and pursue his way. His +hospitable and kind invitation had touched her. She was not so seared +that gentleness and words of kindness could not find a vibrating chord +within her bosom. Gradually, as he spoke she relaxed her hand from its +grasp on the poniard, which, on discovering him, she had instinctively +concealed in the folds of her scarlet cloak, and extended it towards him +in a grateful manner. But the expression of his intention to proceed to +the abode of Lady Lester caused her suddenly to draw it back, while in a +quick, harsh tone of voice, and with great vehemence of manner, in which +alarm and apprehension were visible, she cried, + +"Castle More! What hast thou to do at Castle More?" + +"I bear a message to Robert of Lester! Detain me not, Elpsy; I have +already lingered on the way." + +"Who sends thee?" + +"The young lady of Bellamont." + +"Thy message?" + +"I know not. 'Tis in this sealed pacquet." + +"Is this all for which thou art sent?" + +"It is." + +"No instructions--no commands?" + +"None, save to make no delay at Castle More, lest my young lord and I +should renew a quarrel we had this day." + +"Nothing else?" + +"Nothing. But why these rapid questions--this anxiety of manner? What +has come over thee, Elpsy?" he asked, with surprise. + +She had put this series of interrogations to him with an irresistible +energy and rapidity, that left him no alternative but direct and instant +replies. At first she gave him no answer; her face worked convulsively, +and she seemed to be contending with some strong feelings, that she in +vain strove to get the mastery over. At length she muttered within her +lips, + +"I had feared! But 'tis safe, safe. 'Tis a pity to slay the fair young +lad; but, if I do not, he will know that which he never must +know--become that he never shall become! He must not see Castle More. He +must die rather! Mark, come to me," she said, in a hollow and unearthly +tone; "I would whisper in your ear what I would not have the laughing +and grinning devils that flit about us in the air, hear! Come to me and +listen!" + +While she was speaking she nervously grasped the handle of her dagger, +and took a step towards him. Her manner hitherto had already aroused his +watchfulness, and the tone of her invitation by no means increased his +confidence. He did not, indeed, suspect any attempt upon his life by +her; but, being familiar with her restless and violent nature, he was +prepared to expect some annoying violence; and for this he was +cautiously on the watch. + +"Wilt not approach?" she said, in a coaxing tone. "'Tis a sweet and fair +tale I would tell thee! Ha, ha! as fair and sweet as I told the Lord +Robert yestere'en! Wilt not come?" she shouted, as she saw he continued +to step back as she advanced; "then will I come!" + +She, with these words, made a spring towards him, seized him suddenly by +the breast, and brandished her poniard in the air. He was not unprepared +for this, sudden as it was: he caught her upraised arm, and bent it +backward over her head till she shrieked with pain, and, with a cool and +determined exertion of his whole strength, cast her from him so +violently as to hurl her to the earth. She sprang to her feet like a +cat, and, with a yell of rage, again leaped upon him. He avoided her +attack by lightly springing to one side, when, missing her blow, she +fell forward and struck her head on the edge of a stone, and sunk to the +ground senseless and bleeding. + +He instantly flew to her relief, lifted her from the earth, and +attempted to assuage the flow of blood from a severe contusion that she +had received on the forehead. In a little time the loss of blood +restored her to consciousness; it also had the effect of subduing her +high fever of excitement, and making her comparatively calm. She +permitted him to bind a handkerchief, that he took from his own neck, +across her temples; but she neither spoke nor acknowledged his +attentions, but sat in sullen silence on the ground. + +"Elpsy," asked the youth, at length, "why do you seek my life?" + +"You can never know!" she replied, slowly shaking her head with morose +inflexibility. + +"Have I wronged you?" + +"Ask me not!" + +"Is it thirst for blood, evil woman, that drives thee to this crime?" + +"I would not slay thee, but thou and I, boy, can never live in the same +land!" she said, obstinately. + +"Thou mightst have spared this attempt, then, on my life, for soon the +deep sea will roll between me and my native isle." + +"How! Explain your words!" she asked, with awakened interest. + +"I am resolved, as nature has denied me nobility of birth, to give it at +least to those who come after me." + +"Speak on!" she cried, hanging on his words with intense expectation. + +"I am going from my father's roof into the world, to see if I cannot +make men forget from what I have sprung!" + +"Is this thy purpose, boy? Speak truly!" + +"It is, Elpsy. Seven hours ago I had nearly linked my fortunes with the +yacht that takes the earl to England on the morrow--but--" + +"But, what?" she eagerly demanded. + +"My father--I thought of him, and--" + +"Would not." + +"I cannot desert him to suffering and want." + +"And is this all?" she asked, her face lighting up with a newly awakened +thought. + +"The sole cause." + +She began eagerly to search her belt, and drew forth from it a heavy +purse. Shaking it with a gratified air, she then poured its glittering +contents on the ground beside her. + +"See that pile of gold! To-morrow go in this king's ship, and it shall +be yours--there are three hundred guilders told--'twill give the old man +food and raiment for a longer life than his will be, and afterward buy a +coffin for his bones. Wilt go?" + +"Mother," said he, his heart leaping with joy and hope, yet both +tempered with the doubt to which he gave utterance, "this wealth! is it +thine? How came you by it?" + +"It matters not." + +"I dare not touch it. I fear 'tis the price of sin--or, perhaps, of +blood." + +"Fool; 'tis wealth I've had in store these eighteen years, given to me +by times by one who, if there be justice in Heaven or hell, is now +accursed on earth. There is no more evil in it than in every piece of +gold that the earth contains--all gold is evil--it is all but the price +of honour, of honesty, or of human blood. Take it, and depart from this +land." + +He gazed on the glittering heap, and hope, by its aid, pictured bright +visions of the future, and the fruition of all his aspiring wishes. +Ambition once more awakened in his heart. Yet he hesitated. But, while +he did so, he thought of Kate Bellamont--of the proud Lester--of his +hopes of the future--of all that he had loved to contemplate; he even +gave a thought to Grace Fitzgerald: all that an aspiring mind like his, +at such a time, could be influenced by, had its effect upon him. She +narrowly watched his countenance, read rightly his thoughts, and, +feeling assured of his acceptance of it, mentally congratulated herself +that her object could be effected without the shedding of his blood. She +waited till she thought his mind was sufficiently ripe for her purpose, +then replaced the gold in the purse, and, balancing it in her hand, +said, "Before you take this purse, I name one condition of its +acceptance." + +He looked to her to mention it. + +"That you for ever drop your present name and assume another; that you +never breathe to mortal ear the place of your birth, nor give clew to +your country." + +"I gladly promise this--for already I had resolved on it, Elpsy. I have +_one_ great motive for doing so. But what can be yours?" + +"'Tis no matter. You promise this?" + +"Cheerfully." + +"Then take the gold for thy grandsire's support." + +"Thanks, thanks, kind Elpsy--yet--" + +"Not a word of objection. I have two favours to ask of thee." + +"Name them," said he, with an eagerness that evinced a desire to serve +her. + +"Promise that you will hold no speech with any one before thy +departure." + +"I do," he said, after an instant's hesitation. + +"Swear that thou wilt never set foot on this isle again." + +"Nay, I will not swear it," he said, with determination. + +"Wilt thou obey me? Swear it!" she cried, in a tone of fierce command. + +"Who art thou that I should yield thee obedience, woman? I yield +obedience to none save my Maker!" + +"Wilt thou swear?" she asked, with more composure. + +"Never." + +The resolute attitude he so unexpectedly assumed disconcerted her for an +instant. At length she said, + +"Wilt thou promise never to return here under thy own, that is--thy +present name?" + +"Yes, most freely. Now farewell, Elpsy; I must hasten to Castle More." + +"You go not to Castle More!" she exclaimed, with singular emphasis. + +"I am intrusted with a message, and must deliver it." + +"Give it to me, I will be its bearer." + +"Nay, I must myself place it in Lord Robert's hands, in person." + +"Give it me, boy! I will bear it safely to its destination." + +"No, Elpsy." + +"Go to Castle More, and you sail not on the morrow," she said, in a +determined tone, replacing the gold in her belt. + +He hesitated. After a brief struggle between his duty to Grace +Fitzgerald and her cousin, and his own wishes, he at length said, +falteringly, + +"May I trust you to deliver it, Elpsy?" + +"Yes." + +He turned the billet, with its lock of hair, over and over, gazed on it +long and fondly on every side, and, from his reluctance to resign the +precious treasure, there appeared to have arisen a new bar to Elpsy's +purpose. At length he made a compromise with his feelings by slipping +off the braid of hair, and hastily concealing it in his bosom, while he +gave her the unsecured packet. + +"Place it only in the hands of Robert of Lester, Elpsy." + +"None else shall see it." + +"Speedily, if you are not too ill." + +"It will take many a harder buffet than that thou gavest me to make me +ill. He shall have it ere thou art half a league on thy return." + +"Then, Elpsy, I go. Fare thee well, and may Heaven have you in better +keeping than your life now gives hope of. Will you call at times when I +am away to see my grandfather? He will be lonely." + +"Many will be the gossip we'll yet have together. Now go! Take my +blessing--'twill do thee no harm, if it can do no good! When does the +ship sail?" + +"The Earl of Bellamont will return from Kinsale in the morning, and 'tis +said that before noon she will be under weigh." + +"The sooner the better. Go at once on board, nor let the rising sun find +thee on the land. Farewell." + +"Farewell, Elpsy. Don't forget the poor old man!" + +"He shall never want while Elpsy lives. Now fare thee well, +and--_remember_!" she added, impressively. + +They now separated; the young man rapidly retracing his way to his hut, +with a buoyant tread and lightness of spirit, his imagination filled +with dazzling visions of the future; Elpsy bending her steps steadily in +the direction of Castle More, her soul exulting in the master-stroke of +policy she had effected. When he was no longer visible, she stopped, +and, opening the packet, by the light of the moon curiously examined the +locket and its device, the application of which, without understanding +its motto, she intuitively comprehended, and then read the contents of +the billet with a loud, scornful laugh. + +"And would she meet him _now_ with love? Ha, ha! The haughty maiden +would toss her head, did he bear this to her, she knowing his birth. +Oh!" she added, with a malignant chuckle, "that I had let him married +her ere this secret had let out--would it not have been a brave thing +then to have brought down the pride of these gentles! If I could have +kept the secret till their honeymoon was over! Fiends!" she exclaimed, +with maddened disappointment, "what precious revenge I have lost! Shall +I not have a taste of what is left me? Shall I not yet tell her _who_ +and _what_ he is? Oh, will it not be joy to my soul to witness her +ravings! I'll do't! I'll do't! There's something left yet to live for! +There's mischief yet to do in the earth. But I must first watch this +sprout of Lester--this fisher's boy! I shall not have to touch his life +if he'll get off before he learns his true rank; but I'll follow him +like his shadow, nor will I take eyes off him till the ship he sails in +goes out of my sight beyond the ocean's edge. Then will I to Castle Cor, +and see if Lady Kate will receive me, the bearer of this locket, 'with +love!' Haven't I a tale for her delicate ear! Oh, there is yet something +to live for! Elpsy'll not die while there's devil's work to do! So! +methinks I feel a little giddy for walking," she continued, tottering +against the trunk of a tree; "but I'll soon fall into my old gait. A +little bloodletting of a moonshiny night is ever good for the health." + +Thus muttering to herself, she turned back towards the ruin, and began +to walk in the direction taken by Mark, at first slowly; but, gradually +gathering strength with motion and excitement, she soon strode through +the long, dark glades of the forest at a rate that soon brought her in +sight of him. Keeping so far in the rear as not to be discovered by him +should he chance to turn his head, she followed him out of the wood, +then down to the seaside and along the beach, till she saw him, just as +the day broke, lift the latch of the door of his humble cot and +disappear within. She then sought a recess in the cliff in the rear of +the hut, where, secreting herself in a clump of low bushes that grew +about it, she remained concealed until some time after sunrise, when she +saw him reappear accompanied by the fisherman, and beheld both go +together to the beach, launch their little fisher's bark, hoist the +sail, and leave the shore. She eagerly watched them as they stood off +from the land, and with unspeakable triumph saw them run alongside of +the yacht. With emotions of malignant joy, she beheld Mark take leave of +his grandsire and get on board, and the solitary old man quit the vessel +alone and steer in shore towards his desolate hut. As his skiff grated +upon the beach, she met him. + +"So ho, father Meredith! thou hast been selling thy fish to a good +market. The English have the silver coin, which thou wilt scarce find at +the Cove ayond. What price gave these warsmen for thy herring the morn, +gossip?" she inquired, assisting him with her arm from the boat as she +spoke. + +"It was no sale o' the herring at all, woman Elpsy," said the old man, +shaking his head mournfully, and placing the stone kedge of his boat in +a crevice in the rocks so as to secure it against being borne off by the +ebbing tide; "it's no a sale o' the fish, woman dear, but o' my own +flesh and blood. Och hone! och hone! and it's the ould gray-headed +man'll never see his face more!" + +He turned towards the yacht as he spoke, and stretching forth his hands +towards it, wailed aloud: at length his lament ceased, or, rather, +changed to a flood of tender epithets, eloquent with the depth of Irish +sorrow, which he applied to the youth, while his dim eyes were vainly +strained towards the vessel, to distinguish once more his beloved form. + +"What means this sorrow, father Meredith? Who hast thou sold?" + +"The lad--my grandson! a-cush la-ma chree! I have sold him for gold. +There, woman, take thine again! I will none of it!" he cried, with +sudden vehemence, drawing the purse she had given Mark from his jacket, +and throwing it at her feet. "'Tis the price of blood, and I will not +have it, evil woman." + +"Hear me, father Meredith," she said, deliberately placing her hands +upon his shoulders, and looking him earnestly in the face. "I know the +purpose of thy visit to yonder king's ship. I know whom thou hast left +there. Thou hast done well and wisely in permitting him to depart. He +has left gold for thy wants, and has told thee how he came by it. Twas +my gift to him and thee." + +"'Tis the price o' his blood, woman!" he said, with a heavy moan of +mingled grief and indignation. + +"'Tis the price of his life, old man! Were he not now in yonder +brigantine, the sands ere this would have drunken his blood," she added, +with fierceness. "Hist! ask not what I mean. What I have said is true. I +have sent him away to save his life, and that there may be one less +murder on the earth. Go to thy hut and content thee with this gold. 'Tis +a friendly gift, old father. 'Twill save thee from labour so long as thy +life shall last. I will come and gossip with thee o' evenings, and, hey! +sirs," she cried, skipping on before him with fantastic gambols, as he +placed his slender oars on his shoulder, "won't we pass the time +merrily? I will make fairies dance before thy door o' moonshiny nights +for thy entertainment; call the mermaids up from the bottom o' the blue +sea to sing thee to sleep when thou art aweary; and tell thee tales o' +hob-goblins and spirits till the moon fades in the morning. Oh, we will +have times, father Meredith!" + +"But will he come back, Elpsy, woman?" + +"The devil forbid!" she responded, half aloud. "Ay, father; thou wilt +yet see him return a brave sailor, and with piles o' wealth. Faith, +sirs, I would not wonder if he should build thee a castle with his gold, +and make a lord o' thee. Ha, ha, ha, father Meredith! thou wouldst make +a proper lord!" + +"He, he, he! Elpsy, thou art pleasant. If the lad's gone, I'll make the +best o't till the saints give him back in good time. Come to my hut and +break thy fast, avourneen! He was ever o'er lofty, and had notions above +his class. He was unhappy, the creature, because he was not equal with +the young Lord o' Castle More. Be-dad! Elpsy, honey, one would ha' +thought he were of gentle blood!" + +She started, and closely scrutinized the old fisherman's face; but, +seeing nothing to confirm her now constantly active suspicions, she +said, + +"He was above his birth, as you say, gossip! The sea will be a school +for him, and teach him his place. He will make a better sailor than +lord. Ha, ha, ha! will he not, father Meredith?" and she laughed coldly +and sarcastically as she spoke. + +"He was always a good sailor, Elpsy, woman! Ne'er a ship came int' the +Cove he went not up to her main truck; nor a craft lay becalmed i' the +sight o' the bay he went not aboard and through every part o' her. He +knew every rope in a ship as well as an admiral, the crathur! Ah, woman, +he could do an officer's duty this day as well as the keptain o' the +yacht yonder. He seemed to take to a seaman's life nat'rally, and it was +ever discontented he was in the skiff. He loved to talk o' big ships, +and foreign lands, battles by sea, and storms, and shipwreck, and the +likes o' them things; and, with all his high notions, he ever loved a +sailor betther than a lord, and the sailors all liked him, the jewil!" + +"He is in his place, then, father Meredith," said Elpsy, chiming in with +the favourable train of the old fisherman's garrulous praises of the +youth. "Thou wouldst not call him ashore now an thou couldst." + +"Nay, I would not say that, Elpsy, woman. Yet I begin to think the lad +be best where he is. Yet it will be a dark day to my soul when the ship +sails a-sea with him--the light o' my eyes! the core o' my heart! Och, +hone! Sad will be the day to the soul o' me, Elpsy, woman! Come in, +crathur, honey, an' take a bite o' the breakfast. It's you it is that's +the comfort o' my lone bosom now, avourneen!" + +"No, no, I have much to do the mornin', old man!" she said, turning from +the door as the fisherman, after standing his oars up beside it, placed +his hand upon the latch. "Take the gold freely; it is thine!" she added, +casting it through the window upon the earthen floor of the cabin. "When +the ship sails I will eat." + +"Take a drap o' the dew, Elpsy, dear!" continued the old man, the grief, +which at his age is always superficial, having, like a child's, been +diverted for the time by the rattling gossip of the weird woman. + +"Elpsy will fast from all save water till the masts of yonder yacht are +shut from my sight by the meeting of sea and sky!" + +She waved her hand with a lofty gesture as she spoke, as if she sought +to impress the fisherman by her manner alone, and strode away from the +hut towards the path that led up to the castle. + +Grace Fitzgerald, after communicating the result of her interview with +Mark, had left Kate to her repose. But, with grief at her feud with +Lester, and her lively anticipations of beholding him at her feet, to be +raised from that humble posture to her forgiving embrace, her mind was +too active for rest, and sleep fled from her pillow, leaving it in the +sole possession of her ardent thoughts. With the first blush of day, her +face scarce less roseate than the morning sky with the consciousness of +her object, she rose and threw open her lattice, and turned her face, +with earnest expectation, towards the forest-path which led northward +towards Castle More. From time to time she would lean far out of the +window, and, with eager ear, listen as if to catch some distant sound. +At length, with a look and exclamation of disappointment, not undivested +of a slight shade of feminine pique, she closed the lattice and cast +herself upon her pillow again, saying, in a tone of wounded pride, + +"I care not! he is unworthy of a thought! I will forget him and try to +sleep!" + +She closed her eyelids, as if, at the same time, she expected her +fevered thoughts, like the flower which folds its leaves together when +the sun withdraws its light, would also shut themselves up and leave her +to repose. But she now thought more vividly and acutely than before. It +at length occurred to her that there might have been some delay on the +part of the messenger. Perhaps Lester had not yet got her pacquet, or +had just received it, and was now on his way to her! + +"I will wait a little longer!" she said, unclosing her eyes, and rising +and going to the lattice. + +A long time she remained here, with her eyes fixed on the forest path, +and her ears acutely set, to catch the most distant sound of horses' +feet. + +"He comes not yet!" she sighed, with deep disappointment. "Yet he may +soon be here! Hark! is not that his horse? No, 'tis a deer bounding +along to the spring!" + +At the moment a cool vein of wind from the sea chilled her, and, +glancing at her dress as she drew it together across her bosom, she +discovered, what she had hitherto been inattentive to, that she was in +her night-robes. + +"And I dare say I should have run to meet him as I am! What a foolish +child!" she said, blushing with confusion and innocent shame. "'Tis +fortunate he did not come before! I will dress, and by that time he may +be here!" + +Hope, hope, hope! Star of woman's love! In thy celestial journeyings, +thou dost never set on the limitless empire of her affections. Her wide +heart has no horizon beneath which thou canst go down and disappear. +Patient, long suffering, ever hoping to the last, she steers by thee her +bark of love through storm and danger, faithfully and fearlessly, never +losing sight of thee till, from her expectant eye, death steals the +power of reflecting longer thy radiance! + +When she had completed her toilet, and found that there were still no +indications of Lester's approach, she became impatient, and, throwing a +hood and veil over her head, she left her chamber and hastened below. +For what purpose she hardly knew--impulse alone prompted her footsteps. +She hastened through the hall, and descended into the castle yard, and +directed her course towards the forest. She had entered the verge of its +gloomy shades, which the morning sun had scarcely yet driven out, and +was penetrating its depths, when she suddenly stopped. + +"Where am I going? what am I doing?" she exclaimed, as if her feet had +been involuntarily obeying her thoughts hitherto, and she for the first +time had discerned that she was really doing what she supposed she was +only thinking of doing. Such absent reveries are peculiar to young +persons in love! + +"Am I really going to meet him? I did not know that I did love Lester +so. But he would scorn me to find me here--I will hasten back as I +came--though I scarce have any consciousness how that was! What a simple +creature I have made of myself. I am afraid of my own ridicule. Oh love, +love, you do play the mischief with maiden's hearts when once you get +into them!" she said, sportively, yet ending her words with a deep sigh. + +Turning back, she retraced her steps slowly towards the castle. As she +approached it, her eyes were attracted by the pavilions, which still +remained standing, and, bending her steps towards the lawn, she entered +that which had been the scene of the yesterday's festival. No signs of +the banquet remained--all, save the curtains of the tent, and one or two +rustic sofas within it, were removed. She seated herself on one of +these, and raising the north side of the tent-hangings by one of the +silken cords attached to them, was enabled, without being seen, to +command the avenue to the forest. With her person bent a little forward, +and holding her handkerchief in her hand, as if prepared to wave it at +an instant's notice, she sat watching in the direction in which she +expected Lester to appear. + +"I will meet him here," she said; "I would not have even cousin Grace, +good as she is, to witness our interview of reconciliation. Oh, why does +he linger so! Well, Robert, I have been taught a lesson in a knowledge +of my own heart by this; and, let us but meet in peace once more, I will +bear much ere I will make either you or myself so miserable again." + +She sighed deeply as she spoke, and a glittering tear, like a drop of +dew shaken from a spray, fell upon her hand. + +"Surely he cannot love me, to linger so!" she said, dropping her aching +eyes, which had long kept watch on the distant path. + +"Proud maiden, thou hast spoken truly! he loves thee not!" + +Kate turned in alarm as the stern, harsh voice that spoke these words +sounded close to her ear, and beheld the weird woman. + +"Elpsy!" she cried, rising and speaking between terror and surprise. + +"The _witch_ Elpsy, lady," added the sorceress, sarcastically. + +"What would you, woman?" + +"Thyself." + +"How mean you?" exclaimed the maiden, shrinking involuntarily back. + +"Fear me not, lady!" she said, slowly and with mysterious emphasis, as +she gazed on the face of the fair girl, her eyes gloating with a +diabolical light; "I would not harm thy body, while I hold the key to +thy soul." + +"Fearful woman, if woman, or even human, thou art, what terrible meaning +lies hidden beneath your words?" + +"Thou lovest Robert of Lester?" + +"Elpsy, I will not be questioned. Leave me," said Kate, her brow glowing +between maidenly shame and anger. + +But Elpsy, without heeding her command or seeming to observe her +emotion, said, with the sardonic quiet that malice can put on when it +would wound, + +"Thou didst despatch a messenger to Castle More the last night, lady?" + +"How knowest thou this?" she demanded, evasively, startled at her +knowledge of what she believed known only to the parties immediately +interested. + +"Is there aught, daughter of the house of Bellamont, that happens among +mortals," she said, in the elevated tone of mystery and supernatural +power she was wont to assume at such times, "that Elpsy the sorceress is +ignorant of?" + +"I know thou art a dread and fearful woman," said Kate, with a thrill of +aversion, "and have power to do evil, which, rather than good, I have +heard it is thy delight to do." + +"Ha, ha! thou hast well spoken," she responded, with a chuckling laugh, +that caused the maiden, with all her firmness, to shudder and start back +to the extremity of the pavilion. + +"You fear me. Well, it is what I would have. Ho! 'Tis pleasant to be +feared by the lovely and the pure--by the strong and the mighty; to be +sought out by the noble, and have the homage of the low! Oh, it's a +brave thing, this holding sway over the minds of mortals. Kings may +govern their bodies--_we_ hold the empire of their souls! Ha, ha! So you +fear me, trembler?" + +"An angel would tremble before thee, guilty one!" + +"Ha, ha! I know it. Thou hast spoken it. It is the reward held out to us +that we shall one day master the good spirits." + +"And how? Alone by the power of darkness and of sin! You conquer through +fear, not by strength. Therefore it is that good spirits dare not enter +the abodes of the prince of evil. Woman, thou art fearful; thy spells +sinful; thy soul lost for ever!" she cried, with virtuous horror united +to the natural enthusiasm of her character. + +"Soul!" repeated the sorceress, with a writhing lip of derision; +"_soul_!" + +"Hast thou no soul, woman, in the name of God!" exclaimed the maiden, +appalled by the emphasis she laid on the word as she repeated it a +second time. + +The sorceress gazed on her a moment fixedly ere she replied, and then +advancing a pace towards her, said hoarsely, + +"Yes!" + +"Woman," continued Kate, with solemn earnestness, turning pale at the +manner in which she pronounced this monosyllable, "I know thou art +wicked and full of evil; but thou canst not have bartered thy eternal +life? have made compact with Sathanas, at the hazard of thy salvation?" + +Elpsy was moved with surprise by the energy with which she was +addressed, and, banishing her derisive smile, answered in a more natural +tone, + +"By compact no, lady! none save but with my own nature; even as all who +are mortal do barter away their souls when they obey the devil within. I +have served him in the shape of evil passions till his I am, soul and +body!" + +"Say not so, Elpsy," said Kate, touched with pity by the sullen despair +and abandonment of her manner, although in it not a shade of remorse or +penitence was apparent even to her charitable gaze; "if you have sinned, +there is forgiveness to be had of Heaven! It is not too late to secure +your soul's future happiness. I know there is much that is kind and +humane in you when you are not gored by insults, or under the influence +of angry emotions. Abandon your course of life; seek forgiveness of Him +who died for the chiefest of sinners. I pity you, Elpsy." + +The sorceress hung her head upon her breast in silence: her bosom heaved +with inward struggles; her harsh features became convulsed, and the +maiden thought she saw a tear fall from her eyes to the ground. +Encouraged by these signs of good, she added, approaching her in a +kindly manner, + +"Cast off this assumed character, if, as I sincerely trust, it is not +irrevocably made thine own by thy soul's price. I will furnish for thee +a neat cottage not far from Cormac, the forester's, and thou shalt have +the comforts about thee thy old age craves. Do not despair of +forgiveness, Elpsy. God is merciful, and will meet thee in kindness more +than half the way if--" + +"Angel! fiend! mock me not!" shrieked the woman, suddenly lifting her +face furrowed with tears, gnashing her glittering teeth, her eyes +flashing, her clinched hands shaking with nervous excitement, and her +whole bearing that of a pythoness enraged and fear-stricken. "There is +no God--no heaven for me! Yes, I am bought, body and soul! Talk not to +me of your Christ! For a moment I was carried back to childhood as you +spoke," she continued, with a sudden change of manner; "for I have been +once innocent as thyself. But 'tis past!" she cried, fiercely. "Your +words can move me no more! They have pressed out the last drop of +moisture that remained in my heart! I am adamant now--hard--hard--hard +as iron! Ha, ha, ha! Elpsy a Christian! Accursed be the name!" + +Kate Bellamont, at this sudden and terrific outbreak from one whom she +believed had been softened by her words, retreated from the vehemence of +her language and the savage wildness of her manner, with the look and +attitude of one who suddenly beholds the lion which he has tamed start +suddenly from his playful embrace, and assume all at once the savage +ferocity of his nature. She was astonished beyond expression by this +unexpected ebullition of feeling, and her mind was appalled both by her +terrible language and the new ground she had assumed. + +"Elpsy, stand from the door and let me pass!" she said, with firmness, +yet trembling through every fibre of her body, as Elpsy, after speaking, +continued to gaze on her in gloomy silence, and with a lowering and +menacing aspect. + +"Nay," said the sorceress, placing herself full in the way, and speaking +with more mildness even than was usual to her, "I have news that +concerns thee." + +"Me?" + +"None else." + +"Of what?" + +"The young Lord of Lester." + +"What of him? Thy looks--thy language--that fearful smile!" + +"Dost love him?" + +"It matters not to thee. Speak what thou hast to say, and quickly," she +cried, with an indefinable foreboding of evil. + +"Thou dost, maiden. It is written in every lineament; speaks in every +action--yea, Robert of Lester is thy second self. Ha, ha, ha! Did I not +say I held the key to thy soul--ay, and I can unlock it, too!" + +Having, in the first heat of her vengeance at finding herself defeated +by the course taken by Lester, resolved to divulge to Kate Bellamont the +secret of his birth that she might triumph in her humility and +wretchedness, Elpsy's fertile mind soon taught her how best to effect +her malicious, and, save its wickedness, aimless purpose. She now, +therefore, in a tone of assumed carelessness, added, + +"But thou lovest him because he is noble like thyself! Were he lowly in +name and humble in birth, thou wouldst scorn him," she added, with the +manner of one who is trying the moral pulse of her victim: "this is ever +the way with the highborn." + +"Were he lower born than the hind who herds my father's kine, he would +still be Lester, and noble to me!" she said, with a spirit that became +her lofty beauty and devoted love. + +"This will never do," muttered Elpsy, thoughtfully, intent on her cruel +design, and forgetful of, and insensible to, the gratitude due to the +maiden for the kindly interest she had so recently expressed in her +welfare; in repayment of which, with all the maliciousness of a demon, +she was now taxing her ingenuity to dash from her lips the cup of +happiness which young love had offered to them. + +"Were he a cowherd, he would have a cowherd's common soul, maiden!" + +"Being common he then could not be Lester. But being Lester, though a +swineherd, that inherent nobleness, that is the birthright of his +nature, would shine out through his mean garb and calling, and make him +still, to my eyes, the Lester I love." + +"Were he a slave--a serf--ay, chained to a galley, wouldst thou love him +still?" + +"If misfortune, and not crime, brought him to this degradation--then +should I not love him less, but love him more!" + +"If 'twere crime?" + +"Couple it not with his name, woman," she said, with flashing eyes. "But +why this dark and subtle questioning? Speak, I command thee!" + +"Thou hast no power to command me--I no will to obey. I will probe her +yet deeper!" she muttered. "If, maiden, there were a stain upon his +birth--" + +"Well--" she quickly interrupted, with painful eagerness visible in +every lineament of her beautiful countenance: for her feelings were +highly wrought up, and, excited to expectation of something evil by the +manner of her interrogator, she was all nerves and on the rack of +torturing suspense. "Well--speak, prithee, woman! Why do you pause?" + +"If 'twere proven he were a--a--" + +"Say--" + +"A--nay, 'twill wound thy ears!" + +"Speak--I fear not--for I know thou canst lay no crime to his charge!" + +"A _bastard_!" she said, laying a deliberate stress upon each syllable. + +"Evil woman! away! Leave me!" + +"It may be proved that he is not only this, but--" + +"Away! Oh that I should listen to thy foul and slanderous speech." + +"_Lowborn!_" + +"In the name of Heaven, woman, cease! and give me way out, or I will +alarm the castle, and have thee punished for this insolence!" + +As the indignant girl spoke she prepared to pass her, when the woman +laid her hand firmly on her wrist and detained her, while she said, in a +serious and imperious manner, + +"Maiden, hear me! I am not mocking thee! What if I can prove him to thee +to be a lowborn bastard--the son of a peasant-girl, and palmed on Lady +Lester as her own?" + +"Thou canst do no such thing with all thy wicked arts to aid thee," +scornfully replied the maiden. + +"What if I could do it! Wouldst love him then?" + +"Yes." + +"The bastard?" + +"Yes, I tell thee." + +"The son of a lowborn peasant?" + +"He would still be Lester to me, so long as honour and truth were the +habitants of his bosom." + +"Wouldst thou love him then?" + +"Better and better for each misfortune he brought not on himself." + +"Or serf--or galley-slave--or peasant--or bastard, he would still be +Lester in the eyes of thy love?" + +"Yes! Stand aside, and let me pass forth." + +"One word more, fair virgin. I must try," continued she to herself, "my +last card now. Her love outwits my invention. 'Tis a shield that turns +aside all my shafts. I think I now know her weakness, and so will put it +to trial. Suppose," she asked, in an indifferent tone, "this Robert of +Lester should take offence at thee--" + +"Well--" she said, with interest. + +"And should ride from thee in anger--" + +"Proceed--prithee--" + +"And, being too proud to atone, lets his pride grow till it beget hatred +and scorn of thee--" + +"Well--" + +"And so, from wounded love and rage, he forswears his noble name, and +leagues himself with pirates; and, out of revenge to thee, goes forth to +slay, and deluge the earth with blood and rapine!" + +"Have you done?" she asked, in a tone of disdain for what she deemed the +idle words of the speaker. + +"I have," she answered, with a peculiar smile, that troubled and +perplexed her. "But I would ask thee--wouldst love him then?" + +"I will answer thee--if such things could be, which ne'er can be--No. In +this case, guilt would place for ever an impassable gulf between us. +But, as thou hast so much interest in him, let me pass that I may meet +him, for I hear his horse's feet in the forest," she said, with the +contempt of incredulity, yet trembling--so well the supposed case +advanced by Elpsy tallied with the circumstances under which Lester left +her--lest there might be some dreadful truth at the bottom. + +"His horse's feet thou wilt never hear more. Himself thou wilt never see +more, save to thy sorrow." + +"Explain, woman," she almost shrieked, grasping her by the shoulders, +and speaking with wild vehemence. + +"Robert of Lester has become even as I have spoken. Maddened by thy +coldness--his pride stung--his self-love wounded--his feelings +lacerated, he has fled his home, and leagued himself with bucaniers." + +"In the name of the blessed Heaven above, do you speak but a tithe of +the truth, woman?" she demanded, with fearful emotion. + +"He galloped to the seaside, and a Danish bucanier being by chance in +shore, he threw himself on board, and put to sea with her." + +"One word, only one word more! You saw this?" + +"I did, and came hither to tell thee." + +"Would to God I knew if thou didst tell the truth or no," she cried, +almost sinking upon the ground. + +"Behold this token which he gave me, bidding me return it to the giver, +who, he said--mark the words, maiden!--was henceforth only worthy the +scorn and contempt of the noble heart she had broken," spoke the false +witch, taking, as if struck by a sudden thought, the locket and message +from her bosom and placing it in her hands. + +"It is too true. Merciful Heaven, sustain me! Nay! Elpsy, touch me not. +I shall not fall. No, I _will_ not fall! If--if he can scorn +me--I--nay--do not support me--my pride will--will--oh--Lester, +Lester--you have killed me!" + +With a deep moan, as if her heart were bursting, she fell into the arms +of the sorceress, who, not wholly unmoved by the wretchedness she had +caused, placed her on one of the settees, and, with a look of triumph, +gazed on her pale cheek, and watched the irregular and long-drawn +heaving of her bosom. Her success had been complete, and she experienced +a joy kindred to that of a fiend's when he beholds the fall of a good +man. She had made the happy miserable, and was content! She had wounded +the pride of the noble, and was satisfied. She had been the bearer of +guilt to innocence, and her task was accomplished! + +After surveying for a few moments the lovely victim of her malice and of +her hatred of the highborn, which seemed to be placed deeper than any +other feeling in her bosom, she drew from her bosom a small vial, and, +removing the stopper, stooped over her and moistened her lips and +nostrils. The volatile essence of the evaporating fluid was instantly +inhaled, and produced a reviving effect. The colour returned to her +cheek, and, opening her eyes, she fixed on the sorceress a wild gaze. + +"It is not all a dream, then!" she cried, putting back her hair from her +forehead and staring at her; "she is there! Lester! is he--is he--oh--I +cannot speak what I would--I remember--ah! I remember all. _She_ told me +so! Woman!" she all at once shrieked, "is thy tale false or true? Say it +is not true," she added, rising and holding her by the cloak, "and I +will fall down and kiss thy feet." + +A triumphant light gleamed in the ruthless eyes of the sorceress. "Thou +art humbled by grief," she said, with torturing coolness. "It is a +pleasant thing to see the proud and high come down. Oh, if I had been +noble too, as well as fair, in my youth, I had been a bride instead +of--but I will not wound thine ears, maiden, with a word thou canst +never know the meaning of. It is only for the lowborn virgin to be +taught it by some highborn youth. What I have told thee is true. Robert +of Lester has leagued himself with pirates. One day I may tell thee more +of him." + +"Hist!" she whispered, hoarsely. "I will hear no more of him. He is +nothing now to Catharine of Bellamont. Hark, there is the sound of +horses' feet! _He comes!_ False one, he is here!" she cried, darting +forward to the door of the pavilion. + +Elpsy smiled grimly and followed her. + +The sound of horsemen approaching was now distinctly heard, but it was +the noise of many horses advancing at speed. In a few seconds they +beheld emerge from the forest, not the form of Lester, but that of the +Earl of Bellamont, attended by three or four mounted servants. + +"Has Elpsy spoken the truth, maiden?" asked the sorceress, her eyes +gleaming with the unpleasing smile habitual to her, when she observed +Kate to turn her face away in disappointment. + +"Torture me not, evil woman; thy words, whether false or true, have +almost broken my heart." + +At this instant the earl caught sight of his daughter, and, turning +aside from the avenue, galloped across the lawn towards the pavilion. He +was a gentleman of noble presence, with a dark, intelligent face, and +dignified features. The resemblance between himself and daughter was +instantly apparent. He rode with grace, and displayed admirable +horsemanship in the management of his fiery steed. + +"A kiss, my sweet child," he said, as he threw himself from his horse +beside her. "You are abroad early! What, in tears? I have not been +absent three days, and yet you welcome me, Kate, with as much emotion as +if I had but returned from India. Nay, then, weep on my breast, silly +one, if you will. What, Elpsy here too!" he exclaimed, now for the first +time seeing the witch standing within the door of the pavilion--"I see +it all. She has been alarming you with some evil foretellings! Woman, +have I not forbidden thee to harbour or appear on the domains of Castle +Cor? Moral blight and misfare follow thy footsteps as surely as does +pestilence the path of the baleful dogstar. Depart!" + +"I have done mine errand, proud earl, and therefore will go--but not at +thy bidding I depart," she added, gathering her scarlet cloak about her +hideous person. + +"I care not if it be at the devil's--as it is most like to be--so I see +thee no more! Cease, my dove, that moan. Her charms are sand--her words +false--her prophecies the wildest dreams! Heed them not, if, as I +suspect, she has filled thy tender ears with them." + +"Thou lovest thy daughter, earl?" she said, interrogatively, as she +prepared to depart. + +"Too well to see her made miserable, vile sorceress!" + +"See, then, thou do not make her so." + +"How mean you?" he demanded. + +"_Beware of a black plume!_" she added, mysteriously. + +"Explain your meaning, woman!" he said, struck by her manner and the +menacing tones in which she gave him this prophetic warning. + +The sorceress made no reply; but, turning her face towards the path that +led to the seashore, she rapidly traversed the lawn, and, waving her +hand warningly, disappeared down the path leading to the beach. + +The cause to which her father attributed her sudden and unwonted grief +greatly relieved Kate; and by allowing him, through her silence, to +retain the impression he had formed, she was saved the embarrassment of +making him a confidant of her wounded affections by unfolding to him the +true cause--a task, in her present state of mind, impossible for her to +perform, and one which, at any time, would have been a sad trial to her +maidenly sensitiveness. In a few moments she became more composed: the +tide of her affections, which had been forced back upon the +fountain-head, having found a channel in paternal love through which to +flow, if not in the same direction as before, yet nearly in as deep and +strong a current. + +She accompanied him to the castle, and for the remainder of the morning +was so occupied in forwarding the preparations for his departure and +that of her cousin, that she had little time to devote to her own +peculiar sorrows, leaving them for the lonely hours that would find her, +after they were gone, in the solitary chamber, mourning over her crushed +and blighted love. Yet a faint ray of the light of hope shone through +the darkness of her heart, and the faintly-cherished belief that the +tale of the sorceress might be false kept her from abandoning herself to +that hopelessness of grief, shame and utter wretchedness into which she +would have sunk had the truth been made manifest to her, divested of +every shadow of doubt. + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +NEW AND IMPORTANT WORKS LATELY PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS. + + +THE PRIVATE JOURNAL OF AARON BURR + +During his Residence of four Years in Europe; with Selections from his +Correspondence. + +Edited by MATTHEW L. DAVIS, Author of "Memoirs of Aaron Burr," &c. + + +LETTERS TO MOTHERS + +By Mrs. L. H. SIGOURNEY, Author of "Letters to Young Ladies." + + +DEMONSTRATION OF THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION + +By ALEXANDER KEITH, D.D., Author of "Evidence of Prophecy," &c. Fourteen +beautiful Engravings on Steel. + + +THE FAR WEST; Or, a Tour beyond the Mountains. + +Embracing Outlines of Western Life and Scenery; Sketches of the +Prairies, Rivers, Ancient Mounds, Early Settlements of the French, &c., +&c. + + +THE LIFE OF CHRIST, in the Words of the Evangelists. + +A complete Harmony of the Gospel History of our Saviour. For the use of +young Persons. Illustrated with Engravings after Chapman and others, by +Adams. + + +EVENINGS AT HOME; or, the Juvenile Budget Opened. By Dr. AIKIN and Mrs. +BARBAULD. + +From the fifteenth London edition; Illustrated with Engravings after +Harvey and Chapman, by Adams. + + +VELASCO; A Tragedy, in five acts. By EPES SARGENT, Esq. + + +THE WORKS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD + +Including his Letters to his Son, &c. To which is prefixed an original +Life of the Author. + + +THE HARMONY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH AND CHRISTIAN CHARACTER; AND THE CULTURE +AND DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. + +By JOHN ABERCROMBIE, M.D., F.R.S.E., Author of "Inquiries concerning the +Intellectual Powers and the Investigation of Truth," &c. + + +A MANUAL OF CONCHOLOGY + +According to the System laid down by Lamarck, with the late Improvements +by De Blainville. Exemplified and arranged for the Use of Students. By +THOMAS WYATT, M.A. Illustrated by thirty-six plates containing more than +two hundred types, drawn from the natural shell. + + +PELAYO: a Story of the Goth. + +By the Author of "Mellichampe," "The Yemassee," "Guy Rivers," &c. + + +HOW TO OBSERVE: MORALS AND MANNERS. + +By HARRIET MARTINEAU. + + +THE WORKS OF EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, ESQ. + +Containing Pelham; The Disowned; Devereux; Paul Clifford; Eugene Aram; +The Last Days of Pompeii; The Pilgrims of the Rhine; Falkland; Rienzi; +Ernest Maltravers, and Alice. + + +PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ECONOMY. + +Illustrated by Observations made in England in the year 1836. Part +second. By THEODORE SEDGWICK. + + +INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GREECE, TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND POLAND. + +By the Author of "Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and the +Holy Land." + +With a Map and Engravings. In two vols. + + +THE NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM, of Nantucket. + +Comprising the details of a Mutiny and atrocious Butchery on board the +American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the Month of +June, 1827. + + +RETROSPECT OF WESTERN TRAVEL. + +By HARRIET MARTINEAU, Author of "Society in America." 2 vols. + + +CALDERON, THE COURTIER. + +A Tale. + +By the Author of "Pelham," "Alice," "Leila," &c, &c. + + +THE AMERICAN SCHOOL LIBRARY. + +Published under the Direction of the American Society for the Diffusion +of Useful Knowledge. + + +BURTON; or, the Sieges. + +By J. H. INGRAHAM, Esq., Author of "Lafitte," &c. 2 vols. + + +SACRED HISTORY OF THE WORLD. + +By SHARON TURNER, LL.D. [Vol. III.--Family Library, No. 84.] + + +THE WORKS OF MRS. SHERWOOD. + +Vol. 15. Containing Part Four of Henry Milner, &c., &c. + + +THE ROBBER. + +By G. P. R. JAMES, Esq., Author of "Richelieu," &c. 2 vols. + + +GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND BELGIUM. + +A Short Tour in 1835. By HEMAN HUMPHREY, D.D. 2 vols. + + +THE LADY OF LYONS: + +A Play. By E. L. BULWER, Esq. + + +TRAVELS IN EUROPE: + +Viz., in Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the +Netherlands. By WILBUR FISK, D.D. + + +CROMWELL: a Romance. + +By H. W. HERBERT, Esq., Author of "The Brothers." 2 vols. + + +ANECDOTICAL OLIO: + +Being a Collection of Literary, Moral, Religious, and Miscellaneous +Anecdotes. + +By the Rev. Messrs. HOES and WAY. + + +CELESTIAL SCENERY; Or, the Wonders of the Planetary System displayed; +illustrating the Perfections of Deity and a Plurality of Worlds. + +By THOMAS DICK, LL.D. With Engravings. [Family Library, No. 83.] + + +INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRAEA, AND THE HOLY LAND. + +By an American. With a Map and Engravings. 2 vols. + + +THE MONK OF CIMIES, &c. + +By Mrs. SHERWOOD. With a Portrait. [Mrs. Sherwood's Works, vol. 14.] + + +THE HISTORY OF AMELIA. + +By HENRY FIELDING, Esq. With Illustrations by CRUIKSHANK. + + +LEILA; OR, THE SIEGE OF GRENADA. + +By E. L. BULWER, Esq. + + +CAPTAIN KYD; Or, the Wizard of the Sea. By the Author of "Burton," +"Lafitte," &c. 2 vols. + + +ANTHON'S SERIES OF CLASSICAL WORKS FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. + +The following works, already published, may be regarded as specimens of +the whole series, which will consist of about thirty volumes. + + FIRST LATIN LESSONS, containing the most important Parts of the + Grammar of the Latin Language, together with appropriate + Exercises in the translating and writing of Latin, for the Use + of Beginners. + + FIRST GREEK LESSONS, containing the most important Parts of the + Grammar of the Greek Language, together with appropriate + Exercises in the translating and writing of Greek, for the Use + of Beginners. + + A GRAMMAR OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE, for the Use of Schools and + Colleges. + + A SYSTEM OF GREEK PROSODY AND METRE, for the Use of Schools and + Colleges; together with the Choral Scanning of the Prometheus + Vinctus of AEschylus, and the Ajax and OEdipus Tyrannus of + Sophocles; to which are appended Remarks on the Indo-Germanic + Analogies. + + SALLUST'S JUGURTHINE WAR AND CONSPIRACY OF CATALINE, with an + English Commentary, and Geographical and Historical Indexes. + + CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WAR; with the first Book of + the Greek Paraphrase; with English Notes, critical and + explanatory, Plans of Battles, Seiges, &c., and Historical, + Geographical, and Archaeological Indexes. With a Map, Portrait, + &c. + + SELECT ORATIONS OF CICERO, with an English Commentary, and + Historical, Geographical, and Legal Indexes. 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