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Even Solsgrace himself, although imagining himself bound by his office and duty to watch over and counteract the wiles of the "Amalekitish woman, ," did not escape the sympathetic infection; being so much struck with the marks of peace and good-will exhibited by Lady Peveril, that he immediately raised the psalm,

The strictness of his cast and manners permitted him | Jasper exhorted the company to whet their appetites not to sink on his knee, and kiss the hand which to the dinner by a brimming cup to his Majesty's held his little orphan; but the deepness of his obei-health, filled as high and as deep as their goblets sance the faltering tremor of his voice-and the would permit. In a moment all was bustle, with the glistening of his eye, showed a grateful respect for clang of wine-cups and of flagons. In another mothe lady whom he addressed-deeper and more reve- ment the guests were on their feet like so many rential than could have been expressed even by Per- statues, all hushed as death, but with eyes glancing sian prostration. A few courteous and mild words, with expectation, and hands outstretched, which disexpressive of the pleasure she found in once more played their loyal brimmers. The voice of Sir Jasper, seeing her neighbours as her friends a few kind in- clear, sonorous, and emphatic, as the sound of his quiries, addressed to the principal individuals among war-trumpet, announced the health of the restored her guests, concerning their families and connexions, Monarch, hastily echoed back by the assemblage, completed her triumph over angry thoughts and dan- impatient to render it due homage. Another briet gerous recollections, and disposed men's bosoms to pause was filled by the draining of their cups, and sympathize with the purposes of the meeting. the mustering breath to join in a shout so loud, that not only the rafters of the old hall trembled while they echoed it back, but the garlands of oaken boughs and flowers with which they were decorated, waved wildly, and rustled as if agitated by a sudden whirlwind. This rite observed, the company proceeded to assail the good cheer with which the table groaned, animated as they were to the attack both by mirth and melody, for they were attended by all the minstrels of the district, who, like the Episcopal clergy, had been put to silence during the reign of the selfentitled saints of the Commonwealth. The social Accepting this salutation as a mark of courtesy re-occupation of good eating and drinking, the exchange paid, the Lady Peveril marshalled in person this party of pledges betwixt old neighbours who had been felof her guests to the apartment, where ample good low-soldiers in the moment of resistance-fellowcheer was provided for them; and had even the pa- sufferers in the time of depression and subjugation, tience to remain while Master Nehemiah Solsgrace and were now partners in the same general subject pronounced a benediction of portentous length, as of congratulation, soon wiped from their memory the an introduction to the banquet. Her presence was trifling cause of complaint, which in the minds of in some measure a restraint on the worthy divine, some had darkened the festivity of the day; so that whose prolusion lasted the longer, and was the more when the Lady Peveril walked into the hall, accomintricate and embarrassed, that he felt himself de-panied as before with the children and her female barred from rounding it off by his usual alliterative attendants, she was welcomed with the acclamations petition for deliverance from Popery, Prelacy, and due to the mistress of the banquet and of the CastlePeveril of the Peak, which had become so habi- the dame of the noble Knight, who had led most of tual to him, that, after various attempts to conclude them to battle with an undaunted and persevering with some other form of words, he found himself at valour, which was worthy of better success. last obliged to pronounce the first words of his usual formula aloud, and mutter the rest in such a manner as not to be intelligible even by those who stood nearest to him.

"O what a happy thing it is,

And joyful, for to see
Brethren to dwell together in
Friendship and unity!"

The minister's silence was followed by all the various sounds which announce the onset of a hungry company on a well-furnished table; and at the same time gave the lady an opportunity to leave the apart ment, and look to the accommodation of her other company. She felt, indeed, that it was high time to do so; and that the royalist guests might be disposed to misapprehend, or even to resent, the prior attentions which she had thought it prudent to offer to the Puritans.

Her address to them was brief and matronly, yet spoken with so much feeling as found its way to every bosom. She apologized for the lateness of her personal welcome, by reminding them that there were then present in Martindale Castle that day, persons whom recent happy events had converted from enemies into friends, but on whom the latter character was so recently imposed, that she dared not neglect with them any point of ceremonial. But those whom she now addressed, were the best, the dearest, the most faithful friends of her husband's house, to whom and to their valour Peveril had not only owed those successes which had given them and him fame during the late unhappy times, but to whose courage she in particular had owed the preservation of their leader's life, even when it could not avert defeat. A word or two of heartfelt congratulation on the happy restoration of the royal line and authority, completed all which she had boldness to add, and, bowing gracefully round her, she lifted a cup to her lips as if to welcome her guests.

These apprehensions were not altogether ill-founded. It was in vain that the steward had displayed the royal standard, with its proud motto of Tandum Triumphans, on one of the great towers which flanked the main entrance of the Castle; while, from the other, floated the banner of Peveril of the Peak, under which many of those who now approached had fought during all the vicissitudes of civil war. There still remained, and especially amongst the It was in vain he repeated his clamorous "Wel-old Cavaliers of the period, some glimmering of that come, noble Cavaliers! welcome, generous gentle-spirit which inspired Froissart, when he declares that men!" There was a slight murmur amongst then, a knight hath double courage at need, when animated that their welcome ought to have come from the mouth of the Colonel's lady-not from that of a menial. Sir Jasper Cranbourne, who had sense as well as spirit and courage, and who was aware of his fair cousin's motives, having been indeed consulted by her upon all the arrangements which she had adopted, saw matters were in such a state that no time ought to be lost in conducting the guests to the banqueting apartment, where a fortunate diversion from all these topics of rising discontent might be made, at the expense of the good cheer of all sorts, which the lady's care had so liberally provided.

The stratagem of the old soldier succeeded in its utmost extent. He assumed the great oaken-chair usually occupied by the stewart at his audits; and Dr. Dummerar having pronounced a brief Latin benediction, (which was not the less esteemed by the hearers that none of them understood it,) Sir

by the looks and words of a beautiful and virtuous woman. It was not until the reign which was commencing at the moment we are treating of, that the unbounded license of the age, introducing a general course of profligacy, degraded the female sex into mere servants of pleasure, and, in so doing, deprived society of that noble tone of feeling towards the sex, which, considered as a spur to "raise the clear spirit," is superior to every other impulse, save those of religion and of patriotism. The beams of the ancient hall of Martindale Castle instantly rung with a shout louder and shriller than that at which they had so lately trembled, and the names of the Knight of the Peak and his lady were proclaimed amid waving of caps and hats, and universal wishes for their health and happiness.

Under these auspices the Lady Peveril glided from the hall, and left free space for the revelry of the evening.

That of the Cavaliers may be easily conceived, since it had the usual accompaniments of singing, jesting, quaffing of healths, and playing of tunes, which have in almost every age and quarter of the world been the accompaniments of festive cheer. The enjoyments of the Puritans were of a different and less noisy character. They neither sung, jested, heard music, nor drank healths; and yet they seemed not the less, in their own phrase, to enjoy the creature-comforts which the frailty of humanity rendered grateful to their outward man. Old Whitaker even protested, that though much the smaller party in point of numbers, they discussed nearly as much sack and claret as his own more jovial associates. But those who considered the steward's prejudices, were inclined to think, that, in order to produce such a result, he must have thrown in his own by-drinkings-no inconsiderable item-to the sum total of the Presbyterian potations.

consequences of late hours, and potations pottledeep. The tumult of the exulting royalists at last sunk into silence, and the moon and the owl were left in undisturbed sovereignty over the old tower of the village church, which, rising white above a circle of knotty oaks, was tenanted by the bird, and silvered by the planet.*

CHAPTER V.

'Twas when they raised, 'mid sap and siege,
The banners of their rightful liege,

At their she-captain's call,
Who, miracle of womankind!
Lent mettle to the meanest hind

That mann'd her castle wall.-WILLIAM S. ROSE. ON the morning succeeding the feast, the Lady Peveril, fatigued with the exertions and the apprehensions of the former day, kept her apartment for two or three hours later than her own active habits, and the matutinal custom of the time, rendered usual. Meanwhile, Mistress Ellesmere, a person of great trust in the family, and who assumed much authority in her mistress's absence, laid her orders upon Deborah, the governante, immediately to carry the children to their airing in the park, and not to let any one enter the gilded chamber, which was usually their sporting-place. Deborah, who often rebelled, and sometimes successfully, against the deputed authority of Ellesmere, privately resolved that it was about to rain, and that the gilded chamber was a more suitable place for the children's exercise than the wet grass of the park on a raw morning.

*The attempt to contrast the manners of the jovial Cavaliers, taken from a hint of Shadwell, who sketched several scenes of and enthusiastic, yet firm and courageous, Puritans, was partly humour with great force, although they hung heavy on his pencil when he attempted to finish them for the stage.

Without adopting such a partial and scandalous report, we shall only say, that on this occasion, as on most others, the rareness of indulgence promoted the sense of enjoyment, and that those who made abstinence, or at least moderation, a point of religious principle, enjoyed their social meeting the better that such opportunities rarely presented themselves. If they did not actually drink each other's healths, they at least showed, by looking and nodding to each other as they raised their glasses, that they all were sharing the same festive gratification of the appetite, and felt it enhanced, because it was at the same time enjoyed by their friends and neighbours. Religion, as it was the principal topic of their thoughts, became also the chief subject of their conversation, and as they sat together in small separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief, balanced the merits of various preachers, compared the creeds of contendings sects, and fortified by scriptural quotations those which they favoured. Some contests In a dull play named the Volunteers, or the Stock-Jobbers, arose in the course of these debates, which might valier officer, somewhat rough in speech, but very brave and the dramatis persona present" Major-General Blunt, an old cahave proceeded farther than was seemly, but for the honest, and of good understanding, and a good patriot." A concautious interference of Major Bridgenorth. He sup-trast to the General is Colonel Hackwell, senior, an old Anapressed also, in the very bud, a dispute betwixt Gaffer baptist Colonel of Cromwell's, very stout and godly, but somewhat Hodgeson of Charnelycot and the reverend Mr. Sols- These worthies, so characterized, hold a dialogue together, grace, upon the tender subject of lay-preaching, and which will form a good example of Shadwell's power of dramati lay-ministering; nor did he think it altogether pru-zing. The stage is filled by Major-General Blunt and some of his dent or decent to indulge the wishes of some of the old acquaintance cavaliers, and Hackwell, the ancient parliawarmer enthusiasts of the party, who felt disposed to make the rest partakers of their gifts in extemporaneous prayer and exposition. These were absurdities that belonged to the time, which, however, the Major had sense enough to perceive were unfitted, whether the offspring of hypocrisy or enthusiasm, for the present time and place.

immoral."

mentarian.

Major-General Blunt. Fear not, my old cavaliers. According to your laudable customs, you shall be drunk, swagger, and fight over all your battles, from Edgehill to Brentford. You have not his demure psalm-singing fellows used to drub us? forgotten how this gentleman (points to Colonel Hackwell) and

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1st Cavalier. No, 'gad! I felt 'em once to purpose.
"M.-G. Blunt. Ah! a-dod, in high-crowned hats, collared bands,
great loose coats, long tucks under 'em, and calves-leather boots,

they used to sing a psalm, fall on, and beat us to the devil!
the cause, the spiritual cause, did not suffer under our carnal
weapons, but the enemy was discomfited, and lo! they used to

"Hackwell, senior. In that day we stood up to the cause; and

flee before us.

The major was also instrumental in breaking up the party at an early and decorous hour, so that they left the Castle long before their rivals, the Cavaliers, had reached the spring-tide of their merriment; an arrangement which afforded the greatest satisfaction to the lady, who dreaded the consequences which might not improbably have taken place, had both par-rant you not a well-dressed man among the Roundheads. ties met at the same period and point of retreat.

It was near midnight ere the greater part of the Cavaliers, meaning such as were able to effect their departure without assistance, withdrew to the village of Martindale-Moultrassie, with the benefit of the broad moon, to prevent the chance of accidents. Their shouts, and the burden of their roaring chorus of

1st Cavalier. Who would think such a snivelling, psalm-singing puppy would fight? But these godly fellows would lay about 'em as if the devil were in 'em.

Sir Nicholas. What a filthy slovenly army was this! I war

"M.-G. Blunt. But these plain fellows would so thrash your swearing, drinking, fine fellows in laced coats-just such as you of the drawing-room and Locket's fellows are now-and so strip them, by the Lord Harry, that after a battle those saints looked like the Israelites loaden with the Egyptian baggage.

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"Hackwell. Verily, we did take the spoil; and it served us to turn the penny, and advanced the cause thereby; we fought upon principle that carried us through.

M. G. Blunt, Prithee, Colonel, we know thy principle-'twas not right: thou foughtest against children's baptism, and not for liberty, but who should be your tyrant; none so zealous for Crom

well as thou wert then, nor such a furious agitator and test-man

as thou hast been lately.

"Hackwell, senior. Look you, Colonel, we but proceeded in the way of liberty of worship.

M.-G. Blunt. A-dod, there is something more in it. This was

thy principle, Colonel-Dominion is founded in grace, and the didst so: thou gottest three thousand pounds a-year by fighting righteous shall inherit the earth. And, by the Lord Harry, thou against the Court, and I lost a thousand by fighting for it." See The Volunteers, or Stock-Jobbers, SHADWELL'S Works, vol. iv.,

"The King shall enjoy his own again!" was heard with no small pleasure by the lady, heartily glad that the riot of the day was over without the occurrence of any unpleasing accident. The rejoicing was not, however, entirely ended; for the elevated Cavaliers, finding some of the villagers still on foot around a bonfire on the street, struck merrily in with them-sent to Roger Raine, of the Peveril Arms, the loyal publican whom we have already mentioned, for two tubs of merry stingo, (as it was termed,) and lent their own powerful assistance at the himself offended by one of the dramatis persona, says, with In a former scene, Hackwell, the old fanatic officer, conceiving dusting it off to the health of the King and the loyal great naivete-"I prithee, friend, put me not to use the camal General Monk. Their shouts for a long time dis-weapon in my own defence." Such are the traits of phraseology with which Shadwell painted the old Puritan officers, many of turbed, and even alarmed, the little village; but no whom he no mean observer of human nature-must have known enthusiasm is able to withstand for ever the natural familiarly.

p. 437.

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.

The stately lady, however, advanced to him, and said, "Are not you the little Peveril ?"

"Yes," said the boy, reddening, not altogether without a juvenile feeling of that rule of chivalry which forbade any one to disown his name, whatever danger might be annexed to the avowal of it.

"Then," said the stately stranger, "go to your mother's room, and tell her to come instantly to speak with me."

"I wo'not," said the little Julian.

"How!" said the lady,-"so young and so disobedient ?-but you do but follow the fashion of the time. Why will you not go, my pretty boy, when I ask it of you as a favour?"

But a woman's brain is sometimes as inconstant as a popular assembly; and presently after she had voted the morning was like to be rainy, and that the gilded chamber was the fittest play-room for the children, Mistress Deborah came to the somewhat inconsistent resolution, that the park was the fittest place for her own morning walk. It is certain, that during the unrestrained joviality of the preceding evening, she had danced till midnight with Lance Outram, the park-keeper; but how far the seeing him just pass the window in his woodland trim, with a feather in his hat, and a crossbow under his arm, influenced the discrepancy of the opinions Mrs. Deborah formed concerning the weather, we are far from pre"I would go, madam," said the boy, "but"-and suming to guess. It is enough for us, that so soon as Mistress Ellesmere's back was turned, Mistress he stopped short, still drawing back as the lady adDeborah carried the children into the gilded chamber, vanced on him, but still holding by the hand Alice not without a strict charge (for we must do her jus- Bridgenorth, who, too young to understand the natice) to Master Julian to take care of his little wife, ture of the dialogue, clung, trembling, to her comMistress Alice; and then, having taken so satisfac-panion. The stranger saw his embarrassment, smiled, and tory a precaution, she herself glided into the park by the glass-door of the still-room, which was nearly remained standing fast, while she asked the child once more, "What are you afraid of, my brave boy, opposite to the great breach. The gilded chamber in which the children were, by-and why should you not go to your mother on my this arrangement, left to amuse themselves, without better guardianship than what Julian's manhood afforded, was a large apartment, hung with stamped Spanish leather, curiously gilded, representing, in a manner now obsolete, but far from unpleasing, a series of tilts and combats betwixt the Saracens of Grenada, and the Spaniards under the command of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, during that memorable siege, which was terminated by the overthrow of the last fragments of the Moorish empire in Spain.

The little Julian was careering about the room for the amusement of his infant friend, as well as his own, mimicking with a reed the menacing attitude of the Abencerrages and Zegris engaged in the Eastern sport of hurling the JERID, or javelin; and at times sitting down beside her, and caressing her into silence and good humour, when the petulant or timid child chose to become tired of remaining an inactive spectator of his boisterous sport; when, on a sudden, he observed one of the panel compartments of the leather hangings slide apart, so as to show a fair hand, with its fingers resting upon its edge, prepared, it would seem, to push it still farther back. Julian was much surprised, and somewhat frightened, at what he witnessed, for the tales of the nursery had strongly impressed on his mind the terrors of the invisible world. Yet, naturally bold and high spirited, the little champion placed himself beside his defenceless sister, continuing to brandish his weapon in her defence, as boldly as if he had himself been an Abencerrage of Grenada.

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The panel, on which his eye was fixed, gradually continued to slide back, and display more and more the form to which the hand appertained, until, in the dark aperture which was disclosed, the children saw the figure of a lady in a mourning dress, past the me-bloody, and though I have seen various accounts of the story, I do ridian of life, but whose countenance still retained traces of great beauty, although the predominant character both of her features and person was an air of almost royal dignity. After pausing a moment on the threshold of the portal which she had thus unexpectedly disclosed, and looking with some surprise at the children, whom she had not probably observed while engaged with the management of the panel, the stran-reproached him with having boasted of former favours. It ended ger stepped into the apartment, and the panel, upon a touch of a spring, closed behind her so suddenly, that Julian almost doubted it had ever been open, and began to apprehend that the whole apparition had been a delusion.*

The concealment and discovery of the Countess of Derby, is taken from a picturesque account of a similar event, described to me by the person by whom it was witnessed in childhood. This lady, by name Mrs. Margaret Swinton, and a daughter of that ancient house, was a sister of my maternal grandmother, and of course my grandaunt. She was, as often happens on such occasions, our constant resource in sickness, or when we tired of noisy play, and closed around her to listen to her tales. As she might be supposed to look back to the beginning of the last century, the fund which supplied us with amusement often related to events of that period. I may here notice, that she told me the unhappy story of the Bride of Lammermoor, being nearly related to the Lord

in her seizing upon a pair of pistols, which lay loaded in a closet,
her husband intending to take them with him on a journey. The
What, madam, do you intend to perform a comedy?" You
gallant commissioner approached with an air of drollery, saying,
by which Commissioner Cayley fell dead.
shall find it a tragedy," answered the lady; and fired both pistols,

She fled, and remained concealed for a certain time. Her claim of refuge in Swinton House, I do not know-it arose probably from some of the indescribable genealogical filaments which connect Scottish families. A very small cause would even at any time have been a reason for interfering between an individual and the law.

Whatever were the circumstances of Mrs. MacFarlane's case, it is certain that she returned, and lived and died in Edinburgh, without being brought to trial. Indeed, considering the times, there was no great wonder; for, to one strong party, the death of an English commissioner was not a circumstance to require much apology. The Swintons, however, could not be of that opinion, the family being of Presbyterian and Whig principles.

"You are a gallant fellow," said the lady, "and will not disgrace your blood, which never left the weak without protection."

'Because," answered Julian, firmly, "if I go, little | rather than alarm, towards the strange lady. Julian Alice must stay alone with you." manfully brandished his reed, a weapon which hẹ had never parted with during the whole alarm, and stood prepared to assist his mother if there should be danger in the encounter betwixt her and the stranger. In fact, it might have puzzled an older person to account for the sudden and confused pause which the Lady Peveril made, as she gazed on her unexpected guest, as if dubious whether she did or did not recognise, in her still beautiful though wasted and emaciated features, a countenance which she had known well under far different circumstances.

The boy understood her not, and still gazed with anxious apprehension, first on her who addressed him, and then upon his little companion, whose eyes, with the vacant glance of infancy, wandered from the figure of the Lady to that of her companion and protector, and at length, infected by a portion of the fear which the latter's magnanimous efforts could not entirely conceal, she flew into Julian's arms, and, clinging to him, greatly augmented his alarm, and, by screaming aloud, rendered it very difficult for him to avoid the sympathetic fear which impelled him to do the same.

The stranger seemed to understand her cause of hesitation, for she said in that heart-thrilling voice which was peculiarly her own

"Time and misfortune have changed me much, Margaret-that every mirror tells me yet, methinks, Margaret Stanley might still have known Charlotte de la Tremouille."

The Lady Peveril was little in the custom of giving to sudden emotion, but in the present case she threw herself on her knees in a rapture of mingled joy and grief, and, half embracing those of the stranger, exclaimed, in broken language

"My kind, my noble benefactress-the princely Countess of Derby-the royal Queen in Man-could I doubt your voice, your features, for a moment-0, forgive, forgive me!"

There was something in the manner and bearing of this unexpected inmate, which might justify awe at least, if not fear, when joined to the singular and mysterious mode in which she had made her appear-way ance. Her dress was not remarkable, being the hood and female riding attire of the time, such as was worn by the inferior class of gentlewomen; but her black hair was very long, and, several locks having escaped from under her hood, hung down dishevelled on her neck and shoulders. Her eyes were deep black, keen, and piercing, and her features had something of a foreign expression. When she spoke, her language was marked by a slight foreign accent, although, in construction, it was pure English. Her slightest tone and gesture had the air of one accustomed to command and to be obeyed; the recollection of which probably suggested to Julian the apology he afterwards made for being frightened, that he took the stranger for an "enchanted queen.'

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While the stranger lady and the children thus confronted each other, two persons entered almost at the same instant, but from different doors, whose haste showed that they had been alarmed by the screams of the latter.

The first was Major Bridgenorth, whose ears had been alarmed with the cries of his child as he entered the Hall, which corresponded with what was called the gilded chamber. His intention had been to remain in the more public apartment, until the Lady Peveril should make her appearance, with the goodnatured purpose of assuring her that the preceding day of tumult had passed in every respect agreeably to his friends, and without any of those alarming consequences which might have been apprehended from a collision betwixt the parties. But when it is considered how severely he had been agitated by apprehensions for his child's safety and health, too well justified by the fate of those who had preceded her, it will not be thought surprising that the infantine screams of Alice induced him to break through the barriers of form, and intrude farther into the interior of the house than a sense of strict propriety might have warranted.

He burst into the gilded chamber, therefore, by a side-door and narrow passage, which communicated betwixt that apartment and the hall, and, snatching the child up in his arms, endeavoured, by a thousand caresses, to stifle the screams which burst yet more violently from the little girl, on beholding herself in the arms of one to whose voice and manner she was, but for one brief interview, an entire stranger.

Of course, Alice's shrieks were redoubled, and seconded by those of Julian Peveril, who, on the appearance of this second intruder, was frightened into resignation of every more manly idea of rescue than that which consisted in invoking assistance at the very top of his lungs.

Alarmed by this noise, which in half a minute became very clamorous, Lady Peveril, with whose apartment the gilded chamber was connected by a private door of communication opening into her wardrobe, entered on the scene. The instant she appeared, the little Alice, extricating herself from the grasp of her father, ran towards her protectress, and when she had once taken hold of her skirts, not only became silent, but turned her large blue eyes, in which the tears were still glistening, with a look of wonder

The Countess raised the suppliant kinswoman of her husband's house, with all the grace of one accustomed from early birth to receive homage and to grant protection. She kissed the Lady Peveril's forehead, and passed her hand in a caressing manner over her face as she said

"You too are changed, my fair cousin, but it is a change becomes you, from a pretty and timid maiden to a sage and comely matron. But my own memory, which I once held a good one, has failed me strangely, if this gentleman be Sir Geoffrey Peveril."

"A kind and good neighbour only, madam," said Lady Peveril; "Sir Geoffrey is at Court." "I understood so much," said the Countess of Derby, "when I arrived here last night."

"How, madam!" said Lady Peveril-" Did you arrive at Martindale Castle-at the house of Margaret Stanley, where you have such right to command, and did not announce your presence to her ?"

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"O, I know you are a dutiful subject, Margaret," answered the Countess, though it be in these days a rare character-but it was our pleasure," she added with a smile, "to travel incognito-and finding you engaged in general hospitality, we desired not to disturb you with our royal presence."

"But how and where were you lodged, madam?" said Lady Peveril; "or why should you have kept secret a visit which would, if made, have augmented tenfold the happiness of every true heart that rejoiced here yesterday?"

"My lodging was well cared for by Ellesmereyour Ellesmere now, as she was formerly mine-she has acted as quartermaster ere now, you know, and on a broader scale; you must excuse her-she had my positive order to lodge me in the most secret part of your Castle"-(here she pointed to the sliding panel)-" she obeyed orders in that, and I suppose also in sending you now hither."

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'Indeed I have not yet seen her," said the lady, and therefore was totally ignorant of a visit so joyful, so surprising."

And I," said the Countess, was equally surprised to find none but these beautiful children in the apartment where I thought I heard you moving. Our Ellesmere has become silly-your good-nature has spoiled her she has forgotten the discipline she learned under me."

"I saw her run through the wood," said the Lady Peveril, after a moment's recollection, " undoubtedly to seek the person who has charge of the children, in order to remove them."

"Your own darlings, I doubt not," said the Countess, looking at the children. "Margaret, Providence has blessed you."

That is my son," said Lady Peveril, pointing to Julian, who stood devouring their discourse with

greedy ear; the little girl-I may call mine too." | Major Bridgenorth, who had in the meantime again taken up his infant, and was engaged in caressing it, set it down as the Countess of Derby spoke, sighed deeply, and walked towards the oriel window. He was well aware that the ordinary rules of courtesy would have rendered it proper that he should withdraw entirely, or at least offer to do so; but he was not a man of ceremonious politeness, and he had a particular interest in the subjects on which the Countess's discourse was likely to turn, which induced him to dispense with ceremony. The ladies seemed indeed scarce to notice his presence. The Countess had now assumed a chair, and motioned to the Lady Peveril to sit upon a stool which was placed by her side. "We will have old times once inore, though there are here no roaring of rebel guns to drive you to take refuge at my side, and almost in my pocket."

"I have a gun, madam," said little Julian, "and the park-keeper is to teach me how to fire it next year."

"I will list you for my soldier, then," said the Count

ess.

"Ladies have no soldiers," said the boy, looking wistfully at her.

"He has the true masculine contempt of our frail sex, I see," said the Countess; "it is born with the insolent varlets of mankind, and shows itself as soon as they are out of their long clothes.-Did Ellesmere never tell you of Latham-House and Charlotte of Derby, my little master?"

fold at Bolton-le-Moor, should make it his first act of restored monarchy to complete the destruction of our property, already well-nigh ruined in the royal cause, and to persecute me his widow!"

"You astonish me, madam!" said the Lady Peveril. "It cannot be, that you-that you, the wife of the gallant, the faithful, the murdered Earl-you, Countess of Derby, and Queen in Man-you, who took on you even the character of a soldier, and seemed a man when so many men proved womenthat you should sustain evil from the event which has fulfilled-exceeded the hopes of every faithful subject-it cannot be!"

"Thou art as simple, I see, in this world's knowledge as ever, my fair cousin," answered the Countess. "This restoration, which has given others security, has placed me in danger-this change which relieved other royalists, scarce less zealous, I presume to think, than I-has sent me here a fugitive, and in concealment, to beg shelter and assistance from you, fair cousin."

"From me," answered the Lady Peveril-" from me, whose youth your kindness sheltered-from the wife of Peveril, your gallant Lord's companion in arms-you have a right to command every thing! but, alas! that you should need such assistance as I can render forgive me, but it seems like some illomened vision of the night-I listen to your words as if I hoped to be relieved from their painful import by awaking."

"It is indeed a dream-a vision," said the Countess of Derby; "but it needs no seer to read it-the ex"A thousand thousand times," said the boy, colour-planation hath been long since given-Put not your ing; "and how the Queen of Man defended it six faith in princes. I can soon remove your surprise.weeks against three thousand Roundheads, under This gentleman, your friend, is doubtless honest?" Rogue Harrison the butcher."

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You forget," said the Countess, "you nursed our hospital, and made lint for the soldiers' wounds." "But did not papa come to help you?" said Julian. "Papa came at last," said the Countess, "and so did Prince Rupert-but not, I think, till they were both heartily wished for.-Do you remember that morning, Margaret, when the roundheaded knaves, that kept us pent up so long, retreated without bag or baggage, at the first glance of the Prince's standards appearing on the hill-and how you took every high-crested captain you saw for Peveril of the Peak, that had been your partner three months before at the Queen's mask? Nay, never blush for the thought of it-it was an honest affection-and though it was the music of trumpets that accompanied you both to the old chapel, which was almost entirely ruined by the enemy's bullets; and though Prince Rupert, when he gave you away at the altar, was clad in buff and bandalier, with pistols in his belt, yet I trust these warlike signs were no type of future discord?"

"Heaven has been kind to me," said Lady Peveril, "in blessing me with an affectionate husband." And in preserving him to you," said the Countess, with a deep sigh; while mine, alas! sealed with his blood his devotion to his king*-O, had he lived to see this day!"

"Alas! alas! that he was not permitted!" answered Lady Peveril; "how had that brave and noble Earl rejoiced in the unhoped-for redemption of our captivity!"

The Countess looked on Lady Peveril with an air of surprise.

The Lady Peveril well knew that the Cavaliers, like other factions, usurped to themselves the exciusive denomination of the honest party, and she felt some difficulty in explaining that her visiter was not honest in that sense of the word.

"Had we not better retire, madam," she said to the Countess, rising, as if in order to attend her. But the Countess retained her seat.

"It was but a question of habit," she said; "the gentleman's principles are nothing to me, for what I have to tell you is widely blazed, and I care not who hears my share of it. You remember-you must have heard, for I think Margaret Stanley would not be indifferent to my fate-that after my husband's murder at Bolton, I took up the standard which he never dropped until his death, and displayed it with my own hand in our Sovereignty of Man.

"I did indeed hear so, madam," said the Lady Peveril; "and that you had bidden a bold defiance to the rebel government, even after all other parts of Britain had submitted to them. My husband, Sir Geoffrey, designed at one time to have gone to your assistance with some few followers; but we learned that the island was rendered to the Parliament party, and that you, dearest lady, were thrown into prison.'

"But you heard not," said the Countess, "how that disaster befell me.-Margaret, I would have held out that island against the knaves as long as the sea continued to flow around it. Till the shoals which surround it had become safe anchorage-tillits precipices had melted beneath the sunshine-till of all its strong abodes and castles, not one stone remained upon another, would I have defended against these villanous hypocritical rebels my dear husband's hereditary dominion. The little kingdom of Man should have been yielded only when not an arm was left to wield a sword, not a finger to draw a trigger in its defence. But treachery did what force could never have done. When we had foiled various attempts upon the island by open force-treason accomplished what Blake and Lawson, with their floating castles, had found too hazardous an enterprise-a base rebel, whom we had nursed in our own bosoms, betrayed us to the enemy. This wretch was named Christian"

"Thou hast not then heard, cousin, how it stands with our house?-How indeed had my noble lord wondered, had he been told that the very monarch for whom he had laid down his noble life on the scaf-speaker, but instantly seemed to recollect himself,

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Major Bridgenorth started and turned towards the

and again averted his face. The Countess proceeded, without noticing the interruption, which, however, rather surprised Lady Peveril, who was acquainted

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