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suffering under the infliction of ennui-now looking Small, do you term it," replied the Earl, "and into a volume of Homer-now whistling-now write yourself a brother of the angle? Why, which swinging on his chair-now traversing the room-like you best? to pull a dead strain on a miserable till, at length, his attention became swallowed up in admiration of the tranquillity of his companion.

King of men!" he said, repeating the favourite epithet by which Homer describes Agamemnon."I trust, for the old Greek's sake, he had a merrier office than being King of Man-Most philosophical Julian, will nothing rouse thee-not even a bad pun on my own royal dignity?"

"I wish you would be a little more the King in Man," said Julian, starting from his reverie, "and then you would find more amusement in your dominions."

"What! dethrone that royal Semiramis my mother," said the young lord, "who has as much pleasure in playing Queen as if she were a real Sovereign? -I wonder you can give me such counsel."

"Your mother, as you well know, my dear Derby, would be delighted, did you take any interest in the affairs of the island."

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gudgeon, which you draw ashore by main force, as the fellows here tow in their fishing-boats-or a lively salmon, that makes your rod crack, and your line whistle-plays you ten thousand mischievous pranks-wearies your heart out with hopes and fears and is only laid panting on the bank, after you have shown the most unmatchable display of skill, tience, and dexterity ?-But I see you have a mind to go on angling after your own old fashion. Off laced coat, and on brown jerkin;-lively colours scare fish in the sober waters of the Isle of Man;-faith, in London you will catch few, unless the bait glistens a little. But you are going?-well, good luck to you. I will take the barge;-the sea and wind are less inconstant than the tide you have embarked on."

"You have learned to say all these smart things in London, my lord," answered Julian; "but we shall have you a penitent for them, if Lady Cynthia be of my mind. Adieu, and pleasure till we meet.

Ay, truly, she would permit me to be King; but The young men parted accordingly; and while she would choose to remain Viceroy over me. Why, the Earl betook him to his pleasure voyage, Julian, she would only gain a subject the more, by my con- as his friend had prophesied, assumed the dress of verting my spare time, which is so very valuable to one who means to amuse himself with angling. The me, to the cares of royalty. No, no, Julian, she hat and feather were exchanged for a cap of gray thinks it power to direct all the affairs of these poor cloth; the deeply-laced cloak and doublet for a simManxmen; and, thinking it power, she finds it plea-ple jacket of the same colour, with hose conforming; sure. I shall not interfere, unless she hold a high and finally, with rod in hand, and pannier at his court of justice again. I cannot afford to pay another back, mounted upon a handsome Manx pony, young fine to my brother, King Charles-But I forget-this Peveril rode briskly over the country which divided is a sore point with you.' him from one of those beautiful streams, that descend to the sea from the Kirk-Merlagh mountains.

"With the Countess, at least," replied Julian; "and I wonder you will speak of it."

Having reached the spot where he meant to com"Why, I bear no malice against the poor man's mence his day's sport, Julian let his little steed graze, memory any more than yourself, though I have not which, accustomed to the situation, followed him the same reasons for holding it in veneration," re- like a dog; and now and then, when tired of picking plied the Earl of Derby; "and yet I have some re-herbage in the valley through which the stream spect for it too. I remember their bringing him out to die-It was the first holiday I ever had in my life, and I heartily wish it had been on some other account."

"I would rather hear you speak of any thing else, my lord," said Julian.

winded, came near her master's side, and as if she had been a curious amateur of the sport, gazed on the trouts as Julian brought them struggling to the shore. But Fairy's master showed, on that day, little of the patience of a real angler, and took no heed to old Isaac Walton's recommendation, to fish the streams inch by inch. He chose, indeed, with an angler's eye, the most promising casts, where the stream

'Why, there it goes," answered the Earl; "whenever I talk of any thing that puts you on your mettle, and warms your blood, that runs as cold as a mer-broke sparkling over a stone, affording the wonted man's-to use a simile of this happy island--Hey pass! you press me to change the subject.-Well, what shall we talk of?-O, Julian, if you had not gone down to earth yourself among the castles and caverns of Derbyshire, we should have had enough of delicious topics the playhouses, Julian-Both the King's house and the Duke's-Louis's establishment is a jest to them; and the Ring in the Park, which beats the Corso at Naples-and the beauties, who beat the whole world!""

"I am very willing to hear you speak on the subject, my lord," answered Julian; the less I have seen of the London world myself, the more I am likely to be amused by your account of it."

"Ay, my friend-but where to begin?-with the wit of Buckingham, and Sedley, and Etherege, or with the grace of Harry Jermyn-the courtesy of the Duke of Monmouth, or with the loveliness of La Belle Hamilton-of the Duchess of Richmond--of Lady the person of Roxalana, the smart hu

mour of Mrs. Nelly"

"Or what say you to the bewitching sorceries of Lady Cynthia?" demanded his companion.

66

Faith, I would have kept these to myself," said the Earl, "to follow your prudent example. But since you ask me, I fairly own I cannot tell what to say of them; only I think of them twenty times as often as all the beauties I have spoke of. And yet she is neither the twentieth part so beautiful as the plainest of these Court beauties, nor so witty as the dullest I have named, nor so modish-that is the great matter --as the most obscure. I cannot tell what makes me ate on her, except that she is as capricious as her whole sex put together."

That I should think a small recommendation," ans wered his companion.

shelter to a trout; or where, gliding away from a rippling current to a still eddy, it streamed under the projecting bank, or dashed from the pool of some low cascade. By this judicious selection of spots whereon to employ his art, the sportsman's basket was soon sufficiently heavy, to show that his occupation was not a mere pretext; and so soon as this was the case, he walked briskly up the glen, only making a cast from time to time, in case of his being observed from any of the neighbouring heights.

It was a little green and rocky valley through which the brook strayed, very lonely, although the slight track of an unformed road showed that it was occasionally traversed, and that it was not altogether void of inhabitants. As Peveril advanced still farther, the right bank reached to some distance from the stream, leaving a piece of meadow ground, the lower part of which, being close to the brook, was entirely covered with rich herbage, being possibly occasionally irrigated by its overflow. The higher part of the level ground afforded a stance for an old house, of a singular structure, with a terraced garden, and a cultivated field or two beside it. In former times, a Danish or Norwegian fastness had stood here, called the Black Fort, from the colour of a huge heathy hill, which, rising behind the building, appeared to be the boundary of the valley, and to afford the sources of the brook. But the original structure had been long demolished, as, indeed, it probably only consisted of dry stones, and its materials had been applied to the construction of the present mansion-the work of some churchman during the sixteenth century, as was evident from the huge stonework of its windows, which scarce left room for light to pass through, as well as from two or three heavy buttresses, which projected from the front of

CHAP. XI.]

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.

the house, and exhibited on their surface little niches
for images. These had been carefully destroyed, and
pots of flowers were placed in the niches in their
stead, besides their being ornamented by creeping
plants of various kinds, fancifully twined around
them. The garden was also in good order; and
though the spot was extremely solitary, there was
about it altogether an air of comfort, accommoda-
tion, and even elegance, by no means generally cha-
racteristic of the habitations of the island at the
time.

With much circumspection, Julian Peveril ap-
proached the low Gothic porch, which defended the
entrance of the mansion from the tempests incident
to its situation, and was, like the buttresses, overrun
with ivy and other creeping plants. An iron ring,
contrived so as when drawn up and down to rattle
against the bar of notched iron through which it was
suspended, served the purpose of a knocker; and to
this he applied himself, though with the greatest
precaution.

He received no answer for some time, and indeed
it seemed as if the house was totally uninhabited;
when, at length, his impatience getting the upper
hand, he tried to open the door, and, as it was only
upon the latch, very easily succeeded. He passed
through a little low-arched hall, the upper end of
which was occupied by a staircase, and turning to
the left opened the door of a summer parlour, wain-
scoted with black oak, and very simply furnished
with chairs and tables of the same materials; the
former cushioned with leather. The apartment was
gloomy-one of those stone-shafted windows which
we have mentioned, with its small latticed panes, and
thick garland of foliage, admitting but an imperfect
light.

Over the chimney-piece (which was of the same
massive materials with the panelling of the apart-
ment) was the only ornament of the room; a paint-
ing, namely, representing an officer in the military
dress of the Civil Wars. It was a green jerkin, then
the national and peculiar wear of the Manxmen; his
short band which hung down on the cuirass-the
orange-coloured scarf, but, above all, the shortness of
his close-cut hair, showing evidently to which of the
great parties he had belonged. His right hand rested
on the hilt of his sword; and in the left he held a
small Bible, bearing the inscription, "In hoc signo."
The countenance was of a light complexion, with
fair and almost effeminate blue eyes, and an oval
form of face-one of those physiognomies, to which,
though not otherwise unpleasing, we naturally attach
the idea of melancholy and of misfortune. Appa-
rently it was well known to Julian Peveril; for, after
having looked at it for a long time, he could not for-
bear muttering aloud, "What would I give that that
man had never been born, or that he still lived!"
"How now-how is this?" said a female, who
"You
entered the room as he uttered this reflection.
here, Master Peveril, in spite of all the warnings you
have had! You here, in the possession of folk's
house when they are abroad, and talking to yourself,
as I shall warrant!"

"Yes, Mistress Deborah," said Peveril, "I am
here once more, as you see, against every prohibi-
tion, and in defiance of all danger.-Where is Alice?"
"Where you will never see her, Master Julian
-you may satisfy yourself of that," answered Mis-
tress Deborah, for it was that respectable governante;
and sinking down at the same time upon one of the
large leathern chairs, she began to fan herself with
her handkerchief, and complain of the heat in a most
ladylike fashion.

In fact, Mistress Debbitch, while her exterior
intimated a considerable change of condition for the
better, and her countenance showed the less favoura-
I am told that a portrait of the unfortunate William Christian
is still preserved in the family of Waterson of Ballnahow of Kirk
Church, Rushin. William Dhone is dressed in a green coat with-
out collar or cape, after the fashion of those puritanic times, with
the head in a close-cropt wig, resembling the bishop's peruke of
the present day. The countenance is youthful and well looking,
very unlike the expression of foreboding melancholy. I have so
far taken advantage of this criticism, as to bring my ideal portrait
an the present edition nearer to the complexion at least of the

ble effects of the twenty years which had passed
over her head, was in mind and manners very much
what she had been when she battled the opinions of
Madam Ellesmere at Martindale Castle. In a word,
she was self-willed, obstinate, and coquettish as ever,
otherwise no ill-disposed person. Her present ap-
pearance was that of a woman of the better rank.
From the sobriety of the fashion of her dress, and
the uniformity of its colours, it was plain she be-
longed to some sect which condemned superfluous
gayety in attire; but no rules, not those of a nunnery
or of a quaker's society, can prevent a little coquetry
in that particular, where a woman is desirous of
being supposed to retain some claim to personal at-
tention. All Mistress Deborah's garments were so
arranged as might best set off a good-looking woman,
whose countenance indicated ease and good cheer-
who called herself five-and-thirty, and was well en-
titled, if she had a mind, to call herself twelve or
fifteen years older.

Julian was under the necessity of enduring all
her tiresome and fantastic airs, and awaiting with
patience till she had "princked herself and pinned
herself"-flung her hoods back, and drawn them
forward-snuffed at a little bottle of essences, closed
her eyes like a dying fowl-turned them up like a
duck in a thunder-storm; when at length, having
exhausted her round of minauderies, she condescend-
ed to open the conversation.

"These walks will be the death of me," she said, "and all on your account, Master Julian Peveril; for if Dame Christian should learn that you have chosen to make your visits to her niece, I promise you, Mistress Alice would be soon obliged to find other quarters, and so should I."

"Come now, Mistress Deborah, be good-humoured," said Julian; "consider, was not all this intimacy of ours of your own making? Did you not make yourself known to me the very first time I strolled up this glen with my fishing-rod, and tell me that you were my former keeper, and that Alice had been my little play-fellow? And what could there be more natural, than that I should come back and see two such agreeable persons as often as I could?"

"Yes," said Dame Deborah; "but I did not bid you fall in love with us, though, or propose such a matter as marriage either to Alice or myself."

"To do you justice, you never did, Deborah," answered the youth; "but what of that? Such things will come out before one is aware. I am sure you must have heard such proposals fifty times when you least expected them."

"Fie, fie, fie, Master Julian Peveril," said the governante; "I would have you to know that I have always so behaved myself, that the best of the land would have thought twice of it, and have very well considered both what he was going to say, and how he was going to say it, before he came out with such proposals to me."

"True, true, Mistress Deborah," continued Julian; "but all the world have not your discretion. Then Alice Bridgenorth is a child-a mere child; and one always asks a baby to be one's little wife, you know. Come, I know you will forgive me. Thou wert ever the best-natured, kindest woman in the world; and you know you have said twenty times we were made for each other."

"O no, Master Julian Peveril; no, no, no!" ejaculated Deborah. "I may indeed have said your estates were born to be united; and to be sure it is natural to me, that come of the old stock of the honest yeomanry of Peveril of the Peak's estate, to wish that it was all within the ring fence again; which sure enough it might be, were you to marry Alice Bridgenorth. But then there is the knight your father, and my lady your mother; and there is her father, that is half crazy with his religion; and her aunt, that wears eternal black grogram for that unlucky Colonel Christian; and there is the Countess of Derby, that would serve us all with the same sauce if we were thinking of any thing that would your word with Mistress Alice, and every thing is displease her. And besides all that, you have broke

over between you; and I am of opinion it is quite | Julian Peveril, meanwhile, paced the apartment in right it should be all over. And perhaps it may be, great agitation, waiting the success of Deborah's Master Julian, that I should have thought so a long intercession; and she remained long enough absent time ago, before a child like Alice put it into my to give us time to explain, in a short retrospect, the head; but I am so good-natured." circumstances which had led to his present situation.

onged for domestic independence, was careful to increase this impression by alarming her patron's fears on account of Alice's health. The mansion of Kirk-Truagh stood, she said, much exposed to the Scottish winds, which could not but be cold, as they came from a country where, as she was assured, there was ice and snow at midsummer. In short, she prevailed, and was put into full possession of the Black Fort, a house which, as well as Kirk-Truagh, belonged formerly to Christian, and now to his widow.

Still, however, it was enjoined on the governante and her charge, to visit Kirk-Truagh from time to time, and to consider themselves as under the management and guardianship of Mistress Christian-a state of subjection, the sense of which Deborah endeavoured to lessen, by assuming as much freedom of conduct as she possibly dared, under the influence, doubtless, of the same feelings of independence, which induced her, at Martindale Hall, to spurn the advice of Mistress Ellesmere.

persons in the world with whom Mistress Christian would have desired her niece to be acquainted-the happy spirit of contradiction superseding, with Dame Deborah, on this as on other occasions, all consideration of the fitness of things. She did not act altogether without precaution neither. She was aware she had to guard not only against any reviving interest or curiosity on the part of Mistress Christian; but against the sudden arrival of Major Bridgenorth, who never failed once in the year to make his appearance at the Black Fort when least expected, and to remain there for a few days. Dame Debbitch, therefore, exacted of Julian, that his visits should be few and far between; that he should condescend to pass for a relation of her own, in the eyes of two ignorant Manx girls and a lad, who formed her establishment; and that he should always appear in his angler's dress made of the simple Lougthan, or buff-coloured wool of the island, which is not subjected to dyeing. By these cautions, she thought his intimacy at the Black Fort would be entirely unnoticed, or considered as immaterial, while, in the meantime, it furnished much amusement to her charge and herself.

It was this generous disposition to defy control which induced her to procure for Alice, secretly, some means of education, which the stern genius of puritanism would have proscribed. She ventured to This was accordingly the case during the earlier have her charge taught music-nay, even dancing; part of their intercourse, while Julian was a lad, and and the picture of the austere Colonel Christian Alice a girl two or three years younger. But as the trembled on the wainscot where it was suspended, lad shot up to youth, and the girl to womanhood, while the sylphlike form of Alice, and the substan-even Dame Deborah Debbitch's judgment saw tial person of Dame Deborah, executed French chaussees and borees, to the sound of a small kit which screamed under the bow of Monsieur de Pigal, half smuggler, half dancing master. This abomination reached the ears of the Colonel's widow, and by her was communicated to Bridgenorth, whose sudden appearance in the island showed the importance he attached to the communication. Had she been faithless to her own cause, that had been the latest hour of Mistress Deborah's administration. But she retreated into her stronghold.

"Dancing," she said, was exercise, regulated and timed by music; and it stood to reason, that it must be the best of all exercise for a delicate person, especially as it could be taken within doors, and in all states of the weather."

Bridgenorth listened, with a clouded and thoughtful brow, when, in exemplification of her doctrine, Mistress Deborah, who was no contemptible performer on the viol, began to jangle Sellenger's Round, and desired Alice to dance an old English measure o the tune. As the half-bashful, half-smiling girl, about fourteen-for such was her age-moved gracefully to the music, the father's eye unavoidably followed the light spring of her step, and marked with joy the rising colour in her cheek. When the dance was over, he folded her in his arms, smoothed her somewhat disordered locks with a father's affectionate hand, smiled, kissed her brow, and took his leave, without one single word farther interdicting the exercise of dancing. He did not himself communicate the result of his visit at the Black Fort to Mistress Christian, but she was not long of learning it, by the triumph of Dame Deborah on her next visit.

66

"It is well," said the stern old lady; my brother Bridgenorth hath permitted you to make a Herodias of Alice, and teach her dancing. You have only now to find her a partner for life-I shall neither meddle nor make more in their affairs."

In fact, the triumph of Dame Deborah, or rather of Dame Nature, on this occasion, had more important effects than the former had ventured to anticipate; for Mistress Christian, though she received with all formality the formal visits of the governante and her charge, seemed thenceforth so pettish with the issue of her remonstrance, upon the enormity of her niece dancing to a little fiddle, that she appeared to give up interference in her affairs, and left Dame Debbitch and Alice to manage both education and housekeeping-in which she had hitherto greatly concerned herself-much after their own pleasure.

It was in this independent state that they lived, when Julian first visited their habitation; and he was the rather encouraged to do so by Dame Deborah, that she believed him to be one of the last

danger in their continued intimacy. She took an opportunity to communicate to Julian who Miss Bridgenorth actually was, and the peculiar circumstances which placed discord between their fathers. He heard the story of their quarrel with interest and surprise, for he had only resided occasionally at Martindale Castle, and the subject of Bridgenorth's quarrel with his father had never been mentioned in his presence. His imagination caught fire at the sparks afforded by this singular story; and, far from complying with the prudent remonstrance of Dame Deborah, and gradually estranging himself from the Black Fort and its fair inmate, he frankly declared, he considered his intimacy there, so casually commenced, as intimating the will of Heaven, that Alice and he were designed for each other, in spite of every obstacle which passion or prejudice could raise up betwixt them. They had been companions in infancy; and a little exertion of memory enabled him to recall his childish grief for the unexpected and sudden disappearance of his little companion, whom he was destined again to meet with in the early bloom of opening beauty, in a country which was foreign to them both.

Dame Deborah was confounded at the consequences of her communication, which had thus blown into a flame the passion which she hoped it would have either prevented or extinguished. She had not the sort of head which resists the masculine and energetic remonstrances of passionate attachment, whether addressed to her on her own account, or on behalf of another. She lamented and wondered, and ended her feeble opposition, by weeping, and sympathizing, and consenting to allow the continuance of Julian's visits, provided he should only address himself to Alice as a friend; to gain the world she would consent to nothing more. She was not, however, so simple, but that she also had her forebodings of the designs of Providence on this youthful couple; for certainly they could not be more formed to be united than the good estates of Martindale and Moultrassie.

Then came a long sequence of reflection. Martindale Castle wanted but some repairs to be almost equal to Chatsworth. The Hall might be allowed to go to ruin; or, what would be better, when Sir Geoffrey's time came, (for the good knight had seen service, and must be breaking now,) the Hall would be a good dowry-house, to which my lady and Ellesmere might retreat; while (empress of the still-room, and queen of the pantry) Mistress Deborah Debbitch should reign housekeeper at the Castle, and extend, perhaps, the crown-matrimonial to Lance Outram, provided he was not become too old, too fat, or too fond of ale.

Such were the soothing visions under the influ- | those who parted infants on the hills of Derbysnire, ence of which the dame connived at an attachment, to meet thus in the valleys of Man ?" which lulled also to pleasing dreams, though of a character so different, her charge and her visitant. The visits of the young angler became more and more frequent; and the embarrassed Deborah, though foreseeing all the dangers of discovery, and the additional risk of an explanation betwixt Alice and Julian, which must necessarily render their relative situation so much more delicate, felt completely overborne by the enthusiasm of the young lover, and was compelled to let matters take their course.

The departure of Julian for the continent interrupted the course of his intimacy at the Black Fort, and while it relieved the elder of its inmates from much internal apprehension, spread an air of languor and dejection over the countenance of the younger, which, at Bridgenorth's next visit to the Isle of Man, renewed all his terrors for his daughter's constitutional malady.

Alice, however new such a scene, and, above all, her own emotions, might be, was highly endowed with that exquisite delicacy which is imprinted in the female heart, to give warning of the slightest approach to impropriety in a situation like hers. 'Rise, rise, Master Peveril," she said; "do not do yourself and me this injustice-we have done both wrong-very wrong; but my fault was done in ignorance O God! my poor father, who needs comfort so much is it for me to add to his misfortunes?Rise!" she added, more firmly; "if you retain this unbecoming posture any longer, I will leave the room, and you shall never see me more.'

The commanding tone of Alice overawed the impetuosity of her lover, who took in silence a seat removed to some distance from hers, and was again about to speak. "Julian," she said, in a milder tone, "you have spoken enough, and more than Deborah promised faithfully she should look better enough. Would you had left me in the pleasing the next morning, and she kept her word. She had dream in which I could have listened to you for ever! retained in her possession for some time a letter but the hour of wakening is arrived." Peveril waitwhich Julian had, by some private conveyance, sented the prosecution of her speech as a criminal while to her charge, for his youthful friend. Deborah had he waits his doom; for he was sufficiently sensible dreaded the consequences of delivering it as a billet- that an answer, delivered not certainly without doux, but, as in the case of the dance, she thought emotion, but with firmness and resolution, was not there could be no harm in administering it as a re- to be interrupted. "We have done wrong," she remedy. peated, "very wrong; and if we now separate for ever, the pain we may feel will be but a just penalty for our error. We should never have met. Meeting, we should part as soon as possible. Our farther intercourse can but double our pain at parting.— Farewell, Julian; and forget we ever have seen each other!"

It had complete effect; and next day the cheeks of the maiden had a tinge of the rose, which so much delighted her father, that, as he mounted his horse, he flung his purse into Deborah's hand, with the desire she should spare nothing that could make herself and his daughter happy, and the assurance that she had his full confidence.

This expression of liberality and trust from a man of Major Bridgenorth's reserved and cautious disposition, gave full plumage to Mistress Deborah's hopes; and emboldened her not only to deliver another letter of Julian's to the young lady, but to encourage more boldly and freely than formerly the intercourse of the lovers when Peveril returned from abroad.

"Forget!" said Julian; "never, never. To you it is easy to speak the word-to think the thought. To me, an approach to either can only be by utter destruction. Why should you doubt that the feud of our fathers, like so many of which we have heard, might be appeased by our friendship? You are my only friend. I am the only one whom Heaven has assigned to you. Why should we separate for the fault of others, which befell when we were but children?"

At length, in spite of all Julian's precaution, the young Earl became suspicious of his frequent solitary "You speak in vain, Julian," said Alice; "I pity fishing parties; and he himself, now better acquaint-you-perhaps I pity myself-indeed I should pity ed with the world than formerly, became aware that myself, perhaps, the most of the two; for you will his repeated visits and solitary walks with a person go forth to new scenes and new faces, and will soon so young and beautiful as Alice, might not only forget me; but I, remaining in this solitude, how betray prematurely the secret of his attachment, but shall I forget-that, however, is not now the question be of essential prejudice to her who was its object. -I can bear my lot, and it commands us to part."

"Hear me yet a moment," said Peveril; "this evil is not, cannot be remediless. I will go to my father, I will use the intercession of my mother, to whom he can refuse nothing I will gain their consent-they have no other child-and they must consent, or lose him for ever. Say, Alice, if I come to you with my parents' consent to my suit, will you again say, with that tone so touching and so sad, yet so incredibly determined-Julian, we must part?" Alice was silent. "Cruel girl, will you not even deign to answer me?" said her lover.

"We answer not those who speak in their dreams," said Alice. "You ask me what I would do were impossibilities performed. What right have you to make such suppositions, and ask such a question?"

Under the influence of this conviction, he abstained, for an unusual period, from visiting the Black Fort. But when he next indulged himself with spending an hour in the place where he would gladly have abode for ever, the altered manner of Alicethe tone in which she seemed to upbraid his neglect, penetrated his heart, and deprived him of that power of self-command, which he had hitherto exercised in their interviews. It required but a few energetic words to explain to Alice at once his feelings, and to make her sensible of the real nature of her own. She wept plentifully, but her tears were not all of bitterness. She sat passively still, and without reply, while he explained to her, with many an interjection, the circumstances which had placed discord between their families; for hitherto, all that she had known Hope, Alice, hope," answered Julian, "the last was, that Master Peveril, belonging to the household support of the wretched, which even you surely of the great Countess or Lady of Man, must observe would not be cruel enough to deprive me of. In some precautions in visiting a relative of the un- every difficulty, in every doubt, in every danger, happy Colonel Christian. But, when Julian con- Hope will fight even if he cannot conquer. Tell me cluded his tale with the warmest protestations of once more, if I come to you in the name of my eternal love, "My poor father!" she burst forth, father-in the name of that mother, to whom you "and was this to be the end of all thy precautions?-partly owe your life, what would you answer to This, that the son of him that disgraced and banish-me?" ed thee, should hold such language to your daughter!" "I would refer you to my own father," said Alice, "You err, Alice, you err,' cried Julian, eagerly, That I hold this language-that the son of Peveril addresses thus the daughter of your father-that he thus kneels to you for forgiveness of injuries which passed when we were both infants, shows the will of Heaven, that in our affection should be quenched the discord of our parents. What else could lead

blushing, and casting her eyes down; but instantly raising them again, she repeated, in a firmer and a sadder tone, "Yes, Julian, I would refer you to my father; and you would find that your pilot, Hope, had deceived you; and that you had but escaped the quicksands to fall upon the rocks."

"I would that could be tried!" said Julian. "Me